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Cureus Jan 2024Pleural effusions cause breathlessness, decreased activity levels, and impaired quality of life. Clinical trials of drainage of pleural effusion use patient-reported... (Review)
Review
Pleural effusions cause breathlessness, decreased activity levels, and impaired quality of life. Clinical trials of drainage of pleural effusion use patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to assess these variables. This systematic review aimed to identify which PROMs have been used in clinical trials in pleural effusions, what variables were assessed, whether they were responsive to pleural interventions, and whether they have been validated in patients with pleural effusions, including a defined minimal clinically important difference (MCID). A systematic review was performed to identify relevant clinical trials from Medline, EMBASE, Emcare, and CINAHL and data were extracted. From 329 abstracts, 29 clinical trials of pleural effusion drainage that used PROMs as an outcome measure were identified. A total of 16 different PROMs were used. The most used PROMs were unidimensional measurements of breathlessness, particularly the visual analogue scale for dyspnoea (VASD), all of which nearly showed improvements in breathlessness following pleural fluid drainage. Other variables commonly assessed included activity levels and health-related quality of life. Multidimensional PROMs showed inconsistent responsiveness to pleural fluid drainage. Only the VASD was validated in this patient group with a defined MCID. A range of PROMs are used in clinical trials of pleural fluid drainage. No single PROM measures all the outcomes of interest. Unidimensional measurements of breathlessness are responsive to pleural fluid drainage. Only the VASD is validated with an MCID. There is a need for properly validated, response PROMs which measure the key outcomes of interest in this patient group.
PubMed: 38371010
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.52430 -
The American Journal of the Medical... Oct 2023Endometriosis-associated pleural effusion is a rare occurrence with poorly defined clinical characteristics.
BACKGROUND
Endometriosis-associated pleural effusion is a rare occurrence with poorly defined clinical characteristics.
METHODS
A systematic review was performed to examine all articles on endometriosis-associated pleural effusion extracted from 4 databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus) from inception until November 2022.
RESULTS
A total of 142 articles (isolated cases and small retrospective series) involving 176 patients (median age 33 years) with endometriosis-associated pleural effusion were included. The most frequent symptoms were dyspnea (67%), chest pain (55%) and abdominal pain (40%). Pleural effusion was predominantly unilateral (89%), right-sided (88.5%) and massive (56%). Ascites was evident in 42% of the cases. Pleural fluid had a bloody appearance in 99% of cases and always met the exudate criteria. Pleural fluid cytology identified only 9% of the patients, with pleural biopsy being the most common diagnostic procedure (74%). Most patients were treated with hormones (76%), thoracic surgery (60%) and abdominal surgery (27%). Effusion recurrence was observed in 26% of cases after a median follow-up of 1 year.
CONCLUSIONS
The presence of right-sided hemorrhagic pleural effusion in a young woman warrants an assessment for the possibility of endometriosis. Despite conventional treatment, effusion recurs in approximately a quarter of patients.
Topics: Female; Humans; Adult; Endometriosis; Retrospective Studies; Pleural Effusion; Ascites; Exudates and Transudates
PubMed: 37553023
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjms.2023.08.003 -
Cancer Cytopathology Apr 2024This study conducts the first meta-analysis to assess the aggregated risk of malignancy associated with each category of the International System for Reporting Serous... (Review)
Review
This study conducts the first meta-analysis to assess the aggregated risk of malignancy associated with each category of the International System for Reporting Serous Fluid Cytopathology (ISRSFC) for reporting serous effusion cytology, while also evaluating diagnostic accuracy. PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase were systematically searched using the keywords "(pleural, peritoneal, and pericardial effusions) AND (serous effusion cytology) OR (International System for Reporting Serous Fluid Cytopathology)". Articles underwent risk of bias assessment using the QUADAS-2 tool. After excluding inadequate samples, a meta-analysis determined sensitivity and specificity for different cutoff points, including "atypical considered positive," "suspicious of malignancy considered positive," and "malignant considered positive." Summary receiver operating characteristic curves assessed diagnostic accuracy, and the diagnostic odds ratio was pooled. Sixteen retrospective cross-sectional studies, totaling 19,128 cases, were included. Sensitivity and specificity for the "atypical and higher risk categories" considered positive were 77% (95% confidence interval [CI], 68%-84%) and 95% (95% CI, 93%-97%) respectively. For the "suspicious for malignancy and higher risk categories" considered positive, sensitivity and specificity were 57% (95% CI, 49%-65%) and 100% (95% CI, 99%-100%) respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for the "malignant" category considered positive for malignancy were 70% (95% CI, 60%-77%) and 99% (95% CI, 98%-99%), respectively. The pooled area under the curve ranged from 85% to 89.5% for each cutoff. This meta-analysis underscores the ISRSFC's accuracy in reporting serous fluid cytology. It emphasizes the diagnostic importance of the "suspicious" and "malignant" categories in identifying malignancy, and the role of the "benign" category in ruling out malignancy.
