November 2018 Arizona Thoracic Society Notes

The November 2018 Arizona Thoracic Society meeting was held on Wednesday, November 28, 2018 at the HonorHealth Rehabilitation Hospital beginning at 6:30 PM. This was a dinner meeting with case presentations. There were 10 in attendance representing the pulmonary, critical care, sleep, and radiology communities.

At the beginning of the meeting  the Tobacco 21 bill was discussed. This bill has been twice held up in the Arizona House of Representatives Commerce Committee by the committee chairman. It was noted that one of the healthcare executives had financially supported the reelection campaign of the commerce committee chairman. A decision was made to send a letter to the healthcare executive pointing the pro-tobacco stance of the committee chairman. CME for the Arizona Thoracic Society meetings was also discussed. CME case presentations that had been previously approved will be presented and CME granted through the University of Arizona.

There were 3 case presentations:

1. Dr. Richard Robbins presented for Dr. Robert Raschke a case of a 54-year-old man with neck pain that eventually proved to be a paraspinous abscess.
2. Dr. Mike Gotway presented a 36-year-old woman who presented with respiratory failure. She eventually proved to have been self-injecting hydrocodone.
3. Dr. Lewis Wesselius presented a 28-year-old man from Tennessee with enlarging lung nodules who had been treated for presumed histoplasmosis, but was clinically worsening. Lung biopsy demonstrated metastatic angiosarcoma. 

The meeting was adjourned about 8:30 PM. The next meeting will be on January 23, 2019 at 6:30 PM at HonorHealth Rehabilitation Hospital.

Cite as: Robbins RA. November 2018 Arizona Thoracic Society notes. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2018;17(6):149. doi: https://doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc119-18 PDF

September 2015 Arizona Thoracic Society Notes

The September 2015 Arizona Thoracic Society meeting was held on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at the Scottsdale Shea Hospital beginning at 6:00 PM. This was a dinner meeting with case presentations. There were 13 in attendance representing the pulmonary, critical care, sleep, and radiology communities.

There were 6 case presentations:

1. Dr. Gerald Schwartzberg presented a case of a 58-year-old woman with a history of Mycobacterium avium presented with cough and malaise. CT revealed a history of lower love centrilobular nodules and scattered ground glass opacities and some bronchiectasis. Sputum revealed Aspergillus fumigatus. IgE was normal but IgA was deficient at 20 mg/dl (normal 80-350 mg/dl). She was started on itraconazole and clinically improved. Many questioned whether the Aspergillus was the cause of her pneumonia and some questioned the association of the IgA deficiency with her overall clinical picture.
2. Dr. Schwartzberg presented a second case of a 92-year-old former opera singer who had a past diagnosis of asthma but without airflow obstruction, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and myelodysplastic syndrome. CT scan revealed mosaic areas most consistent with hypoperfusion secondary to air trapping. Complete pulmonary function testing revealed only a markedly decreased DLco. She had oxygen desaturation with exercise. Clinically she did not respond to a bronchodilator. Most were perplexed as the cause of her overall clinical picture.
3. Dr. Schwartzberg presented a third case of a morbidly obese 61-year-old woman who presented with shortness of breath. CT scan showed some scattered lung nodules in her lower lobes. Laboratory evaluation including cocci serologies were negative. A needle biopsy of one of the lung nodules was nondiagnostic and she was empirically begun on fluconazole. She clinically improved. Many thought this could be possibly Valley fever and she should be followed.
4. Dr. Alan Thomas presented a 66-year-old man with a history of lymphoma about 10 years earlier who presented with some enlarging lymph nodes. Thoracic CT scan was performed as part of his evaluation and showed some areas of emphysema with scattered ground glass opacities. It was felt the radiologic pattern was most consistent with respiratory bronchiolitis with fibrosis (2).
5. Dr. Thomas also presented a case of an 82-year-old former smoker who quit about a year ago who presented with weight loss and minimal cough. Thoracic CT scan showed a large pleural mass with pleural effusion surrounding the right lung as well as pleural plaques. He did have a history of asbestos exposure in the Navy. Thoracentesis showed a nondiagnostic exudative effusion. A biopsy was performed which was consistent with a large cell neuroendocrine tumor.
6. Dr. Lewis Wesselius presented a 65-year-old man with exertional dyspnea and possible interstitial lung disease. He has a history of a Ross procedure (replacement of a bicuspid aortic valve with the pulmonic valve) and obstructive sleep apnea. Chest x-ray was unremarkable. Complete pulmonary function testing was normal. Thoracic CT scan showed peripheral reticulations especially in the lower lobes. A video-assisted thorascopic biopsy (VATS) was performed. Histology showed scattered fibroblast foci with scattered fibrosis with airway centricity. It was unclear whether this was usual interstitial fibrosis or chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis. He was started on prednisone because his picture was felt to be most consistent with chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (1). Unfortunately, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis with features of UIP appears to carry a worse prognosis.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned about 7:30 PM. The next meeting will be in Phoenix at Scottsdale Shea on Wednesday, November 18 at 6:30 PM.

