Bilateral Pulmonary Artery, Inferior Vena Cava, and Cardiac Echinococcosis: A Rare Presentation of Zoonotic Diseases

Introduction:Cystic hydatidosis is a zoonoticdisease thatis mostly observedin the Mediterranean region. This infectious disease may present throughdifferent manifestations that may delay the diagnosis and cause various complications for the patients. Most of the cases are usually diagnosed by imaging studies and the related management could be medical or surgical depending on the patient’s clinical condition and disease severity. Case presentation:In the present report, we present the case ofa 50-year-old female patient with a positive history of liver and splenichydatid cysts with hemoptysis and dyspnea. The diagnosis of pulmonary and cardiac involvement wasmade usingcomputed tomography angiography. Despite the immediate surgery, the patient died from hemorrhage after 3 days. Conclusion:Themanagement of pulmonary embolism due to Echinococcus highly depends on the clinical judgment and the outcomes are subject to the history and extent of the involvement

Asthma in Rhinosinusitis: A Survey from Iran

Introduction: The coexistence of asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is more common than expected given their individual prevalence in the general population and may affect patient’s quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of asthma in chronic rhinosinusitis in Mashhad, Northeast Iran.  Materials and Methods: This study was performed in two university hospital from November 2012 for 12 months. In total, 153 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis were enrolled and referred to a particular pulmonologist for asthma evaluation.  Results: The mean age of participants was 40.54±13.11 years, and 41.8% were male. In total, 63.4% of patients had the polypoid form of CRS. The proportion of patients in this study with asthma was 41.8%, compared with a general asthma prevalence in this region of 13.5%.  Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of asthma among patients with CRS, but it often remains undiagnosed. Asthma in CRS patients should be diagnosed and treated in order to improve patient’s quality of life. We recommend an evaluation of the lower airways in all of these patients as well as further studies in this field

The Five Years Survival after Surgery of Primary Tracheal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Unlike the primary tracheal tumors, squamous cell carcinoma of trachea is common, especially in smokers. This type of tumor has a low rate of survival and it is diagnosed too late on account of late presentation of its signs. The treatment of choice is surgical removal followed by adjuvant radiotherapy; Primary radiotherapy is the appropriate treatment in inoperable cases. In this study, we present the case with a long history of smoking, who was suffering from cough and dyspnea for a long time. During diagnostic evaluations a vegetated tumor was observed about 5 centimeters below the vocal cords. Pathologists reported the tumor as a squamous cell carcinoma, and the patient underwent an operation for resection of involved trachea. Through presenting this patient, we aimed to draw attention to this uncommon malignancy and recommend considering it as a probable diagnosis when evaluating a patient with treatment-resistant respiratory symptom

Sentinel node mapping for intra-thoracic malignancies: systematic review of the best available evidence

Introduction: Sentinel node mapping is a new technique of lymph nodal staging in solid tumors, which can decrease the morbidity of regional lymph node dissection considerably. Intra-thoracic tumors including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and esophageal carcinoma (EC) are among the solid tumors in which sentinel node (SN) mapping has been applied. In the current systematic review, we gathered the best available evidence (systematic reviews) in this regard and presented the results in a systematic review format.Material and methods: We searched MEDLINE and SCOPUS since the inception till 13 December 2014 using the following keywords: (lung OR esophagus OR esophageal) AND sentinel AND (“systematic review” OR meta-analysis OR metaanalysis). No language limit was imposed on the search strategy. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses on SN mapping in EC or NSCLC were included in the current study. Narrative review articles were excluded from the study.Results: Overall five systematic review were included. One of the included studies was on SN mapping in NSCLC and four were on EC. Overall detection rate and sensitivity for EC and NSCLC were high and both were related to mapping technique, pathological involvement of the mediastinal nodes, size and location of the tumors.Conclusion: SN mapping is feasible and highly accurate in EC and NSCLC. Attention to the technique (using radiotracers, peri-tumoral injection) and restriction of the patients to less advanced cases (cN0 and T1, 2) would ensure the best results with high detection rate and sensitivity