The Psychosocial Impact of Indwelling Pleural Catheters: A Scoping Review.

We aimed to identify research on the psychosocial impact of Indwelling Pleural Catheters (IPC); report on the extent, range, and nature of studies; and summarize the findings. A secondary aim was to capture reports on patient support needs and/or self-management of IPC. A systematic literature search was undertaken, with evidence synthesis planned if sufficient literature was identified. We searched ten databases available through the United Kingdom National Health Service Knowledge and Library Hub: the British Nursing Index (BNI), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Cochrane, Excerpta Medica Database (Embase), Exerpta Medica Care (Emcare), E-thesis Online Service (EThOS), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline), National Grey Literature Collection, Psychological Information Database (PsycInfo), and PubMed. We included studies reporting on the psychosocial impact of indwelling pleural catheters or their effect on quality of life (QoL). The latter was limited to those studies using qualitative research methods from which we could identify psychosocial impacts. The evaluation of psychosocial factors was not the primary objective of any identified study, and we found no studies in which quality of life was assessed using qualitative methods. Two studies met the inclusion criteria but only tangentially. While indwelling pleural catheters may improve the quality of life in patients with pulmonary effusion when assessed quantitatively, there is a dearth of research examining their psychosocial impact.

Volatile organic compounds associated with diagnosis and disease characteristics in asthma - A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Metabolomics refers to study of the metabolome, the entire set of metabolites produced by a biological system. The application of metabolomics to exhaled breath samples - breathomics - is a rapidly growing field with potential application to asthma diagnosis and management. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to review the adult asthma breathomic literature and present a comprehensive list of volatile organic compounds identified by asthma breathomic models. METHODS: We undertook a systematic search for literature on exhaled volatile organic compounds in adult asthma. We assessed the quality of studies and performed a qualitative synthesis. RESULTS: We identified twenty studies; these were methodologically heterogenous with a variable risk of bias. Studies almost universally reported breathomics to be capable of differentiating - with moderate or greater accuracy - between samples from healthy controls and those with asthma; and to be capable of phenotyping disease. However, there was little concordance in the compounds upon which discriminatory models were based. CONCLUSION: Results to-date are promising but validation in independent prospective cohorts is needed. This may be challenging given the high levels of inter-individual variation. However, large-scale, multi-centre studies are underway and validation efforts have been aided by the publication of technical standards likely to increase inter-study comparability. Successful validation of breathomic models for diagnosis and phenotyping would constitute an important step towards personalised medicine in asthma.

Biomarkers in adult asthma: a systematic review of 8-isoprostane in exhaled breath condensate.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the evidence for the use of 8-isoprostane in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) as a biomarker in adult asthma. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis of EBC 8-isoprostane. METHODS: We searched a number of online databases (including PubMed, Embase and Scopus) in January 2016. We included studies of adult non-smokers with EBC collection and asthma diagnosis conducted according to recognised guidelines. We aimed to pool data using random effects meta-analysis and assess heterogeneity using I 2. RESULTS: We included twenty studies, the findings from which were inconsistent. Seven studies (n = 329) reported 8-isoprostane levels in asthma to be significantly higher than that of control groups, whilst six studies (n = 403) did not. Only four studies were appropriate for inclusion in a random effects meta-analysis of mean difference. This found a statistically significant between-groups difference of 22 pg ml-1. Confidence in the result is limited by the small number of studies and by substantial statistical heterogeneity (I 2 = 94). CONCLUSION: The clinical value of EBC 8-isoprostane as a quantitative assessment of oxidative stress in asthma remains unclear due to variability in results and methodological heterogeneity. It is essential to develop a robust and standardised methodology if the use of EBC 8-isoprostane in asthma is to be properly evaluated.