BACKGROUND: Exacerbations of COPD are a major component of the socioeconomic burden related to COPD, and frequent exacerbations are associated with greater decline in health status. Tracheobronchial infections are involved in 50 -70% of exacerbations, so influenza and pneumococcal vaccines are recommended for prevention. The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge among COPD patients about the vaccines, find the rate of patients inoculated with both influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, and assess the effectiveness of vaccination status. METHODS: Patients with COPD were recruited from the out-patient clinic of our hospital between September and October 2012. Subject demographic data such as age, gender, level of education, and smoking status were recorded. Vaccination status, number of subjects who were informed by a health-care professional about immunization, and COPD-related emergency or hospital admissions triggered by tracheobronchial infections over 1 y after administration of both influenza and pneumococcal vaccines were noted. RESULTS: Eighty-eight subjects were enrolled during the study period. Eighty-two subjects were male (93.2%), 6 subjects were female (6.8%), and the median age was 61.5 y. According to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 2006 classification, 5 subjects were in stage 1 (5.7%), 22 subjects were in stage 2 (25%), 34 subjects were in stage 3 (38.6%), and 27 subjects were in stage 4 (30.7%). Sixty-two subjects had graduated from primary school (70.5%), 21 subjects had graduated from high school (23.9%), one subject had graduated from university (1.1%), and 4 subjects had no education (4.5%). Forty-five subjects (51%) were vaccinated. There was no significant correlation between level of education and vaccination status (P ‫؍‬ .37). Both COPD-related emergency department and hospital visits were significantly decreased in vaccinated patients with COPD (P < .001 and P ‫؍‬ .02, respectively). Of all the subjects, 39.7% (35 of 88 subjects) mentioned that no health-care professional recommended vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians should be more aware of vaccination and recommend both influenza and pneumococcal vaccines to all patients with COPD to reduce exacerbations.

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Aim: We aimed to evaluate platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with sarcoidosis. Methods: A total of 310 sarcoidosis patients and 220 healthy controls retrospectively were recorded in this study. Results: PLR was significantly higher in patients with sarcoidosis than in the control group, and was also significantly higher in patients with pulmonary involvement in stage 2–3–4 than in stage 1. PLR were significantly positive correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The cut-off values for PLR for predicting a sarcoidosis diagnosis were determined as 158. Conclusion: Increase in PLR value can be used for guiding both the diagnosis of sarcoidosis and the involvement of parenchyma.

Septik akciğer embolisi, vücuttaki herhangi bir enfeksiyon kaynağından köken alan mikroorganizma içeren trombüsün pulmoner arterlerde oluşturduğu enfakt sonucu akciğerin enfektif hastalığıdır. Ateş yüksekliği, öksürük ve göğüs ağrısı gibi nonspesifik semptomlar ve akciğerlerde bilateral infiltrasyonlar ile karakterizedir. Morbidite ve mortalitesi yüksek olup prognozda en önemli nokta, düşünmek ve erken dönemde geniş spektrumlu antibiyotik tedavisi başlamaktır. Birincil enfeksiyon odağı ve ateş yüksekliği ile birlikte akciğerlerde bilateral periferik multipl nodüler, kaviter infiltrasyonlar görüldüğünde septik akciğer embolisi akla getirilmelidir. Hematojen metastazlar başta olmak üzere maligniteler, bakterimantar-paraziter enfeksiyonlar, vaskülitler ve romatizmal hastalıklar ayırıcı tanıda düşünülmesi gerekir. Bu makalede kalıcı kateteri olan rektum kanserli bir septik akciğer emboli olgusu nadir görülmesi nedeniyle literatür eşliğinde sunulmuştur.