Donor respiratory multidrug-resistant bacteria and lung transplantation outcomes.

Rationale: Respiratory culture screening is mandatory for all potential lung transplant donors. There is limited evidence on the significance of donor multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria on transplant outcomes. Establishing the safety of allografts colonized with MDR bacteria has implications for widening an already limited donor pool.

Donor blood cultures and outcomes after lung transplantation: a single-center report.

Background: Transplanting lungs from donors with positive blood cultures has not been shown to adversely affect survival. There is limited evidence for potential effects on other outcomes, such as hospital course, graft function, and transmission of infection.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included adult patients who underwent lung-only transplantation for the first time between March 2010 and December 2022.

A systematic review of trials currently investigating therapeutic modalities for post-acute COVID-19 syndrome and registered on WHO International Clinical Trials Platform.

Background: Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS) is a well-recognized, complex, systemic disease which is associated with substantial morbidity. There is a paucity of established interventions for the treatment of patients with this syndrome.

Objectives: To systematically review registered trials currently investigating therapeutic modalities for PACS.

Association between 17q21 variants and asthma predisposition in Pashtun population from Pakistan.

Objective: Asthma is a heterogeneous and genetically complex respiratory disease, and more than 300 million people are affected worldwide. In this study, frequencies of four SNPs (rs3816470, rs7216389, rs8067378, rs12603332) in chromosome 17q21 region were analyzed and their relationship with the asthma susceptibility, in the Pashtun population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KPK) of Pakistan were investigated.

Methods: DNA samples from 500 subjects (asthma cases/controls) were genotyped by Sanger sequencing.

Extracorporeal life support as a bridge to pulmonary retransplantation: prognostic factors for survival in a multicentre cohort analysis.

Objectives: Pulmonary retransplant (ReTx) is considered a controversial procedure. Despite literature reporting outcomes following ReTx, limited data exist in recipients bridged to their ReTx on extracorporeal life support (ECLS). The goal of this study was to investigate the outcomes of recipients bridged to a first-time ReTx by ECLS.

Reporting of Differences in Taste Between Branded and Unbranded Cigarettes by Smokers Blinded to Cigarette Branding: Within-Person, Randomized Crossover Study.

Background: Saudi Arabia implemented a plain tobacco packaging regulation, one of the World Health Organization's recommended initiatives to help reduce smoking rates, in August 2019. A few weeks after implementation, a large number of smokers complained via various media channels, especially social media (eg, Twitter), that an extreme change in cigarette taste had occurred, frequency of coughing had increased, and for some, shortness of breath had led to hospitalization.

Objective: The main objective is to determine whether smokers blinded to cigarette branding report differences in taste between branded and unbranded cigarettes.

Implications of COVID-19 pandemic on lung cancer management: A multidisciplinary perspective.

Treatment of patients with lung cancer during the current COVID-19 pandemic is challenging. Lung cancer is a heterogenous disease with a wide variety of therapeutic options. Oncologists have to determine the risks and benefits of modifying the treatment plans of patients especially in situation where the disease biology and treatment are complex.

Contrast transesophageal three dimensional echocardiographic imaging for patent foramen ovale: a needful role?

We report a case of a 55-year-old male admitted for cardiogenic embolic ischemic stroke work up. A transesophageal (TE) echocardiography (E) with contrast study to rule out patent foramen ovale (PFO) was performed; two-dimensional (2D) analysis did not detect any bubbles passage during Valsalva manoeuvre in the standard 2D cross sectional planes; further real time three-dimensional (3D) TEE imaging revealed passage of bubbles in the left atrium (LA) by both real-time 3DTEE imaging and by the 2D unconventional cross-sectional planes allowed by 3DTEE imaging. Even though 2DTEE is considered to be the gold standard modality for diagnosing PFO, it has some limitations.

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Medical Students' Research Output in Five Developing Countries.

Objectives The purpose of this analysis was to investigate the quantity and quality of medical students' research output in Gulf Cooperation Council countries to aid in developing strategies to improve research output. Methods Abstracts presented by medical students in Gulf Cooperation Council countries were subject to analysis. Abstracts that propagated into full-length articles underwent further demographic analysis, in which data regarding the type of study, the field of study, country of origin, mode of presentation, and journal's impact factor were collected.

A Right Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Enucleation of a Calcified Esophageal Leiomyoma: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Benign esophageal tumors are considered rare, and most commonly are leiomyomas with the incidence of 0.005%. They arise intramurally in the distal two-thirds of the esophagus and are multiple in about 5% of patients.

