Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410159
Hemithorax Opacification & Large Volume Thoracentesis: A Novel Predictor of Re-Expansion Pulmonary Edema
Victor E Prado, MD, Shasha X Chen, DO, Anupam Basu, MD, Connor J Wakefield, BS, Shashvat Sukhal, MD, Sanjay A Patel, MD and Sean B Smith, MD
Article Type: Research Article | First Published: June 21, 2021
Symptomatic pleural effusions are a common reason for hospital visits. Guidelines recommend draining < 1.5 L with large-volume thoracentesis (LVT) to avoid re-expansion pulmonary edema (REPE). Hemithorax opacification by pleural fluid on chest X-ray (CXR) has not been studied as predictor of REPE. We evaluated the incidence of REPE using hemithorax opacification on CXR. We reviewed LVTs with pre- and post-procedural chest CXR from 2008 to 2019 at a tertiary urban hospital. Image J software was u...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410158
Pulmonary Carcinosarcoma Diagnosed on CryoProbe® Biopsy
Fatima Ali, DO, Steffi Lena, DO and Jay Kirkham DO
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: June 17, 2021
A 57-year-old female with a 43-year pack-a-day smoking history presented to the hospital with cough, right sided pleuritic chest pain, three episodes of hemoptysis each less than a quarter size and unplanned 20 lb. weight loss in the last month. On admission, CT Chest demonstrated an 11 cm right upper lobe (RUL) heterogeneous mass with severe central necrosis and complete obliteration of the right upper lobe bronchus as well as encasement of the RUL pulmonary artery, invasion of the lateral wall...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410157
Burden of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis at a Single Respiratory Centre of Sri Lanka
Chanaka Rathnayake, Sugeesha Wickramasinghe, Harshana Bandara, Thushara Bandara, Thanuja Tissera, Sanjeewa Malinda, Dawpadee Dharmasena, Dilanka Tilakaratne, Saman Kularatne, Amila Rathnapala, Nirasha Jayathilaka, Eshantha Perera, Bandu Gunasena and Sumudu Palihawadana
Article Type: Original Research | First Published: June 16, 2021
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) or extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA) is a diffuse parenchymal lung disease due to an inflammation of air spaces and airways secondary to an exposure to organic dust, bioaerosols, microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, protozoa) or certain reactive chemical species. Previous studies done in Sri Lanka recognized that it accounts for about one forth of ILD cases in total. Though the previous studied done in Sri Lanka looked into ILD patients in overall, no single study...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410155
Mycophenolate Adverse Effect Masquerading as Extensive Pneumatosis Intestinalis (PI) after Lung Transplantation
Fahid Alghanim, MD, Janaki Deepak, MBBS, Aldo Iacono, MD and Irina Timofte, MD
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: May 13, 2021
Pneumatosis Intestinalis (PI) is a rare post lung transplant complication which is characterized by the presence of gas within the wall of the small and large intestine. PI in lung transplant recipients has been previously described and is associated with disease of varying clinical trajectories. Here we describe a case of PI in a lung transplant recipient that was attributed to immunosuppression with Mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF) as evidenced by the presence of increased crypt epithelial apoptosi...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410154
The Mysterious Case of Missing Food from the Fridge: Sleep Eating on a Combination of Melatonin and Eszopiclone
Leilani Hernandez, MPH and Himanshu Agrawal, MD
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: May 13, 2021
Here we present a case of SRED induced by addition of melatonin to eszopiclone. For this patient, melatonin time release 3 mg was added to eszopiclone 3 mg at night for treatment of insomnia. He reported taking the melatonin for two nights and both mornings he found evidence that he had been up at night eating with no memory of it. He stopped the melatonin after these two nights and his sleep eating immediately resolved. Notably, he continued taking the eszopiclone after melatonin discontinuatio...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3516/1410153
Has COVID-19 Changed Medical Publications?
Macedo A, MD, PhD and Febra C, MD
Article Type: Letter to Editor | First Published: May 13, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemics took over our every-day lives with overwhelming consequences. Being this particularly manifested at people’s ordinary activities and social fields ranging from world politics to stock markets, arts, education or sport, it is also true with respect to scientific publications in the area of medicine. The number of medical publications in indexed journals has been increasing year after year, reaching, in 2019, the number of 1,268,272 indexed papers in PubMed. In the first h...