PubMed: 38613789
DOI: 10.1002/cncy.22822 -
The Ultrasound Journal Jan 2024Pleural effusion is a fluid buildup in the pleural space that mostly result from congestive heart failure, bacterial pneumonia, malignancy, and pulmonary embolism. The... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Pleural effusion is a fluid buildup in the pleural space that mostly result from congestive heart failure, bacterial pneumonia, malignancy, and pulmonary embolism. The diagnosis of this condition can be challenging as it presents symptoms that may overlap with other conditions; therefore, imaging diagnostic tools such as chest x-ray/radiograph (CXR), point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), and computed tomography (CT) have been employed to make an accurate diagnosis. Although POCUS has high diagnostic accuracy, it is yet to be considered a first-line diagnostic tool as most physicians use radiography. Therefore, the current meta-analysis was designed to compare POCUS to chest radiography.
METHODS
n extended search for studies related to our topic was done on five electronic databases, including PubMed, Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar. A quality assessment using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool (QUADAS-2) was performed on all eligible articles obtained from the databases. Moreover, the diagnostic accuracy of POCUS and CXR was performed using STATA 16 software.
RESULTS
Our search yielded 1642 articles, of which only 18 were eligible for inclusion and analysis. The pooled analysis showed that POCUS had a higher diagnostic accuracy compared to CXR (94.54% (95% CI 91.74-97.34) vs. 67.68% (95% CI 58.29-77.08) and 97.88% (95% CI 95.77-99.99) vs. 85.30% (95% CI 80.06-90.54) sensitivity and specificity, respectively). A subgroup analysis based on the position of patients during examinations showed that POCUS carried out in supine and upright positions had higher specificity than other POCUS positions (99%). In comparison, lateral decubitus CXR had higher sensitivity (96%) and specificity (99%) than the other CXR positions. Further subgroup analyses demonstrated that CXR had higher specificity in studies that included more than 100 patients (92.74% (95% CI 85.41-100). Moreover, CXR tends to have a higher diagnostic accuracy when other CXR positions are used as reference tests (93.38% (95% CI 86.30-100) and 98.51% (95% CI 94.65-100) sensitivity and specificity, respectively).
CONCLUSION
POCUS as an imaging modality has higher diagnostic accuracy than CXR in detecting pleural effusion. Moreover, the accuracy is still high even when performed by physicians with less POCUS training. Therefore, we suggest it is considered a first-line imaging tool for diagnosing pleural effusion at the patients' bedside.
PubMed: 38261109
DOI: 10.1186/s13089-023-00356-z -
Heart Views : the Official Journal of... 2023Although respiratory support is necessary to maintain hemodynamic stability in patients undergoing major surgeries, prolonging the time of mechanical ventilation is... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Although respiratory support is necessary to maintain hemodynamic stability in patients undergoing major surgeries, prolonging the time of mechanical ventilation is considered a major complication following these procedures. The identification of potential factors related to this phenomenon should be identified. In the present systematic review, we first assess the pooled prevalence of prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery and also determine the main predictors for PMV by deeply reviewing the literature.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The manuscript databases including Medline, Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Cochrane were deeply searched by the two blinded investigators for all eligible studies based on the relevant keywords. Based on the titles and abstracts, 88 records were initially included and of those, 15 articles were eligible for the final analysis.
RESULTS
The pooled prevalence of PMV in the studies that defined PMV as ventilation >24 h was 6.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.1%-10.2%) and in the studies, PMV as ventilation >48 h was 2.8% (95% CI: 1.7%-4.7%). Demographics (gender and advanced age), obesity, underlying comorbidities (hypertension, chronic kidney disease, cerebrovascular accident, high New York Heart Association class, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and history of acute coronary syndrome), emergency surgery, intraoperative characteristics (needing intra-aortic balloon pump, increased peak airway pressure, using cardiopulmonary bypass, the type of dose of anesthetics, cross-clamp time, increased units of blood transfusion, occurring cardiac ischemic events within an operation, fluid imbalance, and some anastomoses), and some postoperative outcome such as lowering O saturation, sequential organ failure assessment score, inotrope use, pleural effusion, delirium, and prolonged intensive care unit stay were found to be the main determinants for PMV.
CONCLUSION
Depending on the definition of PMV, the prevalence of PMV varied from 1.7% to 10.2%. Various factors before, during, and after surgery are the predictors of PMV in these patients, which can be used to design new scoring systems to predict it.
