1/13. Munchausen's syndrome. A case of factitious hemoptysis.Factitious hemoptysis is the bleeding type of Munchausen's syndrome, rarely reported in the literature (only seventeen cases). After a careful and detailed literature review, the authors report the case of a 22-year-old working-woman, with a history of asthma, Mediterranean anaemia and recurrent hemoptysis, who was admitted several times to the cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences Department in the Carlo Forlanini Hospital in 1994 for an asthmatic attack and wheeziness at rest. During the admissions the patient underwent laboratory tests (such as the examination of sputum specimens, urinalysis, tuberculin test, cold agglutinins and pneumotropic virus tests) and diagnostic studies (fiberoptic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage, computerized tomography and radiography of the chest, bronchial arteriography, bronchography, perfusion and ventilation lung scan), because she continually presented with hemoptysis, in order to spot and discover the nature of the bleeding. Since such examinations failed (a few of them-namely fiberoptic bronchoscopies--were even performed when she was coughing up blood) and psychiatric consultations revealed the presence of psychologically traumatic events in the patient's history which could explain the psychopathic traits of her personality (in fact she was aggressive and unstable in interpersonal relations), a diagnosis of factitious hemoptysis in Munchausen's syndrome was made.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/13. Hughes-Stovin syndrome: a case report and review of the literature.A young man presented with prolonged pyrexia, recurrent optic neuritis, thrombophlebitis and bilateral pulmonary artery aneurysms with thrombus formation. The life-threatening hemoptysis necessitated mechanical ventilatory support and emergency left lower lobectomy. Systemic corticosteroids conferred clinical improvement and reduction of the remaining right pulmonary artery aneurysm. The patient eventually succumbed to sudden massive hemoptysis. This report underscores the unpredictable nature of this syndrome and emphasises the need for aggressive surgical intervention of pulmonary artery aneurysms in Hughes-Stovin syndrome.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/13. North American paragonimiasis. A case report.BACKGROUND: paragonimiasis is a parasitic infection with a predilection for pulmonary involvement. paragonimus species occur throughout the world and exist in nature in a snail-crustacean-mammalian life cycle. Human disease is most frequently encountered in cultures that ingest raw or undercooked crustaceans. North American paragonimiasis, caused by an endemic paragonimus species, paragonimus kellicotti, predominantly causes disease in carnivorous and omnivorous animals but may cause human disease if the intermediate host, the crayfish, is ingested raw or undercooked. CASE: A previously healthy, 21-year-old male was infected with P kellicotti and developed parasitic hemoptysis. The disease was contracted through the ingestion of local, undercooked crayfish. diagnosis was established through the morphologic examination of eggs in the cytologic preparation of bronchioalveolar lavage fluid. The patient was successfully treated with praziquantel and recovered without incident. CONCLUSION: paragonimiasis is a cause of parasitic hemoptysis worldwide. paragonimiasis is infrequently encountered in north america and is usually not considered in the differential diagnosis of hemoptysis unless specific risk factors are known. The cytologist or cytopathologist, therefore, may be the first to encounter the diagnostic eggs and should be familiar with this disease.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/13. Monthly haemoptysis in a woman with platelet storage pool disease.A 26-year-old female with known platelet storage pool disease presented with a short history of recurrent haemoptysis. Initial investigations were unhelpful until the cyclical nature of the symptoms became apparent prompting the unusual diagnosis of pulmonary endometriosis to be made. This was subsequently confirmed on premenstrual CT scanning. The introduction of a specific hormonal therapy and multidisciplinary input was ultimately successful.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/13. Massive hemoptysis from pulmonary artery aneurysms.Aneurysms of the pulmonary arteries are rare. The author reports a case of a patient with bilateral pulmonary artery aneurysms, in whom the nature of the lesions was not known. pulmonary artery aneurysms should be included in the differential diagnosis of lung masses.