Interstitial Lung Disease during Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole Administration

We studied clinical and radiographic features of interstitial lung disease (ILD) during trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) administration. Ten patients who had received prednisolone treatment for underlying diffuse pulmonary disease showed various ILDs after introduction of TMP/SMX. The radiographic features of the ILDs were not consistent with infectious disease or exacerbation of the underlying disease, and these diagnoses were excluded radiographically and on clinical grounds during the differential diagnosis of the ILDs. These ILDs emerged relatively early after introduction of TMP/SMX, which is consistent with the former case report of drug-induced ILD (DI-ILD) caused by TMP/SMX. Therefore DI-ILDs caused by TMP/SMX were suspected in these cases. In most of these cases, the ILDs were clinically mild and disappeared immediately although administration of TMP/SMX was continued

Septic Pulmonary Embolism Induced by Dental Infection

Dental infection can be an important source for septic pulmonary embolism (SPE), but only a few cases of SPE accompanying dental infection have been reported. The aim of this study was to characterize the clinical features of SPE induced by dental infection. Patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria described in the text were recruited in a retrospective fashion. All 9 patients were men, with a median age of 59 years (range:47 to 74 years). Eight patients had chest pain (88.9%), 5 had a preceding toothache (55.6%) and 3 had preceding gingival swelling (33.3%). Blood cultures obtained from 7 patients were negative. Periodontitis was found in all of the cases, periapical periodontitis in 5 cases, and gingival abscess in 3 cases. The median duration of hospitalization was 15 days, and symptoms were mild in some cases. In addition to antimicrobial therapy, tooth extraction was performed in 3 cases, tooth scaling in 6. SPE induced by dental infection has prominent clinical characteristics such as male preponderance, chest pain, preceding toothache, and mild clinical course