Clinical and anatomic analysis of children with congenital bridging bronchus malformation / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To analyze the clinical and anatomic characteristics of bridging bronchus (BB) malformation in children,and to explore its diagnostic strategy,treatment and risk factors.Methods A retrospective study was performed in 23 pediatric patients with BB who were admitted to Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center form May 2010 to October 2016.All their clinical features,imaging examination,treatment and prognosis were reviewed and analyzed.Results (1) Among the 23 patients with BB,15 were males and 8 were females.The age range of onset was 0 to 4 years old with a median age of 3.17 months.(2)The main clinical manifestations were cough (23/23 cases,100.0％),recurrent wheezing (20/23 cases,87.0％),cyanosis (8/23 cases,34.8％) and feeding diffficulty/slow body weight growth (6/23 cases,24.6％).(3) There were 17 cases of type Ⅰ and 4 cases of type Ⅱ according to Wells,and the other 2 cases were anterior BB.There were 2 cases with atypical anatomical morphology in type Ⅰ and type Ⅱ respectively.(4) Twenty-one cases were associated with bronchial stenosis in which the origin of left main bronchus complicated with BB stenosis was the most common(5 cases).Bronchoscopy revealed bronchomalacia in 5 of the 16 patients.Sixteen patients associated with cardiac or vascular anomalies,11 of whom were compound anomalies,and the most common type was sling left pulmonary artery (SLPA) (12 cases).(5) Nine of 12 patients with SLPA received surgical management,ages ranging from 1 month to 8 years old.The respiratory symptoms remitted gradually or disappeared from 4 to 17 months after surgical management.Two died and one has been lost to follow-up among the remaining 3 patients with SLPA.Conclusions BB is a rare tracheobronchial malformation that is often associated with stenosis or bronchomalacia,and cardiac or vascular anomalies.The severity of the disease mainly depends on whether there is airway stenosis or malacia and its extent.The definitive diagnosis of BB requires the combination of different imaging modalities.The combination with simple SLPA could get better curative effect.

Tell Tale of Tablets in Bronchus

Foreign body (FB) aspiration is an emergency of concern at all ages. However, in adults, it can present with atypical symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing or rarely cyanosis. Aspiration of oral medications is seen in the elderly population with impairment of protective airway mechanism. Treatment of choice is endoscopic removal of the foreign body. We report such a case of foreign body aspiration (potassium chloride tablet), diagnosed on imaging and subsequently developed bronchostenosis. There are a very few reported cases of oral potassium supplement aspiration and associated complications in the literature.

Main Pulmonary Artery Dilatation in Patients with Anthracofibrosis

This study assessed main pulmonary artery diameter of patients with anthracofibrosis. Patients with anthracofibrosis and CT scans were evaluated after exclusion of patients with co-existing disease. We measured the diameter of the main pulmonary artery (PAD) and ascending aorta (AD) and calculated the pulmonary artery to aorta ratio (APR). The upper reference limit for comparison of PAD was 29 mm. Cut-off values for PAD and APR indicating pulmonary hypertension were 33 mm and 1. We correlated the CT parameters with echocardiographic results. Total 51 patients were included in the analysis. The mean PAD, AD, and APR were 33 mm, 38 mm, and 0.87 respectively. The PAD was larger than the upper reference limit, 29 mm (P33 mm in 30 (65%) and the APR was >1 in 9 patients (18%). Of 21 patients with echocardiography, 11 (52%) were found to have pulmonary hypertension. There was no statistical difference in the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension between echocardiography and CT (P=1.000). In conclusion, main pulmonary artery is dilated in patients with anthracofibrosis more than in the healthy population.

The Correlation between Bronchostenosis and Changes in the Levels of Interferon-gamma and Transforming Growth Factor-beta during the Treatment in patients with Endobronchial Tuberculosis / 결핵및호흡기질환

BACKGROUND: Endobronchial tuberculosis often complicates bronchostenosis, which can cause dyspnea due to an airway obstruction, and can be misdiagnosed as bronchial asthma or lung cancer. This study investigated the possible correlation between the interferon-gamma(IFN-gamma) and transforming growth factor-beta(TGF-beta) levels in the serum and bronchial washing fluid and the treatment results in endobronchial tuberculosis patients. METHODS: Sixteen patients, who were diagnosed as endobronchial tuberculosis using bronchoscopy, and 10 healthy control subjects were enrolled in this study. The IFN-gamma and TGF-beta levels were measured in the serum and bronchial washing fluid of 16 endobronchial tuberculosis patients before and after treatment using the ELISA method. The endobronchial tuberculosis patients were divided into those who showed bronchial fibrostenosis after treatment and those who did not. RESULTS: The IFN-gamma and TGF-beta levels in the bronchial washing fluid in endobronchial tuberculosis patients were elevated comparing to the control (p < 0.05). After treatment, 7 of the 16 endobronchial tuberculosis patients showed bronchial fibrostenosis and the other 9 cases healed without this sequela. In the patients with fibrostenosis after treatment, the initial serum TGF-beta level was lower than the patients without fibrostenosis after treatment (p < 0.05). Moreover, the serum TGF-beta level after treatment further decreased comparing to the patients without fibrostenosis after treatment(p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Elevated IFN-gamma and TGF-beta levels in the bronchial washing fluid in endobronchial tuberculosis patients are believed to be related to the pathogenesis of endobronchial tuberculosis. The decreased initial serum TGF-beta level and the change in the serum TGF-beta level after treatment are believed to be involved in bronchial fibrostenosis during the course of the disease.

The Effect of Steroid on the Treatment of Endobronchial Tuberculosis / 결핵

BACKGROUND: Endobronchial tuberculosis is one of the serious complications of pulmonary tuberculosis. Without early diagnosis and proper treatment of endobronchial tuberculosis, bronchostenosis can leave and lead to the collapse of distal lung parenchyme, bronchiectasis, and secondary pneumonia accompanied with moderate to severe dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, and localized wheezing. Therefore steroid therapy has been tried to prevent bronchostenosis. But the effect of steroid therapy on the endobronchial tuberculosis is not definite at present. We tried to elucidate the effect of steroid on the treatment of endobronchial tuberculosis for prevention of bronchoste- nosis. METHODS: We observed the initial and sequential bronchoscopic findings, pulmonary function tests and simple chest roentgenograms in 58 patients diagnosed as endobronchial tuberculosis and admitted to Chung-Ang university hospital from 1988 to 1992. The patients in nonsteroid group (n=39) were treated with anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy only and steroid group(n=17) with combined steroid therapy. Sequential bronchoscopic findings, pulmonary function tests, and chest roentgenograms were comparatively analyzed between the two groups. RESULTS: 1) The endobronchial tuberculosis was highly prevalent in young females especially in third decade. 2) Both actively caseating type and the stenotic type without fibrosis was the most common in the bronchoscopic classification. 3) The sequential bronchoscopic findings in steroid group 2 months after treatment showed no significant improvements compared with nonsteroid group. 4) There was no significant difference between the two groups in the sequential bronchoscopic improvements according to bronchoscopic types. 5) We did not find any significant difference in improvements on follow-up pulmonary function tests and simple chest roentgenograms between the two groups 2 month after treatment. 6) There was no significant adverse effect of steroid during the treatment. CONCLUSION: Combined steroid therapy provably would not influence outcome of the treatment of endobronchial tuberculosis.