ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the serum IgE response in nonallergic subjects with chronic inflammatory lung diseases. SETTING: Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore. SUBJECTS: Twenty six patients with bronchiectasis, five with pulmonary mycosis referred from all over India and 30 healthy subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum IgE value (determined by radioimmuno assay) above the upper limit of normal control range (136 to 948 iu/ml) was considered as raised level. RESULTS: Of the 26 patients with bronchiectasis 13 had pyogenic infections, six had pulmonary tuberculosis; in six patients sputum culture was sterile while another patient had herpes zoster. Five cases of mycosis included one each of actinomycosis, aspergillosis, blastomycosis, cryptococcosis and nocardiasis. The serum IgE levels were raised in 20 (65%) of the 31 patients. CONCLUSION: Associated bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections were probably responsible for inducing an hyper-IgE response in these non-allergic subjects.
Subject(s)
Adult , Bronchiectasis/complications , Chronic Disease , Humans , Immunoglobulin E/blood , Lung Diseases, Fungal/complications , Middle AgedABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine alpha 1-antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency in patients with chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD) and other pulmonary diseases. DESIGN: Observation study. SUBJECTS: 45 patients with COAD, 20 with bronchiectasis, 11 with pulmonary tuberculosis, 25 with chest malignancies and 42 healthy subjects. SETTING: Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, India. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Serum A1AT level of 10% or less of the mean serum value of the control group was recognised as severe deficiency and A1AT level between 10 and 60% was considered as intermediate deficiency. RESULTS: 26 patients (18 with COAD, 2 with bronchiectasis, 3 with tuberculosis and 3 with chest malignancies) had intermediate A1AT deficiency. CONCLUSION: The finding of an A1AT deficiency in over a quarter of the patients comprising various categories of pulmonary diseases emphasises the need to explore the possibility of an underlying acquired cause existing either alone or in association with genetic defect in patients showing such a deficiency.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Biomarkers/blood , Bronchiectasis/blood , Child , Female , Humans , India , Lung Diseases, Obstructive/blood , Lung Neoplasms/blood , Lung Volume Measurements , Male , Middle Aged , Pilot Projects , Sex Factors , Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/blood , Biomarkers, Tumor/blood , alpha 1-Antitrypsin DeficiencyABSTRACT
Serum IgE levels were measured by the radioimmunoassay technique in the sera of 53 patients with neoplastic chest diseases. Forty seven patients had malignant chest tumours and another 6 had benign tumours or mediastinal cysts. They included 33 smokers and 20 non-smokers. For comparison, 30 normal non-smoking controls matched for age and sex were included. The serum IgE levels in patients with chest malignancies showed an increase as compared to controls. The IgE levels increased significantly in adenocarcinoma (P < 0.01) and squamous cell carcinoma (P < 0.001), while they were not raised in poorly differentiated carcinoma. There was no significant difference between the serum IgE levels of 32 smokers and 15 non-smokers with malignant chest tumours.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Immunoglobulin E/blood , Male , Middle Aged , Reference Values , Smoking , Thoracic Neoplasms/bloodABSTRACT
Emphysematous bullae may at times assume large proportions. We report a case of symptomatic giant bullae in a female which were removed surgically. The relevant literature has also been reviewed.
Subject(s)
Adult , Female , Humans , Lung/pathology , Pulmonary Emphysema/pathologyABSTRACT
Between 1961 and 1988, 68 patients underwent operation for coarctation of the aorta. The average age of presentation of these subjects was higher than in other series. 7.1 percent were asymptomatic, a finding which is not seen in reports from the west. Operative procedures included resection and end to end anastomosis, resection and graft interposition, bypass grafting, patch aortoplasty and subclavian flap aortoplasty. However, the technique of patch aortoplasty, routinely performed in the last 24 years of this series seemed by far the most satisfactory procedure. Subclavian flap aortoplasty was carried out in a selected group of younger children. Associated cardiac anomalies influenced the results adversely. The overall operative mortality was 5.8 percent. Hypertension did not regress in 11.7 per cent of patients inspite of a successful operation as judged by the return of peripheral pulses in the lower limbs. Re-coarctation was not seen in this series. The overall results of operation for coarctation of the aorta have been very satisfactory and comparable with those in other published series.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aortic Coarctation/mortality , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Intraoperative Care , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Uniformity of opinion does not exist regarding optimal surgical strategy for descending aortic aneurysms. We present a surgical technique for bypass during aortic cross clamp while operating on such aneurysms. Five patients have undergone surgery using this technique. All of them are alive, doing well with no complications.
Subject(s)
Aorta, Thoracic/surgery , Aortic Aneurysm/surgery , Coronary Artery Bypass/instrumentation , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
A case of relapsing polychondritis with aortic aneurysm is presented and relevant literature reviewed. Only one case of relapsing polychondritis has been previously reported in Indian literature. Increased awareness of this relatively rare, multi-system disease is warranted, to facilitate the diagnosis.