Chronic empyema: importance of preventing complications in the management of pleural effusions.

We report a case of chronic empyema in a 63-year-old man with a history of asbestos exposure and alcohol overconsumption. In 2009, he presented with dyspnoea, exudative pleurisy on the right side with no symptoms of infection or malignancy. In 2013, the patient presented with increased dyspnoea and a massive chronic empyema had evolved.

A novel method for sample preparation of fresh lung cancer tissue for proteomics analysis by tumor cell enrichment and removal of blood contaminants.

Background: In-depth proteomics analyses of tumors are frequently biased by the presence of blood components and stromal contamination, which leads to large experimental variation and decreases the proteome coverage. We have established a reproducible method to prepare freshly collected lung tumors for proteomics analysis, aiming at tumor cell enrichment and reduction of plasma protein contamination. We obtained enriched tumor-cell suspensions (ETS) from six lung cancer cases (two adenocarcinomas, two squamous-cell carcinomas, two large-cell carcinomas) and from two normal lung samples.

Detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae on cytospin preparations from bronchoalveolar lavage in COPD patients and in lung tissue from advanced emphysema.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with smoking but other etiological factors contribute. Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular bacterium causing both acute and chronic respiratory tract infections. Studies have revealed an association between chronic C.

Right thoracotomy for saphenous vein graft aneurysm causing hemoptysis.

Hemoptysis and septicemia 6 years after coronary artery bypass surgery in a 56-year-old man was caused by a 5-cm vein graft pseudoaneurysm bleeding into the right pleura and lung parenchyma. The graft was approached through a right thoracotomy. The patient suffered postoperative neuromyopathy, but fully recovered within 6 months without muscular, respiratory, or cardiac symptoms.

Hemoptysis and coughing up of staples as a late complication of volume reduction surgery for emphysema.

Three patients with very similar clinical symptoms, i.e. hemoptysis and coughing up of staples some time after volume-reducing surgery, are described.

[A chest tube can be inserted safely utilizing standard technique. Minithoracotomy should not be performed routinely].

The National Swedish Board of Health and Welfare has concluded that a minithoracotomy should be used for the insertion of a chest tube. Our opinion is that a less than 2 cm skin incision followed by blunt dissection through the chest wall is equally safe provided that the anatomical landmarks of the safe triangle are identified and the lung is not adherent to the chest wall. A prerequisite for safe treatment is an examination of the chest x-ray, supervision of chest tube function and the patient.

[Lung volume reduction surgery must be performed on strict indications, Swedish experiences confirm report on negative results in some patients].

The National Emphysema Treatment Trial showed a 30 day mortality of 16% after lung-volume-reduction surgery in high risk patients with emphysema and forced expiratory volume in one second and either carbon monoxide diffusing capacity no more than 20 per cent of their predicted value or homogenous emphysema on computed tomography. There was no mortality in medically treated patients. Seven of 90 patients treated for emphysema with lung-volume-reduction surgery at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm had a reduced lung function according to these criteria.