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/13. Fatal haemoptysis associated with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis treated with high-dose amphotericin b and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF).Opportunistic pulmonary infections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chemotherapeutically treated neoplasias. With increasingly aggressive cytotoxic regimens causing prolonged neutropenia, the risk of systemic mycoses and in particular of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis has increased. We review the case of a 10-year-old child suffering from relapsed lymphoblastic leukaemia and from high-dose amphotericin b-treated invasive pulmonary aspergillosis acquired during long-standing neutropenia in the initial phase of remission induction chemotherapy. The patient died in remission after GM-CSF-induced bone marrow recovery and clinical and radiological improvement with stable plasmatic coagulation and normal thrombocyte count. Peracute massive pulmonary bleeding caused by the simultaneous arrosion of a greater pulmonary artery and a lobar bronchus by a liquefactive fungal focus was responsible. In patients with chemotherapeutically induced neutropenia and invasive aspergillosis, bone marrow recovery may lead to the liquefaction of pulmonary foci, and, in view of the well-known vasotropic nature of the infection, to a potentially lethal arrosion bleeding. With the emerging use of colony-stimulating factors for shortening and overcoming neutropenia, this so far rare complication may become of increasing importance.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/13. Dieulafoy's disease of the lung: a potential disaster for the bronchoscopist.Dieulafoy's disease of the lung is very rare. We present 2 cases, which are, to our knowledge, the 9th and 10th cases reported in the literature. Haemoptysis is the leading symptom of Dieulafoy's lesion of the lung. In spite of its rareness, the lesion is relevant to the bronchoscopist because a biopsy of the unobtrusive but characteristic bronchial manifestation can precipitate profuse arterial bleeding with a fatal outcome. The bleeding can occur immediately after the biopsy and/or after an interval of up to 12 days. Angiographic images document that this vascular malformation is based on a left-to-right shunt, with a bronchial artery draining into a pulmonary artery. Endobronchial ultrasound may be helpful in detecting the vascular nature of the lesion.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/13. Endobronchial metastasis of thyroid follicular carcinoma.Well-differentiated forms of thyroid cancer, including follicular carcinoma, usually have good prognoses. But they are also known to metastasize to the bones, lungs and central nervous system. Endobronchial metastasis is exceptionally rare. In this paper, we report on a patient with endobronchial metastasis of follicular thyroid carcinoma. A 77-year-old male patient presented to our hospital with hemoptysis and a growing mass over the right clavicula. Computerized tomography (CT) of the chest revealed multiple lung metastases. Flexible bronchoscopy revealed a fragile polypoid mass of 1.5 cm, 6 cm distal to the vocal cords. biopsy from the supraclavicular mass was consistent with follicular thyroid carcinoma. Taking into account the advanced nature of the disease as well as the general condition and age of the patient, aggressive treatment modalities were not considered in the management. Palliation for hemoptysis was attained by external radiotherapy. After radiotherapy, hemoptysis did not recur, and the patient was discharged. Although endobronchial metastasis of thyroid follicular carcinoma is very rare, the presence of endobronchial metastasis may be life threatening due to massive hemoptysis, and such a lesion must be suspected in any cancer patients presenting with hemoptysis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/13. Converting the "threat" into a "challenge": a case of stress-related hemoptysis managed with hypnosis.A 24-year-old patient was treated using hypnosis for chronic repeated episodes of hemoptysis. The symptom episodes were related to academic examinations (perceived as a threat by the patient). Clinical examinations and laboratory investigations failed to indicate an organic cause for hemoptysis. He did not respond to empirical treatment trials. These negative findings suggested the psychosomatic nature of the illness. We used hypnotherapeutic ego-strengthening and guided-imagery approaches. This reduced his acute anxiety but failed to check hemoptysis. Use of explorative hypnotic dreaming revealed an emotional trauma as the possible cause of origin of the symptoms. We restructured the trauma experience during hypnotic age regression. We advised him to skip the upcoming examination and conducted a total of six therapeutic sessions. The patient continued using self-hypnosis throughout the follow-up period of 3 years during which he remained symptom free and achieved remarkable academic progress. He now perceives an examination as a challenge.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/13. Transcatheter bronchial artery embolization in the multimodality management of massive hemoptysis.To illustrate the potential role of transcatheter bronchial artery embolization (TBAE) in the multimodality management of massive hemoptysis, we describe a case in which TBAE was successfully employed as the definitive therapy. In recent years, the technique of TBAE has joined the armamentarium of managing methods for massive hemoptysis. While massive hemoptysis has traditionally been defined in terms of the volume of blood produced within a period of time, with a rate of 600 ml in 24 hours the most commonly used definition, a more functional definition has been proposed: bleeding into the tracheobronchial tree at a rate that poses a threat to life. It is the life-threatening nature of this symptom that often results in the early involvement of thoracic surgeons in the care of these patients.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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