The asphericity of the metabolic tumour volume in NSCLC: correlation with histopathology and molecular markers.

Purpose: Asphericity (ASP) is a tumour shape descriptor based on the PET image. It quantitates the deviation from spherical of the shape of the metabolic tumour volume (MTV). In order to identify its biological correlates, we investigated the relationship between ASP and clinically relevant histopathological and molecular signatures in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Standardized visual reading of F18-FDG-PET in patients with non-small cell lung cancer scheduled for preoperative thoracic lymph node staging.

Objectives: Routine visual assessment of positron emission tomography (PET) for thoracic lymph node (LN) staging in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is limited by a lack of reliable assessment criteria. This study evaluates the accuracy and inter-rater agreement of a standardized approach with unified windowing and a PET-based visual score.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective analysis included pretherapeutic FDG-PET data of 86 patients with NSCLC.

Dual time point imaging for F18-FDG-PET/CT does not improve the accuracy of nodal staging in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Objectives: To analyze the diagnostic performance of dual time point imaging (DTPI) for pre-therapeutic lymph node (LN) staging in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of 47 patients with NSCLC who had undergone DTPI by PET (early + delayed) using F18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). PET raw data were reconstructed iteratively (point spread function + time-of-flight).

Quantitative assessment of the asphericity of pretherapeutic FDG uptake as an independent predictor of outcome in NSCLC.

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the predictive value of a novel quantitative measure for the spatial heterogeneity of FDG uptake, the asphericity (ASP) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: FDG-PET/CT had been performed in 60 patients (15 women, 45 men; median age, 65.5 years) with newly diagnosed NSCLC prior to therapy.

[Recurrent hemoptysis in a 29-year old woman].

A 29-year old woman was admitted with recurrent hemoptysis. Due to the combination of hemoptysis, alveolar infiltrates and anemia a diffuse alveolar hemorrhage syndrome was suspected. After exclusion of underlying diseases and due to the typical histology we confirmed the diagnosis of an idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis.

Role of thoracic surgery and interventional bronchoscopy in Wegener's granulomatosis.

Background: Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is defined as granulomatous vasculitis affecting small and medium-sized arteries and veins. Histologically, inflammatory changes with infiltration of the endothelium, fibrinoid necrosis, and formation of necrotizing granulomas are found. Pulmonary involvement is one of the cardinal features of WG and occurs in 85% of patients during the course of disease.

Chest wall infiltration by lung cancer: value of thin-sectional CT with different reconstruction algorithms.

The aim of this investigation was to evaluate whether thin-sectional CT with different reconstruction algorithms can improve the diagnostic accuracy with regard to chest wall invasion in patients with peripheral bronchogenic carcinoma. Forty-one patients with intrapulmonary lesions and tumor contact to the thoracic wall as seen on CT staging underwent additional 1-mm CT slices with reconstruction in a high-resolution (HR) and an edge blurring, soft detail (SD) algorithm. Five criteria were applied and validated by histological findings.

Results after surgery in stage-I bronchogenic carcinoma.

Background: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival in stage-I non-small-cell bronchogenic carcinoma.

Methods: During 9 years, 338 consecutive patients were operated on for stage-I bronchogenic carcinoma. Patients with small-cell carcinoma (n = 14), prior malignancies in locations other than pulmonary (n = 41), and patients with incomplete data on prognostic factors (n = 11) were excluded.

Thoracic cancer surgery in the elderly.

The risk of thoracic cancer surgery in patients of advanced age, i.e. 75 years or older, was analysed by reviewing 119 consecutive patients from August 1986 to May 1998 with bronchial carcinoma (n = 87), pulmonary metastases (n = 22), mesothelioma and pleural carcinosis (n = 7) and mediastinal or chest wall tumours (n = 3).

Long-term survival after repetitive surgery for malignant hemangiopericytoma of the lung with subsequent systemic metastases: case report and review of the literature.

Malignant hemangiopericytoma represent less than 1% of all vascular and about 5% of all sarcomatous tumors. We are reporting the uncommon clinical case of primary pulmonary localization, of which approximately 100 cases have been published in the literature. A 54-year-old male underwent left upper lobectomy seven years ago for a tumor which proved to be a malignant hemangiopericytoma.

Results after surgery in undifferentiated large cell carcinoma of the lung: the role of neuroendocrine expression.

