Pulmonary nocardiosis is a subacute or chronic necrotizing pneumonia caused by aerobic actinomycetes of the genus Nocardia and rare in immune-competent patients. A 35-year-old male, who had treated with antituberculosis drugs, presented with cough, dyspnea, and expectoration with episodes of hemoptysis with purulent sputum. The diagnosis of nocardiosis was made by microscopic examination of the surgically resected portion of the lung and revealed filamentous Gram-positive bacteria.
The effects of angiogenesis on survival were assessed by measuring the tumor microvessel density and vascular endothelial growth factor expression in patients with resected stage I non-small cell lung carcinoma.
Methods:The study population included 141 patients who underwent complete resection for stage pT1 and T2 N0 M0 tumors between 1999 and 2007. Lobectomy and pneumonectomy were performed in 131 and 10 patients, respectively. Tumor specimens were analyzed immunohistochemically for staining with anti-CD105 antibody to determine tumor microvessel density and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibody to determine the vascular endothelial growth factor expression level. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed for factors influencing patients' survival.Results: The overall 5-year survival was calculated as 68%, with rates of 76.9% for patients with T1 disease and 66.2% for patients with T2 disease (P ¼ .4). The vascular endothelial growth factor expression rate was 94.3% for patients with stage I non-small cell lung carcinoma. Vascular endothelial growth factor expression did not influence survival (P ¼ .9). The median microvessel density of the tumors measured based on the level of CD105 expression was 19.8. The effect of microvessel density on survival was significant (P ¼ .02). The 5-year survivals of patients with tumors with 20 or more microvessels and less than 20 microvessels were 76.8% and 56.1%, respectively; this difference was highly significant (P ¼ .004). The microvessel density was determined as an independent factor influencing survival on multivariate analysis (P ¼ .03).
Conclusions:The level of vascular endothelial growth factor expression in tumors was not a successful predictor of survival in patients with resected stage I non-small cell lung carcinoma. A high microvessel density based on CD105 is a strong predictor of prognosis in these patients.
Background and Aim: The effects of DNA repair pathway on survival were assessed by measuring the tumoral excision repair cross complementation 1 (ERCC1) expression in patients with resected non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). We aimed to determine the prognostic and predictive significance of ERCC1 in patients with completely resected NSCLC. Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to assess the expression of ERCC1 in resected lung tumor samples obtained from 98 patients untreated without pre-or post-operative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. The median H score was used as a cut-off for ERCC1 IHC. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed for factors influencing patient survival. Results: The 5-year survival rates of patients for ERCC1 positive expression and ERCC1 negative expression were 76% and 49%, respectively; this difference was statistically significant ( p = 0.004). Subsequent multivariate analysis suggested that ERCC1 expression (adjusted hazard ratio for death, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.18 to 0.78; p = 0.008) and pathological stage (2.2; 95% CI, 1.09 to 4.5; p = 0.027) were both independent prognostic factors. Conclusion: The level of ERCC1 expression in tumors a strong predictor of survival in resected NSCLC patients untreated without pre-or post-operative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.
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