Minimal PE is a commonly encountered clinical concern in staging NSCLCs. Its presence is an important prognostic factor of worse survival, especially in early-stage disease.

These results suggest that the amino acid multivariate index previously developed from a Japanese dataset has the potential to aid in the early detection of lung cancers of different histological types in Korean patients.

AbstractsBackgroundsVarious studies have reported that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in the serum (sNLR) may serve as a cost-effective and useful prognostic factor in patients with various cancer types. However, no study has reported the prognostic impact of the NLR in malignant pleural effusion (MPE). To address this gap, we investigated the clinical impact of NLR as a prognostic factor in MPE (mNLR) and a new scoring system that use NLRs in the serum and MPE (smNLR score) in lung cancer patients.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed all of the patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer and who presented with pleural effusion. To maintain the quality of the study, only patients with malignant cells in the pleural fluid or tissue were included. The patients were classified into three smNLR score groups, and clinical variables were investigated for their correlation with survival.ResultsIn all, 158 patients were classified into three smNLR score groups as follows: 84 (53.2%) had a score of 0, 58 (36.7%) had a score of 1, and 16 (10.1%) had a score of 2. In a univariate analysis, high sNLR, mNLR, and increments of the smNLR score were associated with shorter overall survival (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, and p < 0.001, respectively); moreover, age, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS), histology, M stage, hemoglobin level, albumin level, and calcium level were significant prognostic factors. A multivariable analysis confirmed that ECOG PS (p < 0.001), histology (p = 0.001), and smNLR score (p < 0.012) were independent predictors of overall survival.ConclusionsThe new smNLR score is a useful and cost-effective prognostic factor in lung cancer patients with MPE. Although further studies are required to generalize our results, this information will benefit clinicians and patients in determining the most appropriate therapy for patients with MPE.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-017-3550-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Hemoptysis is a potentially serious clinical problem. However, there is no consensus on the clinical characteristics, treatment and patient outcome of catamenial hemoptysis. Objective: Clinical characteristics, treatments and outcome in patients of catamenial hemoptysis were evaluated. Methods: We conducted a retrospective nationwide observational analysis of Korean patients with catamenial hemoptysis. Results: Nineteen patients with catamenial hemoptysis were evaluated from 13 tertiary-care hospitals in Korea. The median age of the patients was 25 years; 8 (42%) were ever-smokers. Eight patients were pathologically diagnosed; 11 were diagnosed by clinical criteria. Sixteen (84%) patients had a history of obstetric or gynecological procedures before developing hemoptysis. The mean amount of hemoptysis (mean ± SD) was 58.3 ± 71.3 for surgery, 46.4 ± 33.2 for hormonal and 29.1 ± 26.3 for conservative treatment groups. Hemoptysis did not recur in 8 (89%) of 9 patients after surgery. None of the patients in the hormonal or conservative treatment groups had persistent hemoptysis. There was an excellent outcome (complete remission and partial responses) in all patients with conservative treatment, suggesting that endometrial cells implanted into the lung may have a benign course. Conclusion: Patients without massive hemoptysis can be treated conservatively or with hormonal agents.

Minimal pleural effusion is a common clinical finding in staging SCLC. Its presence is associated with worse survival in patients and should be considered when CT scans are interpreted.

These findings suggest that polymorphisms of CMPK1 and their combination with those of RRM1 are helpful in identifying patients who will benefit less from a gemcitabine/cisplatinum as the first-line regimen.

Malignant degeneration of a retroperitoneal mature cystic teratoma to adenocarcinoma at postmenopausal age is extremely rare. A 72-year-old woman with mucinous adenocarcinoma arising from a retroperitoneal mature cystic teratoma is presented.

A 60‐year‐old woman without a history of liver diseases, but with a history of regular alcohol consumption, presented with a right‐sided transudative pleural effusion. Neither parenchymal lung lesion nor pleural thickening was seen on a chest computed tomography. On abdominal ultrasonography, the liver size and contour were normal, and ascites was not noted. Despite performing imaging and laboratory studies, we could not find a cause of the pleural effusion. Thus, due to her history of regular alcohol consumption, we decided to measure liver stiffness using a transient elastography (Fibroscan®, EchosensTM, Paris, France), which showed a value of 35.3 kPa suggestive of liver cirrhosis. An intraperitoneal injection of a radioisotope demonstrated the transdiaphragmatic flow of fluid from peritoneal cavity to pleural cavity. The diagnosis was confirmed as hepatic hydrothorax. Management consisting of restricted salt and water intake with diuretics resulted in resolution of the hepatic hydrothorax.