Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews - Volume 4, Issue 3, 2008

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) remains a challenging diagnostic and treatment anatomical illness for clinicians. Pediatric pulmonologists, cardiothoracic and general surgeons and pediatric intensivists are confronted with these cases. CHD represents a group of congenital defects in the structural integrity of the diaphragm, affecting approximately 1 in 3000 births [1]. While it appears to be an anatomical malformation, C Read More

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a 1 out of 2500 live-born disease with a persistent 30-40% mortality rate, consecutively to severe pulmonary hypoplasia and hypertension. The etiology of CDH remains unknown, although recent studies have identified genes potentially involved. The classical view that unclosure of pleuroperitoneal canals is responsible for the occurrence of CDH has been challenged by recent wor Read More

Pulmonary neuroendocrine cell (PNEC) system consists of solitary cells and innervated clusters, neuroepithelial bodies (NEB), widely distributed throughout the airway mucosa of mammalian lungs. These cells are numerous in fetal/ neonatal lungs and produce amine (serotonin, 5-HT) as well as a variety of neuropeptides (e.g. bombesin). The potential role and significance of these highly specialized lung cells in normal and dis Read More

Sleep apnea syndrome is a disease of high prevalence and high morbidity, for which surgery used to be the only possible therapeutic approach. Uvulo-palatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) was the technique used until the nineteen eighties. However, surgery has largely been abandoned since the introduction of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which has become the main treatment option today. Surgery remains Read More

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the respiratory system characterised by recurrent “reversible” obstruction of the airwflow in the airway. Various agents have been used in the treatment of asthma out of which inhaled beta-2 agonists have been mainstay of bronchodilator therapy of asthma for more than 40 years. Short-acting beta-2 agonists are still recommended for relieving the acute episode of bronch Read More

Virtually all patients with a newly discovered pleural effusion should undergo thoracentesis to aid in diagnosis and management. Pleural fluid (PF) samples should be collected into heparinized tubes to prevent clot formation. The routine PF evaluation usually includes cell count and differential, protein, lactate dehydrogenase, glucose, adenosine deaminase, cytology and, if infection is a concern, pH as well as bacterial and myco Read More

Systemic sclerosis is a multisystem autoimmune disease with potential lung manifestations that include pulmonary vascular and interstitial disease. Not only is interstitial lung disease the most common pulmonary manifestation, it is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with systemic sclerosis. The risk of systemic sclerosis patients developing progressive interstitial lung disease is strongly associated with the p Read More