DundeeChest 3.0

Archive for the ‘Star Wars’ Category

I know this has nothing to do with respiratory medicine, but it’s really good… So good, I’m starting a new category for related posts. I’m the admin, I can do what I like!

Carlsberg don't do anaesthetists....

That headline has nowt to do with this post but I feel an obligation to myself, and to all those who hold the pure art of the pun in high regard, to use it.  Mind you, there is plenty of scope for pun-age with the article from Chest that caught my eye – “Fighting Vampires and Ventilator-Associated pneumonia: Is Silver the magic bullet?“.  Aside from briefly thinking that Buffy had widened her slayer repertoir to include pathogenic bacteria (a much more sedate spin off series methinks), this piece is an editorial on the publication of the NASCENT study in the same edition.  It looks at the antibacterial effect of silver coated endotracheal tubes on the mortality rate of ventilator associated pneumonia in ICU.  The study authors are fairly upbeat in their message suggesting that it “was associated with reduced mortality in patients who developed VAP in the NASCENT study”.  The editorial is less convinced, and gives a good overview of the state of play for this difficult condition, ending with the upbeat message that rates are already in decline with the introduction of good old fashioned hygiene in the form of ventilator bundles, so you may not need your fancy pimped up ET tubes anyway. So there.