Community acquired pneumonia and cardiac diseases: A fatal association.

Background. Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a common disease condition attributing to a significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. Acute cardiac events (ACEs) are one of the most life-threatening complications in patients with severe pneumonia. Methods. Retrospective study of burden of ACE in 105 patients admitted with CAP. Results. Twenty-five patients with (CURB-65) score ranging between 0 – 2 did not require intensive care unit (ICU) admission and were admitted in the ward and high dependency unit. Of these, 12 developed ACE and 4 required to be shifted to the ICU for further management. Eighty patients with a CURB—65 score of greater than 3 were admitted to the ICU. Of the patients admitted to the ICU, 10 with ACE died; 2 patients without ACE also died. Conclusions. Our observations suggest that ACE constitute an important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with CAP requiring hospitalisation.

Incidence of chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary hypertension following acute pulmonary thrombo-embolism: An Indian perspective.

Chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) remains a severe disabling disease causing a significant amount of mortality and morbidity worldwide. The incidence and severity of this condition is quite obscure. The initial inciting event, the reason of progression, the natural history of the disease and the predictors of adverse outcomes are not yet adequately clarified. From the Indian subcontinent, data regarding this disease is limited. But with the advent of the multi-detector computed tomography, the understanding of this disease is gradually improving. As most of the available data suggests, acute pulmonary embolism (PE) as the main initial trigger leading to CTEPH, we prospectively analysed all patients being admitted in our hospital with acute PE and followed them over a period of one-and-a-half years to determine the incidence of CTEPH in this group. This is just an attempt to increase the awareness about the disease pattern and determine the rate of progression, risk factors of poor outcome, so that early detection and prompt treatment can benefit the patient care.