Neumonía lipoidea exógena: Una causa inhabitual de nódulos pulmonares: casos clínicos / Exogenous lipoid pneumonia: report of three cases

Lipoid pneumonia is an unusual cause of aspiration pneumonia with diverse radiologic manifestations. One of these are pulmonary nodules in which the main differential diagnosis is pulmonary carcinoma. We report an 85 years old male, an 85 years old female and a 34 years old male in whom percutaneous biopsies of suspicious nodules were compatible with lipoid pneumonia.

Escenario actual y perspectivas de la terapia con células madre mesenquimales en medicina intensiva / Overview and perspectives of mesenchymal stem cell therapy in intensive care medicine

Development of innovative therapies in intensive care medicine is particularly important since diseases as sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute renal injury (AKI) have an elevated morbidity and mortality in spite of current gold-standard approaches. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) may have a promising role due to their properties in immunomodulation, tissue reparation and microbial clearance. Preclinical data and results of a systematic review of PubMed, PMC and ClinicalTrials.gov have been included to review the role of MSC therapy in sepsis, ARDS and AKI. A description of MSC biology, sources and benefits in preclinical models was included. A phase I/II clinical trial (RCT) is recruiting neutropenic patients with septic shock. In ARDS, the START trial (Stem cells in ARDS Treatment) is a phase I/II study of bone marrow-derived human MSC (hMSC) that is currently recruiting patients. In AKI, a phase I study has demonstrated the safety of hMSCs infusion in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with high risk to develop AKI. A phase II study is still active. The results of these studies will determine the real feasibility of MSC therapy in critically ill patients.

Bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia: serotype distribution, antimicrobial susceptibility, severity scores, risk factors, and mortality in a single center in Chile

AIMS: Bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) is a severe condition. To evaluate seasonal distribution, mortality, serotype frequencies, antimicrobial susceptibility, and different severity scores among patients with BPP. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were identified by laboratory data and restricted to adulthood. Standard methods were used for serotyping and antimicrobial susceptibility. Risk factors were analyzed by univariate and multivariate methods. Severity scores (APACHE II, CURB-65 and CAP PIRO) were compared using ROC curves. RESULTS: Sixty events of community-acquired BPP occurred between 2005 and 2010. A seasonal pattern was detected. Mean age was 72.1 years old (81.4% >60 years). All had a predisposing factor. Previous influenza (3.3%) or pneumococcal immunization (1.7%) was infrequent. Admission to critical units was required by 51.7%. Twenty-two serotypes were identified among 59 strains. Only one strain had intermediate resistance to penicillin (1.7%). In-hospital mortality reached 33.3%. Multivariate analysis identified a CAP PIRO score>3 (OR 29.7; IC95 4.7-187), age >65 years (OR 42.1; IC95 2.2-796), and a platelet count<100,000/μL (OR 10.9; IC95 1.2-96) as significant independent factors associated with death. ROC curve analysis did not reveal statistical differences between the three severity scores to predict death (AUC 0.77-0.90). The prognostic yield for all of them was limited (Positive Likelihood Ratio: 1.5-3.8). CONCLUSIONS: BPP had a high case-fatality rate in this group of adult patients with no association to resistant isolates, and a low immunization record. Three independent factors were related to death and the prognostic yield of different severity scores was low. .