BACKGROUND:Invasive procedures such as bronchoscopic biopsy, bronchial washing, and bronchial brushing are widely used in diagnosis of lung cancers. The mean diagnostic rate with bronchoscopic forceps biopsy is 74% in central tumors. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of cryobiopsies in histopathological diagnosis.METHODS:Forty-one patients who had interventional bronchoscopy were included in this study. Three forceps biopsies and one cryobiopsy with cryorecanalization probe were obtained from each subject. Biopsies interpretations were done by one expert pathologist.RESULTS:Hemorrhage was the only complication in both procedures. There was no significant difference between these two procedures in the incidence of hemorrhage (P > 0.05). Mean diameters of samples taken with forceps biopsy and cryoprobe biopsy were 0.2 and 0.8 cm, respectively (P < 0.001). Thirty-two patients (78%) were diagnosed with forceps biopsies, and 38 patients (92.7%) were diagnosed with cryoprobe biopsies (P = 0.031).CONCLUSIONS:We concluded that cryoprobe biopsies were more successful than forceps biopsies in diagnosis. Nevertheless, further investigations are warranted to determine an efficacy of cryoprobe biopsy procedures and a rationale to use as a part of routine flexible bronchoscopy.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs in which inflammatory markers are involved with significant extrapulmonary effects that may contribute to its severity and complications. Moreover, some of the inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with COPD. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is the member of long pentraxins. The aim of the present study was to investigate the level of PTX3 in patients with COPD. Fifty-four COPD patients and 31 controls were enrolled in this study. Demographical data such as age, sex, cigarette smoking status, comorbidities, drugs, habits, and modified Medical Research Council (MMRC) dyspnea scores were recorded. All patients were asked for COPD Assessment Test™ (CAT). The mean age was 65.7 ± 9.8 years, 92 % male. Plasma levels of PTX3 were found to be markedly higher in COPD patients [1.65 (0.32-12.72) ng/ml] than in controls [1.05 (0.43-3.26) ng/ml; p = 0.005]. On the other hand, PTX3 values did not differ between COPD stages [A, 1.73 (0.69-11.03); B, 1.49 (0.84-12.52); C, 0.79 (0.52-1.06); and D, 2.09 (0.32-12.72); p = 0.27]. The plasma PTX3 levels were positively correlated with MMRC scores. We conclude that circulating PTX3 levels are elevated in COPD patients. Plasma levels of PTX3 were correlated with dyspnea (MMRC scores). But PTX3 levels were not correlated with the severity of COPD.

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Background/aim: Pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia (PASH) is a rare and benign mesenchymal proliferative breast lesion. Our aim is to review the clinical and radiological features of PASH and define a standard approach for its diagnosis and management. Materials and methods: Clinical records of 35 consecutive patients with PASH were retrospectively reviewed between 2009 and 2015. Patients with clinically or radiologically detected mass and patients who underwent biopsy for other indications and were diagnosed incidentally were included in the study. Results: There were 34 female patients and one male patient with gynecomastia. Twenty-three patients had palpable masses, and 16 of them were diagnosed as PASH with a median size of 3.1 cm. PASH did not show any specific features in radiological imaging. Core needle biopsy was performed for 3 patients before surgical excision; however, the lesions had not been diagnosed as PASH. In pathological examination, lesions associated with PASH showed nonproliferative changes in 14 patients, proliferative changes without atypia in 17, one phyllodes tumor, one in situ tumor, and one invasive cancer. Conclusion: Imaging findings of PASH are nonspecific. It is difficult to give a true prognostic diagnosis through pathological evaluation of big masses with core needle biopsy. We recommend surgical excision, especially for big lesions with suspicious features.

Introduction: Symptom assessment is essential in the palliative care of patients with cancer. We studied the Memorial Assessment Scale Test-Short Form (MSAS-SF) and Condensed Memorial Assessment Test (CMSAS) in Turkish lung cancer patients. Material and Method: Fifty-one patients with lung cancer (47 non-small, 4 small cell) were staged according to the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 2007 and filled the MSAS-SF. Karnofsky performance status, TNM staging, MSAS-SF and CMSAS scores were recorded. The study was approved by the local research ethics committee. Results: The mean age of 51 patients was 61.7 ± 9. Fifty-one percent were staged as M1 while 49% were staged as M0. The mean values for global distress index, PHYS (physical symptom distress), PSYCH (psychological symptom score) and MSAS-SUM were 1.15 ± 0.8, 0.9 ± 0.8, 1.13 ± 1.03 and 0.82 ± 0.47 in order. The mean values for CPHYS (physical symptom distress for Condensed MSAS), CPSYCH (psychological symptom score for CMSAS) and CSUM (sum scores) were 1.2 ± 0.75, 1.22 ± 1.1 and 1.16 ± 0.69 in order. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for MSAS-SF and CMSAS were 0.861 and 0.728 in order. Summary scores for both MSAS-SF and CMSAS-SF were significantly higher in patients with M1 disease than from M0 disease. In addition, PHYS and MSAS-SUM in MSAS-SF were significantly correlated with T and N stage. The area under curve for MSAS-SF and CMSAS were 0.793 and 0.70 in order. Conclusion: MSAS-SF and CMSAS demonstrated significantly higher scores in lung cancer patients with M1 disease than patients with M0 disease. Further studies are needed to evaluate the usefulness of MSAS-SF and CMSAS in lung cancer patients.

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At the end of this study, we found that serum YKL-40 level increase with severity of OSAS. The findings suggest that YKL-40 may be a useful biomarker for inflammation in patients with OSAS.

GİRİŞHava yollarının kronik inflamatuvar bir hastalığı olan astımın dünyada yaklaşık olarak 300 milyon kişiyi etkilediği düşünülmektedir. Son yıllarda prevalansı giderek artan astım kronik hava yolu inflamasyonunun sonucu olarak nefes darlığı, hışıltılı solunum, öksürük ve göğüste sıkışma hissiyle ataklar halinde seyreden bir hastalıktır. Fizyopatogenezi halen tam olarak bilinmeyen astımda poligenik geçişli genetik yatkınlık ve özellikle günümüzde artan çevresel maruziyet etyolojide birlikte rol almaktadır (1). Son yıllarda astımda epigenetik değişikliklerin patogenezdeki rolü üzerinde çalışmalar giderek artmaktadır. Bu nedenle derleme yazımızda astımda görülen epigenetik mekanizmaların önemini vurgulamayı amaçladık.