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Biomedical subjects

E Huhti

Publications and source records attributed to E Huhti.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Fatal asthma in two regions of Finland.

To determine the factors associated with deaths from asthma we surveyed retrospectively all the death certificates issued in two regions of Finland (the province of Oulu and the province of Turku and Pori) over a ten-year period in which asthma had been given as the main cause of death. We then examined patients' records to check whether asthma was the main cause of death. A total of 156 deaths could be ascribed to asthma, 87 in patients under 65 at death and 69 over 65. More deaths tended to occur during the weekends, and in the younger age group more occurred during the night than by day. Previous drug treatment was considered inadequate in 45% of the cases. The management and drug treatment of the final exacerbation phase were also often inadequate, at least among the younger victims, and the terminal attack was usually short, death often occurring in three hours or less. Despite the shortcomings in treatment, the number of deaths from asthma in the younger age group has fallen in the province of Oulu over the last 20 years.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Prognosis for sarcoidosis in a defined geographical area.

One hundred and ninety-nine cases of sarcoidosis were diagnosed from July 1970 to December 1976 in a defined geographical area in northern Finland. At the follow-up examination at least 5 years later (range 5-12 years) a chest röntgenogram was obtained from 179 patients (90%) and lung function tests were performed by 169 patients (85%). A normal röntgenogram was achieved by 94 of the 113 patients with stage I sarcoidosis (83%), and by 36 of the 62 patients with stage II (58%). Two patients in the former group (2%) and 14 in the latter (23%) had progressed to the fibrotic stage III, but the fibrosis was usually slight. FEV1 and FVC had increased during the follow-up period, DCO showing the largest number of abnormal results in the final examination. Lung function largely normalized with a normal röntgenogram, whereas the functional outcome was worst where fibrosis had developed. Only two patients had been granted a disability pension because of sarcoidosis. Six patients had died, but none of sarcoidosis. The results show a favourable prognosis for sarcoidosis in this comprehensive series of patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Serum copper, zinc and ceruloplasmin concentrations in patients with lung cancer.

Serum copper (SCu), zinc (SZn) and ceruloplasmin (SCP) concentrations were measured in 199 patients with lung cancer and 81 with nonmalignant lung disease. No significant differences were detected between these groups in the mean concentrations or in the SCu:SZn ratio, nor was any correlation found between the histological type or clinical extent of the tumor and the level of SCu, SZn or SCP. SCu and SCP increased significantly in accordance with the symptomatic stages of Feinstein, and in a parallel manner. These measures were also significantly higher in the patients who died within 4 months of diagnosis than in those who lived for 4 months or longer. SZn was similar throughout and was not predictive of the prognosis. It is concluded that SCu, SZn and SCP determinations are of no help in distinguishing malignant from nonmalignant lung disease and are only of limited importance for estimating the extent of the disease or the prognosis of a patient with lung cancer.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1986

Incidence and clinical picture of sarcoidosis in a circumscribed geographical area.

The incidence and clinical picture of sarcoidosis were studied on the basis of an unselected series of 354 sarcoidosis patients (168 men, 186 women) in a defined geographical area during the years 1970-81. All the patients were examined in hospital. The mean annual incidence of sarcoidosis was 15 cases per 100 000 population 15 years or older. Sixty-four per cent of the cases began or were diagnosed in the first half of the year (P less than 0.001). The disease was diagnosed in 67% of the male cases and 38% of the females before the age of 35. Sarcoidosis was found by mass chest radiographic survey or by chance in 99 men (59%) and 103 women (55%), but 85 men (51%) and 129 women (69%) had symptoms of the disease. Two hundred and eighteen patients (62%) had bilateral hilar adenopathy upon diagnosis of the disease, 120 (34%) parenchymal changes and three fibrotic radiographic changes. Lung function test results tended to decrease with the radiographic stage and were indicative more of obstruction than restriction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Association of bronchiolitis with connective tissue disorders.

