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Background The additive benefit of inhaled corticosteroid when used with systemic corticosteroid in acute asthma is still unclear. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of high and repeated doses of inhaled budesonide when combined with the standard treatment of adult acute asthma. Methods It was a prospective double-blind randomized controlled study performed in the emergency department (ED) from May 1, 2010 to February 28, 2011 (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04016220). Fifty patients were included and were randomized to receive intravenous hydrocortisone hemisuccinate in association with nebulized budesonide (n = 23, budesonide group) or normal saline (n = 27, control group). Nebulization of budesonide or saline was done in combination with 5 mg of terbutaline every 20 min the first hour, then at 2 h (H2), and 3 h (H3). All patients received standard treatment. Efficacy and safety of inhaled budesonide were evaluated every 30 min for 180 min. Results A significant increase in peak expiratory flow (PEF) was observed in both treatment groups at evaluation times. The increase in PEF persisted significantly compared to the previous measurement in both groups. There was no significant difference in the PEF between the two groups at evaluation times. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the evolution in the respiratory rate and heart rate. There was also no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the rate of hospitalization, the discharge criteria before the end of the protocol. Conclusions Considering its limited power, our study suggests that the association of nebulized budesonide with hydrocortisone hemisuccinate has no additional effect over the use of hydrocortisone alone in adults’ acute asthma managed in the ED.

IntroductionEctopic breast tissue is present in 2–6% of women. Ectopic breast cancer represents an uncommon disease accounting for about 0.3% of all breast neoplasms, limiting the available evidence. Thus, we aim to report long-term outcomes in five cases treated at our institution.Case seriesOur Tunisian patients’ median age was 48 years (33–60 years), and the median follow-up was 8 years (4–10 years). The ectopic breast tissue was located four times in the right axilla. The median tumor size was 25 mm (15–55 mm). Four of the patients underwent a wide local excision and axillary lymph node dissection. Three of those women had positive lymph nodes; thus, they received adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hormone therapy. The patient with a negative lymph node (case 5) had adjuvant radiation therapy and hormonal therapy. One of the patients (case 1) had a positive supraclavicular lymph node and received radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy. The latter developed a locoregional relapse after 4 years and was treated with mastectomy and chemotherapy. One patient (case 4) had a distant metastasis after 2 years of follow-up and received chemotherapy. The three other patients were free of relapse during their follow-up period.ConclusionPrimary axillary breast carcinoma is a rare entity. Despite the paucity of literature, our findings and authors’ recommendations suggest that local excision can be performed safely with promising outcomes in this subset of patients.

Tumors of the thymus are rare. Neuroendocrine tumors are extremely rare. We report a case of a 39-year-old man, referred to our hospital for a paraneoplastic Cushing syndrome with a thymic tumor. Despite bilateral adrenalectomy, the patient still had signs of hypercorticism. A CT scan revealed a 25-mm nodule in the thymic compartment. A resection was indicated and surgery was successful. No adjuvant therapy was administrated. After 10 months, the patient was in good health and his clinical symptoms resolved, with no signs of recurrence. Lung and thymic neuroendocrine carcinomas with Cushing syndrome are aggressive with a high risk of recurrence even after a complete resection. A close follow-up is recommended.

Le ganglioneurome est une tumeur neurogene benigne rare qui se developpe a partir des cellules ganglionnaires sympathiques. Elle se localise essentiellement au niveau du mediastin posterieur et dans la region retroperitoneale. Nous rapportons un cas de ganglioneurome se presentant comme une masse kystique sur une tomodensitometrie thoracique, chez une femme de 45 ans. Le diagnostic a ete confirme par l’examen anatomopathologique. A travers cette observation, nous allons decrire cette tumeur rare et nous insisterons sur ses differents aspects anatomo-cliniques et radiologiques ainsi que sur les principaux diagnostics differentiels.

To evaluate the diagnostic agreement between quantitative cultures of samples obtained with endotracheal aspiration (ETA) and plugged telescoping catheter (PTC).Prospective study.Medical ICU.Hundred thirty-eight episodes of suspected ventilator-associated pneumonia studied in 100 consecutive patients.For each suspected episode of ventilator-associated pneumonia, ETA and PTC were performed consecutively. The agreement between microbiological results obtained from the two techniques was evaluated (kappa statistic test). Pneumonia was diagnosed on a positive culture result of telescoping catheter with the threshold set at 10(3) cfu/ml or more. The cut-off points evaluated for ETA ranged from 10(2 )to 10(6) cfu/ml.Micro-organisms retrieved by aspiration and telescoping catheter were similar and bacterial counts obtained by the two procedures were well correlated ( r = 0.71 p0.001). There was good agreement between positive and negative ETA and PTC specimens (kappa: 0.78) with a diagnostic threshold for ETA of 10(4) cfu/ml. The sensitivity and specificity of ETA for the diagnosis of PTC-confirmed pneumonia were 92% and 85%, respectively. Kappa decreased to 0.48 when the diagnostic threshold was increased to 10(6) cfu/ml.Quantitative cultures of ETA and PTC tallied for both micro-organisms and counts. The simpler ETA appears adequate for determining the presence of pathogenic organisms in significant concentration in the lower respiratory tract.