Tuberculosis: mother of thoracic surgery then and now, past and prospectives: a review.

Knowledge on ontogenesis of thoracic surgery is essential not only for understanding present concepts and debates on surgery for tuberculosis, but it also contributes to the further developments in operative treatment of lung cancer. Both diseases have been the leading cause of death in their respective ages. History of tuberculosis follows the classic algorithm: diagnostic, casuistic and therapeutical stages. Villemin followed by Virchow, and, finally, Koch revealed the pathoanatomy and the cause of tuberculosis. The therapeutic phase of lung cancer has been reached without identified cause of the disease. Chest surgery, eradication of the macroscopic focus by physical interference with the involved tissue mass, in both diseases preceded medical treatment. Identification of phenotypes of lung cancer-if it is a single disease at all-does not contravene the concept: the tumor mass should been eliminated. However, causation is not an absolute sine qua non of an effective treatment, as the tuberculosis-lung cancer analogy also proves. Surgical approach of both diseases suffered from the same paraoxon: eradication without direct interference with the causative factor. While lung cancer seems to be controlled by an emerging array of new drugs, tuberculosis poses a new challenge, as multidrug resistant and extensively drug resistant Koch bacteria are emerging and fragile societies' immunity is weakening. Thoracic surgery has a significant share in the fight against tuberculosis, when drugs and/or society fail. Palliative and radical adjuvant surgery multiplies the chance of cure in those cases, where not much hope is left. The jury is still out in a series of questions, but it is obvious, that surgery is only an option and not a panacea where medicines and their providers fail. Deeper understanding of our past and present failures with tuberculosis and its surgery might contribute to new concepts in coping with lung cancer as well.

Anton Chekhov and Robert Koch Cheek to Cheek: A Proteomic Study.

Five different letters and post cards as well as the shirt worn by Anton Chekhov on his death bed, stored in the State Literary-Memorial Museum-Reserve A. P. Chekhov Melikhovo (nearby Moscow), have been analyzed by applying EVA (an ethyl vinyl acetate foil studded with crushed strong anion and cation exchangers and with C8 resins) diskettes to these surfaces. Three different eluates (under acidic and basic conditions and with acetonitrile) were analyzed by high resolution mass spectrometry. The environmental microbiota present on samples and the Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain were described by a meta-proteomics approach. Eight identified M. tuberculosis proteins confirmed the presence of the bacterium and the cause of Chekhov's death, in addition to several sequenced peptides belonging to other bacterial species. The human plasma proteins and human keratins, detected on a tiny blood spot on the shirt, demonstrated the power of the combined approach.

The history of tuberculosis: from the first historical records to the isolation of Koch's bacillus.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious, infectious disease, due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT) that has always been a permanent challenge over the course of human history, because of its severe social implications. It has been hypothesized that the genus Mycobacterium originated more than 150 million years ago. In the Middle Ages, scrofula, a disease affecting cervical lymph nodes, was described as a new clinical form of TB. The illness was known in England and France as "king's evil", and it was widely believed that persons affected could heal after a royal touch. In 1720, for the first time, the infectious origin of TB was conjectured by the English physician Benjamin Marten, while the first successful remedy against TB was the introduction of the sanatorium cure. The famous scientist Robert Koch was able to isolate the tubercle bacillus and presented this extraordinary result to the society of Physiology in Berlin on 24 March 1882. In the decades following this discovery, the Pirquet and Mantoux tuberculin skin tests, Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin BCG vaccine, Selman Waksman streptomycin and other anti-tuberculous drugs were developed.

