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“Background: Hemoptysis is a common presenting symptom and cause of hospitalization in the department of respiratory diseases. In a number of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) presenting with this symptom, investigations fail

to reveal a precise etiology. Little data are available regarding characteristics and outcome of COPD patients presenting with cryptogenic hemoptysis (CH). Objectives: Our study goal was to assess the functional characteristics of these subjects, AZD6094 supplier the risk factors for CH and the severity of hemoptysis, as well as long-term outcome. Methods: For more than 1 year, we enrolled and followed a group of 39 consecutive COPD patients admitted to our center with CH. Results: Between 1988 and 2003,

39 patients with COPD were admitted for CH in which investigation failed to reveal an etiology. The mean age was 51.3 years. All subjects were active smokers. Twenty-one patients (54%) had at least 1 risk factor for prolonged bleeding. Patients with more severe airflow obstruction tended to have more severe bleeding. Bronchoscopy appeared as useful as a computed tomography in locating the bleeding site. Arterial embolization succeeded in controlling bleeding in all patients who underwent angiography. One patient experienced a relapse in bleeding at 2 months. One developed lung cancer after 1 year. Thirty-four patients were followed for an average of 5 years. Only 2 subjects experienced recurrent hemoptysis. None died. LY294002 clinical trial Conclusions: CH in patients with COPD is associated with a favorable short-and long-term outcome when managed with timely angiographic embolization. Long-term selleck inhibitor incidence of lung cancer was uncommon

after an episode of CH, and recurrences of hemoptysis were rare. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel”
“Objective: To evaluate the effects of rapid maxillary expansion (RME) on middle ear function before, after, 3 months and one year from expansion procedure.

Patients and methods: Eighteen patients with mean age of 8.1 years (+/- 3.7) and posterior cross-bite were followed from pre expansion to one year after RME, regarding their hearing quality and middle ear function. Nine of them presented middle ear dysfunction (MED) and nine presented normal function (NF) before rapid maxillary expansion. Audiometric and tympanometric exams were taken before rapid maxillary expansion, after RME (15 days), 3 months and one year after rapid maxillary expansion.

Results: Among those in the MED group, no patient had acoustic reflex (AR) before rapid maxillary expansion; 67% presented type C tympanometric curve, 22% had type A and 11% had As type tympanometric curve. One year after rapid maxillary expansion, all patients presented AR and showed type A tympanometric curves. In NF group, all patients showed AR and type A tympanometric curves in all records.