Illness perception in tuberculosis by implementation of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire - a TBNET study.

How patients relate to the experience of their illness has a direct impact over their behavior. We aimed to assess illness perception in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) by means of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) in correlation with patients' demographic features and clinical TB score. Our observational questionnaire based study included series of consecutive TB patients enrolled in several countries from October 2008 to January 2011 with 167 valid questionnaires analyzed.

Gender differences revealed by the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire in allergic rhinitis.

Background: The increasing prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) is reported worldwide. Illness perception (IP) assessment is warranted in current routine clinical practice to assist communication between patients and medical staff, and improve adherence to treatment and disease outcome.

Objective: To investigate a group of patients with AR in terms of their IP by the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) and to correlate the findings with demographic and clinical features.

Acute left bundle branch block as a complication of brachytherapy for lung cancer.

Endoluminal brachytherapy for lung cancer ensures the delivery of a maximal therapeutic radiation dose to the tumor with a minimal effect on normal surrounding tissues. We report on a 62-year-old man, who acutely developed LBBB and heart failure 48 hours after the second course of combined endoluminal and external beam radiation therapy. After administration of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, diuretics, and anti-inflammatory drugs, electrocardiographic changes resolved and patient completely recovered.

Pulmonary Thromboembolism Following Radio-Frequency Ablation of the Atrioventricular Node in a Patient Heterozygous for the Factor V Leiden and the Mthfr C677T Mutations.

Patients who undergo radiofrequency ablation of the atrioventricular (AV) node rarely develop acute major complications. A 41-year-old Caucasian male smoker, was admitted to the Pulmology Teaching Hospital at Belgrade, Serbia, for sharp persistent chest pain, fever and fatigue following AV node radiofrequency ablation for arrhythmia. Chest X-ray showed obtuse right costo-phrenic angle and laminar atelectasis in the right lower lung lobe.