Pectus excavatum is a chest wall deformity with no known cause and no standardized guidelines for evaluation or management. There is a pressing need to characterize the symptoms that these individuals experience and to evaluate a potential mismatch between their expected and observed experiences with health care. We hypothesized that these individuals would feel that their health-care needs are not adequately met.

Objective assessment of symptoms in bronchiectasis is important for research and in clinical practice. The COPD Assessment Test (CAT) is a short, simple assessment tool widely used in COPD. The items included in the CAT are not specific to COPD and also reflect the dominant symptoms of bronchiectasis. We therefore performed a study to validate the CAT as an outcome measure in bronchiectasis.

Thoracentesis can be accomplished by active aspiration or drainage with gravity. This trial investigated whether gravity drainage could protect against negative pressure-related complications such as chest discomfort, re-expansion pulmonary edema, or pneumothorax compared with active aspiration.

Bronchial epithelial reticular basement membrane (RBM) thickening occurs in diseases with both eosinophilic (allergic bronchial asthma [BA]) and neutrophilic (cystic fibrosis [CF] and primary ciliary dyskinesia [PCD]) chronic airway inflammation; however, the lung function and airway remodeling relation remains unclear. The aim of this study was to test whether ventilation inhomogeneity is related to RBM thickening.

Expertise in airway management is a vital skill for any provider caring for critically ill patients. A growing body of literature has identified the stark difference in periprocedural outcomes of elective intubation in the operating room when compared with emergency intubation in the ICU. A number of strategies to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with airway management in the critically ill have been described. In this review, we provide an updated framework for airway assessment before direct laryngoscopy and video laryngoscopy, and use of newer pharmacologic agents; comment on current concepts in tracheal intubation in the ICU; and address human factors around critical decision-making during ICU airway management.

We propose an algorithmic approach to the interpretation of diffuse lung disease on high-resolution CT. Following an initial review of pertinent lung anatomy, the following steps are included. Step 1: a preliminary review of available chest radiographs, including the "scanogram" obtained at the time of the CT examination. Step 2: a review of optimal methods of data acquisition and reconstruction, emphasizing the need for contiguous high-resolution images throughout the entire thorax. Step 3: initial uninterrupted scrolling of contiguous high-resolution images throughout the chest to establish the quality of examination as well as an overview of the presence and extent of disease. Step 4: determination of one of three predominant categories - primarily reticular disease, nodular disease, or diseases associated with diffuse alteration in lung density. Based on this determination, one of the three following Steps are followed: Step 5: evaluation of cases primarily involving diffuse lung reticulation; Step 6: evaluation of cases primarily resulting in diffuse lung nodules; and Step 7: evaluation of cases with diffuse alterations in lung density including those with diffusely diminished lung density vs those with heterogenous or diffusely increased lung density, respectively. It is anticipated that this algorithmic approach will substantially enhance initial interpretations of a wide range of pulmonary disease.

A 34-year-old man with history of β-thalassemia major and splenectomy presented with a 1-month history of progressively worsening dyspnea, orthopnea, localized chest discomfort, and lower extremity edema. He denied fevers, chills, nasal congestion, and night sweats. He denied tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substance abuse. Family history was remarkable for lung cancer in his mother.

An 82-year-old man presented with 6 months of difficulties of falling asleep. He described a feeling of fading breath culminating in breathing arrest when he becomes drowsy. These recurrent events prevented him from falling asleep. Symptoms would only appear when he went to sleep but not during wakefulness. Medical history comprised several episodes of acute decompensated heart failure due to supraventricular tachyarrhythmia with need for hospitalization during the last 2 years. He additionally had two-vessel coronary artery disease with myocardial infarction, pulmonary hypertension, chronic atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial disease, and chronic kidney disease (stage 3). Medication included diuretics, sodium bicarbonate, angiotensin II receptor antagonist, beta-blocker, statin, clopidogrel, and phenprocoumon without sedatives or analgesics.

A 43-year-old woman with a medical history of cervical cancer treated with curative hysterectomy 12 years earlier developed progressive dyspnea, chest discomfort, and hoarse voice over a 7-month period. The patient never smoked and had no exposure history. Imaging at an outside hospital showed a mediastinal mass with hilar adenopathy (Fig 1A), which was biopsied via endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and revealed noncaseating granulomas with surrounding rims of lymphocytes (Fig 1B). The patient was given the diagnosis of sarcoidosis and started on prednisone 60 mg daily. She had no improvement in symptoms after 3 months of therapy and therefore presented for a second opinion.

A 44-year-old man with a history of coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and OSA reported progressively worsening dyspnea on exertion over a 6-week period. Outpatient CT angiogram revealed a pulmonary artery filling defect. He was sent to the ED where he was started on a heparin drip for unprovoked pulmonary embolism (PE). Echocardiogram revealed normal cardiac function without evidence of right heart strain. Lower extremity ultrasound was negative for DVT. He improved symptomatically, and no risk factors for PE were identified. He was discharged on apixaban. Five weeks later, the patient returned to the ED with hemoptysis. He reported compliance with anticoagulation and improvement of his dyspnea on exertion. History remained negative for recent travel, trauma, surgery, clotting disorders, thromboembolic disease, and alcohol or drug use. He had a 60 pack-year cigarette smoking history and quit 3 months prior.