• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.142-150
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• 2006

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is often difficult to diagnose and challenging to treat. Untreated, it is characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance leading to right ventricular failure and death. The past decade has seen remarkable improvements in therapy, driven largely by the conduct of randomized controlled trials. Still, the selection of most appropriate therapy is complex, and requires familiarity with the disease process, evidence from treatment trials, complicated drug delivery systems, dosing regimens, side effects, and complications. We tried to provide evidence-based treatment recommendations for physicians involved in the care of these complex patients. Due to the complexity of the diagnostic evaluation required, and the treatment options available, it is strongly recommended that consideration be given to referral of patients with PAH to a specialized center.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.245-249
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• 1991

Surgical intervention for pumlmonary tuberculosis has been controverted for last several decades. Although it is widely held that the chemotherapy is the best modality for treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, surgical intervention has still some roles in well elected circumstance. At the National Kongju Tuberculosis Hospital in Korea, we performed a retrospective case Cohort study through the regular follow-up of 463 cases, who underwent the surgical intervention for pulmonary tuberculosis between January 1986 and April 1990. The results were as follows: 1) The male to female ratio was 1.8:1 and 84.4% of the patients were between 20 and 49 years of age. 2) According to the NAT classification, 6 cases (1.3%) were minimal, 216 (46.7%) moderately advanced and 241 (52%) far advanced. 3) One hundred and thirty four cases (28.9%) had the treatment history of 5 to 10 years and 129 cases (27.9%) of 3 to 4 years. 4) As for the pathologic entities, 172 cases (37.1%) had the totally destroyed lung and 137 (29.6%) destroyed lobe or segment. 5) A total of 238 cases (51.4%) underwent pneumonectomy and 153 (33.0%) lobectomy. 6) As the post-operative complications, 21 cases (4.5%) had empyema and 11 (2.4%) bleeding. The rate of complication after pneumonectomy and lobectomy was 5.8% and 3.2%, respectively. 7) Six cases (1.3%) died post-operatively. 8) Out of 238 cases with pre-operative positivity for AFB, 212 achieved the negative conversion, its rate being 89.1%. It follows from these results that although it has a limit, surgical intervention may play an important role in treating some patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.775-780
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• 1993

Pulmonary aspergilloma resulting from colonization of Aspergillus fumigatus is potentially life-threatening disease due to massive hemoptysis. Between August 1990 and November 1993, twelve patients were operated for the treatment of pulmonary aspergilloma. The mean age was 38.8 years. All patients had underlying cavitary lung disease, and the tuberculosis is the most common cause. Ten patients have experienced hemoptysis, but the clinical presentation of hemoptysis at the time of operation was mostly intermittent and scanty. Operative procedures were segmentectomy in 1 patient, lobectomy in 8, pneumonectomy in 2, and pleuropneumonectomy in 1. There were three complications, bronchopleural fistula in one patient and prolonged air leak in 2. There was no postoperative death. Conclusively, our results suggest that established aspergilloma associated with tuberculosis or other cavitary lesions should undergo early elective pulmonary resection, even though it has only minimal hemoptysis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.133-138
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• 1976

The author reviewed 263 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis operated on at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital during the 19 year period, from January, 1957 to December 1975. Following observations were made: 1) The sex ratio was 2.8: 1 in male's favor, and 83.6% of the patients were between 20 and 49 years of age. 2) The trends in operative procedures revealed that surgical collapse as a definitive therapy of pulmonary tuberculosis has virtually disappeared and operations required for residuals of pleural diseases have increased. 3) The overall hospital mortality rate was 3-8%. The highest mortality rate was encountered in the cases of resection and decortication with 28.6%, 4) The rate of overall postoperative complications was 24.7%, the highest being encountered in decortication with 56.4%. 5) The most frequent cause of death was bleeding, while the dead space was the most frequent complication.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.321-328
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• 1997

Background : we have evaluated the association of age, smoking, type of anesthesia, type of operation, duration of surgery, previous history of chronic pulmonary diseases with postoperative pulmonary complications and identified which parameter of preoperative spirometry was a predictor of postoperative pulmonary complications. Method : In 270 patients older than 60 years, the postoperative pulmonary complications were evaluated according to age, smoking, type of anesthesia, type of operation, duration of surgery, previous history of chronic pulmonary diseases and the parameters of preoperative spirometry were analyzed. Results : The postoperative pulmonary complications rates were significant higher among patients older than 70 years, and among those with previous chronic pulmonary diseases or their smoking history. The pulmonary complications were increased among patients with general anesthesia or duration of surgery more than 2 hours. The pulmonary complications rates did not differ according to sex, type of operation. The patients with hypercarbia($PaCO_2$ > 45mmHg) have more increased postoperative complications. The preoperative FEV1 less than $1\;{\ell}$, FVC, MMEFR & MVV less than 50% of predicted respectively were predictive of complications. Conclusion : Age $\geq$ 70, history of smoking,duration of operation more than 2 hours, general anesthesia, previous chronic pulmonary disease and hypercarbia ($\geq$45mmHg) on preoperative arterial blood gas analysis were predictive of pulmonary complications. Among the parameters of spirometry, FEV1, FVC, MMEFR and MVV were indicator of predicting postoperative pulmonary complications.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.2
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• pp.143-149
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• 2011

