Archive for the 'Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis' Category

That cigarette smoke interacts with those features was not previously reported. Our study differs from a previous observation relating similar rate of prednisolone benefit in smokers and nonsmokers but a higher duration of exertional dyspnea before therapy and a different rate of smoking habits in the reported patients could explain this discrepancy. Smoking Habits and […]

In addition, animal as well as human data have demonstrated that the number of accessory cells can dramatically alter the T-cell proliferative responses to mitogens or antigens: in the case of a high macrophage-lymphocyte ratio, the whole result is a lymphocyte proliferation suppressive effect.’ In the present study, the high macrophage count in BAL fluid […]

However, the hypothesis that an early aggressive course of IPF is more often observed in nonsmokers than in smokers seems to be more relevant. Indeed, first, in nonsmokers, in spite of a shorter duration of symptoms, functional impairment was similar or even greater than in cases of patients with smoking habits and long-standing dyspnea. Second, […]

Different findings emerge from the present study dealing with the interactions between cigarette smoking and the course of IPF. First, despite similar PFT results, nonsmokers had a shorter duration of symptoms at the time of presentation than smokers. Second, nonsmokers had higher alveolar lymphocyte counts than smokers. Third, the prednisolone therapy was more efficient in […]

Cigarette Smoking, BAL Cell Populations and Prednisolone Therapy Response Nonsmokers had a better response to prednisolone when evaluated for the difference (A) of TLC, Pa02 at rest and Dsb before and after four to eight weeks of treatment (Table 1). In contrast, no benefit was observed after prednisolone therapy in most of smokers and even […]

Cigarette Smoking and BAL Cell Populations The mean retrieved volume percentage of BAL fluid was similar in smokers (48.7 ±20 percent) and nonsmokers (47.2 ±16 percent). The alveolar macrophage cell population, either expressed in percentage (p<0.02) or number of cells per milliliter (p<0.01), was significantly higher in smokers than in nonsmokers (Fig 2). Noticeably the […]

Cigarette Smoking in the Study Population As shown in Table 1,11 patients (40.7 percent) were smokers. Among this group, the mean consumption at the time of the BAL procedure was 22.5 ±3.3 cigarettes/day (range: 12 to 40 cigarettes/day). Sixteen patients were nonsmokers, two of them had given up smoking habits 5 and 16 years before […]

Bronchoalveolar Lavage Bronchoalveolar lavage was performed as previously described. Briefly, after wedging a fiberoptic bronchoscope in a subsegment of the lingula, 3 aliquots of 50 ml of sterile 0.9 percent saline solution, preheated to 37°C, were instilled and rapidly recovered by gentle aspiration. The fluid was collected in a silicone glass container and transported to […]

Patients The study population consisted only of consecutive new patients with IPF observed between May 1977 and May 1987. Three patients who quit smoking between the onset of dyspnea and the BAL procedure were excluded from this study, in view of such an ambiguous past smoking history. In all cases no patients had known causes […]

Cigarette smoking is known to have deleterious effects on the respiratory tract. However, the correlation between smoking and the incidence and the course of interstitial lung diseases is equivocal. Previous reports have emphasized the role of cigarette smoking habits in the pathogenesis of adult pulmonary histiocytosis X, desquamative interstitial pneumonia, or asbestosis. Furthermore, there is […]