With increasing awareness about health damage due to asbestos exposure, the number of people presenting with non-occupational exposure has increased remarkably. Consequently, chest physicians in general hospitals must read the chest X-ray films of patients with asbestos exposure. Can non-specialized chest physicians, who may have little experience of occupational medicine, diagnose pleural plaques accurately? The study subjects were 44 consecutive patients who were admitted to our hospital, under the Japanese medical health check system for workers employed in dangerous work. Their chest X-ray films were checked by 4 chest physicians, who were independently informed that the patients had a high suspicion of asbestos exposure. The detection rate of chest Xray for pleural plaques was compared with computed tomography (CT) results as the gold standard. The sensitivity was 0.818 and the specificity was 0.393. The sensitivity of the presence of pleural plaques was lower in anterior and posterior sites, and on the pleura adjacent to the mediastinum, pericardium and vertebral (0.429, 0.348, 0.217), while specificity was lower on lateral sites (0.610). Chest physicians in general hospitals must be trained in the manifestation of asbestos-related diseases.
Among patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), few studies have investigated the clinical impact of anti-fibrotic treatment (AFT) with and without comorbidities. The aim of the study was to determine whether Charlson Comorbidity Index score (CCIS) can predict the efficacy of AFT in patients with IPF.We retrospectively assessed data extracted from the medical records of IPF patients who received anti-fibrotic agents between 2009 and 2019. The collected data included age, sex, CCIS, pulmonary function test, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) pattern, gender/age/physiology (GAP) score, and 3-year IPF-related events defined as the first acute exacerbation or death within 3 years after starting AFT.We assessed 130 patients (median age, 74 years) who received nintedanib (n = 70) or pirfenidone (n = 60). Median duration of AFT was 425 days. Patients were categorized into high (≥ 3 points) and low (≤ 2 points) CCIS groups. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of age, sex, duration of AFT, GAP score, or incidence of usual interstitial pneumonia pattern on HRCT except percentage predicted diffusion capacity of lung for carbon monoxide. Also, significant difference was not seen between the groups for 3-year IPF-related events (P = 0.75). Especially, in the low CCIS group but not the high CCIS group, the longer duration of AFT had better disease outcome.In the present study, we could not show any relation between CCIS and IPF disease outcomes in patients undergoing AFT, though the longer duration of AFT might be beneficial for IPF outcomes among patients with low CCIS.
We appreciate the comments of Chang et al. concerning non-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP). Their case highlights three interesting points. First, the patient with leukaemia underwent allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, and we can only assume that she did not have underlying pulmonary diseases. In our study, underlying pulmonary disease appeared to have been associated with increased PCP mortality.1 Second, in the subject presented, thin-section chest computed tomography showed major findings of subpleural consolidation with peripheral distribution and focal ground glass opacities (GGO). Unfortunately, we did not evaluate the radiological findings of the PCP cases in our study. The typical radiological findings of HIV-positive PCP patients are generally thought to be central distribution of GGO with relative peripheral sparing, a mosaic pattern and a diffuse distribution. Tokuda et al. investigated the radiological findings of PCP in rheumatoid arthritis as one of the specific conditions of non-HIV PCP, and reported that 6 of 14 subjects showed diffuse, homogeneous GGO, with sharp demarcation by interlobular septa; 5 of the 14 subjects showed diffuse, homogeneous or non-homogeneous GGO without interlobular septal boundaries; and the remaining three showed another pattern, such as mixed consolidation and GGO.2 Tasaka et al. reported that none of the HIV-positive PCP patients showed consolidation, whereas half of the patients with non-HIV PCP, such as those with malignancy, showed consolidation along with GGO.3 They also suggested that lung consolidation tended to develop more rapidly, reflecting pulmonary damage from the host immune response. Third, the clinical course of the case presented was indolent. In general, non-HIV patients with PCP typically present with an abrupt onset of respiratory insufficiency.4 Affected patients have more neutrophils and fewer Pneumocystis organisms. Severe PCP is characterized by neutrophilic lung inflammation, which may result in diffuse alveolar damage, impaired gas exchange and respiratory failure. Indeed, respiratory impairment and death are more closely correlated with the degree of lung inflammation than the organism burden in pneumonia.4, 5 The important point of the case presented is that she had clinical and radiological features that are normally associated with a fulminant course, but she had an indolent course with a good outcome. It would be useful to know her laboratory data, including her immune status and pathological findings. We would suggest that the characteristics of patients with non-HIV PCP, such as the clinical course, radiological findings, yield of microbiological examination and mortality, might vary among non-HIV PCP patients with different underlying immune conditions and pulmonary diseases. This matter needs further study.
A 70-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for examination of an abnormal shadow found on a chest radiograph. Chest CT showed a nodular shadow in the left upper lobe S1+2. We diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) clinical stage T4N2M1. Chemotherapy consisting of carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel was begun. After the second course of chemotherapy, another nodular shadow with small cavities in the left lower lobe S6 was seen, and which then increased in size. Bronchial lavage revealed a diagnosis of non-tubercular mycobacteriosis (Mycobacterium intracellulare). Anti-NTM chemotherapy consisting of rifampicin, ethambutol and clarithromycin was started in addition to anticancer chemotherapy, without severe side effects. Although there are some reports of the co-occurrence of lung cancer and non-tuberculous mycobacteriosis, this apparently rare case involved the appearance of a solitary nodule with a cavity caused by pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteriosis during anticancer chemotherapy.
A major cause of death in patients undergoing long-term domiciliary oxygen therapy (LTOT) is lung cancer progression. In our institution, we actively perform stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) on patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer undergoing LTOT. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the treatment efficacy and safety of SBRT for patients with T1-3N0M0 non-small-cell lung cancer who had been prescribed LTOT for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A total of 24 patients were studied. Their median age was 74 years (range, 63-87 years). The median duration from the start of LTOT to SBRT was 23 months (range, 0-85 months). Four of the 24 patients underwent lobectomy due to lung cancer. The median follow-up duration was 29 months (range, 5-79 months). One patient had a local recurrence. The median survival time was 30 months. The 3-year overall survival was 49%. In 6 of the 24 patients (25%), COPD presented with interstitial pneumonia. The 3-year overall survival for patients with COPD without interstitial pneumonia was significantly better than that for patients with both COPD and interstitial pneumonia (67% and 0%, respectively; P < 0.0001). Grade 5 radiation pneumonitis occurred in one patient (4%) with COPD with interstitial pneumonia. SBRT was tolerated by patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer undergoing LTOT. SBRT should be considered for patients undergoing LTOT. However, clinicians should consider the risk of severe radiation pneumonitis in patients with interstitial pneumonia.
We evaluated 122 outpatients who visited our hospital for examination of asbestos-related diseases between November, 2005 and October, 2006. Patients were divided into three groups; occupational exposure, non-occupational exposure and non-exposure groups. The occupational exposure group showed a significantly higher rate of asbestos-related abnormal findings than the non-occupational exposure plus the non-exposure group (33% vs. 5%, respectively; P = 0.001). Pleural plaque was the most common abnormal finding related to asbestos. Only four of 24 patients with pleural plaques could obtain personal health records for workers enjoyed in dangerous work, whereas the rest of them were not able to mainly because they were self-employed. A health support system is necessary to also cover non-employees.
