XTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYgenation (ECMO) can support gas exchange independently of mechanical ventilation in patients with severe acute respiratory failure.ECMO may be used either as a rescue intervention or to minimize ventilator-associated lung injury 1 and its associated multiple organ dysfunction, 2 both crucial determinants of survival for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Legionella-associated respiratory failure has a high mortality, despite modern ventilation modalities. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used to achieve gas exchange independent of pulmonary function in patients with severe respiratory failure. This was a retrospective review of the management and outcome of patients with Legionella-associated respiratory failure treated with ECMO support in a large ECMO center over the past 10 years. A retrospective review of patients with confirmed Legionella-associated severe respiratory failure managed with ECMO support at a single center. Between 2000 and 2010, 19 patients with severe respiratory failure caused by Legionella were managed with ECMO after failure to respond to conventional intensive care management. Median PaO2/FiO2 ratio was 66 and median pCO2 was 60 torr. Sixteen patients (84%) survived to hospital discharge. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation should be considered in patients with Legionella-associated respiratory failure, who have failed conventional ventilation.
Postoperative delirium in older people may result from the interaction between intrinsic brain vulnerability (e.g. neurodegeneration) and precipitating factors (e.g. surgery induced cytokines). Intrinsic brain vulnerability may be overt (e.g. Alzheimer's disease) or preclinical. In cognitively intact older people presenting for surgery, identification of preclinical neurodegeneration using bedside tools could aid postoperative delirium risk stratification. Thinning of the circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness is associated with neurodegenerative disorders e.g. Alzheimer's disease. We propose that thinning of the retinal nerve fibre layer may be present some older people with postoperative delirium due to preclinical neurodegeneration, albeit to a lesser extent than in overt dementia.
Objective: Panton-Valentine leukocidin expressing Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia, an infection that affects predominantly young people, has a mortality rate of >70% despite aggressive conventional management. Little information is available on the management of patients with Panton-Valentine leukocidin expressing S. aureus pneumonia with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. As a large extracorporeal membrane oxygenation center, we reviewed our experience and outcomes with Panton-Valentine Leukocidin expressing S. aureus pneumonia. Data Sources: Locally held register of all extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients at Glenfield Hospital. Study Selection: Retrospective study including all patients with sputum-positive Panton-Valentine leukocidin expressing S. aureus pneumonia managed with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support at a single extracorporeal membrane oxygenation center. Data Synthesis: On review of our database held from September 1989 until date, there were four patients with sputum-confirmed Panton-Valentine leukocidin expressing S. aureus pneumonia managed with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Refractory hypoxemia and/or uncompensated hypercapnia despite optimal conventional management were the indications for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. After varying periods on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with appropriate antibiotic and ancillary care, all four patients were discharged home. Conclusions: Panton-Valentine leukocidin expressing S. aureus pneumonia can cause severe, necrotizing pneumonia associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome, which can be particularly challenging to manage. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support permits low pressure lung ventilation, avoiding barotrauma to lungs made friable by Panton-Valentine leukocidin expressing S. aureus infection. Although this is a small number of patients, the results are encouraging.
Recurrent wheezing in children is frequently due to asthma and responds to bronchodilator therapy. We report a case of a 13-year old boy with a 2-year history of presumed asthma not responding to bronchodilator therapy. Bronchoscopy revealed a right main bronchus tumor, which was diagnosed as bronchial schwannoma after resection by sleeve lobectomy. We review the literature on this tumor.
A left hepatic artery aneurysm has an incidence of 0.8% among the splanchnic artery aneurysms. 20% of splanchnic artery aneurysms are hepatic artery aneurysms. Atherosclerosis (32%) is the most prevalent etiology, followed by trauma (22%) and inflammatory lesions (10%). The average age is 40 (10-83) years, the male to female ratio 2:1. In 64-80% of cases rupture of the aneurysm is the first clinical manifestation. The mortality is then about 35%. The case of a 64 years old female with a symptomatic aneurysm of the left hepatic artery and the case of a 70 years old female, who underwent emergency laparotomy for acute colorectal hemorrhage, with a right hepatic artery aneurysm, which perforated into the gallbladder, with simultaneous colocholecystic fistula is reported and the etiology, histology, and present diagnostic and therapeutic management of hepatic artery aneurysms is discussed.
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