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Biomedical subjects

J K Stoller

Publications and source records attributed to J K Stoller.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract in the intensive care unit: current status and future prospects.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the available data on selective decontamination of the digestive tract. This therapy aims to prevent infection in critically ill patients admitted to ICUs. Microbial carriage in the oropharynx, stomach, and gut; infection; mortality rate; and antibiotic resistance are the outcome events that are being reviewed. DATA SOURCES: Published indices, abstract booklets, and conference proceedings up to the end of 1990. STUDY SELECTION: Sixteen controlled trials of selective decontamination were identified. None of these trials was conducted as a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. DATA EXTRACTION: Each of the three authors independently conducted a meta-analysis (thorough review) of the data from the 16 studies. DATA SYNTHESIS: Of the 16 trials, 15 show significant reduction of acquired infection among patients who received selective decontamination. Of the 14 studies that consider carriage of disease-causing microorganisms as an outcome event, 13 demonstrate a reduction in carriage of Gram-negative bacilli. Only ten studies consider mortality as an end-point, of which four demonstrate that the administration of selective decontamination is associated with decreased mortality rates in certain subgroups but not in the overall mortality rate. Of 11 studies that provide data about antibiotic resistance during selective decontamination, ten reported no increase in resistant microorganisms. Selective decontamination has been reported to be effective in controlling an outbreak of multi-resistant microorganisms. CONCLUSIONS: There is a general consensus about the efficacy of selective decontamination in diminishing microbial carriage and acquired infection rates, although conclusions about benefits related to mortality rates vary. Differences in mortality rate are found in the selective decontamination studies of patients with curable diseases, including multitrauma and cardiovascular patients. More data on resistance, collected over a longer period of time, are needed. Practical problems of blinding and the major ecological effect of selective decontamination may explain the lack of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

Anti-Bacterial Agents

Pleural effusion resulting from metastatic papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.

We present a patient with a symptomatic pleural effusion resulting from papillary carcinoma of the thyroid metastatic to the pleura. Distinctive features include clinically evident pleural metastasis and the presence of psammoma bodies in the pleural fluid, which are characteristic (albeit not pathognomonic) of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.

Carcinoma, Papillary

Columnar papilloma of the bronchus. Case report and literature review.

Solitary papillomas are rare endobronchial neoplasms that are most commonly lined by a squamous epithelium (i.e., squamous papillomas). Papillomas exhibiting nonsquamous epithelium are even more unusual; only seven solitary papillomas lined by columnar epithelium (i.e., columnar papillomas) have been previously described. The current report presents the eighth patient with a columnar papilloma and demonstrates some features common to solitary papillomas (i.e., central location in the airways, associated atelectasis), but distinctive from squamous papillomas (i.e., absence of malignant potential).

Aged

Reduction of intrapulmonary shunt and resolution of digital clubbing associated with primary biliary cirrhosis after liver transplantation.

This report describes a patient with marked hypoxemia caused by intrapulmonary shunt associated with primary biliary cirrhosis. Liver transplantation resulted in resolution of digital clubbing and reduction of intrapulmonary shunt as demonstrated by normalization of room air arterial blood gases, reduction in shunt fraction and normalization of the indocyanine-enhanced echocardiogram and perfusion lung scan. This patient's course challenges the conventional notion that intrapulmonary shunting associated with chronic liver disease does not reverse after liver transplantation.

Adult

Intrathoracic lymph node evaluation by CT and MRI with histopathologic correlation in non-small cell bronchogenic carcinoma.

Twenty patients with non-small cell bronchogenic carcinoma were prospectively studied for intrathoracic lymphadenopathy using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The CT and MRI results were correlated with the surgical histopathology results of 103 harvested lymph nodes. Based on node dimension (utilizing a 1-cm cutoff value), neither imaging modality was accurate in predicting the histopathology of the nodes. CT had a sensitivity of 21%, specificity of 95%, and an overall accuracy of 85%; MRI had a sensitivity of 14%, specificity of 97%, and an overall accuracy of 85%. Moreover, CT and MRI detected preoperatively only 17% and 14%, respectively, of the harvested nodes. In summary, lymph node sizes measured by CT and MRI are inaccurate in predicting the benignity or malignancy of lymph nodes. Lymphadenopathy can be present even with a "negative" CT or MRI scan of the thorax.

