Thorax
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From 1978 to 1982 365 patients were treated surgically for bronchial carcinoma. Lobectomy was performed in 250 and pneumonectomy in 115. Sixteen (4.4%) needed mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure. ⋯ Of these eight survivors, five died from recurrent malignancy within a year but three were alive and well at two years. The complications leading to acute respiratory failure were unpredictable in most patients. Improving techniques of mechanical ventilation and intensive care may lead to better results in the future.
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A characteristic thoracoscopic picture of a granular parietal pleural surface was found in nine patients with rheumatoid pleurisy. Characteristic changes could be identified histopathologically in material obtained by biopsy. The rheumatoid pleural effusion resolved within an average of 14 months and no serious complications developed after the pleurisy. It is concluded that in rheumatoid pleural effusion a positive diagnosis can be made by thoracoscopy, preferably supported by the identification of microscopic structural changes in the parietal pleura.