Frailty and Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Is There Any Association?

Purpose: This study investigated if individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and frailty are more likely to have acute exacerbations of COPD or require hospitalization for exacerbation than those without frailty.

Patients And Methods: Data on 135 outpatients with stable COPD were analyzed with the Cox proportional hazards model to assess the risk of future events. The Kihon Checklist was administered at baseline to classify the participants as robust, pre-frail, or frail.

Comparison of Predictive Properties between Tools of Patient-Reported Outcomes: Risk Prediction for Three Future Events in Subjects with COPD.

Background: Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures must be evaluated for their discriminatory, evaluative, and predictive properties. However, the predictive capability remains unclear. We aimed to examine the predictive properties of several PRO measures of all-cause mortality, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and associated hospitalization.

Are Fatigue and Pain Overlooked in Subjects with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?

Although there have been many published reports on fatigue and pain in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it is considered that these symptoms are seldom, if ever, asked about during consultations in Japanese clinical practice. To bridge this gap between the literature and daily clinical experience, the authors attempted to gain a better understanding of fatigue and pain in Japanese subjects with COPD. The Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) to analyse and quantify the degree of fatigue, the revised Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire 2 (SF-MPQ-2) for measuring pain and the Kihon Checklist to judge whether a participant is frail and elderly were administered to 89 subjects with stable COPD.

Comparison between tools for measuring breathlessness: Cross-sectional validation of the Japanese version of the Dyspnoea-12.

Introduction: The Dyspnoea-12 (D-12) is a brief, easy to complete questionnaire for measuring breathlessness.

Objectives: To facilitate further efforts to measure dyspnoea in real clinical settings, the authors aimed to develop and validate a Japanese version of the D-12 and also compare the D-12 with the Baseline Dyspnea Index (BDI) and the Activity component of the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ).

Is Blood Eosinophil Count a Biomarker for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in a Real-World Clinical Setting? Predictive Property and Longitudinal Stability in Japanese Patients.

The authors examined predictive properties and the longitudinal stability of blood eosinophil count (BEC) or three strata (<100 cells/mm, 100-299 cells/mm and ≥300 cells/mm) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for up to six and a half years as part of a hospital-based cohort study. Of the 135 patients enrolled, 21 (15.6%) were confirmed to have died during the follow-up period.

Are frailty and patient-reported outcomes independent in subjects with asthma? A cross-sectional observational study.

Introduction: This study examined the possible associations between frailty and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in elderly patients with asthma.

Methods: Participants completed the Kihon Checklist for frailty screening as well as the following tools for measuring generic- and disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and asthma control; the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form (SF-36), the Hyland Scale (global scale), the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), the Asthma Control Test (ACT), and the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ).

Results: Of 69 consecutive outpatients with asthma, 38 (55.

Comparison between electronic and paper versions of patient-reported outcome measures in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: an observational study with a cross-over administration.

Objectives: A wide range of electronic devices can be used for data collection of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although comparisons between electronic and paper-based PRO measures have been undertaken in asthmatics, it is currently uncertain whether electronic questionnaires work equally as well as paper versions in elderly subjects with COPD. The aim of this study was to compare the responses to paper and electronic versions of the Evaluating Respiratory Symptoms in COPD (E-RS) and the COPD Assessment Test (CAT).

Comparison of patient-reported outcomes during acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate which patient-reported outcome measure was the best during the recovery phase from severe exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: The Exacerbations of Chronic Pulmonary Disease Tool (EXACT), the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), the Dyspnoea-12 (D-12) and the Hyland Scale (global scale) were recorded every week for the first month and at 2 and 3 months in 33 hospitalised subjects with acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD).

Results: On the day of admission (day 1), the internal consistency of the EXACT total score was high (Cronbach's alpha coefficient=0.

[A case of myeloid sarcoma in the anterior mediastinum].

We report a case of myeloid sarcoma in the anterior mediastinum. The patient was a 33-year-old man with a chief complaint of right shoulder pain, right upper limb edema, and cough. Chest contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed a partially enhanced anterior mediastinal tumor.

[A case of severe asthma responsive to omalizumab treatment despite a low serum IgE level and lack of sensitized allergens].

A 49-year-old female patient suffering from severe intractable asthma uncontrolled even with high-dose inhaled glucocorticosteroids (fluticasone 1000 μg/day+ciclesonide 800 μg/day), salmeterol inhaler (100 μg/day) and oral betamethasone (1 mg/day) was admitted to our hospital because of severe asthma attack. The total serum IgE level was low at 9 (IU/mL). Though perennial allergens was also negative, administration of 150 mg omalizumab was started in August 2009 with the patient's consent, resulting in noticeable improvements in asthma symptoms and the peak expiratory flow (PEF) were achieved.

[A case of rapidly progressing lung spindle cell carcinoma presenting as Pancoast syndrome].

We report a case of rapidly progressing spindle cell carcinoma presenting as Pancoast syndrome. The patient was a 59-year-old woman with a chief complaint of right forearm paresthesia. A chest computed tomography revealed a huge tumor in S1 and S2 in the right lung, invading the upper mediastinum and the first rib.

Maximizing venous outflow after right hepatic living donor liver transplantation with a venous graft patch.

Between March 2002 and September 2004, 36 patients at Mie University Hospital underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) of a right lobe graft without the middle hepatic vein. The patients were divided into two groups: group I (n = 25) received ordinary hepatic vein anastomoses, and group II (n = 11) received a venous graft patch in the subsequent procedure. Between groups, we compared hepatic vein blood flow (ultrasound), liver volume (CT scan), laboratory data, and ascitic fluid volume.