Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Prolonged mechanical ventilation and the need for tracheal intubation are the main indication of tracheostomy. This procedure can be done, in two ways: surgical tracheostomy or percutaneous tracheostomy. In this study, surgical tracheostomy was compared with percutaneous method in the intensive care unit.
Methods: This clinical trial study was performed on 61 patients admitted to the intensive care unit of Ayatollah Rohani Hospital of Babol University of Medical Sciences from April 14, 2013 to April 14, 2016. In the first group (44 cases), tracheostomy was performed in percutaneous (PDT) and in the second group (17 patients) surgically. The early complications and waiting time (intubation to tracheostomy) for tracheostomy were compared in two groups. All data were analyzed by SPSS software, ver. 22 (Armonk, NY, USA), Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and P values of less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 59.87±8.15 years. The mean age of the male patients was 59.66±6.35 years and the female patients were 60.35±6.41 years. In this study, the average waiting time (time from intubation to tracheostomy) was 14.19 days in the PDT group and 20.69 days in the tracheostomy group, with a significant difference between the two groups (P= 0.001). The incidence of preoperative bleeding after surgery was five cases (8.2%). In the PDT group, two cases (3/3%) and the surgical group was three cases (4.9%) and the two groups did not have a significant difference (P= 0.46). The incidence of wound infection (during the period of admission and up to ten days later) in two groups was two patients (3.3%), one case (1.6%) In the PDT group, and one case (1.6%) in a surgical group and the two groups did not have a significant difference (P= 0.43). Other complications such a subcutaneous emphysema and posterior tracheal wall trauma and rupture was not shown in both groups.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the complications (bleeding and wound infections) did not differ between the two groups. Due to the lower waiting time and the lack of need for patient transfer outside of the intensive care unit, percutaneous tracheostomy can be a safe alternative to the surgical tracheostomy.

Background: Sporadic lymphangioleiomyomatosis (S-LAM) is a rare disease that generally affects young women and involves the abnormal proliferation of smooth muscle cells (LAM cells) in the lungs (pulmonary LAM). There are two types of LAM, sporadic and LAM with tuberous sclerosis, which is an autosomal dominant genetic disease caused by mutations in the Tsc1 and Tsc2 genes. The most common manifestation of this disease is pneumothorax due to cyst rupture. Median transplant-free survival for pulmonary LAM is 23 years from diagnosis. Factors associated with a poor prognosis are often those associated with a more rapid decline in lung function.
Case Presentation: The patient was a 24-year-old woman who presented with pneumothorax and multiple bullae in both lungs. The patient had no family history of respiratory disease, and the patient herself had no symptoms other than mild shortness of breath following activity from a year ago. A lung CT scan was performed for the patient and multiple bullae were evident in both lungs, which confirmed the diagnosis. There was no evidence of involvement of other organs but the lung. For the patient in the ICU with the diagnosis of left pneumothorax, a chest tube was inserted and she underwent mechanical ventilation. Finally, after 24 days of hospitalization, oxygen therapy of the patient was performed with a normal mask, and she underwent left lung pleurodesis with talcum powder, and a few days later, right lung pleurodesis was performed on the patient. On the 36th day of hospitalization, her general condition improved and she was discharged from the ICU. The patient was discharged in good general condition and had no problem on her four months follow-up.

Conclusion: Fortunately, with the diagnosis of LAM for the patient according to the CT scan of the patient's lung, she was treated with insertion of a chest tube and by performing pleurodesis, the recurrence of pneumothorax was prevented. In a young woman with spontaneous pneumothorax, sporadic LAM is one of the differential diagnoses.

Background: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has been used as one of the most promising methods to treat hypoxic respiratory failure in COVID-19.
Methods: In this study, the clinical outcomes of 80 patients with acute respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 were evaluated. The disease was confirmed in two methods: clinical and radiographic confirmation of disease in patients with an acute respiratory infection (highly suspected) or in some cases with a positive PCR test. The rate of discharge from the ICU without the need for intubation was evaluated as the primary outcome and based on that, the patients were divided into two groups: NIV failure and NIV success. Mortality rate, length of stay in ICU, frequency of intubated patients and laboratory factors of patients as secondary outcomes in two groups were compared.
Results: Regarding the outcome of death and discharge, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Therefore, all patients with corona who were admitted to ICU and received NIV and were intubated due to non-responsiveness to NIV died and the patients were discharged from the hospital without intubation. All the patients investigated in this study, had received antiviral, antibiotic, and glucocorticoid treatment during hospitalization. In this study, the patients who were in the NIV success group and were not intubated had a lower mean age compared to the group without NIV success (54 vs. 67 years, respectively). The number of white blood cells in the NIV success group was 3945.28±10011.21 and in the group without NIV success was 9242.38±17296.16, which was statistically significant (P=0.004). The number of blood neutrophils in the successful and unsuccessful NIV groups was 12.19±83.04 and 4.31±89.49, respectively (P=0.034). The mean APACHEII score in patients in the NIV success group (11.07±5.05) was significantly lower than the group without NIV success (20.16±4.96).

Conclusion: Mortality was higher in the intubated group than in the NIV group. The combination of APACHEII score and respiratory rate one hour after receiving NIV can predict success with NIV.