https://medicalxpress.com/pulmonary-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Pulmonary medicine A new national cohort study provides important insights into the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The study shows that long-term disease-free survival rates are significantly higher than previous standard indicators suggest. The results, published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe, are based on the analysis of data from 1,299 adult patients treated between 2005 and 2021. The study was in collaboration with researchers from the clinical tuberculosis infrastructure (ClinTB) at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-term-multidrug-resistant-tuberculosis.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:40:04 EDT news695575021 First-line zongertinib showed antitumor activity in treatment-naive patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), providing a safe and effective oral targeted treatment alternative to chemotherapy, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-line-therapy-antitumor-patients-advanced.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:20:06 EDT news695574482 NTU Singapore is working with China's Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and Swedish biotechnology company Lipigon Pharmaceuticals AB to develop a new inhaled treatment aimed at helping patients recover faster from severe lung infections. The treatment is designed to reduce excessive inflammation in the lungs, which can continue even after viruses or bacteria have been cleared from the body. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-inhaled-rna-therapy-lung-inflammation.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:20:01 EDT news695309641 A new study suggests that COVID-19 may slightly increase the risk of lung cancer by triggering a biological chain reaction in the lungs, driven by the virus's spike protein, that promotes inflammation, scarring, and tumor-friendly conditions, especially in higher-risk groups like smokers; while the individual risk remains small, the findings are important because they reveal a plausible mechanism and potential targets for prevention and treatment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-covid-lingering-shadow-molecular-link.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:00:05 EDT news695043841 A new study co-led by the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) shows that some lung cancers can change identity as they evolve, shifting from one cancer type to another in ways that may make them more aggressive and harder to treat. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-lung-cancer-identity-plain-sight.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:00:05 EDT news694948861 Researchers have identified a new method for analyzing chest CT scans that may help physicians better understand the different forms of sarcoidosis, a complex inflammatory lung disease that affects more than 150,000 people in the United States. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-advanced-ct-scan-analysis-sarcoidosis.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 09:40:02 EDT news695032261 Mount Sinai researchers have created an analytic tool using machine learning that can predict cardiovascular disease risk in millions of patients with obstructive sleep apnea, a serious sleep disorder, according to findings recently published in Communications Medicine. The team said their study is the first to provide estimates of whether continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a widely used therapy for obstructive sleep apnea, will increase or decrease an individual's cardiovascular risk. It highlights the potential for precision medicine and varied approaches to tailor clinical care and reduce cardiovascular disease risk in vulnerable patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-cpap-massively-heart-apnea.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:40:03 EDT news694971481 Asthma can lead to childhood hospitalizations, missed school days, missed workdays for caregivers, and a lower quality of life for both children and their caregivers. The global prevalence of asthma has increased over the past 50 years. Now a study published in PLOS Medicine by Annelise Blomberg at Lund University, Lund, Sweden, and colleagues suggests that high prenatal PFAS exposure may play a role. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-high-prenatal-exposure-pfas-childhood.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:04 EDT news694881061 The correlation between smoking and neurodegeneration is well-documented, with one study from 2011 finding that heavy smoking in midlife was associated with a greater than 100% increase in risk of dementia, Alzheimer's and vascular dementia more than two decades later. Dementia is a less-studied impact of smoking for a simple, terrible reason: It occurs later in life and smokers tend to die younger. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-dementia-lung-exosomes-disrupt-brain.html Wed, 08 Apr 2026 18:20:03 EDT news694882891 Scientists have created a new "molecular map" uncovering how an important human receptor involved in blood clotting and inflammation works—an advance that could help us design better drugs for conditions such as pulmonary arterial hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. The study, led by an international team including researchers from Trinity College Dublin and published in Nature Communications, used advanced cryo-electron microscopy to capture high-res images of the thromboxane A2 receptor while it was active and primed to send signals across the membrane to the cell interior. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-molecular-treatments-heart-lung-diseases.html Tue, 07 Apr 2026 18:20:03 EDT news694798081 Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, accounting for nearly one in five cancer deaths—around 1.8 million lives lost each year. One of the main reasons is late diagnosis: in its early stages, the disease appears as extremely small nodules that are difficult to distinguish from healthy tissue, even for experienced radiologists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-doctors-lung-cancer-earlier.html Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:40:03 EDT news694779241 People whose sleep apnea changes dramatically from night to night are 30% more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure, reveals a new study from Flinders University. The research, published in the journal SLEEP, shows that it is not just how severe sleep apnea is that matters, but how much it fluctuates, with wide night-to-night swings in breathing problems during sleep linked to a higher risk of serious heart disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-patterns-reveal-hidden-heart.html Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:20:06 EDT news694776661 Results of a new study conclude that a pathology tool powered by artificial intelligence can predict whether a patient with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer will respond to platinum-based chemotherapy—before treatment has begun, and without additional biopsies. That means patients can avoid treatments that are unlikely to help them, have a chance to enroll earlier in clinical trials of newer drugs, and may get a clearer picture of their prognosis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-ai-tool-aggressive-small-cell.html Sun, 05 Apr 2026 11:00:03 EDT news694177796 Children who live within 11 kilometers of the Salton Sea, a drying body of water with a high concentration of salts and contaminants in Imperial Valley, California, have slower lung function growth between ages 10 and 12 than children who live farther away. The impact is comparable to living within 500 meters of a freeway and could affect respiratory health into adulthood. The study was just published in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-children-salton-sea-southern-california.html Fri, 03 Apr 2026 11:00:03 EDT news694428121 Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center have found that adults aged 80 and older with early-stage lung cancer can safely undergo surgery and achieve outcomes comparable to younger patients, challenging longstanding assumptions about age and cancer treatment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-lung-cancer-surgery-safe-patients.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:20:03 EDT news694353661 Chronic breathlessness affects every part of a person's life—including their sex life, with people experiencing breathlessness saying they have greatly reduced satisfaction with their overall sexual life. Flinders University researchers have found from a national survey that the often-underplayed condition of chronic breathlessness can not only affect people's physical condition but also limit their enjoyment of such intimacies as sex. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-sex-life-breathlessness.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:00:05 EDT news694342093 When doctors review diagnostic medical scans for lung cancer, they sometimes spot abnormalities unrelated to the lungs. New research shows that some of those abnormalities could be signs of other undiagnosed cancers. The study, led by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health, analyzed lung screening data from more than 26,000 people who took part in the landmark National Lung Screening Trial. This large federal study helped establish computerized tomography (CT) scans as a standard way to screen people at high risk for lung cancer—especially longtime smokers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-unexpected-lung-cancer-ct-scans.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 11:00:05 EDT news694165434