Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare and serious condition that is associated with high health-care resource use. The goal of this study was to estimate hospital-related resource use and costs by using a national, prospective registry of patients who were diagnosed with IPF or who had their diagnosis confirmed at the enrolling center in the past 6 months in the United States.

The influence of morbid obesity on mortality in patients receiving anticoagulant therapy for VTE has not been consistently evaluated.

The role and impact of chronic cough in individuals with COPD have not been described in the general population. This study hypothesized that comorbid chronic cough is a marker of disease severity in individuals with COPD.

Three biomarkers, soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2), galectin 3 (Gal3), and N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide prohormone (NT-proBNP), are approved for noninvasive risk assessment in left-sided heart failure, and small observational studies have shown their prognostic usefulness in heterogeneous pulmonary hypertension cohorts. We examined associations between these biomarkers and disease severity and survival in a large cohort of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) (ie, group 1 pulmonary hypertension). We hypothesized that additive use of biomarkers in combination would improve the prognostic value of survival models.

The risk stratification value of the 6-min walk test (6MWT) to decide the feasibility of surgical resection is not well elucidated in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and moderately decreased lung function.

Persistent bronchodilator response (BDR) following diagnosis of asthma is an underrecognized treatable trait, associated with worse lung function and asthma control. The forced oscillation technique (FOT) measures respiratory system impedance, and BDR cutoffs have been proposed for healthy adults; however, the relevance in asthma is unknown. We compared BDR cutoffs, using FOT and spirometry, in asthma and the relationship with asthma control.

IV fluids are recommended during the initial management of sepsis, but the quality of evidence is low, and clinical equipoise exists. We aimed to assess patient-important benefits and harms of lower vs higher fluid volumes in adult patients with sepsis.

Inhalation of L-menthol as a transient receptor potential melastatin 8 agonist induces a cooling sensation in the airway. This cooling sensation induced through olfactory stimulation by L-menthol (OSM) alleviates dyspnea in healthy humans. Therefore, we investigated effects of OSM on the neural respiratory drive (NRD) and multidimensional aspects of dyspnea induced by inspiratory resistive loaded breathing in COPD.

COPD is a common respiratory disorder that poses a major health-care burden with societal and financial ramifications. Although effective inhaled therapies are available, nonadherence is common among patients with COPD and potentially contributes to the burden of this disease. Electronic inhaler monitoring (EIM) is a novel modality that enables real-time assessment of adherence to inhaled therapy and informs the assessment of treatment effectiveness. EIM can be combined with physician feedback, automated audiovisual reminders, and text messaging to bolster adherence. Clinical studies have suggested that EIM can diagnose nonadherence, improve adherence, and predict exacerbations. Using an EIM-guided protocol has the potential to avoid treatment escalation in the nonadherent. Coupling EIM to behavioral intervention is an area of ongoing research with mixed results, with some studies showing benefit and others showing minimal or no significant change in clinical outcomes. Further investigation is necessary to understand the incremental benefits of EIM features, delineate optimal program implementation, and target patient populations that would benefit the most from monitoring.

Parasitoses are infectious diseases of global distribution, with predominance in areas of poor sanitation. Parasites cause damage through direct tissue injury and the inflammatory response generated by their migration and establishment in various organs. Thoracic involvement by parasitic disease can generate both specific and nonspecific clinical, laboratorial, and radiologic manifestations, which often makes their diagnosis challenging. The correct diagnosis is crucial for definition of treatment, which sometimes requires rapid intervention. Based on a literature review of the last few decades, this article aimed to characterize the main radiologic findings related to thoracic manifestations of parasitic diseases, correlating them with radiographic and tomographic images of patients with confirmed diagnosis of such pathologies. The included parasitic diseases are malaria, Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis, amoebiasis, ascariasis, toxocariasis, strongyloidiasis, dirofilariasis, cysticercosis, echinococcosis, schistosomiasis, and paragonimiasis.

The aim of this study was to assess any association between use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and tracheobronchomalacia (TBM).

Bronchoscopy is commonly used to evaluate suspicious lung lesions. The yield is likely dependent on patient, radiographic, and bronchoscopic factors. Few studies have assessed these factors simultaneously while also including the preprocedure physician-assessed probability of cancer (pCA) when assessing yield.

Asthma and non-asthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis (NAEB) are among the commonest causes of chronic cough in adults. We sought to determine the role of non-invasive measurements of airway inflammation, including induced sputum and fractional exhaled nitric oxide, in the evaluation of cough associated with asthma, and what the best treatment is for cough due to asthma or NAEB.

The relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-vitamin D) and COPD outcomes remains unclear. Using the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study (SPIROMICS), we determined associations among baseline 25-OH-vitamin D and cross-sectional and longitudinal lung function and COPD exacerbations.

Although cough is a common and distressing symptom in patients with lung cancer, there is almost no evidence to guide treatment. Aprepitant, a centrally acting neurokinin-1 inhibitor, significantly decreased cough frequency in a pilot study.

Chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (CHP) is an immune-mediated interstitial lung disease (ILD) caused by inhalational exposure to environmental antigens, resulting in parenchymal fibrosis. By definition, a diagnosis of CHP assumes a history of antigen exposure, but only half of all patients eventually diagnosed with CHP will have a causative antigen identified. Individual clinician variation in eliciting a history of antigen exposure may affect the frequency and confidence of CHP diagnosis.

The concerns regarding air leak after lung surgery or spontaneous pneumothorax include detection and duration. Prior studies have suggested that digital drainage systems permit shorter chest tube duration and hospital length of stay (LOS) by earlier detection of air leak cessation. We conducted a systematic review to assess the impact of digital drainage on chest tube duration and hospital LOS after pulmonary surgery and spontaneous pneumothorax.

Severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with aortic stenosis is related to poor prognosis following aortic valve replacement (AVR). Current European PH guidelines recommend adding two different echocardiographic signs to tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV) in PH estimation, classifying its probability as low (TRV ≤ 2.8 m/s), intermediate (TRV 2.9-3.4 m/s), and high (TRV > 3.4 m/s). The right ventricle is an important determinant of prognosis in PH. The goal of this study was to analyze the value of right atrial area > 18 cm2 and right ventricular/left ventricular ratio > 1 in the long-term prognosis following AVR, mainly in the intermediate probability group.

Central sleep apnea/Hunter-Cheyne-Stokes breathing (CSA/HCSB) is prevalent in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The acute pathobiologic consequences of CSA/HSCB eventually lead to sustained sympathetic overactivity, repeated hospitalization, and premature mortality. A few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown statistically significant and clinically important reduction in sympathetic activity when CSA/HCSB is attenuated by oxygen or PAP therapy. Yet, the two largest PAP RCTs in patients with HFrEF, one with CPAP and the other with adaptive servoventilation (ASV), were negative with respect to their primary outcomes, and both were associated with excess mortality. However, both trials suffered from significant deficiencies, casting doubt on their results. A second RCT evaluating an ASV device with an advanced algorithm is ongoing. A new modality of therapy, unilateral phrenic nerve stimulation, has undergone an RCT that demonstrated an improvement in CSA that was associated with a reduction in arousals, improvement in sleepiness, and improvement in quality of life. However, a long-term mortality trial has not been performed with this modality. Most recently, the National Institutes of Health has funded a long-term, phase 3 RCT of low-flow oxygen vs sham for the treatment of CSA/HCSB in HFrEF. The composite primary outcome includes all-cause mortality and hospitalization for worsening HF. In this article, we focus on various therapeutic options for the treatment of CSA/HCSB and, when appropriate, emphasize the importance of identifying CSA/HCSB phenotypes to tailor treatment.