Respiratory Failure

Music therapy reduces anxiety, use of sedatives for patients receiving ventilator support

New research suggests that for some hospitalized ICU patients on mechanical ventilators, using headphones to listen to their favorite types of music could lower anxiety and reduce their need for sedative medications.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Helping kids with severe respiratory failure survive until lung transplantation

Adults with end-stage respiratory failure and pulmonary hypertension requiring ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) have been "bridged" toward lung transplantation with novel lung assist devices such as the Novalung. ...

Surgery created May 06, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Reinventing drug discovery: Promising drug target for ALS

Using a new stem-cell based drug screening technology with the potential to reinvent and greatly reduce the cost of the way new pharmaceuticals are developed, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Apr 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover new treatment possibilities for Lou Gehrig's disease

(Medical Xpress)—A team led by Dr. Alex Parker, a professor of pathology and cellular biology and a researcher at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), has identified an important ...

Neuroscience created Apr 17, 2013 | popularity 2.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Phase 1 ALS trial is first to test antisense treatment of neurodegenerative disease

The initial clinical trial of a novel approach to treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – blocking production of a mutant protein that causes an inherited form of the progressive neurodegererative disease – may ...

Neuroscience created Apr 03, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Azithromycin may provide benefit for treatment of respiratory disorder

Among patients with the lung disorder non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, treatment with the antibiotic azithromycin resulted in improvement in symptoms but also increased the risk of antibiotic resistance, according to a ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Mar 26, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Steroids help reverse rapid bone loss tied to rib fractures

New research in animals triggered by a combination of serendipity and counterintuitive thinking could point the way to treating fractures caused by rapid bone loss in people, including patients with metastatic ...

Medical research created Feb 05, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study describes 68 CTE cases in veterans, high school, college and pro athletes

A study done by investigators at the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, in collaboration with the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), describes ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Dec 03, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Grapefruit-medication interactions increasing

The number of prescription drugs that can have serious adverse effects from interactions with grapefruit are markedly increasing, yet many physicians may be unaware of these effects, states an article published in CMAJ (Canad ...

Medications created Nov 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2

Early use of antiviral medications may help prevent lung failure in children with the flu, reduce hospitalizations

(Medical Xpress)—Children hospitalized for the flu are much less likely to require breathing support from a mechanical ventilator if they receive antiviral drugs like oseltamivir (Tamiflu) as soon as possible after admission, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Nov 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A new development in the relief of spasms related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease with an occurrence rate in France similar to multiple sclerosis (two to three new cases per year for every 100,000 residents). It has a specific affect on ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Nov 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Mechanical ventilation at lower level among patients without lung injury linked with better outcomes

Among patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome, protective mechanical ventilation with use of lower tidal volumes (the volume of air inhaled and exhaled during each breath) was associated with better outcomes ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Oct 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Most large treatment effects of medical interventions come from small studies

In an examination of the characteristics of studies that yield large treatment effects from medical interventions, these studies were more likely to be smaller in size, often with limited evidence, and when additional trials ...

Cancer created Oct 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Shared pathway links Lou Gehrig's disease with spinal muscular atrophy

Researchers of motor neuron diseases have long had a hunch that two fatal diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), might somehow be linked. A new study confirms that this link exists.

Medical research created Sep 27, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Healthy lungs' microbes focus of study on cystic fibrosis

(Medical Xpress)—Healthy people's lungs are home to a diverse community of microbes that differs markedly from the bacteria found in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. That's the result of new research from Stanford ...

Medical research created Sep 27, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast


The term respiratory failure, in medicine, is used to describe inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, with the result that arterial oxygen and/or carbon dioxide levels cannot be maintained within their normal ranges. A drop in blood oxygenation is known as hypoxemia; a rise in arterial carbon dioxide levels is called hypercapnia. The normal reference values are: oxygen PaO2 greater than 80 mmHg (11 kPa), and carbon dioxide PaCO2 less than 45 mmHg (6.0 kPa). Classification into type I or type II relates to the absence or presence of hypercapnia respectively.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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