Bi-allelic missense ABCA3 mutations in a patient with childhood ILD who reached adulthood.

Children with ABCA3 mutations may survive beyond infancy and reach adulthood. Genetic mechanisms should always be examined in adult patients with childhood onset ILD and molecular analysis should be performed accordingly in specialised referral centres. http://bit.ly/2LzMNOE.

Pulmonary function in children with idiopathic scoliosis.

Idiopathic scoliosis, a common disorder of lateral displacement and rotation of vertebral bodies during periods of rapid somatic growth, has many effects on respiratory function. Scoliosis results in a restrictive lung disease with a multifactorial decrease in lung volumes, displaces the intrathoracic organs, impedes on the movement of ribs and affects the mechanics of the respiratory muscles. Scoliosis decreases the chest wall as well as the lung compliance and results in increased work of breathing at rest, during exercise and sleep. Pulmonary hypertension and respiratory failure may develop in severe disease. In this review the epidemiological and anatomical aspects of idiopathic scoliosis are noted, the pathophysiology and effects of idiopathic scoliosis on respiratory function are described, the pulmonary function testing including lung volumes, respiratory flow rates and airway resistance, chest wall movements, regional ventilation and perfusion, blood gases, response to exercise and sleep studies are presented. Preoperative pulmonary function testing required, as well as the effects of various surgical approaches on respiratory function are also discussed.

Membranous obliterative bronchitis: a proposed unifying model.

Three adults with cystic fibrosis (one after lung transplantation) presented with fever, chest pain, and acute radiographic changes. The changes included a cavitary lesion of the lung, acute dense infiltrates, and lobar collapse. After failing conventional antibiotic therapy, the patients underwent flexible bronchoscopy. All had bronchial obstruction by a membrane that had completely occluded the bronchial orifice at the bifurcation of the bronchi. Therapeutic interventions ranged from continuing intravenous antibiotics, bronchoscopy-assisted perforation of the membrane by sharp instrumentation, and transthoracic needle-guided perforation of the membrane with subsequent stenting of the orifice. The patients recovered, but the posttransplant patient had recurrent membranous obstructions with multiple interventions. The cause and triggers of the process are unknown. Based on repeated observations of the evolution of the membranes, and histologic material from bronchoscopies, we propose a putative paradigm of the natural history of the process. We suggest that local stimuli generate a richly vascularized granulation polyp, which progresses in a "shutter-like" motion to form partial or completely obstructive membranes. The subsequent course depends on the vascular supply to the membrane. We also propose that similar processes may be the underlying pathologic events in some cases of lung abscess and necrotizing pneumonia.