Category Archives: Podcast Episode

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20. Top Consults: Pulmonary Hypertension Diagnosis

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This week on Pulm PEEPs, we are continuing our Top Consults series with a discussion on the work-up and diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension. See our prior Radiology Rounds on signs of PAH on CT scan, and listen to our follow-up episode on right heart catheterizations for some background before this episode… or dive right in! We’ll cover everything from history and physical, to recent guideline changes in the definition of PH, and much, much more!

Meet Our Guests

Erika Berman Rosenzweig is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center and CTEPH Program at Columbia University Medical Center / New-York Presbyterian Hospital. She is an active member of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, was the Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension and is on the Scientific Board of the World Symposium on PH.

Catherine Simpson is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and is one of the faculty members in our Pulmonary Hypertension group. Her clinical and research areas of expertise are in pulmonary vascular disease and right heart function. Her research is focused on novel biomarker discovery and metabolomics in pulmonary vascular disease.

Cyrus Kholdani is an Instructor in Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. He is also the director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at BIDMC, and is actively involved in clinical care and clinical research in a variety of pulmonary vascular disease domains.

Consult Patient

Ms. Pamela Harris (PH) is a 47-year-old woman with PMH of migraines, obesity s/p gastric sleeve (BMI now 33), and a history of remote DVT in her 20s while on OCP s/p 6 months of AC who is referred to pulmonary hypertension clinic for evaluation of dyspnea on exertion. She has actually had dyspnea for some time and previously it has been attributed to her weight. Based on this, she pursued a gastric sleeve and has lost 55 pounds, but continues to have shortness of breath. She has no cough, and does not get dyspnea at rest, but notes that after 1 flight of stairs, or 2-3 blocks on flat ground she has shortness of breath. She saw her PCP and had basic labs, basic spirometry, and an echocardiogram. He did not note anything significant on examination in the notes.


The labs had no anemia, and normal renal and liver function. Her serum bicarbonate was 25 and there was no blood gas. Spirometry showed an FVC 82% predicted, FEV1 83% predicted, and FEV1/FVC was 99% predicted. The echocardiogram had normal LVEF, mild LVH, normal RV size and function qualitatively. There was mild TR with tricuspid valve peak regurgitant velocity of 3.4 m/sec. The estimated PASP + RA pressure (based on normal IVC diameter 2.1 cm) was 46 mmHg.

RHC: Systemic BPs 140s/90s, with O2 saturations 97-98% on RA throughout. RA mean pressure was 9, RV was 48 with an RVEDP of 17, PA was 48/27 with mean of 34, and PCWP mean was 11. CO/CI by Fick was 5.56 / 2.42, and by thermo was similar, 5.8 / 2.52. Her PA sat was 62%, and PVR was 3.97 WU.

Key Learning Points

History

  • Understand the constellation of symptoms and the functional limitation
    • The goal is to assign a WHO functional class by the end of the visit
  • Evaluate the time course and evolution of the symptoms
  • Concerning symptoms that need to be addressed
    • Palpitations
    • Pre-syncope
    • Syncope
    • Chest pain
    • LE edema
  • Evaluate for risk factors to explain or contribute to pulmonary hypertension
    • Signs or symptoms of OSA
    • Signs or symptoms of auto-immune disease
      • Raynauds
      • Skin changes
    • Family history
      • Heritable lung disease
      • Clotting disorders
      • Auto-immune disease
    • Social history
      • Exposure history
      • Smoking

Physical Exam

  • Look for signs that confirm PH
    • Loud P2
      • Accentuated with elevated PVR
      • Can hear pretty early on. Could be one of the earliest findings
    • TR murmur – pansystolic murmur at RUSB
    • Diastolic murmur if severe pulmonary insufficiency
  • Look for signs of right heart failure
    • JVD
    • S4 gallop – later in course
    • RV heave – later in course
    • Peripheral edema
    • Pulsatile liver or hepatosplenomegaly
  • Look for signs of other secondary causes of PH
    • Mitral regurgitation or aortic stenosis murmur
    • Asymmetric lower extremity edema
    • Pulmonary edema
    • Skin findings concerning for auto-immune disease or liver disease
    • Arthritis

