Predictors of the need to initiate noninvasive ventilation in stable outpatients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: Predictors of the need to initiate noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in stable COPD outpatients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD-AE) are insufficiently defined. The objective of this study was to investigate predictors of the need to initiate NIV in stable COPD-AE outpatients.

Methods: A total of 140 consecutive stable COPD outpatients who were hospitalized for COPD-AE for the first time were retrospectively examined.

[A case of environmental infection with pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex disease from a residential bathroom of a patient suggested by variable-number tandem-repeat typing of Mycobacterium avium tandem repeat loci].

A 63-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because of bilateral infiltrations and nodular opacities in her chest radiograph taken in the mass radiography screening in September 2010. The chest computed tomography showed patchy infiltrations with bronchiectasis in the lower lung fields on both sides. She was diagnosed with pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) disease based on the bacteria recovered from the sputum and the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.

[The clinical study on efficacy of clarithromycin, levofloxacin, and streptomycin for pulmonary Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex infection].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to elucidate retrospectively the clinical effects of using RFP, EB, CAM, LVFX, and SM for pulmonary Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex infection.

Materials And Methods: During 9-year (1995-2003) period, 72 patients diagnosed according to the criteria of the Japanese Society for Tuberculosis Guidelines and treated for at least 6 months were available for this study.

Results: The age averaged 68 (range, 32-92) years.