Fractional analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage in systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease.

Background: The utility of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in the evaluation of systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) remains controversial. Fractional analysis of BAL (FBAL) is a technique that can analyze small airways and alveolar compartments separately and has proven informative in other ILDs. The aim of this study was to explore FBAL characteristics across the spectrum of SSc-ILD severity.

Surfactant protein D: a useful marker for differentiation of drug-induced pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia.

Background: Drug-induced pneumonia (d-pneumonia) and bacterial pneumonia (b-pneumonia) are often difficult to differentiate; therefore, this study examined the possibility of differentiating them using serum biomarkers.

Methods: The study included 22 and 16 patients diagnosed with b- and d-pneumonia, respectively, at our institution or affiliated institutions. For d-pneumonia, the causative drug was minocycline hydrochloride in four patients, gefitinib in two patients, nivolumab in two patients, pembrolizumab in two patients, sulfasalazine in two patients, loxoprofen in one patient, Bouiougitou in one patient, edoxaban tosilate hydrate in one patient, and abemaciclib in one patient.

Lung cancer in connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease: clinical features and impact on outcomes.

Backgrounds: Lung cancer (LC) adversely impacts survival in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. However, little is known about LC in patients with connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of and risk factors for LC in CTD-ILD, and the clinical characteristics and survival of CTD-ILD patients with LC.

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease preceded by lung involvement: A case report.

Rationale: Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a systemic condition involving various organs and vessels including the pancreas, bile duct, salivary glands, periorbital tissues, kidneys, lungs, lymph nodes, meninges, and aorta. Recently, some cases of IgG4-RD have been reported, in which only pulmonary lesions were present. It is not known whether IgG4-RD can be diagnosed on the basis of pulmonary lesions only, because increases in serum IgG4 levels and infiltration of IgG4-positive plasma cells into the lung tissue also occur in other inflammatory conditions.

Patients with End-stage Interstitial Lung Disease may have More Problems with Dyspnea than End-stage Lung Cancer Patients.

Introduction: Patients with end-stage interstitial  lung disease (ILD) do not appear to receive adequate palliative care despite apparent suffering before death. The aim of this study was to evaluate their signs, symptoms, and treatment received before death.

Methods: Patients with ILD and lung cancer (LC) who were hospitalized and died in our hospital were enrolled retrospectively.

Antisynthetase syndrome: Pulmonary computed tomography findings of adult patients with antibodies to aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases.

Objectives: To describe the pulmonary CT findings in patients with anti-ARS-antibody-positive interstitial lung disease (anti-ARS-ILD) METHODS: The CT findings of 64 patients with anti-ARS-ILD were retrospectively reviewed. The images were retrospectively reviewed independently by 2 chest radiologists, and the final decision on the CT findings was made by a third chest radiologist.

Results: There were 16 male and 48 female patients, aged 54.

Imatinib ameliorates bronchiolitis obliterans via inhibition of fibrocyte migration and differentiation.

Background: Imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been proposed as a potential anti-fibrotic agent for fibroproliferative diseases, including bronchiolitis obliterans (BO). However, the underlying anti-fibrotic mechanisms of the agent remain unclear. We evaluated whether bone (BM)-derived progenitor cells, fibrocytes, might be a target of imatinib in the attenuation of BO.

Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis: Distinct pulmonary physiological features in nine patients.

Background: Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) is a rare idiopathic interstitial pneumonia defined by pleural and subpleural parenchymal fibrosis predominantly in the upper lobes. Although the radiological and pathological characteristics of PPFE have become increasingly recognized, its pulmonary physiological features are not well understood.

Methods: We reviewed nine patients with radiologically and histologically proven PPFE, and evaluated pulmonary physiological data.

Transformation to small-cell lung cancer following treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in a patient with lung adenocarcinoma.

We report the case of a 52-year-old woman with lung adenocarcinoma treated with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. After disease progression, histological examination of a secondary biopsy specimen revealed small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) that was sensitive to standard SCLC treatment. Tumor markers, including ProGRP and NSE, were elevated.

Successful treatment with chemotherapy and corticosteroids of pulmonary Mycobacterium abscessus infection accompanied by pleural effusion.

