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A review of 30 years of life-threatening asthma cases in a San Antonio intensive care unit found that annual ICUadmissions for the condition have dropped 74 percent. The study, byUT Medicine San Antonio physicians who reviewed cases at UniversityHospital between 1980 and 2010, also showed intubation in theemergency department to help patients breathe did not result inlonger hospital stays. UT Medicine is the clinical practice of the School of Medicine atThe University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. Faculty studied inpatient care of status asthmaticus at UniversityHospital. Patients with this condition experience respiratoryfailure because their asthma is not responding to standardtherapies. To review status asthmaticus cases, the team extracted all notesand orders from an electronic medical record. This showed 227patients were admitted to the medical intensive care unit with 280episodes of status asthmaticus over the three decades.Encouragingly, the hospital analysis showed only one death - and itwas of a different cause after the asthma improved. Patients making wise choices "The main reason for the decline in cases is that more of ourpatients are taking their controller medications such as inhaledcorticosteroids, which reduce the amount of inflammation in theairways," said lead author Jay I. Peters, M.D., professor and chiefof pulmonary diseases in the School of Medicine. In a separate study of 1,000 children and adults, 70 percent ofasthma patients reported routinely taking their corticosteroids.Dr. Peters credited this high rate of compliance to asthmaeducation programs provided in neighborhood clinics, includingpatient care facilities in the University Health System. "Studies show if you use your corticosteroid at least 11 months outof the year your risk of dying from asthma comes downexponentially," Dr. Peters said. "Many times asthmatics don'tcomply because they feel fairly good on a daily basis, but thesteroids reduce the risk of exacerbations and death." Pulmonary physicians thought too many asthmatics were intubated inemergency departments, leading to longer hospital stays. Intubationis insertion of a tube to increase airflow. Previous studies in themedical literature concluded asthmatics should not be intubatedbecause of increased risk of complications such as pneumonia . Don't be afraid to intubate In the San Antonio study, patients were intubated either becausethey quit breathing or their carbon dioxide levels had risendangerously. High carbon dioxide causes blood to be acidic, andirregular heartbeat can result when acid is elevated. This raisesthe risk of cardiac arrest. According to the data, few patients suffered complications afterbeing intubated. "I think our methods of treating patients in theemergency department have improved so much that previous studies ofissues with intubation don't hold up anymore," Dr. Peters said. "On the front end, this study reinforces the importance of stayingon controller medications," he said. "On the back end, it shows lowmortality for patients in the medical ICU and that we don't need tobe afraid to intubate patients and place them on mechanicalventilation if necessary." Additional References Citations. I am an expert from mosaics-tile.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Ceramic Wall Tiles Manufacturer , Ceramic Mosaic Tiles Manufacturer, Glass Mosaic Tiles,and more.
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