Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chronic disease management and patient reported outcomes in patients with pulmonary hypertension: The Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry.

To better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care of patients with pulmonary hypertension, we conducted a retrospective cohort study evaluating health insurance status, healthcare access, disease severity, and patient reported outcomes in this population. Using the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry (PHAR), we defined and extracted a longitudinal cohort of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients from the PHAR's inception in 2015 until March 2022. We used generalized estimating equations to model the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient outcomes, adjusting for demographic confounders.

Rituximab for steroid-resistant organising pneumonia in a woman with rheumatoid arthritis.

Organising pneumonia (OP) is a form of interstitial pneumonia characterised by inflammation and scarring leading to obstruction within the small airways and alveoli. Practice guidelines recommend treatment of moderate to severe OP with glucocorticoids; however, there have been cases of steroid-resistant OP successfully treated with rituximab. We describe a case of a woman in her 20s with rheumatoid arthritis who presented with pleuritic chest pain, haemoptysis and dyspnoea on exertion and was diagnosed with OP after multiple radiographic images and biopsies.

Echocardiography performed by the pulmonary/critical care medicine physician.

Echocardiography is a noninvasive, readily available tool routinely used in the evaluation of critically ill subjects and patients with respiratory disorders. Critical care echocardiography is useful for diagnostic and monitoring purposes, and assists in therapeutic interventions such as pericardiocentesis. Outpatient echocardiography, as applied by the pulmonary specialist, provides important clinical information relevant to the diagnosis and management of the patient with respiratory disorders.

American College of Chest Physicians/La Société de Réanimation de Langue Française statement on competence in critical care ultrasonography.

Objective: To define competence in critical care ultrasonography (CCUS).

Design: The statement is sponsored by the Critical Care NetWork of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) in partnership with La Société de Réanimation de Langue Française (SRLF). The ACCP and the SRLF selected a panel of experts to review the field of CCUS and to develop a consensus statement on competence in CCUS.