Pulmonary Medicine News

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a high risk of concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to data from two studies.

Initial endosonographic assessment of mediastinal lymph node metastases in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer surpassed initial surgical staging not just in clinical outcomes but also with lower cost and better quality of life in a controlled, head-to-head comparison of the two approaches.

Daily azithromycin prevented acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease when it was added to usual treatment in a 1-year study, thus improving patients’ quality of life.

The 2005 revision of the lung allocation system for U.S. lung transplants succeeded, resulting in fewer patients dying while on the lung waiting list, Dr. Robert M. Kotloff, FCCP, said at the annual meeting of the National Association for Medical Direction of Respiratory Care.

The results from the National Lung Screening Trial constitute a “game changer” for lung cancer screening, Dr. James R. Jett, FCCP, said at the annual meeting of the National Association for Medical Direction of Respiratory Care.

Roflumilast was approved by the Food and Drug Administration March 1 to decrease the frequency of exacerbations in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associated with chronic bronchitis and a history of exacerbations.

People who smoked two packs of cigarettes or more a day at midlife were more than twice as likely as nonsmokers to develop dementia and dementia subtypes such as Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent report.

Fixed-dose rivaroxaban is at least as effective as current standard treat- ment for acute deep vein thrombosis – and far simpler to use, according to the large phase III EINSTEIN-DVT trial presented in a hotline session at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

Researchers are warning that the pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza strain has beencombining with other influenza strains among Hong Kong swine, and that further viral reassortment among global swine populations could again cause a pandemic in humans.

Low-dose oral corticosteroids are as effective as high-dose intravenous corticosteroids in the initial treatment of acute exacerbations of COPD, according to findings from a retrospective cohort study of nearly 80,000 COPD hospitalizations.

The three major guideline-recommended, empiric antibiotic strategies for community-acquired pneumonia are associated with similar rates of nosocomial acquisition of Clostridium difficile, according to a prospective, observational study.