Carcinoma, Bronchogenic

Ventilatory strategies in the management of the adult respiratory distress syndrome.

This article review available strategies for mechanically ventilating patients with the adult respiratory distress syndrome. The authors first present the conventional strategies of mechanical ventilation: volume-limited mechanical ventilation with positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) at normal inspiratory-expiratory ratios, the approach that has been the mainstay of ventilatory support since the initial description of PEEP. This discussion attempts to summarize the rationale and goals of treatment in a practical, clinically useful manner. The second section of the article reviews less conventional ventilatory approaches, including inverse ratio ventilation, extracorporeal techniques, high-frequency ventilation, prone position, and fluctuating PEEP, and attempts to review critically the available literature regarding their application.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Diffuse panbronchiolitis preceding ulcerative colitis.

To expand the clinical spectrum of ulcerative colitis-associated lung disease, we describe a patient with panbronchiolitis associated with ulcerative colitis. In addition to his having a distinctive pulmonary manifestation of this bowel disease, other noteworthy aspects of this patient's course include the onset of pulmonary symptoms several years prior to bowel manifestations and the partial resolution of his pulmonary symptoms following colectomy.

Adult

Computerized tomographic densitometry of the solitary pulmonary nodule using a nodule phantom.

The successful application of computerized tomographic density analysis for evaluating the solitary pulmonary nodule has previously been described and the technique has since been simplified by using a calcium-equivalent nodule reference phantom. Because published experience with this technique remains limited, the current research reports the Cleveland Clinic experience with the CIRS model III pulmonary nodule reference phantom. Without knowledge of the final diagnosis, the nodule phantom was used as the standard for categorizing 31 nodules in 29 patients as either benign or indeterminate. Secure diagnoses were obtained in all cases. Eleven nodules were called benign and ten proved so, whereas 20 nodules were classified as indeterminate. One lesion, an adenocarcinoma, was falsely called benign using this technique. The excellent density discrimination achieved with CT makes this a superior tool for analysis of the solitary pulmonary nodule, and the nodule reference phantom has greatly simplified the technique of CT densitometry. As demonstrated by this and prior studies, calcification is not a unique feature of the benign lesion and successful clinical application of this technique requires cautious interpretation of results.

Adult

Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency and augmentation therapy in emphysema.

Since the first description of alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency as a cause of emphysema in 1963, major strides have been made in understanding the structure and function of this important antiprotease, its role in the defense against emphysema, and in new treatment strategies. In order to elucidate the pathogenesis of alpha 1-antitrypsin-associated emphysema and recent developments in therapy for this disease, this paper considers current understanding of the pathogenesis of emphysema, recent information regarding the structure and function of the molecule, and more recent developments in augmentation therapy. The author also discusses the national registry that has been organized for better understanding of the natural history of alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency in a relatively unselected population.

Drug Administration Schedule

Terbutaline and diaphragm function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a double-blind randomized clinical trial.

We conducted a double-blind, randomized crossover trial to evaluate whether oral terbutaline (2.5 mg orally three times daily for a week) increased the force of diaphragmatic contraction in normocapnic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Ten patients with moderate to severe airway obstruction completed the trail. Compared with placebo, terbutaline produced a mean increase of 5.8 cmH2O in peak inspiratory mouth pressure and a mean increase of 5.0 cmH2O in transdiaphragmatic pressure during a maximal inspiratory manoeuvre. These small changes with terbutaline failed to achieve statistical significance. Also, terbutaline failed to alter flow rates (FEV1, Vmax50) or patients' dyspnoea ratings using two separate clinical scales (Pneumoconiosis Research Unit Score and the Modified Dyspnoea Index). Because all observed changes in respiratory muscle strength were small and because the trial had power to detect small changes in inspiratory mouth pressures, we suggest that oral terbutaline at the dose administered in this study has little noteworthy effect on respiratory muscle strength in normocapnic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aged

Captopril-induced cough.

Since the advent of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (captopril and enalapril), cough has been recognized sporadically as a side effect, but has received little attention in the pulmonary literature. To emphasize that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors should be considered among possible etiologies of cough, we report recent experience with two patients and review the available experience with ACE inhibitor-induced cough.

Captopril