Acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure in immunocompromised patients: abandon bronchoscopy or make it better?. Issue 6 (12th December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bauer, Philippe R.; Chevret, Sylvie; Azoulay, Elie
• Is Part Of: European respiratory journal. Volume 54:Issue 6(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-12-12
• Subjects: Respiratory organs -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Respiration -- Periodicals; 616.2
• DOI: 10.1183/13993003.02177-2019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0903-1936

Abstract

In their letter to the Editor, M.S. Zinter and G-S. Cheng raise concerns about the conclusion of our study that immunocompromised patients with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure who undergo fibreoptic bronchoscopy have inferior survival relative to those who do not undergo fibreoptic bronchoscopy. They offer an alternative explanation to our findings by emphasising the role of the time-varying nature of the bronchoscopy as well as the time-varying nature of other covariates, including illness severity leading up to bronchoscopy, when performing the propensity score matching. The decision-making process regarding whether to perform bronchoscopy in acute respiratory failure in immunosuppressed patients is complex and does not depend solely on severity http://bit.ly/2O9cjcq