Fiberoptic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and transbronchial biopsy (TBB) was performed in 40 patients suspected to have pulmonary tuberculosis, in whom chest roentgenogram revealed minimal infiltration and sputum smears were negative for acid-fast bacilli. Bronchoscopic procedures provided overall diagnostic yields in 47.5% (19/40) of patients. The diagnostic yield of overall b...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy usually involves the left ventricle more severely than the right, and when asymmetrical may. produce the syndrome of idiopathic subaortic stenosis. Less commonly, clinical manifestations of inflow-tract obstruction predominate and produce a syndrome that may be mistaken for mitral stenosis, principally because of an apical diastolic rumbling murmur. The probability o...

Communications to the EdItor son, suggest chest CT.” Prospective studies should address the nurnher ofCT scans being ordered to evaluate lesions that are already established by roentgenogram as benign. It is also alarming to us that a CT scan can precede the Gram stain or tuberculosis smears on patients with infectious histories and new infiltrates. Our colleagues at Dartmouth2 q 5lly aware ofh...

Primary cardiac tumors are rare with an incidence ranging from 0.001% to 0.03% in autopsy series. The prognosis of cardiac sarcomas remains poor because it proliferates rapidly and distant metastases are often found at diagnosis. A 47-year-old male complained of persistent cough. The chest roentgenogram was normal. Subsequent computed tomography revealed a mass in the right atrium. Echocardiogr...

Chest roentgenogram of a sixty-year-old male patient, revealed a tumoral mass in the right lung, that was later demonstrated by transbronchial biopsy, to be a bronchogenic adenocarcinoma. There was no tomographic evidence of distant metastasis, however, in order to assess the mediastinal involvement for staging of the tumor, biopsies from the regional lymph nodes were obtained. Microscopic exam...

The use of bromocriptine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease is increasing. More than 20 cases of suggested drug-induced pleuropulmonary disorders during bromocriptine therapy have been reported. We describe four male parkinsonian patients taking bromocriptine in whom pleuropulmonary abnormalities were discovered in a pulmonary hospital during a one-year period. In only one case were the ro...

A 23-year-old otherwise healthy male presented with development of painful blackish discoloration of the right thumb and index finger and of the right big toe and area over the ankle (Figs. 1 and 2), as well as painful swelling of both lower limbs, especially on the right side (Fig. 3). Homans′sign was present bilaterally. His past history was not significant. Routine investigations, including ...

A 64-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease presented with pneumococcal pneumonia that progressed to respiratory failure within one week, requiring mechanical ventilation. Despite a low minute ventilation and clear chest roentgenogram, multiple weaning attempts failed. Bronchoscopy revealed significant narrowing of the distal trachea with erythema, edema, and ulceration of the ...

The noninvasive diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension generally includes a physical examination, an electrocardiogram, a chest roentgenogram, a radionuclide angiography, and an echocardiography. These methods can discriminate mild from severe elevation in pressure, but lack sufficient sensitivity to be useful in the evaluation of short-term therapeutic interventions or in the monitoring of the cl...

A 70-year-old white woman presented a papular zosteriform eruption on her right upper thorax and right arm. Shiny, erythematous-purplish or £esh-coloured papules 2 ^ 3 mm in diameter were observed, isolated or closely arranged in little plaques (Fig. 1). The patient complained only of mild itching; no systemic signs and symptoms were referred. Two months earlier the patient had a C5 ^ C6 right ...