Eficacia de una plataforma de telemedicina (Cronex 3.0) en el abordaje de pacientes EPOC con fenotipo agudizador o mixto y frecuentes ingresos hospitalarios: aspectos metodológicos / Efficacy of a telemedicine platform (Cronex 3.0) in approaching patients with exacerbator or mixed-phenotype COPD and frequent hospitalizations: methodological aspects

La prevalencia de EPOC en España es elevada. En el futuro, debido al aumento del tabaquismo y al cambio en la pirámide de edad, se prevé un mayor aumento en la incidencia y en la prevalencia, siendo necesaria la búsqueda de nuevas estrategias y herramientas encaminadas a evitar o disminuir las agudizaciones. En este sentido, un programa de intervención telemática coordinado y dirigido desde el servicio de neumología del hospital a los pacientes con EPOC y fenotipo Agudizador, así como fenotipo mixto con características de reingresadores, podría disminuir los ingresos hospitalarios de estos pacientes y ser asimismo un programa coste-efectivo. El objetivo principal de este artículo fue recoger de forma exhaustiva y ampliada todo lo concerniente al diseño metodológico utilizado en el ensayo clínico denominado CRONEX 3.0 no publicado y que aborda el impacto de la telemedicina en la tasa de reingresos por EPOC y su análisis de coste-efectividad

The prevalence of COPD in Spain is high. In the future, due to the increase in tobacco use and the change in the age pyramid, a greater increase in the incidence and prevalence is expected, making it necessary to find new strategies and tools aimed at avoiding or decreasing exacerbations. In this sense, a coordinated telematic intervention program managed by the pulmonology department at the hospital directed towards patients with exacerbator and mixed-phenotype COPD with characteristics of requiring repeat hospitalizations could decrease hospitalizations in these patients and be a cost-effective program at the same time. The main aim of this article is to comprehensively and broadly include everything not yet published regarding the methodological design used in the clinical trial CRONEX 3.0 and which addresses the impact of telemedicine on the rate of rehospitalizations due to COPD and its cost-effectiveness analysis

Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum pneumonia in an immunocompetent patient.

Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum is a coryneform and diphtheromorphic bacteria rarely found as a cause of pneumonia in immunocompetent hosts. A case of an immunocompetent patient with C. pseudodiphtheriticum pneumonia is presented. This infection responded well to initial empirical treatment with cefotaxime. Very few cases of pneumonia associated with C. pseudodiphtheriticum have been described in the medical literature, this organism mainly being found in immunocompromised hosts. We report a case of pneumonia in an immunocompetent patient in which C. pseudodiphtheriticum was the only micro-organism isolated.