An Unusual Cause of Failure to Ventilate.

We report an unusual case of endotracheal tube failure. It was due to a manufacturing defect in the internal white plastic piece that is normally depressed by the luer-lock syringe within the blue pilot balloon. Prior to use, the endotracheal tube was tested and functioned normally.

Varicella Pneumonia: Case Report and Review of a Potentially Lethal Complication of a Common Disease.

Varicella zoster virus causes varicella (chickenpox). It can be reactivated endogenously many years later to cause herpes zoster (shingles). Although varicella is usually a benign disease in healthy children, it resulted in over 11 000 hospitalizations and over 100 deaths every year, in all ages, in the United States.

Near-fatal kinking of mammary graft due to emphysematous lung disease.

Left internal mammary artery grafting is commonly used in elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery. We report a near-fatal case with graft kinking upon sternal closure due to distended, emphysematous lungs impinging on the mammary graft. After the sternum was closed, the patient suffered a severe hemodynamic deterioration.

Hospital initiatives in promoting smoking cessation: A 12-year follow-up.

In the present study, the availability of smoking cessation programs (SCP) was surveyed in the same randomly selected USA hospitals in 2000 and 2012. A total of 102 USA hospitals were randomly selected for this survey. Each hospital website was searched for the topic of smoking cessation.

Methylene blue treatment for cytokine release syndrome-associated vasoplegia following a renal transplant with rATG infusion: A case report and literature review.

Rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (rATG) is an infusion of polyclonal rabbit-derived antibodies against human thymocyte markers, which can be used to prevent and treat acute rejection following organ transplantation. However, the product monograph issued by the manufacturer (Sanofi Canada) reports that serious immune-mediated reactions have been observed following the use of rATG, consisting of anaphylaxis or severe cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which is a form of vasoplegic syndrome (VS), in which distributive shock occurs refractory to norepinephrine (NE) and vasopressin (VP). Severe infusion-associated reactions are consistent with CRS and can cause serious cardiac or respiratory problems, or in certain cases, mortality.