[Clinical evaluation of 201TI single photon emission computed tomography in patients with large opacities due to silicosis with bronchogenic carcinoma].

201T1 single photon emission computed tomography (201T1 SPECT) was used to evaluate 18 patients with large opacities due to silicosis and 22 others with bronchogenic carcinoma. An early scan and a delayed scan were obtained and the retention index was calculated from the early ratio and the delayed ratio. In patients with silicosis, the retention index and the two ratios were significantly lower than in the patients with bronchogenic carcinoma (p < 0.

[Silicosis associated with autoimmune hemolytic anemia].

A 60-year-old man with pneumoconiosis complained of general fatigue, exertional dyspnea, and anorexia. The patient had severe anemia, and laboratory examination revealed autoimmune hemolytic anemia with positive direct and indirect Coombs tests. After corticosteroid therapy, the anemia resolved markedly, and the antinuclear antibody test became negative.

[Relationship between asbestos exposure and malignant pleural mesothelioma: occurrence near the old Japanese naval shipyard].

Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, was the site of a Japanese naval shipyard before World War II, and commercial ships were built there after the War. Large amounts of asbestos were used in this area primarily for shipbuilding, from before the war to around 1975. Probably due to exposure to asbestos, the incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma is high in this city.

Quantitative measurement of portal blood flow by magnetic resonance phase contrast: comparative study of flow phantom and Doppler ultrasound in vivo.

A non-invasive method for measuring portal blood flow by magnetic resonance (MR) phase contrast was evaluated in a flow phantom and 20 healthy volunteers. In a flow phantom study, the flow volumes and mean flow velocities measured by MR phase contrast showed close correlations with those measured by electromagnetic flowmetry. In 20 healthy volunteers, the cross-sectional areas, flow volumes and mean flow velocities measured by MR phase contrast correlated well with those measured by the Doppler ultrasound method.

[A case of asbestosis with long survival by artificial ventilation].

We treated a 63-year-old man in whom asbestosis developed after he had sprayed asbestos for 24 years. He was admitted with the chief complaint of dyspnea and was managed for 4 years with artificial ventilation. We believe that he survived for this long because he was free of severe pneumonia and because the lower lung, which is primarily affected by asbestos, was relatively intact so his pulmonary function did not deteriorate rapidly.