Three dimensional echocardiographic imaging of multiple recurrent myxomas.

We report a case of a recurrence of 5 cardiac myxomas in both atria with atypical anatomical features difficult to image. Although a multimodality imaging was performed, three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) was the only technique able to correctly identify all the recurrences and the anatomical characteristics of the myxomas. MRI detected the blood supply of the mass but even after careful review was able to identify only 4 of the 5 lesions.

Missed pulmonary metastasis.

Objective: To assess the rate of detection of pulmonary nodules on preoperative computed tomography, based on intraoperative palpation of non-imaged pulmonary nodules, in patients who underwent thoracotomy for metastasectomy with bimanual lung palpation.

Methods: A retrospective study carried out on all cases of pulmonary metastasectomy performed in King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center over a 10-year period (2001-2011). The number of nodules detected on preoperative computed tomography by a radiologist was compared with the number of nodules identified on pathology.

Antibiotic resistance and serotype distribution of invasive pneumococcal diseases before and after introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most common bacterial causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, causing life threatening infections such as meningitis, pneumonia and febrile bacteremia, particular among young children. The severity and frequency of S. pneumoniae infection and emergence of drug-resistant isolates have highlighted the need for prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) as the best method for controlling disease; to better achieve this, more information is needed about serotype distribution and patterns of antibiotic resistance in children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Introducing medical humanities in the medical curriculum in Saudi Arabia: A pedagogical experiment.

In a marked shift from the modern positivist materialist philosophy that influenced medical education for more than a century, Western medical educators are now beginning to realize the significance of the spiritual element of human nature. Consensus is currently building up in Europe and North America on the need to give more emphasis to the study of humanities disciplines such as history of medicine, ethics, religion, philosophy, medically related poetry, literature, arts and medical sociology in medical colleges with the aim of allowing graduates to reach to the heart of human learning about meaning of life and death and to become kinder, more reflective practitioners. The medicine taught and practiced during the Islamic civilization era was a vivid example of the unity of the two components of medical knowledge: natural sciences and humanities.

Clinical use of combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography in thymoma recurrence.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of hybrid fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) for surveillance and follow-up of thymoma patients to detect recurrent disease. A retrospective chart review was performed on 37 thymoma patients who underwent FDG-PET/CT-scans during postoperative follow-up. The following information was obtained: clinical indication for FDG-PET/CT, the results of the FDG-PET/CT, particularly with regard to the additional diagnostic imaging information, the localization of the disease and subsequent clinical patient management.

Thoracoscopic enucleation of esophageal leiomyoma in patient with MEN I syndrome.

Minimal invasive thoracic surgery is growing rapidly and may become the standard of care for certain diseases. Its benefits over traditional surgery, including reduced morbidities and hospital stay, have been well established in several reports. We herein report a case of midesophageal leiomyoma in a patient with MEN I syndrome successfully enucleated by thoracoscopy highlighting the technical details of the procedure.

Surgical results for bronchiectasis based on hemodynamic (functional and morphologic) classification.

Objective: This study was a prospective evaluation of surgical indications and outcomes for unilateral and bilateral bronchiectasis according to hemodynamic (functional and morphologic) classification.

Methods: Between January 1998 and January 2004, the morphologic features (cystic versus cylindric) by chest computed tomography and the hemodynamic features (perfused versus nonperfused) by lung ventilation/perfusion scan were determined in 66 patients with bronchiectasis (53 unilateral and 13 bilateral). The indication for surgical resection in both groups was the presence of localized areas of cystic, nonperfused bronchiectasis.

Slide tracheoplasty for congenital tracheal stenosis with glottic stenosis.

A 7-month-old child with respiratory distress was diagnosed to have full-length tracheal stenosis with glottic stenosis. Slide tracheoplasty and anterior cricoid split with stenting for glottic stenosis were successfully performed, and the child has completed 5 years of asymptomatic follow-up. This case widens the scope for slide tracheoplasty, and cricoid split with stenting is a feasible procedure for associated glottic stenosis.

Unusual presentation of rib exostosis.

We report two cases of unusual presentation of rib exostosis. The first patient presented acutely with hemorrhagic shock due to massive hemothorax, and the second patient presented with repetitive chest infection complicated by empyema. In both patients, preoperative computed tomographic (CT) scan of the chest revealed rib exostoses, necessitating thoracotomy and rib resection.