Lung transplant airway hypoxia: a diathesis to fibrosis?

Rationale: Chronic rejection, manifested pathologically as airway fibrosis, is the major problem limiting long-term survival in lung transplant recipients. Airway hypoxia and ischemia, resulting from a failure to restore the bronchial artery (BA) circulation at the time of transplantation, may predispose patients to chronic rejection. To address this possibility, clinical information is needed describing the status of lung perfusion and airway oxygenation after transplantation.

Yield of diagnostic procedures for invasive fungal infections in neutropenic febrile patients with chest computed tomography abnormalities.

Haematological patients with neutropenic fever are frequently evaluated with chest computed tomography (CT) to rule out invasive fungal infections (IFI). We retrospectively analysed data from 100 consecutive patients with neutropenic fever and abnormal chest CT from 1998 to 2005 to evaluate their chest CT findings and the yield of diagnostic approaches employed. For their initial CTs, 79% had nodular opacities, with 24.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in transplant recipients: early diagnosis and treatment of resistant tuberculosis.

Purpose Of Review: To provide a better understanding and summarize recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection in solid organ transplant (SOT) candidates and recipients.

Recent Findings: Despite advances in SOT medicine, MTB causes substantial morbidity and mortality in SOT recipients, with reported prevalence rates of 0.4-6%.

Perioperative cardiac risk: pathophysiology, assessment and management.

Cardiac complications are the leading cause of perioperative morbidity and mortality following noncardiac surgery. The annual cost of perioperative cardiovascular events exceeds 20 billion US dollars. A strategic preoperative evaluation holds the potential to reduce perioperative cardiac events and healthcare costs; however, our current understanding of the pathophysiological basis of postoperative acute coronary syndromes is limited.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in ICU patients.

The incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in patients admitted to the intensive care unit has dramatically increased in recent years, with an associated increase in morbidity and mortality and the costs of caring for patients with MRSA infections. Although indiscriminate and inappropriate use of antibiotics has contributed to this phenomenon, horizontal transmission of MRSA between patients and health care providers is the principal cause of this observed increase. This article discusses the pathogenesis, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of MRSA infections in critically ill patients.