Diaphragm Pacing in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury:A European Experience

BACKGROUND: Patients with high spinal cord injury (SCI) are unable to breathe on their own and require mechanical ventilation (MV). The long-term use of MV is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In patients with intact phrenic nerve function, patients can be partially or completely removed from MV by directly stimulating the diaphragm motor points with a diaphragm pacing system (DPS). OBJECTIVES: We describe our multicenter European experience using DPS in SCI patients who required MV. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of patients who were evaluated for the implantation of DPS. Patients evaluated for DPS who met the prospectively defined criteria of being at least 1 year of age, and having cervical injury resulting in a complete or partial dependency on MV were included. Patients who received DPS implants were followed for up to 1 year for device usage and safety. RESULTS: Across 3 centers, 47 patients with high SCI were evaluated for DPS, and 34 were implanted. Twenty-one patients had 12 months of follow-up data with a median DPS use of 15 h/day (interquartile range 4, 24). Eight patients (38.1%) achieved complete MV weaning using DPS 24 h/day. Two DPS-related complications were surgical device revision and a wire eruption. No other major complications were associated with DPS use. CONCLUSIONS: Diaphragm pacing represents an attractive alternative stand-alone treatment or adjunctive therapy compared to MV in patients with high SCI. After a period of acclimation, the patients were able to reduce the daily use of MV, and many could be completely removed from MV

Pleuroparenchymal Fibroelastosis : a New Entity within the Spectrum of Rare Idiopathic Interstitial Pneumonias

Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) is a rare entity that has been recently included in the official American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) statement in 2013 as a group of rare idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs). PPFE is characterized by pleural and subpleural parenchymal thickening due to elastic fiber proliferation, mainly in the upper lobes. The etiology of the disease is unclear, although some cases have been associated as a complication after bone marrow transplantation, lung transplantation (LT), chemotherapy, and recurrent respiratory infections. The patients usually report progressive dyspnea and dry cough and are predisposed to develop spontaneous or iatrogenic pneumothoraces after surgical lung biopsy (SLB) for its diagnosis. That is why better awareness with the clinical and radiologic features can help optimal management by the multidisciplinary team. Novel invasive techniques such as cryobiopsy may become useful tools in these patients as it could spare SLB. We present the first reported cases in Spain

Efficacy of Budesonide Orodispersible Tablets as Induction Therapy for Eosinophilic Esophagitis in a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Swallowed topical-acting corticosteroids are recommended as first-line therapy for eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Asthma medications not optimized for esophageal delivery are sometimes effective, although given off-label. We performed a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of a budesonide orodispersible tablet (BOT), which allows the drug to be delivered to the esophagus in adults with active EoE. METHODS: We performed a double-blind, parallel study of 88 adults with active EoE in Europe. Patients were randomly assigned to groups that received BOT (1 mg twice daily; n = 59) or placebo (n = 29) for 6 weeks. The primary end point was complete remission, based on clinical and histologic factors, including dysphagia and odynophagia severity ≤2 on a scale of 0-10 on each of the 7 days before the end of the double-blind phase and a peak eosinophil count <5 eosinophils/high power field. Patients who did not achieve complete remission at the end of the 6-week double-blind phase were offered 6 weeks of open-label treatment with BOT (1 mg twice daily). RESULTS: At 6 weeks, 58% of patients given BOT were in complete remission compared with no patients given placebo (P < .0001). The secondary end point of histologic remission was achieved by 93% of patients given BOT vs no patients given placebo (P < .0001). After 12 weeks, 85% of patients had achieved remission. Six-week and 12-week BOT administration were safe and well tolerated; 5% of patients who received BOT developed symptomatic, mild candida, which was easily treated with an oral antifungal agent. CONCLUSIONS: In a randomized trial of adults with active EoE, we found that budesonide oral tablets were significantly more effective than placebo in inducing clinical and histologic remission. Eudra-CT number 2014-001485-99; ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT02434029

Pleuroparenchymal Fibroelastosis : A New Entity within the Spectrum of Rare Idiopathic Interstitial Pneumonias

Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) is a rare entity that has been recently included in the official American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) statement in 2013 as a group of rare idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs). PPFE is characterized by pleural and subpleural parenchymal thickening due to elastic fiber proliferation, mainly in the upper lobes. The etiology of the disease is unclear, although some cases have been associated as a complication after bone marrow transplantation, lung transplantation (LT), chemotherapy, and recurrent respiratory infections. The patients usually report progressive dyspnea and dry cough and are predisposed to develop spontaneous or iatrogenic pneumothoraces after surgical lung biopsy (SLB) for its diagnosis. That is why better awareness with the clinical and radiologic features can help optimal management by the multidisciplinary team. Novel invasive techniques such as cryobiopsy may become useful tools in these patients as it could spare SLB. We present the first reported cases in Spain

A benchmarking project on the quality of previous guidelines about the management of malignant pleural effusion from the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) Pleural Diseases Working Group

OBJECTIVES: In the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) survey about management of malignant pleural effusions (MPE), 56% of respondents are not informed of any relevant clinical guidelines and 52%, who are aware of the existence of guidelines, declared that they are in need of updating or revision. The ESTS Pleural Diseases Working Group developed a benchmarking project on quality of previous guidelines on the management of MPE. METHODS: The Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II instrument was used to assess each guideline. Each item was scored on a 7-point scale. Scores for each domain were calculated. Economic data for the nations which have issued the guidelines were collected from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development health statistics database. RESULTS: Six guidelines fitted the inclusion criteria and were assessed. Five out of 6 guidelines were produced by a multinational collaboration. Observers would recommend only 2 guidelines with minimal modification. Two areas that received the best score were clarity of presentation and scope and purpose (objectives and health questions target population). The applicability of guideline domain had the lowest score. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that clarity of presentation, international guidelines and publication through medical journal were related to improved scores. A strong correlation was observed between the measures of economic status. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of guidelines assessed by the AGREE II criteria was found to be extremely variable. Guidelines achieving higher AGREE II scores were more likely to come from the European Union with the direct involvement of scientific societies in their development. It was also recognized that some fundamental unanswered questions remain about the management of MPE