Re-expansion Pulmonary Edema in a patient with Secondary Spontaneous Pneumothorax Following Closed Thoracostomy: A Case Report

Although re-expansion pulmonary edema (RPE) is rare (incidence rate <1%), it is associated with a mortality rate of >20%; therefore, early diagnosis and treatment are important. We report a case of RPE following chest tube insertion in a patient with spontaneous pneumothorax. We have specifically focused on the mechanism underlying RPE and the possible etiology. An 82-year-old man with a history of chronic anemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension was referred to the emergency department for management of recurrent right-sided pneumothorax. We performed emergency closed thoracostomy for suspected tension pneumothorax, which led to stabilization of the patient’s vital signs; however, he coughed up frothy pink sputum accompanied by severe right-sided chest pain 30 min postoperatively. The patient showed new-onset right pulmonary consolidation on chest radiography, as well as desaturation, tachycardia, and tachypnea and was diagnosed with RPE. He was transferred to the intensive care unit for mechanical ventilation and supportive treatment using diuretics, ionotropic agents, and prophylactic antibiotics. RPE gradually resolved, and the patient was extubated 3 days after admission. He has not experienced recurrent pneumothorax or pulmonary disease for 4 months. We emphasize the importance of RPE prevention and that aggressive ventilator care and supportive treatment can effectively treat RPE following an accurate understanding of the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms and risk factors.

A review of hospital based ventilator malfunctions reported to the FDA in 2021

Ventilator care is synonymous with Intensive care. These devices are electromechanical and as such can fail. Most failures are without patient incident, injury, and harm. The FDA requires manufacturers who learn of malfunction, injury or death while operating their product to report to the agency via the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database. I reviewed 500 recent events reported to the FDA and found an increasing trend from 2020 to 2021 in hospital ventilator malfunction reports. Examination of these reports is critical to assuring quality ventilator care. The author concluded that intensive training on the device characteristics and feature and a more rigorous examination of ventilator performance between patients may assist in reducing device malfunctions. Keywords: Mechanical ventilation, Ventilator malfunction, FDA

Application of a Portable Home Ventilator for Treating Flail Chest After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Case Report

Background Unexpected cardiopulmonary resuscitation and subsequent flail chest are rare in cardiac surgery patients. A patient with a flail chest frequently requires long-term mechanical ventilator care. Early application of portable home ventilator (PHV) might be a useful treatment. Case presentationA 61-year-old female who underwent cardiac surgery had unexpected cardiopulmonary resuscitation with a flail chest. For treating her flail chest, portable home ventilator was applied with several respiratory rehabilitations. ConclusionWe think PHV is useful and alternative treatment for inappropriate for surgical fixation in flail chest patients.

An Integrated Model including the ROX Index to Predict the Success of High-Flow Nasal Cannula Use after Planned Extubation: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study

High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy is commonly used to prevent reintubation after planned extubation. In clinical practice, there are no appropriate tools to evaluate whether HFNC therapy was successful or failed after planned extubation. In this retrospective observational study, we investigated whether the use of the ROX index was appropriate to differentiate between HFNC success and failure within 72 h after extubation and to develop an integrated model including the ROX index to improve the prediction of HFNC success in patients receiving HFNC therapy after planned extubation. Of 276 patients, 50 patients (18.1%) were reintubated within 72 h of extubation. ROX index values of >8.7 at 2 h, >8.7 at 6 h, and >10.4 at 12 h after HFNC therapy were all meaningful predictors of HFNC success in extubated patients. In addition, the integrated model including the ROX index had a better predictive capability for HFNC success than the ROX index alone. In conclusion, the ROX index at 2, 6, and 12 h could be applied to extubated patients to predict HFNC success after planned extubation. To improve its predictive power, we should also consider an integrated model consisting of the ROX index, sex, body mass index, and the total duration of ventilator care.

Early pulmonary hypertension is a risk factor for bronchopulmonary dysplasia-associated late pulmonary hypertension in extremely preterm infants

This study evaluated whether early pulmonary hypertension (PH) in extremely preterm infants (EPIs) at 22–27 weeks of gestation detected clinically with echocardiography at 4–7 postnatal days (PND) is a risk factor for death before 36 weeks post-menstrual age (PMA) or late PH in moderate or severe (m/s) bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) (BPD-PH). We analyzed risk factors for death before 36 weeks PMA or BPD-PH. Among 247 EPIs enrolled, 74 (30.0%) had early PH. Twenty-one (28.4%) infants with early PH and 18 (10.4%) without early PH died before 36 weeks PMA; 14 (18.9%) infants with early PH and 9 (5.2%) without early PH had BPD-PH at 36–38 weeks PMA. Multivariate analysis revealed that early PH (adjusted odds ratio, 6.55; 95% confidence interval, 3.10–13.82, P < 0.05), clinical chorioamnionitis (2.50; 1.18–5.31), intraventricular hemorrhage (grade 3–4) (3.43; 1.26–9.37), and late sepsis (6.76; 3.20–14.28) independently increased the risk of development of death before 36 weeks PMA or BPD-PH. Subgroup analysis among m/s BPD patients revealed that early PH (4.50; 1.61–12.58) and prolonged invasive ventilator care (> 28 days) (4.91; 1.02–23.68) increased the risk for late PH independently. In conclusion, EPIs with early PH at 4–7 PND should be monitored for BPD-associated late PH development.

