The PulmCCM Roundup gathers all the best in pulmonary and critical care from around the web. Browse all the PulmCCM Roundups. Statins Fail for COPD, ARDS Statins have been optimistically tested as a tonic for everything from diabetes to dementia — so far, without success. That consistency was maintained in 2 recent trials showing statins’ [... read more]
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image: EM Ultrasonography Inspiratory collapse of the inferior vena cava: What is it telling us? Jon-Emile S. Kenny M.D. With the dissemination of small, portable, ultrasound devices [or SPUDs], it seems that it is every house-officer’s dream to own the ability and wherewithal to place an ultrasound probe on a patient and find something meaningful; [... read more]
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Image: Rotoprone Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) injures the lungs in a heterogeneous pattern, and the damaged areas are particularly vulnerable to further ventilator-induced lung injury. This is why a lung-protective ventilator strategy using low tidal volumes reduces mortality from ARDS, experts believe. Tidal volumes of 6 mL/kg ideal body weight (calculated from height) using conventional [... read more]
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Using BAL Cellular Analysis in Interstitial Lung Disease The role of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in diagnosing and managing patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) has always been uncertain and controversial. BAL findings are usually nonspecific, suggesting rather than proving the existence of any particular noninfectious condition (including interstitial lung disease). That said, in patients with [... read more]
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Azithromycin to Prevent COPD Exacerbations: What’s New? By Abhishek Biswas, MD Multiple previous studies have suggested likely benefits from using azithromycin as an immunomodulator for cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, diffuse panbronchiolitis, post-transplant obliterative bronchiolitis and COPD. This month, a new Cochrane analysis and clinical review in JAMA concludes that “continuous macrolide antibiotic use for prophylaxis [is] associated with a [... read more]
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About half of people diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can’t or won’t use the most effective therapy, overnight continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Most people with untreated OSA experience multiple episodes of hypoxemia — sometimes hundreds per night. For many patients declining CPAP treatment, their doctors provide overnight oxygen, in the hope that it might [... read more]
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