Several therapeutic modalities are currently availa­ble for malignant airway occlusion. These include external beam radiation, laser therapy, and en­dobronchial radiation. To our knowledge, no ran­domized study has evaluated these modalities pro­spectively. Although laser therapy achieves immediate airway recanalization, the duration of response is unlikely to be long, as considerable endobronchial as well as extrabronchial tumor [...]

Thirty-three patients showed at least a one-level improvement in PS, 17 remained unchanged, and five showed at least a one-level deterioration one month following EBRT (Table 1A). A total of 166 symptoms were present prior to therapy; 131 of these resolved or improved, 20 remained unchanged, and 15 wors­ened (Table 1С). When measured as an [...]

With more than 150,000 cases every year, lung cancer represents today s major oncologic chal­lenge. There are more than 120,000 deaths annually and most therapeutic approaches result in a high incidence of local failure that frequently manifests as malignant airway occlusion. According to one esti­mate, 20 to 30 percent of newly diagnosed lung malignant neoplasms [...]

We read with interest the recent case report and review of post- obstructive pulmonary edema by Willms and Shure. A recent case at our hospital prompted a review of the anesthesia-related litera­ture. We note that these authors implicate post-anesthesia laryngo- spasm as the most common cause of this syndrome in adults. Although they reported that [...]

We read with great interest the study by Jackson et al on the trends in asthma mortality in 14 different countries. As stated by these authors, “it is clearly of considerable importance to ascertain in countries with increasing reported asthma mortality rates, whether these trends are real or due to changes in accuracy of certification [...]

Few contolled data are available on the bronchodi­lating effect of intravenous MgS04 in bronchial asthma. In 1987, Okayama et al showed that MgS04 relieved bronchoconstriction in mild asthma in a dose-depend­ant manner. Maximal responses were similar to the effects of additional albuterol inhalation. Bronchodi­lation occurred soon after the beginning of MgS04 infusion and reached its [...]

Patient characteristics are listed in Table 1. The changes in FEV, during MgS04 infusion and during albuterol inhalation on two consecutive days are shown in Figure 1. On day 1 as well as on day 2, there was a significant (p<0.05) improvement in FEV1 after MgS04 infusion, as well as a subjective improvement of dyspnea [...]