Publications by authors named "K Vipperla"
N95-filtering facepiece respirators (FFR) use is associated with physiological changes and symptoms due to impaired nasal airflow and increased breathing resistance. We prospectively studied the effect of using an external nasal dilator (END) in gastroenterology laboratory (gastrointestinal lab) staff using N95FFR. N95FFR qualitative saccharine fit testing was performed on study participants with and without an END.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Pain burn-out during the course of chronic pancreatitis (CP), proposed in the 1980s, remains controversial, and has clinical implications. We aimed to describe the natural course of pain in a well-characterized cohort.
Methods: We constructed the clinical course of 279 C P patients enrolled from 2000 to 2014 in the North American Pancreatitis Studies from UPMC by retrospectively reviewing their medical records (median observation period, 12.
Article Synopsis
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, gastroenterologists were required to wear N95 masks while performing procedures, prompting a study on the physiological effects of this protective gear.
- In the study, many gastroenterologists experienced negative symptoms like difficulty breathing, fatigue, and headaches while using N95 masks, with a significant number showing elevated heart rates.
- The research concluded that wearing N95 respirators leads to acute physiological changes and discomfort among healthcare providers, while alternative powered air-purifying respirators were better tolerated but still caused some issues.
Background: Chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients have a high prevalence of osteoporotic fractures. In addition to prevalence of osteoporotic fractures, we evaluated how often bone health is assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in clinical practice, and the performance of Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX®) in predicting fracture risk in CP patients.
Methods: Medical records of CP patients age ≥40 years prospectively enrolled in the North American Pancreatitis Study 2 (NAPS2) from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from 2000 to 2014 were retrospectively reviewed to gather additional relevant data before, at, and after enrollment until December 2016.
Objective: No standardized system is currently used to report the presence or severity of parenchymal and ductal features of chronic pancreatitis (CP) on CT scan. We report a modification to the previously proposed Cambridge classification to serve this purpose.
Methods: Contrast-enhanced CT scans of 158 well-phenotyped patients with CP enrolled in the North American Pancreatitis Studies (NAPS2) during 2000-2014 from the University of Pittsburgh were retrospectively reviewed by a subspecialty trained abdominal radiologist.