Alveolar Hemorrhage and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Associated with Pulmonary Cement Following Percutaneous Vertebroplasty with Polymethylmethacrylate

We report a rare complication of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage and respiratory failure following percutaneous vertebroplasty in a patient who has evidence of cement leakage. Cement injection was done two days prior to presentation and covered 2 vertebral levels for osteoporosis induced fractures.

Clinical efficacy and safety of recruitment maneuver in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome using low tidal volume ventilation： a multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial

Background The recruitment maneuver （RM） has been shown to improve oxygenation in some patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. But there is a lack of standardization and lack of clinical studies to prove the improvement on clinical outcome. We conducted this study to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of the RM in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome （ARDS） using Iow tidal volume ventilation.Methods We randomly assigned 110 patients with ARDS from 14 Chinese intensive care units （ICUs） at the tertiary teaching hospitals. Patients with PaO2 ≤200 mmHg at FiO2 1.0 and PEEP ≥10 cmH2O were included in the study.Patients were randomized into two groups： control group and RM group. The tidal volume was set to 6-8 mi per kilogram of predicted body weight （PBW） in both groups. RM was performed by continuous positive airway pressure （CPAP） of 40 cmH2O maintained for 40 seconds. RMs was conducted every eight hours for the first five days, or stopped within five days if the patient reached the weaning standard.Results One hundred and ten patients had completed the requirements for the primary study goals, 55 from the RM group and 55 control patients. Baseline characteristics remained similar in the two groups. In the RM group the PaO2/FiO2 was significantly increased compared to baseline at 120 minutes after RM on day one and day two （P=0.007and P=0.001）. There were no significant differences between the RM and control group in hospital mortality （41.8% vs.56.4%, P=0.13）, 28-day mortality （29.1% vs. 43.6%, P=0.11） and ventilator-free days at day 28 （10.8±10.1 vs. 7.4±10.0,P=0.08）. ICU mortality （32.7% vs. 52.7%, P=0.03）, the rate of survival with unassisted breathing for at least 48 consecutive hours at day 28 （58.2% vs. 36.2%, P=0.02）, and nonpulmonary organ failure-free days at day 28 （17.4±11.1vs. 13.0±12.0, P=0.03） favored the RM group. There was no significant difference in mean blood pressure and heart rate before RM and at 30, 60, 120 minutes after RM. There was no incidence of barotraumas.Conclusions RM was safe and useful for improving oxygenation in patients with ARDS who were ventilated with a low tidal volume, with a beneficial impact on their clinical outcome.

Analysis of high risk factors related to acute respiratory distress syndrome following severe thoracoabdominal injuries

Objective: To investigate the high risk factors related to acute respiratory distress syndrome ( ARDS ) following serious thoracoabdominal injuries.Methods: The clinical data of 282 patients with serious thoracoabdominal injuries were retrospectively studied. Univariate and Cox multivariate regression analysis were used to determine the risk factors related to ARDS following serious thoracoabdominal injuries.Results: The incidence of ARDS was 31.9% (90/282) in patients with serious thoracoabdominal injuries.The mortality caused by ARDS was 37.8% (34/90). The univariate analysis and multivariate analysis demonstrated that the clinical conditions such as elder age, shock,dyspnea, abnormal arterial blood gas, hemopneumothorax,pulmonary contusion, flail chest, coexisting pulmonary diseases, multiple abdominal injury and high ISS score were the independent high risk factors related to ARDS.Conclusion: There are many high risk factors related to ARDS following severe thoracoabdominal injuries, which should be detected early and treated timely to decrease the incidence and mortality of ARDS.

One disease, many faces-typical and atypical presentations of SARS-CoV-2 infection-related COVID-19 disease

Since the appearance of the novel coronavirus(severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2)and related coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in China in December 2019,a very high number of small and large patient series have been published in literature from around the world.Even though the classical presentation of COVID-19 is one with respiratory symptoms with or without pneumonia that can be self-limiting or evolve into severe respiratory distress syndrome with multiple organ failure,and secondary bacterial sepsis,a large body of evidence suggests a plethora of other types of clinical presentation.In this exhaustive review,we reviewed all of the published literature on COVID-19 to identify different types of clinical presentations affecting various organ systems,to provide an in-depth analysis that may prove useful for clinicians and health-workers on the frontline,battling the severe pandemic.

Volumetric Overload Shocks: Why Is Starling’s Law for Capillary Interstitial Fluid Transfer Wrong? The Hydrodynamics of a Porous Orifice Tube as Alternative

Based on clinical and experimental work two new types of volumetric overload shocks are reported: volumetric overload shock type one and type two depending on the type of fluid causing their induction. Volumetric overload shock type one is induced by sodium-free fluids such as glycine, glucose, mannitol and sorbitol and is characterized with acute dilutional hyponatraemia. Volumetric overload shock type 2 is induced with sodium-based fluids normal saline and plasma substitutes used for resuscitation of the critically ill and has no serological marker. It presents with the multiple vital organs dysfunction or failure syndrome or the adult respiratory distress syndrome. Hypertonic sodium is an effective treatment when given early adequately. The underlying pathophysiology is discussed. An alternative to Starling’s law for the capillary interstitial fluid transfer is given. Hydrodynamic of a porous orifice tube akin to capillary with a surrounding Chamber akin to the interstitial fluid space demonstrated a rapid dynamic magnetic field-like fluid circulation between the surrounding chamber and the lumen of the G tube that represent an adequate replacement for Starling’s law.

