Malignant pleural mesothelioma: clinicopathology of 16 extrapleural pneumonectomy patients with special reference to early stage features.

The earliest pathological events in the development of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) are not understood. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the early histopathological features of MPM. A total of 16 extrapleural MPM pneumonectomy patients were investigated.

[A case of sarcoidosis complicated with repeated hemoptysis].

A 53-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital complaining of repeated hemoptysis. Her past history indicate uveitis at age 48. Chest HRCT findings showed the thickening of broncho-vascular bundles, interlobular septal thickening, and patchy ground-glass attenuation, but no hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy.

Diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma: a multi-institutional clinicopathological study.

Purpose: The relative rarity of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) in Japan makes it difficult to perform a large-scale clinicopathological study of this tumor at a single institute. Thus, we performed a multiinstitutional study to evaluate the current status of diagnosis and treatment in Japan.

Methods: We analyzed the records of 65 patients with MPM, obtained from the 13 institutions comprising the Japanese Chiba Multicenter Study Group.

[A case of chronic bird fancier's lung in which VATS biopsy was diagnostically useful].

A 72-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital complaining of dry cough and dyspnea on effort for 9 months. Her chest HRCT findings showed diffuse reticular opacities, ground-glass opacities, and interlobular septal thickening with subpleural and peribronchovascular distribution, not typical of IPF/UIP. BAL revealed mild lymphocytosis and elevated CD4/CD8 ratio.

[Pulmonary adenocarcinoma with multiloculated cystic change].

A 63-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for evaluation of an abnormal chest X-ray film finding. He was asymptomatic. The chest HRCT showed a ground-glass attenuation with multiloculated cystic change in the left lower lobe.

[A case of primary lung cancer complicated with hypothyroidism by diffuse thyroid metastasis].

A 56-year-old woman with hypothyroidism was admitted to our hospital because of an abnormal chest X-ray film. The chest CT showed a 3-cm spiculated tumor in the left lingual branch, and multiple nodular shadows with random distribution. Cervical CT showed diffuse enlargement of the thyroid gland with low density.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis associated with influenza B.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) usually occurs in immunocompromised patients. However, rarely, this infection can occur in normal hosts. This review of the literature identified 13 cases of IPA associated with influenza, of which 12 had influenza A and the type of influenza was not mentioned in the other case.

A new sterilization technique with balloon-tube thoracostomy for thoracic empyema.

Objective: Failure or prolongation of treatment for refractory thoracic empyema by the current chest-tube drainage technique is often due to sterilization difficulties. Insufficient sterilization prolongs hospitalization, and is often associated with life-threatening complications and/or additional invasive surgical procedures. A new chest-tube sterilization technique aimed at making it less invasive and shortening the therapy is proposed.