The usefulness of pleural fluid presepsin, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin in distinguishing different causes of pleural effusions.

Background: We aimed to determine the presepsin concentration in pleural fluid from patients with pleural effusions of different aetiologies and to compare its diagnostic value with that of pleural fluid C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT).

Methods: We enrolled 132 patients with pleural effusion who underwent diagnostic evaluation, and we classified them into six categories: empyema, parapneumonic effusion, tuberculous effusion, malignant effusion, paramalignant effusion, and transudate effusion. Additionally, all pleural effusions were categorised as infectious or non-infectious effusions.

Clinical features of patients with lung cancer accompanied by thromboembolism or disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Purpose: Thromboembolism (TE) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) are often present concomitantly. This study aimed to investigate the clinical features of patients with lung cancer and TE and/or DIC.

Patients And Methods: Data on 716 patients with pathologically confirmed diagnoses of lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed for TE/DIC.

Impact of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis on advanced non-small cell lung cancer survival.

Purpose: The clinical features of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and interstitial lung disease (ILD) have not fully been elucidated. This study aimed to investigate the clinical features of these patients, particularly with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Methods: Data on 218 patients with pathologically confirmed diagnoses of NSCLC who had been treated with chemotherapy and/or molecular targeted therapy were retrospectively analyzed for progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), responses to first-line therapy, and incidence of acute exacerbations (AEs).

Full-length cytokeratin 8 is released and circulates in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Background/aim: Cytokeratin 8 (CK8) is a type II intermediate filament protein that is persistently expressed in most epithelial malignancies. Circulating CK-related polypeptides have commonly been used as tumor markers. While apoptosis is a mechanism of CK release, the molecular nature of circulating CKs is poorly understood.

A 3-year prospective study of a urinary antigen-detection test for Streptococcus pneumoniae in community-acquired pneumonia: utility and clinical impact on the reported etiology.

To evaluate the efficacy of a rapid immunochromatographic membrane test (ICT) for the detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae urinary antigen for diagnosing S. pneumoniae pneumonia, ICT was performed with urine samples using the Binax NOW Streptococcus pneumoniae kit at the time of admission. The results were compared with those from conventional microbiological studies.

[A case of the limited from of Wegener's granulomatosis without c-ANCA].

A 46-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of fever, cough and headache in December 2001. Although she had been treated for nasal obstruction and epistaxis by an otorhinolaryngologist in our hospital since 1996, no accurate diagnosis had been made despite repeated biopsies of the nasal mucosa. A chest CT taken in 1999 showed ground-glass opacities in both upper lobes.

A case of lung cancer associated with pneumoconiosis diagnosed by fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography.

We report a case of lung cancer arising from progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) associated with pneumoconiosis. In this case, fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) was able to clearly distinguish the lung cancer from PMF, suggesting a potential usefulness of FDG-PET in cancer screening in patients with pneumoconiosis. To our knowledge, this is the first description of an FDG-PET image of lung cancer arising from PMF.

Diagnostic accuracy and safety of flexible bronchoscopy with multiplanar reconstruction images and ultrafast Papanicolaou stain: evaluating solitary pulmonary nodules.

Study Objectives: To assess the diagnostic accuracy and safety of flexible bronchoscopy with multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) images and ultrafast Papanicolaou (UFP) stain in evaluating solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs).

Design: Prospective study of bronchoscopies performed between June 2000 and June 2002.

Patients: One hundred consecutive patients with SPNs underwent bronchoscopy with MPR and UFP (MPR and UFP group).

Aberrant messenger RNA splicing of the cytokeratin 8 in lung cancer.

Cytokeratin 8 (CK8) is one of the cytoskeletal components and shows caspase-mediated degradation when cells undergo apoptosis. We previously reported that CK8 is highly expressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and increasing values of serum CK8 are significantly associated with tumor progression in patients with NSCLC. In this investigation, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis in lung cancer cell lines, revealed a shorter PCR product, which differed from the wild-type product of CK8.

[A case of synchronous primary lung cancer with hamartoma].

We present a case of a synchronous primary lung cancer adjacent to a hamartoma. In a 48-year-old man, a nodular shadow was found in the right middle lung field in 1990, and had grown slowly for 10 years. Another mass shadow was detected in the right upper lung field in 2000.

Uptake of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose in pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex infection.

Two patients showing abnormal fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake due to Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection are presented. Intense focal FDG uptake in the lung field could have been caused by an infectious disease such as MAC. This should be considered as a possibility when FDG whole-body scans of patients with pulmonary nodules are interpreted.

Lung cancer with focal lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia.

A 65-year-old man was found to have a mass lesion surrounded by ground-glass attenuation in the left upper lobe on chest radiography. He was diagnosed with stage IA adenocarcinoma of the lung. The resected lung specimen revealed papillary adenocarcinoma associated with infiltralion of numerous lymphocytes in the alveolar septa, which was consistent with focal lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia (LIP).

[A case of pneumoconiosis in a dental technician].

We report a case of pneumoconiosis in a dental technician. He was a 33-year-old man who had worked in a dental clinic as a dental technician for 12 years. In October 1999, he visited to the National Zentsuji Hospital complaining of progressive cough and sputum over a three-year period.

Expression of cytokeratin 8 in lung cancer cell lines and measurement of serum cytokeratin 8 in lung cancer patients.

It has been reported that cytokeratin 8 (CK8) can be expressed in several cancers and expression of CK8 is correlated with increased invasiveness of the tumor in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, we investigated expressions of CK8 in human lung cancer cell lines. In addition, we also evaluated the clinical significance of CK8 measurements in sera of patients with lung cancer.

Corticosteroid refractory radiation pneumonitis that remarkably responded to cyclosporin A.

Radiation therapy is commonly used for the treatment of lung cancer. However, radiation pneumonitis frequently occurs as a complication of the radiation therapy. Although corticosteroids are widely used for the treatment of radiation pneumonitis, they are not always effective.

Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma masked by gravity-dependent gradient on computed tomography.

A 78-year-old woman was found to have a small bronchioloalveolar carcinoma with ground-glass attenuation in the gravity-dependent gradient in the left lower lobe during a preoperative chest computed tomography (CT) evaluation, which was performed for previously-diagnosed adenocarcinoma of the right upper lobe. To remove the gravitational effect of the CT, the patient underwent a thin section CT in the prone position. Then, a ground-glass attenuation was revealed clearly in the left lower lobe.