Login to your account

Username *
Password *
Remember Me

Blog With Right Sidebar

    Vous êtes ici :  
  1. Accueil
  2. Blog With Right Sidebar

Number of Lymph Nodes Harvested From a Mediastinal Lymphadenectomy: Results of the Randomized, Prospective American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z0030 Trial

Background:

Lymph node status is a major determinant of stage and survival in patients with lung cancer; however, little information is available about the expected yield of a mediastinal lymphadenectomy.

 Methods:

The American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z0030 prospective, randomized trial of mediastinal lymph node sampling vs complete mediastinal lymphadenectomy during pulmonary resection enrolled 1,111 patients from July 1999 to February 2004. Data from 524 patients who underwent complete mediastinal lymph node dissection were analyzed to determine the number of lymph nodes obtained.

 Results:

The median number of additional lymph nodes harvested from a mediastinal lymphadenectomy following systematic sampling was 18 with a range of one to 72 for right-sided tumors, and 18 with a range of four to 69 for left-sided tumors. The median number of N2 nodes harvested was 11 on the right and 12 on the left. A median of at least six nodes was harvested from at least three stations in 99% of patients, and 90% of patients had at least 10 nodes harvested from three stations. Overall, 21 patients (4%) were found to have occult N2 disease.

 Conclusions:

Although high variability exists in the actual number of lymph nodes obtained from various nodal stations, complete mediastinal lymphadenectomy removes one or more lymph nodes from all mediastinal stations. Adequate mediastinal lymphadenectomy should include stations 2R, 4R, 7, 8, and 9 for right-sided cancers and stations 4L, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 for left-sided cancers. Six or more nodes were resected in 99% of patients in this study.

Performance of whole-blood interferon-gamma release assay in patients admitted to the emergency department with pulmonary infiltrates.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of a whole-blood interferon-gamma release assay in inpatients who were admitted to the emergency department (ED) with pulmonary infiltrates who required a differential diagnosis with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).

METHODS: The patients with pulmonary infiltrates who received a QuantiFERON (QFT) test in the ED were included as an inpatient group and were divided into TB and non-TB group based on the final diagnosis. Patients with pulmonary TB who were tested in the outpatient department served as a control group.

RESULTS: In total, 377 QFT tests were analyzed. Of the 284 inpatient QFT tests, 29.6% had an indeterminate result (35.2% in the 196 patients with non-TB and 17.0% in the 88 patients with TB). In contrast, only 1.1% of the 93 outpatients with TB returned an indeterminate result (p<0.001). The indeterminate QFT results in the inpatient group were independently associated with lymphocytopenia, hypoalbuminemia, and high C-reactive protein levels. Non-positive QFT results in inpatients with TB were associated with lymphocytopenia and hypoalbuminemia, while non-positive QFT results in outpatients with TB were associated with high erythrocyte sedimentation rates and radiographically more severe diseases.

CONCLUSIONS: QFT tests in ED-based inpatients with pulmonary infiltrate return indeterminate results relatively frequently. In addition, inpatients and outpatients with pulmonary TB may differ in terms of the risk factors on non-positive QFT results.

Phenotypic variability in childhood TB: Implications for diagnostic endpoints in tuberculosis vaccine trials.

The endpoint definition for infant tuberculosis (TB) vaccine trials should match the TB disease phenotype expected in the control arm of the study population.

Our aim was to analyse selected combinations of the clinical, radiological, and microbiological features of pulmonary TB among children investigated under vaccine trial conditions, in order to estimate case frequency for a range of expected TB phenotypes.

Two thousand one hundred and eighty five South African children were investigated over a nine-year period (2001-2009). Evidence of TB exposure and classical symptoms were several times more common than chest radiography (CXR) compatible with TB, or positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture.

Discordance between clinical, radiological, and microbiological features was common in individual children. Up to one third of children with compatible CXR, and up to half the children who were M. tuberculosis culture positive, were asymptomatic. The culture positive rate fell over time, although rates of TB exposure and compatible chest radiography increased. Consequently, the annual incidence of diagnostic combinations that included M. tuberculosis culture fell to <0.2%. However, in this study population (children <2 years of age), annual incidence of the TB disease phenotype that included the triad of TB exposure, symptoms, and compatible CXR, approached 1% (n=848 per 100,000).

These findings allow modelling of expected TB case frequency in multi-centre infant TB vaccine trials, based upon benchmarking of diagnostic data against the key indicator variables that constitute the building blocks of a trial endpoint.

[Airway Complications Following Lung Transplantation - Clinic, Diagnosis, and Interventional Management.]

Tracheobronchial complications following lung transplantation are defined as local structural or infectious alterations of the airways, which occur early or several months after lung transplantation (LTx). They preferentially develop in the region of the bronchial anastomosis.

The most frequently reported complications are bronchial stenosis, bronchial dehiscence, exophytic excessive granulation tissue formation, tracheo-bronchomalacia, bronchial fistulas, and endobronchial infections. Airway complications are mainly attributed to ischaemia of the donor bronchus during the immediate post-transplant period. The most relevant risk factors for the development of airway complications include local infections, surgical techniques, and the immunosuppressive regimen. Thus, management of post-transplant bronchial complications requires early interventional bronchoscopic procedures including balloon bronchoplasty, cryotherapy, laser photoresection, endobronchial brachytherapy, and bronchial stents. In addition, antibiotic treatment, or non-invasive positive-pressure ventilation may be necessary. The procedures required depend on the time of occurrence, the type, and clinical relevance of the airway complication.

This review summarises clinical presentation, risk factors, the diagnostic methods as well as management options for the most common LTx-associated airway complications.

The epidemiology and outcome of medical emergency team call patients treated with non-invasive ventilation.

INTRODUCTION: Use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is normally limited to the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Coronary Care Unit (CCU) or High Dependency Unit (HDU). However, NIV is sometimes used by the Medical Emergency Team (MET) as respiratory support for ward patients.

OBJECTIVES: We reviewed the characteristics and outcome of ward patients treated with NIV in the setting of a MET Call and determined the clinical and prognostic significance of such treatment. METHODS: We used our MET database to assess the characteristics and outcome of patients treated with NIV and compared them to a control group of patients with similar MET diagnoses but not treated with NIV.

RESULTS: We studied 5389 calls in 3880 patients. NIV was delivered during 483 (9.0%) calls to 426 patients (11% of the total). The four most common MET diagnoses associated with NIV were acute pulmonary edema (156 calls, 32.3%), pneumonia (84 calls, 17.4%), acute respiratory failure of unclear origin (59 calls, 12.2%) and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (32 calls, 6.6%). Limitations of medical therapy (LOMT) were documented in 151 (35.4%) patients. Among NIV patients without LOMT, 115 (41.8%) were transferred to ICU and 50 (18.2%) to the coronary care or high dependency unit (CCU/HDU) compared with only 50 (18.0%) and 16 (5.8%) respectively in the control group (p<0.001). Overall, 76 NIV patients (27.6%) received endotracheal intubation (ETT) compared with 61 (21.9%) in controls. Mortality was 23.6% in the NIV group versus 18.8% in the control group.

CONCLUSION: One in ten MET call patients received NIV. In those without LOMT, two thirds were transferred to ICU/HDU/CCU, one in four received ETT, and one in four died. NIV use at the time of a MET call identified high risk patients for whom admission to ICU/HDU/CCU should be strongly considered.

Search

Search