INTRODUCTION Dyspnea due to bilateral vocal cord palsy after total thyroidectomy (BVCPATT) is a life-threatening complication; nevertheless, we try to avoid tracheotomy. METHODS Using normalized glottal area (NGA), we retrospectively studied 14 patients with BVCPATT. Nine patients without dyspnea were treated conservatively, while five with dyspnea received immediate bilevel positive air-way ...

Background: Dyspnea is the impairing cardinal symptom in COPD, but the underlying brain mechanisms and their relationships to clinical patient characteristics are widely unknown. This study compared neural responses to the perception and anticipation of dyspnea between patients with stable moderate-to-severe COPD and healthy controls. Moreover, associations between COPD-specific brain activatio...

We mimicked important mechanical and ventilatory aspects of restrictive lung disorders by employing chest wall strapping (CWS) and dead space loading (DS) in normal subjects to gain mechanistic insights into dyspnea causation and exercise limitation. We hypothesized that thoracic restriction with increased ventilatory stimulation would evoke exertional dyspnea that was similar in nature to that...

Patient-ventilator synchrony and patient comfort are assumed to go hand in hand, yet few studies provide support for this common sense idea. In reality, synchrony between the patient and ventilator is complex and can be affected by the ventilator settings, type of ventilator, patient-ventilator interface, and sedation. Inspections of airway pressure and flow waveforms are reliable methods for d...

To evaluate the effect of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (OPR) on dyspnea, we measured this symptom using a visual analogue scale during graded treadmill exercise testing and with baseline and transitional dyspnea indices (TDI). The latter measure overall dyspnea in three spheres: functional impairment, magnitude of task, and magnitude of effort. Twenty patients with COPD referred for OPR ...

Dyspnea is the most prevalent symptom among patients with cardiac and respiratory diseases. It is an independent predictor of mortality in patients with heart disease, COPD, and the elderly. Studies using naloxone to block opioid-receptor signaling demonstrate that endogenous opioids modulate dyspnea in patients with COPD. Neuroimaging studies support a cortical-limbic network for dyspnea perce...

Dyspnea is a subjective sensation of breathlessness. This distressing symptom is experienced by many patients with lung cancer and often is accompanied by physiologic signs and symptoms, such as tachypnea, tachycardia, pallor, and cyanosis. Dyspnea-induced hypoxia may occur and cause confusion, cognitive impairment, and restlessness. Prompt and accurate nursing assessment of dyspnea can assist ...

Aim: The overall objective of our thesis is to describe, identify, and quantify the essential aspects of dyspnea both as a stand-alone symptom and as a symptom in patients with a special focus on cardiovascular diseases in the primary health care. Introduction: Despite a high prevalence of dyspnea in the general population there is a small fraction of these individuals seeking medical advice in...

In 2009, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) funded an assembly project, Palliative Management of Dyspnea Crisis, to focus on identification, management, and optimal resource utilization for effective palliation of acute episodes of dyspnea. We conducted a comprehensive search of the medical literature and evaluated available evidence from systematic evidence-based reviews (SEBRs) using a modif...