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Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in young adults is a rare but devastating illness with significant socioeconomic implications, and studies of this patient subgroup are limited. Aim: This study employed the National Lung Cancer Audit to compare the clinical features and survival of young adults with NSCLC with the older age groups. Design: A retrospective cohort review using a validated national audit dataset. Methods: Data were analysed for the period between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2011. Young adults were defined as between 18 and 39 years, and all others were divided into decade age groups, up to the 80 years and above group. We performed logistic and Cox regression analyses to assess clinical outcomes. Results: Of a total of 1 46 422 patients, 651 (0.5%) were young adults, of whom a higher proportion had adenocarcinoma (48%) than in any other age group. Stage distribution of NSCLC was similar across the age groups and 71% of young patients had stage IIIb/IV. Performance status (PS) was 0-1 for 85%. Young adults were more likely to have surgery and chemotherapy compared with the older age groups and had better overall and post-operative survival. The proportion with adenocarcinoma, better PS and that receiving surgery or chemotherapy diminished progressively with advancing decade age groups. Conclusion: In our cohort of young adults with NSCLC, the majority had good PS despite the same late-stage disease as older patients. They were more likely to have treatment and survive longer than older patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction:Long-term lung cancer survival in England has improved little in recent years and is worse than many countries. The Department of Health funded a campaign to raise public awareness of persistent cough as a lung cancer symptom and encourage people with the symptom to visit their GP. This was piloted regionally within England before a nationwide rollout.Methods:To evaluate the campaign's impact, data were analysed for various metrics covering public awareness of symptoms and process measures, through to diagnosis, staging, treatment and 1-year survival (available for regional pilot only).Results:Compared with the same time in the previous year, there were significant increases in metrics including: public awareness of persistent cough as a lung cancer symptom; urgent GP referrals for suspected lung cancer; and lung cancers diagnosed. Most encouragingly, there was a 3.1 percentage point increase (P<0.001) in proportion of non-small cell lung cancer diagnosed at stage I and a 2.3 percentage point increase (P<0.001) in resections for patients seen during the national campaign, with no evidence these proportions changed during the control period (P=0.404, 0.425).Conclusions:To our knowledge, the data are the first to suggest a shift in stage distribution following an awareness campaign for lung cancer. It is possible a sustained increase in resections may lead to improved long-term survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A previous study showed that lung cancer incidence in Leicester's South Asian (SA) population had increased between 1990 and 1999. We expanded the original data set to determine if this increase had continued in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in the UK. Pathological diagnosis traditionally requires invasive procedures such as bronchoscopy, mediastinoscopy, or image guided biopsy. Ultrasound of the neck with fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of enlarged but impalpable supraclavicular nodes has been used in patients with suspected lung cancer who have N2 or N3 disease on staging computed tomography (CT). if positive, this technique helps to both stage the patient and provide a cytological diagnosis. Methods: 101 patients were enrolled prospectively over a 1 year period. FNAC was performed on all supraclavicular nodes over 5 mm in size using the capillary aspiration technique. Results: Sixty one of the 101 patients had enlarged supraclavicular nodes and underwent FNAC. The overall malignant yield was 45.5% of patients scanned and 75.4% of patients sampled. As a result of FNAC, 43 patients (42.6%) avoided more invasive procedures. Conclusion: Ultrasound guided FNAC is a promising, relatively non-invasive technique for the staging and diagnosis of patients with lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paragangliomas are neuroendocrine tumours and those occurring in the head and neck have well recognized familial association. Retroperitoneal paragangliomas are uncommon and we present two cases of familial malignant retroperitoneal paraganglioma. Review of the literature revealed marked differences in the incidence and malignant potential of familial and non-familial paraganglioma. In contrast to the cases reported here, familial tumours are generally benign, though they may occur at multiple sites. Familial and non-familial paragangliomas may indeed be different disease entities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A double-blind crossover study was performed to compare 4 . 8 mg salbutamol given by pressure-packed aerosol and intermittent positive-pressure breathing nebulization in chronic asthmatic patients. The two delivery techniques produced similar changes in respiratory function and pulse rates. Given equal effect, a high-dose pressure-packed aerosol would have advantages in cost and convenience over nebulization techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arterial blood gas tensions were studied for six years in 85 patients (59 men, 26 women, mean age 58.8 years) with hypoxaemia associated with chronic bronchitis. All patients who died had a precipitous fall of arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) breathing air. In patients dying within two years of the first appearance of ankle oedema the mean rate of fall of PaO2 was 0.11 kPa/month. Patients who survived two years appeared to deteriorate more slowly (0.017 kPa/month) until some months before death, when they too deteriorated rapidly. Hypoxaemic patients with obstructive airways disease suffer a terminal rapid decline in arterial oxygen tension, which probably indicates real pathological change in the lungs and has important implications for long-term domiciliary oxygen treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]