Small airways dysfunction in patients with systemic sclerosis and interstitial lung disease.

Background: A number of studies report small airways involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Furthermore, small airways dysfunction is increasingly recognized in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) of idiopathic or autoimmune etiology. The objectives of this study were to evaluate small airways function in SSc patients with ILD and explore the effect of treatment on small airways function by using conventional and contemporary pulmonary function tests (PFTs).

Pulmonary function tests reveal unrecognised lung dysfunction and have independent prognostic significance in patients with systemic AL amyloidosis.

Background: Lung involvement in AL amyloidosis is not very common, but post-mortem data and retrospective studies suggest it is likely underrecognized.

Aim: To perform a comprehensive evaluation of lung function with pulmonary function tests (PFTs) in patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis.

Methods: A prospective, non-interventional study of 139 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis.

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Physiology in AL Amyloidosis Patients with Cardiac Involvement and Its Association with Cardiac Imaging Parameters.

Background: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) has been widely used for the functional evaluation of patients with heart failure. Patients with amyloidosis and cardiac involvement typically present with heart failure with preserved or mildly reduced ejection fraction. We sought to evaluate the use of CPET parameters in patients with AL amyloidosis for the assessment of disease severity and prognosis and their association with cardiac imaging findings.

"Peculiar" Snoring in a 40-Year-Old Patient: A Case Report and Review of Literature.

This is a case description of a patient with previously diagnosed rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and nocturnal enuresis, who complained about a "peculiar sound" while sleeping and, occasionally, while awake during intensive exercise, for the last three months. A home audio recording, which his wife obtained while he was sleeping, showed a high-pitched sound identified as stridor. Full video polysomnography revealed no apneas or hypopneas.