Evaluation of Patients with Behcet's Disease Presenting with Pulmonary Symptoms

Objective: Behcet's disease (BD) is a multisystem disorder and survival depends on pulmonary involvement, especially pulmonary artery aneurysm. Therefore early diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary involvement are very important. This study was conducted to evaluate clinical features, treatment results and outcome of patients with BD presenting with pulmonary symptoms. Material and Methods: Medical records of patients diagnosed as BD over a 17-years period from 1991 to 2008 who presented with pulmonary symptoms in two different chest clinics were reviewed retrospectively. Clinical and radiological findings, treatment and follow-up results were investigated. Results: Twenty-two patients (19 males, three females) diagnosed with BD were included. The mean age was 35.4 years. Sixteen of the patients (72.7%) were diagnosed with BD at chest clinics for first time. Main presenting pulmonary symptom was hemoptysis (72.7%) and six of them (27.3%) had massive hemoptysis. Thirteen patients (59%) had pulmonary artery aneurysms, five of them also had thrombosis within the aneurysm. Nineteen patients (86%) were administered immunosupressive therapy. Eighteen (81.8%) of the patients were followed, median follow-up time was four years. Thirteen patients responded to immunosuppressive therapy. Three patients (16.7%) died, two of them with massive hemoptysis. Conclusion: BD should be kept in mind in differential diagnosis of hemoptysis in young patients, especially in countries with high incidence of BD. Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment for pulmonary involvement can prevent a fatal outcome

Frequency of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Stage I and II Sarcoidosis Subjects Who Had No Corticosteroid Therapy

OBJECTIVES: The number of studies on the frequency of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in subjects with sarcoidosis is low. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the frequency and predictors of OSA in subjects with clinically stable stage I and II sarcoidosis who were not taking corticosteroid and/or immunosuppressive drugs. We also evaluated restless legs syndrome (RLS) and periodic leg movements in sleep (PLMS)

Seam Welding Monitoring System Based on Real-time Electrical Signal Analysis

This paper presents a novel welding quality evaluation approach based on the analysis of electrical signals. The method has been implemented in an automatic system developed using field-programmable gate array (FPGA) acquisition boards and custom software. The system has been implemented in an industrial machine to detect faults in tinplate welding. Experimental results show that the system is characterized by high sensitivity and high speed. Furthermore, it needs simple conditioning electronics and tuning procedures. The system is suitable for network operation and remote contro

Patient and physician delay in the diagnosis and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in Turkey

WOS: 000351233200014PubMed ID: 25670053Aim: The early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer are important for the prognosis of patients with lung cancer. This study was undertaken to investigate patient and doctor delays in the diagnosis and treatment of NSCLC and the factors affecting these delays. Materials and methods: A total of 1016 patients, including 926 (91.1%) males and 90 (8.9%) females with a mean age of 61.5 +/- 10.1 years, were enrolled prospectively in this study between May 2010 and May 2011 from 17 sites in various Turkish provinces. Results: The patient delay was found to be 49.9 +/- 96.9 days, doctor delay was found to be 87.7 +/- 99.6 days, and total delay was found to be 131.3 +/- 135.2 days. The referral delay was found to be 61.6 +/- 127.2 days, diagnostic delay was found to be 20.4 +/- 44.5 days, and treatment delay was found to be 24.4 +/- 54.9 days. When the major factors responsible for these delays were examined, patient delay was found to be more frequent in workers, while referral delay was found to be more frequent in patients living in villages (p < 0.05). We determined that referral delay, doctor delay, and total delay increased as the number of doctors who were consulted by patients increased (p < 0.05). Additionally, we determined that diagnostic and treatment delays were more frequent at the early tumour stages in NSCLC patients (p < 0.05). Discussion: The extended length of patient delay underscores the necessity of educating people about lung cancer. To decrease doctor delay, education is a crucial first step. Additionally, to further reduce the diagnostic and treatment delays of chest specialists, multidisciplinary management and algorithms must be used regularly. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Patient and doctor delays in the diagnosis and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in Turkey

WOS: 00020937040047

Post-discharge mortality in the first wave of COVID-19 in Turkey

© 2022 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine.Objective: To determine post-discharge mortality and associated factors of the first-wave multicenter Turkish Thoracic Society (TTD)-TURCOVID study. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed the data of 18 of 26 centers included in the first TTD-TURCOVID study, and 1 112 cases diagnosed with COVID-19 between 11 March and 31 July 2020 participated in the study. All causes of death after COVID-19 discharge were recorded. Results: The mean age of the patients was (51.07±16.93) years, with 57.6% male patients. In the cohort group, 89.1% of COVID-19 treatment locations were hospital wards, 3.6% were intensive care units (ICUs), and 7.2% were community outpatients. In the longterm follow-up, the in-hospital mortality rate was 3.6% (95% CI 2.64.8), the post-discharge mortality rate was 2.8% (95% CI 1.9-3.9), and the total mortality was 6.3% (95% CI 5.0-7.8). After discharge, 63.3% of mortality overall occurred during the first six months. Mortality rates in post-discharge follow-ups were 12.7% (95% CI 8.0-30.6) in cancer patients, 10.8% (95% CI 6.3-22.9) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, 11.1% (95% CI 4.4-22.7) in heart failure patients, 7.8 (95% CI 3.8-14.3) in atherosclerotic heart disease patients, and 2.3% (95% CI 0.8-5.6) in diabetes mellitus patients. In smokers/ex-smokers, the all-mortality rates were higher than in non-smokers. Conclusions: This multicenter study showed that patients over 65 years of age, males, former/active smoker, ICU stay, lung, heart disease, and malignancy should be followed up for at least the first six months after discharge due to COVID-19