Work up for etiology of PH

  • CBC with diff – myeloproliferative and hemolytic anemia
  • CMP – renal function, liver function
  • Serologies – lupus, scleroderma, vasculitis – broad evaluation
  • HIV, hepatitis
  • Liver duplex if concerned
  • ECHO with bubble
  • Consider cardiac MRI
  • History of toxin and anorexigenic use
  • CT scan of the chest
  • PFTs including lung volumes and DLCO to evaluate for lung disease
  • Pulse oximetry at rest and with exercise
  • A sleep study or nocturnal oximetry
  • V/Q scan for all patients

References and links for further reading

  1. Bonno EL, Viray MC, Jackson GR, Houston BA, Tedford RJ. Modern Right Heart Catheterization: Beyond Simple Hemodynamics. Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension. 2020;19(1):6-15. doi:10.21693/1933-088X-19.1.6
  2. Augustine DX, Coates-Bradshaw LD, Willis J, et al. Echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary hypertension: a guideline protocol from the British Society of Echocardiography. Echo Res Pract. 2018;5(3):G11-G24. doi:10.1530/ERP-17-0071
  3. Callan P, Clark AL. Right heart catheterisation: indications and interpretation. Heart. 2016;102(2):147-157. doi:10.1136/heartjnl-2015-307786
  4. Chokkalingam Mani B, Chaudhari SS. Right Heart Cardiac Catheterization. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Accessed April 18, 2022. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557404/
  5. D’Alto M, Dimopoulos K, Coghlan JG, Kovacs G, Rosenkranz S, Naeije R. Right Heart Catheterization for the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension: Controversies and Practical Issues. Heart Failure Clinics. 2018;14(3):467-477. doi:10.1016/j.hfc.2018.03.011
  6. Galiè N, McLaughlin VV, Rubin LJ, Simonneau G. An overview of the 6th World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension. European Respiratory Journal. 2019;53(1). doi:10.1183/13993003.02148-2018
  7. Rosenkranz S, Preston IR. Right heart catheterisation: best practice and pitfalls in pulmonary hypertension. European Respiratory Review. 2015;24(138):642-652. doi:10.1183/16000617.0062-2015

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19. Severe COPD and Lung Volume Reduction

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We are extremely excited for the third and final installment in our Pulm PEEPs and ATS Clinical Problems Assembly collaborative series on COPD. Today, we are joined by Drs. Jessica Bon, Michael Lester, and Niru Putcha to discuss severe COPD management and the role of lung volume reduction procedures. If you missed the first two parts of our series, make sure to check out episode 1 on COPD diagnosis and initial management, and episode 2 on COPD exacerbations.

Meet our Guests

Jessica Bon is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where she is also the Program Director for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. Her research and clinical interests focus on lung disease progression in COPD and she manages patients with difficult-to-treat and severe COPD and evaluates patients for lung volume reduction surgery. Jessica was the chair of the ATS Clinical Problems Assembly Programming Committee from 2021 – 2022.

Michael Lester is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Michael’s interests span both pulmonary and critical care medicine. He specializes in patients with advanced COPD and evaluation for bronchoscopic lung volume reduction surgery.

Niru Putcha is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and is an integral member and mentor in the Obstructive Lung Disease Group. Her research and clinical interests focus on the role of comorbidities on clinical outcomes in individuals with COPD. She also manages patients with difficult-to-treat and severe COPD and evaluates patients for lung volume reduction surgery. Niru is also the new chair of the ATS  Clinical Problems Assembly Programming Committee.

Key Learning Points

Patients with advanced COPD should also be considered for lung transplantation. We will have an episode on lung transplant coming up soon!

