Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Behera.
A case of unusual intrapulmonary foreign body in the form of a pencil is described. The penetration occurred following an insignificant fall. The diagnosis was made on CT scan and subsequently surgical removal was undertaken successfully.
A study was carried out in 200 school children from north India to find out the effects of passive smoking and exposure to domestic cooking fuels on their lung functions. Forced vital capacity and FEV1 were the lowest in boys whose households used biomass fuel (p < 0.05) and PEFR and FEF 25% and 50% were lowest in boys with their homes using kerosene as fuels. All these were the best for LPG fuel. However, in girls there was no significant difference in different parameters, although the values were lower in those using kerosene and biomass fuel. All parameters were lower in passive smokers irrespective of the type of fuel used although they were not statistically significant. However, FEF 50% was significantly less in passive smokers whose households used mixed fuels. The same was true for PEFR, PEFR %, and FEF 25% in cases of LPG fuel use.
Fifty four patients of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis were evaluated retrospectively to see the effect of prednisolone therapy on the course of the disease. The diagnosis was established based on clinical history, physical findings, radiology, HRCT, spirometry and transbronchial biopsy whenever possible. Each patient received prednisolone 1 mg/kg/day for 6 weeks which was then tapered gradually till a maintenance dose was achieved. Six patients (11.1%) died within 3 months (3 within 1 month) of presentation because of rapid progression of the disease and inspite of addition of intravenous methyl prednisolone. Improvement in symptomatology, particularly cough and dyspnoea, were quite variable. Twenty six (48.1%) reported subjective improvement by 20-80% of the initial symptoms. However, in most cases this improvement was for the initial 3-6 months of therapy. Subsequently either they deteriorated or remained stable. There was no clinical improvement in the remaining 20 patients (improvement in symptoms by 0 to less than 20%). There was no radiological improvement in any case. FVC improved at 3 months only after treatment compared to the baseline values (p < 0.01). However, subsequently there was no significant improvement in the lung function. Of the 37 cases whose initial FVC value could be obtained, 8 patients (21.6%) showed an improvement by more than 20% of their baseline values during their follow up period. Of these, 4 had the improvement by 3 months; 3 by 6 months; and one showed improvement at 1 year and 6 months. Five patients (13.5%) had a decrease in FVC by 10% or more during their follow up. One patient developed sputum positive pulmonary tuberculosis nine months after steroid therapy.
A case of metachronous malignancy in an elderly postmenopausal lady is presented. She had previously been successfully treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and now four years later, presented with a right lower lobe lung abscess. On evaluation she was found to have a small cell carcinoma of the lung involving the right intermediate and right lower lobe bronchus. She improved clinically and radiologically with parenteral antibiotics, combination chemotherapy and local external radiotherapy.