A 26-year-old man with a one-year history of asthma and sinusitis presented with bilateral pleural effusions, patch basilar infiltrates on a chest x-ray and a pericardial effusion on an echocardiogram. The peripheral blood showed marked eosinophilia. An obstructive pattern was also observed during the pulmonary fuction test, which was responsive to bronchodilator inhalation. Nerve conduction studies showed right sural neuropathy. Thoracentesis yielded an acidotic exudative effusion with low glucose, low C3 and eosinophilia. An open lung biopsy revealed an eosinophilic interstitial pneumonitis associated with a necrotizing eosinophilic vasculitis, and granulomatous inflammation foci. In the literature, pleural effusions were reported in 29 percent of Churg-Strauss patients, but the number of effusions was low and their characteristics have not been well described. This report describes the characteristic findings of pleural fluid and its histologic features in a case of classical Churg-Strauss syndrome.
Adult ; Asthma ; Biopsy ; Churg-Strauss Syndrome* ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils ; Glucose ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Inhalation ; Lung ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial ; Neural Conduction ; Pericardial Effusion ; Pleural Effusion* ; Sinusitis ; Thorax ; Vasculitis

Signet ring cell carcinoma has been previously described in many organs, most frequently in the stomach, and rarely in the colon, rectum, gallbladder, pancreas, breast, nadsal cavity, prostate, urinary bladder and ureter. Signet ring cell carcinomas in the lung, especially, when examined by small biopsies, are generally believed to be metastatic. This case was diagnosed by bronchoscopic biopsy. We also examined various organs by noninvasive method, including UGI series, barium enema and abdomen CT scarf, but all studies were nomal. Patient received cisplatin and etoposide combination chemotherapy followed by local radiotherapy ai a primary non-small cell lung cancer. Patient died of his disease 6 months after diagnosis. Now we report a case of primary signet ring cell carcinoma of the lung.
Abdomen ; Barium ; Biopsy ; Breast ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell* ; Cisplatin ; Colon ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Enema ; Etoposide ; Gallbladder ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung* ; Pancreas ; Prostate ; Radiotherapy ; Rectum ; Stomach ; Ureter ; Urinary Bladder

BACKGROUNDS: Assessment of the presence and degree of reversibility of airflow obstruction is clinically important in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The measurement of peak expiratory flow(PEF) is a simple, fast, and cheap method to assess the severity of obstruction and its degree of reversibility. Assessing the reversibility of airflow obstruction by peak expiratory flow(PEF) measurements would be is practicable in general practice, but its usefulness has not been well investigated. We compared PEF and FEV1 in assessing reversibility of airflow obstruction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma and developed a practical criterion for assessing the presence of reversibility in general practice. METHODS: PEF measurements were performed (Spirometry) in 80 patients(aged 24-78) with a history of asthma or chronic obstructive lung disease before and after the inhalation of 200 mg salbutamol. The change in PEF was compared with the change in forced expiratory volume in one second(FEV1). Reversible airflow obstruction was analysed analyzed according to American Thoracic Society(ATS) criteria. RESULTS: When defined as a 12% A 12% increase above the prebronchodilator value and a 200ml increase in either FVC or FEV1 reversibility was were observed in 45%(36) of the patients. Relative operating characteristic(ROC) analysis showed that an absolute improvement in PEF of 30l/min gave optimal discrimination between patients with reversible and irreversible airflow obstruction(the sensitivity and specificity of an increase of 30l/min in detecting a 12% increase above the prebronchodilator value and a 200ml increase in either FVC or FEV1 were 72.2% and 72.7% respectively, with a positive predictive value of 68.4%) CONCLUSIONS: Absolute changes in PEF can be used to diagnose reversible airflow obstruction.
Albuterol ; Asthma ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; General Practice ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive

The spontaneous regression (SR) of cancer is defined as the complete disappearance of a malignant disease without adequate treatment. SR is a very rare biological event, particularly in a pulmonary sarcoma. We report the first documented case of an endobronchial sarcoma that regressed spontaneously in Korea. We encountered a rare case of a 72-year-old woman with an undiagnosed intrapelvic cystic mass, who presented with a smooth surfaced endobronchial tumor obstructing the orifice of the right lower lobe bronchus on a bronchoscopic examination. She had a prior history cervical cancer and adenocarcinoma in the right middle lobe lateral segment of her lung for which she had undergone radiation therapy. The tumor was diagnosed as an endobronchial sarcoma by the histopathology findings and immunohistochemistry. It was unclear if the tumor was a primary sarcoma of the lung or a metastatic lesion of an intrapelvic cystic mass because she refused a diagnostic exploratory laparotomy. Two months later, obstructive pneumonia of the right lower lobe with parapneumonic effusion developed with fever above 38.5degrees C for 10 days. After recovering from pneumonia, she was followed up regularly in the outpatient clinic without any specific treatment. One year later after treating the obstructive pneumonia, the follow-up bronchoscopy revealed complete SR of endobronchial sarcoma. It is believed that the obstructive pneumonia accompanied by fever above 38.5degrees C for 10 days might have played a role in this SR.
Adenocarcinoma ; Aged ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Bronchi ; Bronchoscopy ; Female ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Korea ; Laparotomy ; Lung ; Pneumonia* ; Sarcoma* ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