References

  1. Criner GJ, Sternberg AL. A Clinician’s Guide to the Use of Lung Volume Reduction Surgery. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2008;5(4):461-467. doi:10.1513/pats.200709-151ET
  2. A Randomized Trial Comparing Lung-Volume–Reduction Surgery with Medical Therapy for Severe Emphysema. New England Journal of Medicine. 2003;348(21):2059-2073. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa030287
  3. Valipour A, Slebos DJ, Herth F, et al. Endobronchial Valve Therapy in Patients with Homogeneous Emphysema. Results from the IMPACT Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016;194(9):1073-1082. doi:10.1164/rccm.201607-1383OC
  4. Sciurba FC, Ernst A, Herth FJF, et al. A Randomized Study of Endobronchial Valves for Advanced Emphysema. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010;363(13):1233-1244. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa0900928
  5. Klooster K, Slebos DJ. Endobronchial Valves for the Treatment of Advanced Emphysema. Chest. 2021;159(5):1833-1842. doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.12.007
  6. Choi M, Lee WS, Lee M, et al. Effectiveness of bronchoscopic lung volume reduction using unilateral endobronchial valve: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2015;10:703-710. doi:10.2147/COPD.S75314

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18. A Case of Severe Weakness in the ICU

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We are thrilled here @PulmPEEPS to have our first episode with one of our new Associate Editors Luke Hedrick, and our first nephrology consultant Jeff William. Luke will walk us through an interesting case presentation, and we will discuss an approach to severe weakness in our patient in the ICU.

Meet Our Guests

Jeff William is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he is also the Associate Director of the Nephrology Fellowship Program. He completed a Medical Education Research Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, and is very involved in residency, fellowship and medical student education.

Patient Presentation

We have a man in his 40s with a past medical history of asthma, hypertension, and acid reflux who was brought in by EMS with back pain and profound proximal lower extremity weakness. He reports mild weakness in his legs which started 2 days ago, but this morning his weakness acutely worsened to the point that he can’t lift his legs out of the bed. He also has some cramping pain in his thighs. He additionally has had mild shortness of breath and yesterday went to an urgent care where he was given steroids and swabbed for COVID (which was negative).

Key Learning Points

**Spoilers Ahead** If you want to think through the case on your own we advise listening to the episode first before looking at the infographics below

Although our patient’s etiology of severe hypokalemia was thought to be secondary to thiazide diuretic use, it is important to be familiar with hypokalemic periodic paralysis.

References

  1. Knochel JP, Schlein EM. On the mechanism of rhabdomyolysis in potassium depletion. J Clin Invest. 1972 Jul;51(7):1750-8. doi: 10.1172/JCI106976.
  2. Wang X, Han D, Li G. Electrocardiographic manifestations in severe hypokalemia. J Int Med Res. 2020 Jan;48(1):300060518811058. doi: 10.1177/0300060518811058.
  3. Venance SL, Cannon SC, Fialho D, Fontaine B, Hanna MG, Ptacek LJ, Tristani-Firouzi M, Tawil R, Griggs RC; CINCH investigators. The primary periodic paralyses: diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment. Brain. 2006 Jan;129(Pt 1):8-17. doi: 10.1093/brain/awh639.
  4. Lin SH, Lin YF, Halperin ML. Hypokalaemia and paralysis. QJM. 2001 Mar;94(3):133-9. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/94.3.133. 
  5. Lin SH, Lin YF, Chen DT, Chu P, Hsu CW, Halperin ML. Laboratory tests to determine the cause of hypokalemia and paralysis. Arch Intern Med. 2004 Jul 26;164(14):1561-6. doi: 10.1001/archinte.164.14.1561.

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17. Top Consults: Pneumothorax

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This week on Pulm PEEPs we are resuming our Top Consults series with a common pulmonary presentation that can range from incidental to life-threatening: pneumothorax. We will talk through three different cases and review assessments and common management strategies. Make sure to subscribe to our show wherever you listen to podcasts, rate and review us, and visit our website to catch up on all our old content.

Meet Our Guests

Christine Argento is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and specializes in Interventional Pulmonology.

Charlie Murphy received his medical degree from LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans and completed his internal medicine residency at the Montefiore-Einstein Internal Medicine Residency Program. He is currently a Pulmonary and Critical Care fellow at New York-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center, where he is one of the chief fellows.

