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PET-CT FDG uptake may, together with TTF-1 expression, help diagnosis in lung adenocarcinoma cases when evaluating for EGFR mutation status.

OBJECTIVES:Increased awareness and understanding of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is important for its management, but there are limited data regarding the basic knowledge among patients with COPD. This study aimed to evaluate the basic information and knowledge of patients who were specifically provided with a medical exemption certificate for COPD. MATERIAL AND METHODS:This cross-sectional, observational, single-center study was conducted at an outpatient clinic of our hospital and included 201 consecutive ambulatory patients who visited the outpatient clinic between January 01, 2015 and June 30, 2015. Data regarding sex, age, educational level, symptoms, smoking history, years since diagnosis, years since obtaining the exemption certificate, and COPD GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease-GOLD) stage were obtained. A questionnaire comprising 15 questions was used. RESULTS:The question regarding the organ primarily affected by COPD was correctly answered as "lung" by 145 (72%) of patients. In addition, 152 (76%) patients declared that they knew the localization of the affected organ; only 44 (22%) patients correctly located the organ on an image. Only seven (3.5% of the total) patients could correctly write "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease." CONCLUSION:The lack of awareness among patients with COPD emphasizes the lack in the field of patient education. Simple questionnaires can be used to determine and also to improve the awareness and basic knowledge among patients with chronic diseases. KEYWORDS:Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, awareness of disease, patient education INTRODUCTIONChronic respiratory diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) fact sheet that was updated in January 2017, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) claimed 3.2 million lives in 2015 and is projected to rank third in 2030, with 8.6% in burden of disease caused worldwidewhich is a modelling technique that combines multiple data sources to count and compare the total fatal and nonfatal health loss from diseases and injuries in a population [1]. In 2013, a survey regarding chronic diseases and risk factors conducted in Turkey reported that COPD prevalence based on self-reporting of a doctor's diagnosis or spirometry was 5.0% (4.9% in males and 5.1% in females). In addition, 46.1% of patients with COPD regularly used medication [2]. Many attempts are being made to mitigate the negative effects of COPD on the general health worldwide. Increasing the awareness level regarding the disease is one of the key components of these attempts. WHO established the Global Alliance Against Respiratory Disorders (GARD) project with the aim to reduce the global burden of chronic respiratory diseases. [3]. As a participant of GARD project, Turkey conducted studies to evaluate the knowledge and awareness regarding asthma and COPD in the general population [4]. Increased awareness and understanding of COPD is an important part of disease manage...

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Out of 76 COPD cases included in our study, 26.3 % (n = 20) were diagnosed with RLS/WED (mean age 60.4 ± 7.5 years, 20 males). The cases with RLS/WED had significantly lower body mass index (BMI) than cases without RLS/WED (p = 0.009). There were no significant differences between cases with and without RLS/WED with respect to PFT, dyspnea scales, and arterial blood gas values. However, ESS was significantly different (p = 0.016). There were no significant differences in RLS/WED scores and mean hs-CRP levels between COPD stages (p = 0.424; p = 0.518, respectively), while ESS was significantly different (p = 0.016). ESS was significantly higher in stage B COPD than in stages A and D (p = 0.005, p = 0.008, respectively). Based on our model, we found that exacerbations and iron binding capacity (UIBC) were predictive factors for RLS/WED (p < 0.100) CONCLUSION: RLS/WED is a common disease in cases with stable COPD. Despite our hypothesis suggesting that the prevalence of RLS/WED in COPD is related with systemic inflammation, we did not find a significant association between hs-CRP and COPD cases with RLS/WED. However, we did find that UIBC is a predictive factor for the development of RLS/WED. Nonetheless, further studies are needed to understand the relationships between UIBC, low BMI, and the development of RLS/WED in COPD.