The C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio has recently emerged as a marker for poor prognosis or mortality across various patient groups. This study aimed to identify the association between CRP/albumin ratio and 28-day mortality and predict the accuracy of CRP/albumin ratio for 28-day mortality in medical intensive care unit (ICU) patients. This was a retrospective cohort study of 875 patients. We evaluated the prognostic value of CRP/albumin ratio to predict mortality at 28 days after ICU admission, using Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The 28-day mortality was 28.0%. In the univariate analysis, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score (p < 0.001), CRP level (p = 0.045), albumin level (p < 0.001), and CRP/albumin ratio (p = 0.032) were related to 28-day mortality. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (the area under the ROC curves (AUC)) of CRP/albumin ratio was higher than that of CRP for mortality (0.594 vs. 0.567, p < 0.001). The cut-off point for CRP/albumin ratio for mortality was 34.3. On Cox proportional-hazard regression analysis, APACHE II score (hazards ratio (HR) = 1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04–1.07, p < 0.001) and CRP/albumin ratio (HR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.27–2.21, p < 0.001 for high CRP/albumin ratio) were independent predictors of 28-day mortality. Higher CRP/albumin ratio was associated with increased mortality in critically ill patients.

Background: Pulmonary involvement is common in connective tissue disease (CTD), and respiratory failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in CTD-related interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD). Lung transplantation is thus important for these patients. However, survival, outcomes, and management of these patients after transplantation have been debated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes for CTD-ILD compared to those for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) after lung transplantation. Methods: We performed a single-centre retrospective study of 62 patients with CTD-ILD or IPF who underwent lung transplantation at a tertiary hospital in South Korea between October 2012 and October 2016. Results: Patients with CTD-ILD (n=15) were younger (46 vs. 60 years, P=0.001) and were less likely to be male (33.3% vs. 76.6%, P=0.004) than were patients with IPF (n=47). The 1-year cumulative survival rate was 80.0% for CTD-ILD and 59.6% for IPF (log-rank P=0.394). There was no difference in the cumulative survival rate (log-rank P=0.613) of age- and sex-matched patients with CTD-ILD (n=15) and IPF (n=15). The incidence of primary graft dysfunction was similar (P=0.154), and 2 (18.2%) patients developed possible CTD flare. Conclusions: Patients with CTD-ILD and those with IPF who underwent lung transplantation had similar survival rates.

Discontinuing mechanical ventilation remains challenging. We developed a machine learning model to predict weaning outcomes using only continuous monitoring parameters obtained from ventilators during spontaneous breathing trials (SBTs). Patients who received mechanical ventilation in the medical intensive care unit at a tertiary university hospital from 2019–2021 were included in this study. During the SBTs, three waveforms and 25 numerical data were collected as input variables. The proposed convolutional neural network (CNN)-based weaning prediction model extracts features from input data with diverse lengths. Among 138 enrolled patients, 35 (25.4%) experienced weaning failure. The dataset was randomly divided into training and test sets (8:2 ratio). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for weaning success by the prediction model was 0.912 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.795–1.000), with an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.767 (95% CI, 0.434–0.983). Furthermore, we used gradient-weighted class activation mapping technology to provide visual explanations of the model’s prediction, highlighting influential features. This tool can assist medical staff by providing intuitive information regarding readiness for extubation without requiring any additional data collection other than SBT data. The proposed predictive model can assist clinicians in making ventilator weaning decisions in real time, thereby improving patient outcomes.

Previous studies have suggested that antibodies against human leukocyte antigen (HLA) are associated with worse outcomes in lung transplantation. However, little is known about the factors associated with outcomes following lung transplantation in Asia. Accordingly, we investigated the prevalence of anti-HLA antibodies in recipients before transplantation and assessed their impact on outcomes in Korea. A single-center retrospective study was conducted. The study included 76 patients who received a lung transplant at a tertiary hospital in South Korea between January 2010 and March 2015. Nine patients (11.8%) had class I and/or class II panel-reactive antibodies greater than 50%. Twelve patients (15.8%) had anti-HLA antibodies with a low mean fluorescence intensity (MFI, 1000–3000), 7 (9.2%) with a moderate MFI (3000–5000), and 12 (15.8%) with a high MFI (> 5000). Ten patients (13.2%) had suspected donor-specific antibodies (DSA), and 60% (6/10) of these patients had antibodies with a high MFI. In an analysis of outcomes, high-grade (≥2) primary graft dysfunction (PGD) was more frequent in patients with anti-HLA antibodies with moderate-to-high MFI values than in patients with low MFI values (39.4% vs. 14.0%, p = 0.011). Of 20 patients who survived longer than 2 years and evaluated for pBOS after transplant, potential bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (pBOS) or BOS was more frequent in patients with anti-HLA antibodies with moderate-to-high MFI than in patients with low MFI, although this difference was not statistically significant (50.0% vs. 14.3%, p = 0.131). The prevalence of anti-HLA antibodies with high MFI was not high in Korea. However, the MFI was relatively high in patients with DSA. Anti-HLA antibodies with moderate-to-high MFI values were related to high-grade PGD. Therefore, recipients with high MFI before lung transplantation should be considered for desensitization and close monitoring.

Interferon (IFN)-γ-inducible chemokines in the CXCR3/ligand axis are involved in cell-mediated immunity and play a significant role in the progression of cancer. We enrolled patients with lung cancer (n = 144) and healthy volunteers as the controls (n = 140). Initial blood samples were collected and concentrations of IFN-γ and IFN-γ-inducible chemokines CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11 were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Of patients with lung cancer, 125 had non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 19 had small cell lung cancer. The area under the curve (AUC) (95% CI) of CXCL9 was 0.83 (0.80–0.89) for differentiating lung cancer patients from controls. The levels of all the markers were significantly higher in NSCLC patients with stage IV than in those with stages I–III. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that NSCLC cancer patients with higher levels of all markers showed poorer survival than those with lower levels. In Cox multivariate analysis of patients with NSCLC, independent prognostic factors for overall survival were CXCL9 and CXCL11. CXCL9 was the only independent prognostic factor for cancer-specific survival. Serum IFN-γ-inducible chemokines may be useful as clinical markers of metastasis and prognosis in NSCLC, and CXCL9 levels showed the most significant results.