Consult Patients

Barry is a 26-year-old man who came to the emergency department with acute onset of shortness of breath. He is tachypneic to 26, saturating 88% on RA so he was put on NC and is now 95% at 4L, HR 120, BP 145/85. There is only limited history but he reports he has never had anything like this before. His CXR shows a pneumothorax 5cm from the apex.

Larry is a 22-year-old man with normal HR and BP, saturating 96% on RA and breathing 14 x a minute. He has a CXR that shows a small pneumothorax. He has no past medical history and has never had a pneumothorax before, but he is a 1 PPD smoker and smokes marijuana.

Carrie is a 54-year-old woman who has been admitted with a COPD exacerbation. She has a history of emphysema, is not on home oxygen, and came in 2 days ago with worsening dyspnea and increased productive cough. She has been being treated with nebulizers every 4 hours, azithromycin, steroids, and supplemental O2 at 2L NC/ minute and never required NIPPV. This morning she had a coughing spell and significant chest pain and a CXR shows a moderate-sized left-sided pneumothorax. She is on 10L NC now with tachypnea to 26, and HR 105 but stable blood pressure.

Key Learning Points

Management options for a persistent air leak

— Conservative management: continue chest tube to suction

— Heimlich valve – can discharge a patient with this valve if they are stable to water seal, but don’t tolerate clamping

— Blood patch – inject the patient’s own blood into the chest tube to try to heal any pleural defect

— Chemical pleurodesis – inject talc powder, doxycycline, or another substance through the chest tube to cause pleural irritation and closure of the pleural space

— Endobronchial valve – off-label use

— VATS – surgical pleurodesis, resection of blebs

References and links for further reading

  1. Baumann MH, Strange C, Heffner JE, et al. Management of spontaneous pneumothorax: an American College of Chest Physicians Delphi consensus statement. Chest. 2001;119(2):590-602. doi:10.1378/chest.119.2.590
  2. Bintcliffe OJ, Hallifax RJ, Edey A, et al. Spontaneous pneumothorax: time to rethink management? Lancet Respir Med. 2015;3(7):578-588. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(15)00220-9
  3. Brown SGA, Ball EL, Perrin K, et al. Conservative versus Interventional Treatment for Spontaneous Pneumothorax. New England Journal of Medicine. 2020;382(5):405-415. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1910775
  4. MacDuff A, Arnold A, Harvey J. Management of spontaneous pneumothorax: British Thoracic Society pleural disease guideline 2010. Thorax. 2010;65(Suppl 2):ii18-ii31. doi:10.1136/thx.2010.136986
  5. Sahn SA, Heffner JE. Spontaneous pneumothorax. N Engl J Med. 2000;342(12):868-874. doi:10.1056/NEJM200003233421207
  6. Tschopp JM, Bintcliffe O, Astoul P, et al. ERS task force statement: diagnosis and treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Eur Respir J. 2015;46(2):321-335. doi:10.1183/09031936.00219214
  7. Zarogoulidis P, Kioumis I, Pitsiou G, et al. Pneumothorax: from definition to diagnosis and treatment. J Thorac Dis. 2014;6(Suppl 4):S372-S376. doi:10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2014.09.24

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16. A Case of Hemoptysis and Hypertension

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We are thrilled here at Pulm PEEPs to have our first episode with our new Associate Editor Tess Litchman. Tess will walk us through an interesting case presentation of hemoptysis and we’ll use the approach from our Top Consults episode on hemoptysis to come to a key pulmonary and critical care diagnosis.

Meet Our Guests

Tess Litchman is a second-year internal medicine resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She received her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT where she studied neuroscience and internal relations. She attended medical school at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. She is currently completing her internal medicine residency at BIDMC. She is interested in medical education and pulmonary and critical care medicine.