Objective: The objective of this study was to define the incidence of light microscopically undifferentiated large cell carcinomas, to analyze tumor stages, types of resections necessary and postsurgical survival. Additionally we tried to evaluate whether or not neuroendocrine expression influences the biological behavior of these tumors.

Methods: Light microscopic specimens of 105 patients having undergone surgery for undifferentiated large cell carcinoma were reviewed following the 1981 WHO criteria.

Experimental gluing of the bronchial stump after pneumonectomy in rats.

Objective: The objective of this experimental study was to evaluate the usefulness of gelatin-resorcinol-dialdehyde adhesive in sutureless closure of bronchial stumps.

Methods: In 40 male Wistar rats bronchial stumps after left-sided pneumonectomy were closed by gluing with gelatin-resorcinol-dialdehyde adhesive. For macroscopic and microscopic examination four animals were sacrificed on postoperative days 2, 7 and 14 each, 14 animals on postoperative days 28 and 120 each.

Experimental gluing of lung parenchyma in rats.

Gelatin-resorcinol-dialdehyde adhesive has been developed from a gelatin-resorcinol-formaldehyde adhesive by replacing the formaldehyde with two less histotoxic dialdehydes, ethandial and pentandial. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of this modified composition in gluing defects in lung parenchyma. In 40 male Wistar rats a standardized lung incision 1.

Comparison of the sensitivity of sputum and brush cytology in the diagnosis of lung carcinomas.

Objective: To describe the role of sputum and brush cytology in the diagnosis of lung carcinoma and to elucidate the influence of tumor location, histologic tumor type and stage on the sensitivity of both methods.

Study Design: Retrospective and performed on 415 lung cancer patients. Two hundred of them were investigated only by sputum collection, 119 only by brushing and 96 by both methods.

[Surgical treatment of bronchial carcinoma in advanced age].

As live expectancy increases, the number of elderly patients 70 and more years of age are also increasingly represented in a thoracic surgical series. The preponderance of malignant disease in this group, particularly lung cancer, is common. Progress in anesthesia, intensive care and operative techniques in recent years has reduced the risk of morbidity and operative mortality in this age group.

Lectin binding sites and immunocytochemical characterization of normal pleural mesothelium.

20 specimens of normal pleural mesothelium were investigated with six lectins using isolated cells and tissue specimens as well as two different fixation techniques (glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde) and 10 monoclonal antibodies (MAb) on cytologic preparations only. Lectin binding sites for ConA, WGA, and PNA were present in all cases, whereas binding sites for the lectins HPA, SBA, and UEA-I could never be found. There was no staining difference with the two preparation and fixation techniques proving that they may be used to compare directly histologic and cytologic studies.

[Recurrent intervention in surgery of pulmonary metastases].

Pulmonary resection for recurrent metastatic disease in 39 patients undergoing 52 thoracotomies resulted in a cumulative survival rate of 75% at 3 years an 52% at 5 years, with no operative mortality. A significant factor influencing survival was duration of disease-free interval after treatment of primary tumor and the time interval between the first pulmonary metastasectomy and the appearance of recurrent pulmonary metastases. The route of metastatic spreading and the number of metastases were of no prediction for postthoracotomy survival.

[Thoracic surgery in advanced age. Indications and results with special reference to bronchial cancer].

Background: As the life expectancy in the general population increases, a constant rise in the number of patients of advanced age undergoing thoracic surgery is also observed.

Major Topics Discussed: Among the indications for operations on the chest, malignant diseases head the list. Thanks to advances in anesthesia, intensive care and surgical techniques, the peri-operative mortality rate in this age group has been appreciably reduced in recent years.

[Tracheal and bronchial rupture after blunt thoracic trauma].

Airway disruptions after blunt chest trauma are rather infrequent with an incidence of about 1%. Even in large centers with many such casualties they are episodical. The clinical picture is not an uniform one, and typical clinical signs occur often without an airway lesion.

Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in general thoracic surgery.

A prospective study of the efficacy of ampicillin in combination with sulbactam, a beta-lactamase inhibitor, (A/S) in perioperative prophylaxis was performed. The study consisted of two independent parts performed at the same time. Part I included 60 patients with lobectomies and segmentectomies.

[New developments in surgery of pulmonary metastases].

Two groups of patients, 107 between 1977-1986 and 122 between 1987-1991, who underwent surgery for pulmonary metastases, were compared with each other. The most frequent primary sites were the kidney and the testes in the first and the kidney and the colon-rectum in the second group. We recorded a 1-year survival rate of 79% and a 5-year survival rate of 37% in the first group.