Mucus Plugs in Airways of COPD Patients Linked to Higher Mortality
WASHINGTON — Mucus plugs obstructing the airways of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were associated with higher all-cause mortality compared with no mucus plugs, according to an observational retrospective analysis. Over a median 9.5-year follow-up, mortality rates were 34.0%, 46.7%, and 54.1% in patients who had mucus plugs in zero, one to two, […]
Exercise Rehab Helpful After Pulmonary Embolism
Exercise rehabilitation may confer functional improvements to patients struggling to breathe following a pulmonary embolism (PE), a randomized controlled trial found. Patients with persistent dyspnea in the two-center study who were assigned to rehabilitation scored significantly higher on the Incremental Shuttle Walk Test (ISWT) compared with controls (difference 53 m, 95% CI 17.7-88.3, P=0.0035), reported […]
Unhealthy Lifestyle Factors Into Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Lifestyle habits may contribute to individual risk for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), researchers found in the U.K. Biobank. In comparison to more “favorable” lifestyles, an “unfavorable” lifestyle was associated with a greater IPF risk (HR 2.271, 95% CI 1.852-2.785), as was an “intermediate” lifestyle (HR 1.384, 95% CI 1.218-1.574), reported Yaohua Tian, PhD, of Tongji […]
Diagnosis, Death in Pulmonary Fibrosis Seen Earlier in Black Patients
Black patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) consistently experienced poor outcomes associated with their disease at earlier ages than other groups, including hospitalization and death, according to U.S. registry data spanning nearly two decades. In an analysis from the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Registry (PFFR) from 2003 to 2021, a PF diagnosis in Black individuals occurred about […]
Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis Promising for Intermediate-Risk Pulmonary Embolism
A modified reperfusion protocol for intermediate-risk pulmonary embolism (PE) seemed to work without causing excessive bleeding in the small randomized CANARY trial. Use of conventional catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) with alteplase led to 4.3% of patients showing right ventricular (RV) recovery at 3 months (in terms of echocardiographic RV/LV ratios >0.9), which was numerically, but not […]
Physician Group Releases Guidance on Cardiovascular Issues in Long COVID
Risks for cardiovascular complications, including pulmonary embolism, arterial and venous thromboses, myocardial infarction, and stroke, are higher in patients with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), or long COVID, highlighting the need for greater awareness of these conditions among clinicians, according to a consensus statement released by the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AAPM&R). […]
Targeting molecular pathway that causes pulmonary arterial hypertension
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a type of high blood pressure in the lungs, in which blood vessels are narrowed, blocked or destroyed, causing the heart to work harder and, in time, result in cardiac weakness and failure. The disease is relatively rare, but affects an estimated 100,000 persons in the United States, and results […]
Targeting Bacteria in COPD Shows Promise
One study of an immunotherapy for reducing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations missed its primary endpoint and failed to show a statistically significant benefit even in the subgroup that showed the greatest response. Another study, involving a similar product, showed results so dramatic that an independent expert suspected they were “too good to be […]