Swathy Puthalapattu

Interests

Teaching

Advanced bronchoscopy procedures,Bedside Ultrasound in ICU

Research

Interstitial lung diseases management,COPD

Courses

No activities entered.

Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• Chopra, M., Patel, B., Puthalapattu, S., & Nguyen, T. (2021). An Unusual Case of Chronic Hemoptysis. Chest, 159(5). doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.12.031
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  Case Presentation: A 62-year-old African American man was admitted to the hospital with hemoptysis. He had a complicated medical history significant for active tobacco use (>50 pack-year history), coronary artery disease, and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. He reported intermittent episodes of coughing up streaks of blood in the sputum for the past 3 years. For the past few days before this presentation, he had multiple episodes of coughing up over a tablespoon of only blood. He was not on any anticoagulant agents. There were no risk factors for TB, nor was there a history of fevers, chills, shortness of breath, leg swelling, changes in his urine color and frequency or urgency, or unintended weight loss. On admission, he was noted to be breathing comfortably. Vital signs revealed a temperature of 36.6ºC, BP of 138/70 mm Hg, heart rate of 66 beats/min, respiratory of rate of 18 breaths/min, and a blood oxygen saturation level of 98% on room air. Physical examination was significant for decreased bilateral breath sounds with no wheezing, crackles, or rhonchi. Cardiovascular examination revealed normal cardiac rhythm without murmur, rubs, or gallops. There was no clubbing or edema on his extremities.
• Chopra, M., Rao, S., & Puthalapattu, S. (2021). "Did You Leave the Wire in?" A Striking Case of Linear Pulmonary Cement Embolism.. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 204(10), e110-e112. doi:10.1164/rccm.202010-3985im
• Ynosencio, T., & Puthalapattu, S. (2018). Medical image of the week: pulmonary artery dilation. Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical care and Sleep. doi:10.13175/swjpcc012-18
• Puthalapattu, S., & Ioachimescu, O. C. (2014). Asthma and Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Clinical and Pathogenic Interactions. J Investig Med. 2014 Apr;62(4):665-75. doi:10.2310/jim.0000000000000065
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  Asthma and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are among the most prevalent chronic human diseases of the 21st century. They share several risk and aggravating factors such as obesity, smoking, gastroesophageal reflux, sinonasal disease or upper airway involvement, systemic inflammation, etc. Although the association between OSA and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or “overlap syndrome” is better known and characterized, the association of asthma and OSA or “alternative overlap syndrome” is less clearly defined and understood. Nevertheless, their coexistence has synergistic effects on patient symptoms, response to therapy, and general outcomes. Taxonomically, asthma and OSA are syndromically defined entities that are quite heterogeneous, being characterized by a plethora of clinical phenotypes. The complex interactions between these conditions should take into account more specific etiopathogenic mechanisms or distinct disease endotypes. The potential clinical, pathogenic, and therapeutic significance of the disease endotypes is still emerging and needs further evaluation. We present here a review on the bidirectional relationships between asthma and OSA, including their clinical, pathophysiologic, and therapeutic connections. Furthermore, we propose here to look at these interactions beyond the development of comprehensive inventories of genotypes, clinical and pathophysiologic phenotypes, but in the larger context of obstructive lung and airway disorders, with the goal to reassess meaningful syndromes based on natural history and predictable patient outcomes, which will help us better stratify therapy in an era of personalized medicine.
• Puthalapattu, S., Udoji, T., Bechara, R., & Ioachimescu, O. (2012). Dyspnea in a patient with Mounier-Kuhn syndrome. Journal of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, 19(2). doi:10.1097/LBR.0b013e318253181f
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  Poorly differentiated non-small cell lung carcinoma with a component of sarcoma-like (spindle and/or giant cells) or sarcoma (malignant bone, cartilage, or skeletal muscle) cells are called pleomorphic carcinoma. These carcinoma represent one of the 5 subtypes of rare pulmonary malignancies collectively classified as sarcomatoid carcinoma by the World Health Organization histologic classification of lung tumors. The pathogenesis of sarcomatoid carcinoma remains unclear, and treatment of this malignant tumor is less defined. Very few cases of sarcomatoid carcinoma involving the upper respiratory tract have been reported in the literature. We report here an atypical presentation and location of this tumor (in the trachea), causing obstruction with a positional ball-valve effect, in a patient with tracheobronchomegaly (Mounier-Kuhn syndrome). In addition, we discuss the recurrent nature of the disease and the potential therapeutic difficulties. Copyright © 2012 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
• Puthalapattu, S., & Metersky, M. (2011). Mycobacterium nebraskense as a cause of nodular pulmonary disease.. Connecticut medicine, 75(9).
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  Mycobacterium nebraskense is a scotochromogenic mycobacterium first isolated from sputum samples of five patients at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. M. nebraskense was first identified as a pathogen in an immunocompetent host, also in Nebraska. In this case report, we describe a patient with nodular pulmonary disease most likely due to M. nebraskense, who was successfully treated with rifampin and azithromycin, representing the first case in which this organism was a pathogen outside of Nebraska and the first description of successful treatment of this infection.
• York, L. W., Puthalapattu, S., & Wu, G. Y. (2009). Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Low-Carbohydrate Diets. Annual Review of Nutrition. doi:10.1146/annurev-nutr-070208-114232
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  Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with insulin resistance, obesity, and other features of metabolic syndrome and is known to be the most common cause for abnormal liver enzymes. The recent surge in the number of patients with NAFLD has been accompanied by an increase in research on potential treatment options, particularly weight loss and dietary interventions. Given the growing interest on the role of carbohydrates in the prevention and treatment of NAFLD, this review discusses the relationship between the amount of carbohydrates in the diet and effects on NAFLD, with special emphasis on a low-carbohydrate diet. We discuss the role of insulin resistance in the pathophysiology of NAFLD and provide an overview of various popular diets and their role as a treatment option for NAFLD. Additional large, longer-duration trials studying the efficacy of a low-carbohydrate diet in the treatment and prevention of NAFLD are eagerly awaited.

Proceedings Publications

• Puthalapattu, S., Nguyen, T., Chand, A., Kolimas, A., & Yannapudi, K. (2022). Persistent Abnormal Imaging in Chronic Exogenous Lipoid Pneumonia: Surveillance of Complications. In CHEST.
• Puthalapattu, S., & Nyquist, A. (2020). A High Index Finger of Suspicion: A Case of Yellow Nail Syndrome. In ATS.
• Puthalapattu, S., Abbasi, A., Meyer, P., & Gibbs, A. (2020). Vaping Pure Luck: A Case of Nicotine Vaping-Related Lung Injury. In ATS.