Blood eosinophils in COPD: friend or foe?

Introduction: The pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is highly complex and the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Areas Covered: COPD has been traditionally associated with neutrophilic inflammation of the bronchi, but in the last decade, studies have demonstrated that eosinophils may also migrate into the lower airways of patients with COPD and their increased numbers can be noticed during exacerbations as well as stable disease. In this review, we present clinical characteristics of eosinophilic COPD, as well as the role of eosinophils as a biomarker-guided therapy in COPD.

High (18)F-FDG uptake by the remaining adrenal gland four months after surgery and initiation of mitotane treatment in two patients with adrenocortical carcinoma.

Two men, one 42 and the other 35 years old were both subjected to adrenalectomy for adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). Adjuvant treatment with mitotane [o,p΄-dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethane, (o,p΄-DDD)], was initiated following surgery. Mitotane is the only agent available at present for treatment in ACC because of a late-onset specific adrenocortical cell toxicity.