Diagnosis and management bronchopleural fistula.

The diagnosis and management of bronchopleural fistula (BPF) remain a major therapeutic challenge for clinicians. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis and localisation of BPF is sometimes difficult and may require multiple imaging and bronchoscopies. Successful management of a fistula is combined with treatment of the associated empyema cavity. The first step, therefore, should be control of active infection and adequate drainage of the hemithorax. When deemed required, definitive surgical repair should be accomplished expeditiously, minimising the number of procedures performed. In cases of a small fistula or where the surgical risk is high, various bronchoscopic methods have been used to close the fistula. When treatment is protracted, secondary complications are more likely and survival is adversely affected. In this article, approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of BPF are discussed, with particular emphasis on bronchoscopic management options.

Pulmonary manifestations of primary sjögren’s syndrome.

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a complex autoimmune exocrinopathy with multifactorial pathogenesis and multisystem manifestation. It is called primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS) when the manifestations are seen without any other co-existent rheumatic diseases. The incidence of respiratory system involvement varies widely in the reported medical literature, partly due to lack of a universal agreement over the diagnostic criteria of the disease and the type of study methods employed. Respiratory system manifestations are protean; upper airway symptoms are very common and so is the complaint of dry cough. The PSS patients may develop interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) such as usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia (LIP), bronchiolitis obliterans and organising pneumonia (BOOP), etc. They may also develop the whole spectrum of lymphoproliferative disorders of the lung ranging from LIP to follicular bronchiolitis, nodular lymphoid hyperplasia and low-grade lymphomas. Therapeutic options include symptomatic and supportive measures and corticosteroids as the mainstay of the treatment for ILDs occurring in these patients. In recent years, rituximab (anti-CD20) has emerged as a promising treatment for this disease, though data from controlled trials are still lacking. Pulmonary involvement may be a source of significant morbidity in these patients, though only rarely, it is the cause of death.