The impact of the 2007 ATS/IDSA diagnostic criteria for nontuberculous mycobacterial disease on the diagnosis of nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease.

BACKGROUND: In 2007, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) published new diagnostic guidelines for nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) disease. Bacteriological criteria have become simpler compared to the 1997 ATS diagnostic criteria. OBJECTIVE: For assessing the impact of the 2007 ATS/IDSA diagnostic criteria, we compared the diagnosis rate and time to diagnosis of NTM lung disease using the 1997 and 2007 ATS guidelines. METHODS: Sixty-four patients who had excreted Mycobacterium intracellulare, M. avium, M. abscessus or M. kansasii at least one time in their respiratory specimens at Chonnam National University Hospital were reviewed. The 1997 ATS and 2007 ATS/IDSA guidelines were applied to these patients. RESULTS: Thirty-seven of 64 patients (57.8%) were diagnosed with NTM lung disease by the 1997 ATS criteria. When the 2007 ATS/IDSA criteria were applied, 6 patients were newly diagnosed with NTM lung disease. The diagnosis rate significantly increased from 57.8 to 67.2% (p < 0.001). The time to diagnosis in the 1997 ATS and 2007 ATS/IDSA guidelines was 46.4 ± 53.0 and 36.2 ± 38.5 days, respectively (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that we can shorten the time to diagnose NTM lung disease and diagnose more simply by using the 2007 ATS/IDSA guidelines. Further study will be needed to assess that these changes affect the management of NTM disease.

Can pleuropulmonary paragonimiasis be cured by only the 1st set of chemotherapy? Treatment outcome and clinical features of recently developed pleuropulmonary paragonimiasis.

PURPOSE: Most patients with pleuropulmonary paragonimiasis can be cured by the initial single set of Praziquantel (PZQ) treatment. However, several cases have been reported to have unsatisfactory responses to the initial PZQ treatment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical findings of patients with pleuropulmonary paragonimiasis who needed additional PZQ treatment after the 1st set chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-two patients who were diagnosed with pleuropulmonary paragonimiasis at our institution between 2003 and 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: All patients were treated initially with PZQ for 3 days (1st set chemotherapy). Twenty-four patients (75.0%) showed improvement in respiratory symptoms and pulmonary involvements. However, eight patients (25.0%) suffered from relapsed respiratory symptoms and pleural effusion. For these patients, an additional 2nd set PZQ treatment resulted in the resolution of the symptoms and pulmonary involvements. The characteristics of patients who needed multi-set treatments were as follows; longer duration of respiratory symptoms (single vs multi-set treatment group; 6.67 ± 8.08 vs 17.86 ± 11.84 weeks, p=0.009), higher IgG titer (optical density, O.D.) for Pargonimus westermani (ELISA O.D. for PW, 0.54 ± 0.19 vs 0.88 ± 0.16 O.D., p=0.001) and higher frequency of multiple pulmonary lesions (% of patients with multiple lesions; 16.7% vs 50.0%, p=0.059). CONCLUSION: The patients who had a longer duration of respiratory symptoms, higher ELISA titer for PW and/or multiple pulmonary lesions needed an additional PZQ treatment after the 1st set of chemotherapy. Close follow-up after the initial treatment is necessary especially for such patients.

Surgically resected isolated hepatic metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer: a case report.

We treated a patient with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and an isolated hepatic metastasis. He was a 56-year-old male who underwent right pneumonectomy after concurrent chemoradiation therapy (etoposide+cisplatin) with the diagnosis of stage IIIA squamous cell lung carcinoma. Seven months later, an isolated hepatic metastasis was found on a PET-CT scan. Hepatic segmentectomy was performed, and the pathology showed squamous cell carcinoma. Adjuvant chemotherapy with five cycles of gemcitabine and cisplatin was also given. The patient has been followed with PET-CT and CT scanning every 6 months, and there is no evidence of relapse at more than 5 years after the diagnosis of NSCLC. This shows that the surgical resection of an isolated hepatic metastasis may be an option in carefully selected patients with NSCLC without evidence of disease outside the liver.

Does hypercapnic acidosis, induced by adding CO2 to inspired gas, have protective effect in a ventilator-induced lung injury?

To investigate whether hypercapnic acidosis, induced by adding CO2 to inspired gas, would be protective effect against ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), we ventilated 55 normal white rabbits for 6 hr or until PaO2/FIO2 <200 mmHg. Control group (n=15) was ventilated with peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) of 15 cm H2O, positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) of 3 cm H2O, an inspiration-to-expiration ratio of 1:2, and an inspired oxygen fraction (FIO2) of 0.40. High pressure hypercapnic group (HPHC; n=20) was ventilated with PIP of 30 cm H2O, PEEP of 0 cm H2O, and FIO2 of 0.40. Carbon dioxide was introduced into the inspiratory limb of the ventilator circuit, as necessary to maintain hypercapnia (PaCO2, 65 to 75 mmHg). High pressure normocapnic group (HPNC; n=20) was ventilated with same setting of HPHC, except normocapnia (PaCO2, 35 to 45 mmHg). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, interleukin-8 were significantly higher in high pressure ventilator group than control group (p<0.05). Wet weight to dry weight (WW/DW) and histologic scores were significantly higher in high pressure ventilator group than control group (p<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in oxygenation, BALF inflammatory markers, WW/DW and histologic scores between HPHC and HPNC groups. These findings suggest that hypercapnic acidosis at least induced by CO2 insufflation would not be protective effect against VILI in this model.