Managing Anticoagulation Therapy For Surgery and Procedures (NEJM) See also: How to manage anticoagulation perioperatively (ACCP Guidelines) NOTE: This is a summary of an article in a medical journal, provided as a service to physicians. It is not medical advice. No one should never make changes to their anticoagulation treatment except under a physician’s supervision. [... read more]
How to Prevent Acute COPD Exacerbations Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are a major problem for many people living with COPD. Acute exacerbations or attacks occur more often in people with more severe COPD (about 1-2 per year), and these disease flares may either signal or cause a more rapid progression of [... read more]
New Prediction Model Selects Best Lung Cancer Screening Candidates In the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), screening for lung cancer with low-dose chest CT scans resulted in a 20% reduction in death from lung cancer. The consumer-serving American Lung Association recommended outright that older people with heavy smoking histories should get lung cancer screening; leading [... read more]
FDA Approves Breo Ellipta, Once-Daily LABA/ICS for COPD The FDA approved the new drug Breo Ellipta as a once-daily inhaled therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Breo Ellipta includes the corticosteroid fluticasone, and vilanterol — a once-daily long acting beta agonist — in a combination dry powder inhaler. This was the FDA’s first approval [... read more]
Chronic Cough and Reflux: A Tangled Relationship Although we’re taught that gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a major cause of chronic cough, the truth may be more complicated, and confusing. A meta-analysis by Peter Kahrilas et al in Chest examining trials of acid-suppressing treatments for chronic cough found no significant benefit of treatment in 7 [... read more]
The 2011 GOLD classification for COPD: Old GOLD vs. New GOLD Guidelines by Brett Ley, MD Ever had a COPD patient with an awful FEV1, yet who seems to be cruising along, doing fine for years? How about a COPD patient with a relatively preserved FEV1, yet always seems to be in your clinic or [... read more]
Acetazolamide Improved Obstructive Sleep Apnea at High Altitudes by Blair Westerly, MD Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common, and so is travel to the mountains for work and play, therefore encounters with patients with OSA who travel to mountain destinations is not infrequent. We all learn early in training that altitude affects oxygenation, and patients [... read more]
Feds to Big Tobacco on Cigarette Labeling Fight: “Uncle!” The feds are admitting defeat for now in their fight for graphic, negative imagery to be displayed on all cigarette packaging and advertisements. Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday that the Justice Department will not ask the Supreme Court to reverse their loss in a federal [... read more]
FDA Warns of Sudden Cardiac Death Risk from Azithromycin Last summer, PulmCCM reported on a New England Journal paper suggesting an increased risk of sudden cardiac death in patients taking even a short 5-day course of azithromycin. Yesterday, the FDA expressed its official concern in a Drug Safety Communication and statement to the press on [... read more]
Who Needs In-Flight Oxygen? New Method May Help by Brett Ley, MD COPD patients without a long-term indication for supplemental oxygen may still be at risk for severe hypoxemia during air travel since cabin pressures are generally maintained to simulate altitudes of about 8000 feet. In-flight supplemental oxygen is recommended when the partial pressure of [... read more]
Pulmonary Vasculitis Update / Review Part 2: Treatment and Prognosis (Go to Part 1: Clinical Features and Diagnosis) by Brett Ley, MD Treatment of the ANCA-associated pulmonary vasculitides consists of systemic corticosteroids and cytotoxic therapies given in two phases, induction and maintenance, where the aggressiveness of the regimen is based on disease severity. The standard [... read more]
Pulmonary Vasculitis Update / Review Part 1: Clinical Features & Diagnosis (Go to Part 2: Treatment and Prognosis) by Brett Ley, MD Vasculitides are disorders of inflammation and necrosis of the blood vessel wall. Pulmonary vasculitides can present in multiple ways: with alveolar hemorrhage, infiltrates, nodules, cavities, or airway disease. They are categorized by the [... read more]
Chronic Cough and GERD: A Tangled Connection by Michael Peters, MD Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is considered to be one of the cardinal causes of chronic cough. A study in Chest challenges that fundamental concept, but comes up short in refuting it. What They Did Samantha Decalmer, Rachel Stovold, Jaclyn A. Smith et al conducted [... read more]
(image: Wikipedia) As we reported a few months ago, the PANTHER-IPF trial was stopped early for safety, when it became clear that the combination of prednisone and azathioprine was hurting people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Ganesh Raghu (U-Washington), Kevin Anstrom (Duke), Talmadge King (UCSF) et al report the final results in the May 24 New [... read more]
Azithromycin for non-CF Bronchiectasis Bronchiectasis — the permanently dilated, tortuous bronchi that can result after previous lung infections — is a frustrating problem for pulmonologists to treat, but not nearly as frustrating as it can be for patients to live with. People with bronchiectasis are plagued by chronic coughing, and many experience a steady decline [... read more]
Daily Inhaled Steroids Stunt Kids’ Growth, Study Shows If you’re a half-inch shy of six feet, the next time you’re getting your jump shot blocked by your non-asthmatic friend, you can blame the inhaled corticosteroids your Mom made you take as a kid. Studies have consistently showed children’s height slows down for a few years [... read more]
The use of positron emission tomography — better known as PET scans — has grown dramatically over the past 15 years, thanks to their seemingly magical ability to identify foci of undetected metastatic cancer. But PET scans’ perceived high accuracy in diagnosing metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) — a published 94% sensitivity and 83% [... read more]
Using BAL Cellular Analysis in Interstitial Lung Disease: 2012 ATS Guideline The role of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in diagnosing and managing patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) has always been uncertain and controversial. An American Thoracic Society (ATS) expert panel including Keith Meyer, Ganesh Raghu, Brent Wood et al reviewed 35 years of published literature and [... read more]
(image: Rxhealthdrugs.com) People taking 5 days of azithromycin had a very small absolute increased risk of death, especially due to cardiovascular causes, compared to people taking amoxicillin, in a retrospective cohort review by Wayne Ray, Katherine Murray, and C. Michael Stein published in the May 17 New England Journal of Medicine. Erythromycin and clarithromycin (the other [... read more]
(image: Wikipedia) Access the online GAP Score Calculator for IPF Although idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has a poor prognosis — a median survival of only 3 years — there is wide heterogeneity among individual patients. Some have a precipitous decline and die within months of diagnosis; others live for a decade or longer, with little [... read more]