We hereby proposed a strategy to maximize biological information retrieval from a limited TTNA specimen in patients with peripheral lung cancer. This algorithm indicated CB preparation for accurate histological subtyping and waste needle washing for molecular testing.
Background Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is the leading cause of death in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Treatment with cyclophosphamide (CYC) for 1 year has been shown to preserve pulmonary function. However, long-term efficacy and safety of CYC treatment for more than 1 year remains to be known. Objectives To investigate efficacy and tolerability of long-term CYC treatment in SSc patients with ILD. Methods All of the SSc-associated ILD patients who have been treated with CYC for more than 1 year at Rheumatology clinic of Seoul National University Hospital between 1978 and 2013 were enrolled. The information on clinical characteristics and pulmonary function test results were obtained from medical record review. Chest computed tomography (CT) was reviewed by a radiologist and classified into 4 grades depending on the extent of lung involvement. Mortality data were obtained from medical record or mortality record from Statistics Korea. Results A total of 32 SSc patients with ILD were treated with CYC for more than 1 year with the mean treatment duration of 28.0 months (range: 12.0- 70.5 months). The mean age at diagnosis was 47.5±9.4 years and women were dominant at 84.4%. The mean functional vital capacity (FVC) at baseline was 66.0±16.0% of predicted. At baseline 18 (64.3%) patients had CT grade of 2 or more. After mean (standard deviation) follow up period of 4.1 (3.1) years, FVC remained stable with the mean increase of 2.3 (2.5) % (P=0.365, by paired t test). Furthermore, the degree of pulmonary involvement on CT did not progress. Six patients died during the follow-up; pneumonia (n=1), pulmonary hypertension (n=1), subdural hemorrhage (n=1), heart failure (n=2) and malignancy (n=1). Adverse events during CYC treatment included severe infection (n=4), cytopenia (n=4), hemorrhagic cystitis (n=1) and alopecia (n=3). Conclusions Prolonged treatment with CYC for more than 1 year is associated with stabilization of ILD in the respect of pulmonary function and extent of lung involvement on CT. Long-term maintenance treatment with CYC may be an option to treat severe ILD in SSc patients. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.4302
Congenital bronchoesophageal fistula (BEF) is rarely reported in adults in the English literature. Herein, we present a rare case of congenital BEF in a 43-year-old man that was incidentally found on esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Chest CT and barium esophagography revealed a fistula between his lower esophagus and the right lower lobe segmental bronchus. After the fistula was surgically treated, the fistula was no longer noted on follow-up barium esophagography.
Background Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease characterized by fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. Although interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a major cause of death in this disease, pulmonary function remains stable in a subset of SSc patients with ILD without any treatment. However, clinical characteristics in this subset of patients are not well characterized. Objectives To investigate clinical characteristics of SSc patients with ILD who do not require additional immunosuppressive treatment for ILD. Methods A total of 151 SSc patients with ILD who received medical care at Seoul National University Hospital between 1978 and 2013 were enrolled in this study. ILD was diagnosed based on chest computed tomography (CT) and the extent of ILD was semi-quantitatively graded into 1-4 (grade 1, <25%; grade 2, 25–50%; grade 3, 50–75%; grade 4, >75% of lung involvement). Detailed baseline clinical characteristics were obtained from medical record review. Mortality was ascertained from medical record review and data from the Statistics Korea. After confirming survival benefit of untreated group versus treated group with Kaplan Meier analysis, clinical characteristics of untreated group were defined by comparison with treated group (chi-square test or Student t-test). Sensitivity test was performed by proving survival benefit of patients with the defined characteristics in the untreated group (log-rank test). Results The mean (standard deviation) age at diagnosis of 151 patients was 48.7 (12.9) years and 88.7% were women. Eighty (52.9%) patients did not receive immunosuppressive treatment for ILD, while 71 (47.0%) patients required immunosuppressive treatment, which includes cyclophosphamide (n=46), azathioprine (n=8), glucocorticoids (n=14) and others (n=3). Interestingly, median survival of non-treatment group was significantly better than treatment group during the follow-up of 1300.80 person-years (p=0.029 by log-rank test). Compared with treatment group, non-treatment group had higher baseline predicted % of forced vital capacity (FVC, 79.2±16.8% vs. 68.0±18.2, p<0.001), predicted % of diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide (DLCO, 66.4±20.5 vs. 52.0±17.9, p<0.001), lower CT grade (Grade 1: 89.6% vs. 54.7%, p<0.001), absence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (83.8% vs. 64.8%, p=0.013) and absence of gastrointestinal involvement (60.0% vs. 39.0%). Other baseline characteristics were not different, which include age at diagnosis, duration of disease, skin subset, profile of autoantibodies, involvement of heart or kidney and subtypes of ILD on CT. Among the non-treatment group, patients with the defined characteristics showed significant survival benefit than those without the characteristics (p=0.0047 by log-rank test). Conclusions Watch and wait approach may be applied to patients with SSc-associated ILD with minimal pulmonary infiltrates on CT scan and absence of pulmonary arterial hypertension at ILD diagnosis. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eul...
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