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Biomedical subjects

R Pariente

Publications and source records attributed to R Pariente.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

[Treatment of severe acute asthma].

Severe acute asthma remains associated with significant mortality. Medical treatment of acute severe episodes includes oxygentherapy, inhaled or intravenous beta-2-agonists, and high doses of systemic corticosteroids. The benefit of additional treatment with other agents such as nebulized ipratropium bromide, epinephrine and intravenous aminophylline is still not well defined. Mechanical ventilation, which remains necessary in case of life-threatening acute respiratory failure, addresses specific problems: PaCO2 may be allowed to remain elevated and ventilator settings should be chosen that avoid barotrauma under appropriate sedation. The use of inhalation anesthesics, helium or even extracorporeal life support necessitates further study to determine the optimal therapeutic strategy in those particular situations.

Acute Disease↗

[Asthma and its treatment during pregnancy].

Asthma occurs in 0.4 to 4.0% of pregnant women and is considered to be the most frequent respiratory disease during pregnancy. Physiological modifications during pregnancy, including hyperventilation due to increased progesterone levels and lower residual volume and functional capacity resulting from increased uterine volume can interfere with the asthmatic disease and require adapted management. Results of studies evaluating the interaction between asthma and pregnancy provide a wide variety of results. For some authors, manifestations of asthma may worsen during pregnancy requiring reinforced medical treatment in as many as 42% of the patients. For others bronchial hyperreactivity is significantly diminished during pregnancy. These findings should be examined in light of several individual factors including the spontaneous clinical course of asthma itself and more rigorous control during pregnancy. It is thus very difficult to predict the effect of pregnancy on clinical manifestations of asthma in any given patient or from one pregnancy to another. Certain authors have observed a correlation between IgE levels and the gravity of asthma in pregnant women: normally IgE levels tend to decline during pregnancy but may remain unchanged or increase if asthma manifestations worsen. Therapeutic options remain unchanged during pregnancy although only drugs proven safe for the fetus may be used. If carefully managed, pregnancy in the asthmatic patient usually reaches term with no major problem.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

Latent pulmonary function abnormalities in children with Crohn's disease.

Recently, latent pulmonary involvement has been described in adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease. It is unknown, however, whether this also occurs in children, and whether the pulmonary abnormalities differ between the acute phase and remission. The incidence of pulmonary abnormalities has been investigated in 26 children with acute or quiescent Crohn's disease in terms of the following parameters: clinical pulmonary symptoms, chest roentgenograms and pulmonary function tests, including lung transfer factor for carbon monoxide (TLCO). One child had a severe digital clubbing. Chest radiographs were normal in all subjects. No significant differences were found between acute and quiescent phase for pulmonary volumes and expiratory flows, but TLCO (% predicted) was significantly decreased during the active phase of the disease as compared to remission (53 +/- 15 vs 81 +/- 19% predicted). These data suggest that latent pulmonary involvement is also present in a paediatric population with active Crohn's disease, despite a short disease history and absence of smoking. Although the nature of this abnormality remains unclear, this extradigestive epiphenomenon should be taken into account with respect to the aetiopathogenesis of Crohn's disease.

Adolescent↗

[Post-lung transplantation bronchiolitis obliterans].

Bronchiolitis obliterans is an anatomical lesion with multiple aetiologies. In the lung transplant patient the pure forms of bronchiolitis obliterans are probably the consequence of a process of chronic rejection; in fact necropsy tissue or lungs removed which have been transplanted show that the lesions of bronchiolitis obliterans are often associated with parenchymal disorders, vascular and proximal bronchial disease, which are sequelae of phenomena of rejection or infection. The effect of bronchiolitis obliterans on lung function is constant; this may appear progressively or in stages. Increasing immunosuppressive treatment may arrest the progress. This rarely occurs and the development of respiratory failure tends to be the rule. It is exceptional to achieve the diagnosis of bronchiolitis obliterans from the examination of a transbronchial biopsy. It is a combination of features, both clinical and respiratory function, negative bacteriology and virological investigations as well as the absence of any efficacy of conventional treatment for rejection which leads to the diagnosis. In certain cases the question of a pulmonary re-transplantation is raised.

Bronchiolitis Obliterans↗

Tracheal malacoplakia.

