Experimental study for evaluation of a low-cost spray cryotherapy system.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and applicability of a low-cost cryotherapy system.

Methods: Experimental study with 25kg Landrace pigs submitted to a longitudinal cervico-thoraco-abdominal incision for exposure of the trachea, thorax and abdomen. The tissues were frozen by continuous spray application at different periods of time (5, 10 and 15 seconds).

Web-based versus traditional lecture: are they equally effective as a flexible bronchoscopy teaching method?

This study compares the traditional live lecture to a web-based approach in the teaching of bronchoscopy and evaluates the positive and negative aspects of both methods. We developed a web-based bronchoscopy curriculum, which integrates texts, images and animations. It was applied to first-year interns, who were later administered a multiple-choice test.

Semiquantitative analysis of surgical biopsies of distinct lung lobes of patients with usual interstitial pneumonia/idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Objective: To evaluate the differences between surgical biopsies of distinct lung lobes in terms of the histopathological features of usual interstitial pneumonia, using a semiquantitative score.

Methods: We selected all of the patients diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and submitted to surgical biopsy in two distinct lobes between 1995 and 2005 at the Hospital São Paulo and other hospitals operated by the Federal University of São Paulo. In the histological evaluation of the specimens, we used a semiquantitative method based on previous studies, assigning a score to each of the biopsied sites.

Immediate spirometric alterations after bronchoscopy in diffuse lung disease.

Objective: To evaluate the spirometric alterations after bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and bronchoscopic lung biopsy in patients with diffuse lung disease (DLD).

Patients And Methods: Twenty-three patients with DLD and 6 individuals with solitary pulmonology nodule or dyspnea were subjected to BAL with the infusion of 4 aliquots of 50 mL of saline solution at room temperature; 3 to 5 bronchoscopic lung biopsy specimens were obtained from the locations based on chest x-ray and/or tomogram findings. Spirometry was perfomed before and 10, 30, and 60 minutes after the bronchoscopic procedure.

[Transmural endoscopy drainage of pancreatic pseudocyst: long-term outcome].

Background: Pancreatic pseudocysts are relatively common complications of pancreatitis in adults.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term results from transmural endoscopic drainage and thus to establish its role in managing pancreatic pseudocyst.

Methods: Fourteen patients with pancreatic pseudocyst were studied.