Endobronchial Foreign Body Presenting as Exacerbation of Asthma.

Airway foreign bodies are a leading cause of death among children and require urgent recognition by medical personnel. While most cases are diagnosed readily from a clinical history of acute respiratory distress, some cases remain more indolent and present later. We report the case of a 7-year-old boy who aspirated a "LEGO" toy and presented with a week history of increasing respiratory distress compatible with known asthma.

Role of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with coronary calcification.

Objective: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are prone to premature atherosclerosis. We hypothesize that depletion of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) related to RA can contribute to the development of atherosclerosis.

Methods: We studied coronary calcifications by multidetector computed tomography and their relationship with different subtypes of circulating EPC in 70 patients with RA and 35 age- and sex-matched controls (mean age 54.

Pattern of arterial calcification in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and pattern of arterial calcification in patients with asymptomatic systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with control subjects. SLE patients are prone to adverse cardiovascular events; however, the underlying atherosclerotic process is unknown. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) measured arterial calcium score (CS) reflecting underlying atherosclerosis and is closely associated with cardiovascular events.

Radiologic manifestations of primary solitary extramedullary and multiple solitary plasmacytomas.

Objective: Primary solitary extramedullary and multiple solitary plasmacytomas are rare manifestations of plasma cell tumors. This study reviews their imaging spectrum in 12 patients.

Conclusion: Imaging features of primary solitary extramedullary and multiple solitary plasmacytomas are nonspecific but are compatible with solid tumors that are isointense on T1-weighted images and iso- to hyperintense on T2-weighted images relative to muscle and white matter with variable enhancement.

Clinical value of ciliary assessment in bronchiectasis.

Although ciliary dysfunction and numerous ultrastructural defects have been described, and these could be etiologically important in the development of bronchiectasis, their correlation with relevant clinical parameters have not been systematically evaluated. We have prospectively evaluated the prevalence and clinical significance of ciliary beat frequency and ultrastructural defects of nasal respiratory mucosa obtained from 152 stable patients with idiopathic bronchiectasis (100F, 57.7 +/- 15.

SARS: radiological features.

Air-space disease is typical in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and may be indistinguishable from pneumonia of other causes. In the majority of patients, ground glass opacities on chest radiographs progress rapidly to focal, multifocal or diffuse consolidation. Unilateral involvement is common in the early acute phase, becoming bilateral at maximal lung involvement.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome: temporal lung changes at thin-section CT in 30 patients.

Purpose: To evaluate lung abnormalities on serial thin-section computed tomographic (CT) scans in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) during acute and convalescent periods.

Materials And Methods: Serial thin-section CT scans in 30 patients (17 men, aged 42.5 years +/- 12.

White-matter diffusion anisotropy after chemo-irradiation: a statistical parametric mapping study and histogram analysis.

The aim of the study was to evaluate white-matter (WM) diffusion anisotropy in medulloblastoma survivors after cranial irradiation and chemotherapy using voxel-based analysis with SPM99 and fractional anisotropy (FA) histogram-derived indices, and to identify quantitative indices for detecting and monitoring children with treatment-induced white-matter injury. Familywise error rate (FWE) that corrects for multiple comparisons was used to locate statistically significant regions of P < 0.05 in voxel-based analysis.

Extrapulmonary presentation of asymptomatic pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare parenchymal lung disease, which affects young women of childbearing age and is characterized pathologically by proliferation of interstitial smooth muscle and formation of cysts in the lung. While LAM is usually predominantly a respiratory disorder, it can also initially involve other extrapulmonary organs. We report the case of a 35-year-old Chinese woman, who presented with a 4-week history of left thigh swelling which was found to be secondary to compression of pelvic veins by a mass lesion.

An indolent case of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a highly contagious and typically rapidly progressive form of atypical pneumonia, which spread from Asia to many parts of the world in early 2003. Clinical diagnosis of SARS requires the presence of unremitting fever and progressive pneumonia despite antibiotic therapy, particularly in the presence of lymphopenia and raised transaminase levels. We report the case of a woman who had undergone a successful allogeneic bone marrow transplant for acute myeloid leukemia.

