Although spirometry is the gold standard for diagnosing COPD, it is underused in clinical practice.

COPD is traditionally associated with pulmonary hypertension, but treatments targeting elevated pulmonary artery pressure in COPD have largely failed, possibly due to an incomplete understanding of subphenotypes of the disease.

Eighteen US states implemented abortion bans between 2022 and 2024. Although emerging evidence shows bans have impacted obstetrics and gynecology, little is known about their impact on other specialties. We hypothesize that pulmonary and critical care medicine may be adversely impacted due to the time-sensitive, high-acuity needs of their patients.

Oxygen administration is often guided by pulse oximeter readings. However, inaccuracies have been reported, particularly in patients with darker skin tones. During the COVID-19 pandemic, racial and ethnic disparities in hypoxemia detection emerged, with studies showing a higher incidence of hidden hypoxemia in Black and Hispanic patients. However, limited data exist regarding the Asian population.

Menthol inhalation (MI) lowers dyspnea ratings during loaded breathing in COPD and cycle exercise in healthy adults. Proposed mechanisms include stimulation of cold receptors in the upper airways, modulating perception of breathing-related effort, and airflow.

Bleeding is a common and sometimes fatal complication of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Whether lowering the intensity of anticoagulation during venovenous ECMO is safe or effective is unknown.

Chronic lung disease and its association with immune dysfunction are characterized poorly among adolescents with HIV (AWHIVs).

Sarcoidosis is characterized by reduced quality of life (QoL), yet QoL is correlated poorly to conventional spirometric lung function tests.

Exertional breathlessness is a cardinal symptom of people with chronic airflow limitation (CAL) and can be evaluated using cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET).

Lung cancer is the leading cause of global cancer mortality. It is also the third most common cancer in the United Kingdom and the most prevalent worldwide. Pulmonary nodules can indicate early-stage lung cancer, but adherence to guidelines for radiologic surveillance is suboptimal, which affects early detection and treatment. Although interventions have been developed to improve follow-up, it remains unclear which approaches are most effective.

A 73-year-old man presented with a 2-week history of intermittent right-sided chest pain, cough, and progressive dyspnea on exertion. He reported subjective weight loss and anorexia with early satiety over the preceding months. He denied any fevers, night sweats, or sick contacts. On further questioning, he had also noted some progressive abdominal distension, though denied any change in bowel habits, nausea, or vomiting. He had a history of hypertension and diabetes. He was a person who does not smoke and had worked in the construction industry for > 50 years prior. His daughter had passed away due to lung cancer.

A 52-year-old woman presented to the clinic with progressively worsening shortness of breath associated with intermittent pleuritic left lower back pain for the past 6 months. The patient denied any cough, hemoptysis, fever, chills, or weight loss. She had a history of smoking cigarettes for more than 10 years but quit almost 20 years ago. An outpatient chest radiograph was obtained, and it suggested consolidation of the left lower lobe. The patient was treated empirically with amoxicillin-clavulanate for 2 weeks without improvement.

A 71-year-old man with a history of atrial fibrillation presented to the emergency department with sudden unconsciousness after finishing lunch. Just 4 weeks ago, the patient underwent radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation and regularly took rivaroxaban for anticoagulant therapy. According to the medical history, the patient suffered recurrent chest tightness and heartburn after radiofrequency ablation without other discomforts. During transportation to the hospital, the patient experienced a drop in BP after forceful vomiting.

Inhalation of elemental mercury is a rare cause of ARDS, with limited published case reports to provide guidance regarding disease progression and management. Although extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used to treat toxin-induced lung injury, its application to initial treatment and long-term recovery for inhalation of mercury remains undescribed. We present a case of a 56-year-old man who works at a thermometer factory presenting with severe ARDS secondary to inhaled elemental mercury with confirmatory blood and urine mercury levels. Respiratory recovery and avoidance of neurologic and renal sequelae from elemental mercury was successfully accomplished with venovenous ECMO, steroids, and simultaneous dual-chelation therapy. This case demonstrates the efficacy of venovenous ECMO for severe inhalation of elemental mercury pulmonary injury and the utility of dual-chelation therapy for avoiding late development of neural and renal pathologic conditions and provides novel insight into the impact of ECMO circuits on blood mercury levels.

Platelets and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) are frequently administered to critically ill patients. Considering the variability in indications and thresholds guiding these transfusions, a comprehensive review of current evidence was conducted to provide guidance to critical care practitioners. This American College of Chest Physicians guideline examined the literature on platelet transfusions in critically ill patients with thrombocytopenia, with and without active bleeding, as well as data on prophylactic platelet and FFP transfusions for common procedures in the critical care setting.

COPD largely is underdiagnosed. Active identification of cases is crucial to establish preventive measures before manifestation of clinical disease. The significance of different spirometric patterns preceding COPD, especially preserved ratio impaired spirometry (PRISm) findings, has been highlighted but remains unclear.

Persistent tachypnea of infancy (PTI) or neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy (NEHI) is a form of childhood interstitial lung disease (chILD) that predominantly affects young children. Although it is one of the most common chILDs, no unified diagnostic approach specific to this condition exists.

Early detection and treatment of COPD are becoming important for improving the prognosis of individuals who have a history of heavy tobacco use. Despite the higher risk of COPD among individuals participating in lung cancer screening, many of these patients continue to show rates of underdiagnosis of lung cancer.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease associated with lung function decline and high mortality.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) resulting from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (PH-HFpEF) can lead to right ventricular-pulmonary arterial (RV-PA) uncoupling despite normal steady hemodynamics (eg, pulmonary vascular resistance). Unsteady hemodynamics, quantified by characteristic pulmonary impedance (ZC), may be useful in differentiating those patients with PH-HFpEF who have sufficient coupling from those who have insufficient coupling. We hypothesized that abnormal pulsatile hemodynamics with exercise, quantified by ZC, precisely detect abnormal cardiopulmonary function in PH-HFpEF.