Vida y obra de Abel Cetrángolo (1916 - 1977) / Life and work of Abel Cetrángolo (1916-1977)

Desde 1947 se inició el tratamiento específico de la tuberculosis que adquirió un valor inusitado, dado que el mismo modificó en el mundo entero el curso de la enfermedad tuberculosa. Roentgen desde 1895 nos mostró su ubicación en el pulmón, pero fue el laboratorio que permitió su diagnóstico y tratamiento, sucesivamente modificado con el transcurrir de los años. Abel Cetrángolo, como quien fuera su maestro y padrino de tesis, Andrés Arena entre nosotros, logró caracterizar al bacilo de Koch y en esa misma tesis nos enseñó el valor diagnóstico del contenido gástrico. Se distinguió por la seriedad de sus trabajos científicos tanto en Córdoba en la escuela de Gumersindo Sayago como en la Cátedra de Patología y Clínica de la Tuberculosis con la conducción de Raúl F Vaccarezza; fue un verdadero maestro para sus discípulos sentando bases valederas en sus conclusiones. Todo jefe de servicio debe trascender por lo que dejacientíficamente, pero también en la formación de médicos que puedan continuar en la profesión desde el punto de vista asistencial y docente con el ejemplo que él les legó.

Since 1947 the specific treatment of tuberculosis acquired an unused value, since it changed over the world the course of tuberculosis. Roentgen from 1895 showed us its location in the lung, but it was the laboratory that allowed its diagnosis and treatment, successively modified with the passing of the years. Abel Cetrángolo, and his former teacher and thesis godfather Andrés Arena among us, characterized the Koch bacillus and in that same thesis reinforced the value of gastric content. It was distinguished by the seriousness of his scientific works, both in Córdoba in Gumersido Sayago school and in the Department of Pathology and Clinical Tuberculosis headed by Raul F Vaccarezza, was a true master for his disciples sitting valid bases of conclusions. All service manager must transcend so scientifically leaves, but also in the training of doctors that can continue in the profession from the point of view clinical and teaching by example that he bequeathed them.

[Endobronchial tuberculosis]. / La tuberculose endobronchique.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB) is an uncommon type of tuberculosis. The respiratory symptoms in EBTB are usually nonspecific and misleading. The aim of the study is to determine the clinical features and diagnostic aspects of EBTB. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight cases of endobronchial tuberculosis collected from January 2009 to October 2015. RESULTS: EBTB was found in 16 females and 12 males. The mean age was 48 years. The history of tuberculosis and tuberculosis contagion were not found in any case. The respiratory symptoms were dominated by cough and dyspnea. Hemoptysis was found in 7 cases. The chest X-ray showed associated pulmonary lesions in 26 cases. Bronchoscopy finded an endobronchial granular lesion in 15 cases, a tumorous pattern in 7 cases; a thickening spurs in 4 cases and ganglio-bronchial fistula in two cases. Bronchial biopsies had found a caseo-follicular tuberculosis in 27 cases. Pleural biopsy confirmed associated pleural tuberculosis in one case. The research of Koch bacillus in the sputum was positive in 13 cases and culture in 6 cases. The antituberculosis treatment was started in all patients and an oral corticosteroids treatment was associated in 5 cases. The evolution was good in 26 cases. CONCLUSION: This study showed clinical, radiological and endoscopic bronchial tuberculosis polymorphism making its diagnosis difficult and the importance of a bacteriological and/or histological confirmation.

[Silicotuberculosis]. / La silicotuberculose.

OBJECTIVE: Tuberculosis is a serious and common complication of silicosis. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological, clinical, radiological and progressive aspects of this pathological entity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study concerns 23 cases of silicotuberculosis which were collected at the service of respiratory diseases at CHU Ibn Rochd of Casablanca, Morocco during 12years (2003-2015). RESULTS: All patients were men. They were 7 diggers, 5 rock crushers, 7 miners and 4 masons. The mean duration of silica exposure was 11years. The symptomatology was dominated by dyspnea and persistent bronchial syndrome. Imagery showed tumor-like opacities in all cases, associated with mediastinal calcified lymphadenopathy in 9 cases, with micronodules in 8 cases and an excavated opacity in 2 cases. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was confirmed by isolation of the Koch's bacillus in sputum in 13% of cases in the bronchial aspirate in 52% and culture in sputum post-bronchoscopy in 13%. The bronchial biopsies confirmed the diagnosis in 2 cases. Tuberculosis had complicated silicosis 9years on average after the cessation of exposure to silica in 65% of cases. The antituberculous treatment was started in all patients with good clinical outcome in 22 cases. We had deplored a case of death by acute respiratory failure. CONCLUSION: Silicosis increases the risk of tuberculosis, hence the importance of TB screening in all patients with silicosis.