Patient Presentation

A young man in his 20s presented to the emergency department with one week of cough and small volume hemoptysis. He has been experiencing several episodes of hemoptysis per day during this time. He says he coughs up about 1/4 cup of blood with each episode. He also adds that for the past 2 weeks he also has noticed worsening nausea, vomiting, headaches, and fatigue. He saw his primary care doctor and he was diagnosed with new hypertension and started on clonidine 0.1 mg three times a day, and provided cough medication. However, his symptoms continued. Given the increasing frequency of the hemoptysis and worsening nausea, he presented to the emergency department.

Key Learning Points

**Spoilers Ahead** If you want to think through the case on your own we advise listening to the episode first before looking at the infographics below

References and links for further reading

  1. Radchenko C, Alraiyes AH, Shojaee S. A systematic approach to the management of massive hemoptysis. J Thorac Dis. 2017;9(Suppl 10):S1069-S1086. doi:10.21037/jtd.2017.06.41
  2. Lara AR, Schwarz MI. Diffuse Alveolar Hemorrhage. CHEST. 2010;137(5):1164-1171. doi:10.1378/chest.08-2084
  3. Gallagher H, Kwan JTC, Jayne DRW. Pulmonary renal syndrome: A 4-year, single-center experience. American Journal of Kidney Diseases. 2002;39(1):42-47. doi:10.1053/ajkd.2002.29876
  4. Sanders JSF, Rutgers A, Stegeman CA, Kallenberg CGM. Pulmonary-Renal Syndrome with a Focus on Anti-GBM Disease. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2011;32(3):328-334. doi:10.1055/s-0031-1279829
  5. Hudson BG, Tryggvason K, Sundaramoorthy M, Neilson EG. Alport’s syndrome, Goodpasture’s syndrome, and type IV collagen. N Engl J Med. 2003;348(25):2543-2556. doi:10.1056/NEJMra022296
  6. McAdoo SP, Pusey CD. Anti-Glomerular Basement Membrane Disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017;12(7):1162-1172. doi:10.2215/CJN.01380217
  7. Maxwell AP, Nelson WE, Hill CM. Reversal of renal failure in nephritis associated with antibody to glomerular basement membrane. BMJ. 1988;297(6644):333-334. doi:10.1136/bmj.297.6644.333

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15. COPD Exacerbations

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Today we have episode two in our Pulm PEEPs and ATS Clinical Problems Assembly collaborative series on COPD. We are joined by Dr. Brad Drummond and Dr. Allison Lambert to discuss COPD exacerbations. Make sure to check out episode 1 in the series and stay tuned for more great content.

Meet Our Guests

Brad Drummond is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UNC School of Medicine. He is also the Associate Division Chief of Outpatient Services, the Co-Medical Director of the Pulmonary Specialty Clinics at UNC, and the Director of the Obstructive Lung Diseases Clinical and Translational Research Center. He is also the incoming Assembly Chair for the ATS CP Assembly.

Allison Lambert is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician at Providence Medical Group, where she is also the Director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program and co-leads the Therapeutic Development Network. Her expertise spans CF, non-CF bronchiectasis as well as COPD. Allison is also a committee member in the ATS Clinical Problems Assembly

Key Learning Points

References

  1. Wedzicha JA, Miravitlles M, Hurst JR, et al. Management of COPD exacerbations: a European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society guideline. European Respiratory Journal. 2017;49(3). doi:10.1183/13993003.00791-2016
  2. Lindenauer PK, Dharmarajan K, Qin L, Lin Z, Gershon AS, Krumholz HM. Risk Trajectories of Readmission and Death in the First Year after Hospitalization for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2018;197(8):1009-1017. doi:10.1164/rccm.201709-1852OC
  3. Leuppi JD, Schuetz P, Bingisser R, et al. Short-term vs Conventional Glucocorticoid Therapy in Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: The REDUCE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2013;309(21):2223-2231. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.5023
  4. Johns Hopkins University. Roflumilast or Azithromycin to Prevent COPD Exacerbations (RELIANCE). clinicaltrials.gov; 2022. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04069312
  5. Barnes PJ. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2000;343(4):269-280. doi:10.1056/NEJM200007273430407
  6. Celli BR, Wedzicha JA. Update on Clinical Aspects of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2019;381(13):1257-1266. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1900500
  7. Singh D, Agusti A, Anzueto A, et al. Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: the GOLD science committee report 2019. Eur Respir J. 2019;53(5):1900164. doi:10.1183/13993003.00164-2019

