Ethics of Writing Personal Statements and Letters of Recommendations with Large Language Models.

Large language models are becoming ubiquitous in the editing and generation of written content and are actively being explored for their use in medical education. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) engines to generate content in academic spaces is controversial and has been meet with swift responses and guidance from academic journals and publishers regarding the appropriate use or disclosure of use of AI engines in professional writing. To date, there is no guidance to applicants of graduate medical education programs in using AI engines to generate application content-primarily personal statements and letters of recommendation.

Virtual Reality Anatomy Trainer Turns Teaching Endobronchial Ultrasound Inside-Out.

Background: Traditional approaches for learning anatomy for curvilinear endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) require learners to mentally visualize structures relative to the position of the bronchoscope. Virtual reality (VR) can show anatomy from the perspective of bronchoscopic tools.

Research Question: Does the use of a VR anatomy trainer for teaching EBUS-associated anatomy improve procedural performance compared with traditional methods?

Study Design And Methods: In this randomized, crossover study design, participants studied EBUS-related anatomy during two sequential sessions using a VR trainer and a traditional modality (two-dimensional pictures or a three-dimensional model).

Competency-based medical education in interventional pulmonology: current state and future opportunities.

Purpose Of Review: This chapter examines the evolution and current status of competency-based medical education (CBME) in interventional pulmonology, focusing on procedural skills assessment and training.

Recent Findings: Traditionally, interventional pulmonology training has used an apprenticeship model with case logs and director attestation, leading to inconsistent outcomes due to a lack of standardized curricula. CBME, established to address these issues, relies on outcome-based assessments to ensure trainees achieve necessary competencies.

Custom silicone Y-stents for the management of anastomotic stenosis in lung transplant recipients.

Background: Airway stenting may be needed to manage anastomotic complications in lung transplant recipients. Conventional stenting strategies may be inadequate due to anatomic variations between the recipient and donor or involvement of both the anastomosis and lobar bronchi.

Methods: We investigated the efficacy of 3D-designed patient-specific silicone Y-stents in managing this scenario.

Flexible CO2 Laser in Therapeutic Bronchoscopy: Initial Experiences in a Tertiary Center.

Background: CO2 Laser (CO2L) technology deployable through flexible endoscopes now allows for their use throughout the airway, although published data are limited.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of CO2L bronchoscopic procedures, excluding glottic and subglottic interventions. Procedural success was defined as >50% visual reduction in airway obstruction in the area treated or resolution of the procedural indication.

The Resident Learning Journey in the Medical Intensive Care Unit.

Background: The medical intensive care unit (MICU) offers rich resident learning opportunities, but traditional teaching strategies can be difficult to employ in this fast-paced, high-acuity environment. Resident perspectives of learning within this environment may improve our understanding of the common challenges residents face and inform novel approaches to transform the MICU educational experience.

Objective: We conducted a qualitative study of internal medicine residents to better understand their approach to learning the critical care activities that they are entrusted to perform in the MICU.

Feasibility and Efficacy of a Non-Opioid Based Pain Management After Medical Thoracoscopy.

Background: Prescription opioids are a major cause of the opioid epidemic. Despite the minimally invasive nature of medical thoracoscopy (MT), data on the efficacy of non-opioid-based pain control after MT is lacking. The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility and efficacy of a non-opioid-based pain management strategy in patients who underwent MT.

Activation of a Latent Epitope Causing Differential Binding of Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies to Proteinase 3.

Objective: Proteinase 3 (PR3) is the major antigen for antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) in the systemic autoimmune vasculitis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). PR3-targeting ANCAs (PR3-ANCAs) recognize different epitopes on PR3. This study was undertaken to study the effect of mutations on PR3 antigenicity.

Bleeding Risk With Combination Intrapleural Fibrinolytic and Enzyme Therapy in Pleural Infection: An International, Multicenter, Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Combination intrapleural fibrinolytic and enzyme therapy (IET) has been established as a therapeutic option in pleural infection. Despite demonstrated efficacy, studies specifically designed and adequately powered to address complications are sparse. The safety profile, the effects of concurrent therapeutic anticoagulation, and the nature and extent of nonbleeding complications remain poorly defined.

Early thoracentesis correlated with survival benefit in patients with spontaneous bacterial empyema.

Background: Spontaneous bacterial empyema (SBEM) is a rare complication of hepatic hydrothorax characterized by hydrothorax infection in the absence of pneumonia.

Aims And Methods: We conducted this study to compare clinical outcomes in SBEM patients who underwent early thoracentesis (ET) (≤ 24 h from presentation) versus those who underwent delayed thoracentesis (DT). All patients diagnosed with SBEM at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota from January 1st 1999 to December 31st 2020 were reviewed.