Prediction of severe COVID-19 cases requiring a ventilator in Tokyo, Japan

SummaryBackgroundTo avoid exhaustion of medical resources by COVID-19, policy-makers must predict care needs, specifically the proportion of severe cases likely to need ventilator care.ObjectiveThis study was designed to use a statistical model to elucidate dynamics of severe cases in Tokyo and to discuss the timing of effective policy activation.MethodsThe study extended from April 27 through October 18, 2020 in Japan’s Tokyo Metropolitan area. Medical exhaustion was defined as use of more than half of the ventilator capacity available before the COVID-19 outbreak. We regressed the number of severe cases on the newly onset patients of more than 14 days prior. As earlier research indicated, the COVID-19 severity changed at the end of May. Therefore, we added dummy variables to reflect changing severity from June and its product with newly onset patients as the explanatory variable. Then we calculated the threshold using R(t): R(t)=0.99 for the number of patients 14 days prior was used as a threshold at which strong countermeasures should be activated to keep to avoid medical exhaustion.ResultsThe critical number signaling medical exhaustion in Tokyo was defined as 655 cases. We selected 15, 30, 60 and 90 days prior as explanatory variables for explaining the number of severe cases. A coefficient of determination larger than 0.95 was inferred as indicating good fit. The threshold was estimated as more than 4500 cases for R(t)=1.1 and monotonically decreasing by R(t) to be 600 cases for R(t)=2.5.Discussion and ConclusionResults showed that newly onset patients reported more than 14 days prior can explain the number of severe cases very well. We also confirmed the threshold number of patients 14 days prior by R(t) for which strong countermeasures should be activated to avoid medical exhaustion with R(t)=0.99. This method is expected to be useful for countermeasure activation policies for Tokyo.

Effect of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors on Covid-19 patients in Korea

Background The effect of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors in coronavirus disease 19 (Covid-19) patients has not been fully investigated. We evaluated the association between RAAS inhibitor use and outcomes of Covid-19. Methods This study was a retrospective observational cohort study that used data based on insurance benefit claims sent to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea by May 15, 2020. These claims comprised all Covid-19 tested cases and the history of medical service use in these patients for the past five years. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, and the rate of ventilator care was compared between the groups. Results From a total of 7,590 patients diagnosed with Covid-19, two distinct cohorts were generated based on RAAS inhibitors prescribed within 6 months before Covid-19 diagnosis. A total of 1,111 patients was prescribed RAAS inhibitors, and 794 patients were prescribed antihypertensive drugs, excluding RAAS inhibitors. In propensity-score matched analysis, 666 pairs of data set were generated, and all-cause mortality of the RAAS inhibitor group showed no significant difference compared with the non-RAAS inhibitor group (14.6% vs. 11.1%; hazard ratio [HR], 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54–1.15; p = 0.22). The rate of ventilator care was not significantly different between the two groups (4.4% vs. 4.1%; HR, 1.04; 95%CI, 0.60–1.79; p = 0.89). Conclusions RAAS inhibitor treatment did not appear to increase the mortality of Covid-19 patients compared with other antihypertensive drugs, suggesting that they may be safely continued in Covid-19 patients.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent use may not be associated with mortality of coronavirus disease 19

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been widely used in patients with respiratory infection, but their safety in coronavirus disease 19 (Covid-19) patients has not been fully investigated. We evaluated an association between NSAID use and outcomes of Covid-19. This study was a retrospective observational cohort study based on insurance benefit claims sent to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea by May 15, 2020. These claims comprised all Covid-19-tested cases and history of medical service use for the past 3 years in these patients. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, and the secondary outcome was need for ventilator care. Among 7590 patients diagnosed with Covid-19, two distinct cohorts were generated based on NSAID or acetaminophen prescription within 2 weeks before Covid-19 diagnosis. A total of 398 patients was prescribed NSAIDs, and 2365 patients were prescribed acetaminophen. After propensity score matching, 397 pairs of data set were generated, and all-cause mortality of the NSAIDs group showed no significant difference compared with the acetaminophen group (4.0% vs. 3.0%; hazard ratio [HR], 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63–2.88; P = 0.46). The rate of ventilator care also did not show significantly different results between the two groups (2.0% vs. 1.3%; HR, 1.60; 95% CI 0.53–5.30; P = 0.42). Use of NSAIDs was not associated with mortality or ventilator care in Covid-19 patients. NSAIDs may be safely used to relieve symptoms in patients with suspicion of Covid-19.