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14. Radiology Rounds Revisited: Right Heart Catheterization

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Today we have a special edition of Pulm PEEPs! We are revisiting our Radiology Rounds from 4 weeks ago to dive further into Right Heart Catheterizations and how to interpret them. We are joined by two experts in the field, Allison Tsao and Stephen Mathai.

For a reminder, in that Radiology Rounds, we met a woman in her 50s with GERD, Raynaud’s, and multiple positive auto-antibodies (+ ANA 1:2560, + RNA pol III, + SSA, + anti-centromere) who presented with progressive dyspnea and was found to be hypoxemic. Her workup revealed severe pulmonary hypertension, and RV dysfunction on TTE with right to left shunting.

Meet Our Guests

Dr. Steve Mathai is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Director of the Inpatient Pulmonary Service. He specializes in Pulmonary Hypertension and his research focus is on scleroderma-associated PAH.

Dr. Allison Tsao is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is an interventional cardiologist working at the Boston VA and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She specializes in adult congenital heart disease and is the assistant director of the Translational Discovery Lab at BWH.

Key Learning Points

References and links for further reading

  1. Bonno EL, Viray MC, Jackson GR, Houston BA, Tedford RJ. Modern Right Heart Catheterization: Beyond Simple Hemodynamics. Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension. 2020;19(1):6-15. doi:10.21693/1933-088X-19.1.6
  2. Callan P, Clark AL. Right heart catheterisation: indications and interpretation. Heart. 2016;102(2):147-157. doi:10.1136/heartjnl-2015-307786
  3. Chokkalingam Mani B, Chaudhari SS. Right Heart Cardiac Catheterization. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Accessed April 18, 2022. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557404/
  4. D’Alto M, Dimopoulos K, Coghlan JG, Kovacs G, Rosenkranz S, Naeije R. Right Heart Catheterization for the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension: Controversies and Practical Issues. Heart Failure Clinics. 2018;14(3):467-477. doi:10.1016/j.hfc.2018.03.011
  5. Galiè N, McLaughlin VV, Rubin LJ, Simonneau G. An overview of the 6th World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension. European Respiratory Journal. 2019;53(1). doi:10.1183/13993003.02148-2018
  6. Rosenkranz S, Preston IR. Right heart catheterisation: best practice and pitfalls in pulmonary hypertension. European Respiratory Review. 2015;24(138):642-652. doi:10.1183/16000617.0062-2015

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13. COPD Classification and Practical Management Strategies

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The Pulm PEEPs are extremely excited today to be launching our series on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in partnership with the ATS Clinical Problems Assembly. We are joined by Dr. Bob Wise and Dr. Wassim Labaki to discuss the classification and initial workup of COPD, and management strategies from inhalers to pulmonary rehabilitation. Make sure to listen today and in the coming weeks for the rest of our COPD discussion.

Meet Our Guests

Dr. Bob Wise is a Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and has served as the Medical Director of the Pulmonary Function Lab at the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center. Bob is a leader in the care of patients with obstructive lung disease and his research focus has been conducting multi-center clinical trials in airway disease and is also a master physiologist. Bob has been involved in various capacities with ATS throughout his tenure as well and received the ATS CP Assembly Sreedhar Nair Lifetime Achievement Award in COPD.

Dr. Wassim Labaki is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as well as the Medical Director of the Lung Volume Reduction Surgery Program at the University of Michigan. Wassim was the recipient of the Early Career Investigator Award in COPD from ATS in 2019 and currently is on the Program Committee of the ATS Clinical Problems Assembly.