PubMed: 38188710
DOI: 10.4103/heartviews.heartviews_71_23 -
Translational Pediatrics Jul 2023Chylothorax as part of the clinical spectrum of tuberculosis (TB) is a rare entity, especially among children. However, it is crucial for clinicians to be able to...
BACKGROUND
Chylothorax as part of the clinical spectrum of tuberculosis (TB) is a rare entity, especially among children. However, it is crucial for clinicians to be able to identify, correlate, and diagnose chylothorax as it poses significant morbidity to patients.
CASE DESCRIPTION
We report on a paediatric case of pleural TB complicated with complex chylothorax, and systematically reviewing the literature for cases of tuberculous chylothorax among children particularly looking at the (I) demographic, (II) clinical presentations, (III) radiological findings, and (IV) investigations among this cohort of patients. The systematic review complied to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We used three separate databases, namely PubMed, Ovid, and Scopus to search for articles with terms "chylothorax", "tuberculosis", and "children". We included article reporting on: (I) children aged below 18; (II) infected by , and (III) written in English only. We reviewed the publications from the inception up to August 2022. After an extensive search, 7 articles were reviewed. We included 10 patients from all the reports. Most common symptoms reported were intermittent fever (n=6) and chronic cough (n=5). Other symptoms include shortness of breath and chest discomfort due to fluid accumulation and/or effusion. Typical TB symptoms like night sweat, loss of weight, and loss of appetite were present in some of the reported patients. Chest radiography was the most used diagnostic imaging modality, in which all of the reported cases noted presence of pleural effusion, with some cases proceeded with computer tomography (CT) of thorax to aid in the diagnosis. Most of the patients had lymphadenopathies and all patients underwent pleural tapping for analysis and symptomatic relief. From the pleural fluid milky appearance and biochemistry correlation, the diagnosis of chylothorax was established in all 10 patients. Every patient was tested positive for TB infection.
CONCLUSIONS
Most of the cases showed similar clinical presentation, radiological findings, and laboratory investigations particularly the classic analysis findings of pleural fluid. Even though TB is not a common cause of chylothorax, clinicians should have raised suspicion of it especially after gathering full history and correlating it with the other findings.
PubMed: 37575907
DOI: 10.21037/tp-22-636 -
Reumatologia Clinica Mar 2024Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity has shown good performance in diagnosing pleural, peritoneal, and meningeal tuberculosis. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
OBJECTIVES
Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity has shown good performance in diagnosing pleural, peritoneal, and meningeal tuberculosis. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the performance of measuring ADA activity in synovial fluid for the early diagnosis of joint tuberculosis.
METHODS
We searched published information in MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and MedRxiv databases, as well as unpublished information in the American College of Rheumatology and European League Against Rheumatism for conference abstracts (2012-2021). We also scanned the reference lists of articles. Two reviewers independently applied the criteria for selection, assessed quality, and extracted data (PROSPERO number CRD42021284472).
RESULTS
Seven independent studies (N=305 subjects) that compared ADA activity in synovial fluid with a composite reference diagnostic method for tuberculosis were included. Overall, the risk of bias was judged low. Studies were classified as high quality (n=3; 148 subjects) and low quality (n=4; 157 subjects). Pooled sensitivity and specificity of ADA activity was 94% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.89-98; I=23%) and 88% (95% CI, 83-92; I=83%), respectively. The random-effects model for pooled diagnostic Odds ratio was 67.1 (95%CI, 20.3-222.2; I=30%). The receiver operating characteristic curve area was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.92-0.99). Meta-regression did not identify the quality of the study, country of publication, or the type of assay as a source of heterogeneity.
CONCLUSIONS
Measuring ADA activity in synovial fluid demonstrates good performance for the early diagnosis of joint tuberculosis.
Topics: Humans; Adenosine Deaminase; Synovial Fluid; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tuberculosis, Osteoarticular; Arthritis
PubMed: 38494302
DOI: 10.1016/j.reumae.2024.02.002 -
Narra J Apr 2024Empyema poses a significant global health concern, yet identifying responsible bacteria remains elusive. Recent studies question the efficacy of conventional pleural... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Empyema poses a significant global health concern, yet identifying responsible bacteria remains elusive. Recent studies question the efficacy of conventional pleural fluid culture in accurately identifying empyema-causing bacteria. The aim of this study was to compare diagnostic capabilities of next-generation sequencing (NGS) with conventional pleural fluid culture in identifying empyema-causing bacteria. Five databases (Google Scholar, Science Direct, Cochrane, Research Gate, and PubMed) were used to search studies comparing conventional pleural fluid culture with NGS for identifying empyema-causing bacteria using keywords. Positive results identified through conventional pleural fluid culture and NGS were extracted. In addition, bacterial profiles identified by NGS were also documented. Joanna-Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tool was employed to assess quality of included studies. Descriptive analysis was employed to present outcome of interests. From five databases, three studies, with 354 patients, were included. Findings from three studies showed that NGS outperformed conventional pleural fluid culture in detecting empyema-causing bacteria even in culture-negative samples. Moreover, dominant bacterial profiles identified through NGS included , and anaerobic bacteria. In conclusion, NGS outperforms conventional pleural fluid culture in detection empyema-causing bacteria, yet further studies with larger samples and broader bacterial profiles are needed to increase confidence and urgency in its adoption over conventional pleural fluid culture.
