[A case of idiopathic nonspecific interstitial pneumonia and autoimmune hemolytic anemia after complete cure of polymyalgia rheumatica].

In 1997, at the age of 68, a man was admitted with polymyalgia rheumatica, which was successfully treated with oral prednisolone. In 1999, a chest X-ray revealed that he had interstitial changes in both lung fields. Because there were no symptoms, he was observed without treatment.

Phase II study of carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: The optimal schedule of taxane administration has been an area of active interest in several clinical trials.

Patients And Methods: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel combination chemotherapy, a phase II study was conducted for chemo-naïve, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Patients received paclitaxel 100 mg/m2 on days 1, 8 and 15, and carboplatin with the target dose of area under the curve of 6 on day 1 every 28 days.

[Clinical features of intradural spinal cord metastases in primary lung cancer].

We retrospectively investigated the clinical features of 9 consecutive cases of intradural spinal cord metastasis from primary lung cancer treated at our hospital between April 1999 and March 2002. During those three years, spinal cord metastasis was diagnosed in seven of 49 (14.3%) cases with small cell carcinoma and only two of 284 (0.

Analysis of the response and toxicity to gefitinib of non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Gefitinib is an oral agent that inhibits the tyrosine kinase of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which had antitumor activity in patients with previously treated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We analyzed the efficacy, toxicity and overall survival time of gefitinib treatment in patients with NSCLC.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and twenty-two patients with NSCLC, who received gefitinib between 2002 and 2004 in our institutes, were evaluated retrospectively.

[Eosinophilic airway disorders: important causes of prolonged cough in Japan].

We studied 223 outpatients who presented between October 2001 and June 2003 with persistent cough of more than 3 weeks' duration. Eosinophilic airway disorders (EAD), including atopic cough and cough variant asthma, were clinically diagnosed in 119 patients, on the basis of the following factors: history of atopic disease, duration of cough, history of previous prolonged cough, or presence of forced expiration wheeze. Since eosinophils are frequently found in the sputum of patients with EAD, a positive test strongly suggests the presence of EAD.