Fire eater's lung (FEL) is an acute hydrocarbon pneumonitis caused by aspiration or inhalation into airways of liquid hydrocarbons. This disorder is classified into distinct form of chemical toxic pneumonitis. An amateur fire-eater is presented in this work. He accidentally aspirated into airways about 1/3 of glass of grill lighter fluid composed of mixture of liquid hydrocarbons. A few hours after this incident he had severe symptoms like weakness, high temperature, midsternal pleuritic chest pain, myalgia of the back, shortness of breath, and dry cough. Radiologic examination revealed consolidations with well−defined cavitary lesions (pneumatoceles) in lower lobes mainly in the left lower lobe. After one week of this event clinical improvement was observed. The lesions resolved nearly completly during three months. The review of the literature connected with fire-eater's lung is also presented.

Cytokeratin-19, one of the cytoskeletal proteins, is expressed both in bronchial epithelium and in lung cancer cells. The aim of our study was to establish the value of serum cytokeratin-19 soluble fragment (Cyfra 21-1) measurement in lung cancer patients. Cyfra 21-1 levels were estimated in 35 patients (pts) with benign lung diseases and in 116 lung cancer patients: 55 pts with squamous cell lung cancer, 38 pts with small cell lung cancer and 23 pts with adenocarcinoma. The cutoff level was set at 4 ng/ml with a specificity of 94% and a sensitivity of 40%. Elevated Cyfra 21-1 values were found in 44% of squamous cell lung cancer, 39% of adenocarcinoma and 34% of small cell lung cancer pts (the difference was not significant). In squamous cell lung cancer and in adenocarcinoma elevated Cyfra 21-1 values were observed more often in patients with advanced disease than in patients with limited disease. There was no significant correlation between the initial Cyfra 21-1 level and the response to chemotherapy. Cyfra 21-1 was not a prognostic indicator, although in operable squamous cell lung cancer the proportion of survivors in the second year of observation was higher among the patients with normal preoperative Cyfra 21-1 levels.

Three patients with exogenous lipoid pneumonia are presented. All of them had laryngectomy because of the cancer of larynx. In a period of time ranging from a few months up to a few years after the operation they started to have dyspnoea, cough, sometimes hemoptysis and slightly elevated temperature. The chest X-ray revealed massive opacities in the lower zones of both lungs suggesting lung cancer or metastases of the laryngeal cancer. HRCT showed ground glass lesions. Histological examination of the lungs detected accumulation of multiple macrophages with vacuolated foamy cytoplasms in the alveoli. Neoplastic disease was excluded. Additional data from the patients history revealed that all of them were inhaling or administering mineral oil-containing products through the tracheostomy. Exogenous lipoid pneumonia was diagnosed. Patients were asked to stop inhalations with the mineral oil.

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Przez wiele lat podstawowym testem identyfikującym latentne (utajone) zakażenie prątkami gruźlicy (LTBI) była próba tuberkulinowa, posiadająca pewne ograniczenia, które wynikają przede wszystkim z niskiej czułości i specyficzności. Obecnie stosuje się testy IGRA z krwi obwodowej, umożliwiające szybką diagnostykę LTBI poprzez pomiar interferonu gamma (IFN-γ) wydzielanego przez limfocyty T pobudzone swoistymi dla Mycobacterium tuberculosis antygenami. Wykrywanie LTBI ma istotne znaczenie w kontroli osób potencjalnie zagrożonych zachorowaniem na gruźlicę, na przykład przebywających w bliskim kontakcie z chorymi prątkującymi oraz dla pacjentów kwalifikowanych do leczenia lekami biologicznymi. W pracy przedstawiono 3 wybrane sytuacje kliniczne, w których zastosowano testy IGRA. W dwóch przypadkach rozpoznano ostatecznie utajone zakażenie prątkami gruźlicy, a w jednym aktywną gruźlicę.