Pulmonary embolism is a very dangerous difficult-to-detect medical condition. To diagnose pulmonary embolism, medical practitioners combine indirect signs of this condition into a single score, and then classify patients into low-probability, intermediate-probability, and high-probability categories. Empirical analysis shows that, when we move from each category to the next one, the probability...

Pulmonary embolism occurs when blood clots leave the veins where they developed, travel through the right side of the heart, and lodge in the small or large branches of the blood vessels going to the lung (pulmonary arteries). This can cause symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, or coughing up blood. In severe cases, it may result in collapse and sudden death. Long airplane flights...

Pompe disease is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by α-glucosidase deficiency. Lower airway involvement and management are rare in patients with late-onset Pompe disease. We describe the case of a 16-y-old girl with late-onset Pompe disease who presented with obvious progressive deterioration in respiratory function. Pulmonary hypertension was also apparent on echocardiography. She ha...

Pulmonary surfactant is a complex mixture of lipids and proteins that, by modulating surface tension during breathing, prevents alveolar collapse at exhalation and overdistention at inspiration. Surfactant is synthesized by type II pneumocytes, assembled in lamellar bodies and secreted at the air-liquid interface of the alveolus. This surface-active material is re-uptaken by alveolar type II ce...

Acute pulmonary thromboembolism is a catastrophic event, especially for hospitalized patients. The prognosis of pulmonary thromboembolism depends on the degree of pulmonary arterial occlusion. The mortality of massive pulmonary embolism is reportedly as high as 25% without cardiopulmonary arrest and 65% with cardiopulmonary arrest. In patients with unstable hemodynamics due to pulmonary thrombo...

OBJECTIVE There are controversial findings in the literature on the effects of chest physiotherapy on postextubation lung collapse in pediatric age group. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of chest physiotherapy in prevention of postextubation atelectasis in pediatric patients. MATERIALS & METHODS In a case-control study from March 2007 to March 2011, two groups of patients (35 ...

BACKGROUND Partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection is a rare congenital vascular disorder that may be asymptomatic. Left-sided connections with the innominate vein are discovered infrequently and those without an atrial septal defect are extremely rare. CASE A 66-year-old male was found to have an anomalous left pulmonary vein when a central venous catheter was inserted for management o...

A 44-year-old man presented with progressive dyspnea and a previous pneumothorax. Chest CT scan showed a mediastinal shift due to giant bullae containing soft tissue and fatty components in the left lower lung lobe, and a right upper lung lobe partially collapsed. The pulmonary function tests revealed forced vital capacity (FVC) 53% (of the predicted) and forced vital capacity in 1s (FEV1) 52%....

A 20-year-old man was admitted to a regional hospital with fevers, rigors, anorexia and left upper quadrant pain. It was his fourth presentation to the emergency department in the preceding 10 days. On the first two presentations, he had been sent home with a provisional diagnosis of renal colic. After review by his general practitioner, he had undergone outpatient imaging that identified filli...

CONTEXT Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive, fatal lung disease occurring in older individuals. Despite 50 years of accrued data about the disease, little progress has been made in slowing functional loss or in decreasing patient mortality. OBJECTIVE To present a novel hypothesis on the etiology and pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. DESIGN Published data are reviewed...