Utilization of bronchodilators in ventilated patients without obstructive airways disease.

Objective: To examine physician practice in, and the costs of, prescribing inhaled bronchodilators to mechanically ventilated patients who do not have obstructive lung disease.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study at 2 medical intensive care units at 2 tertiary-care academic medical centers, over a 6-month period. Included were the patients who required > or = 24 hours of mechanical ventilation but did not have obstructive lung disease.

Ex vivo evaluation of human lungs for transplant suitability.

Background: If lungs could be retrieved from non-heart-beating donors, the critical shortage of lungs for transplant could be alleviated. An obstacle to this approach is the inability to predict these lungs' suitability for transplant. We used human lungs deemed unsuitable for transplant to develop a method to perfuse and ventilate human lungs ex vivo to assess gas exchange and vascular resistance, and to perform bronchoscopic inspection and radiographic evaluation.