Should High-Frequency Ventilation in the Adult Be Abandoned?

Should High-Frequency Ventilation in the Adult Be Abandoned?

High-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) can improve ventilation-perfusion matching without excessive alveolar tidal stretching or collapse-reopening phenomenon. This is an attractive feature in the ventilation of patients with ARDS. However, two recent large multi-center trials of HFOV failed to show benefits in this patient population. The following review addresses whether, in view of t...

Should chelation therapy be abandoned ?

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis should be abandoned.

A leading idea about how disturbances and other environmental fluctuations affect species diversity is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH). The IDH states that diversity of competing species is, or should be expected to be, maximized at intermediate frequencies and/or intensities of disturbance or environmental change. I argue that the IDH has been refuted on both empirical and theore...

Should prostate-specific antigen velocity be abandoned?

P rostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the most widely used biomarker for prostate cancer, but may also be elevated in nonmalignant conditions such as benign prostatic hyperplasia. Studies in the early 1990s suggested that rapid increases in PSA over time—a concept known as PSA velocity (PSAV)—may be useful to distinguish prostate cancer from the generally slower rise in PSA that may be seen in be...

Should preoperative mechanical bowel preparation be abandoned?