ABSTRACT
Pulmonary Nocardiosis [PN] is a severe and infrequent infection caused by Nocardia species, pathogen that can behave both as opportunistic as well as infectious with a high morbidity and mortality that mainly affects immunocompromised patients. In recent years, an increase in PN cases has been detected among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD]. The factors that are associated with its presence and determinants of its prognosis remain unknown. The aim of this study is to identify the frequency of nocardia in bronco alveolar lavage fluid [BALF] of patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Analyze the bronco alveolar lavage fluid [BALF] of patients suffering from COPD for presence of nocardia and determination of differential leukocyte count. Prospective study. This study was conducted at Tertiary Care Hospitals in Karachi from March 2012 till October 2012. It is a prospective study of COPD patients. The study comprises of 140 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with or without treatment. All patients were divided in two groups A and B according to gender, and each group was further divided according to age i.e. above 40 years and below 40 years. Out of 140 patients 68 turned out to be positive for Nocardia. Nocardiosis is considered to be uncommon in Pakistan, but out study suggests that prevalence of Nocardial infections in patients suffering from COPD is quite high and cases are not restricted to the classical immunocompromised host
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to determine Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid [BALF] differential leukocyte count [DLC] in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] and to identify the predominant cell type in our set of population. It is a cross sectional study. This study was conducted at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan from March 2012 till October 2012. The study comprises of 140 patients with COPD with no treatment or poor compliance to treatment and no history of any interventional procedures. All patients have undergone pulmonary function tests [PFTs] to differentiate obstructive pattern disease from restrictive. Fiber optic bronchoscopy was also done, after which 10 cc of BALF was collected and run for DLC. Patients were divided in two groups A and B according to gender, and each group was further divided in to two subgroups on the basis of age i.e. above 40 years and below 40 years. All patients have higher percentage of lymphocytes as compared to polymorphs. A higher concentration of lymphocytes as compared to polymorphs in COPD patients is considered to be an uncommon in Pakistan as per literature survey is concerned, because very less work is done on BALF analysis. Our study suggests that percentage of lymphocytes in patients suffering from COPD is quite high and cases are not restricted to classical acute pulmonary infections
ABSTRACT
Pulmonary function test [PFT] depends on a number of factors as height, age, gender and race. Reference equations are used to determine a normal range of spirometry results which in turn are used clinically to determine whether the volumes measured in any individual fall within a range to be expected in a healthy person of the same gender, height and age. The study was conducted in Karachi on 249 healthy, nonsmoking subjects between 35 to 65 years of age were included in the study. The subjects included 149 males and 100 females whose pulmonary volumes and capacities were measured by spirometry. Prediction equation was first derived and the reference values were then calculated for FEV [1] and FVC. The values for both these parameters were found to be lower by about 13% and 18% in females and 10% and 12% in males respectively when compared with those given by researchers for Caucasians. Pulmonary function test reference values and prediction equations for both sexes between the ages of 35-65 years were derived for healthy, nonsmoking, urban Pakistani population. A considerable difference was found between prediction equations and reference values obtained in present study compared with other studies conducted in western countries