Chest
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A 15-year-old girl presented to her local hospital with a 4-month history of fatigue, anorexia, and a 6-kg weight loss. She also reported fever, productive cough, and chest pain on the left lower chest posteriorly for 4 days before admission. Her medical history and systemic review were unremarkable for any respiratory or other organ disease. ⋯ At her local hospital, she was febrile; chest radiography showed anemia and a left lower lobe infiltrate. She received a transfusion and was started on empiric antibiotics that were continued for 10 days without improvement. Subsequently, CT scan of the chest and upper abdomen showed a lung abscess and left renal mass that led to a referral to our center.
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Meta Analysis
Pulmonary hypertension in interstitial lung disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a key complication in interstitial lung disease (ILD), with recent therapeutic advances. ⋯ PH is a common complication in ILD with significant health impacts. A standardized definition with prospective evaluation of risk-stratified assessments for PH using identified associated risk factors is warranted. Our findings provide an evidence base for validation as surrogate end points in future PH interventional trials in ILD.
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A 63-year-old woman without significant medical history presented to an urgent care center with a 3-day history of fatigue and dyspnea on exertion. She was found to have an oxygen saturation in the low 80s on room air and was transferred to the closest hospital for further evaluation. Initial chest radiographs showed extensive bilateral interstitial opacities favoring the mid to lower lungs. ⋯ She was up to date on typical cancer screening. She had no pets and denied further exposure to birds since moving to the United States. Her occupational history included manufacturing, but she denied significant exposure to dusts or metal shavings.
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Comparative Study
Flow cytometry as an alternative to microscopy for the differentiation of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid leukocytes.
Microscopy is currently the gold standard to differentiate BAL fluid (BALF) leukocytes. However, local expertise for microscopic BALF leukocyte differentiation is often unavailable in clinical practice. ⋯ We report, to our knowledge, the first validated flow cytometric method for BALF leukocyte differentiation, which can be used in clinical settings where local expertise for microscopic analysis is unavailable and which can be combined easily with lymphocyte surface marker analysis.