Articles related to Pulmonology

The Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention (GINA) has published its annual report on asthma management and prevention. Key recommendations include that adults with asthma should receive combination therapy with an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting beta-agonist on an as-needed basis. The recommended option is low-dose budesonide-formoterol, or beclomethasone-formoterol as an alternative treatment. Short-acting inhaled beta agonists as rescue medication is discouraged.

A 59-year-old man is hospitalized with a five-day history of nonproductive cough and fever. The patient reports that he recreationally breeds carrier pigeons and reports no travel outside of the United States. After a physical exam and chest radiograph, what is the most likely cause of this patient’s symptoms?

A once-hopeful antibody-drug conjugate for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) failed to demonstrate a survival benefit in two large, randomized studies, and was found to be mostly toxic. The negative trial results have led to the end of a drug that was considered a promising potential antidote to deadly SCLC.

There are currently no effective antiviral agents available for the treatment of COVID-19 in the outpatient setting. However, ciclesonide, an inhaled steroid agent used to treat asthma, has been found to lessen the antiviral effects by acting on the nonstructural proteins of COVID-19.

Publication: JAMADesign: Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial performed in six hospices in the Netherlands of 162 patients with a life expectancy of three or more days. Administration of subcutaneous scopolamine butylbromide, 20 mg four times a day (n = 79) or placebo (n=78) in the 157 patients included in the primary analysis.Results: A death rattle occurred in 10 patients (13%) in the scopolamine group compared with 21 patients (27%) in the placebo group.

In practice, “standard” duration of antibiotic therapy is often based on archaic studies. Newer evidence shows that shorter durations are often a better choice and that antibiotic resistance is more likely to develop with longer durations of therapy. Here are the recommendations applied to four commonly treated infections.