Publications by authors named "Fotios Sampsonas"

Central airway obstruction is of major clinical importance since it is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and is usually clinically diagnosed late. Pulmonary function tests, with the recent incorporation of oscillometry, can have a crucial role in earlier diagnosis. In this review, we summarize all recent advances in that view, including the crucial role of oscillometry.

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Introduction: Interstitial lung diseases are a varied group of diseases associated with chronic inflammation and fibrosis. With the emerging and current treatment options, survival rates have vastly improved. Having in mind that the most common type is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and that a significant proportion of these patients will develop lung cancer as the disease progresses, prompt diagnosis and personalized treatment of these patients are fundamental.

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Lung adenocarcinoma is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality despite recent therapeutic advances. Cancer stem cells have gained increasing attention due to their ability to induce cancer cell proliferation through self-renewal and differentiation into multiple cell lineages. OCT4 and LIN28 (and their homologs A and B) have been identified as key regulators of pluripotency in mammalian embryonic (ES) and induced stem (IS) cells, and they are the crucial regulators of cancer progression.

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Objective: To identify and report the pathogens and sources of contamination associated with bronchoscopy-related outbreaks and pseudo-outbreaks.

Design: Systematic review.

Setting: Inpatient and outpatient outbreaks and pseudo-outbreaks after bronchoscopy.

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Background: Mediastinal lymph node enlargement is prevalent in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Studies investigating whether this phenomenon reflects specific immunologic activation are lacking.

Methods: Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)/ programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in mediastinal lymph nodes and lung tissues was analyzed.

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GATA3 is a transcription factor involved in the embryogenesis of multiple human tissues and organs and in maintaining cell differentiation and tissue homeostasis in the adult organism. GATA3 is also involved in carcinogenesis and is regarded as a sensitive marker for urothelial and breast carcinomas, although its expression in carcinomas of non-breast/urothelial origin has been frequently reported. In this study, we sought to examine the extent and intensity of GATA3 expression in various carcinomas, mainly lung, urothelial, breast, and various other primary sites.

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Purpose Of Review: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the nonmalignant, chronic lung disease with the worst prognosis. Prevalent comorbidities including lung cancer exert a negative impact on patients' survival. However, there is considerable lack of knowledge on the diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients diagnosed with both clinical entities.

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Introduction: Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 seem to be an emerging global crisis. Machine learning radiographic models have great potential for meticulous evaluation of post-COVID-19 interstitial lung disease (ILD).

Methods: In this multicenter, retrospective study, we included consecutive patients that had been evaluated 3 months following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection between 01/02/2021 and 12/5/2022.

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Introduction: Myositis associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) seems to be an under-recognized entity.

Methods: In this multicenter, retrospective study, we recorded between 9/12/2019 and 30/9/2021 consecutive patients who presented in five different ILD centers from two European countries (Greece, France) and received a multidisciplinary diagnosis of myositis associated-ILD. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality over 1 year in specific subgroups of patients.

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Objective: Randomized controlled trials comparing tocilizumab and baricitinib in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are needed. This was an open-label, randomized controlled trial aiming to address this unmet need.

Methods: To determine whether baricitinib was non-inferior to tocilizumab, we assessed whether the upper boundary of the two-sided 95% CI of the hazard ratio (HR) did not exceed 1.

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Purpose Of Review: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have rapidly become a mainstay of cancer treatment. However, immune modulation resulting from checkpoint inhibition can cause inflammation in any organ system, with pneumonitis being one of the most severe immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Here, we review the most recent literature on pulmonary adverse events following ICIs.

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A middle-aged man was referred to our respiratory department with dyspnoea progressively deteriorating and non-productive cough over the past 8 months. High-resolution CT revealed multiple bilateral consolidations, traction bronchiectasis, reticular pattern and honeycombing with basal and peripheral predominance. Serology tests were negative.

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Introduction: High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygenation method has been proven to be successful in oxygenation of patients with respiratory failure and has exhibited clinical superiority compared to low-flow nasal cannula (LFNC).

Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the potential favorable impact of HFNC oxygenation during bronchoscopy and related procedures like endobronchial ultrasound-transbronchial needle aspiration. Only randomized control trials (RCTs) were included in the meta-analysis.

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Background: Gastrointestinal endoscopy (GIE) represents a mainstay diagnostic and therapeutic procedure in clinical practice. Hypoxemia constitutes a major complication for endoscopists. Emerging evidence supports the utilization of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) over conventional nasal cannula (CNC) for avoidance of hypoxemia.

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Background: Data on the safety and efficacy profile of tocilizumab in patients with severe COVID-19 needs to be enriched.

Methods: In this open label, prospective study, we evaluated clinical outcomes in consecutive patients with COVID-19 and PaO/FiO < 200 receiving tocilizumab plus usual care versus usual care alone. Tocilizumab was administered at the time point that PaO/FiO < 200 was observed.

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Aims: To evaluate the prevalence of X-ray findings in hospitalized patients requiring hospitalization with suspected Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and potential differences in the laboratory values and clinical outcomes related to the presence of abnormal chest X-ray (CXR) findings.

Methods: A total of 117 patients suspected of COVID-19 pneumonia and hospitalized with symptoms of lower respiratory tract disease were included in this study. Patients were divided into subgroups according to COVID-19 diagnosis and statistical comparisons were made according to CXR findings.

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Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was recently renamed to metabolic (dysfunction)-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) to better characterize its pathogenic origin. NAFLD represents, at least in western societies, a potential epidemic with raising prevalence. Its multifactorial pathogenesis is partially unraveled and till now there is no approved pharmacotherapy for NAFLD.

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Established treatment regimens for the autosomal dominant hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome, denominated Job syndrome, are lacking. Thus, Job syndrome still exerts a dramatic impact on patients' quality of life. Our aim was to present safety and effectiveness of a regimen including co-trimoxazole, omalizumab and inhaled tobramycin in Job syndrome.

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A 70-year-old man was referred to our respiratory department with non-productive cough over the past 6 months. High-resolution CT revealed reticular pattern with basal and peripheral predominance, centrilobular nodules and mild ground glass opacities. Serology tests were normal and bronchoalveolar lavage revealed lymphocytosis.

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Introduction: Treatment of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) other than idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) often includes systemic corticosteroids. Use of steroid-sparing agents is amenable to avoid potential side effects.

Methods: Functional indices and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) patterns of patients with non-IPF ILDs receiving mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) with a minimum follow-up of 1 year were analyzed.

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