Among 173 consecutive open lung biopsies, nine gave a histopathological diagnosis of bronchiolitis. Seven of these patients had some connective tissue disorder (CTD), six of whom are presented in this report; two had classical and one possible rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one ankylosing spondylitis, one scleroderma, and one developed classical RA four years after biopsy. Four of the patients were smokers, most suffered from breathlessness and cough. In terms of lung function three patients had obstruction, one both restriction and obstruction and three a decreased diffusion capacity. For control purposes peripheral lung tissue was studied histologically from 24 consecutive smoking patients without CTD who underwent a lobectomy for cancer. Intraluminal plugs and mucosal lymphoplasmocytic infiltration of the bronchiolar walls were more prevalent and abundant in the CTD patients than in the controls (p less than 0.02 and p less than 0.001 respectively). Two CTD patients also showed some obliterative bronchiolitis. Corticosteroids were effective in one out of four patients treated. One patient improved and the others did not show any progression during the follow up. The results suggest that smoking alone does not explain the lesions of the small airways found in CTD patients, and that bronchiolitis may be specifically associated with the basic disorder in such cases.

Bronchitis↗
PubMed1986

Comparison of fenoterol, ipratropium bromide, and their combination in patients with asthma or chronic airflow obstruction.

Berotec (0.4 mg fenoterol hydrobromide, regimen B), Atrovent (0.08 mg ipratropium bromide, regimen A) and Duovent (0.2 mg fenoterol hydrobromide and 0.08 mg ipratropium bromide, regimen D) were administered by metered dose inhalers (MDI) to 12 patients with asthma (regimens D and B only) and 12 patients with chronic airflow obstruction (CAO). The increase in FEV1 was similar after all regimens, but greater in the patients with asthma than those with CAO. In the patients with asthma, the increase in FVC was greater after Berotec than Duovent but the difference may not be clinically important. In the patients with CAO, the increase in FVC was greater after Duovent than after the other regimens. Subjective side effects were commoner after Berotec than the other regimens, hence in the doses used Duovent may offer some clinical advantage as compared with Berotec and Atrovent used alone.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

The value of roentgenologic screening in lung cancer.

A series of 446 patients with lung cancer were followed for 5 yr or until death to find out whether the mode of detection of the cancer affected their prognosis. The patients were divided into 2 groups. Group A: patients whose cancer was diagnosed in mass radiography, or some other health examination, or in an examination for another disease. Group B: patients who had consulted a doctor on account of their symptoms. Of the patients in Group A, 50% were alive 1 yr after diagnosis and 5% after 5 yr. The corresponding figures in Group B were 24% and 4%. In 127 patients, an abnormal shadow could already be seen in roentgenograms taken 6 months or more before diagnosis. These patients survived longer than the others, 9% being alive 5 yr after diagnosis. The results do not suggest that roentgenologic screening improves the prognosis for lung cancer.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1983

Does the location of lung cancer affect its prognosis?

A series of 446 patients with lung cancer, comprising all the patients in a defined population who had lung cancer diagnosed over 4 years, were prospectively studied and followed up for 5 years or until death. Epidermoid carcinoma was relatively more common among the central tumours, and adenocarcinoma among the peripheral tumors; 79% of adenocarcinomas, but only 36% of epidermoid carcinomas being peripheral. The survival rate was significantly worse for the patients with central rather than peripheral tumours, although even so, only 3% of the former and 7% of the latter were alive 5 years after diagnosis. The patients with a tumour extending to the main bronchi had a poor prognosis. There was no consistent difference in the lobar distribution of the various histological types, and the prognosis was similar irrespective of the lobar location of the tumour. Unless located in the main bronchi, the site of lung cancer may be of little importance to the prognosis.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1983

Extrinsic allergic bronchiolo-alveolitis: serology and biopsy findings.

Because the diagnosis of extrinsic allergic bronchiolo-alveolitis is usually on a clinical and serologic basis, recent histopathologic descriptions of the syndrome are rare. As the etiology may vary in different countries, so perhaps may the histopathology? Clinical and serological examination was combined with histopathology of open lung biopsy from 14 northern Finnish patients. All of them, after exposure to mouldy dust, had a typical clinical syndrome with cough and/or dyspnoea, some radiographic changes, and a reduced VC and/or DCO. Precipitating antibodies were demonstrated in 11 patients. Histopathologically, oedema, macrophages and granulomas were found in all patients, as were lymphocytic and plasmocytic infiltrates. Inflammatory changes were alveolar, interstitial and bronchiolar, including bronchiolar granulomas in all but one case. None of the patients had severe fibrosis or emphysema. There were no examples of clear-cut acute or chronic stages as described in previous studies. Instead, most of our specimens represented an "intermediate" stage, indicating differences in exposure or susceptibility of the population compared with other countries.

Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic↗
PubMed1982

Chronic respiratory disease among workers in a pulp mill: a ten-year follow-up study.