BACKGROUNDS: In the absence of distant metastasis, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients presenting with supraclavicular lymph node (SCLN) involvement and pleural effusion can benefit from thoracic radiotherapy. But there are some debate as to the prognostic significance of both SCLN involvement and pleural effusion. The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of SCLN involvement and pleural effusion in SCLC. METHODS: Two Hundred and fifteen patients with histologically confirmed small cell lung cancer, who were treated either at the Keimyung university Dongsan hospital and Kyungpook national university hospital from January 1994 to June 1998, were evaluated retrospectively. The patients were classified as having either limited or extensive stage using the Veterans Administration staging system. RESULTS: SCLN was presented in 10.5% of patients(n=21). The median survival was 247 days for patients with SCLN(n=21) and 264 days for patients without(n=194) (p=0.52). After treatment, the median survival was 298 days for patients with SCLN(n=13) and 348 days for patients without(n=115) (p=0.52). SCLN involvement was not correlated with the presence of distant metastases. Medican survival was 459 days for patients with a limited stage without SCLN(n=66), 650 days for those with a limited stage with SCLN (n=7) (p=0.96). Pleural effusion was presented in 24.7% of patients(n=52). The median survival was 198 days for patients with pleural effusion(n=52) and 275 days for patients without(n=163) (p<0.05). After treatment, the median survival was 294 days for patients with a pleural effusion(n=25) and 286 days for patients without(n=103) (p=0.39). The presence of pleural effusion was not correlated with that of distant metastases. The median survival was 395 days for patients with a limited stage without a pleural effusion(n=63), 451 days for those with a limited stage with pleural effusion(n=10) (p=0.92). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, SCLN involvement does not explain the poor survival rate and the relevance to extensive staged disease. Furthermore, the existence of a pleural effusion did not correlated with the presence of distant metastases. However, the presence of a pleural effusion appears to be a minor prognostic factor in our study. Therefore supraclavicular lymph node justify any amendment to the staging system currently used.
Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pleural Effusion* ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma* ; Survival Rate ; United States Department of Veterans Affairs

BACKGROUND: Tumor markers have been used in diagnosis, predicting the extent of disease, monitering recurrence after therapy and prediction of prognosis. But the utility of markers in lung cancer has been limited by low sensitivity and specificity. TPA-M is recently developed marker using combined monoclonal antibody of Cytokeratin 8, 18, and 19. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of new tumor marker, TPA-M by comparing the estabilished markers 8CC, CEA, Cyfra2 I - I in hmg cancer. METHODS: An immunoradiometric assay of serum CEA, SCC, Cyfra2l-I, and TPA-M was performed in 49 pathologically confirmed lung cancer patients who visited Keimyung University Hospital from April 1996 to August 1996, and 29 benign lung diseases. Commercially available kits, Ab bead CM (Eiken) to CEA, SCC RIA BEAD (DAINABOT) to SCC, CA21-1 (TEE) to Cyfra21-1, arid TPA-M (DAIICHI) to TPA-M were used for this study. RESULTS: The mean serum values of lung cancer group and control group were 10.05 +/- 38.39 micro/L, l.59+/-0.94 micro/L in CEA, 3.04+/-5.79 micro/L, 1.58+/-2.85 micro/L in SCC, 8.27+/-11.96 micro/L, 1.77+/-2.72 micro/L in Cyfra21-1, and 132.02+/-209.35 U/L, 45.86+/-75.86 U/t in TPA-M respectively. Serum values of Cyfra21-1 and TPA-M in lung cancer group were higher than control group (p<0.05). Using cutoff value recommended by the manufactures, that is 2.5 micro/L, in CEA, 3.0 micro/L in Cyfra21-1, 70.0 U/L in TPA-M, arid 2.0 micro/L in SCC, sensitivity and specificity of lung cancer were 33.3%, 786% in CEA, 50.0%, 89.7% in Cyfra2l-l, 52.3%, 89.7% in TPA-M, 23.8%, 89.3% in SCC. Sensitivity and specificity of nonsmall cell lung cancer were 36.1%, 78.1% in CIA, 50.1%, 89.7% in Cyfra2l-1, 53.1%, 89.7% in TPA-M, 33.8%, 89.3% in SCC. Sensitivity and specificity of small cell king cancer were 25.0%, 78.5% in CEA, 50.0%, 89.6% in Cyfra2l-1, 50.0%, 89.6% in TPA-M, 0%, 89.2% in SCC. Cutoff value according to ROC(Receiver operating characteristics) curve was l.25 micro/L in CEA, 1.5 micro/L in Cyfra2l-1, 35 U/L in TPA-M, 0.6 micro/L in SCC. With this cutoff value, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and kappa index of Cyfra21-1 and TPA-M were Letter than CEA and SCC. SCC only was related with statistic significance to TNM stages, dividing to operable stages(TNM stage I to IIIA) and inoperable stages (IIIB and IV) (p<0.05). But no tumor markers showed any correlation with significance with tumor size(p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Serum TPA-M and Cyfra21-1 shows higher sensitivity and specificity than CEA and SCC in overall lung cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer those were confirmed pathologically. SCC has higher specificity in nonsmall cell lung cancer. And the level of serum SCC are significantly related with TNM staging.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Immunoradiometric Assay ; Keratin-8 ; Lung Diseases ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Biomarkers, Tumor

