History of pneumonia is a strong risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation in South Korea: the Epidemiologic review and Prospective Observation of COPD and Health in Korea (EPOCH) study.

BACKGROUND: In South Korea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the ten leading causes of death. COPD exacerbations are significantly associated with mortality in COPD patients. This study was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of COPD in South Korea, specifically the clinical characteristics of South Korean COPD patients, the COPD exacerbation rate and the risk factors associated with COPD exacerbations. METHODS: This study covers a 2-year interval. One year was data collected retrospectively and the second year was prospectively obtained data. RESULTS: A total of 1,114 subjects were enrolled in the study. These subjects were observed for a period of 1 year from the enrollment, and a total of 920 subjects completed the study. A total of 1,357 COPD exacerbations occurred in 711 subjects (63.8%) out of the total of 1,114 subjects during the study period of 2 years. Multivariate logistic regression results showed that if patients had had a pneumonia before the retrospective year of analysis, they had a 18 times greater chance of having an exacerbation during the prospective year when other variables were controlled. Also, the subjects who had a history of two or more exacerbations during the retrospective year were approximately 6 times more likely to experience the COPD exacerbation compared to those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: This study examined the demographic and clinical characteristics of South Korean COPD patients and found that a history of pneumonia and two or more occurrences of exacerbation within 1 year was significantly associated with a higher rate of COPD exacerbation.

Successful Treatment of Tracheal Invasion Caused by Thyroid Cancer Using Endotracheal Tube Balloon Inflation under Flexible Bronchoscopic Guidance.

Tracheal invasion is an uncommon complication of thyroid cancer, but it can cause respiratory failure. A rigid bronchoscope may be used to help relieve airway obstruction, but general anesthesia is usually required. Tracheal balloon dilatation and stent insertion can be performed without general anesthesia, but complete airway obstruction during balloon inflation may be dangerous in some patients. Additionally, placement of the stent adjacent to the vocal cords can be technically challenging. An 86-year-old female patient with tracheal invasion resulting from thyroid cancer was admitted to our hospital because of worsening dyspnea. Due to the patient's refusal of general anesthesia and the interventional radiologist's difficulty in completing endotracheal stenting, we performed endotracheal tube balloon dilatation and argon plasma coagulation. We have successfully treated tracheal obstruction in the patient with thyroid cancer by using endotracheal tube balloon inflation and a flexible bronchoscope without general anesthesia or airway obstruction during balloon inflation.

Association of lung function genes with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: Spirometric measurements of pulmonary function are important in diagnosing and determining the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We performed this study to determine whether candidate genes identified in genome-wide association studies of spirometric measurements were associated with COPD and if they interacted with smoking intensity. METHODS: The current analysis included 1,000 COPD subjects and 1,000 controls recruited from 24 hospital-based pulmonary clinics. Thirteen SNPs, chosen based on genome-wide association studies of spirometric measurements in the Korean population cohorts, were genotyped. Genetic association tests were performed, adjusting for age, sex, and smoking intensity, using models including a SNP-by-smoking interaction term. RESULTS: PID1 and FAM13A were significantly associated with COPD susceptibility. There were also significant interactions between SNPs in ACN9 and FAM13A and smoking pack-years, and an association of ACN9 with COPD in the lowest smoking tertile. The risk allele of FAM13A was associated with increased expression of FAM13A in the lung. CONCLUSIONS: We have validated associations of FAM13A and PID1 with COPD. ACN9 showed significant interaction with smoking and is a potential candidate gene for COPD. Significant associations of genetic variants of FAM13A with gene expression levels suggest that the associated loci may act as genetic regulatory elements for FAM13A gene expression.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease assessment test can predict depression: a prospective multi-center study.

This study was conducted to investigate the association between the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) and depression in COPD patients. The Korean versions of the CAT and patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were used to assess COPD symptoms and depressive disorder, respectively. In total, 803 patients with COPD were enrolled from 32 hospitals and the prevalence of depression was 23.8%. The CAT score correlated well with the PHQ-9 score (r=0.631; P<0.001) and was significantly associated with the presence of depression (ß±standard error, 0.452±0.020; P<0.001). There was a tendency toward increasing severity of depression in patients with higher CAT scores. By assessment groups based on the 2011 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines, the prevalence of depression was affected more by current symptoms than by airway limitation. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the CAT was 0.849 for predicting depression, and CAT scores ≥21 had the highest accuracy rate (80.6%). Among the eight CAT items, energy score showed the best correlation and highest power of discrimination. CAT scores are significantly associated with the presence of depression and have good performance for predicting depression in COPD patients.

Lemierre's syndrome in a patient with antiphospholipid syndrome.

Internal jugular vein thrombosis is usually associated with intravenous drug abuse, long-term venous catheterization, local infection, or spontaneous occlusion. The antiphospholipid syndrome is now recognized as one of the commonest causes of acquired arterial or venous thrombosis. Lemierre's syndrome is an uncommon but potentially lethal complication of internal jugular vein thrombosis after an oropharyngeal infection. A 34-year-old man presented with fever and progressive, painful right neck swelling 6 days after an episode of pharyngitis. Clinical studies including radiological and laboratory tests confirmed the diagnosis of Lemierre's syndrome associated with antiphospholipid syndrome. Although Lemierre's syndrome is a well-known cause of internal jugular vein thrombosis, association with antiphospholipid syndrome is very rare.

HRCT findings of proximal interruption of the right pulmonary artery.

The purpose of this study is to present the characteristic HRCT findings of the lung parenchyma in patients with proximal interruption of the right main pulmonary artery. HRCT findings of proximal interruption of the right pulmonary artery demonstrated reticular opacities, septal thickening, subpleural consolidation, cystic lung changes, and pleural thickening in all 5 patients; bronchial dilation and bronchial wall thickening in 4 patients; and subpleural ground glass opacity (GGO) in 3 patients. The changes may be caused by absent pulmonary artery perfusion and development of systemic vessel collateralization.