[Thoracoscopic repair of peritoneopleual communication with a giant diaphragmatic bullae in a patient with liver cirrhosis; report of a case].

Hepatic hydrothorax is defined as pleural effusion in patients with a cirrhotic liver. The pleural effusion occurs due to ascites flowing to the pleural cavity through a diaphragmatic communication. Recent literature has described the usefulness of a thoracoscopic repair and has shown that it can control pleural effusion very efficaciously. The patient was a 65-year-old woman who complained of dyspnea and was admitted to our hospital. A chest X-ray revealed marked right pleural effusion. We injected indigo carmine intraperitoneally and observed indigo carmine-colored pleural effusion; thus peritoneopleural communication was validated. After the failure of thoracic drainage and pleurodesis with minocycline hydrochloride, thoracoscopic surgery was performed 5 weeks after hospitalization. Obvious bulla formation was observed on the diaphragm, which was immediately resected with linear staplers. The postoperative course was excellent without any recurrence of pleural effusion.

Nosocomial contamination by Mycobacterium gordonae in hospital water supply and super-oxidized water.

We experienced contamination by Mycobacterium gordonae of the hospital water of our surgical ward. The contamination was discovered following detection of the organism in operative lung samples, washed with super-oxidized water. Repeated examination of water demonstrated contamination by M. gordonae occurred only in the surgical ward, related to the apparatus for making super-oxidized water. No patients were infected by M. gordonae. After changing the water supply equipment and cleaning the water tubes, M. gordonae in the water disappeared.

Expression of oncofetal fibronectin and syndecan-1 mRNA in 18 human lung cancer cell lines.

It has been suggested that fibronectin (FN) and syndecan play an important role in many aspects of cell-substrate interactions including cell adhesion. We hypothesized that oncofetal FN (onfFN) and syndecan play an important role in the process of adhesion of several human lung cancer cell lines. To test this, levels of onfFN in the culture supernatant were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 18 human lung cancer cell lines. In addition, expressions of onfFN and syndecan-1 mRNA were analyzed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Of 18 lung cancer cell lines, 3 cell lines (all adenocarcinoma) released a significant amount of onfFN in culture supernatants. Of the 18 cell lines tested, 6 cell lines expressed a significant amount of mRNA for onfFN and 4 expressed a significant amount of mRNA for syndecan-1. Levels of onfFN and expressions of mRNA for onfFN and syndecan-1 were consistently higher in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines than in small cell lung cancer cell lines. In addition, cell lines that expressed mRNA for onfFN and syndecan-1 tended to adhere to culture dishes. Syndecan-1 expression was significantly higher in attached cells compared with nonattached cells within the same cell line. Differences in onfFN and syndecan synthesis may explain some in vitro and in vivo characteristics of lung cancer.