Smoking is the most important risk factor of many pulmonary diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, cardiovascular disorders and other malignancies. Therefore, smoking cessation is a practical way to prevent and treat smoking-related diseases. Also, the clinicians who care the patients with smoking-related disease should pay attention to it. This article reviews briefly recent publications focused on the influence of smoking cessation in some smoking-related diseases and strategies to improve smoking cessation such as pharmacotherapy or systemic behavioral approach programs. In addition, it reviews personalized therapy based on gene typing for smoking cessation.
Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis remains a health concern in Korea despite major progress in the development of new strategies for diagnosing and treating tuberculosis. In particular, the diagnosis of newly developed pulmonary tuberculosis is on the rise in elderly persons. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical, radiographic characteristics, and treatment outcomes of pulm onary tuberculosis in the elderly. Methods: The medical records of 113 young (＜65 years old) and 112 elderly (≥65 years old) pulmonary tuberculosis patients diagnosed at Chungnam National University hospital between January 2007 and December 2008 were reviewed. Results: There was no difference in the prevalence of typical symptoms between the younger and the elderly group. Dypsnea was the only symptom that occurred more frequently in the elderly group (16.8% vs 5.5%, p=0.008). On radiological study, pneumonic infiltration type was more common in the elderly group (28.6% vs 16.8%, p=0.035). Sputum Acid fast bacilli smear positivity rate was similar between the 2 groups. Elderly patients with anti-tuberculosis medication had more frequent adverse drug reactions; however, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the number of patients required to stop medication due to an adverse drug reaction. There were more patients lost to follow-up in the elderly group (22/112, 19.6% vs 11/113, 9.7%, p=0.036). Conclusion: The majority of elderly patients did not complete the treatment, resulting in a poorer outcome. Therefore, we need to make an effort to support the continued screening of elderly patients by making this economically feasible.
Background: The object of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Korean versions of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease assessment test (CAT) and Dyspnea-12 Questionnaire for patients with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD). Methods: For the 127 COPD patients, we obtained the Korean versions of the 3 questionnaires being tested: St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), CAT, and Dyspnea-12 with spirometric measurements. To assess the validity of CAT and Dyspnea-12, their correlation with SGRQ was evaluated. To assess the reliability of CAT and Dyspnea-12, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was evaluated. Results: The mean age of patient participants was 68.6±7.5 years; 97.6% were male. The SGRQ score was correlated with the scores of the Korean version of CAT (r=0.71, p＜0.0001) and Dyspnea-12 (r=0.73, p＜0.0001). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the CAT and Dyspnea-12 were 0.77 and 0.78, respectively. Conclusion: The Korean versions of CAT and Dyspnea-12 were shown to be valid and reliable for the Korean COPD patients.
Background: Smoking reduces pulmonary function and induces various lung diseases. Recently, the rate of emphysema detection has increased due to lung cancer screening with low-dose chest computed tomography (CT). The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in lung function associated with emphysema in healthy smokers. Methods: One hundred and ninety one healthy smokers, who had undergone a low-dose chest CT (LDCT) scan as part of lung cancer screening and had revisited the health center after a median 23.9 months’ time, were recruited into this study. The severity of emphysema was calculated by the direct observation of a radiologist and a pulmonologist indipendently. Longitudinal changes in lung function according to emphysema based on LDCT and type of smoker was analyzed. Results: Of the participants in this study, 25% of healthy smokers had emphysema, which was mild in severity, in older patients (p=0.003) and in heavy smokers (p＜0.001). FEV1/FVC and FEF25-75% were decreased in current smokers with emphysema (p=0.001 and p=0.009, respectively) and without emphysema (p=0.001 and p=0.042). Although lung function was not decreased in ex-smokers without emphysema, FEV1/FVC and FEF25-75% were decreased in ex-smoker with emphysema (p=0.020 and p=0.010). Conclusion: Upon examination with LDCT, the prevalence of emphysema was higher in healthy smokers was than in non-smokers. Lung function was diminished in smokers with emphysema, in spite of former smoker.
Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of chest computed tomographic (CT) parameters in acute submassive pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods: Between January 2006 and December 2009, 268 consecutive patients with acute submassive PE that was confirmed by chest CT with pulmonary angiography in emergency room were studied. One experienced radiologist measured CT parameters and judged the presence of right ventricular dysfunction. CT parameters were analyzed to determine their ability to predict a major adverse event (MAE). Results: There were 220 patients included and 61 (27.7%) had MAE. Left ventricular and right ventricular maximum minor axis (36.4±8.0 vs. 41.7±7.4, p＜0.01; 45.7±9.4 vs. 41.5±7.6, p＜0.01), superior vena cava diameter (19.2±3.4 vs. 18.0±3.4, p=0.02), azygos vein diameter (10.0±2.2 vs. 9.2±2.3, p=0.02), septal displacement (19 vs. 18, p＜0.01) were significantly higher in MAE group than in no MAE group. Patients with MAE had high right ventricular/left ventricular dimension ratio (RV/LV ratio) compared to patients without MAE (1.34±0.48 vs. 1.03±0.28, p＜0.01). The most useful cut-off value of RV/LV ratio for MAE was 1.3 and the area under the curve was 0.71 (0.62∼0.79). Conclusion: RV/LV ratio on chest CT was a significant predictor of submassive PE related shock, intubation, in-hospital mortality, thrombolysis, thrombectomy within 30 days.
Abnormally located liver tissue has been described in the vicinity of the liver proper, near anatomical structures such as the gallbladder, the umbilical fossa, the adrenal gland, the pancreas, and the spleen. Supradiaphragmatic ectopic liver is a rare finding, but has been reported to have been found in the intrathoracic cavity and in the pericardium. In the majority of supradiaphragmatic ectopic liver cases, there was an accompanying transdiaphragmatic pedicle of the main liver body into the abdominal cavity. In a minority of supradiaphramatic ectopic liver cases, the liver was completely separated from the abdominal cavity without a connection between the thorax and the abdomen, with accompanying diaphragmatic anomalies. We describe one case of intrathoracic ectopic liver in a patient with a previous history of lower chest wall trauma, and a brief review of the English-language medical literature on this topic.
Intussusception primarily occurs in children and is uncommon in adults. Moreover, intussusception caused by intestinal tuberculosis is very rare. We report a case of intussusception induced by intestinal tuberculosis. A 53-year-old man presented to our hospital with complaints of cough and sputum for 2 weeks. We started anti-tuberculosis medication as the patient’s sputum acid-fast staining was positive. After 4 days of treatment, the patient developed abdominal cramping pain. Imaging studies showed ileo-ileal type intussusception. The patient underwent segmental resection of the small bowel and intestinal tuberculosis was confirmed on histological examination. He recovered after surgery and was discharged on anti-tuberculosis medication.
Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) diseases are increasing worldwide. However NTM lung disease in organ transplant recipients has been rarely reported. Here, we report 2 cases of NTM lung disease in heart transplant recipients. A 37-year-old man, who had undergone a heart transplant one year previous, was admitted to hospital due to a cough. Chest CT scan showed multiple centrilobular nodules in both lower lungs. In his sputum, M. abscessus was repeatedly identified by rpoB gene analysis. The patient improved after treatment with clarithromycin, imipenem, and amikacin. An additional patient, a 53-year-old woman who had undergone a heart transplant 4 years prior and who suffered from bronchiectasis, was admitted because of purulent sputum. The patient’s chest CT scan revealed aggravated bronchiectasis; M. intracellulare was isolated repeatedly in her sputum. Treatment was successfully completed with clarithromycin, ethambutol, and ciprofloxacin. NTM lung disease should be considered as a potential opportunistic infection in organ transplant recipients.
Novel influenza A (H1N1) virus is a common pathogen of febrile respiratory infection recently. Here, we report the case of a 63-year-old male patient who presented with 3 days’ ongoing cough and fever. He was diagnosed with novel influenza A (H1N1) pneumonia by real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (rRT-PCR). During treatment for novel influenza A (H1N1), his symptoms and radiologic findings improved initially, but multiple lung nodules developed subsequently and found on chest x-ray (on the 5th hospital day). Mycobacterium abscessus was isolated repeatedly from sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of Mycobacterium abscessus lung disease in a patient with H1N1 influenza pneumonia.
Nodular lymphoid hyperplasia is a very rare benign disease and usually shows consolidation on chest X-ray with symptoms of pneumonia due to the proliferation of lymphoid cells in the lung parenchyma. It is common for patients to be diagnosed with pneumonia and treated with antibiotics, but patients often enter a cycle of repeated improvement, followed by aggravation of symptoms. At this point, surgical diagnostic tools are considered in order to differentiate between malignant disease and interstitial lung disease. Here, we report 2 cases of patients with nodular lymphoid hyperplasia and review the associated references.