Outcome of Medically Versus Surgically Treated Patients With Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension.

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is an ominous disease leading to progressive right heart failure. Selected patients can be treated by pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA). We assessed long-term clinical outcome of patients with CTEPH who underwent PEA and patients who remained on medical treatment alone.

[Acute lupus pneumonitis--case report and literature review].

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune connective tissue disease that is characterized by its chronic course and the involvement of many organs and systems. The most common abnormality in the respiratory system of SLE patients is lupus pleuritis. Less common is parenchymal involvement, which may present as acute lupus pneumonitis (ALP) or chronic interstitial lung disease.

Pulmonary artery dilatation correlates with the risk of unexpected death in chronic arterial or thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Right ventricular failure does not explain all cases of death in patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension. Searching for alternative explanations, we evaluated the prognostic significance of main pulmonary artery (PA) dilatation in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).

Methods: A retrospective outcome analysis was made of 264 patients (aged 46 ± 17 years; women, 69%; PAH, 82%) who underwent both CT scan measurement of the PA and right-sided heart catheterization (mean PA pressure, 57.

[Constrictive pericarditis as complication of viral respiratory infection].

A 24 year-old man with 3-months medical history of recurrent respiratory infections and pericardial effusion, despite treatment with nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs, was admitted to the hospital with dyspnea on exertion. On admission he presented the symptoms of right heart insufficiency. Computed tomography of the chest demonstrated a thickened pericardium.

[Normal D-dimer concentration in hospitalized patients with lung diseases].

Introduction: The use of D-dimer testing is an established part of the diagnosis of suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). However, in hospitalized patients many various factors might be responsible for increased D-dimer concentration and they could lower utility of D-dimer in exclusion of PE in such population. According to some published data, calculating the index D-dimer/fibrinogen could increase the specificity of D-dimer in the recognition of venous thromboembolism (VTE).

[Eosinophilic pneumonia in response to cutaneous larva migrans syndrome--a case report].

Cutaneous larva migrans is a parasitic dermatosis imported by travelers returning from tropical and subtropical regions. In cutaneous larva migrans syndrome humans are incidental hosts and the larvae are unable to complete their natural cycle. Adult hookworms live in the intestines of dogs and cats, shedding eggs in feces that hatch and mature into larvae that can remain infective for months in the soil.

[Recurrent effusive pericarditis in the course of adult-onset Still's disease--case reports of two patients].

Pericardial effusion is caused by various pathological agents. In differential diagnosis infectious as well as non-infectious factors have to be considered. Adult-onset Still disease (AOSD)--relatively uncommon systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology--is among possible diagnosis.

Primary Sjögren's Syndrome with two extraglandular sites involvement - case report.

Primary Sjögren's Syndrome (pSS) is a chronic, slowly progressive inflammatory autoimmune disorder, characterised by lymphocytic infiltration of the exocrine glands, leading to decrease of glandular secretion. In 40-60% of pSS patients, extraglandular disease develops. We present the case of a patient with two extraglandular sites involvement in the course of pSS manifesting with progressive respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms.

[Acquired methemoglobinemia--case report].

Methemoglobinemia; an increased concentration of methemoglobin in the blood, is an altered state of hemoglobin whereby the ferrous form of iron is oxidized to the ferric state, rendering the heme moiety incapable of carrying oxygen. The authors present a case of 49-year-old man who was admitted to the department of chest medicine with dyspnea, weakness and cyanosis in whom differential diagnosis excluded acute and chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular disease. Clinical cyanosis and low measured oxygen saturation in the presence of normal arterial oxygen tension was highly suggestive of methemoglobinemia ("saturation gap").

[Chest ultrasound in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in a pregnant patient - a case report].

Pregnancy is a risk factor for both pulmonary embolism (PE), and an incorrect diagnostic assessment in cases of suspected PE with potentially dangerous consequences for the mother and foetus. The major concern is ionising radiation utilized by diagnostic tests and its potential negative effect on foetal safety. This paper presents diagnostic difficulties encountered in a 31-year-old patient at 20 weeks of gestation who was admitted to hospital with non-specific chest pain and suspected PE as a complication of right lower limb venous thrombosis.

Characteristics and prognosis of patients with decompensated right ventricular failure during the course of pulmonary hypertension.

Background: New therapies for pulmonary arterial hypertension have prolonged survival but simultaneously increased the number of hospital admissions because of decompensated right heart failure (DRHF). The optimal approach in DRHF has not been established yet.

Aim: Analysis of clinical course of DRHF in a group of patients with pulmonary hypertension treated in a single referral centre.

[Wegener's granulomatosis presenting with ischaemic stroke].

Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is a systemic disease of unknown origin characterized by necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis that involves primarily the upper and the lower respiratory tracts and the kidneys. A 44-year-old woman presenting with unusual neurological manifestation is reported. The patient with multiple pulmonary round shadows and hilar lymphadenopathy on the chest X-ray pictures, suffered from sudden hemiparesis episode.

[Unusual cause of right heart failure decompensation in 21-years old patient with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension -- a case report].

The authors describe a case of 21-years old woman with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension with atypical clinical consequences of massive internal bleeding. Despite significant hypovolemia clinical and laboratory presentation was one of RV failure with dilatation of right heart ventricle and increased plasma level of markers of myocardial stretch and injury (NT-proBNP and troponin, respectively). This is attributed to impaired right ventricular coronary perfusion and hypoxia.

