Recognition of the criteria of severity and the early admission to a referral center play a critical role in the prognosis of severe haemoptysis.

The therapeutic management should be undertaken urgently by providing general supportive care, i.e., optimization of oxygenation and haemodynamic stabilization to prevent recurrence of massive bleeding. Interventional radiology has dramatically improved the initial management of severe haemoptysis. Attempts to control haemoptysis by first-line non-surgical methods are necessary to optimize the operative conditions and improve morbidity and mortality. Surgical lung resection remains the treatment of choice in selected patients with localized lesions complicated by severe and/or recurrent episodes of haemoptysis (bronchiectasis) or lesions associated with a high risk of recurrence of bleeding (mycetoma).

Haemoptysis related to pulmonary arterial involvement remains a surgical emergency.

Patients with stage I-II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show variability in recurrence after curative resection. Several factors have been proposed as prognostic of recurrence in previous studies. However, because of the heterogeneity of the populations studied, these reports did not yield consistent results. The aim of our study was to identify risk factors for recurrence in patients with curatively resected stage I-II NSCLC.

METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of pathological stage I-II NSCLC patients after curative surgery performed in a tertiary referral center (Seoul National University Hospital) from January 2002 to December 2004. Demographic factors, radiological, histopathological, and laboratory findings, and surgery-related factors were analyzed. Patients with invasive cancer other than lung cancer that was present 5 years prior to surgery were excluded. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used for multivariate analyses.

RESULTS: Three hundred and ten patients were included. Among them, local recurrence occurred in 27 patients (8.7%), whereas distant recurrence occurred in 79 patients (25.5%). Adenocarcinoma histology (OR, 2.74; 95% CI, 1.14-6.58; P=0.024), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level>2.3ng/mL (OR, 2.26; 95% CI, 1.02-5.00; P=0.045), and standard uptake values (SUV) of tumor in positron emission tomography (PET)>4.5 (OR, 5.45; 95% CI, 1.82-16.31; P=0.002) were independent predictors of recurrence in addition to TNM stage. We also constructed a recurrence prediction model based on these findings, which yielded better diagnostic performance than the TNM staging system.

CONCLUSION: Adenocarcinoma histology, CEA level, and SUV of PET could be considered as prognostic factors for recurrence in patients with curatively resected stage I-II NSCLC.

Although the overall prognosis of CTD-related interstitial pneumonia is better than that of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, the prognosis of CTD-related organizing pneumonia (CTD-OP) was suggested to be worse than that of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP). The aim of this study was to compare the clinical features and outcome of the two conditions.

Methods: A retrospective review of 100 patients diagnosed by lung biopsy as having organizing pneumonia patterns (CTD, 24; COP, 76) at three tertiary referral centres.

Results: Underlying CTDs were mostly RA, SS and PM/DM. The median follow-up period was 43.6 months. There were no differences in initial symptoms, lung function or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid findings except significantly more females (83.3 vs 59.2%, P = 0.048) in the CTD-OP than in the COP group. Over 80% of the patients in both the groups improved. However, complete recovery rate was lower in CTD-OP (20.8%) than in COP (46.1%; P = 0.028) with a tendency towards higher recurrence rate in CTD-OP (40.0 vs 20.3%; P = 0.072). There was no significant difference in the frequency of rapid progression or overall survival between the two groups.

Conclusions: The clinical features and prognosis of CTD-OP are similar to COP. However, lower complete recovery rate with a tendency towards higher recurrence rate in CTD-OP compared with COP suggest the need for closer follow-up in patients with CTD-OP.

Unexpandable lung is the inability of the lung to expand to the chest wall allowing for normal visceral and parietal pleural apposition. It is the direct result of either pleural disease, endobronchial obstruction resulting in lobar collapse, or chronic atelectasis.

Unexpandable lung occurring as a consequence of active or remote pleural disease may present as a post-thoracentesis hydropneumothorax or an effusion that cannot be completely drained because of the development of anterior chest pain. Pleural manometry is useful for identifying unexpandable lung during initial pleural drainage. Unexpandable lung occurring as a consequence of active or remote pleural disease may be separated into two distinct clinical entities termed trapped lung and lung entrapment. Trapped lung is a diagnosis proper and is caused by the formation of a fibrous visceral pleural peel (in the absence of malignancy or active pleural inflammation). The mechanical effect of the pleural peel constitutes the primary clinical problem. Lung entrapment may result from a visceral pleural peel secondary to active pleural inflammation, infection, or malignancy. In these cases, the underlying malignant or inflammatory condition is the primary clinical problem, which may or may not be complicated by unexpandable lung due to visceral pleural involvement.

The recognition of trapped lung and lung entrapment as related, but distinct, clinical entities has direct consequences on clinical management. In our practice, pleural manometry is routinely performed during therapeutic thoracentesis and is useful for identification of unexpandable lung and has allowed us to understand the mechanisms surrounding a post-thoracentesis pneumothorax.