A mechanism for improved talc pleurodesis via foam delivery.

Talcum powder is recognized as the leading drug for pleurodesis, a treatment of choice for malignant pleural effusions. Recently, it was shown that hydrogel foam delivery systems significantly enhanced the number of adhesions between the chest wall and the lung in a New Zealand rabbit model due to the sol-gel transition. However, many questions still remain regarding the cause of improved efficacy, such as: (1) Would only hydrogel foams improve the efficacy of talc pleurodesis? (2) Is it possible to achieve the same efficacy of hydrogels using non-hydrogel foams? 3) What are the physicochemical properties that can be correlated to the efficacy of talc pleurodesis? In this study, we use non-hydrogel foam formulations to determine the efficacy of pleurodesis.

The efficacy of hydrogel foams in talc Pleurodesis.

Background: Malignant pleural effusions are a serious complication of many late stage cancers that adversely affect quality of life. Pleurodesis with talc slurry is a standard treatment option, but clinical failures occur, possible due to poor talc delivery. A novel drug-delivery system was developed that fills the entire thoracic cavity with a liquid foam containing talc.

An improved method of delivering a sclerosing agent for the treatment of malignant pleural effusion.

Background: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a devastating sequela associated with cancer. Talc pleurodesis is a common treatment strategy for MPE but has been estimated to be unsuccessful in up to 20-50% of patients. Clinical failure of talc pleurodesis is thought to be due to poor dispersion.

Dual Defibrillation is Highly Variable: An Analysis of Pulse Interval Delivered in Dual Defibrillation.

Dual defibrillation (DD) is a technique where two external defibrillators are applied with two different pad configurations and discharged to treat refractory ventricular fibrillation (RVF). Although commonly called dual sequential defibrillation (DSD), if the delivered electrical pulses overlap with no pulse interval, the shocks are actually dual simultaneous defibrillation (DSiD). Manual DD technique is not standardized and the effect that the method of activation has on the delivered pulse interval has never been studied.

Visualizing wall enhancement over time in unruptured intracranial aneurysms using 3D vessel wall imaging.

Background: Few studies directed at assessing the visualization of the walls of unruptured aneurysms have used higher-resolution 3D MRI vessel wall imaging. Prospective longitudinal studies are also needed to screen vessel wall changes in unruptured aneurysms.

Purpose: To compare the aneurysm wall visualization on pre- and post-3D isotropic T -weighted Sampling Perfection with Application-optimized Contrasts by using different flip angle Evolutions (SPACE) images and to explore whether there is a change in wall enhancement at follow up.