The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically changed the lives of people around the globe since it appeared in Wuhan, China, at the beginning of December 2019. The burden of ...disease and its death toll have had an unprecedented impact on the healthcare, economic and financial systems of low-, middle- and high-income countries 1–3. Peoples’ lives have been disrupted and negatively impacted by COVID-19-related suffering and lockdowns at community and household level.
Addressing COVID-19-related stigma
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The treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) remains a challenge for clinicians for several reasons, including the large number of drugs required, ...the cost, the tolerability of single drugs and their combinations, and the effectiveness and long treatment duration 1–6. Therefore, fresh attention has recently been paid to new and repurposed anti-TB drugs 4, 5, 7–18.
Estimated 2017 tuberculosis (TB) incidence is 10 million and mainly depends on the reservoir of individuals with latent TB infection (LTBI). QuantiferonⓇ-TB Gold in-Tube (QFT-GIT) is one of the tests ...used for LTBI detection. Since 2015 a new version, QuantiferonⓇ-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) is available.
To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the diagnostic accuracy for TB of QFT-Plus compared to QFT-GIT.
PubMed and Scopus were used to detect records related to predefined strings from 2015 to 2018. Full text articles dealing with the sensitivity and/or specificity of the QFT-Plus vs. QFT-GIT for active-TB and LTBI detection were analyzed. Scientific quality and risk of bias were assessed using QADAS-2.
We selected 15 articles. Studies were mainly observational and cross-sectional, performed in 8 countries. Sample size differed in the TB group (27 to 164) compared to LTBI group (29 to 1031). Pooled sensitivity of QFT-Plus for active-TB was 0.94 (0.91 and 0.95 for TB1 and TB2, respectively), whereas pooled specificity for healthy status was 0.96. Pooled sensitivity and specificity for LTBI was 0.91 and 0.95, respectively.
We show that QFT-Plus is more sensitive compared to QFT-GIT for detecting M. tuberculosis infection, mainly due to TB2 responses.
Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) continue to be challenging at both the patient and programme level. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 480 ...000 new cases of MDR-TB in 2015 and an additional 100 000 cases diagnosed with rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB). India, China and the Russian Federation accounted for almost half (45%) of the total burden 1. Out of 580 000 patients eligible for MDR-TB treatment, only 125 000 (20%) were enrolled in treatment programmes 1.
Summary Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis are generally thought to have high mortality rates. However, many cases can be treated with the right combination ...and rational use of available antituberculosis drugs. This Review describes the evidence available for each drug and discusses the basis for recommendations for the treatment of patients with MDR and XDR tuberculosis. The recommended regimen is the combination of at least four drugs to which the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolate is likely to be susceptible. Drugs are chosen with a stepwise selection process through five groups on the basis of efficacy, safety, and cost. Among the first group (the oral first-line drugs) high-dose isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol are thought of as an adjunct for the treatment of MDR and XDR tuberculosis. The second group is the fluoroquinolones, of which the first choice is high-dose levofloxacin. The third group are the injectable drugs, which should be used in the following order: capreomycin, kanamycin, then amikacin. The fourth group are called the second-line drugs and should be used in the following order: thioamides, cycloserine, then aminosalicylic acid. The fifth group includes drugs that are not very effective or for which there are sparse clinical data. Drugs in group five should be used in the following order: clofazimine, amoxicillin with clavulanate, linezolid, carbapenems, thioacetazone, then clarithromycin.
High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) has become a frequently used noninvasive form of respiratory support in acute settings; however, evidence supporting its use has only recently emerged. These guidelines ...provide evidence-based recommendations for the use of HFNC alongside other noninvasive forms of respiratory support in adults with acute respiratory failure (ARF).
The European Respiratory Society task force panel included expert clinicians and methodologists in pulmonology and intensive care medicine. The task force used the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) methods to summarise evidence and develop clinical recommendations for the use of HFNC alongside conventional oxygen therapy (COT) and noninvasive ventilation (NIV) for the management of adults in acute settings with ARF.
The task force developed eight conditional recommendations, suggesting the use of 1) HFNC over COT in hypoxaemic ARF; 2) HFNC over NIV in hypoxaemic ARF; 3) HFNC over COT during breaks from NIV; 4) either HFNC or COT in post-operative patients at low risk of pulmonary complications; 5) either HFNC or NIV in post-operative patients at high risk of pulmonary complications; 6) HFNC over COT in nonsurgical patients at low risk of extubation failure; 7) NIV over HFNC for patients at high risk of extubation failure unless there are relative or absolute contraindications to NIV; and 8) trialling NIV prior to use of HFNC in patients with COPD and hypercapnic ARF.