Cytokine production was studied in thyroid fine needle aspirates and peripheral blood and the production of interferon-gamma by peripheral blood mononuclear cell(PBMC) culture in response to interleukin-2(IL-2) stimulation was also studied from patients with hyperthyroidism, non toxic goiter, thyroid nodule. The expression of glycer aldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase(GAPDH), interleukin-1beta(IL-1beta), IL-2, interleukin-8(IL-8), platelet- derived growth factor-A(PDGF-A) and interferon-gamma(IFN-gamma) chain was assessed by RT-PCR(reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) in fine needle aspirates of thyroid and peripheral blood mononuclear cell : the samples were obtained from 7 patients with hyperthyroidism, 6 patients with non toxic goiter, 7 patients with thyroid nodule. A dose of IL-2(25 U/ml) was utilized to induce IFN-gamma production by PBMC from all patients.The results were as follows:1) In case of cytokine expression of fine-needle aspirates, GAPDH and IL-1beta, IL-8 were expressed highly but IFN-gamma, IL-2 were not expressed in hyperthyroidism and non-toxic goiter, thyroid nodule. PDGF-A was expressed in hyperthyroidism and thyroid nodule but not in non toxic goiter. 2) In case of cytokine expression of PBMC, GAPDH, IL-1beta were expressed in hyperthyroidism and non toxic goiter, thyroid nodule and highly expressed after IL-2 stimulation than before. But PDGF-A was more expressed in non toxic goiter and thyroid nodule than hyperthyroidism. Also, IFN-gamma was less expressed in thyroid nodule than hyperthyroidism and non toxic goiter. 3) The incremental increase in IFN-gamma value in supernatants of PBMC culture was significantly higher in patients with non toxic goiter than that in PBMC from hyperthyroidism and thyroid nodule(p<0.05).Therefore it seems that the cytokine production was found in hyperthyroidism and non toxic goiter and thyroid nodule. There were variability in their distribution each other, in general, higher expressed in hyperthyroidism than non toxic goiter. And RT-PCR Method that employed should be sufficiently sensitive to permit the analysis of cytokine gene expression in fine needle aspiration biopsies from patients with thyroid disease.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Cell Culture Techniques ; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases ; Gene Expression ; Goiter ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; In Vitro Techniques ; Interferon-gamma ; Interferons ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-8 ; Methods ; Needles ; Thyroid Diseases ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Nodule