We describe a 50-year-old woman with rapidly progressive pulmonary Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus) infection accompanied by pleural effusion and organizing pneumonia (OP). CT scan showed consolidation, centrilobular shadows, ground-glass opacity (GGO), and cavities.

Pulmonary manifestations of anti-ARS antibody positive interstitial pneumonia--with or without PM/DM.

Background: Autoantibodies against aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARS) have been found to be highly specific for polymyositis and dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and to correlate strongly with complicating interstitial pneumonia (IP). The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical presentations of anti-ARS antibody-positive IP patients with or without manifestations of PM/DM.

Methods: We retrospectively examined 36 IP patients with anti-ARS antibodies.

Pulmonary T-cell lymphoma with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

We report on a 73-year-old man with systemic lymphadenopathy and chest computed tomography (CT) findings of bilateral diffuse ground-glass opacities and interlobular septal thickening. He also had pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Several lymph node biopsies were attempted, without a definitive diagnosis.

The specific chymase inhibitor TY-51469 suppresses the accumulation of neutrophils in the lung and reduces silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice.

Chymase is a chymotrypsin-like serine protease that is present in mast cells. Its activities include various effects associated with inflammatory responses. But little is known about the effects of chymase in pulmonary fibrosis.

A case of microscopic polyangiitis following mycoplasma infection in a patient with MPO-ANCA positive pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Microscopic polyangiitis is a vasculitic disease that may result in a pulmonary renal syndrome. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis is strongly associated with infection.

Case Summary: We describe a case of microscopic polyangiitis that developed in a patient with MPO-ANCA positive pulmonary fibrosis following infection with mycoplasma.

[A case of repeated bilateral pneumothorax associated with upper lobe predominant fibrosis in an aluminum processing worker].

A 39-year-old man, who had been working in an aluminum processing industry for 18 years, visited our hospital for right chest pain on March 2, 2007. A relapse of right pneumothorax was found, and he was hospitalized. As the pneumothorax did not improve with conservative treatment, video-assisted thoracoscopic biopsy and suturing of the right upper lobe were successfully performed.

Sputum eosinophilia, airway hyperresponsiveness and airway narrowing in young adults with former asthma.

Background: 30-80% of outgrown asthma subjects develop symptoms again later in life. We investigated inflammation and function of lower airway in adolescents with former asthma.

Methods: 326 never-smoking young adults (mean age 24.

Angiotensin II type 2 receptor antagonist reduces bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice.

Background: The role of angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2) in pulmonary fibrosis is unknown. To evaluate the influence of angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1) and AT2 antagonists in a mouse model of bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

Methods: We examined effects of the AT1 antagonist (AT1A) olmesartan medoxomil (olmesartan) and the AT2 antagonist (AT2A) PD-123319 on BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis, which was evaluated by Ashcroft's pathological scoring and hydroxyproline content of lungs.

Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia with abundant IgG4-positive cells infiltration, which was thought as pulmonary involvement of IgG4-related autoimmune disease.

Recently, great attention has been drawn to IgG4-related diseases such as autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) sclerosing sialadenitis, retroperitoneum fibrosis, sclerosing cholangitis. IgG4-related diseases are characterized by high serum IgG4 concentrations, sclerosing inflammation with numerous IgG4-positive plasma cells, and steroid sensitivity irrespective of their organs of origin. In this report, we describe a case of nonspecific interstitial pneumonia, in which possible involvement of IgG4 was suggested.

Progression of interstitial lung disease upon overlapping of systemic sclerosis with polymyositis.

We describe a 73-year-old woman with systemic sclerosis (SSc)-polymyositis (PM) overlap syndrome, primarily SSc followed by PM. She had suffered from SSc and had interstitial pneumonia (IP), which was stable. Eight years after the initial diagnosis of SSc, proximal muscle weakness, myalgia, and dyspnea on effort developed.

[Early stage pulmonary alveolar proteinosis detected by chest CT scan in a medical examination].

We report a case of pulmonary proteinosis detected at an early stage and followed up on chest CT. A 49-year-old man underwent detailed examinations because of abnormal shadows on chest CT taken on a routine medical examination. The chest CT revealed almost symmetrical ground glass opacities (GGOs) in both lungs with thickened alveolar septa.