Background: Stopping medical treatment by tuberculosis (TB) patients prior to completing treatment period is a major concern in private hospitals. We evaluated the impact of public-private mix (PPM) project on increasing treatment success rate of TB in a private tertiary hospital in Korea. Methods: Starting in February 2009, TB patients treated at Dankook University Hospital received health education and case monitoring activities by specially trained public health nurses (PPM project). On a retrospective basis, we reviewed medical records and compared the treatment outcome of TB patients treated under the PPM project (PPM group) to patients treated without the PPM project (control group) between January 2008 and June 2010. In addition, we also evaluated the risk factors treatment non-completion. Results: The number of patients in the PPM group and control group were 123 (85 pulmonary TB and 38 extrapulmonary TB) and 146 (101 pulmonary TB and 45 extra-pulmonary TB), respectively. The PPM group had demographic and clinical findings comparable to those of control group. The PPM group showed a significantly higher treatment success rate (93.5%) compared to the control group (77.9%). However, development of complications, proximity to the hospital, and presence of co-morbid disease did not influence the treatment success rate. Conclusion: The PPM project was effective at increasing the TB treatment success rate. An effort to improve and to expand the PPM project is needed in private Korean hospitals.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.245-250
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• 2023

The healing process of tracheobronchial tuberculosis (TB) results in tracheobronchial fibrosis causing airway stenosis in 11% to 42% of patients. In Korea, where pulmonary TB is still prevalent, post-TB tracheobronchial stenosis (PTTS) is one of the main causes of benign airway stenosis causing progressive dyspnea, hypoxemia, and often life-threatening respiratory insufficiency. The development of rigid bronchoscopy replaced surgical management 30 years ago, and nowadays PTTS is mainly managed by bronchoscopic intervention in Korea. Similar to pulmonary TB, tracheobronchial TB is treated with combination of anti-TB medications. The indication of rigid bronchoscopy is more than American Thoracic Society (ATS) grade 3 dyspnea in PTTS patients. First, the narrowed airway is dilated by multiple techniques including ballooning, laser resection, and bougienation under general anesthesia. Then, most of the patients need silicone stenting to maintain the patency of dilated airway; 1.5 to 2 years after indwelling, the stent could be removed, this has shown a 70% success rate. Acute complications without mortality develop in less than 10% of patients. Subgroup analysis showed successful removal of the stent was significantly associated with male sex, young age, good baseline lung function and absence of complete one lobe collapse. In conclusion, rigid bronchoscopy could be applied to PTTS patients with acceptable efficacy and tolerable safety.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.76 no.5
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• pp.237-239
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• 2014

The early pulmonary consequences of inhalation injury are well documented; however, little is known about delayed pulmonary complications following thermal inhalation injury. Although thermal injury below the vocal cords is rare because of effective heat dissipation in the upper airway, inflammatory endobronchial polyps have previously been reported as a delayed complication associated with inhalation injury. We report an extraordinary case of tracheobronchial polyps in patients with smoke inhalation injury. This report shows the delayed development and natural course of tracheobronchial polyps following thermal injury.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.297-303
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• 2006

Background : Pulmonary tuberculosis is frequently accompanied with complications such as bronchiectasis, cavities, fibrosis and a deterioration of the lung function. However, there is little information available on the pathogenesis of these complications in pulmonary tuberculosis. Among the many factors involving in tissue remodeling, transforming growth factor-${\beta}1$ ($TGF-{\beta}1$) is a potent stimulus of the extracellular matrix fomation and a mediator of potential relevance for airway wall remodeling. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the radiological changes and the $TGF-{\beta}1$ level in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods : Serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were collected from total of 35 patients before treating them for active pulmonary tuberculosis, and the $TGF-{\beta}1$ levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The BALF levels were recalculated as the epithelial lining fluid (ELF) levels using the albumin method. pulmonary function test (PFT) and high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) were performed before and after treatment. Results : There was a strong correlation between the serum $TGF-{\beta}1$ level and the presence of cavities (r=0.404, p=0.006), even though the BAL $TGF-{\beta}1$ level showed a weak correlation with complications. In addition, there was no correlation between the $TGF-{\beta}1$ levels before treatment and the changes in the PFT and HRCT during treatment. Conclusion : There is a correlation between the serum $TGF-{\beta}1$ level and cavity formation in pulmonary tuberculosis before treatment. However, further study will be needed to confirm this.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.139-144
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• 1974

Clinical observations were made on 513 cases of pulmonary resection for tuberculosis, those were treated at the Department of Thoracic Surgery in National Medical Center from January 1964 to December 1973. 1. The ratio of male to female cases of operation was 2.8:1 in male predominence and age from 21 to 30 occurred 74.3% of the total cases. 2. The extent of disease showed 59.3% moderately advanced, 38.4% far advanced and 2.3% minimal cases. Duration of chemotherapy before surgery was more than one year in 92.7% and only 7.3% was treated less than one year. Preoperative sputum examination for AFB was persistent negative in 8.6,% of cases. 3. Different operative procedures were performed in 513 cases, lobectomy in 230, pneumonectomy and Pleuropneumonectomy in 172, segmentectomy in 63, lobectomy and supplemental segmentectomy with conventional thoracoplasty in 32 cases. 4. The postoperative complications occurred in 67 cases [13.0%]. Of these complications, bleeding in 4.6% , dead space problem in 2.5% and empyema with or without bronchopleural fistula occurred in 2.3% of cases. 5. Overall mortality within 5 months postoperative period was 1.5,0/0 and the most common causes of death were due to shock and empyema with bronchopleural fistula. 6. In all our 867 cases of report I and II, complications occurred in 13.9% and mortality rate was 1.8%.