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies, cardiac function deteriorates with time resulting in heart failure which is often fatal. We prospectively evaluated the effect of enalapril and carvedilol on left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in middle childhood and adolescent patients with muscular dystrophy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-three patients with LV dysfunction (22 with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, 1 with Becker muscular dystrophy) were enrolled. We prescribed enalapril (13 patients) or carvedilol (10 patients) randomly from July 2008 to August 2010 and followed up the patients until September 2011. The changes in LV function parameters before and after the treatment were evaluated by echocardiography. RESULTS: The mean age at the start of treatment with enalapril or carvedilol was 12.6+/-3.7 years (median 13 years), and mean follow-up duration was 20.1+/-8.9 months. In the enalapril group, LV fractional shortening (FS) increased from 25.8+/-2.1 to 26.6+/-3.0 (p=0.241). In the carvedilol group, LV FS increased from 26.4+/-1.1 to 28.6+/-4.2 (p=0.110). In all 23 patients, LV FS significantly increased from 26.1+/-1.7 (before) to 27.6+/-3.7 (after treatment) (p<0.046). Indexed LV dimension at end diastole and LV end-diastolic volume decreased slightly, but without statistical significance by tri-plane volumetry. LV diastolic functional parameters were maintained during follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Enalapril or carvedilol could improve LV systolic function in middle childhood and adolescent patients with muscular dystrophy without significant adverse effects.
Adolescent ; Carbazoles ; Cardiomyopathies ; Diastole ; Echocardiography ; Enalapril ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Muscular Dystrophies ; Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne ; Propanolamines ; Prospective Studies ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left

Blastomycosis is a systemic pyogranulomatous disease that is caused by a thermally dimorphic fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis. it's the disease is endemic in the south-eastern and south central states of the USA, which border the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, the mid-western states and Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes as well as in a small area of New York and Canada adjacent to the St. Lawrence River.1 We encountered a case of blastomycosis, representing as a pulmonary manifestation after traveling around a non-endemic area and report it with a brief review of the relevant literature.
Blastomyces ; Blastomycosis* ; Canada ; Fungi ; Lakes ; Mississippi ; Ohio ; Rivers

BACKGROUND: Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation associated with arterial injury causes restenosis, which remains to be resolved in cardiovascular disease, especially after balloon angioplasty. Although numerous factors including hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, angiotensin, basic fibroblast growth factor (BFGF), etc are suggested as potent mitogens for VSMCs, other mechanisms are still needed to take into new consideration. Advances in molecular biology have led to the development of powerful methods for the analysis of differential gene expression. There, we clarified the effect of glucose, sodium butyrate and halofuginon hydrobromide on gene expression which play a role in VSMC growth. METHODS: Therefore, we evaluate the changes of gene expression in response to high glucose concentration, sodium butyrate which is an inhibitor of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and halofuginon hydrobromide which is an inhibitor of specific type 1 collagen, using differntial expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing and cDNA microarray hybridization. Human mammary artery VSMC isolated from patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery. Cells from passage 3 to 5 were used in experiment with serum-free media with varying conditions. RESULTS: After 6 days of culture, the cells (VSMC) were resuspended with PBS and counted in a hemocytometer, and viable cells were counted using the trypan blue test. VSMC number reached 36?04 cell under high glucose concentration (H/G: 22mM) and 29?04 cell under low glucose concentration(L/G: 5.5 mM) at 6 day of culture (p<0.01). Sodium butyrate(SB) inhibited VSMC growth at varying butyrate concentrations (0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0mM) by 84%, 87%, 94%, 96%, 98%, respectively. Halofuginon hydrobromide(HH) also inhibited VSMC growth at varying halofuginon concentrations (10-11, 10-9, 10-7, 10-5mM) by 15%, 30%, 85%, 100%, respectively. Using a differential EST screening technique to assay the relative level of expression of each of large numbers of cloned cDNA sequences after treatment with high glucose concentration (22mM), sodium butyrate (5 mM), and halofuginon (1microM). Among the total 1,730 cDNA clones, 6 cDNA clones were down-regulated after treatment with sodium butyrate (5mM) and halofuginon (1microM). Those were revealed homology to genes encoding connective tissue growth factor (cTGF), Betaig-H3, nm23-H1 nm23-H2, enigma and copine 1. On the contrary, four clones were up-regulated after treatment with high glucose concentration (22mM). Those clones (BO94-5, K1316-5, K1764-5, B1835-5) didn't match any sequence in the public data base. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that this EST analysis is useful technique in targeting genes which are associated with atherosclerosis in VSMC. These identified clones may be used to assist in the positional cloning of genes which are related with atherosclerosis.
Angioplasty, Balloon ; Angiotensins ; Atherosclerosis ; Butyrates ; Butyric Acid* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Organism ; Collagen Type I ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor ; Culture Media, Serum-Free ; DNA, Complementary ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; Gene Expression* ; Glucose* ; Humans* ; Hyperglycemia ; Hyperinsulinism ; Mammary Arteries ; Mass Screening ; Mitogens ; Molecular Biology ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle* ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor ; Sodium* ; Trypan Blue