Tenecteplase With Concomitant Anticoagulation for Acute Respiratory Failure in Patients With COVID-19: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background Pulmonary thrombosis and thromboembolism play a significant role in the physiologic derangements seen in COVID-19 acute respiratory failure. The effect of thrombolysis with tenecteplase on patient outcomes is unknown. Methods We conducted a randomized, controlled, double-blind, phase II trial comparing tenecteplase versus placebo in patients with COVID-19 acute respiratory failure (NCT04505592).

High-Risk Pulmonary Embolism During Labor: Patient Care Pathways.

While in labor, a 37-year-old woman developed acute dyspnea, hypoxemia, and tachycardia. Transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated severe right ventricular dilation and dysfunction, raising the suspicion of acute pulmonary embolism. The patient indeed had bilateral pulmonary embolism, necessitating percutaneous thrombectomy.

High-Risk Pulmonary Embolism During Labor: JACC Patient Care Pathways.

While in labor, a 37-year-old woman developed acute dyspnea, hypoxemia, and tachycardia. Transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated severe right ventricular dilation and dysfunction, raising the suspicion of acute pulmonary embolism. The patient indeed had bilateral pulmonary embolism, necessitating percutaneous thrombectomy.

Pulmonary Thrombosis and Thromboembolism in COVID-19.

COVID-19, the disease responsible for the devastating pandemic that began at the end of 2019, has been associated with a significantly increased risk of pulmonary thrombosis, even in patients receiving prophylactic anticoagulation. The predilection for thrombosis in COVID-19 may be driven by at least two distinct, but interrelated, processes: a hypercoagulable state responsible for large-vessel thrombosis and thromboembolism and direct vascular and endothelial injury responsible for in situ microvascular thrombosis. The presence of pulmonary thrombosis may explain why hypoxemia is out of proportion to impairment in lung compliance in some patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Cardiac index is associated with oxygenation in COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Eleven participants with COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring mechanical ventilation underwent pulmonary artery catheterization for clinical indications. Clinical interventions or events concurrent with hemodynamic were recorded. Increased cardiac index was associated with worse hypoxemia.

Pre-hospital antiplatelet medication use on COVID-19 disease severity.

Objective: To evaluate the association between pre-hospitalization antiplatelet medication use and COVID-19 disease severity.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Inpatient units at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

COVID-19 Critical Illness Pathophysiology Driven by Diffuse Pulmonary Thrombi and Pulmonary Endothelial Dysfunction Responsive to Thrombolysis.

Patients with severe COVID-19 disease have been characterized as having the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Critically ill COVID-19 patients have relatively well-preserved lung mechanics despite severe gas exchange abnormalities, a feature not consistent with classical ARDS but more consistent with pulmonary vascular disease. Patients with severe COVID-19 also demonstrate markedly abnormal coagulation, with elevated D-dimers and higher rates of venous thromboembolism.

COVID-19 critical illness pathophysiology driven by diffuse pulmonary thrombi and pulmonary endothelial dysfunction responsive to thrombolysis.

Patients with severe COVID-19 disease have been characterized as having the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Critically ill COVID-19 patients have relatively well-preserved lung mechanics despite severe gas exchange abnormalities, a feature not consistent with classical ARDS but more consistent with pulmonary vascular disease. Many patients with severe COVID-19 also demonstrate markedly abnormal coagulation, with elevated d-dimers and higher rates of venous thromboembolism.

Biomarkers and Right Ventricular Dysfunction.

Right ventricular failure is common in critically ill patients, as it frequently results from pulmonary embolism or pulmonary hypertension, and can complicate sepsis and the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Right ventricular dysfunction can be challenging to manage and is associated with poor outcomes in this wide array of disease. Laboratory biomarkers are rapid, noninvasive, accurate, and widely available and thus are useful in the diagnosis and management of right ventricular dysfunction in the critically ill patient.

Adherence to fluid resuscitation guidelines and outcomes in patients with septic shock: Reassessing the "one-size-fits-all" approach.

Objective: The Surviving Sepsis Campaign and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Management Bundle (SEP-1) recommend rapid crystalloid infusion (≥30 mL/kg) for patients with sepsis-induced hypoperfusion or septic shock. We aimed to assess compliance with this recommendation, factors associated with non-compliance, and how compliance relates to mortality.

Design: Retrospective, observational study.

Successful Treatment of Refractory Massive Pulmonary Embolism with Repeated Administration of Systemic Thrombolysis.

Background: We report a case series of two patients in the intensive care unit with massive pulmonary embolism and obstructive shock who had resolution of shock after repeated administration of alteplase.

Case Summaries: Both patients were initially dosed 10 mg of alteplase followed by infusion of 90 mg over 2 hours, but remained in obstructive shock requiring significant inotropic and vasopressor support. Both patients were deemed poor candidates for embolectomy.

Pulmonary Vascular Diseases in the Elderly.

Pulmonary hypertension is a pathologic hemodynamic condition defined by a mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 25 mm Hg or greater at rest. Because of age-associated stiffening of the heart and the pulmonary vasculature and the higher prevalence in the elderly of comorbidities associated with the development of pulmonary hypertension, it is an increasingly common finding in this patient population. A right heart catheterization is necessary for the diagnosis and characterization of pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary artery stiffness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) COPD Study.

Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and particularly emphysema are characterized by stiffness of the aorta, due in part to accelerated elastin degradation in the lungs and aorta. Stiffness of the pulmonary arteries (PAs) may also be increased in COPD and emphysema, but data are lacking. We assessed PA stiffness using MRI in patients with COPD and related these measurements to COPD severity and percent emphysema.

Pulmonary hyperinflation due to gas trapping and pulmonary artery size: The MESA COPD Study.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Since pulmonary artery (PA) size increases in pulmonary hypertension, we measured PA cross-sectional area using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to test the hypothesis that pulmonary hyperinflation due to gas trapping is associated with PA cross-sectional area in COPD.

Methods: The MESA COPD Study recruited participants with COPD and controls from two population-based cohort studies ages 50-79 years with 10 or more pack-years and free of clinical cardiovascular disease.

Ombitasvir-Paritaprevir-Ritonavir-Dasabuvir (Viekira Pak)-Induced Lactic Acidosis.

Objective: To report a case series of three patients with hepatitis C virus infection who all presented with severe type B lactic acidosis shortly after starting treatment with ombitasvir-paritaprevir-ritonavir-dasabuvir.

Design: Case series.

Setting: ICU.

Cor pulmonale parvus in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema: the MESA COPD study.

Background: The classic cardiovascular complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is cor pulmonale or right ventricular (RV) enlargement. Most studies of cor pulmonale were conducted decades ago.

Objectives: This study sought to examine RV changes in contemporary COPD and emphysema using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging.

Pulmonary hypertension in the intensive care unit.

Pulmonary hypertension, a condition that can lead to right ventricular failure and hemodynamic collapse, can be very challenging to manage in critically ill patients who require the intensive care unit. Because of the underlying structure of the right ventricle, significant increases in right ventricular afterload initiate a vicious cycle of degenerating right ventricular function, giving rise to right ventricular failure and cardiogenic shock. In patients with pulmonary hypertension, inciting factors such as sepsis and arrhythmias can exacerbate this process.

World Health Organization Group III pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension in the setting of parenchymal lung disease and conditions associated with chronic hypoxemia is commonly encountered in clinical practice and may adversely affect patients' function and mortality. Diagnosis of this subgroup of pulmonary hypertension has evolved but still requires right heart catheterization for confirmation. The primary treatment goal is optimization of the underlying parenchymal lung or hypoxemia-associated condition prior to consideration of pharmacologic therapy.