The authors describe the case of a 70 year-old asymptomatic female, who showed nodular pleural growths at an occasional chest roentgenogram. Histological examinations and laboratory findings excluded ...the possibility of an inflammatory granulomatous process, but they did not allow differentiation between malignant sarcomatoid pleural mesothelioma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma. Only at immunohistochemistry was the differential diagnosis made. In fact, the co-expression of vimentin and cytokeratins by neoplastic cells, along with their negativity for macrophage markers strongly supported the hypothesis that the neoplastic growth originated from subpleural mesenchymal stem cells.
Myasthenia and muscle relaxants Melloni, C; Faenza, S; Melotti, R ...
Minerva anestesiologica
59, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Eighteen myasthenic patients have been operated on under general anaesthesia; 14 subjected to thymectomy and 2 to emergency procedures (caesarean section and laparotomy because of intestinal ...obstruction). Atracurium (0.3 mg/kg) and vecuronium (0.06 mg/kg) exhibited a long duration of action only in the two cases affected by the more severe signs and symptoms of the disease.
Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is an uncommon disease affecting women of reproductive capacity. It is characterized by non-neoplastic proliferation of smooth muscle in the lungs and, occasionally, in ...lymph nodes and in the thoracic duct. The patients present with dyspnea, chylous pleural effusion, pnx, and hemoptysis. The authors evaluated 4 patients with biopsy-proven LAM, by means of CT. In all cases, CT revealed small well-defined cystic air spaces with smooth and thin walls, scattered in the lungs. CT was very useful because it was more sensitive and specific than conventional radiography. The CT appearance of LAM distinctly differed from that of other diseases than can produce cystic air spaces in the lungs, such as UIP, eosinophilic granuloma, centri-acinar emphysema, and bronchiectasis. Our experience confirms the clinical usefulness of CT in diagnosing LAM.
A new method of studying regional lung functions using 133Xe and the computer-assisted scintillation camera is described. The method and the computer processing give details of the distribution of ...133Xe during perfusion and ventilation and also measures of lung function. Some cases are described in detail, and the clinical significance of the method was confirmed in 45 cases.