Effect of radix paeoniae rubra on expression of p38 MAPK/iNOS/HO-1 in rats with lipopolysaccharide·induced acute lung injury

Objective: To investigate the effect of radix paeoniae rubra (RPR) on expression of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase ( MAPK )/iNOS/HO-1 in rats with lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury and explore the molecular mechanism.Methods: Forty healthy male Wistar rats, weighing 200-250 g, aged 6-8 weeks (mean =7 weeks), provided by the Experimental Center, Medical College, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, were employed in this study.Under anesthesia with 7% chloraldurat (5 ml/kg body weight) through intraperitoneal injection, the trachea of the rat was exposed and an arterial puncture needle pricked into the trachea via cricothyroid membrane. Then they were randomly divided into five groups: 8 rats receiving 1 ml normal saline through the puncture needle (Group A),8 receiving 1 ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2.5 mg/kg,Group B), 8 receiving LPS and RPR (30 mg/kg, pumped through the femoral vein for 2 hours, Group C ), 8 receiving RPR 2 hours before dripping LPS ( Group D),and 8 receiving hemin (75 μmol/L through intraperitoneal injection) 18 hours before dripping LPS (Group E). After 6 hours of LPS dripping, blood samples were obtained through the carotid artery to perform blood gas analysis,then all the rats were exsanguinated to death and specimens of lung tissues were obtained. The pathomorphological changes of the lung tissues were observed. The expression of p38 MAPK/iNOS/HO-1, the neutrophil ratio, protein content in alveolar irrigating solution and malonaldehyde (MDA) content in the lung tissues were also detected.Results: Compared with Group A, the expression of p38 MAPK, iNOS and HO-1 markedly increased in Groups B, C, D, and E (P ＜0.01). But in Groups C, D, and E,the expression of p38 MAPK and iNOS were significantly lower than that of Group B, while expression of HO-1 was obviously higher than that of Group B ( P ＜ 0.05 ). The protein content, the ratio of neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid ( BALF), the content of MDA and the activities of serum NO in Group B were significantly higher than those of Group A ( P ＜ 0.01 ). There was a significant decrease in the level of arterial bicarbonate and partial pressure of oxygen in Group B (P ＜ 0.01). Compared with Group B, these indexes of lung injury were significantly lower while the levels of arterial bicarbonate and partial pressure of oxygen increased significantly in Groups C, D,and E (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01 ). Under light microscope, the pathological changes induced by LPS were significantly attenuated by RPR and hemin.Conclusions: The high expression of MAPK plays an important role in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury. Protective effect of RPR on lipopolysaccharideinduced acute lung injury may be related to the inhibition of the abnormal high expression of p38 MAPK/iNOS/HO-1.

Health-related quality of life and stress-related disorders in COVID-19 ICU survivors:Are they worse than with other causes of ARDS?

Background:There are insufficient data regarding the impact of acute respiratory distress syndrome related to coronavirus disease 2019(C-ARDS)–caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)–on health-related quality of life(HRQoL)and the occurrence of stress-related disorders in coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)intensive care unit(ICU)survivors.The aim of this study is to assess HRQoL and the occurrence of stress-related disorders(acute stress disorder[ASD]and post-traumatic stress disorder[PTSD])in C-ARDS ICU survivors at 1 and 6 months following hospital discharge.Methods:This prospective observational study included 90 patients treated for C-ARDS between March and May 2020 in the ICU and discharged alive from the hospital.All patients included in the study were contacted by telephone 1 month and 6 months post-hospital discharge to assess the presence of symptoms of stress-related disorders and HRQoL using the 8-item Treatment Outcome Post-traumatic Stress Disorder scale(TOP-8)and 36-item Short Form survey(SF-36).We performed univariate analyses to evaluate differences between patients who developed stress and those who did not.We also compared SF-36 scores in our sample with data from the general Spanish population and from cohorts of non–C-ARDS and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-1(SARS-CoV-1)survivors.Results:There are 24.1%of patients showed symptoms of ASD;in 13.5%of cases the symptoms persisted 6 months later.Risk factors for the development of symptoms of ASD and PTSD are younger age,female sex,obesity,a previously diagnosed psychiatric disease and disease severity at ICU admission(P<0.05).HRQoL was greatly affected by C-ARDS;however,there was improvement on all scales of the SF-36 at the 6-month follow-up(P<0.05).The mean SF-36 score of our sample was higher than those previously reported in non–C-ARDS survivors(P<0.05)for physical functioning(78.0 vs.52.0),role functioning/physical(51.0 vs.31.0),bodily pain(76.1 vs.57.0),vitality(58.6 vs.48.0),social function(72.6 vs.63.0)and role emotional(77.4 vs.55.0),except on the general health scale.C-ARDS survivors also scored better than SARS-CoV-1 survivors on all scales except for body pain(P<0.05).Conclusions:The impact of C-ARDS on HRQoL is substantial,with frequent occurrence of PTSD symptoms.Patients are heavily affected in all areas of health in the first month of post-hospital discharge but show a dramatic improvement within 6 months,especially in terms of physical health.