Pulmonary hamartoma treated by thoracoscopic enucleation.

We recommend thoracoscopic enucleation with the aid of a video-assisted thoracic surgery marker to treat pulmonary hamartoma, even when it stays in the center of pulmonary lobe. We report how we were able to enucleate a pulmonary hamartoma safely and manage the patient during hospitalization.

[A case of large cell carcinoma of the lung associated with a sarcoid-like reaction inside the tumor].

A sarcoid-like reaction may occur inside a malignant tumor, in regional lymph-nodes or in adjacent tissues. An 83 year-old man who was found to have a mass in his left lower lung field on a chest radiograph. Transbronchial biopsy was performed and a non-caseating granulomatous lesion caused by a possible infectious disease was diagnosed.

[A case of corticosteroid-resistant nonspecific interstitial pneumonia associated with dermatomyositis successfully treated with cyclosporin A].

We report a case of corticosteroid-resistant nonspecific interstitial pneumonia associated with dermatomyositis. The patient was successfully treated with a combination of cyclosporin A (CsA) and prednisolone. A 28-year-old man was admitted complaining of skin eruptions, myalgia, and weakness, and dyspnea on exertion.

[Fatal acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis/usual interstitial pneumonia initially in the right lung after surgery lobectomy for left lung cancer].

A tumor was found in the left S10 in a chest CT scan of a 72-year-old male patient with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis/usual interstitial pneumonia (IPF/UIP). He underwent left lower lobectomy and resection of the hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. The histopathological evaluation disclosed a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (T1N0M0; stage IA) associated with UIP.

[A case of catamenial pneumothorax due to diaphragmatic endometriosis confirmed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery].

We describe a case of catamenial pneumothorax caused by diaphragmatic endometriosis and histologically confirmed thoracoscopically. The patient was a 33-year-old woman who had had recurrent right chest pain starting on the day preceding each menstruation since she was 26 years of age. In June 2001, at the age of 33, she felt right chest pain and developed dyspnea, and so came to our hospital.

[Pulmonary cryptococcosis combined with pulmonary tuberculosis].

We report a rare combination of pulmonary cryptococcosis and pulmonary tuberculosis in a diabetic patient. A 63-year-old man was admitted to our hospital in January 2002 for evaluation of an abnormal chest radiograph. In 1999, the abnormality had first been detected by mass screening radiography.