Publications by authors named "Annalisa Carlucci"

Objective: To investigate the impact of tracheostomy on clinical outcomes in adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who require mechanical ventilation (MV).

Methods: This systematic review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Three electronic databases including PubMed, The Cochrane Library, and EMBASE to identify relevant studies on ARDS patients receiving MV were searched from inception to July 31, 2024.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Inhaled drug therapy is an essential treatment in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients as it reduces symptoms, exacerbation rate and mortality risk. Errors in inhaler use can affect drug delivery to the lungs and minimize treatment benefits. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of a nurse-lead educational intervention on inhaler use in a group of patients with COPD during a Respiratory Rehabilitation Program.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: High-flow nasal therapy is widely used in patients with respiratory failure in different clinical settings, but the effect of high-flow nasal therapy on respiratory-swallow coordination is unknown. Understanding this relationship is crucial, considering the necessity for patients to maintain adequate nutrition during daytime high-flow nasal therapy. This scoping review aims to synthesise available data on the effects of high-flow nasal therapy flow rates on swallowing function and the possible risk of aspiration during treatment, focusing on knowledge and evidence gaps.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Thoraco-abdominal asynchrony (TAA) is usually assessed by respiratory inductance plethysmography. The main parameter used for its assessment is the calculation of the phase angle based on Lissajous plots. However, there are some mathematical limitations to its use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Despite being a useful strategy for providing respiratory support to patients with advanced or terminal illnesses, non-invasive ventilation (NIV) requires in-depth investigation in several key aspects.

Objectives: This bibliometric analysis seeks to comprehensively examine the existing research on the subject. Its goal is to uncover valuable insights that can inform the prediction trajectory of studies, guide the implementation of corrective measures, and contribute to the improvement of research networks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In the last decades, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has been increasingly used to support patients with hypercapnic and hypoxemic acute respiratory failure. Pressure ulcers are a frequently observed NIV-related adverse effect, directly related to interface type and exposure time. Switching to a different interface has been proposed as a solution to improve patient comfort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Home noninvasive ventilation (HNIV) improves outcomes in different disease categories. In this article, we discuss indications for when and how to initiate HNIV in COPD, obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) and neuromuscular disorders (NMD). While in COPD, significant diurnal hypercapnia and high-intensity HNIV are essential ingredients for success, in NMD and OHS, early respiratory changes are best detected during sleep through oxy-capnography associated (or not) with respiratory polygraphy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Intermittent abdominal pressure ventilator (IAPV) use started in the 1930s for ventilatory assistance with muscular dystrophy patients. Later, the device was perfected and expanded for other neuromuscular disorders (NMD). In recent years, the morbidity and mortality tracheotomies and trach tubes related renewed the interest around IAPV.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Restrictive lung disease (predominantly in patients with neuromuscular disease (NMD) and ribcage deformity) may induce chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure, which represents an absolute indication to start home NIV (HNIV). However, in the early phases of NMD, patients may present only diurnal symptoms or orthopnoea and sleep disturbances with normal diurnal gas exchange. The evaluation of respiratory function decline may predict the presence of sleep disturbances (SD) and nocturnal hypoventilation that can be respectively diagnosed with polygraphy and PCO transcutaneous monitoring.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure in obstructive lung diseases may benefit from nocturnal Home non-invasive ventilation (HNIV). It has been shown that in patients with persistence of hypercapnia after an acute episode of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation requiring mechanical ventilation, HNIV may improve the risk for new admission and survival. The ability to reach these aims depends on the correct timing of enrolling patients, as well as a correct definition of ventilatory needing and setting of the ventilator.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: High-flow nasal therapy (HFNT) provides several pathophysiological benefits in chronic respiratory disorders. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of long-term HFNT in patients with bronchiectasis (BE).

Methods: This is a retrospective bicentric case-control study of outpatients with BE on optimized medical treatment with a severe exacerbation requiring hospitalization in the previous year.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Long-term home noninvasive ventilation (LTHNIV) in restrictive thoracic diseases was explored via the recently published international REINVENT ERS survey. The Italian subset of respondents (ITA-r), the highest above all participating nations, was analyzed and compared to non-Italian respondents (NO-ITA-r). The ITA-r represented 20% of the total answers examined.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rationale: In patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and mild hypoxaemia, the clinical benefit of high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) remains unclear. We aimed to examine whether HFNO compared with conventional oxygen therapy (COT) could prevent escalation of respiratory support in this patient population.

Methods: In this multicentre, randomised, parallel-group, open-label trial, patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO) ≤92% who required oxygen therapy were randomised to HFNO or COT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) is an autosomal-recessive metabolic myopathy caused by deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme Acid Alpha-Glucosidase (GAA), leading to glycogen accumulation in proximal and axial muscles, and in the diaphragm. Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT) with recombinant GAA became available in 2006. Since then, several outcome measures have been investigated for the adequate follow-up of disease progression and treatment response, usually focusing on respiratory and motor function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The management of intraoperative bleeding during thoracoscopic lobectomy is challenging, especially for non-experienced surgeons. We evaluated intraoperative bleeding in relation to learning curve of thoracoscopic lobectomy, the strategies to face it, the outcomes, and the target case number for gaining the technical proficiency.

Methods: This was a retrospective single center study including consecutive patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patient-ventilator synchronization during non-invasive ventilation (NIV) can be assessed by visual inspection of flow and pressure waveforms but it remains time consuming and there is a large inter-rater variability, even among expert physicians. SyncSmart™ software developed by Breas Medical (Mölnycke, Sweden) provides an automatic detection and scoring of patient-ventilator asynchrony to help physicians in their daily clinical practice. This study was designed to assess performance of the automatic scoring by the SyncSmart software using expert clinicians as a reference in patient with chronic respiratory failure receiving NIV.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

COVID-19 survivors are associated with acute respiratory failure (ARF) and show a high prevalence of impairment in physical performance. The present studied aimed to assess whether we may cluster these individuals according to an exercise test. The presented study is a retrospective analysis of 154 survivors who were admitted to two hospitals of Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri network, Italy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Genetic polymorphisms influencing muscle structure and metabolism may affect the phenotype of metabolic myopathies. We here analyze the possible influence of a wide panel of "exercise genes" on the severity and progression of respiratory dysfunction in late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD). We stratified patients with comparable age and disease duration according to the severity of their respiratory phenotype, assessed by both upright FVC% and postural drop in FVC%.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, noninvasive respiratory support has played a central role in managing patients affected by moderate-to-severe acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, despite inadequate scientific evidence to support its usage. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) treatment has gained popularity because of its effectiveness in delivering a high fraction of humidified oxygen, which improves ventilatory efficiency and the respiratory pattern, as well as its reported high tolerability, ease of use, and application outside of ICUs. Nevertheless, the risk of infection transmission to health-care workers has raised some concerns about its use in the first wave of the pandemic outbreak, with controversial recommendations provided by different scientific societies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Survivors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) associated pneumonia may show exercise-induced desaturation. We wondered whether these individuals show physiologic and symptom characteristics similar to individuals with chronic respiratory diseases with exercise-induced desaturation, namely COPD or interstitial lung diseases (ILD). We evaluated lung function, exercise capacity, and symptoms in these individuals compared with individuals with COPD or ILD and exercise-induced desaturation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF