Diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions by EBUS-guided TBB in routine practice.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic yield of EBUS guided TBB performed in routine practice with flexible bronchoscopy and under moderate sedation in ambulatory and hospitalized patients.

Methods: Bronchoscopy was performed under standard conditions in ambulatory and hospitalised patients. Bronchoscopically invisible peripheral pulmonary lesions were located with 20 MHZ-EBUS-probe and transbronchial biopsy was taken using a guiding sheath.

[Thoracic actinomycosis: diagnostic pitfalls and therapeutic considerations].

We report two patients admitted to our hospital suspected to suffer from cancer in the lung or mediastinum, respectively. Both patients had a diagnosis of thoracic actinomycosis. A 76 year old man revealed pulmonary and endobronchial actinomycosis associated with broncholithiasis.

[Bullectomy as emergency intervention in a mechanically ventilated patient with refractory type II respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD)].

A 44-year-old female patient presented with an extensive exacerbation of severe chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and bullous emphysema. Because of a severe type II respiratory failure, the patient was intubated and mechanically ventilated. Respiratory failure was refractory despite appropriate ventilation regimes and pCO2 values ranged from 110 mm Hg to 180 mm Hg.

[The benign metastasizing leiomyoma: case collection and therapeutical options].

We report two patients with pulmonary nodules detected by chance. Histopathology of biopsies retrieved by surgical videothoracoscopy revealed benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML). The origin of this disease as well as its dignity are not fully understood.

Predictive value of image cytometry for diagnosis of lung cancer in heavy smokers.

The Research Institute for Diagnosis and Treatment of Early Lung Cancer (RIDTELC) Lung Study was initiated to determine whether lung cancer screening by automated sputum cytometry combined with conventional sputum cytology and auto-fluorescence in addition to white light bronchoscopy could enhance the detection rate of early lung cancer. The present study analyses the initial findings to evaluate the efficiency of automated sputum cytology in predicting the diagnosis of lung cancer. In this study, malignancy grade was used as a predictive parameter for lung cancer.

A pilot study of autofluorescent endoscopy for the in vivo detection of laryngeal cancer.

Objectives: To determine the advantage of autofluorescent endoscopy for the identification of laryngeal cancer.

Study Design: This is a prospective, multicenter clinical study. We investigated whether autofluorescent endoscopy using the Lung Imaging Fluorescent Endoscopy (LIFE)-Lung System (Xillix, Olympus) is capable of identifying early cancer of the larynx, especially in comparison with conventional white-light endoscopy and microscopic laryngoscopy.

[Automated quantitative image cytometry of bronchial washings in suspected lung cancer: comparison with cytology, histology and clinical diagnosis].

Introduction: Automated image cytometry represents a new method for the quantitative analysis of nuclear structure and DNA-content of exfoliative airway epithelial cells. In the present investigation, we examined the correlation between automated cytometry, conventional cytology and histopathology with the final diagnosis as the "gold standard".

Methods: In 142 patients (100 males and 42 females) with suspected lung cancer and 50 controls (COPD, asthma), bronchial washings (5-10 ml) were obtained during bronchoscopy before taking biopsies for cytological and/or histological examinations.

[Basic principles of LIFE--autofluorescence bronchoscopy. Results of 194 examinations in comparison with standard procedures for early detection of bronchial carcinoma--overview].

Background: Conventional bronchoscopy in the identification of preneoplasias and carcinoma in situ (CIS) has been inadequate to date. Tissue autofluorescence was found to differentiate normal mucosa from dysplastic or carcinomatous bronchial mucosa. This principle resulted in the development of the LIFE System (Light Imaging Fluorescence Endoscope, Xillix Techn.

[Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis in tuberous sclerosis].

Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis was diagnosed in a 26-year-old woman with recurrent pneumothorax by histological evaluation of a lung biopsy obtained during video-thoracoscopy. A tumour of the right kidney had been removed 2 years previously; the histological picture was that of an angiomyolipoma. Immunohistochemical staining for anti-smooth muscle actin gave a strongly positive reaction in the tissue of the renal angiomyolipoma and in the pathologic lung tissue.

Complications associated with brachytherapy alone or with laser in lung cancer.

Relatively little has been reported about destruction through brachytherapy of mucosa-perforating and extraluminary tumors with probable large vessel involvement causing major hemorrhagic or fistular complications. We report 12 patients subjected to laser and brachytherapy for centrally occluding lung cancer, whom we have periodically followed up from June 1986 until they died. Although all laser procedures were free from complications, necrotic cavitation in five cases, two of which were accompanied by large bronchoesophageal fistulas, and massive fatal hemoptysis occurred in six.