Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) allows microscopic imaging of the alveoli during bronchoscopy. The objective of the study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of pCLE for amiodarone-related pneumonia (AMR-IP).Alveolar pCLE was performed in 36 nonsmoking patients, including 33 consecutive patients with acute or subacute interstitial lung disease (ILD), of which 17 were undergoing treatment with amiodarone, and three were amiodarone-treated patients without ILD.Nine out of 17 patients were diagnosed with high-probability AMR-IP (HP-AMR-IP) by four experts, and three separate observers. Bronchoalveolar lavage findings did not differ between HP-AMR-IP and lowprobability AMR-IP (LP-AMR-IP) patients. In HP-AMR-IP patients, pCLE showed large (.20 mm) and strongly fluorescent cells in 32 out of 38 alveolar areas. In contrast, these cells were observed in only two out of 39 areas from LP-AMR-IP patients, in one out of 59 areas from ILD patients not receiving amiodarone and in none of the 10 areas from amiodarone-treated patients without ILD (p,0.001; HP-AMR-IP versus other groups). The presence of at least one alveolar area with large and fluorescent cells had a sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value for the diagnosis of AMR-IP of 100%, 88%, 100% and 90%, respectively.In conclusion, pCLE appears to be a valuable tool for the in vivo diagnosis of AMR-IP in subacute ILD patients. @ERSpublications Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy appears useful for diagnosis of amiodarone-related pneumonia in subacute ILD

Vascular endothelial cells were labelled with 10 vegetal lectins and 3 more monoclonal antibodies antiblood group ABO substances, in major organs of 14 common laboratory animals. After fixation in PLPa and paraffin embedding, cells were examined to determine their likeness to human cells. The most interesting reactive used was EEA, whose positivity defines upper mammalians. Blood B substance positivity and CSA negativity defines primates among which man is unique and defined by UEA I positivity and variability in ABO substance. CSA positivity defines non-primate upper mammalians. Rodents and birds were negative with all reactives tested. From the histochemical point of view, the animals closest to humans are monkeys, followed by swine and oxen, then by cat and dog and lastly by sheep. Rodents appear unrelated to humans in this system.

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