John D. Dingell VA Medical Center

Respecting Spinal Cord Injury Patient Autonomy in the Context of Terminal Extubation

Terminal extubation, or palliative or compassionate extubation, is a legally and ethically accepted practice in the United States where mechanical ventilation is withdrawn when ongoing life-sustaining treatment no longer aligns with a patient's stated goals of care. Nearly 42% of...

Acetazolamide Mitigates Opioid-Associated Sleep-Disordered Breathing

Rationale: Chronic prescription opioid use can exert ventilatory depression and increase loop gain to induce sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Alternative therapies to mitigate opioid-associated SDB are needed. Objective: We sought to examine whether oral acetazolamide (ACZ) will...