A 10-year follow-up study was carried out on 659 men aged 18 to 64 years when first surveyed by questionnaire and simple spirometry in 1967, to determine the effect of smoking habits on respiratory symptoms and ventilatory function. Symptoms tended to increase during the follow-up period, and were most marked among the men who continued to smoke. The remission rates of respiratory symptoms were high in all the smoking groups, however, and cough and phlegm actually diminished during the ten years in the men who stopped smoking after the first survey. The follow-up survey in 1977 showed a prevalence of 6 to 8 percent for severe airways obstruction in the ex-smokers and smokers, but only 2 percent in the life-long non-smokers. The average decreased in one second forced expiratory volume (FEV1) was 44 ml/year in the total series, 37 ml/year in the life-ling nonsmokers and 49 ml/year in the continuous smokers (P less than 0.001). The men who had stopped smoking before the first survey resembled the non-smokers, whereas those who had stopped during the follow-up period resembled the continuous smokers in respect to the decrease in FEV.

Chlorine↗
PubMed1981

Survival among patients with lung cancer. An epidemiologic study.

A series of 446 patients with lung cancer, comprising all cases diagnosed in a defined population of approximately 300,000 persons during a period of 4 yr, were studied prospectively and followed for 5 yr or until death. Histologic or cytologic confirmation of the diagnosis was achieved in 431 cases (97%). Only 140 patients (31%) were alive 1 yr after diagnosis, and only 19 patients (4%) were alive after 5 yr, with no significant difference between the men and women. The 5-yr. survival rates among patients with epidermoid. small-cell anaplastic, and adenocarcinoma were 6, 2, and 4%, respectively. The patients could also be divided into prognostically meaningful groups according to the symptomatic staging proposed by Feinstein. Of the 427 patients who had died within 5 yr, 410 (96%) had died of lung cancer and only 17 (4%) had died of other diseases.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1980

How long should patients with suspected myocardial infarction be under observation in hospital?

Out of 368 patients admitted to hospital for chest pain and suspected acute myocardial infarction, 267 were discharged within 24 hours on the basis of the clinical picture, electrocardiogram, and serum activities of aspartate transaminase, alpha-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, and creatine phosphokinase. The patients were followed up for 28 days, during which 17 were readmitted, two of them twice and one three times. Two of the patients were readmitted with non-fatal acute myocardial infarction, and two died. The patients had been primarily divided into two groups: those admitted with presumably non-coronary chest pain (77 patients) formed group 1 and those with obvious coronary chest pain (190 patients) group 2. Both deaths occurred in patients in group 2 but the incidences of events during the follow-up period were otherwise similar in the two groups, and some patients in both groups may have had small acute myocardial infarctions when first admitted. The decision to keep in hospital or discharge a patient with chest pain of recent onset can be made within 24 hours of admission. To discharge the patient acute myocardial infarction need not necessarily be excluded and conventional tests are enough to enable a decision to be made.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Lung cancer in a defined geographical area: history and histological types.

Lung cancer was diagnosed in 446 patients during four years in a population living in a defined geographical area in northern Finland. The series comprised 420 men and 26 women, with a male/female ratio of 16.6:1. The diagnosis was confirmed histologically or cytologically in 431 cases (97%). Epidermoid carcinoma was the most common histological type of tumour in the men, followed by small cell anaplastic and adenocarcinoma, whereas in the women all these types were of equal frequency. Almost all the men, but only about half of the women, were smokers or ex-smokers. The amount smoked daily had no correlation with the histological type of cancer, whereas those patients who had started smoking early had relatively more Kreyberg group I tumours (epidermoid, small cell, and large cell carcinoma) than those who had started smoking late. Cancer was usually detected on the basis of symptoms, but 17% emerged from mass radiography or some health examination, and 12% from examinations for another disease. Fifteen per cent of the patients had no symptoms at the time of diagnosis, this being more common among the patients with epidermoid or adenocarcinoma than among those with anaplastic forms.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1980

Serum copper levels in patients with lung cancer.

An increased mean serum copper level was found in 149 patients with lung cancer when compared with 19 healthy people and 23 patients with non-malignant lung diseases. The level seemed to reflect the stage of disease, with asymptomatic patients showing the lowest values, and patients with metastatic symptoms the highest. In spite of significant differences between the groups of subjects the scatter in the values was large. Hence serum copper determinations can be of only limited importance for differential diagnosis or in assessing the clinical stage of cancer. No differences in copper levels were found between the groups of patients with different histological types of lung cancer.

Adenocarcinoma↗