Pneumology

BACKGROUND: High-frequency jet ventilation (HFJV) is used in pneumological endoscopy for rigid, diagnostic, and therapeutic bronchoscopies. It is unclear to what extent the unobstructed flow of respiratory gas from the patient's lungs causes microbial contamination of the surrounding air. MATERIAL AND METHODS: After the start of the HFJV (15 min) in 16 rigid bronchoscopies, airborne pathogen measurements were taken directly at the distal endoscope outlet, at examiner height (40 cm above the endoscope outlet), at a 2 m distance from the endoscope in the room and at the supply air outlet of the examination room using an RCS air sampler...

BACKGROUND: For some COVID-19 patients, symptoms and health impairments persist for an extended period of time (long COVID). Long-term consequences of the disease can lead to permanent limitations in participatory life. In these cases, medical rehabilitation may be useful. Due to the novelty of the disease, little is known about the need for rehabilitation and therapy and the health benefits of specific rehabilitation interventions. METHODS: A multicentre longitudinal observational study was conducted...

Chronic pediatric disease has a major impact on the life of a child and his or her family. In this sense, the figure of the main caregiver is relevant, who may present adjustment difficulties before the disease, accompanied by high levels of stress and emotional discomfort, which interfere with the adolescent's adjustment before the new situation. The aim of this research was to carry out a comparative study among caregivers of adolescents with various diseases, analyzing the risk and protective factors for the stress presented by this population...

Acute right ventricular failure secondary to acutely increased right ventricular afterload (acute cor pulmonale) is a life-threatening condition that may arise in different clinical settings. Patients at risk of developing or with manifest acute cor pulmonale usually present with an acute pulmonary disease (e.g., pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, ARDS) and are managed initially in emergency departments and later in intensive care units. According to the clinical setting, other specialties are involved (cardiology, pneumology, internal medicine)...

Dyspnoea in chronic respiratory disease is a very frequent symptom with a significant impact on quality of life (QoL). The aim of palliative care is to improve and maintain the QoL of patients with life-threatening diseases and its early implementation is now recommended in many evolving pulmonary diseases. The effectiveness of symptomatic treatments to relieve refractory breathlessness (morphine, oxygen supply, hypnosis, pulmonary rehabilitation) is often limited. These measures are more effective if offered early in the holistic management of the patient...

Background Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are a major public health problem in Morocco. Several studies have shown that anxiety and depression are important comorbidities of CRDs and are often associated with CRDs. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of depression and anxiety and identify their determinants in patients with CRDs. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Pneumology Department at the Hassan II University Hospital in Fez in 2021. An anonymous questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic, clinical, and therapeutic data...

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to provide an insight into the care situation of long COVID patients in inpatient medical rehabilitation facilities in Germany. METHODS: For this purpose, a standardized online survey was conducted among 1,080 inpatient medical rehabilitation facilities in Germany. RESULTS: A total of 338 cases were available for the analysis. Of these, 173 (51%) reported treating long COVID. The cumulative total number of rehabilitants with long COVID treated in the facilities up to the time of the survey was 11,948...

INTRODUCTION: HIV-1 and Mtb are characterized by immune activation and unbalances production of cytokines, but the expression of IL33 in HIV/TB coinfection remain understudied. This study aimed to evaluate the level of IL-33 in plasma of HIV and M. tuberculosis (HIV/TB) coinfected patients compared to patients with respective mono infections in Yaoundé. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted among patients attending the pneumology service and HIV treatment center of the Yaoundé Jamot Hospital...

Thoracic ultrasound (TU) has rapidly gained popularity over the past 10 years. This is in part because ultrasound equipment is available in many settings, more training programmes are educating trainees in this technique, and ultrasound can be done rapidly without exposure to radiation. The aim of this review is to present the most interesting and innovative aspects of the use of TU in the study of thoracic diseases. In pleural diseases, TU has been a real revolution. It helps to differentiate between different types of pleural effusions, guides the performance of pleural biopsies when necessary and is more cost-effective under these conditions, and assists in the decision to remove thoracic drainage after talc pleurodesis...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

2022, the updated guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension (PH) of the European Societies of Cardiology and Pneumology were published. This resulted in important innovations concerning the hemodynamic definition as well as diagnosis and therapy of PH. In the following, an overview of the definition and classification of PH will be given, followed by a discussion of risk stratification and therapy of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Since 2017, hypoglossal nerve stimulation has been included in the S3-guidelines on restorative sleep/sleep disorders as an alternative treatment for patients with obstructive sleep related breathing disorders who cannot tolerate conventional PAP-therapy. Under certain conditions, some of these patients have the option to have a tongue pacemaker implanted during a surgical procedure to regain a restful night's sleep. However, in some cases it does not solve the problem. In this case report, we present a patient who continued to have restless sleep despite implantation of a hypoglossus nerve stimulator...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

At our Pneumology Department, we dealt with three waves of COVID-19 pandemics. The purpose of this study is to compare patients' epidemiological and clinical characteristics across waves and to assess the effect of vaccination on clinical presentation, course, and prognosis. From March 2020 to March 2022, a retrospective cohort study was conducted to compare patient characteristics. Based on the time of hospital admission, data from 456 patients were collected and divided into three groups (IW, IIW, and IIIW)...

Situs inversus is a rare congenital disorder where the reversal of some of the major thoracic or abdominal organs is present. In this disorder, alterations in the fetus's organ lateralization lead to a complete reversal in the arrangement of the internal organs. Most of the time, they are found incidentally when having a procedure or imaging modality. Little has been written regarding the challenges encountered while providing critical care to these patients. Here we present the case of a 68-year-old male patient admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with hypoxemic respiratory failure secondary to pneumonia who underwent diagnostic bronchoscopy for organism identification and was confirmed to have situs inversus totalis...

BACKGROUND: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) is an endothelial cell receptor used by SARS-CoV- 2 virus to enter cells. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs), mainly spirometry, are the main diagnostic tools for most respiratory diseases. PFTs are mandatory for assessing the response to therapy. AIM: We evaluated patients after the SARS-CoV-2 infection through flow-volume spirometry that evaluates the role of drugs inhibiting the ACE2 pathway. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We evaluated 112 Caucasian patients 3-6 months after COVID-19 disease, i...

The guideline update outlines the advantages as well as the limitations of NIV in the treatment of acute respiratory failure in daily clinical practice and in different indications.Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has a high value in therapy of hypercapnic acute respiratory failure, as it significantly reduces the length of ICU stay and hospitalization as well as mortality.Patients with cardiopulmonary edema and acute respiratory failure should be treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and oxygen in addition to necessary cardiological interventions...

Pneumology and phthisiology (respiratory medicine) has undergone dynamic development in the last two decades. The main focus of pulmonology in the past was care for patients with tuberculosis and pneumonia. Since then, respiratory medicine evolved and the current focus is on chronic pulmonary diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchial asthma, interstitial lung diseases, but also on acute lung conditions (e.g., pneumonia, pleural diseases, respiratory failure), pneumooncology or highly specialized care for rare lung diseases (e...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The use of monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based therapies is becoming the new standard of care for severe uncontrolled asthma (SUA). Even though patients may qualify for one or more of these targeted treatments, based on different clinical criteria, a global vision of mAb prescription management in a large sample of hospitals is not well characterised in Spain.The objective was to give a global vision of mAb prescription management in a large sample of hospitals in Spain...