Pulmonary/Critical Care

Meeting Perspectives: 2008 American Thoracic Society Meeting

June 18, 2008

Commentary by Laura Evans MD, NYU Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

The 2008 American Thoracic Society (ATS) meeting took place from May 16-21 in Toronto, Ontario. Over 16,000 physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists attended the meeting. There were more than 400 sessions, 800 speakers and 5,500 original research abstracts focusing on pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine.

The NYU Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care medicine was well represented. The division presented more than 20 original research abstracts and…

Its okay to smoke…we’ll screen you

May 9, 2008

Commentary by Shrujal Baxi MD, NYU Chief Resident

One of the first things you learn about critically analyzing a medical journal piece is to go to the end and see who sponsored the study. Corporate financing is known to have subtle effects on research which can lead to an unconscious bias. Disclosure of funding is paramount for a researcher in order to remain above reproach.

In a recent New York Times article, the impact of such relationships is investigated. In 2006, Dr.…

Corticosteroids in Sepsis Now Less Stimulating

April 30, 2008

Commentary by Joe Philip MD, PGY-2

CORTICUS was the long-awaited trial addressing the use of corticosteroids in sepsis that was published in the NEJM this past January. Months prior to the leading auther Charles Sprung publishing it, the Tisch and Bellevue intensive care units halted corticotropin stimulation testing. Corticosteroids have warranted much publicity since CORTICUS came out—and rightly so as practice across the country has changed because of it. The Survinig Sepsis Campaign has now downgraded the recommendation on the use of…

Class Act: Are beta-blockers really contraindicated for patients with a diagnosis of reactive airway disease?

March 21, 2008

Commentary by Katherine Khvilivitzky, NYU Medical Student

Class act is a feature of Clinical Correlations written by NYU 3rd and 4th year medical students. These posts focus on evidenced based answers to clinical questions related to patients seen by our students in the clinics or on the wards. Prior to publication, each commentary is thoroughly reviewed for content by a faculty member.

In the past, reactive airway disease was considered to be a contraindication to administration of all beta-blockers including ophthalmic preparations.…

Class Act: Relieving the Obstruction – Surgical Approaches to the Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

October 18, 2007

Commentary by Andrew Kleinberger, NYU Medical Student

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a syndrome of sleep-disordered breathing that has gained a great deal of attention…

Meeting Perspectives: 2007 American Thoracic Society International Conference

June 5, 2007

Commentary by Doreen Addrizzo-Harris MD, Associate Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

The 2007 American Thoracic Society (ATS) meeting took place between May18-23 in San Francisco, California at the Moscone Conference center. There were more than 400 sessions, 800 speakers and 5,500 original research abstracts. The meeting is concentrated in the areas of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine.

The NYU Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care medicine, under the direction of Dr. William N. Rom, presented more than 30…

Mystery Quiz #3-The Answer

May 15, 2007

Before you read the answer you should read the orginal post form last week

The Final Poll Results (26 votes): metastatic disease (26%) , mycobacterial disease (22%) ,fungal disease (22%), bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (boop) (13%), septic emboli (9%) ,vasculitis, e.g. wegener’s (4%), thromboembolic disease (4%), sarcoid (0%)

The patient had granulomatous inflammation on pathology with acid-fast organisms seen. The culture grew mycobacterium avium (MAC). After treatment with azithromycin, ethambutol and rifabutin for eighteen months, the follow-up imaging showed significant clearing…

Mystery Quiz

May 3, 2007

Posted By Robert Smith, MD Associate Professor of Medicine, Division Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

The patient is an 81 year old male with severe obstructive lung disease who was referred to the pulmonary service for an abnormal chest x-ray prior to femoral-popliteal bypass surgery. The patient complained of chronic dyspnea on exertion but specifically denied hemoptysis, increased cough, fever or night sweats. Initial cxr revealed the following:

A chest ct showed only a spiculated appearing mass in the left upper lobe…

Is the PPD obsolete?

May 1, 2007

In February of this year the New York City Department of Health released a new policy paper indicating that they will no longer use the PPD as a screening tool for tuberculosis in their clinics.They have switched to the QuantiFERON-TB Gold, (QFT-G), a blood test. This test is an ELISA, which measures interferon-gamma secretion by t-lymphocytes in response to tuberculosis specific antigens. The test requires heparinized whole blood and must be processed within 12 hours of the blood draw.

The test exposes the…

Quick Thinking Part 4-The Conclusion

April 20, 2007

Welcome to Quick Thinking. A case is presented in short sections to a faculty expert who will comment on their approach to the patient as the case unfolds. These posts will focus on determining the initial differential diagnoses and diagnostic workups of complicated patient presentations.

Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here. Part 3 can be found here.

Part 3 Case Presentation by Elizabeth Ross, PGY-3:

The patient continued to complain of headache and dizziness and given the patient’s persistent and intermittent fevers…

New Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism-Part 1

April 12, 2007

Commentary By: Margaret Horlick, MD, PGY-3

New guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) were recently jointly issued by the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians. The guidelines are based on a systematic review of the evidence and are published, along with the systematic reviews, in the 2/2007 and 3/2007 issues of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

According to the reviews, there are 600,000 cases of VTE in the US annually, and the…

Does Screening for Lung Cancer Improve Mortality?

April 10, 2007

Commentary By: Anna Dvorak, MDPGY-3

Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer mortality in both men and women. Screening patients at risk for lung cancer might reduce mortality if it helps find cancers at an early stage while they are still resectable. Randomized studies done in the 1970s showed that screening for lung cancer with chest x-ray did not support this theory. Chest x-rays identified more small tumors, but resecting them did not improve mortality. The question of whether screening with…

Page 2 of 4«123 4 »

Clinical Correlations