A case of benign schwannoma originating from the lowest trunk of the left brachial plexus with intrathoracic extension was reported. Intrathoracic growth of a schwannoma of the brachial plexus has been reported in only five cases in the literature. The patient was a 35-year-old man and had been pointed out an abnormal shadow at the left lung apex on the roentgenogram since 20-year-old. The tumo...

A78-year-old man was hospitalized because of chest pain that had started 2 hours earlier while rifle shooting. On admission, he was alert and his vital signs were normal. Physical examination revealed no abnormalities, except for a wound at the jugular notch, presumably due to the entrance of a pellet. No exit wounds were found. The ECG showed marked ST-segment elevation in the inferior leads. ...

A 54-year-old man was admitted for further investigation of multiple nodules disclosed by a chest roentgenogram. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent Cushing's syndrome was diagnosed because serum ACTH and serum cortisol levels were elevated with a loss of diurnal rhythm. Because several extensive examinations, including inferior petrosal sinus sampling, did not detest ACTH-producing tu...

A 65-year-old female had been diagnosed with right lung cancer by her family physician, and she was introduced to our Department of Thoracic Surgery at Matsuyama Red Cross Hospital in May 2004. She underwent a right upper lobectomy and wedge resection of S6 with the systematic dissection of her mediastinal lymph nodes. The patient made an uneventful recovery and was discharged on postoperative ...

A 49-year-old black woman presented after an initial radiologic evaluation of her shoulder incidentally revealed the presence of multiple pulmonary nodules. The asymptomatic patient denied dyspnea, cough, sputum production, hemoptysis, or fever. There was no history of malignancy. Her history included only a hysterectomy and left-sided oophorectomy performed approximately 12 years earlier for u...

We analyzed the limitations of the International Labor Organization (ILO) classification of chest roentgenograms in predicting the presence of histologically determined early asbestosis. The ILO system is arbitrary, without histologic correlates, and does not consider the asbestos exposure history or clinical and laboratory information. We present data from the literature and our own work which...

The need for fiberoptic bronchoscopy in the patient with hemoptysis and a normal or nonlocalizing chest roentgenogram remains a subject of debate. Currently, diagnostic fiberoptic bronchoscopy is recommended as the investigative procedure of choice. To develop predictors that identify the patient in whom fiberoptic bronchoscopy is most likely to be diagnostic, we reviewed our community's experi...

T his 37-year-old man had surgical correction of a coarctation of the aorta nine years previously. He has no complaints and there are no abnormal physical findings. The lesion did not pulsate at fluoroscopy. Bronchoscopy was normal.