Tract seeding in indwelling pleural catheter placement for the drainage of malignant pleural effusions: Incidence and related clinical and imaging factors.

Background: The incidence of tract seeding after the placement of indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) for malignant pleural effusion drainage has been variable in the literature.

Research Question: To evaluate the incidence of IPC-related cancer tract seeding and find out related demographic, clinical or imaging factors to the tract seeding.

Study Design And Methods: This retrospective study included 124 consecutive patients seen between January 2011 and December 2021 who underwent IPC placement for malignant pleural effusion drainage.

Chronic cavitary pulmonary aspergillosis: Serial clinical and CT findings correlated with antifungal treatment and patient response.

Background: Chronic cavitary pulmonary aspergillosis (CCPA) is the most common form of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis.

Objective: We hypothesise that by observing serial clinical and CT findings of CCPA patients with antifungal therapy, factors helping predict responses to antifungal therapy could be withdrawn.

Methods: A total of 31 patients with CCPA who received antifungal therapy for greater than six months and who had serial CT studies were included.

Acute Pulmonary Embolism and Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension: Clinical and Serial CT Pulmonary Angiographic Features.

In acute pulmonary embolism (PE), circulatory failure and systemic hypotension are important clinically for predicting poor prognosis. While pulmonary artery (PA) clot loads can be an indicator of the severity of current episode of PE or treatment effectiveness, they may not be used directly as an indicator of right ventricular (RV) failure or patient death. In other words, pulmonary vascular resistance or patient prognosis may not be determined only with mechanical obstruction of PAs and their branches by intravascular clot loads on computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA), but determined also with vasoactive amines, reflex PA vasoconstriction, and systemic arterial hypoxemia occurring during acute PE.