Paraneoplastic dermatomyositis associated with adenocarcinoma of the lung.

The association of dermatomyositis and lung cancer has been recognized a long time ago. The case of a 57-year old patient with lung adenocarcinoma and dermatomyositis as the first sign of the illness is presented. The occurrence of dermatomyositis should be considered as a potential presentation of paraneoplastic syndromes, particularly in patients at risk for lung cancer.

Successful treatment of pseudomembranous necrotizing aspergillus tracheobronchitis in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia.

INTRODUCTION: Pseudomembranous necrotizing Aspergillus tracheobronchitis is a rare form of pulmonary aspergillosis which occurs in immunocompromised patients. CASE OUTLINE: A female patient aged 71, suffering from acute myeloid leukemia, developed the symptoms of progressive shortness of breath and inspiratory stridor. The diagnosis in our case was made on the histological findings from tissues obtained by bronchoscopy. A chest CT scan suggested the state of the compromised trachea and left principal bronchus lumen. The long-term regimen with itraconazole in the dose of 400 mg/24 hours proved efficient in our patient. CONCLUSION: Progressive shortness of breath and inspiratory stridor in immunocompromised patients along with radiological and CT changes should be also considered as pulmonary aspergillosis in differential diagnosis.

Clinical characteristics, tumor, node, metastasis status, and mutation rate in domain of epidermal growth factor receptor gene in serbian patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Mutation rate in domain of EGFR gene varies between populations of lung cancer patients. Primary aim of this study was to analyze clinical and pathological characteristics, and tumor, node, metastasis status and stage of diseases, in relation to mutation status. METHODS: After histological confirmation of lung adenocarcinoma tissue obtained during bronchoscopy was consecutively sent for EGFR testing. Genomic DNA extraction was performed with the QIAamp DNA FFPE Tissue kit. Clinical data for multivariate analysis were extracted from hospital based-lung cancer registry. RESULTS: Among 360 tested patients, there was 67.8% males and 32.2% females, aged 61 ± 9.8 years. Majority of patients were smokers (57.0%) with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 1 performance status (92.2%). Mutation in EGFR gene was detected in 42 (11.7%) patients. Deletion in exon 19 was detected in 24 (6.7%) patients, mutation in exon 21 in 17 (4.7%), and mutation in exon 18 in one patient (0.3%). Patients were mostly diagnosed in stage IV adenocarcinoma (74.4%). Statistically significant differences were determined in relation to smoking (p < 0.001), T descriptor (size; p = 0.019) and gender (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Mutation rate in domain of EGFR gene in investigated lung cancer population is in range with reported data in Caucasian race. Smoking, T descriptor and gender were found to be related to the EGFR status.

Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Lung cancer is one of the most common human malignancies and remains the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. Many recent technological advances led to improved diagnostics and staging of lung cancer. With development of new treatment options such as targeted therapies there might be improvement in progression free survival of patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Improvement in overall survival is still reserved for selected patients and selected treatments. One of the mostly investigated therapeutic options is adjuvant treatment. There are many open issues in selection of patients and administration of appropriate adjuvant treatment.