Journal of Lung Diseases & Treatment

Introduction: Very little is known about the frequency of the different etiologies responsible of pleural pathologies in Cameroon. The objective of this retrospective study was to identify the main etiologies of pleural pathologies based on the analysis of pleural fluid and pleural biopsy.

Methods: This was a one-year retrospective study that took place in Yaoundé (Yaounde, Cameroon). We reviewed the archived reports of cytological examinations of pleural fluids and histopathological reports of pleural biopsies done in 2009.

Results: A total of 547 pleural specimens were collected, of which 240 were female and 307 male. Tuberculosis was the most frequent pathology in both men and women and was found mainly between 20 and 49 years of age with a peak between 30 and 39 years.

One hundred and ninety-five patients performed both pleural cytology and pleural biopsy. The specific diagnosis was found in 177 (90.77%) of the cases. Overall, 152 (77.87%) specimens were diagnosed positive for tuberculosis by both tests, while 25 (12.82%) specimens were diagnosed positive for a tumor. Metastatic adenocarcinoma was by far the most frequent tumor in a total of 28 tumors, representing 89.3% of the cases

Conclusion: Tuberculosis is the most frequent etiology of pleural pathology in Yaoundé.

Irradiation (IR) has become more important and effective therapeutic approach for cancer in chest (lung, breast and esophagus), however, IR-induced pneumonitis/fibrosis is still the bottle-neck for using higher IR dose to more effectively eradicate cancer cells, since there is no drug to treat the companion IR-injury toxicity. Glycyrrhizic Acid (GLA) has been used to treat hepatitis and liver fibrosis for almost 3 decades in Asia. It has no lethal dose in animal and no obvious side effect in human, which allows for 2 to 3 months use to imitate chronic fibrosis. Here we report for the first time that while GLA was used to treat the liver damage caused by chemotherapy, it presented a surprising mitigation effect on a 2nd round IR treatment-induced severe lung injury in a recurrent stage B (T2N3M0) lung cancer patient who had severe pneumonitis during the 1st round IR therapy. Combined with the fact that GLA effectively mitigates IR induced pneumonitis/fibrosis in animal model, we conclude that GLA is a potential good candidate to be developed as anti-IR lung injury drug.