Effects of Community-based Exercise Prehabilitation for Patients Scheduled for Colorectal Surgery With High Risk for Postoperative Complications: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: To assess the effects of a 3-week community-based exercise program on 30-day postoperative complications in high-risk patients scheduled for elective colorectal resection for (pre)malignancy.

Summary Background Data: Patients with a low preoperative aerobic fitness undergoing colorectal surgery have an increased risk of postoperative complications. It remains, however, to be demonstrated whether prehabilitation in these patients reduces postoperative complications.

The use of oximetry and a questionnaire in primary care enables exclusion of a subsequent obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis.

Purpose: The study aims to prospectively validate the prognostic value of oximetry alone or combined in a two-step strategy with a questionnaire for the exclusion of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in primary care.

Methods: A total of 140 subjects with suspected OSA were included from 54 participating primary care practices. All subjects completed the Philips questionnaire and underwent one night of oximetry prior to referral to a sleep center.

Retrospective validation of a new volumetric capnography parameter for the exclusion of pulmonary embolism at the emergency department.

Volumetric capnography might be used to exclude pulmonary embolism (PE) without the need for computed tomography pulmonary angiography. In a pilot study, a new parameter (CapNoPE) combining the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled per breath (carbon dioxide production ( )), the slope of phase 3 of the volumetric capnogram (slope 3) and respiratory rate (RR) showed promising diagnostic accuracy (where CapNoPE=( ×slope 3)/RR). To retrospectively validate CapNoPE for the exclusion of PE, the volumetric capnograms of 205 subjects (68 with PE) were analysed, based on a large multicentre dataset of volumetric capnograms from subjects with suspected PE at the emergency department.

Validation of the oxygen desaturation index in the diagnostic workup of obstructive sleep apnea.

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common, and diagnosis requires expensive and laborious testing to assess the apnea hypopnea index (AHI). We performed an analysis to explore the relationship between the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) as measured with pulse oximetry and the AHI in our large portable monitoring (PM) database to find an optimal cutoff value for the ODI in order to be able to exclude AHI ≥ 5 on PM.

Methods: Three thousand four hundred thirteen PM recordings were randomly divided into a training set (N = 2281) and a test set (N = 1132).

Reproducibility of hypercapnic ventilatory response measurements with steady-state and rebreathing methods.

In this study, the hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR) was measured, defined as the ventilation response to carbon dioxide tension ( ). We investigated which method, rebreathing or steady-state, is most suitable for measurement of the HCVR in healthy subjects, primarily based on reproducibility. Secondary outcome parameters were subject experience and duration.

[Aspiration pneumonitis after fire-eating: fire-eater's lung].

On the emergency department we saw two men aged 19 and 26 with symptoms of lipoid pneumonitis (fire-eater's lung) following aspiration of petroleum during fire-eating. They were both admitted to hospital and treated with amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. Both patients were clinically recovered within a few days.