Ventilatory response to arm elevation. Its determinants and use in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

During arm elevation, normal individuals predominantly recruit the diaphragm, whereas chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients use more the accessory inspiratory and abdominal expiratory muscles. To test that arm elevation is useful to study the ventilatory muscle response in COPD, and to define the factors that determine this response, we studied 34 patients (FEV1 0.95 +/- 0.

Chronic lung disease: when to prescribe home oxygen.

Long-term oxygen therapy has become increasingly common in the treatment of hypoxemic patients with chronic lung disease. Its main benefit and indication is to prolong survival. Oxygen therapy is also recommended for patients with exercise desaturation or sleep desaturation in the presence of hypoxemic complications.

Unusual presentation of a large tension bronchogenic cyst in an adult.

A routine chest radiograph in a 20 year old man revealed a giant air filled cavity of the left hemithorax under tension. At thoracotomy a large left lower lobe intraparenchymal cyst required lobectomy and the pathological findings were consistent with a bronchogenic cyst. Although tension bronchogenic cysts are common in infants, this case demonstrates their unusual presentation in an adult.