Update of prognosis and characteristics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a real-world setting: a 5-year follow-up analysis of a multi-institutional registry.

Background: We conducted a prospective observational study to elucidate the long-term prognosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in clinical practice in Japan in the mid-2010s.

Methods: This prospective cohort study included 29 facilities. Data from 427 patients clinically diagnosed with COPD, enrolled between September 2013 and April 2016, were analyzed.

Survival and acute exacerbation for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or non-IPF idiopathic interstitial pneumonias: 5-year follow-up analysis of a prospective multi-institutional patient registry.

Objective: Few prospective cohort studies with relatively large numbers of patients with non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (non-IPF) of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) have been described. We aimed to assess disease progression and cause of death for patients with non-IPF IIPs or IPF under real-life conditions.

Methods: Data were analysed for a prospective multi-institutional cohort of 528 IIP patients enrolled in Japan between September 2013 and April 2016.

Interpleural distance predicts persistent air leak after initial primary spontaneous pneumothorax.

Background: Initial surgical intervention for a first episode of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) is controversial. However, if air leak persists after initial drainage, surgical treatment is recommended. Therefore, we investigated risk factors for persistent air leak (PAL) in patients with a first episode of PSP.

Randomized Phase II Study of First-Line Biweekly Gemcitabine and Carboplatin Versus Biweekly Gemcitabine and Carboplatin plus Maintenance Gemcitabine in Elderly Patients with Untreated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: LOGIK0801.

Lessons Learned: The usefulness of maintenance gemcitabine (GEM) after biweekly carboplatin + GEM in elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer could not be proved. Superior overall survival was obtained in the group that did not receive maintenance therapy.

Background: The primary objective of this randomized phase II study was to assess progression-free survival (PFS) in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with gemcitabine (GEM) maintenance therapy versus best supportive care following first-line GEM plus carboplatin (CBDCA).

Phase I/II Study of Docetaxel and S-1 in Previously-Treated Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: LOGIK0408.

Background: As docetaxel plus S-1 may be feasible for cancer treatment, we conducted a phase I/II trial to determine the recommended docetaxel dose and the fixed S-1 dose (phase I), as well as confirm the regimen's efficacy and safety (phase II) for previously-treated patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Methods: Patients ≤75 years with performance status ≤1 and adequate organ function were treated at three-week intervals with docetaxel on day 1 and 80 mg/m oral S-1 from days 1-14. The starting docetaxel dose was 45 mg/m and this was escalated to a maximum of 70 mg/m.

Immune checkpoint protein and cytokine expression by T lymphocytes in pleural effusion of cancer patients receiving anti-PD-1 therapy.

Objectives: Pleural effusion (PE) occasionally develops in cancer patients during treatment with antibodies to programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) or to its ligand PD-L1 (hereafter, αPD-1 therapy). Such effusion often contains infiltrated mononuclear cells, although the types of immune cell present as well as the outcome of such patients have remained unclear.

Materials And Methods: We performed a multi-institutional, observational study to examine the clinical outcome of patients who develop PE after the onset of αPD-1 therapy.

Preventive effect of kampo medicine (hangeshashin-to, TJ-14) plus minocycline against afatinib-induced diarrhea and skin rash in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Purpose: Diarrhea and oral mucositis induced by afatinib can cause devastating quality of life issues for patients undergoing afatinib treatment. Several studies have shown that hangeshashin-to (TJ-14) might be useful for chemotherapy-induced diarrhea and oral mucositis. In this study, we investigated the prophylactic effects of TJ-14 for afatinib-induced diarrhea and oral mucositis and minocycline for afatinib-induced skin rash.

A saccular superior vena cava aneurysm with unique diagnostic computed tomography findings.

A saccular superior vena cava aneurysm is a rare venous aneurysm that presents as mediastinal mass lesions. An evaluation using contrast-enhanced computed tomography is indispensable for the diagnosis.

Acquisition of the T790M resistance mutation during afatinib treatment in EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor-naïve patients with non-small cell lung cancer harboring mutations.

The T790M secondary mutation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene accounts for 50% to 60% of cases of resistance to the first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) gefitinib and erlotinib. The prevalence of T790M in mutation-positive patients who acquire resistance to the irreversible, second-generation EGFR-TKI afatinib has remained unclear, however. We here determined the frequency of T790M acquisition at diagnosis of progressive disease in patients with -mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with afatinib as first-line EGFR-TKI.

Emphysematous Pyelonephritis and Cystitis: Unusual Adverse Events during Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Lung Cancer.

Various adverse events can occur during antineoplastic therapy. A 67-year-old diabetic woman developed an emphysematous urinary tract infection (UTI) associated with chemoradiotherapy for lung cancer. She had received weekly carboplatin plus paclitaxel with thoracic radiotherapy and developed a fever on day 19.

The efficacy and safety of cefepime or meropenem in the treatment of febrile neutropenia in patients with lung cancer. A randomized phase II study.

Febrile neutropenia frequently develops after chemotherapy. There is little evidence to indicate the type of antimicrobial agents that should be used in the treatment of febrile neutropenia in patients with solid tumors. The objective is to determine the efficacy and safety of cefepime (CFPM) and meropenem (MEPM) in the treatment of febrile neutropenia in lung cancer patients in a prospective randomized study.

Prognosis and therapeutic response according to the World Health Organization histological classification in advanced thymoma.

