Performance of diagnostic criteria in patients clinically judged to have cardiac sarcoidosis: Is it time to regroup?

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is challenging. Because of the current limitations of endomyocardial biopsy as a reference standard, physicians rely on advanced cardiac imaging, multidisciplinary evaluation, and diagnostic criteria to diagnose CS. AIMS: To compare the 3 main available diagnostic criteria in patients clinically judged to have CS. METHODS: We prospectively included patients clinically judged to have CS by a multidisciplinary sarcoidosis team from November 2016 to October 2017. We included only incident cases (diagnosis of CS within 1 year of inclusion). We applied retrospectively the following diagnostic criteria: the World Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Diseases (WASOG), the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), and the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS) 2016 criteria. RESULTS: We identified 69 patients. Diagnostic criteria classified patients as follows: WASOG as highly probable (1.4%), probable (52.2%), possible (0%), some criteria (40.6%), and no criteria (5.8%); HRS as histological diagnosis (1.4%), probable (52.2%), some criteria (40.6%), and no criteria (5.8%); JCS as histological diagnosis (1.4%), clinical diagnosis (58%), some criteria (39.1%), and no criteria (1.4%). Concordance was high between WASOG and HRS (κ = 1) but low between JCS and the others (κ = 0.326). CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of patients clinically judged to have CS are unable to be classified according to the 3 main diagnostic criteria. There is low concordance between JCS criteria and the other 2 criteria (WASOG and HRS).

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and toilet bronchoscopy as a bridge to pneumonectomy in severe community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia.

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) pneumonia is associated with very high mortality. Though surgical evacuation of necrotic tissue is desirable in patients unresponsive to antimicrobial therapy, most patients are acutely ill precluding surgical intervention. We utilized a combination of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) with frequent toilet bronchoscopies to salvage an unaffected right lung from spillage of necrotic pus from left lung cavitary CA-MRSA pneumonia in a 22-year-old patient. Our patient while on ECMO and after decannulation was positioned with the right lung up at all times with 1-2 toilet bronchoscopies every day for almost 30 days. This time was utilized for ventilator weaning and optimizing the nutritional status prior to extrapleural left pneumonectomy. Prevention of soilage of the unaffected right lung and mitigating volutrauma with ECMO support combined with the subsequent surgical evacuation of necrotic left lung tissue led to a favorable outcome in this case. This strategy could be of value in similar presentations of unilateral suppurative pneumonia, where the progressive disease occurs despite optimal medical therapy.

Significance of main pulmonary artery dilation on imaging studies.

Proper and early identification of patients who harbor serious occult illness is the first step in developing a disease-management strategy. Identification of illnesses through the use of noninvasive techniques provides assurance of patient safety and is ideal. PA dilation is easily measured noninvasively and is due to a variety of conditions, including pulmonary hypertension (PH). The clinician should be able to thoroughly assess the significance of PA dilation in each individual patient. This involves knowledge of the ability of PA dilation to accurately predict PH, understand the wide differential diagnosis of causes of PA dilation, and reverse its life-threatening complications. We found that although PA dilation is suggestive of PH, data remain inconclusive regarding its ability to accurately predict PH. At this point, data are insufficient to place PA dilation into a PH risk-score equation. Here we review the causes and complications of PA dilation, define normal and abnormal PA measurements, and summarize the data linking its association to PH, while suggesting an algorithm designed to assist clinicians in patient work-up after recognizing PA dilation.