The utility of serial procalcitonin measurements in addition to pneumonia severity scores in hospitalised community-acquired pneumonia: A multicentre, prospective study.

Objectives: The usefulness of serial procalcitonin (PCT) measurements for predicting the prognosis and treatment efficacy for hospitalised community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients was investigated.

Methods: This prospective, multicentre, cohort study enrolled consecutive CAP patients who were hospitalised at 10 hospitals in western Japan from September 2013 to September 2016. PCT and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured on admission (PCT D1 and CRP D1), within 48-72 h after admission (PCT D3 and CRP D3), and within 144-192 h after admission.

Effects of acupuncture on nutritional state of patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): re-analysis of COPD acupuncture trial, a randomized controlled trial.

Background: There are an increasing number of evidences that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a systemic illness and that bodyweight loss is its prominent manifestation. We focused on the nutritional outcomes to find out the effectiveness of acupuncture on nutritional state of COPD patients and on their prognosis in our previous interventional study.

Methods: The present study is re-analysis of our previous interventional study, COPD Acupuncture Trial (CAT) published in 2012.

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of acupuncture in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): the COPD-acupuncture trial (CAT).

Background: Dyspnea on exertion (DOE) is a major symptom of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and is difficult to control. This study was performed to determine whether acupuncture is superior to placebo needling in improving DOE in patients with COPD who are receiving standard medication.

Methods: Sixty-eight of 111 patients from the Kansai region of Japan who were diagnosed as having COPD and were receiving standard medication participated in a randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial (July 1, 2006, through March 31, 2009) in which the patients, evaluators, and statistician were unaware of the random allocation.

Erdheim-Chester disease presenting with pneumothorax.

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis most commonly characterized by symmetrical skeletal involvement and may present with pulmonary involvement leading to chronically progressive pulmonary symptoms. Characteristics on chest radiography include non-specific findings of diffuse interstitial and pleural thickening, micronodules, ground-glass opacities and parenchymal condensation as a result of infiltration by lipid-laden histiocytes. We present the case of a 50-year-old man with ECD presenting with acute pulmonary symptoms due to rupture of a large cystic lesion with resultant pneumothorax.