Richard A. Robbins, MD

Editor, SWJPCC

References

1. Reddy TL, Mayo J, Churg A. Respiratory bronchiolitis with fibrosis. High-resolution computed tomography findings and correlation with pathology. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2013;10(6):590-601. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
2. Myers JL. Hypersensitivity pneumonia: the role of lung biopsy in diagnosis and management. Mod Pathol. 2012;25 Suppl 1:S58-67. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Cite as: Robbins RA. September 2015 Arizona thoracic society notes. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2015;11(3):117-8. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc124-15 PDF

July 2015 Arizona Thoracic Society Notes

The July 2015 Arizona Thoracic Society meeting was held on Wednesday, July 23, 2015 at the Scottsdale Shea Hospital beginning at 6:30 PM. This was a dinner meeting with case presentations. There were 16 in attendance representing the pulmonary, critical care, sleep, and radiology communities.

It was decided to continue holding the meeting on the fourth Wednesday of the odd numbered months.

Lewis Wesselius relayed a request from the Mayo Clinic regarding a survey on how physicians in Arizona treat Valley Fever. There were no objections to using our mailing list to send out the survey.

Dr. Parides formed a committee to encourage younger clinicians to attend the Arizona Thoracic Society meetings.

Richard A. Robbins was chose as the Arizona Thoracic Society's nominee for clinician of the year.

There were 3 case presentations:

1. George Parides presented a 58-year-old woman with a past medical history of cavitating coccidioidomycosis in both upper lobes from which she had recovered. However, on thoracic CT scan she had traction bronchiectasis as well as narrowing of the inferior vena cava. It had been recommended that a vena cava filter be placed to prevent pulmonary embolism. She had no history of deep venous thrombosis. None in the audience knew of any data suggesting placement of a filter was indicated.
2. Lewis Wesselius presented a case of a 19-year-old man who presented with dyspnea and bilateral large pulmonary nodules. He had a history of smoking about 5 cigarettes per day and use of medical marijuana for sinusitis. Laboratory workup showed an elevated white blood cell count but a cANCA and cultures was negative. Bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage demonstrated alveolar hemorrhage. Open biopsy was consistent with pulmonary pyoderma gangrenosum. The patient was begun on corticosteroids and had resolution of both his symptoms and nodules.
3. Rick Robbins presented Drs. Ling and Boivin's case of a 40 year old man with a history of opioid abuse who was mechanically ventilated but failed an extubation trial (1). The videos of the diaphragm were presented along with a discussion of the diaphragm thickening fraction (DTF) assessed by ultrasound as a predictor for the success of extubation. DTF is calculated using the following formula: Thickness at end inspiration - Thickness at end expiration / Thickness at end expiration. Based on the study published by Ferarri and associates (2), they found that a DTF > 36% would provide a sensitivity of 0.82, a specificity of 0.88, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.92 and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.75.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned about 8 PM. The next meeting will be in Phoenix at Scottsdale Shea on Wednesday, September 28 at 6:30 PM.

Richard A. Robbins, MD

Editor, SWJPCC

References

1. Ling D, Boivin M. Ultrasound for critical care physicians: take a deep breath. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2015;11(1):38-41. [CrossRef]
2. Ferrari G, De Filippi G, Elia F, Panero F, Volpicelli G, Aprà F. Diaphragm ultrasound as a new index of discontinuation from mechanical ventilation. Crit Ultrasound J. 2014;6(1):8. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Reference as: Robbins RA. July 2015 Arizona thoracic society notes. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2015;11(1):49-50. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc098-15 PDF

September 2013 Arizona Thoracic Society Notes

The September Arizona Thoracic Society meeting was held on Wednesday, 9/25/2013 at Shea Hospital beginning at 6:30 PM. There were 13 in attendance representing the pulmonary, critical care, sleep, and pathology communities.

After a brief discussion, Gerry Swartzberg was selected as Arizona’s 2014 nominee for Clinician of the Year. 

There was 1 case presented:

Dr. Thomas Colby, pulmonary pathologist from Mayo Clinic Arizona, presented the case of a 67 year old woman with multiple pulmonary nodules. The largest was 1.2 cm CT scan. She had a fine needle aspiration of one of the nodules. The pathology revealed spindle-shaped cells which were synaptophysin + (also known as the major synaptic vesicle protein p38). Synaptophysin marks neuroendocrine tissue and on this basis the patient was diagnosed with multiple carcinoid tumors. Aguayo et al. (1) described six patients with diffuse hyperplasia and dysplasia of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells, multiple carcinoid tumorlets, and peribronchiolar fibrosis obliterating small airways. Miller and Müller (2) described a series of 25 patients that were mostly women. Eight had obliterative bronchiolitis. Many questions arose including PET positivity (variable), endobronchial spread (unknown), use of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (unknown).

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at about 7:30 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 23, 6:30 PM in Phoenix at Scottsdale Shea Hospital.  

Richard A. Robbins, M.D.

References

1. Aguayo SM, Miller YE, Waldron JA Jr, Bogin RM, Sunday ME, Staton GW Jr, Beam WR, King TE Jr. Brief report: idiopathic diffuse hyperplasia of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells and airways disease. N Engl J Med. 1992;327(18):1285-8. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
2. Miller RR, Müller NL. Neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia and obliterative bronchiolitis in patients with peripheral carcinoid tumors. Am J Surg Pathol. 1995;19(6):653-8. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Reference as: Robbins RA. September 2013 Arizona thoracic society notes. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2013;7(3):205. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc132-13 PDF