Malacoplakia is a rare granulomatous disease well described in the urinary tract but which rarely involves the lung. We report for the first time, to our knowledge, tracheal localization of this unusual disorder. The larynx and probably kidneys were also involved. Differential diagnosis, physiopathology, and treatments are discussed.

Adult↗

[Inhaled corticotherapy sparing effect by sodium nedocromil in moderate to severe asthma].

BACKGROUND: The increased use of high dose inhaled steroid in the treatment of asthma has revealed the risk of dose-dependent side effects. Nedocromil sodium is a non steroidal agent with anti-inflammatory properties. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate whether nedocromil sodium may have some therapeutic benefit in asthmatic patients treated with high dose inhaled steroids and whether it has an inhaled steroid sparing effect. PATIENTS: 134 adults with moderate to severe asthma not adequately controlled with high dose inhaled steroids (750 to 1,500 micrograms/day). METHOD: After a two week baseline period, patients were randomized to receive either nedocromil sodium (4 mg qid) or placebo for 24 weeks in a double blind fashion. During the first 12 weeks of treatment, the dose of inhaled steroid was maintained constant whereas it was altered during the last 12 weeks according to asthma scores. RESULTS: Among 108 patients reaching the reduction phase, a decrease of 250 micrograms of inhaled steroid or more was possible in 79% of patients on nedocromil sodium and in 60% of patients on placebo (p < 0.03). Symptoms scores were improved on both treatments during the 12 first weeks, more on nedocromil sodium than on placebo, treatment difference reaching significance for daytime asthma (p < 0.02). FEV1 improved during the trial for patients on nedocromil (from 69 +/- 18% to 74 +/- 21%; p < 0.005) whereas it did not for those on placebo. CONCLUSION: Nedocromil sodium is effective in improving moderate to severe asthma in addition to inhaled steroid and has some steroid sparing effect in patients treated with high dose inhaled steroid.

Administration, Inhalation↗

Single-lung retransplantation for late graft failure.

In lung or heart-lung recipients, an irreversible graft-failure may develop in connection with chronic rejection, infection or bronchial complications. A limited number of transplant-recipients have undergone a retransplantation procedure in several centres. First results are discouraging, especially in the case of early retransplantation. We decided, 3 yrs ago, to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of single-lung retransplantation in lung-transplant recipients with late graft-failure. Eight consecutive single-lung retransplantations were performed in patients with previous single-lung (n = 7), or double-lung (n = 1) transplant. Primary graft and native lung were removed in 5 and 3 patients, respectively. The delay between the two surgical procedures was 16 +/- 10 months (range 6-37 months). Three patients died within 3 months. Long-term survivors experienced stable and satisfactory functional results (forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1 63 +/- 21% predicted; range 40-103% predicted), with survival values ranging 8-20 months. One patient died of septic shock 16.5 months after retransplantation. The remaining four patients are alive. These data suggest that the retransplantation option could be considered in selected patients with late graft-failure. The final decision for retransplantation, however, is largely influenced by the current shortage of donor lungs.

Bronchiolitis Obliterans↗

Acute effects of zolpidem, triazolam and flunitrazepam on arterial blood gases and control of breathing in severe COPD.

Patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) commonly complain of insomnia, but hypnotic drugs are generally not recommended due to their depressant effect on the respiratory centres. The aim of this study was, therefore, to compare the effects of a single dose of the benzodiazepine hypnotics, triazolam 0.25 mg and flunitrazepam 1 mg, and a new imidazopyridine compound, zolpidem 10 mg, in hypercapnic COPD patients. Twelve stable COPD patients (mean +/- SD arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) 9.3 +/- 0.8 kPa and arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) 5.9 +/- 1.9 kPa) were included in the study. The following measurements were performed before and 2 h after drug administration: PaO2 and PaCO2, minute ventilation (VE), mouth occlusion pressure (P0.1), rebreathing CO2 tests with ventilatory response to carbon dioxide stimulation (delta VE/delta PACO2) and mouth occlusion pressure response to carbon dioxide stimulation (delta P0.1/delta PACO2). The measurements were performed in a randomized, double-blind fashion, each patient receiving a single dose of each drug on three different days, separated by a one week interval. No difference was noted between control measurements and those taken 2 h after administration of zolpidem in the following parameters: PaCO2, PaCO2, VE, P0.1, delta VE/delta PACO2 and delta P0.1/PACO2. Two hours after administration of triazolam and flunitrazepam, a significant difference was noted in VE for triazolam and for flunitrazepam. After flunitrazepam administration, a significant decrease in PaCO2 (6 +/- 1.8 at baseline versus 7 +/- 0.4 kPa), and delta VE/PACO2 (0.44 +/- 0.20 at baseline versus 0.31 +/- 0.21 l.min-1 x kPa) were observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Blood Gas Analysis↗

Pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis treated by single lung transplantation.

Pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis is a rare disease resistant to almost all medical treatments to date. We describe the case of a 44-yr-old woman with end-stage pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis who was treated by single-lung transplantation. The patient is doing well in her sixteenth post-transplantation month and has a marked improvement in her pulmonary function tests and walking distance as compared with preoperative values, and she is enjoying an unrestricted life-style.

Adult↗

Comparative study of azithromycin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid in the treatment of lower respiratory tract infections.

Forty-eight patients with acute bronchitis and four with pneumonia were randomly assigned to receive five doses (500 mg on day 1, plus 250 mg/day on days 2-5) of azithromycin; 54 patients with acute bronchitis and four with pneumonia were assigned 30 doses (625 mg every eight hours for ten days) of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (CA). The two regimens were equally effective, with clinical improvement or cure in 92% and 87% of patients respectively, bacteriological cure in 89% and 86%, with 91% and 89% of pathogens eliminated. Minor side effects occurred in 6% and 12% of patients in the two groups, respectively. No major abnormalities in laboratory safety parameters were seen in either group.

Acute Disease↗

[The control of respiration in pulmonary fibrosis. The effect of O2 and CO2].

We have studied the mode of ventilation and chemosentivity in 10 patients suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. The total lung capacity was on average 63.5 +/- 8% of the predicted. Their static compliance was 0.078 +/- 0.05 l.cm of water. The patients were studied in the prone position breathing ambient air then on hyperoxia. The response to CO2 was assessed according to the rebreathing method of Read. The results of these patients were compared with those of 11 normal subjects. The ventilation at rest was normal, with a shortened respiratory time and a Ti/Ttot ratio which was lowered. The occlusion pressure (P0.1) was very much higher than that in normal subjects. This rise was correlated with an increase in pulmonary elastance and a reduction in vital capacity. The correction of hypoxia was without effect on the respiratory parameters. In relation to normal subjects the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide in fibrotics was decreased whilst the response of the P0.1 was increased expressing central hyperactivity. In conclusion, fibrotic patients have normal ventilation in spite of an increase in inspiratory work. This normal ventilation results from hyperactivity of the respiratory centre, as in the hyperventilation induced by carbon dioxide when at rest.

Adult↗

[Bronchial tolerance to inhalation of beclomethasone. Histologic and microbiologic study in asthmatic patients].

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a three months' treatment with beclomethasone dipropionate on the bronchial mucosa of asthmatic patients. Eleven patients suffering from a mild chronic asthma treated with inhaled salbutamol and theophylline were randomly assigned to receive either 1000 mu g of beclomethasone dipropionate (6 patients) or an aerosolized placebo (5 patients) in a double-blind manner. Bronchial biopsies and bronchial secretions were obtained through a fiberoptic procedure at the beginning and the end of the study. Repeated clinical and spirometric investigations were performed each month. Inter- and intra-group mean changes of clinical symptoms and of spirometric values were not significantly different. Pathogens were rarely found in bronchial aspirates and their occurrence did not seem to be influenced by the beclomethasone therapy. Sixty percent of the bronchial biopsies displayed pathological changes of the mucosa that observed at the beginning and at the end of the study; however, no sign of mucosal atrophy was noted.

Adult↗

Single-lung transplantation in emphysematous patients.

We report six single-lung transplantations in emphysematous patients with end-stage disease. Compression of the graft or ventilation/perfusion imbalance were not observed. Rejection episodes were generally documented through transbronchial biopsies and the radiological changes related to acute infections or rejections were restricted to the transplanted lung. Three patients died from CMV pneumonia, status epilepticus and fibrosis of the graft following bronchography, respectively. The three remaining patients are well, with documented improvement of pulmonary function tests and arterial blood gases. Bronchial complications were observed in all patients and have in some cases required dilatation or insertion of a stent. Although requiring a longer follow up, single transplantation is feasible and beneficial in patients with end-stage emphysema.

Adult↗