Atrial septostomy in treatment of end-stage right heart failure in patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Right ventricular (RV) failure is the main cause of death in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). Balloon atrial septostomy (BAS) is believed to relieve symptoms of PH by increasing systemic flow and reducing RV preload.

Methods: Fourteen BAS procedures were performed in 11 patients (5 men and 6 women; mean [+/- SD] age, 33 +/- 12 years) with RV failure in the course of PH that was refractory to conventional treatment.

[A case of a patient with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension treated with lung transplantation: a "bumpy road" to success].

We describe a case of 29 year old man, a first Polish patient with idiopathic arterial hypertension (IPAH) listed from Poland and successfully treated with lung transplantation in Vienna. Time from diagnosis to lung transplant was merely 11 months. Rapid clinical deterioration required treatment with most of currently approved or emerging methods, including oral and parenteral prostacyclin analogues administration by inhalation and chronic subcutaneous infusion.

[Infective endocarditis in a patient with multiple myeloma. A case report].

A case of a 59 year old male with infective endocarditis is presented. Antibiotic therapy seemed effective, however, inflammation laboratory parameters increased two weeks after clinical improvement and body temperature normalisation. Subsequent extensive laboratory investigations revealed multiple myeloma.

[Autoimmune thyroid diseases in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension].

Unlabelled: Abnormal metabolism due to thyroid disorders could cause the additional significant right ventricular (RV) overload in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). The purpose of this study was the prospective determination of autoimmune thyroid status in PPH patients.

Material: 45 patients (33 women and 12 men, mean age 38 years+/-13) with moderate and severe PPH (mean pulmonary artery pressure 61 mmHg+/-18 mmHg).

[Diagnostic difficulties in primary mesothelioma].

A 54-year-old woman with a history of fatigue and shortness of breath was found to have a pericardial effusion and mild mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Video-assisted pericardioscopy revealed thickened pericardium studded with multiple nodules. Histologically the tumor was diagnosed as papillary adenocarcinoma.

[Scimitar syndrome--case report].

Scimitar syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly. This syndrome is characterized by partial or complete anomalous pulmonary venous drainage of the right lung to the inferior vena cava. There is a characteristic abnormal radiographic shadow which descends along the right cardiac border (scimitar sign).

[Effect of long-term therapy with oral Beraprost on survival of patients with arterial and inoperable thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension].

Beraprost sodium (BPS)--an orally active prostacyclin analogue--improves haemodynamic parameters and quality of life in group of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Effect of long-term therapy with BPS is not well defined. This study assesses influence of long-term therapy with BPS on the survival of patients with precapillary pulmonary hypertension.

The conversion of thyroxine to triiodothyronine in the lung: comparison of activity of type I iodothyronine 5' deiodinase in lung cancer with peripheral lung tissues.

Unlabelled: Triiodothyronine (T3) is the main active hormone, which is derived 20% from the thyroid gland and 80% from peripheral tissues. Thyroxin--5' deiodinases play a leading role in maintaining appropriate T3 concentrations in the different cells and organs: including the lung. The deiodinases present in pneumocytes were found to be localised in endoplasmatic reticulum.

Changes in bone density during long-term administration of low-molecular-weight heparins or acenocoumarol for secondary prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism.

Background: Indications for long-term anticoagulation are expanding. Osteoporosis is a complication which can develop after prolonged treatment with unfractionated heparin and is probably multifactorial. Data on osteoporosis associated with low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWH) are contradictory.

Detectable serum cardiac troponin T as a marker of poor prognosis among patients with chronic precapillary pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Right ventricular failure is a leading cause of death in patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension (PH). We checked whether detection of cardiac troponin T (cTnT), a specific marker of myocyte injury, could be useful in prognostic stratification of those patients.

Methods And Results: Initial evaluation of 56 clinically stable patients (age 41+/-15 years) with pulmonary arterial (51 patients) or inoperable chronic thromboembolic (5 patients) PH (mean pulmonary arterial pressure 60+/-18 mm Hg) included cTnT test, allowing detection of its serum levels > or =0.

[Invasive aspergillosis in autopsy material of patients treated at the Institute of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases during the years 1993-2000].

The aim of this paper is an analysis of clinical documentation and results of autopsy of 21 patients (pts) who died of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in the Institute of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases in years 1993-2000 and the assessment of predisposing factors for IA. In 17 pts IA was the main and in other 4 only an accessory cause of death. All pts were treated with corticosteroids and/or cytostatic drugs--because of lung cancer (11 pts), cancer in other site (2 pts), haematologic disorders (2 pts), Wegener's granulomatosis (1 pt), polymyositis (1 pt), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (1 pt) and other diseases (3 pts).

Disturbed right ventricular ejection pattern as a new Doppler echocardiographic sign of acute pulmonary embolism.

Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is frequently performed in patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism (APE) to search for right ventricular (RV) pressure overload. We prospectively assessed the diagnostic value of a new Doppler echocardiographic sign of APE based on the disturbed RV ejection pattern ("60/60 sign") and compared its diagnostic performances with that of the presence of RV pressure overload, as well as with "McConnell sign" based on RV regional wall motion abnormalities. We assessed 100 consecutive patients with clinical suspicion of APE, including those with previous cardiorespiratory diseases.