Purpose: The clinical efficacy of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of thymoma has been reported to be a prognostic factor for patients with thymomas. This study focuses on the relationship between the therapeutic response and the WHO histological classification in patients with advanced thymoma.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed on 22 patients with Masaoka stage III and IV thymoma treated from 1975 to 2007.

Prognostic factors in non-small cell lung cancer patients with postoperative recurrence following third-generation chemotherapy.

Aim: To analyse the prognostic factors for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent cytotoxic chemotherapy with third generation agents or epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) for recurrence.

Patients And Methods: Between 1997 and 2005, 479 patients underwent a complete resection for NSCLC. Of these, 112 patients underwent chemotherapy for postoperative recurrence.

Non-small cell lung carcinoma of the superior sulcus: The evolution of treatment outcomes with multimodality treatment at a single institution.

Objectives: We evaluated the efficacy of the multimodality approach in treating superior sulcus non-small cell lung carcinoma (SS NSCLC).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 57 patients with SS NSCLC who were treated at our institution between 1982 and 2007.

Results: During the study period, 3- and 5-year survival increased significantly from 42.

Clinical efficacy and safety of cefepime in febrile neutropenic patients with lung cancer.

Fever often occurs along with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. This condition is referred to as febrile neutropenia (FN). Excellent guidelines for FN treatment have recently been published; however, there has so far been insufficient research concerning FN associated with solid tumors, especially in Japan.

Treatment after the failure of gefitinib in patients with advanced or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: The optimal treatment for patients with progressive non-small cell lung cancer who initially show a good response to gefitinib is unclear.

Patients And Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 60 consecutive patients who experienced treatment failure after achieving disease control with gefitinib and thereafter underwent post initial gefitinib treatment either with or without continuing gefitinib.

Results: Continuing gefitinib was independently associated with a good survival based on multivariate analyses (hazard ratio (HR)=0.

Prognostic factors in previously treated non-small cell lung cancer patients with and without a positive response to the subsequent treatment with gefitinib.

Gefitinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been reported to have a certain anti-tumor effect in previously treated patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the prognostic factors in those patients with and without a positive response to gefitinib treatment remain unclear. A retrospective chart review was performed in 131 advanced NSCLC patients who received 250 mg of gefitinib as either a second-line or even later stage treatment from July 2002 to December 2005.

A phase II trial of gefitinib monotherapy in chemotherapy-naïve patients of 75 years or older with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Gefitinib has shown modest activity in patients with recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after platinum-based chemotherapy. However, the activity of gefitinib as first-line chemotherapy remains unclear, especially unknown in elderly patients. A multicenter phase II trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of gefitinib for elderly patients with chemotherapy-naïve NSCLC.

Tegafur-uracil plus gemcitabine combination chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer previously treated with platinum.

Background: An open-label, single-arm prospective study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of gemcitabine and tegafur-uracil (UFT) in patients with advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after the failure of previous platinum-containing regimens.

Patients And Methods: Patients with advanced NSCLC received 200 mg/m2 of UFT twice daily from day 1 through 14 plus 900 mg/m2 of gemcitabine per day via intravenous injection on days 8 and 15. This regimen was repeated every 3 or 4 weeks.

Pulmonary typical carcinoid tumor and liver metastasis with hypermetabolism on 18-fluorodeoxyglucose PET: a case report.

Pulmonary carcinoid tumors are generally hypometabolic on 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET). We experienced a case of pulmonary typical carcinoid that showed rapid growth and high FDG uptake at the primary site and liver metastasis. A 56-year-old man with hemosputum had a medical examination by his family physician.

A long-term survivor after aggressive treatment for tracheal adenoid cystic carcinoma: a case report.

A 61-year-old male underwent a tracheal resection and reconstruction with omentopexy for the treatment of tracheal adenoid cystic carcinoma. Postoperatively, he received radiotherapy for a microscopic residual tumor of the tracheal margin. It recurred with pulmonary metastasis and para-esophageal lymph nodal metastasis at 7 years and 10 months after the initial operation.

Hepatic lesion of invasive thymoma: possibility of direct invasion.

Thymomas grow slowly but tend to invade the surrounding tissue. We herein report four patients with hepatic lesions of thymomas, which were thought to have directly invaded the liver. These patients had received combined modality treatments throughout the clinical course, and the hepatic lesions appeared a long time after the initial treatment - 11.

Multiple pulmonary metastases of lung adenocarcinoma to a different ipsilateral lobe after pulmonary lobectomy.

Pulmonary metastases (PM) to different lobes are classified as M1 disease in non-small cell lung cancer. We report on three patients with lung adenocarcinoma who had undergone complete resection as the initial treatment and thereafter had recurrence of multiple PMs but only in a different ipsilateral lobe 19, 9, and 6 months after surgery. Two patients underwent completion pneumonectomy for the ipsilateral recurrent PM and are doing well without recurrence at 7 and 1 year after the second operations.

Persistent and aggressive treatment for thymic carcinoma. Results of a single-institute experience with 25 patients.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the role of several therapies, mainly chemotherapy, for thymic carcinoma (TC).

Methods: From July 1973 to July 2005, 25 patients (15 males and 10 females) with histologically proven TC were treated at our department. The median age of the patients was 59 years, with a range of from 30 to 78 years.