Effects of acetazolamide on exercise performance in patients with COPD going to high altitude: randomised controlled trial.

Background: In patients with COPD, preventive treatment with acetazolamide reduces adverse health effects during altitude travel. We investigated whether preventive acetazolamide treatment modifies exercise performance in COPD patients going to high altitude.

Methods: In this randomised, double-blind trial, lowlanders with COPD, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) 40-80% predicted, were assigned to acetazolamide (375 mg per 24 h) or placebo treatment starting 24 h before ascent and while staying at 3100 m.

[CME: Nocturnal Dyspnea].

CME: Nocturnal Dyspnea Nocturnal dyspnea has a broad range of differential diagnoses of sometimes serious and even life-threatening illnesses. Systematic assessment starts with taking a detailed medical history to characterize the dyspnea and evaluate possible underlying diseases. The subsequent clinical and complementary evaluation should be targeted to detect possible diseases of the upper and lower respiratory tract, the lungs, disorders of control of breathing, heart diseases as well as neurological and, after exclusion of other causes, mental illnesses.

Flushing versus not flushing the interface during small-incision lenticule extraction.

Purpose: To assess the differences in outcomes between interface flushing with a balanced salt solution after refractive lenticule removal in simultaneous uneventful bilateral small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE).

Setting: Six study centers in Germany.

Design: Prospective case series.