Fiberoptic and rigid bronchoscopy are widely used diagnostic and therapeutic tools in pulmonary medicine. Investigators often neglect the bronchial variations; however, bronchial variations may have important implications for bronchoscopy, brachytherapy, pulmonary resections and intubations. It is accepted that anatomic variations of the airways are due to anomalies in the development of the lungs. As a result, lung buds grow to an inappropriate number or arise at atypical sites. In the present study, we tried to determine the incidence of bronchial variations in our region. We investigated 2550 consecutive reports of bronchoscopy retrospectively. Major variations of the tracheobronchial tree were found in 2.6% of patients examined by bronchoscopy. The most frequent finding was a bifurcate pattern in the right upper lobe (47.7%). The variations were localized to the right upper lobe in 71.6% of patients. Male predominance was observed in all anatomic variations except one.

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Our preliminary results showed that GSTM1-null genotype was associated with shorter survival.

BackgroundFew data are available concerning incidence, clinical picture, and prognosis for pancreatic metastases of small cell lung carcinoma. In this paper we review the related literature available in English language.ConclusionsAlthough pancreatic metastases are generally asymptomatic, they can rarely produce clinical symptoms or functional abnormalities. The widespread use of multi-detector computerised tomography (CT) in contemporary medical practice has led to an increased detection of pancreatic metastases in oncology patients. Tissue diagnosis is imperative because radiological techniques alone are incapable of differentiating them from primary pancreatic tumours. Pancreatic metastases occur in the relative end stage of small cell lung cancer. The main complications of these lesions, although rare, are acute pancreatitis and obstructive jaundice. Early chemotherapy can provide a survival benefit even in patients with mild acute pancreatitis or extrahepatic biliary obstruction.