Biomedical subjects

P Casán

Publications and source records attributed to P Casán.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

[A new device for measuring occlusion pressure].

Mouth pressure in the first 100 ms of inspiration with the airway occluded (P0.1) is an indirect measure of central airways activity. Few adequately validated devices are available on the market for measuring this variable automatically, impeding wider use of this measurement. Our aim was to determine the validity and precision of a new automatized manometer for measuring P0.1 and compare the device to the apparatus normally used in our laboratory. The newly manufactured device consisted of a semiconductor type pressure transduce connected to an analog-to-digital converter. The usual apparatus used was constructed in our laboratory from a Honewell transducer, an analog-to-digital card (Data Translation DT2801) for an IBM-compatible PC and a standard spread sheet program. Both devices recorded a continuous signal at a sample frequency of 100 Hz. To determine linearity, accuracy, sensitivity and precision, two columns of 5 and 25 cmH2O were used. For clinical assessment, 33 patients scheduled for lung function analysis were tested. Five measurements of P0.1 were performed on each. The sensitivity of the new device was 0.1 cmH2O; precision expressed as a variation coefficient was 0%, and linearity expressed as a correlation coefficient was r = 0.999 between the two columns. The mean difference between the two devices was 0.11 (0.46) cmH2O (p < 0.0001). Analysis of concordance confirmed a reading bias for the new device in comparison with the usual one, although the difference was not clinically significant (0.08 to 0.14 cmH2O). We conclude that the new device gives good results and its availability on the market may allow more frequent clinical application of occlusion pressure measurement.

Bite Force↗

PubMed1995

Chylothorax due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Chylothorax in an adult is a rare cause of pleural effusion. Mycobacterium tuberculosis may cause chylous effusion, but usually in association with extensive intrapulmonary involvement. A case of chylothorax is presented in which M tuberculosis was isolated from the pleural fluid and was the only intrathoracic manifestation of tuberculosis.

Aged↗

PubMed1980

[The association of diffuse pulmonary fibrosis and hiatal hernia: a simple coincidence? (author's transl)].

Gastroesophageal diseases with reflux can cause numerous pulmonary complications (bronchospasm crisis, bronchitis, pneumonias, lung abscesses). These manifestations are very frequent in the hiatal hernias and in some series have reached up to 46 percent of the cases studied. Recently it has been suggested that microaspirations, repeated over a long period of time, may cause an alteration of the pulmonary interstitium and the consecutive development of a clinical and roentgenologic picture similar to pulmonary fibrosis. The aspirations are produced more frequently at night, favoured by the lying down position and because of it the patients present attacks of nocturnal cough. In this paper, two patients who presented the association of pulmonary fibrosis and hiatal hernia with esophageal relux are described. The first case was diagnosed early; he had minimal radiographic anomalies and the disappearance of the respiratory symptomatology was achieved by means of the medical treatment of the esophageal reflux. The second case was in a very advanced stage with severe respiratory insufficiency and gastrointestinal manifestations of many years' evolution. Both patients had been diagnosed as having idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Although there is no experimental proof of the "reflux-fibrosis" theory, we think that this possibility should be kept in mind before diagnosing the interstitial pulmonary pattern as idiopathic, especially in the cases of only slight radiographic and functional involvement susceptible to improvement with correction of the esophageal reflux.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Total IgE in the sputum and serum of patients with asthma].

BACKGROUND: The correlation between total IgE in induced sputum (IS) and serum is not well defined. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between total IgE in IS and total IgE in serum and airway inflammation. METHODS: Twenty-one patients with stable asthma and thirteen healthy controls were studied. Clinical and spirometric data were collected and a skin prick test to the 13 most common aeroallergens in our area was performed in all subjects. Total IgE in IS and serum was determined by the UNICAP immunoanalysis system (Pharmacia Uppsala, Sweden) while albumin concentration in IS and serum was determined using the Cobas Integra turbidimetric method (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland). RESULTS: The percentage of eosinophils in EI was 8.7 (11.8) in asthmatic subjects and was 0.5 (1) in healthy controls. Total IgE (KU/L) was 43.2 (23) in asthmatics vs 25.6 (3) in healthy controls in IS, and was 329 (413) in asthmatics vs 57 (78) in controls in serum. Total IgE in IS was significantly correlated with total IgE in serum; r = 0.71 (p = 0.048), but not with the albumin relative index. No correlation was found between IgE and the number of eosinophils in IS. CONCLUSIONS: Total IgE can be measured in IS. Total IgE in IS is mildly correlated with total IgE measured in serum. The lack of correlation between total IgE and albumin in IS suggests that IgE in IS could be locally produced, at least in part.

Adolescent↗