Laryngotracheal separation for intractable aspiration pneumonia in neurologically impaired children: experience with 11 cases

Purpose

Laryngotracheal separation (LTS) with or without end-to-side laryngoesophagostomy was performed as an antiaspiration procedure for intractable aspiration pneumonia in 11 children. The effectiveness of LTS for preventing aspiration was investigated.

Methods

Eleven children aged from 9 months to 16 years with intractable aspiration pneumonia underwent LTS with (n = 8) or without (n = 3) laryngoesophagostomy at our institution over the last 2 years. Of these 11 patients, 7 underwent fundoplication with or without gastrostomy for gastroesophageal reflux (GER) before LTS (n = 5) or concurrently with LTS (n = 2). The effectiveness of LTS was evaluated by chart review and follow-up phone questionnaires.

Results

LTS decreased the frequency of performing suction from an average of once every 30 minutes to once every 4.5 hours in all patients. In 5 patients who underwent fundoplication with gastrostomy before LTS, aspiration pneumonia remained unless they underwent LTS. Two patients who underwent LTS with or without laryngoesophagostomy tolerated oral feeding postoperatively. All parents rated LTS as excellent or good in terms of improving the quality of life.

Conclusions

LTS can be recommended for neurologically impaired children with intractable aspiration as a primary surgical intervention. If patients show impaired swallowing and GER, LTS could be performed simultaneously with fundoplication and gastrostomy.     

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in HIV negative patients with primary brain tumors

Background: Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is an opportunistic infection with rather adverse outcomes. An unexpected increase in cases of PCP was noted in the brain tumor population at the Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) in 2000. This prompted the present review of the clinical features and risk factors for PCP in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) negative brain tumor population. Methods: The study was located at the JHH. A retrospective review of medical records was done to identify patients with discharge diagnosis of PCP from 1980 to 2001. Patients who were HIV positive were excluded. A detailed analysis was done of patients with brain tumors. Results: From 1980 to 2001, 468 cases of PCP were identified, diagnosed histologically or clinically, of which 110 were patients with an underlying malignancy. Of the 110 cases 15 were seen in the brain tumor population. Of these, 6 patients were seen in 2000 and one in early 2001. Three of these had primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma (PCNSL) on high dose methotrexate. Eight of the fifteen episodes (53.3%) were fatal despite institution of antibiotics and supportive therapy. Conclusion: The incidence and mortality due to Pneumocystis carinii among the brain tumor population is increasing. While corticosteroids are known immunosupressants, prescribing patterns for these medications has not changed lately. However, high dose methotrexate is now being used in PCNSL and could be a complicating factor. Since effective prophylaxis exists, it should be considered in patients with brain tumors receiving high dose steroids, high dose methotrexate or with lymphopenia.     

Sulfa resistance and dihydropteroate synthase mutants in recurrent Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia

Failure of sulfa or sulfone prophylaxis is associated with mutations in Pneumocystis carinii gene coding for dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS). The DHPS genotype was analyzed in AIDS patients who had two separate episodes of P. carinii pneumonia. The results suggest that DHPS mutations can be selected de novo within patients by the pressure of a sulfa or sulfone drug.     

Seasonal patterns of invasive pneumococcal disease

Pneumococcal infections increase each winter, a phenomenon that has not been well explained. We conducted population-based active surveillance for all cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in seven states; plotted annualized weekly rates by geographic location, age, and latitude; and assessed correlations by time-series analysis. In all geographic areas, invasive pneumococcal disease exhibited a distinct winter seasonality, including an increase among children in the fall preceding that for adults and a sharp spike in incidence among adults each year between December 24 and January 7. Pneumococcal disease correlated inversely with temperature (r -0.82 with a 1-week lag; p<0.0001), but paradoxically the coldest states had the lowest rates, and no threshold temperature could be identified. The pattern of disease correlated directly with the sinusoidal variations in photoperiod (r +0.85 with a 5-week lag; p<0.0001). Seemingly unrelated seasonal phenomena were also somewhat correlated. The reproducible seasonal patterns in varied geographic locations are consistent with the hypothesis that nationwide seasonal changes such as photoperiod-dependent variation in host susceptibility may underlie pneumococcal seasonality, but caution is indicated in assigning causality as a result of such correlations.     

Antibiotic use, hospital admissions, and mortality before and after implementing guidelines for nursing home-acquired pneumonia

OBJECTIVES: To compare two strategies for implementing guidelines for nursing home-acquired pneumonia (NHAP) and to measure outcomes associated with treatment in accordance with the guidelines. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Ten skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) from a single metropolitan area. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with an episode of pneumonia acquired more than 3 days after admission to SNF (N = 350): 226 preintervention episodes of pneumonia and 116 postintervention episodes. INTERVENTIONS: Multi-faceted education intervention including small-group consensus process limited to physicians and a similar intervention that included physicians and nurses within randomly selected SNFs. MEASUREMENTS: Antibiotic use at diagnosis compared with the guidelines, hospital admission, severity of pneumonia, and 30-day mortality. RESULTS: Data were complete for 344 episodes of NHAP. For the preintervention group (n = 226), 62.2% (79/127) of the episodes were treated with parenteral antibiotics (PA) when PA were recommended by the guidelines and 57.6% (57/99) of episodes were treated with oral antibiotics (OA) when OA were indicated by the guidelines. Postintervention, treatment with PA and OA according to the guidelines was not significantly different between the two groups of randomized SNFs. A multivariate analysis comparing PA use pre- and postintervention for all SNFs, adjusted for variation in the frequency and severity of pneumonia, found significantly more of the postintervention episodes were treated with PA in accordance with the guidelines (P < .02). A preintervention significant difference in 30-day mortality observed between episodes with indications for PA (37.8% (48/127)) and episodes with indications for OA (6.1% (6/99)) (P < .001) was not present postintervention (11.5% (6/52); (23.8% (15/64); P = .06). There was no significant difference in 30-day mortality preintervention and postintervention for episodes with guideline indications for OA (P = .35) or for PA (P = .05) (P = .16 for multivariate analysis). The difference in PA use was not associated with significant differences in hospital admissions for episodes on NHAP. CONCLUSION: The increase in the use of PA provides evidence that care within SNFs can be significantly changed using standard quality improvement techniques. Use of the guidelines did not significantly affect mortality. The addition of a practical severity of NHAP model or a change in reimbursement structure may enhance the guidelines' impact on hospitalization for NHAP. The financial benefits available with use of the guidelines will be limited unless the guidelines contribute to a reduction in rates of hospitalization.     