Key Learning Points

Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnea Scale

mMRC Grade 0 = Only breathless with strenuous exercise

mMRC Grade 1 = Short of breath when hurrying on level ground, or walking up a slight hill

mMRC Grade 2 = Walking slower than people of the same age due to dyspnea, or stopping due to dyspnea when walking at my own pace on level ground

mMRC Grade 3 = Stopping for breath after walking 100 meters / a few minutes on level ground

mMRC Grade 4 = Too breathless to leave the house or breathless with getting dressed / undressed

Image source: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease https://goldcopd.org/

References and links for further reading

  1. Clinicians. Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease – GOLD. Accessed April 11, 2022. https://goldcopd.org/clinicians/
  2. Miami CF 3300 P de LB. COPD Foundation | Take Action Today. Breathe Better Tomorrow. Accessed April 11, 2022. https://www.copdfoundation.org
  3. Barnes PJ. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2000;343(4):269-280. doi:10.1056/NEJM200007273430407
  4. Celli BR, Wedzicha JA. Update on Clinical Aspects of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2019;381(13):1257-1266. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1900500
  5. Criner GJ, Martinez FJ, Aaron S, et al. Current Controversies in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. A Report from the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease Scientific Committee. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2019;16(1):29-39. doi:10.1513/AnnalsATS.201808-557PS
  6. Martinez FJ, Agusti A, Celli BR, et al. Treatment Trials in Young Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Pre-Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients: Time to Move Forward. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022;205(3):275-287. doi:10.1164/rccm.202107-1663SO
  7. Rodriguez-Roisin R, Rabe KF, Vestbo J, Vogelmeier C, Agustí A, all previous and current members of the Science Committee and the Board of Directors of GOLD (goldcopd.org/committees/). Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 20th Anniversary: a brief history of time. Eur Respir J. 2017;50(1):1700671. doi:10.1183/13993003.00671-2017
  8. Singh D, Agusti A, Anzueto A, et al. Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: the GOLD science committee report 2019. Eur Respir J. 2019;53(5):1900164. doi:10.1183/13993003.00164-2019

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12. Undifferentiated Shock Roundtable

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This week the Pulm PEEPs, David Furfaro and Kristina Montemayor, are joined by three outstanding critical care doctors and medical educators to discuss the evaluation of patients with undifferentiated shock. We cover everything from the basics about defining shock, to advanced POCUS techniques to clarify the etiology of shock. Listen today and let us know your favorite technique for evaluating shock in the ICU.

Meet Our Guests

Molly Hayes is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, the Director of the MICU at BIDMC, and the Director of External Education at the Carl J Shapiro Institute for Education and Research. She is also a course director for a yearly CME course on principles of critical care medicine run by BIDMC and HMS.

Nick Mark is a Pulmonologist and Intensivist at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. He is also the founder of ICU One Pager, which produces high yield critical care education one-page guides that have been downloaded by thousands of learners.

Matt Siuba is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and intensivist at the Cleveland Clinic, where he is the associate program director for the Critical Care Medicine fellowship. He founded and runs the website Zentensivist.com, has his own associated podcast, and is a senior editor at CriticalCareNow.com.

Key Learning Points

Key graphics

Courtesy of Nick Mark and ICU One Pager
Courtesy of Matt Siuba
Courtesy of Nick Mark and ICU One Pager

Definition of shock

– Shock is defined as inadequate oxygen delivery to meet the body’s needs. Decreased perfusion and oxygen delivery leads to cell injury and death

– If you define just as hypotension, you will miss people who have cryptic shock, and categorize some people with shock who don’t have it

– Cryptic shock = a patient with normal blood pressure (MAP > 65), but who still has shock based on inadequate O2 delivery

– O2 delivery is broken down in to cardiac output and arterial oxygen content

Causes of shock

Shock can be divided into three large categories:

1) A pump problem – low cardiac output. This includes cardiogenic and obstructive shock. Make sure to remember to look for tamponade and valvulopathies.

2) A pipe problem – low systemic vascular resistance. This includes distributive shock. Distributive shock is most often due to sepsis but can be due to anaphylaxis, endocrinopathies, cirrhosis, or spinal shock.

