BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The role of advanced MR imaging techniques in demonstrating the microarchitectural changes in osteoporosis has been recently investigated. Our aim was to determine the role of quantitative and diffusion MR imaging in the diagnosis of osteoporosis compared with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA).

In total, 151 newly diagnosed patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis were studied. The mean time from the onset of symptoms to the first visit to a physician was 46.4 days; the mean referral delay was 28.9 days; the mean delay in diagnosis was 2.4 days; and the mean delay in treatment initiation was 0.8 days. There was a delay in consulting a physician by 49% of patients. A low index of suspicion for tuberculosis on the part of the physician and healthcare system and laboratory delays were the most common reasons for delays in diagnosis.

Pulmonary glomus tumours are rare lesions, with few cases reported previously. Herein, we present the clinical and pathological features of a case of pulmonary glomus tumour. A 29-year-old female patient presented to our clinic complaining of cough, dyspnoea and left-sided chest pain. Computed tomography (CT) of the thorax revealed a nodular lesion causing obstruction of the left main bronchus. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy demonstrated a polypoid mass occluding the left main bronchus 10 mm distal to the main carina. Bronchoscopic biopsy was interpreted histologically as carcinoid tumour. Bronchotomy plus mass extirpation was performed with left thoracotomy. Microscopically, a tumoral structure composed of uniform cells with a round centrally located nucleolus and narrow eosinophilic cytoplasm was seen. Thin-walled vessels lined with endothelium were interspersed between tumoral structures. The cells were stained chromogranin and cytokeratin negative and strongly vimentin positive. The pathological diagnosis for the thoracotomy specimen was pulmonary glomus tumour. Follow-up chest CT was negative for recurrent tumour and the patient remains free of disease 17 months after surgery.

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Selvi, A. Kant, S. Arslan, M. Ozgel. Background: Residual pleural thickening (RPT) still occurs in most patients with tuberculosis pleurisy despite advances in the treatment of tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of RPT in tuberculosis pleurisy with the patients clinical findings, biochemical and microbiological properties of pleural effusion and with the total adenosine deaminase (ADA) and isoenzymes levels. Methods: 121 tuberculosis pleurisy patients were evaluated retrospectively. According to posteroanterior chest x-rays, the 63 (52%) cases with the thickness 2 mm or more in lower lateral hemithorax were grouped as I and the 58 (48%) cases without pleural thickness were grouped as II. The amount of pleural effusion was classified into small, medium or massive according to their chest x-rays. In both groups; sex, age, symptoms score, bacteriological and biochemical tests and ADA levels were recorded. Results: 81 (67%) male and 40 (33%) female, overall 121 patients were enrolled into the study. RPT was found higher in males (p=0.014) and the increase ran parallel with the amount of cigarette smoking (p=0.014). RPT was found to be lower in small effusions (p=0.001). The group with RPT, the serum albumin was found lower (p=0.002), pleural fluid total protein (p=0.047) and the ratio of pleural fluid protein to serum protein (p=0.002) were found higher. In group I, total ADA: 69.5±38.9 IU/L and ADA2: 41.3±31.6 IU/L were higher than the cases without RPT (p=0.032, p=0.017, respectively). Conclusions: We suggest that the immunological mechanisms are effective in the development of pleural thickening.