Utility of Transbronchial Biopsy in the Immunocompromised Host With New Pulmonary Radiographic Abnormalities.

Objective: To assess how often transbronchial biopsy (TBBx) added unique positive findings apart from other synchronous bronchoscopic sampling techniques including the bronchoalveolar lavage-immunocompromised host (BAL-ICH) panel that justified changes in management in an array of immunocompromised patients with new pulmonary radiographic abnormalities.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all bronchoscopies performed at Mayo Clinic Rochester between January 2012 and December 2017; on the basis of the physician's selection of a BAL-ICH panel, we identified 192 immunocompromised patients who underwent bronchoscopy with both a BAL-ICH panel and TBBx. The results of the BAL-ICH panel and TBBx were compared and subsequent management decisions analyzed from clinical notes.

Bronchoscopic Cryobiopsy and Forceps Biopsy for the Diagnostic Evaluation of Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease in Clinical Practice.

Objective: To assess the contribution and safety of bronchoscopic cryobiopsy vs traditional forceps biopsy used in clinical practice for diagnosing diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD).

Patients And Methods: We identified 271 patients who underwent bronchoscopic biopsy for DPLD at Mayo Clinic, MN (June 1, 2013, through September 30, 2017). Medical records were reviewed including prebiopsy clinical and radiographic impressions.

Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction: A New Hope for Patients With Severe Emphysema and Air Trapping.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is common and has significant morbidity and mortality as the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. In many patients, particularly those with emphysema, COPD is characterized by markedly increased residual volume contributing to exertional dyspnea. Current therapies have limited efficacy.

Remote Activation of a Latent Epitope in an Autoantigen Decoded With Simulated B-Factors.

Mutants of a catalytically inactive variant of Proteinase 3 (PR3)-iPR3-Val possessing a Ser195Ala mutation relative to wild-type PR3-Val-offer insights into how autoantigen PR3 interacts with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and whether such interactions can be interrupted. Here we report that iHm5-Val, a triple mutant of iPR3-Val, bound a monoclonal antibody (moANCA518) from a GPA patient on an epitope remote from the mutation sites, whereas the corresponding epitope of iPR3-Val was latent to moANCA518. Simulated B-factor analysis revealed that the binding of moANCA518 to iHm5-Val was due to increased main-chain flexibility of the latent epitope caused by remote mutations, suggesting rigidification of epitopes with therapeutics to alter pathogenic PR3·ANCA interactions as new GPA treatments.

Periprocedural Major Bleeding Risk of Image-Guided Percutaneous Chest Tube Placement in Patients with an Elevated International Normalized Ratio.

Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of major hemorrhage after image-guided percutaneous chest tube placement in patients with an abnormal international normalized ratio (INR) measured before the procedure.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2013 and September 2017, 49 image-guided percutaneous chest tubes were placed in 45 adult patients who had an elevated INR of greater than 1.6.

The Safety of Ultrasound-Guided Thoracentesis in Patients on Novel Oral Anticoagulants and Clopidogrel: A Single-Center Experience.

Objective: To assess the risk of hemorrhagic complications in patients taking novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) and/or clopidogrel who underwent an ultrasound-guided thoracentesis.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of ultrasound-guided thoracenteses completed at an academic institution between January 1, 2016, and November 14, 2017. All patients who underwent a thoracentesis while actively receiving treatment with an NOAC and/or clopidogrel were included in the study.

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma with superimposed lung abscess: potential role for intracavitary fibrinolytic therapy through a percutaneous drain to facilitate lung abscess drainage.

This is a case of primary pulmonary lymphoma presenting concurrently with superimposed lung abscess, managed with the assistance of intracavitary fibrinolytic therapy. A 28-year-old man presented with 2 months of persistent cough. He had a large lung abscess involving almost the entire right upper lobe.

Comparison of Programmed Death Ligand-1 Immunohistochemical Staining Between Endobronchial Ultrasound Transbronchial Needle Aspiration and Resected Lung Cancer Specimens.

Background: In advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small biopsy specimens from endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) are often the only available material from cancer tissue for the analysis of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression. We aim to assess the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of PD-L1 expression at ≥ 1% and ≥ 50% on EBUS-TBNA samples compared with their corresponding surgically resected tumor.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA followed by surgical resection of NSCLC between July 2006 and September 2016.

Paclitaxel-coated balloon dilation for central airway obstruction.

Introduction: Central airway obstruction (CAO) often requires repeated interventional procedures which offer variable efficacy, a time-limited effect, and have inherent limitations. Paclitaxel has been used to prevent restenosis in blood vessels. The literature describing the use of paclitaxel to prevent recurrent airway stenosis is limited.