The effects of inspiratory capacity (IC), expiratory reserve volume (ERV) and forced vital capacity (FVC) measurement maneuvers on specific airway conductance (Gaw/Vtg) were studied in 13 normal subjects and 14 subjects with bronchial asthma. A marked decrease of Gaw/Vtg after IC or FVC maneuver was noted only in asthmatic subjects, returning to base-line level within 40 to 310 seconds. The decrease of Gaw/Vtg after ERV maneuver was considerably smaller than after IC or FVC maneuvers: Bronchoconstriction after IC or FVC maneuver was eliminated by inhalation of orciprenaline. but not by administration of atropine. These findings suggest that the effect is reflex in nature and may be predominantly related to the β-adrenergic blockade.

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Alveolar-arterial O₂ tension difference (AaD_O2, ) and arterial-alveolar N₂ tension difference (aAD_N2) were measured on 434 subjects, comprising of 67 normal healthy and 367 chest patients. Attention was focused upon the subjects who demonstrated abnormally increased AaDs but who remained normal or only minimally abnormal by their ventilatory capacity.
AaD_C2 obtained on the 67 healthy subjects on supine position was 4.1±0.4 (mean±1S. E. E.) mmHg with 5% rejection upper limits of 9.8mmHg. aAD_N2 on the referred healthy subjects was 2.2±0.3mmHg with 5% rejection upper limlts of 5.5mmHg.
AaD_O2 for 243 bronchitis patients was 22.4±0.7mmHg, that for 22 asthmatics was 21.3±2.6mmHg, that for 25 emphysematous patients was 30.4±2.0mmHg and that for 30 pulmonary fibrotic patients was 32.8±2.6mmHg. aAD_N2 for each overmentioned group of subjects were 12.7±0.5mmHg, 8.7±1.6mmHg, 22.1±1.5mmHg and 16.4±1.9mmHg, respectively.
Among 243 bronchitic patients included were the patients demonstrated any detectable clinical evidence of small airway damage. These subjects revealed ventilatory capacity within normal limits or minimal ventilatory impairment. AaD_O2 and aAD_N2 obtained on these 175 patients were 25.7±0.8mmHg and 15.2±0.5mmHg, respectively.
In the present study the author established the normal diagnostic level both for AaD_O2 and aAD_N2 and, based on the results, he further discussed the impaired ventilation-perfusion ratio distribution in the lungs with regard to AaD_O2 and aAD_N2 on the patients with assumingly “so-called bronchiolitis syndrome”.

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Severe asbestosis was found in a lung biopsy of a 52 year-old female, who, 18 years before, was exposed to asbestos dust for a period of only one year. Dry cough was noted 12 years after, and dyspnea on exsertion appeared 17 years after the exposure. Physical examination on admission revealed Velcro rales in both lower lung fields and chest X-ray showed a reticular shadow in both lower lung. Characteristic pathophysiologic findings of restrictive ventilatory and diffusion impairment were demonstrated. On pathological examination, many asbest-bodies and severe interstitial fibrosis were found scattered throughout the parenchyma.
The case represents a rather unusual course of the disease in which the patient's exposure to asbesto-material was only one year and the fibrosis of pulmonary parenchyma became progressive more than ten years after the known exposure.

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A case of intrathoracic Castleman's lymphoma was presented and 41 cases from the Japanese literature were reviewed. A 38-year-old housewife was referred to our clinic because of a hilar mass shadow in the right hilum on a routine roentgenogram of the chest. This abnormal shadow was discovered by mass screening when she was 15 years old, and had gradually doubled in size over 23 years without clinical symptoms. Surgically, because of firm adhesion and excessive bleeding, pneumonectomy was performed. The tumor measured 7×8×8cm, weighted 85g, was encapsulated by fibrous membrane. Microscopically, there was marked lymphoid hyperplasia with capillary proliferation and many clear nodules resembling Hassall's corpuscle.
Including our case, 41 cases of this disease have been reported in Japan, 32 of them occurring within the chest, while 9 cases were extrathoracic. The age of the patients ranged from 8 to 61 years and there was no sex predominance. In most of the cases, there were no clinical symptoms and no specific hematological abnormalities. At surgery, although the majority of the lesions were resected by enucleation, in some cases lobectomy or pneumonectomy was done, because of firm adhesion, excessive bleeding, or being mistaken for a malignant tumor. The pathogenesis of this disease remains unclear, but we consider it more likely to be a hamartoma than inflammation.

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45歳女, 発熱と皮下結節があり, 胸部X線写真で結節影, 浸潤影がみられ, 空洞形成, 気胸となり呼吸不全で死亡した. 剖検で全身の非化膿性脂肪織炎を認めWeber-Christian病と診断された. 肺の病変は壊死性線維素性肺炎でその成因について検討した.

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