Teflon Injection into the Trachea Causes Predictable Fibroblastic Response and Collagen Deposition: A Pilot Study.

Background: Expiratory central airway collapse is an increasingly recognized abnormality of the central airways and may be present in as many as 22% of patients evaluated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and/or asthma. Many current treatment options require invasive procedures that have been shown to cause significant morbidity and mortality. To test the hypothesis that Teflon injection will induce sufficient fibroblast proliferation and collagen deposition, we evaluated the time course on the effect of Teflon injection in the posterior membranous trachea on the histopathology of the tracheobronchial tree.

Successful closure of bronchopleural fistula with Xeroform dressing.

Bronchopleural fistula (BPF) is a communication between the pleural space and the bronchial tree, and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Treatment options for BPF include surgical closure and medical therapy. In an unstable patient, invasive surgical intervention is not an option.

[Prolonged survival of gefitinib treatment in patients with advanced and previously treated non-small cell lung cancer].

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the survival outcome in patients with advanced and previously treated non-small cell lung cancer given gefitinib (GEF) at our institution. We reviewed the clinical records of 70 Japanese patients,among whom 33 received several chemotherapy treatment modalities including GEF monotherapy (GEF group), and the other 37 were given several chemotherapy treatment modalities without GEF monotherapy (non-GEF group). The median survival time (MST) after second-line chemotherapy in the GEF group was 527 days with 1-year and 2-year survival rates of 59% and 26%, respectively.