Topics: Humans; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Empyema, Pleural; Bacteria
PubMed: 38798844
DOI: 10.52225/narra.v4i1.650 -
The Ulster Medical Journal Jan 2024Sternal wound infection (SWI) has always been a significant risk in patients who undergo sternotomies as part of their cardiac surgical procedures. Computed tomography...
BACKGROUND
Sternal wound infection (SWI) has always been a significant risk in patients who undergo sternotomies as part of their cardiac surgical procedures. Computed tomography (CT) imaging is often used to diagnose and assess sternal wound infections. Its purpose includes identifying and locating infection and any sternal dehiscence.
METHODS
A systematic literature review across PubMed, Embase, and Ovid was performed according to PRISMA guidelines to identify relevant articles that discussed the utility of CT scanning for SWI, common features identified, patient outcomes and sensitivity/specificity (Figure 1).
RESULTS
25 papers were included. 100% (n=25) of the papers were published in peer-reviewed journals. CT scans in SWIs can be seen as a beneficial aid in diagnosing as well as determining the components of infection. Commonalities were identified such as fluid collection in the mediastinum, free gas, pleural effusions, and sternal dehiscence which point towards the presence of sternal wound infection.
CONCLUSION
CT scanning is a novel and emerging methodology for imaging in SWI and post-sternotomy complications, hence increased research is required to expand the literature on this area as well as the creation of guidelines and cut-offs or signs for radiology professionals to identify and determine the extent of infection.
Topics: Humans; Surgical Wound Infection; Retrospective Studies; Sternum; Sternotomy; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 38292500
DOI: No ID Found -
World Neurosurgery Jan 2024Ventriculoperitoneal shunt is one of the most common neurosurgical procedures in the treatment of hydrocephalus. There are reports of migration of the distal catheter to...
BACKGROUND
Ventriculoperitoneal shunt is one of the most common neurosurgical procedures in the treatment of hydrocephalus. There are reports of migration of the distal catheter to the breast pocket where cerebrospinal fluid then collects and can develop into a pseudocyst. There exist case reports in the literature of patients with prior breast augmentation who present with distal catheter migration from the peritoneal space into the breast tissue. We present a case series of 3 patients with preexisting breast augmentation who returned with unilateral breast enlargement after ventriculoperitoneal shunt. In all 3 patients, the distal catheter migrated out of the peritoneal space and was found to be coiled around the breast prosthesis. Additionally, we offer recommendations for managing these complications and a review of the literature.
METHODS
We performed a systematic review without meta-analysis of studies involving management of shunt migration in the setting of preexisting breast implants. We present a case series of 3 patients whom we treated with breast cerebrospinal pseudocyst after migration of the distal catheter into the breast tissue.
RESULTS
A total of 17 studies, dating from 2002 to 2022, met our inclusion and exclusion criteria and were selected for full review. Catheter migration occurred between 2 weeks and 9 months of initial shunt placement. All patients presented with unilateral breast enlargement and cerebrospinal fluid pseudocyst formation. All patients underwent revision shunt surgery. Surgical treatment strategies used included reimplantation of the distal catheter into the pleural space or ipsilateral or contralateral peritoneal space or complete removal of the entire shunt system.
CONCLUSIONS
Breast-related ventriculoperitoneal shunt complication is a rare entity that is increasingly seen as more patients receive breast augmentation. Breast-related shunt complications most commonly present with cerebrospinal fluid pseudocyst formation in the breast. It is important for neurosurgeons to be aware of an underlying breast implant before placing a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. For patients who have migration of the distal catheter into the breast, a protocol for managing these situations should be followed to ensure no shunt infection and avoidance of future catheter migration complications with subsequent shunt revisions.
Topics: Humans; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt; Mammaplasty; Breast Implants; Hydrocephalus; Postoperative Complications; Cysts; Iatrogenic Disease; Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts; Breast; Hypertrophy
PubMed: 37898269
DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2023.10.120