A Case of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease Complicating Massive Pulmonary Embolism.

A 39-year-old man presented with fever and dyspnoea for 1 week. Imaging suggested bacterial pneumonia with infiltrates in the right lung. However, the symptoms persisted despite antibiotics.

Persistent COVID-19 improved with immunoglobulin replacement therapy in Good's syndrome.

A 69-year-old man with a history of thymoma resection was diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia. Initially, the patient responded well to molnupiravir, but he experienced a relapse. Subsequent steroids for COVID-19-related organizing pneumonia (OP) led to temporary improvement, but his condition deteriorated when the steroids were tapered off.

Concurrent trastuzumab deruxtecan-induced interstitial lung disease and COVID-19 in the treatment of advanced breast cancer.

Patients with cancer are at an increased risk of developing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) against epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive cancer, known to cause drug-induced interstitial lung disease (DILD), including drug-induced pneumonitis. A 60-year-old woman with breast cancer developed a fever during treatment with T-DXd and was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Physiologic F-FDG muscle uptake in severe COPD: Implications for accurate lung cancer staging.

Recognizing physiologic F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in severe COPD is crucial to avoid mistaking it for lung cancer metastasis. Correlating F-FDG avid lesions with co-registered computed tomography is essential for accurate lung cancer staging and preventing unnecessary interventions.

Transient asymptomatic pulmonary opacities in a patient with MET exon 14 skipping non-small cell lung cancer: A case report.

Mesenchymal epithelial transition factor receptor (MET) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (MET-TKIs) have been approved for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancers with MET exon 14 skipping mutations. Transient asymptomatic pulmonary opacities (TAPOs) associated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-TKIs have been reported. Here, we report a case wherein ground-glass opacities (GGOs) appeared during the course of treatment with tepotinib, a MET-TKI, but spontaneously resolved with drug withdrawal, after which treatment was resumed with a reduced dose.

Epipericardial fat necrosis in a patient with sudden chest pain.

Epipericardial fat necrosis (EFN) may be considered in the differential diagnosis of chest pain. Clinicians should be kept in mind that EFN is self-limiting and is often followed up with imaging.

Negative pressure pulmonary edema in a patient with COVID-19.

Negative pressure pulmonary edema (NPPE) should be considered in the differential diagnosis from an episode of asphyxia, and even if NPPE is diagnosed, the possibility of COVID-19 should be kept in mind under coronavirus pandemic conditions.

Can the Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire predict the long-term outcomes in Japanese sarcoidosis patients?

Rationale: The Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire (SHQ) is the first sarcoidosis-specific health status questionnaire ever developed. Worse health status, as evaluated by the SHQ, may indicate higher risk for deterioration in the following 5 years.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between SHQ scores and deterioration defined clinically at 5-year follow-up.

Serum matrix metalloproteinase levels in polymyositis/dermatomyositis patients with interstitial lung disease.

Objective: We aimed to clarify the clinical significance of serum levels of MMPs in interstitial lung disease (ILD) complicated with PM/DM (PM/DM-ILD).

Methods: We retrospectively analysed serum levels of seven subsets of MMPs in 52 PM/DM-ILD patients diagnosed at Kyoto University Hospital or Tenri Hospital from January 2005 to December 2014. The patients were sub-grouped based on the presence of anti-amimoacyl-tRNA synthetase antibody (anti-ARS antibody), anti-melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 antibody (anti-MDA5 antibody) or lack of the antibodies (ARS-ILD, MDA5-ILD and other-ILD groups, respectively) and independently analysed.

The Clinical Significance of Body Weight Loss in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients.

Background: The significance of the nutritional status in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is largely unknown. Temporal body weight (BW) change, a dynamic index of nutrition status, can detect the malnutrition more accurately than the conventional single-point body mass index evaluation.

Objective: To investigate how the temporal BW change influences the clinical courses of IPF.

[THE CAUSES OF ACUTE COUGH: A SINGLE-CENTER STUDY IN JAPAN].

Background: Cough is the most frequent presenting complaint in clinics, and is classified into the following three groups: acute, subacute and chronic. The major causes of acute cough are infectious diseases, however, few observations on acute cough have been reported.

Methods: We retrospectively assessed the causes of acute cough among patients who had visited the respiratory clinic of our hospital because of acute cough from September 2014 to August 2015.

A phase II trial of Ifosfamide combination with recommended supportive therapy for recurrent SCLC in second-line and heavily treated setting.

Purpose: The response rate of ifosfamide (IFM) monotherapy for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is reported as 42.4% in Japanese package insert. However, these efficacy data are based on clinical studies conducted in 1970s.

Importance of serial changes in biomarkers in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

The clinical significance of serial changes in serum biomarkers in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remains to be established. This retrospective study was conducted to clarify the associations of serial changes in serum Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) and surfactant protein-D (SP-D) with changes in physiological indices and overall mortality in IPF. The study subjects were 75 patients with IPF.

Asymmetry in acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Acute exacerbation (AE) of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) results in poor survival. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the impact of asymmetrical ground-glass opacity (GGO) and/or consolidation on outcomes in patients with AE-IPF. The cases of 59 consecutive patients with AE-IPF were retrospectively reviewed.

Chronic Kidney Disease Predicts Survival in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) increases with age as with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Objectives: We assessed the prevalence of CKD (stages 3-5) and investigated the relationship of CKD to clinical features and outcomes in patients with IPF.

Methods: This study comprised 123 patients with IPF; 61 subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which was reportedly associated with CKD, were also enrolled as a disease control.

The long-term outcome of interstitial lung disease with anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase antibodies.

Rationale: Anti-aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetase antibodies (anti-ARS) are a group of myositis-specific autoantibodies that are detected in the sera of patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis (PM/DM) and also in those of patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias without any connective tissue disease (CTD), including PM/DM. Although we reported the clinical characteristics of interstitial lung disease with anti-ARS antibodies (ARS-ILD) with and without PM/DM, the long-term prognosis of ARS-ILD remains undetermined. As our previous studies revealed that ARS-ILD without PM/DM was similar to CTD-associated ILD, and that ARS-ILD with PM/DM was radiologically suggestive of a nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) pathological pattern, we hypothesized that the prognosis of ARS-ILD might be distinct from that of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) without anti-ARS.

The association between health-related quality of life and disease progression in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a prospective cohort study.

Generally, a disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measurement is more useful than generic measures in assessing perceived physical and mental health characteristic of a particular disease. The idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)-specific version of St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ-I) has been recently developed for patients with IPF.

Platelet aggregability in patients with interstitial pneumonias.

Background: Recent epidemiological studies have shown that patients with interstitial pneumonia have an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Although the presence of a coagulation/fibrinolysis abnormality in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been reported, platelet aggregability has not been evaluated in interstitial pneumonias. This study aimed to investigate platelet aggregability in patients with interstitial pneumonias.

Serial perfusion in native lungs in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other interstitial lung diseases after single lung transplantation.

Background: Lung perfusions after single lung transplantation (SLT) have not been fully clarified in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). The present study aimed to investigate temporal changes in native lung perfusion and their associated clinical factors in patients with ILD who have undergone SLT.

Methods: Eleven patients were enrolled.

Matrix metalloproteinase-10: a novel biomarker for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and MMP-7 has been described as a useful biomarker for IPF. However, little is known regarding the significance of MMP-10 as a biomarker for IPF.

Methods: This observational cohort study included 57 patients with IPF.