Interventions to prevent aspiration pneumonia in older adults: a systematic review

A systematic review was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the following interventions for prevention of aspiration pneumonia (AP) in older adults: compensatory strategy/positioning changes, dietary interventions, pharmacologic therapies, oral hygiene, and tube feeding. Data sources included a key word search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and HealthSTAR databases and hand searches of six journals. Reference lists of relevant primary and review articles were searched. Studies included were randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) enrolling adults aged 65 and older at risk of and assessed for AP. Two investigators extracted data on population, intervention, outcomes, and methodological quality. Of the 17 identified RCTs, eight met the selection criteria, two addressed dietary management or compensatory swallowing, two assessed pharmacological therapies, one assessed oral hygiene, and three assessed tube feeding. None of the eight trials reported use of blinding, and allocation concealment was unclear in five. Use of amantadine prevented pneumonia in one trial of nursing home residents. The antithrombotic agent cilostazol prevented AP in another trial but resulted in excessive bleeding. Insufficient data exist to determine the effectiveness of positioning strategies, modified diets, oral hygiene, feeding tube placement, or delivery of food in preventing AP. Considering how common the problem of AP is in older adults, larger, high-quality RCTs on the effectiveness of preventive interventions are warranted.     

抗菌药物对致VAP的铜绿假单胞菌体外抗菌活性分析

目的了解呼吸机相关性肺炎(VAP)铜绿假单胞菌(PA)的耐药状况,为合理使用抗菌药物提供依据。方法常规培养分离细菌并用API系统鉴定;药敏试验采用K-B纸片琼脂扩散法和肉汤定量稀释法;双纸片确认试验检测超广谱β-内酰胺酶(ESBLs),三维试验确认法检测AmpC酶。结果PA对常用抗菌药物总耐药率依次为:环丙沙星84.8%,头孢曲松78.0%,头孢哌酮55.9%,左氧氟沙星52.5%,头孢他啶37.3%,头孢哌酮/舒巴坦23.7%,亚胺培南/西司他丁23.7%,头孢吡肟6.8%。PA产ESBLs和AmpC酶的阳性率分别为37.29%和18.64%。头孢吡肟、头孢哌酮/舒巴坦和亚胺培南/西司他丁对PA的抑菌率分别为78.0%、55.9%和33.9%。结论PA产酶率和多重耐药率已相当严重,临床应根据药敏试验和抗菌药物最低抑菌浓度(MIC)选用抗菌药物。     

呼吸机相关性肺炎病原菌及耐药性调查

目的探讨呼吸机相关性肺炎（VAP）的病原菌及其耐药性，为防治VAP提供科学依据。方法对VAP的病原菌及耐药性进行调查，分析125例VAP患者的发病年龄、基础疾病、病原菌分布及革兰阴性杆菌耐药率等。结果VAP发生率29．9％，老患者占30．4％。VAP病原菌以G^-杆菌为主，占菌株总数的72．1％，其中鲍曼不动杆菌居首位；铜绿假单胞菌、肺炎克雷伯菌、大肠埃希菌、嗜麦芽寡单胞菌及金黄色葡萄球菌是VAP的主要致病菌。产超广谱阻内酰胺酶细菌分离率为33．1％，G^-杆菌对常用抗药物已表现出较高的耐药率。结论对机械通气进行全面预防，提倡严密动态监测VAP病原菌，合理使用抗生素，以达到有效控制VAP的目的。     

心理指导对雾化吸入治疗喘憋性肺炎的影响

目的 观察心理指导方法结合万托林、普米克令舒、沐舒坦联合雾化吸入治疗喘憋性肺炎的临床效果.方法 采用随机对照方法,观察心理疏导、情绪调节、健康宣教等心理指导方法结合万托林、普米克令舒、沐舒坦联合雾化吸入治疗喘憋性肺炎的临床效果.结果 观察组在缓解临床症状、体征、总有效率方面优于对照组,两组有显著性差异(P＜0.01).观察组住院时间与对照组比较有显著性差异(P＜0.05).结论 心理疏导方法结合联合雾化吸入对患儿可起到直接治疗作用,且效果显著,可缩短病程,提高治愈率,有利于患儿恢复.     

颅脑损伤继发颅内血肿术后并发症的预防和护理

通过对数例颅脑损伤继发颅内血肿术后并发症的观察，总结有以下并发症较多见：肺炎、泌尿系统感染、褥疮、静脉炎、下肢静脉曲张；针对并发症积极采取相应的预防措施有助于病人术后的早日康复。