Sputum Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin as a Biomarker in Asthma-COPD Overlap.

BACKGROUND: Asthma COPD overlap (ACO) is a consensus-based phenotype having characteristics of both COPD and asthma. Distinguishing ACO from other diseases is even more important as it is related to low health-related quality of life, augmented exacerbation rate and hospital admission, a rapid deterioration in lung function, and increased morbidity and mortality. But it cannot be diagnosed explicitly based on spirometry tests, patient demographics, radiology, or by-sputum cytology. There is an unmet need to develop biomarkers. OBJECTIVES: To assess the role of sputum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) as a biomarker of ACO. To find the correlation between sputum NGAL levels with forced expiratory volume 1 (FEV1) and exacerbation rate in ACO. To find the correlation between sputum NGAL level with sputum neutrophils and eosinophils in ACO. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this comparative correlational study, 180 subjects were enrolled into four groups with 45 patients each with asthma, COPD, ACO, and healthy nonsmokers respectively, respectively. After taking detailed history and demographics, sputum was analyzed for the differential count and NGAL. RESULTS: Asthma COPD overlap (ACO) cases had high sputum NGAL levels; the second was the COPD group, and the last in the case asthma group. Nonsmokers had notably lower readings than the diseased. Out of three, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) figures, the validity of NGAL was best in selecting patients of ACO than COPD and asthma. The area under curve (AUC) was highest for ACO and less than the acceptable limit for the remaining two. NGAL cut-off value of 2473 pg/mL had 80% sensitivity and 50% specificity for ACO. CONCLUSION: The present study investigated the sputum NGAL levels as a biomarker in ACO identified by the syndromic approach. Sputum NGAL, a biomarker associated with airway inflammation in airway diseases, was supportive of clinically differentiating ACO from asthma to COPD. How to cite this article: Babu A, Narayanswamy H, Baburao A. Sputum Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin as a Biomarker in Asthma-COPD Overlap. J Assoc Physicians India 2023;71(9):34-38.

A rare cause of bilateral pleural effusion - desmoplastic small round cell tumor.

Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is a rare, extremely aggressive and malignant tumor predominantly affects young adolescent males and typically presents as a large intra-abdominal mass. However, tumor arising from other body sites are also reported in the literature. Histology and immunohistochemistry play an important role in the diagnosis and differentiating this rare tumor from other round cell tumors. A multidisciplinary approach consisting of a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy is the treatment of choice as there is no standard therapy.  We report a case of DSRCT of pleura presenting as bilateral pleural effusion in a young adolescent male who was treated with both surgery and chemotherapy. However, the patient succumbed to illness after one year of diagnosis.

A double whammy in an immunocompromised patient.

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is a common opportunistic infection in immunocompromised patients, especially those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonia most often occurs as a coinfection with another opportunistic pathogen especially in patients with severe immunosuppression. We present a case of PCP-CMV coinfection in a newly diagnosed HIV patient who was treated with the recommended therapy for both diseases and had a favorable outcome. The presence of CMV in the context of another opportunistic respiratory tract infection is often to be not treated, due to conflicting evidence of its therapeutic benefit. Our report highlights the importance of CMV treatment to achieve clinical stability and recovery in newly diagnosed patients with HIV and severely immuno-compromised status.

Pulmonary nocardiosis: Report of two cases from a tertiary care hospital.

Pulmonary nocardiosis is an uncommon bacterial infection that may lead to severe disease in immunocompromised patients. The disease is rare in immunocompetent patients. Reported cases are few, and the literature is limited because disease recognition is difficult. We present a case report of two patients of pulmonary nocardiosis, who had different clinicoradiological presentations and also responded differently to treatment. Given the rising incidence of cancer, organ transplantation, and use of parenteral steroids, Nocardia is likely to attain a higher place among the causes of pulmonary infections.

Clinico-Pathological Profile and Haematological Abnormalities Associated with Lung Cancer in Bangalore, India.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer causing high morbidity and mortality worldwide. An increasing incidence of lung cancer has been observed in India. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinic- pathological profile and haematological abnormalities associated with lung cancer in Bangalore, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study was carried out over a period of 2 years. A total of 96 newly diagnosed and histopathologically confirmed cases of lung cancer were included in the study. RESULTS: Our lung cancer cases had a male to female ratio of 3:1. Distribution of age varied from 40 to 90 years, with a major contribution in the age group between 61 and 80 years (55.2%). Smoking was the commonest risk factor found in 69.7% of patients. The most frequent symptom was cough (86.4%) followed by loss of weight and appetite (65.6%) and dyspnea (64.5%). The most common radiological presentation was a mass lesion (55%). The most common histopathological type was squamous cell carcinoma (47.9%), followed by adenocarcinoma (28.1%) and small cell carcinoma (12.5%). Distant metastasis at presentation was seen in 53.1% patients. Among the haematological abnormalities, anaemia was seen in 61.4% of patients, leucocytosis in 36.4%, thrombocytosis in 14.5% and eosinophilia in 19.7% of patients. Haematological abnormalities were more commonly seen in non small cell lung cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Squamous cell carcinoma was found to be the most common histopathological type and smoking still remains the major risk factor for lung cancer. Haematological abnormalities are frequently observed in lung cancer patients, anaemia being the commonest of all.