Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews - Volume 5, Issue 4, 2009

Patients with a variety of pulmonary disorders commonly have distinct abnormalities related to sleep. These include poor sleep quality [1] and the development of nocturnal oxygen desaturation [2]. Patients with lung disease commonly develop insomnia - either manifesting as difficultywith initiating or maintaining sleep or both [3]. Sleep is associated with physiologic changes in ventilatory behavior which include changes in v Read More

Nocturnal asthma is a significant clinical problem in asthmatics that can lead to sleep disruption, daytime fatigue and hypersomnolence. There is increased sleep latency, reduced sleep efficiency and reduction in slow wave sleep. Circadian changes in airway lumen are exaggerated in nocturnal asthma. Hormonal variations at night, increased airway hyperreactivity with inflammation, decreased lung volume and increa Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the most common disease affecting millions of people worldwide. It is a multicomponent disease which beside airflow obstruction causes airway inflammation, structural changes, mucociliary dysfunction and systemic dysfunction. Airway responsiveness is altered during sleep along with decrease in ventilation due to reduction in tidal volume. Patients with COPD also develo Read More

Patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) suffer from poor quality of life and increased mortality. The poor quality of life is multifactorial, attributable in large part to respiratory symptoms and limitations, medication side effects, and the psychiatric effects of chronic illness. Sleep is affected by these same stresses, resulting in poor sleep quality and sleep disordered breathing. Sleep fragmentation, arousals, and Stag Read More

Pulmonary hypertension in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is common and under recognized. Although more common in patients with OSA associated with chronic lung disease, it is still present in about 20% of patient without co morbid lung or heart disease. Various pathophysiologic changes in OSA especially nocturnal oxygen desaturation, intrathoracic pressure swings, abnormalities in lung mechanics, alteration in v Read More

Sleep problems are common in pediatric patients with chronic respiratory disorders. Nocturnal awakenings are frequent in children with asthma. Chronobiologic rhythms impact the pathophysiology of nocturnal asthma. Poor sleep quality can lead to impaired school performance, neurocognitive defects and attention problems in children. As lung function worsens sleep disruption becomes more prominent in patien Read More

Sleep disturbances due to medications is a common problem. The effects can vary from mild insomnia to major alterations in sleep architecture. The factors affecting the sleep disturbances can be related to the patient or the drug. In this review article we have focused on the side effects due to medication commonly used in pulmonary medicine. The group of drugs discussed are corticosteroids, bronchodilators, leukotriene an Read More

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a chronic, multi-system disorder that primarily affects the lungs, and pancreas, and leads to significant and progressive bronchiectasis, and subsequently end-stage lung disease. Sleep disturbances in cystic fibrosis include nocturnal hypoxemia due to a variety of physiologic changes including ventilation-perfusion mismatch, changes in mechanics of breathing. Derecruitment of ventilatory muscles, Read More

Sleep disturbances are very common in cancer patients. They are part of a symptom cluster with fatigue and pain that greatly affect quality of life in these patients. Lung cancer patients are found to have the highest prevalence of sleep disturbances. However, these disturbances have not been as well-studied in the lung cancer patients. Though insomnia is the most common disorder seen in these patients, other sleep disorders l Read More

One of the first devices to successfully employ the principles essential to rocket flight was a wooden bird. Somewhere around the year 400 B.C., Archytas mystified and amused the citizens of Tarentum by flying a pigeon made of wood. Escaping steam propelled the bird suspended on wires. The pigeon used the action-reaction principle, which was not to be stated as a scientific law until the 17th century. During the latter part Read More

The association of malignant lymphoma with subsequent development of a solitary chest wall mass is uncommon. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a subcategory of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that commonly affects the stomach, thyroid, parotid glands, and lungs. There is a defined association between preexisting inflammation and the development of these lymphomas. It is also well known to have a predilection to disseminate Read More

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a highly prevalent sleep disorder, characterized by repeated disruptions of breathing during sleep. This disease has many potential consequences including excessive daytime sleepiness, neurocognitive deterioration, endocrinologic and metabolic effects and decreased quality of life. Patients with OSAS experience repetitive episodes of hypoxia and reoxygenation during transient c Read More