EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY & PULMONARY DISEASES – VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1 – SPRING 2016

Welcome to the latest edition of European Respiratory & Pulmonary Diseases, which features a diverse range of articles covering a number of therapeutic areas. This edition begins with a discussion of a relatively new and controversial positive airway pressure (PAP) unit. Adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) is a non-invasive ventilatory PAP therapy for the treatment of adults […]

Acute bronchiolitis is the most common lower respiratory tract infection in infants less than 12 months of age, and it is the leading cause of hospitalisation in this age group, particularly in infants younger than six months. It is mainly caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and shows a seasonal pattern, with peak incidence occurring […]

Asthma is a common condition in childhood. Although significant advances have been made in the understanding of asthma in adults, many gaps in knowledge of the pathophysiology, prevention and management of childhood asthma remain. Over the last several years, through analysis of the clinical, cellular and molecular characteristics of patients, it has become progressively clear […]

Pulmonary function tests (PFT) are usually useful to confirm the diagnosis, as well as for therapy guidance and also to clarify the prognosis of several respiratory diseases.1 These tests have been used for decades in adults but only gained relevance in preschool aged children in recent years. In this age group there are some difficulties […]

Adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) is a non-invasive ventilatory therapy that provides variable inspiratory positive airway pressure (IPAP) to support inspiration when breathing amplitude is reduced, ensures sufficient respiration when respiratory effort is absent and provides fixed or variable end-expiratory PAP (EPAP) to maintain upper airway patency. This approach is designed to mimic nasal continuous PAP (CPAP) […]

Case report An eight-month-old girl presents with mild, intermittent tachypnea of several months duration. The girl’s past medical history was unremarkable except for a short neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) course secondary to respiratory distress following a term, vaginal delivery. She was meeting growth and developmental milestones. A chest radiograph taken while in the NICU […]

Sarcoidosis is a chronic systemic disease of unknown origin that is characterised by the formation of non-caseating granulomas in the affected organs, predominantly in the lungs and the intrathoracic lymph nodes.1–3 Non-caseating granulomas most often appear in the lungs and lymph nodes, but virtually any organ can be affected. Sarcoidosis of the gastrointestinal tract is […]