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A disease associated with immunoglobulin IgG4 is a rare unit with very variable symptoms. We describe the course and treatment of the disease in a patient who presented with multiple lymphadenopathy and infiltrates in the area of the retroperitoneum and pelvis and signs of chronic sclerosing pancreatitis. The disease was clinically manifested by a significant loss of weight, but also by a loss of perception of taste and smell. The diagnosis was made based on a high amount of IgG4 expressing plasma cells in the sampled tissue and an increased concentration of immunoglobulins of type IgG and mainly subclass IG4. Rituximab in 475 mg/m2 dose was used in the treatment, the initial four doses of rituximab were administered at 14-day intervals, always with a one-off administration of a 40 mg dose of dexamethasone. According to FDG-PET/CT, only partial remission of the disease was reached after 4 applications of rituximab and dexamethasone. The patient recovered its sense of smell and taste. In another 4 cycles ritu-ximab was administered on day 1 of a 28-day cycle. On days 1 and 15 of the cycle dexamethasone at 40 mg and cyclophosphamide at 600 mg were administered by intravenous infusion. After the completion of 8 cycles of treatment based on rituximab and dexamethasone and with cyclophosphamide added in the second half of the treatment, the control FDG-PET/CT examination proved the complete remission. Before the treatment commencement the concentration of the subclass of immunoglobulin IgG4 was equal to 51.0 g/l, after the completion of the aforementioned treatment it dropped to 3.5 g/l. The patient tolerated the treatment without any adverse effects. Ritu-ximab, dexamethasone and cyclophosphamide induced the complete remission of this disease.Key words: IgG4-associated/releated disease - rituximab.

The aim of the retrospective part of the study was a) to select an optimal clone of immunohistochemical (IHC) antibody against the ALK protein with specificity and sensitivity high enough to use this antibody as a screening method for selecting non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) testing of ALK gene rearrangement and b) to determine the diagnostic yield of "small" biopsies i.e. endobronchial, transbronchial and transthoracic biopsies and cytoblocks for ALK gene rearrangement testing. The best IHC method of ALK protein detection (clone D5F3, dilution 1:100, Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA, USA) was then verified in prospective routine testing of patients with NSCLC. ALK status was correlated with tumor morphology and clinical data. In the retrospective part of the study, 170 EGFR-nonmutated cases of NSCLC were IHC and FISH tested. In the prospective part, 557 cases of NSCLC were tested by IHC and 76 by FISH. There were 8/154 (5.2%) cases with ALK gene rearrangement detected in the retrospective part and 24/557(4.3 %) in the prospective part. Sensitivity and specificity of the best IHC method were 100 % and 99 % in the retrospective part and 100 % and 80 % in the prospective part. The diagnostic yield of "small" biopsies was between 74 - 80 % retrospectively, depending on IHC variant, and 88 % prospectively. No case with ALK gene rearrangement detected prospectively had EGFR mutation. A high diagnostic yield confirms that ALK status testing can be used in this type of specimen. A prevalence of 5.2 % in the retrospective part (EGFR-nonmutated cases) and 4.3 % in the prospective part (without known EGFR mutation status), tumor morphology (solid and acinar type, mucinous type or at least partial mucin production (extra- and/or intracellular) as well as lower average age and male/female ratio of patients with ALK positive tumors in the prospective part (57.5 y vs. 65.2 y, 8 men and 16 women vs. 336 men and 197 women) are consistent with global data.

There are many different interstitial lung diseases associated with smoking. This short review describes officially recognized disorders (desquamative interstitial pneumonia, respiratory bronchiolitis and pulmonary Langerhans´cells histiocytosis) and entities with uncertain relationship to smoking, which have recently been published in the literature. Histopathological pictures and differential diagnosis of smoking-related diseases of the lungs are discussed.

Brief review of histopathology of non-tumor pulmonary diseases with nodular or granulomatous morphology. Differential diagnosis of infections, sarcoidosis, vasculitides with a granulomatous component and selected pneumoconioses is presented.

Diffuse interstitial lung disorders include more than 200 different syndroms affecting the space between epithelial basal membrane and endothelial cells. Histopathological investigation of the lung tissue is one of the crucial parts of the multidisciplinary team approach for the investigation of these disorders. The aim of this review is a brief characterization of the pattern of the main subtypes of lung tissue damage.