Diagnosing pulmonary embolisms: the clinician's point of view. / Diagnóstico de la embolia pulmonar. El punto de vista del médico clínico.

Pulmonary thromboembolism is common and potentially severe. To ensure the correct approach to the diagnostic workup of pulmonary thromboembolism, it is essential to know the basic concepts governing the use of the different tests available. The diagnostic approach to pulmonary thromboembolism is an example of the application of the conditional probabilities of Bayes' theorem in daily practice. To interpret the available diagnostic tests correctly, it is necessary to analyze different concepts that are fundamental for decision making. Thus, it is necessary to know what the likelihood ratios, 95% confidence intervals, and decision thresholds mean. Whether to determine the D-dimer concentration or to do CT angiography or other imaging tests depends on their capacity to modify the pretest probability of having the disease to a posttest probability that is higher or lower than the thresholds for action. This review aims to clarify the diagnostic sequence of thromboembolic pulmonary disease, analyzing the main diagnostic tools (clinical examination, laboratory tests, and imaging tests), placing special emphasis on the principles that govern evidence-based medicine.

[Comparative study of protected alveolar lavage versus occluded telescopic catheter in patients with suspected pneumonia and under mechanic ventilation]. / Estudio comparativo del lavado alveolar protegido frente al catéter telescópico ocluido en pacientes con sospecha de neumonía y en ventilación mecánica.

BACKGROUND: The pneumonias associated to mechanical ventilation present great difficulty in diagnosis and have a high mortality. The invasive diagnostic technique of choice in these patients is bronchial curettage by a double telescopic catheter with distal occlusion (OTC) based on its good sensitivity/specificity relation. Recently, the use of a variant of the classical bronchoalveolar lavage (BRL), bronchoalveolar lavage or protected alveolar lavage (PAL) has appeared in the diagnosis of conventional bacterial pneumonia. This new technique provides good specificity of OTC by its use with "protected" catheters and a high sensitivity due to exploration of a greater area of the lung. METHODS: Twenty patients receiving mechanical ventilation (MV) suspected of pneumonia in whom 21 fibrobronchoscopies (FB) were performed with OTC and PAL were studied with quantification of the cultures obtained being carried out. The OTC was performed according to the usual technique and PAL by the instillation of 40 ml of saline serum administered through a Combicath type catheter. RESULTS: OTC and PAL provided diagnostic results which coincided in 8 cases: the same germs were isolated at significant concentrations in six patients and in the two remaining cases direct immunofluorescence for Legionella was positive. PAL was diagnosed in 4 more cases with the diagnosis of viral inclusion bodies being possible in one upon cytologic examination. The count of cells with intracellular bacteria (ICB) was greater than 7% and was always related with positivity in the PAL. CONCLUSIONS: A greater sensitivity was observed with the protected alveolar lavage technique. Moreover, this technique makes virologic investigation and the counting of cells with intracellular bacteria, which may be a marker of rapid diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia, possible.

[Quality of initial prescription of home oxygen therapy in a healthcare area of the Murcia Region (Spain)]. / Calidad de la prescripción inicial de la oxigenoterapia domiciliaria en un área sanitaria de la Región de Murcia.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the quality of the prescription of home oxygen therapy (OT) in a health area of Murcia. METHODS: A prospective study of 125 patients in a respiratory therapy clinic, evaluated with a questionnaire and blood-gas analysis while breathing ambient air. Related respiratory therapy was also assessedin COPD and asthma patients. RESULTS: We studied 125 cases in the 3 months following the prescription of home oxygen therapy in 72 men (58%) and 53 women (42%) with a mean age of 77.2 ± 11.6. The most common type of home OT prescribed was for palliative cases in 45 patients (36%), followed by COPD in 42 (33.6%). In 88 (92%) of the 96 medical reports that we evaluated, insufficient data as to how to administer oxygen were available. Twenty-five percent of home OT prescriptions were given without blood-gas analyses, and in the 65 cases with a blood-gas analysis only 11 (17%) met oxygen value criteria for home OT as per regulations. Oxygen desaturation was not present in 31% of the palliative care home OT cases. The analysis of blood-gases during the clinic visit in non-palliative care cases demonstrated that 61% did not meet the blood-gas criteria to continue on home OT. Eighty percent of COPD and asthma patients on home OT did not receive the correct respiratory therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Quality problems in the prescription of home OT exist in our area. Palliative care is the principal reason for home OT prescriptions. In COPD and asthma patients who receive home OT, related respiratory therapy is not ideal.

