Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It can broadly be divided into small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and nonsmall cell lung cancer. There have been many advances over the recent years in both fields. The purpose of this review is to provide a concise summary of SCLC for the general respiratory readership.

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is a complex interstitial lung syndrome and is associated with significant morbimortality, particularly for fibrotic disease. This condition is characterized by sensitization to a specific antigen, whose early identification is associated with improved outcomes. Biomarkers measure objectively biologic processes and may support clinical decisions. These tools evolved to play a crucial role in the diagnosis and management of a wide range of human diseases. This is not the case, however, with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, where there is still great room for research in the path to find consensual diagnostic biomarkers. Gaps in the current evidence include lack of validation, validation against healthy controls alone, small sampling and heterogeneity in diagnostic and classification criteria. Furthermore, discriminatory accuracy is currently limited by overlapping mechanisms of inflammation, damage and fibrogenesis between ILDs. Still, biomarkers such as BAL lymphocyte counts and specific serum IgGs made their way into clinical guidelines, while others including KL-6, SP-D, YKL-40 and apolipoproteins have shown promising results in leading centers and have potential to translate into daily practice. As research proceeds, it is expected that the emergence of novel categories of biomarkers will offer new and thriving tools that could complement those currently available.

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with COVID-19-related acute respiratory failure on the basis of their vaccination status at the time of ICU admission. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study using a prospective database of patients admitted to the ICU of a university hospital in the city of Murcia, in Spain, between January 1, 2021 and September 1, 2022. Clinical, analytical, and sociodemographic data were collected and analyzed on the basis of patient vaccination status. We adjusted for confounding variables using propensity score matching and calculated adjusted ORs and 95% CIs. Results: A total of 276 patients were included in the study. Of those, 8.3% were fully vaccinated, 12% were partially vaccinated, and 79.7% were unvaccinated. Although fully vaccinated patients had more comorbidities, partially vaccinated patients had higher disease severity. The proportion of patients with severe acute respiratory failure was higher in the unvaccinated group, followed by the partially vaccinated group. No significant differences were found among the different groups regarding complications, duration of ventilatory support, or length of ICU/hospital stay. In the sample selected by propensity score matching, the number of patients with severe complications and the in-hospital mortality rate were higher in unvaccinated patients, but the differences were not significant. Conclusions: This study failed to show a significant improvement in outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. However, the CIs were wide and the mortality point estimates favored patients who received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Hypercalcaemia and leukocytosis are two paraneoplastic conditions associated with poor prognosis. Adenosquamous carcinoma is a rare and aggressive histological subtype of lung cancer consisting of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell components. We report the case of a 57-year-old male smoker who was admitted to the Emergency Room with skull and neck tumefactions, confusion and deteriorated general condition. The complementary study in the ER revealed severe hypercalcaemia (19.8 mg/dL), leukocytosis (18.7 × 109 /L) and extensive osteolytic lesions of the skull on cranioencephalic computer tomography (CT). The patient was stabilized and admitted. Thoracoabdominopelvic CT showed lung parenchyma consolidation with necrotic areas, supra and infradiaphragmatic adenopathies and scattered osteolytic lesions. Percutaneous lymph node biopsy was consistent with metastasis of adenosquamous lung carcinoma. The patients’ clinical situation evolved unfavourably after hospital-acquired infection. This case is characterized by a rare presentation of advanced stage adenosquamous lung carcinoma with scattered osteolytic lesions and severe hypercalcaemia-leukocytosis syndrome, an underrecognized marker of poor prognosis.