title: Pulmonary actinomycosis during the first decade of 21st century: cases of 94 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pulmonary actinomycosis is a chronic pulmonary infection caused by Actinomyces. Both improving oral hygiene and early application of antibiotics to the case of suspicious pulmonary infections result in changes in incidences and presentations of pulmonary actinomycosis. However, there are little reports dealt with the recent clinical characteristics of pulmonary actinomycosis. This study aimed to review the characteristics of pulmonary actinomycosis occurred during the first decade of 21st century.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study was performed on 94 subjects with pulmonary actinomycosis diagnosed pathologically from January 2000 to December 2010 in 13 hospitals in Korea.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The data of the study showed that pulmonary actinomycosis occurs frequently in middle to old-aged males (mean age; 57.7 years old) and that the most common symptoms are cough, hemoptysis, and sputum production. Various radiologic features such as the consolidation with central low attenuation (74.5%) and no regional predominance were also observed. Most of patients recovered completely with medical and/or surgical treatment, reaching approximately 98% cure rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results demonstrate that pulmonary actinomycosis is one of the cautious pulmonary diseases. More importantly, in cases of persistent hemoptysis or for differential diagnosis from lung malignancy, our data have revealed that surgical resection appears to be a useful intervention and that radiologic diagnosis may not provide decisive information. These findings indicate that it is important for the clinicians to include pulmonary actinomycosis as one of differential diagnoses for refractory pulmonary abnormal lesions to the current usual management.
authors.forename: So Ri
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Lae Young
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: In-Jae
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Young-Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyeong-Cheol
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Min Ki
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sei-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hee Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Mi-Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jin Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.forename: Soo-Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Um
authors.forename: Seung Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Ra
authors.forename: Woo Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seungsoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eu-Gene
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yong Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000196:Actinomycosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003371:Cough; D005260:Female; D006469:Hemoptysis; D006801:Humans; D008172:Lung Diseases, Fungal / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents