Bronchoscopic treatment of inoperable nonsmall cell lung cancer

Patients with unresectable lung cancer range from those with early-stage or pre-invasive disease with comorbidities that preclude surgery to those with advanced stage disease in whom surgery is contraindicated. In such cases, a multidisciplinary approach to treatment is warranted, and may involve medical specialties including medical oncology, radiation oncology and interventional pulmonology. In this article we review bronchoscopic approaches to surgically unresectable lung cancer, including photodynamic therapy, brachytherapy, endoscopic ablation techniques and airway stenting. Current and past literature is reviewed to provide an overview of the topic, including a highlight of potential emerging approaches

Management of broncholithiasis

Broncholithiasis is a condition in which calcified material has entered the tracheobronchial tree, at times causing airway obstruction and inflammation. Broncholiths generally originate as calcified material in mediastinal lymph nodes that subsequently erode into adjacent airways, often as a result of prior granulomatous infection. Disease manifestations range from asymptomatic stones in the airway to life-threatening complications, including massive hemoptysis and post-obstructive pneumonia. Radiographic imaging, particularly computed tomography scanning of the chest, is integral in the evaluation of suspected broncholithiasis and can be helpful to assess involvement of adjacent structures, including vasculature, prior to any planned intervention. Management strategies largely depend on the severity of disease. Observation is warranted in asymptomatic cases, while therapeutic bronchoscopy and surgical interventions may be necessary for cases involving complications. Bronchoscopic extraction is often feasible in cases in which the broncholith is freely mobile within the airway, whereas partially-embedded broncholiths represent additional challenges. Surgical intervention is indicated for advanced cases deemed not amenable to endoscopic management. Complex cases involving complications such as massive hemoptysis and/or bronchomediastinal fistula formation are best managed with a multidisciplinary approach, utilizing expertise from fields such as pulmonology, radiology, and thoracic surgery

Microscopic origins of performance losses in highly efficient Cu In, Ga Se2 thin film solar cells

Thin film solar cells based on polycrystalline absorbers have reached very high conversion efficiencies of up to 23 25 . In order to elucidate the limiting factors that need to be overcome for even higher efficiency levels, it is essential to investigate microscopic origins of loss mechanisms in these devices. In the present work, a high efficiency 21 without anti reflection coating copper indium gallium diselenide CIGSe solar cell is characterized by means of a correlative microscopy approach and corroborated by means of photoluminescence spectroscopy. The values obtained by the experimental characterization are used as input parameters for two dimensional device simulations, for which a real microstructure was used. It can be shown that electrostatic potential and lifetime fluctuations exhibit no substantial impact on the device performance. In contrast, nonradiative recombination at random grain boundaries can be identified as a significant loss mechanism for CIGSe solar cells, even for devices at a very high performance leve

Evaluation of electron beam induced current profiles of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with different Ga-contents

The measurement of electron beam induced current profiles in junction configuration (JEBIC) is a settled method for several semiconductor devices. We discuss the JEBIC method in the light of the special conditions present in the case of thin film Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 solar cells.Our previously published results indicate that the charge state of defects close to or at the Cu(In,Ga)Se-2/CdS interface depends on the minority carrier distribution, which changes strongly during a scan of the cross section with an electron beam. The charge distribution influences the electrostatic potential and therewith the collection of minority carriers.Here, we present an evaluation method of JEBIC profiles that accounts for this effect. Monte Carlo simulations of the carrier generation help us to consider in detail the influence of surface recombination. We determine the diffusion length, space charge width, surface- and back contact recombination velocity of Cu(In(1-r),Ga-r)Se-2 devices with different Ga-contents r from JEBIC line scans. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V