High-resolution CT findings of severe acute respiratory syndrome at presentation and after admission.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the high-resolution CT (HRCT) findings at presentation and after hospital admission in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Materials And Methods: We reviewed the HRCT findings at presentation (n = 12) and after hospital admission (n = 25) of 29 patients with SARS and compared the HRCT findings with the radiographic findings. HRCT scans were obtained using 1-mm (n = 28) or 2-mm (n = 1) collimation.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a recently recognized and highly contagious pneumonic illness, caused by a novel coronavirus. While developments in diagnostic, clinical and other aspects of SARS research are well underway, there is still great difficulty for frontline clinicians as validated rapid diagnostic tests or effective treatment regimens are lacking. This article attempts to summarize some of the recent developments in this newly recognized condition from the Asia Pacific perspective.

Silicosis in 76 men: qualitative and quantitative CT evaluation--clinical-radiologic correlation study.

Purpose: To use qualitative and quantitative computed tomography (CT) to test the hypothesis that impaired lung function with silicosis is due to progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) and associated emphysema.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-six men with silicosis underwent volumetric and thin-section CT of the thorax. Lung function, Borg scale dyspnea grade, silica exposure duration, and cigarette consumption were determined.

High-dose pulse versus nonpulse corticosteroid regimens in severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The treatment of atypical pneumonia, subsequently termed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), is controversial, and the efficacy of corticosteroid therapy is unknown. We have evaluated the clinical and radiographic outcomes of 72 patients with probable SARS (median age 37 years, 30 M), who received ribavirin and different steroid regimens in two regional hospitals. Chest radiographs were scored according to the percentage of lung field involved.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome: radiographic and CT findings.

Objective: We review the radiographic and CT findings in the lungs of 12 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in an effort to describe the most common radiologic findings for this disease.

Conclusion: The most common radiographic findings of SARS patients at presentation are unilateral or bilateral ground-glass opacities or focal unilateral or bilateral areas of consolidation. In hospitalized SARS patients, the abnormalities tend to progress to bilateral air-space consolidation.

Transarterial chemoembolization for inoperable, early stage hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with Child-Pugh grade A and B: results of a comparative study in 96 Chinese patients.

Objective: The efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in prolongation of survival is controversial. We conducted a comparative study to determine whether TACE treatment had any survival benefit for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and with relatively preserved liver function.

Methods: In all, 96 patients with unresectable HCC of Okuda stage I or II and Child-Pugh grade A or B were recruited.

A cluster of cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong.

Background: Information on the clinical features of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) will be of value to physicians caring for patients suspected of having this disorder.

Methods: We abstracted data on the clinical presentation and course of disease in 10 epidemiologically linked Chinese patients (5 men and 5 women 38 to 72 years old) in whom SARS was diagnosed between February 22, 2003, and March 22, 2003, at our hospitals in Hong Kong, China.

Results: Exposure between the source patient and subsequent patients ranged from minimal to that between patient and health care provider.

Validation of the Hong Kong Chinese version of the St. George Respiratory Questionnaire in patients with bronchiectasis.

Study Objectives: To validate the Hong Kong Chinese version of the St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ-HK) in patients with bronchiectasis.

Design And Setting: Outpatients (93 patients; 61 women; mean age [+/- SD], 59.

High-resolution CT quantification of bronchiectasis: clinical and functional correlation.

Purpose: To evaluate clinical relevance of high-resolution computed tomographic (CT) findings in patients with bronchiectasis by using a quantitative high-resolution CT protocol to assess extent of bronchiectasis, severity of bronchial wall thickening, and presence of small-airway abnormalities and mosaic pattern.

Materials And Methods: Sixty Chinese patients with steady-state bronchiectasis underwent thoracic high-resolution CT and lung function tests. Exacerbation frequency per year and 24-hour sputum volume were determined.

Regression of bilateral bronchiectasis with inhaled steroid therapy.

Bronchiectasis is defined as pathological and permanent dilatation of the bronchial tree. Affected patients suffer from chronic sputum production and usually slowly progressive airway destruction as a result of continued airway infection and inflammation. Regression of bilateral bronchiectasis has never been reported in the English literature.

Exhaled and sputum nitric oxide in bronchiectasis: correlation with clinical parameters.

Study Objectives: Although there has been tremendous attention on endogenous nitric oxide (NO) production in many respiratory and systemic diseases, little is known on NO production in bronchiectasis.

Design And Setting: We determined exhaled and sputum NO levels in 109 patients with stable bronchiectasis (71 women; mean +/- SD age, 58.2 +/- 14.