HFNC is a valuable intervention in adults with ARF. These conditional recommendations can assist clinicians in choosing the most appropriate form of noninvasive respiratory support to provide to patients in different acute settings.
Etiological diagnosis of mediastinal lymphadenopathy represents a daily challenge. Endosonography (transesophageal and transbronchial ultrasound-guided needle aspiration) is the recommended technique ...in the first diagnostic work-up and in the mediastinal staging of lung cancer. Despite a good sensitivity, limited amount of collected tissue may hamper molecular assessment in advanced lung cancer and in the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders, fibrotic sarcoidosis, and mycobacterial lymphadenitis. Cryobiopsy, a bronchoscopic technique based on cooling, crystallization, and subsequent collection of tissue, has been successfully employed in the diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases. Cryoprobes provide larger amount of tissue than conventional bronchoscopic sampling tools and might potentially prevent the need for invasive surgical procedures. New applications of the technique (e.g., bronchoscopic diagnosis of peripheral pulmonary lesions and mediastinal lymph nodes) have been recently described in few reports. In a recent issue of the Journal, Genova et al. described five patients who underwent endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) followed by ultrasound-guided transbronchial cryobiopsy of mediastinal lymphadenopathy for a suspected malignancy. The authors discussed about the potential added value of mediastinal cryobiopsy on a correct histopathological and molecular assessment in patients with malignancies. EBUS-cryobiopsy could be a promising technique in the diagnostic pathway of mediastinal lymphadenitis. However, cryobiopsy is now available only in few selected centres. The learning curve of the technique adapted to mediastinal ultrasound-guided sampling, the optimal sampling strategy, its true diagnostic accuracy in patients with malignant and benign diseases, as well as its safety, are still largely unclear. Mediastinal cryobiopsy could be complementary rather than alternative to conventional endosonography. Rapid on-site evaluation of EBUS-TBNA could guide subsequent sampling with cryoprobes in case of poor collection of biological material or in case of suspected lymphoproliferative disorders. Further studies should investigate its diagnostic yield, in comparison or in combination with conventional endosonography, in large cohorts of patients with malignant or benign mediastinal lymphadenopthies.
The 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) tuberculosis (TB) report, published after the approval of the End TB Strategy, shows that, because of the improved surveillance/survey figures from India, the ...global 2015 TB incidence and mortality reached 10.4 and 1.4 million, respectively 1–5. Together with India, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Pakistan and South Africa contribute most to the global TB burden.
•Bronchoscopy can be crucial for pulmonary TB diagnosis.•Bronchoscopic needle aspiration techniques are safe.•Bronchoscopic therapy can be helpful in the treatment of endobronchial TB.
Tuberculosis ...(TB) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early diagnosis and treatment are key to prevent Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. Bronchoscopy can play a primary role in pulmonary TB diagnosis, particularly for suspected patients with scarce sputum or sputum smear negativity, and with endobronchial disease. Bronchoscopic needle aspiration techniques are accurate and safe means adopted to investigate hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes in cases of suspected TB lymphadenopathy. Tracheobronchial stenosis represents the worst complication of endobronchial tuberculosis. Bronchoscopic procedures are less invasive therapeutic strategies than conventional surgery to be adopted in the management of TB-related stenosis.
We conducted a non-systematic review aimed at describing the scientific literature on the role of bronchoscopic techniques in the diagnosis and therapy of patients with TB.
We focused on three main areas of interventions: bronchoscopic diagnosis of smear negative/sputum scarce TB patients, endobronchial TB diagnosis and treatment and needle aspiration techniques for intrathoracic TB lymphadenopathy. We described experiences on bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchial washing, and biopsy techniques for the diagnosis of patients with tracheobronchial and pulmonary TB; furthermore, we described the role played by conventional and ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in the diagnosis of suspected hilar and mediastinal TB adenopathy. Finally, we assessed the role of the bronchoscopic therapy in the treatment of endobronchial TB and its complications, focusing on dilation techniques (such as balloon dilation and airway stenting) and ablative procedures (both heat and cold therapies).
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 490 000 cases of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) (defined as TB caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to at least ...isoniazid and rifampicin) occurred in 2016. Among them, ∼6.2% had extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB (i.e. TB caused by MDR strains with additional resistance to fluoroquinolones and at least one second-line injectable drug) 1.
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