Five-year Group Research Articles

Follow-up study on pulmonary function of dust workers: an epidemiological evaluation of discontinued workers of dust operations.

An epidemiologic study on 176 dust workers from various facilities was initiated in 1978. Their mean age was 48.3 years and mean duration of employment was 21.6 years. No workers complained of chronic cough and phlegm. Their chest X-rays were found to belong to Category I of the diagnostic criteria for pneumoconiosis in Japan. Pulmonary function test was performed on these workers, however, 54 workers discontinued taking part in the study by the end of 1979, and 49 workers had discontinued by 1981. A total of 73 workers had a five-year follow-up survey of pulmonary function. Forced expiratory volume in one second divided by forced vital capacity (FEV1.0/FVC) and forced expiratory flow rate at 25% of FVC divided by height (V25/H) were mainly compared by smoking habit, work years, type of job, size of company, and the time when they discontinued their jobs. Predicted percentage values of lung function were used for the adjustment of the influence of workers' ages. Decrement of FEV1.0/FVC and V25/H in the five-year follow-up group were larger than the screening level. The mean values of those functional parameters in the early discontinued group were lower than late discontinued and active working groups. The active working group was considered to be a physically healthy workers' population.

Shearing posterior chamber intraocular lenses: Five-year postoperative results

Long-term follow-up data for 424 patients with an IOLAB ShearingJ-1oop posterior chamber intraocular lens are presented. One hundred sixty-eight patients were given a complete ophthalmologic exam at five years (59 to 69 months) after surgery. Charts of the remaining 256 patients were reviewed for the most recent visit data. Ten surgeons contributed patients to this follow-up study. Results indicate that 91.5% of the patients in the five-year exam group obtained a visual acuity of 20/40 or better at one year after surgery and 89.3% obtained this visual acuity at five years after surgery, thus showing only a decrease of two percentage points over time. If patients with preoperative pathology or macular degeneration are excluded, the percentage of patients seeing 20/40 or better at five years is 94.0%. Few of the complications observed at five years are implant-related; macular degeneration is the primary condition causing vision worse than 20/40. No macular edema and few corneal problems were observed at five years. Endothelial cell counts were obtained for 53 of the 168 patients examined at five years and averaged 1,947 cells/mm2. The rate of lens dislocation is low, and no clinical evidence of degradation or failure of the polypropylene haptics was noted.

Pathological factors in the prognosis of bronchial carcinoma following surgical excision

A study of certain pathological features has been undertaken in 26 cases with a five-year survival following surgical resection of the lung for bronchial carcinoma. The findings in this group have been compared with those in 55 patients operated on during the same three and a quarter-year period who did not survive five years. The purpose was to assess the factors which might influence the post-operative prognosis. The main conclusions reached were: o (1) The left upper lobe showed the highest five-year survival rate in this series. (2) The average tumour size in both groups showed little difference and therefore could not have been an important prognostic factor by itself. (3) Neoplastic involvement of regional lymph nodes was significantly different, occurring in 42 per cent of cases in the five-year survival group as opposed to 76 per cent of the fatal cases. No paratracheal nodes were found involved amongst the survivors, compared with 18 per cent in the non-survivors. (4) Squamous cell carcinomas accounted for 92 per cent of the tumours in the five-year survival group compared with 65 per cent in the non-survivors. In each instance the majority of the squamous cell tumours were poorly differentiated. (5) The number of tumour cell mitoses, as observed in routine histological sections, had no apparent bearing on prognosis, and could not be correlated with the size of the tumour and the length of the clinical history. (6) Neoplastic infiltration of adjacent structures other than lymph nodes was found in 15 per cent of the five-year survival cases and in 31 per cent of the fatal cases. In both groups the main pulmonary veins were the structures most frequently involved. (Two non-fatal cases with extra-pulmonary involvement and a seemingly bad prognosis have been briefly described.)

Five and ten year follow-up study of rheumatic patients: Role of climate and environment

1. (1) Five- and ten-year studies were completed on 102 and 48 expatients of the National Children's Cardiac Hospital, Miami, Florida, to determine whether or not the lives of these subjects were influenced by a period of convalescent care in this tropical area. 2. (2) Data were available on 92 of the five-year group, and 41 of the ten-year patients. In the total 133, the death rate was less than 7 per cent. 3. (3) Of the 124 survivors on whom we have information, 16 per cent had recurrences. 4. (4) Heart damage, more than minimal, was observed in only 31 per cent of the 124 survivors. 5. (5) The death rate, frequency of recurrences, and heart damage, all compare very favorably with similar reports from other centers.

Fifty-one cases of lung cancer with five-year survival.

• The prognostic factor that determines survival was sought in 51 patients who were living five years after operations for resection of histologically verified lung cancer. Age at time of treatment was not a significant factor, and the ratio of men to women in the five-year survivor group did not differ significantly from the ratio in the nonsurvivors. In 7 instances the tumor was discovered on survey x-rays; in the remaining 44, symptoms gave the alarm. In all 51, shadows of the cancers could be seen on the chest x-rays. The average delay from initial manifestation to diagnosis was 6.8 months in the survivor group and 10.3 months for all nonsurvivors. There was no obvious difference between the two groups as to the types of tumor removed; the percentages of adenocarcinomas were equal, and nine of the survivors had undifferentiated or mixed tumors believed to be highly malignant. In each of the 51 cases of five-year survival, the diagnosis was originally made by x-ray and confirmed at thoracotomy. In each, the cure was effected by surgical excision of the cancer-bearing lung tissue.