Indeterminate Pulmonary Nodule

Overall Goals and Objectives: Following this activity, a participant should be able to: 1. Recognize recent advances and developments in Pulmonary Medicine & Critical Care and translate into clinical practice 2. Integrate perspectives of multiple disciplines into decision-making on behalf of patients through structured plans for patient care. 3. Develop areas for future research and discuss appropriate methods to address these needs. 4. Summarize and continually improve communications as a team, caring for Pulmonary/Critical Care patients. Presentation: 56 minute

A single institution experience for the management of recurrent pleural effusions with tunneled pleural catheter and its evolution

Background: Indwelling tunneled pleural catheters (TPCs) are increasingly being used to treat recurrent pleural effusions. There is also an increased interest in early pleurodesis in order to prevent infectious complications. We studied the time to removal and other outcomes for all the TPCs placed at our institution. Methods: After institutional review board approval, records of patients who had had a TPC placed between July 2009 and June 2016 were reviewed; the catheters were placed in an endoscopy suite or during pleuroscopy with or without a sclerosant. The catheters were drained daily or less frequently and were removed after three drainages of less than 50 ml. Results: During the study period 193 TPCs were placed. Of these 45 (23%) were placed for benign diseases. The commonest malignancy was lung cancer 70 (36%). Drainage 2–3 times a week without a sclerosant ( n = 100) lead to pleurodesis at 57 ± 78 days, while daily drainage after TPC + pleuroscopy + talc ( n = 41) achieved the same result in 14 ± 8 days ( p < 0.001). TPC + talc + daily protocol achieved pleurodesis in 19 ± 7 days, TPC + rapid protocol achieved the same result in 28 ± 19 days ( p = 0.013). The TPCs + sclerosant had an odds ratio of 6.01 (95% confidence interval: 2.1–17.2) of having a complication versus TPC without sclerosant. Conclusions: It is clear that TPCs when placed with a sclerosant had a significantly shorter dwell time; However, they were associated with higher odds of complications. One must be aware of these possibilities when offering what is essentially a palliative therapy

The Role of Diagnostic Bronchoscopy in Refractory Asthma Management

Refractory asthma is an uncommon entity, manifesting in less than five percent of asthmatics and characterized by high medication requirements, persistent symptoms, frequent exacerbations, and significant airflow obstruction despite standard medical therapy.[1] Bronchoscopy may be an effective tool for identifying refractory asthma phenotypes.[3] The objective of this case series is to demonstrate the use of bronchoscopy to personalize treatment among a population of refractory asthmatics.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/pulmcritcareposters/1002/thumbnail.jp

A bronchoscopic approach to benign subglottic stenosis

Objectives: Subglottic stenosis is an abnormal narrowing of the tracheal lumen at the level of subglottis (the area in between the vocal cords and the cricoid cartilage). It can cause significant symptoms due to severe attenuation of airflow. We describe our experience in alleviating symptoms by addressing the stenosis using fibreoptic bronchoscopic methods. Methods: We report all concurrent cases performed between September 2015 and July 2016. We use a combination of balloon dilation, electro-surgery knife to dilate and incise stenotic segments followed by steroid injection to modulate healing. Results: We treated 10 patients in the study period, 8 of which were women. A total of 39 procedures were performed on these patients during this period. Gastro-esophageal reflux was the most common comorbidity associated with stenosis. The majority of the patients required more than 2 therapeutic procedures, but none required more than 4 procedures. There were no complications. Conclusion: Tracheal stenosis and in particular subglottic stenosis is a recurrent process and its management requires extensive collaboration amongst treating specialties. Our technique of steroid injection after dilation of the stenosis was effective in symptom control and decreased the number of repeat procedures