Search Tag: Pneumonia
Improving pneumonia diagnosis in Ugandan children
2018 09 Jul
Pneumonia is a major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity globally – particularly in resource-poor environments – and diagnosis of pneumonia can be complex. The current gold standard diagnostic technique is a chest X-ray, looking for the presence or absence of areas of consolidation on the lungs. However, this obviously exposes the patient... Read more
Humidification During Mechanical Ventilation: A Systematic Review
2017 07 Jun
Mechanical ventilation (MV) suppresses the mechanisms that heat and moisturise inhaled air; hence, humidification is mandatory during MV. However, a systematic review published in the journal Critical Care finds no clear advantages in terms of clinical outcomes for different humidification devices. Gas delivered during mechanical ventilation must... Read more
Masimo Introduces Rad-G™ Pulse Oximeter
2017 10 May
Masimo (NASDAQ:MASI) has announced the introduction of Rad-G™, a combined pulse oximeter designed primarily for use in pneumonia screening and spot-checking of oxygen saturation (SpO2) in low-resource settings. The development of the device is supported in part by a grant of $4.95 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), announced... Read more
1 in 7 Sepsis Patients Readmitted within 30 Days
2017 22 Jan
Readmissions due to sepsis are higher and costlier than for the four conditions already reported in the U.S. to measure quality of care and guide pay for performance, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Their research is published in JAMA to coincide with the presentation... Read more
Using Data to Minimise Pneumonia Risk After Cardiac Surgery
2016 26 Jul
An article published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery identifies a list of 17 patient characteristics that include age, race, smoking habits, and white blood cell count among others, that are associated with developing pneumonia after cardiac surgery. Pneumonia is the most prevalent infection after such a surgery and often leads to longer hospital... Read more
Lung Ultrasound Safer Than Chest X-ray For Pneumonia in Children
2016 14 Apr
Lung ultrasound is portable, less costly and safer than chest X-rays when diagnosing pneumonia in children, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, results of which were published in the medical journal Chest . Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation... Read more
Copper Can Prevent Respiratory Virus Spread
2015 14 Nov
Copper can effectively help to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which are linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), according to researchers from the University of Southampton in the UK. Their study shows that while human coronavirus 229E — closely related to animal coronaviruses that "host... Read more
Study: Admitting Borderline Pneumonia Patients is Beneficial
2015 22 Sep
Intensive care unit (ICU) admission for older, low-risk patients with pneumonia was linked with improved survival and no significant differences in hospital costs, according to a study published in the latest issue of JAMA . The findings "suggest that ICU admission for borderline patients (those for whom ICU admission depends on the hospital to which... Read more
New Breath Test for Pneumonia
2015 27 Jun
A new UK study published in the journal Thorax has identified an important new approach to diagnose infections in critically ill patients rapidly and accurately. The new method involves chemical analysis of breath specimens from patients in intensive care to detect bacterial infection in the lower respiratory tract of ventilated patients at risk of... Read more
Readmissions in Severe Sepsis Common
2015 20 May
Severe sepsis is a significant cause of rehospitalisation along the lines of nationally recognised outcome measures and more commonly discussed conditions such as pneumonia and heart failure (HF), according to a new study presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference. “Severe sepsis continues to be a common cause of hospitalisation... Read more