Short communication: Diagnosis of lung cancer increases during the annual southeast Asian haze periods.

There have been few but timely studies examining the role of air pollution in lung cancer and survival. The Southeast Asia haze is a geopolitical problem that has occurred annually since 1997 in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. To date, there has been no study examining the impact of the annual haze in the presentation of lung cancer.

Can a bronchoscopist reliably assess a patient's experience of bronchoscopy?

Objectives: Bronchoscopy is an essential investigative tool in many respiratory complaints. The procedure can be unpleasant for both bronchoscopists and patients. To the best of our knowledge, there are only a few studies that correlate the bronchoscopist's satisfaction with that of the patient's during bronchoscopy.

Changes in Nutritional, Functional Status and Quality of Life of COPD Out-patients after a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme in HUKM: a Pilot Study.

This quasi-experimental study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of an eight-week multi-disciplinary pulmonary rehabilitation programme in improving nutritional and functional status and quality of life of COPD out patients at Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. A total of 9 COPD outpatients aged 40 years and above (6 men and 3 women) completed at least 50% of 16 sessions of an eight-week pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Their nutritional and functional status and rating of quality of life were measured at baseline (0 day) and after 8 weeks and these were compared to those of the control group matched for age, comprising 13 subjects (11 men and 2 women).

The SAFE (SGRQ score, air-flow limitation and exercise tolerance) Index: a new composite score for the stratification of severity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: This study was proposed to develop a composite of outcome measures using forced expiratory volume percentage of predicted, exercise capacity and quality of life scores for assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) severity.

Materials And Methods: Eighty-six patients with COPD were enrolled into a prospective, observational study at the respiratory outpatient clinic, National University Hospital Malaysia (Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia--HUKM), Kuala Lumpur.

Results: Our study found modest correlation between the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)), 6 min walk distance and the SGRQ scores with mean (SD) values of 0.

The triad of lichen planus, thymoma and liver cirrhosis-hepatoma. First reported case.

We describe a patient with liver cirrhosis who presented with erosive oral and cutaneous lichen planus (LP) and incidentally was found simultaneously to have thymoma and hepatoma. We support the notion forwarded earlier that LP and chronic liver disease is more than a mere coincidence and that there is a non-coincidental association between LP and thymoma. We believe this is also the first reported case in the English Literature of coexistence of the three condition LP, thymoma and hepatoma complicating liver disease.

A report of the first three cases of diffuse panbronchiolitis in Malaysia.

Three cases of diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB) occurring in two Malaysian Chinese patients and one Malay patient are reported. They had similar clinical, radiological and physiological features which are characteristic of DPB. The diagnosis in one of the cases was confirmed histologically by transbronchial lung biopsy.