3) A tank problem – low preload. This includes hypovolemic and hemorrhagic shock. Make sure to remember about high intrathoracic pressure, which can decrease effective preload.

Examining a patient with undifferentiated shock

– See if the patient is on the “Shock BUS” by examining their brain (mental status), urine output, and skin

– Feel if their skin is warm vs cold and if it is mottled

– Feel the patient’s pulses to see if they are bounding, normal, or thready

Point of Care Ultrasound

– “Ultrasound is the new stethoscope”

– The first step is to always look at the heart and look for chamber size and function. You can then look for pericardial effusion

– Point of care ultrasound then includes looking at the lungs for signs of fluid overload, consolidation, or pneumothorax

– A complete ultrasound also involves looking at the abdomen and at the extremities for DVT

– More specific ultrasound techniques include looking at:

1) IVC exam to estimate right atrial pressure. This test is often misused. It is most helpful in states when the patient has low stroke volume and trying to figure out if they have cardiac limitation to stroke volume vs if they are hypovolemic.

2) Velocity time index as a measure of cardiac output to trend with interventions

References and links for further reading

  1. Vincent JL, De Backer D. Circulatory shock. N Engl J Med. 2013;369(18):1726-1734. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1208943
  2. Seymour CW, Liu VX, Iwashyna TJ, et al. Assessment of Clinical Criteria for Sepsis: For the Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016;315(8):762-774. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.0288
  3. Chukwulebe SB, Gaieski DF, Bhardwaj A, Mulugeta-Gordon L, Shofer FS, Dean AJ. Early hemodynamic assessment using NICOM in patients at risk of developing Sepsis immediately after emergency department triage. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. 2021;29(1):23. doi:10.1186/s13049-021-00833-1
  4. Hernández G, Ospina-Tascón GA, Damiani LP, et al. Effect of a Resuscitation Strategy Targeting Peripheral Perfusion Status vs Serum Lactate Levels on 28-Day Mortality Among Patients With Septic Shock: The ANDROMEDA-SHOCK Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2019;321(7):654-664. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.0071
  5. Wang J, Zhou D, Gao Y, Wu Z, Wang X, Lv C. Effect of VTILVOT variation rate on the assessment of fluid responsiveness in septic shock patients. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(47):e22702. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000022702
  6. Sweeney DA, Wiley BM. Integrated Multiorgan Bedside Ultrasound for the Diagnosis and Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;42(5):641-649. doi:10.1055/s-0041-1733896
  7. Yuan S, He H, Long Y. Interpretation of venous-to-arterial carbon dioxide difference in the resuscitation of septic shock patients. J Thorac Dis. 2019;11(Suppl 11):S1538-S1543. doi:10.21037/jtd.2019.02.79
  8. Volpicelli G, Lamorte A, Tullio M, et al. Point-of-care multiorgan ultrasonography for the evaluation of undifferentiated hypotension in the emergency department. Intensive Care Med. 2013;39(7):1290-1298. doi:10.1007/s00134-013-2919-7
  9. Perera P, Mailhot T, Riley D, Mandavia D. The RUSH exam: Rapid Ultrasound in SHock in the evaluation of the critically lll. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2010;28(1):29-56, vii. doi:10.1016/j.emc.2009.09.010

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11. Meet the Patients Series: Katie Fielding on Living with Cystic Fibrosis

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We are extremely excited to introduce our new Pulm PEEPs Meet the Patients series. Teaching and learning medicine is an incredible journey, and the goal is always to be improving patient care. Patients are our best teachers about the diseases we encounter, so the goal of this series is to spend more time with patients with pulmonary disease and with those who have been critically ill. For our first episode, we are thrilled to be joined by Katie Fielding.

Katie s an educator and spent 13 years teaching high school science. She now specializes in integrating technology into the classroom to enhance education. Katie was diagnosed with CF as an infant and has spent years as a patient advocate. She works closely with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and serves on the Adult Advocacy Council.

Katie gives us an incredible perspective about what it is like to live with Cystic Fibrosis, how her life has changed with modern therapies, and how to be the best provider possible.

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