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Introduction: The Doege-Potter syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome, first described by Doege and Potter in 1930, that usually involves solid fibrous pleural tumours. Hypoglycaemia is a rare complication of these tumours, due to secretion of insulin-like growth factors, and it can be the presenting symptom. The incidence of malignancy is low, about 12-15 %., Case Report: An 81-year-old Caucasian man, operated on 20 years previously for a benign pleural fibroma, presented with several episodes of loss of consciousness due to profound hypoglycaemia and a history of increasing dyspnea. The chest X-ray revealed an intrathoracic mass. Following excision histological examination confirmed recurrence with malignant transformation to a high-grade sarcoma., Conclusion: The Doege-Potter syndrome is a rare condition but it should be suspected in episodes of hypoglycaemia associated with a history of dyspnea. These patients should be followed up postoperatively because of the risk of tumour recurrence., (Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.)

Introduction: MacLeod syndrome, also known as Swyer-James syndrome, is a rare syndrome characterized by unilateral lung hyperlucency. It is a form of constrictive bronchiolitis which is caused by repeated acute bronchiolitis and/or pulmonary infections during infancy., Case Report: The patient was a 26-year-old man who had had a first left pneumothorax at the age of 21. He smokes tobacco. When he was 1-year-old he had experienced repeated episodes of acute bronchiolitis. At age 26, he suffered from a second left pneumothorax which was wrongly diagnosed as a recurrent drain-resistant pneumothorax. Misdiagnosed, he underwent a chemical pleurodesis during thoracoscopy. As a hyperlucency remained in the left upper part of the lung on chest X-ray, further investigations were undertaken and a diagnosis of MacLeod syndrome was made., Conclusions: MacLeod syndrome is rare. It can be associated with pneumothorax which can be a source of misdiagnosis and error in the management of these patients. Therefore, the diagnostic criteria and therapeutic indications are reiterated. The probable mechanism of association between pneumothorax and Macleod syndrome is also discussed., (Copyright © 2012 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: A pneumatocele is an air containing cavity, without a wall. It is a rare complication of thoracic trauma., Case Report: The patient was a 46-year-old drug addict, positive for the human immunodeficiency virus. Following a fall in which he fractured the posterior parts of the right 7th and 8th ribs, he developed a subcutaneous fistula and a pneumatocele of the right lower lobe. It did not resolve spontaneously and surgery was undertaken. The pneumatocele and the subcutaneous cavity were drained and the rib fractures were stabilized with Judet struts., Conclusions: Pneumatocele is a classical but rare complication of thoracic trauma, resulting from a tear of the lung. The differential diagnosis includes localised pneumothorax, an intrathoracic gastric hernia and pneumomediastinum. The usual treatment is surveillance but in this case, surgery was necessary for drainage of the cavities and stabilization of the rib fractures., (Copyright © 2010 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) with radiolabeled [18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18FDG) plays an important role in the diagnosis, staging, and management of lung cancer. The preferential accumulation of FDG in malignant cells assists in the differentiation of benign and malignant tissue. However, PET alone does not allow an accurate anatomic localisation of FDG uptake. The combination of PET with CT images improves the spatial resolution, sensitivity and specificity of the test. PET/CT, as with PET alone, is indicated for the diagnosis of pulmonary nodules as well as the locoregional and extrathoracic staging of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In many published studies, PET/CT has been shown to be superior to CT alone, to PET alone, or to both imaging techniques used separately to evaluate pulmonary nodules or for staging NSCLC. Now, PET/CT imaging is being investigated in the staging and management of small-cell lung cancer, in radiation treatment planning, in response prediction following treatment and in the detection of lung cancer recurrence in NSCLC. PET/CT is likely to have an important role in the management of lung cancer. New machines are in development and new radiopharmaceutical agents must be assessed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of 18fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) coincidence detection position emission tomography (CDET) in the evaluation of metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes in patients with potentially operable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A prospective study was performed in thirty patients with newly suspected NSCLC. Thoracic computed tomography (CT), FDG CDET, and invasive surgical staging were performed in patients. Blinded prospective interpretation was performed for each test and compared to pathological staging obtained by mediastinoscopy and/or by thoracotomy. Patients were followed for six months to detect occult metastases. The sensitivity and specificity of CDET for the detection of mediaStinal lymph nodes were 75% and 94.4% respectively. The corresponding value for CT were 50% and 80.9%. Three patients with N1 disease were classified as N0 by CDET. With regard to definitive surgical node staging, CDET could identify nodal disease in 26 patients and CT only in 18 patients (n = 30). FDG full-ring positron emission tomography (PET) is the most accurate non-invasive method for the detection and staging of lung cancer. In addition, FDG CDET shows high accuracy for the detectability of pulmonary lesions with a diameter at least 2 cm and the evaluation of lymph node in NSCLC.