EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY & PULMONARY DISEASES – VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2 – AUTUMN 2016

Welcome to the latest edition of European Respiratory & Pulmonary Diseases, which features a wide range of topical reviews and editorials. This issue begins with a discussion by Griesenbach and Alton of gene therapy in cystic fibrosis, a subject that has recently experienced a resurgence in interest within the medical community. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) […]

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in a single gene; treatment burden is high and life expectancy is significantly shortened (median age of survival in the UK is ~40 years). Although CF is a multi-organ disease, chronic lung infection and inflammation are the biggest causes of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Identification […]

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare, deadly and incurable condition.1 With a five-year survival rate below 60%, the outcome of this disease is not any better than that of many cancers.1,2 However, numerous treatment options are currently available: more than 20 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted over the past 10 years, allowing […]

Breathing problems during sleep commonly occur in children. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is the most common breathing-related problem that occurs during sleep and snoring is the main symptom. Habitual snoring, which is defined as snoring for more than three days a week, is seen in 7.45% of children.1 OSA is defined as recurrent events of […]

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are a diverse group of bacteria with a wide spectrum of virulence.1 They are a microaerobic, non-motile organisms that have a lipid-rich, hydrophobic cell wall that is substantially thicker compared with most other bacteria.2 NTM are associated with biofilm formation, which contributes to disinfectant- and antibiotic-resistance.3–5 Many of these organisms are also […]

Primary lung carcinoma spreading to pulmonary vessels and presenting as a thromboembolic disease is quite rare and only few individual cases have been reported in the English literature.1-3 The prognostic significance of pulmonary vessel invasion by lung carcinoma is unclear and the treatment is challenging. We aim to describe an unusual case of sarcomatoid carcinoma […]