Severe forms of influenza infections admitted in intensive care units: Analysis of mortality factors.

Background: The severe forms of influenza infection requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission remain a medical challenge due to its high mortality. New H1N1 strains were hypothesized to increase mortality. The studies below represent a large series focusing on ICU-admitted influenza patients over the last decade with an emphasis on factors related to death.

New insights into stage and prognosis in small cell lung cancer: an analysis of 968 cases.

Background: The French College of General Hospital Respiratory Physicians conducted two studies that consecutively included all patients followed in participating general hospitals for primary small cell (SCLC) or non-small cell (NSCLC) lung cancer diagnosed in 2000 and 2010. These studies allow descriptive statistics and outcome assessment for SCLC and NSCLC separately and comparison over a 10-year period.

Methods: A standardised form was completed for each patient at inclusion.

Endobronchial metastases from melanoma: a survival analysis.

Background: Metastatic spread to the tracheobronchial tree from other than bronchopulmonary tumors is a common clinical problem. However, malignant melanoma, a highly metastatic potential tumor, is rarely metastasing in the airways. Therefore little is known about survival of patients with endobronchial metastasis from melanoma.

Persistent severe hypereosinophilic asthma is not associated with airway remodeling.

Hypereosinophilic asthma (HEA) is considered as a specific severe asthma phenotype. Whether eosinophils have a link with airway remodeling characterized by pathological (thickening of the basement membrane), functional (persistent airflow impairment and decline in lung function) and imaging features (increase airway wall thickness at CT scan) is still debated. In a one year prospective cohort of 142 severe asthma patients (according to IMI), 14 persistent HEA patients (defined by a persistent blood eosinophilia >500/mm(3) at two consecutive visits) were identified and compared with ten patients without any blood eosinophilia during the follow-up period (NEA, blood eosinophilia always <500/mm(3)).

Radiotherapy for a phalanx bone metastasis of a lung adenocarcinoma.

Phalanx bone metastasis as the initial presenting sign of lung cancer is a rare presentation. Lung cancer is known to metastasize to the bone, but rarely to the fingers. A 61-year-old male smoker presented with pain in the left ring finger.

Prognostic value of cluster analysis of severe asthma phenotypes.

Background: Cross-sectional severe asthma cluster analysis identified different phenotypes. We tested the hypothesis that these clusters will follow different courses.

Objective: We aimed to identify which asthma outcomes are specific and coherently associated with these different phenotypes in a prospective longitudinal cohort.

Distal airway impairment in obese normoreactive women.

Background: Asthma-like symptoms are frequent in overweight and obesity, but the mechanism is unclear when airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is lacking. In this study, we focused on obese women with a clinical suspicion of asthma but negative methacholine challenge and tested distal airway hyperreactivity, explored by Forced Vital Capacity dose-response slope (FVC DRS).

Objective: To question AHR at the distal airway level in obese women.

Limited short-term steroid responsiveness is associated with thickening of bronchial basement membrane in severe asthma.

Background: The clinical manifestations of bronchial remodeling in asthma and the potential impact of this process on lung function remain unclear. We aimed to determine whether the presence of pathologic features of airway remodeling in patients with asthma was associated with steroid responsiveness in the short term.

Methods: Sixty-three consecutive patients with severe asthma with chronic airflow impairment (post-bronchodilator FEV(1) < 80% predicted values) were recruited, clinically characterized, and had an initial bronchoscopy where endobronchial biopsy and BAL were performed.

Non-invasive assessment of small airway remodelling in smokers.

Smoking associated COPD progression is likely to be directly linked to differential injury and repair dynamics in small airways (SA). Although IL8 is a well-accepted marker for injured airway epithelium, Clara cells [the predominant proliferating cells in SA] and SCGB1A1 protein [their major secretory product] have only recently emerged as potential SA repair markers. We therefore postulate that the SCGB1A1/IL8 ratio in the airways of smokers would be inversely associated with physiological, radiological and clinical measures of COPD.

A solitary bronchial papilloma with unusual endoscopic presentation: case study and literature review.

Background: Solitary endobronchial papillomas (SEP) are rare tumors and most of them are described by case report. A misdiagnosis is common with viral related papillomas. A histopathological classification has recently permitted a major advancement in the understanding of the disease.

Airway and esophageal stenting in patients with advanced esophageal cancer and pulmonary involvement.

Background: Most inoperable patients with esophageal-advanced cancer (EGC) have a poor prognosis. Esophageal stenting, as part of a palliative therapy management has dramatically improved the quality of live of EGC patients. Airway stenting is generally proposed in case of esophageal stent complication, with a high failure rate.

Persistent arthralgia associated with chikungunya virus: a study of 88 adult patients on reunion island.

Background: An outbreak of chikungunya virus infection occurred on Reunion Island during the period 2005-2006. Persistent arthralgia after chikungunya virus infection has been reported, but few studies have treated this aspect of the disease.

Methods: Adult patients with laboratory-confirmed acute chikungunya virus infection who were referred to Groupe Hospitalier Sud Reunion during the period 2005-2006 were asked to participate in the study.

Leptospirosis in Reunion Island (Indian Ocean): analysis of factors associated with severity in 147 confirmed cases.

Objective: Analysis of risk factors associated with severity in patients with confirmed leptospirosis.

Design And Setting: Retrospective study in 147 leptospirosis-confirmed patients at two tertiary nonteaching hospital in Reunion Island.

Patients: 138 men and 9 women, aged 36+/-14 years, 80 in the ICU and 67 in medical wards.

Specificity of basement membrane thickening in severe asthma.

Background: Reticular basement membrane (RBM) thickness is considered a hallmark for airway remodeling in airway diseases such as asthma. It is still unclear whether this measurement could be associated with disease severity or apply to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A wide range of results, at baseline or after therapeutic intervention, have been reported using different measurement methods.

Outbreak of chikungunya on Reunion Island: early clinical and laboratory features in 157 adult patients.

Background: Chikungunya is a reemerging disease. In 2005-2006, a severe outbreak occurred on Reunion Island in the southwestern part of the Indian Ocean. Other islands in this area were affected during the same period.

Melioidosis: an imported case from Madagascar.

Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, is endemic in Southeast Asia and Northern Australia but is a rare pathogen in other parts of the world. No human case of melioidosis has been reported in Madagascar until now. We describe a case of pulmonary melioidosis probably acquired in Madagascar.

[Chikungunya on Reunion Island: chronicle of an epidemic foretold].

Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted by a mosquito of the genus Aedes. It is currently epidemic on Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean. It is essentially characterized by an influenza syndrome but associated with polyarthralgia and an eruption.

Venous thromboembolism in passengers following a 12-h flight: a case-control study.

Objectives: There has recently been great interest in the possible relationship between air travel and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Based on a case-control survey, we measured the frequency of VTE, associated risk factors (RFs), and factors influencing the onset of pulmonary embolism (PE) or deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Methods: The study was conducted over 1 yr.

[The effectiveness of leukotriene antagonists in the treatment of aspirin-intolerant asthmatic patients].

Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of leucotrien- antagonists in aspirin-intolerant asthma (AIA). The severity of asthma was evaluated according to GINA guidelines. On each consultation, the patients filled-in a simplified self-assessment questionnaire on rhinitis and quality of life (QOL).