[Descriptive study of nursing-sensitive outcomes in oncohematological patients and nursing interventions]. / Estudio descriptivo sobre resultados de salud de pacientes oncohematológicos e intervenciones enfermeras.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the main nursing-sensitive outcomes in oncohematological patients admitted to hospital and to evaluate nursing interventions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a prospective, observational study in the oncohematological units of the Morales Meseguer Hospital. The sample included patients admitted from March 2006 to June 2007. RESULTS: A total of 56 patients were studied. Of these, 39 patients (69.6%) had some degree of mucositis but only six patients (10.7%) were assessed objectively by nurses. Fifty-two patients (92.9%) received anti-emetic treatment, but there were no reports of nausea or vomiting in 27 (48.2%). Ten patients (17.9%) were referred to the nutritional unit. Anxiety levels and psychosocial impact decreased during hospital admission and patient satisfaction increased but family members experienced greater stress. Pressure ulcer developed in only one patient. Four catheters (8.2%) became infected and there were five cases of catheter-related bacteremia. There were 22 cases of catheter obstruction (39.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of mucositis, pressure ulcer and catheter-related bacteremia was lower than in other studies. There was no standard assessment of pain, nausea or vomiting. Anxiety levels were lower than in other studies. Improvement and psychosocial adjustment suggested a process of adaptation to the disease. The increase in caregiver burden was related to the disease in the long term. Satisfaction with nursing care was 55 points on a 70-point scale.

[Microbiological study via occluded telescopic catheter in patients under mechanical ventilation and suspected of pneumonia. Clinico-bacteriological follow up of the cases]. / Estudio microbiológico mediante catéter telescópico ocluido en pacientes bajo ventilación mecánica y sospecha de neumonía. Seguimiento clínico-bacteriológico de los casos.

Pneumonias related to mechanical ventilation pose a serious diagnostic challenge and are responsible for elevated mortality. Conventional diagnostic methods are of little help. The introduction of invasive techniques such as bronchial catling via an occluded telescopic catheter (OTC) has proven to be an important advance in diagnosis and therapy. We have compared the bacteriological results obtained using OTC with those using conventional diagnostic methods such as tracheobronchial pumps (TBP) and hemocultures, and we have undertaken a bacteriological, clinical follow-up of the cases. Seventy-four patients under mechanical ventilation and suspected of pneumonia were under study. The study consisted to two consecutive phases of collecting bacteriological samples throughout the patient's evolution. A total of 121 fibrobronchoscopies were performed. The sensitivity obtained with OTC was 76%, and the specificity was 100%. The two techniques, OTC and TBP, coincided in 38% of the cases. According to the bacteriological results obtained with OTC, the antibiotic treatment was modified in 44.5% of the patients. The sensitivity of the OTC was significantly less in those patients were the last doses of antibiotic was administered within two hours of performing the procedure. The procedure of gathering secretions from the inferior respiratory tract with OTC possesses greater sensitivity and diagnostic specificity in patients with mechanical ventilation and pulmonary infiltrates and improves the diagnosis performed by other conventional and routine techniques such as TBA and hemocultures.

[Tetanus in the Murcia region: the clinico-epidemiological characteristics of 150 cases]. / Tétanos en la Región de Murcia: características clínico-epidemiológicas de 150 casos.

150 tetanus cases registered on the region of Murcia have been retrospectively analyzed, they have been collected from the patients admitted at a Intensive Care Unit during a period of 18 years; the clinical together with the epidemiological features, as well as their variations, have been studied through out the years. The impact of a vaccination program in adults which was performed in our region during 1981 has been also evaluated in relationship with the incidence of disease and the economical cost of it. Incidence remained homogeneous until 1982, from that date on a sudden decrease on the number of cases was observed, related with the vaccination program [Period previous to the vaccination program: mean 10 cases/year, versus 5 cases/year since it was started (p < 0.001)]. Regarding the epidemiological characteristics, it is remarkable the shift of the disease toward a more advanced age of onset together with a predominance on females beginning in 1978, but without reaching statically significance. More frequent route of infection is nowadays the intramuscular suppurative injection. Besides this fact the severity of the cases have been increasing (from 59% to 71%, p < 0.005), which has determined that the global mortality of the disease remains almost the same (38%). Mortality has no relationship with age, but is related with being a female (p < 0.05), with intramuscular injection as route of infection (p < 0.025), with the clinical stage (p < 0.001) and with a short incubation period (p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)