Percutaneous Tracheostomy With Apnea During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Era: A Protocol and Brief Report of Cases.

OBJECTIVE: To assess feasibility of modified protocol during percutaneous tracheostomy in coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic era. DESIGN: A retrospective review of cohort who underwent percutaneous tracheostomy with modified protocol. SETTINGS: Medical, surgical, and neurologic ICUs. SUBJECTS: Patients admitted in medical, surgical, and neurologic units with prolonged need of mechanical ventilation or inability to liberate from the ventilator. INTERVENTIONS: A detailed protocol was written. Steps were defined to be performed before apnea and during apnea. A feasibility study of 28 patients was conducted. The key aerosol-generating portions of the procedure were performed with the ventilator switched to standby mode with the patient apneic. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Data including patient demographics, primary diagnosis, age, body mass index, and duration of apnea time during the tracheostomy were collected. Average ventilator standby time (apnea) during the procedure was 238 seconds (3.96 min) with range 149 seconds (2.48 min) to 340 seconds (5.66 min). Single-use (disposable) bronchoscopes (Ambu A/S [Ballerup, Denmark] or Glidescope [Verathon, Inc., Bothell, WA]) were used during all procedures except in nine. No desaturation events occurred during any procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous tracheostomy performed with apnea protocol may help minimize aerosolization, reducing risk of exposure of coronavirus disease 2019 to staff. It can be safely performed with portable bronchoscopes to limit staff and minimize the surfaces requiring disinfection post procedure.

Early lung cancer detection, mucosal, and alveolar imaging.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Early detection is essential for long-term survival. Screening of high-risk individuals with low-dose computed tomography screening has proven to increase survival. However, current radiological imaging techniques have poor specificity for lung cancer detection and poor sensitivity for detection of mucosal or alveolar preinvasive malignant lesions. Bronchoscopy allows imaging and sampling of early lung cancer, with the highest safety profile and high diagnostic accuracy. RECENT FINDINGS: Available technologies, such as autofluorescence bronchoscopy, narrow band imaging, and radial ultrasound bronchoscopy can significantly increase the yield and diagnostic accuracy of bronchoscopy for early cancer detection in the central airways. Newer technologies such as optical coherence tomography, confocal bronchoscopy, and Raman spectroscopy may significantly increase the diagnostic yield of both central and parenchymal early cancer lesions. SUMMARY: Although some of these technologies are still investigational and are not readily available in most centers, they may identify early mucosal and alveolar cancer lesions accurately in the least invasive manner to provide appropriate therapy and prolong patient survival from lung cancer.