BACKGROUND A study was undertaken to determine whether montelukast, a new potent cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist, attenuates exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. The relationship between the urinary excretion of LTE4 and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction was also investigated. METHODS Nineteen non-smoking asthmatic patients with a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of...

BACKGROUND: A helium-oxygen gas mixture (heliox) has low gas density and low turbulence and resistance through narrowed airways. The effects of heliox on pulmonary mechanics following severe methacholine-induced bronchospasm were investigated and compared to those of a nitrogen-oxygen gas mixture (nitrox) in an innovative pediatric porcine, independent lung, mechanical ventilation model. RESULT...

Accessible online at: www.karger.com/journals/res Drug-induced side effects are a very common medical problem. Their prevalence has not been systematically assessed, but there are reports of approximately 2% adverse reactions among hospitalized patients [1]. Among all adverse reactions to drugs which lead to only mild symptoms and which are successfully treated by simply withdrawing the drug in...

Asthma is a common and important disease, characterized by widespread bronchial obstruction that is reversible either spontaneously or with therapy. Its principal causes seem to be allergy, infections, irritants, and psychophysiologic reactions, usually in combinations. Induction of asthma by allergens is related to the presence of IgE antibodies fixed to mast cells and basophils. When these an...

Right aortic arch (RAA) with a vascular ring, a congenital malformation of the great vessels of the thorax, is a rare disease in adulthood. Mostly, RAA is accompanied by congenital cardiovascular anomalies diagnosed during childhood, and cause symptoms from the compression of the trachea and/or esophagus.1 We report a case of a 53-year-old female with a RAA who presented with dyspnea on exertio...

Clinical data on 3,911 patients were collected from 64 individual investigators to evaluate the safety ofintravenous dipyridamole-thallium imaging as an alternative to exercise thallium imaging for the evaluation of coronary artery disease. There were two deaths because of myocardial infarctions, two nonfatal myocardial infarctions, and six cases of acute bronchospasm. Chest pain occurred in 77...