[A case of successful pulmonary embolectomy for massive acute pulmonary thromboembolism].

A 54-year-old man was admitted to our hospital complaining of sudden-onset dyspnea in shock. Chest computed tomography(CT) showed thrombi in the right main and left intermediate pulmonary arteries. The case was diagnosed as a massive acute pulmonary thromboembolism.

Clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with primary lung cancer.

Objective: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an angiogenesis factor closely associated with the growth and metastasis of malignant tumours.

Methodology: In the present study, we measured plasma VEGF levels in 20 normal subjects (N), 35 patients with benign lung diseases (B), 28 patients with untreated advanced lung cancer (NT) and 10 patients with treated lung cancer (T). In addition, we measured the VEGF levels in pleural effusions from five patients with primary lung cancer and two patients with active infectious diseases.

Changes of sequestered leukocytes and platelets by inhalation prostaglandin E(1) in the pulmonary microvasculature of rats with monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension.

The role of leukocytes (WBCs) and platelets (PLTs) in the pulmonary circulation may be important in the development of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats. We investigated the suppressive effects of long-term prostaglandin E(1) (PGE(1)) aerosol on the changes in WBCs and PLTs in the peripheral blood and the pulmonary microvasculature during the development of chronic pulmonary hypertension in MCT rats by real-time confocal scanning laser microscopy. The number of WBCs and PLTs in peripheral blood did not significantly change by inhalation of PGE(1).