Aberrant Pleural Plaques.

Male, 71 years old, active smoker. Referred to our outpatient clinic due to right upper lobe nodule with 4 year follow-up, which increased in size and metabolic uptake during the last year. CT scan also revealed multiple pleural plaques with a diffuse pattern.

An international perspective on hospitalized patients with viral community-acquired pneumonia.

Background: Who should be tested for viruses in patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP), prevalence and risk factors for viral CAP are still debated. We evaluated the frequency of viral testing, virus prevalence, risk factors and treatment coverage with oseltamivir in patients admitted for CAP.

Methods: Secondary analysis of GLIMP, an international, multicenter, point-prevalence study of hospitalized adults with CAP.

Surgical Treatment for Elderly Patients with Lung Cancer.

Introduction: Non-small cell lung cancer is a very common disease in the elderly population and its incidence in this particular population is expected to increase further, because of the ageing of the Western population. Pulmonary resection is often not recommended in the elderly, even though they have no medical contraindications to surgery. Such patients are postulated to have a limited life expectancy, the rate of complications and perioperative death is considered to be higher than younger population.

Surgical Treatment of Complications 55 Years After Extraperiosteal Lucite Ball Plombage for Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Introduction: In the 1930-50s, before the introduction of antimicrobial drugs and development of techniques of pulmonary resssection, collapse therapy was the mainstream of treatment for cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis. The methods to achieve the collapse included artificial pneumothorax with air refills, phrenic nerve crush, thoracoplasty and extrapleural plombage. The plombage involves creating a cavity surgically under the ribs in the upper chest wall and filling the space with inert material, such fat, paraffin wax, rubber ballons, oil and methyl-methacrylate (Lucite) balls.

[GIST: gastrointestinal stromal tumors].

GIST (Gastrointestinal stromal tumors) are rare tumors of mesenchymal origin. The authors present a case of GIST in a 80 years old female with multiple co-morbilities, admitted with epigastric pain, gastrointestinal bleeding and heart failure decompensation.