Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Pseudomembranous Tracheitis Caused By Aspergillus Fumigatus In The Setting Of High Grade T-Cell Lymphoma, Prashant Malhotra, Karan Singh, Paul Gill, Sonu Sahni, Mina Makaryus, Arunabh Talwar

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Pseudomembranous tracheitis (PMT) is a rare condition most commonly caused by fungal or bacterial infection that is characterized by a pseudomembrane that partially or completely covers the tracheobronchial tree. PMT is most commonly found in immunocompromised patient populations, such as post-chemotherapy, AIDS, post-transplant and hematological malignancies. Due to its rarity, PMT is often not included in the differential diagnosis. This case describes a 65 year old male with persistent fever and refractory cough despite high dose empiric antibiotics. Subsequent bronchoscopy with biopsy revealed pseudomembranous tracheitis due to Aspergillus fumigatus in the setting of T-cell lymphoma. PMT should be considered in …

Primary Pulmonary Malt Lymphoma Presenting As Non-Resolving Pneumonia, Asma Iftikhar, Albert Magh, Muhammed Azaz Cheema, Sarah Thappa, Sonu Sahni, Stephen Karbowitz

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Primary lung lymphoma (PLL) is a rare unilateral or bilateral lung disorder that is challenging to diagnose solely based on clinical and radiological presentation. PLL may be misdiagnosed as pneumonia or a lung tumor due to non-specific findings. PLL is most frequently a mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, a type of extranodal low-grade B-cell lymphoma most commonly discovered in the gastrointestinal tract. PLL should be considered in the differential diagnosis of non-resolving pneumonias. Herein we present a case of an 84-year-old patient discovered to have a primary pulmonary MALT lymphoma presenting as a non-resolving pneumonia causing a clinical challenge.

Exercise Tolerance Improves After Pulmonary Rehabilitation In Pulmonary Hypertension Patients, Arunabh Talwar, Sonu Sahni, Sameer Verma, Sara Z. Khan, Sean Dhar, Nina Kohn

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is part of the recommended management plan of pulmonary hypertension (PHTN) and is important to better quality of life and exercise tolerance. This study aimed at determining effectiveness of PR on exercise capacity. Retrospective chart analysis was conducted on patients referred to our PHTN clinic for PR. Patients who had PHTN diagnosed on right heart catheterization (defined by mean pulmonary artery pressure>25 mmHg) and completed a standardized 12-week PR program were considered for the study. Patients’ baseline exercise tolerance was recorded as speed attainable on a treadmill and duration of exercise in minutes. Demographics, age, sex, …

Socioeconomic Status And Its Relationship To Chronic Respiratory Disease, Sonu Sahni, Ankoor Talwar, Sameer Khanijo, Arunabh Talwar

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Socioeconomic status (SES) is defined as an individual’s social or economic standing, and is a measure of an individual’s or family’s social or economic position or rank in a social group. It is a composite of several measures including income, education, occupation, location of residence or housing. Studies have found a lower SES has been linked to disproportionate access to health care in many diseases. There is emerging data in pulmonary diseases such as COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension and other chronic respiratory conditions that allude to a similar observation noted in other chronic diseases. In the setting of …

Hyaluronidase: A Potential New Treatment For Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, C. Leblanc, Robert Stern

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Acute respiratory distress syndrome, also known as diffuse alveolar damage, is an acute injury to the lungs. Patients experience severe shortness of breath and require mechanical ventilation. It is not a specific disease, but an acute lung dysfunction associated with a variety of disorders: pneumonia, shock, sepsis, and trauma. A similar lesion occurs in newborn infants, called hyaline disease of the newborn. It occurs in premature babies and has the same pathophysiological mechanism as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Hyaline membranes are a pathologic feature of acute respiratory distress syndrome, consisting of basophilic structures that coat alveolar surfaces. They prevent oxygen …

Nationwide Trends In Inpatient Admissions Of Pulmonary Hypertension In The United States From 2000 To 2013, Rutuja R. Sikachi, Sonu Sahni, Dhruv Mehta, Abhishek Agarwal, Abhinav Agrawal

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Introduction: Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) is a disorder of the pulmonary vasculature with high mortality and bears a large economic burden on the healthcare system. We conducted a review of the largest inpatient database in the United States and analyzed the trends in hospitalizations due to PH from the turn of the century (2000) to 2013 to evaluate the rate of hospitalizations and determine the cost and mortality associated with PH.

Material and methods: We analyzed the National Inpatient Sample Database (NIS) for all patients in which PH (Primary or Secondary) or cor pulmonale was the primary discharge diagnosis …