Gregor Zimmermann

• M.D.
• Medical Doctor at Technical University of Munich

Background Spirometry and conventional chest x-ray have limitations in investigating early emphysema, while computed tomography, the reference imaging method in this context, is not part of routine patient care due to its higher radiation dose. In this work, we investigated a novel low-dose imaging modality, dark-field chest x-ray, for the evaluati...

Today, radiological methods are an integral part of diagnostics in lung diseases, and they provide important information regarding the evaluation of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) [...]

Long-term health consequences in survivors of severe COVID-19 remain unclear. Eighteen COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit at the University Hospital Rechts der Isar, Munich, Germany, between 14 March and 23 June 2020, were prospectively followed-up at a median of 36, 75.5, 122 and 222 days after discharge. The health-related qual...

Background: Although advanced medical imaging technologies give detailed diagnostic information, a low-dose, fast, and inexpensive option for early detection of respiratory diseases and follow-ups is still lacking. The novel method of x-ray dark-field chest imaging might fill this gap but has not yet been studied in living humans. Enabling the ass...

Background: Pericardial adipose tissue (PAT), a visceral fat depot directly located to the heart, is associated with atherosclerotic and inflammatory processes. The extent of PAT is related to the prevalence of coronary heart disease and might be used for cardiovascular risk prediction. This study aimed to determine the effect of smoking on the ex...

Background: Patients suffering from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) frequently receive a bronchoscopy after being admitted to the ICU. We investigated the optimal timing and the outcome in these patients. Methods: All patients who suffered from OHCA and were treated in our ICU from January 2013 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyze...

Background Diseases of the respiratory system are leading global causes of chronic morbidity and mortality. While advanced medical imaging technologies of today deliver detailed diagnostic information, a low-dose, fast, and inexpensive option for early detection and/or follow-ups is still lacking. Here, we report on the first human application of a...

Background Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of risk factors for a poor outcome have been identified. Thereby, cardiovascular comorbidity has a major impact on mortality. We investigated whether coronary calcification as a marker for coronary artery disease (CAD) is appropriate for risk prediction in COVID-19. Methods Hospitali...

Coronary calcification (CAC) is an established marker for coronary atherosclerosis and has a highly specific predictive value for cardiovascular events. This study aimed to determine the predictive value in the specific group of asymptomatic smokers in comparison to non-smokers. We included 1432 asymptomatic individuals (575 women, 857 men, age 59....

Purpose Malignant effusions challenge diagnostic accuracy due to cytomorphologic overlaps between various malignant primaries. Workup of this material to establish a correct diagnosis is time consuming and limited by the sparsity of material. In order to circumvent these drawbacks, we explored the use of MALDI imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) as a d...

Introduction: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is considered a disease of older patients, being rare in patients ≤ 50 years. Still, IPF can occur in younger patients, but this particular patient group is not well characterised so far. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic certainty, clinical features, comorbidities and survival in...

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine clinical and non- clinical determinants of quality of life (QoL) in lung transplant recipients (LTR). Methods: QoL was measured cross-sectional in 152 LTR (4.5±3.2 years after lung transplantation [LTx]; 95 [63%] double LTx; 80 [53%] female; age 50±11.9 years; 28 [18%] bronchiolitis obliterans sy...

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine clinical and non- clinical determinants of quality of life (QoL) in lung transplant recipients (LTR). Methods: QoL was measured cross-sectional in 152 LTR (4.5±3.2 years after lung transplantation [LTx]; 95 [63%] double LTx; 80 [53%] female; age 50±11.9 years; 28 [18%] bronchiolitis obliterans sy...

Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are often associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH). This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors in pulmonary hypertension secondary to ILD. Patients with ILD and PH were treated with sildenafil or tadalafil. Right heart catheterization was performed before and af...

Hintergrund: Das Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchung war (1) die gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualitat (LQ) von Patienten mit Pulmonaler Hypertonie (PH) anhand eines generischen und eines spezifischen Fragebogeninstruments zu erheben und (2) die Lebensqualitat mit der deutschen Normstichprobe zu vergleichen. Methoden: 60 konsekutive Patienten (DANA-Poi...

The purpose of this study was to create a prognostic score calculated one yr after LTX based on post-transplant factors inclusive of donor and recipient characteristics that could be used to predict long-term survival in patients after lung transplantation (LTX). Uni- and multivariate analysis in 206 consecutive LTX patients identified independent...

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare lung disease characterised by progressive airflow obstruction. No effective medical treatment is available but therapy with sirolimus has shown some promise. The aim of this observational study was to evaluate sirolimus in progressive LAM. Sirolimus (trough level 5 - 10 ng/ml) was administered to ten female...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an inpatient rehabilitation program on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and exercise capacity (EC) in long-term (>1 year after lung transplantation) survivors (LTSs) in comparison to a control group (CG). Sixty LTSs, 4.5 ± 3.2 years after lung transplantation (LTx), were randomly assigned...

The aim of this study was to assess fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) for the early diagnosis of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) after lung transplantation (LTX). 611 FeNO measurements in 166 consecutive patients were classified depending on BOS stage at the time of assessment and course during minimum follow-up of 3 months: (1) stable...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a frequent indication for lung transplantation (LTX) with pulmonary hypertension (PH) negatively affecting outcome. The optimal procedure type remains a debated topic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of pretransplant PH in IPF patients. Single LTX (SLTX, n = 46) was the standard procedure type...

Human Bronchial epithelial cells (hu-BEC) have been claimed to play a significant role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory airway diseases like COPD. In this context IL-8 and GM-CSF have been shown to be key cytokines. Some antibiotics which are routinely used to treat lower respiratory tract infections have been shown to exert additional i...

Bronchiolitis obliterans is the most important long-term sequelae of lung transplantation limiting survival. Optimized immunosuppression, including inhalation of cyclosporine A (CsA), may be a promising approach to overcome this problem. In this study a liposomal CsA solution was characterized in vitro, doses of 10 and 20 mg were inhaled with the P...

The optimal maintenance therapy after lung transplantation remains to be established. The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as first line immunosuppression on long-term survival and Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS). From January 1996 through December 2006, all 155 recipients receiving t...

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) neutrophilia may identify patients prone to develop bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) after lung transplantation (LTx). This study assessed the predictive value of BAL neutrophilia in stable recipients. Evaluated were 63 consecutive recipients 3 to 12 months after LTx demonstrating no acute rejection (AR) and lymp...

In this report we describe a 42-year-old man with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with a progressive course who underwent right single-lung transplantation in November 2007. The post-operative course showed a decline of gas exchange, and chest X-ray revealed pneumonic infiltrates. Computerized tomography (CT) scans showed high-grade stenosis of the r...

Einleitung: Das Bronchiolitis obliterans Syndrom (BOS) nach Lungentransplantation (LTX) ist durch eine inflammatorische Reaktion der Atemwege mit erhohtem Interleukin (IL)-8, verminderter Konzentration von Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) und einer Neutrophilie in der bronchoalveolaren Lavage (BAL) gekennzeichnet. Die vorliegende Studi...

Apoptosis of alveolar septal cells has been linked to emphysema formation. Nitrogen dioxide, a component of cigarette smoke, has been shown to induce alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis in vitro. It is hypothesised that exposure of rats to nitrogen dioxide may result in increased alveolar septal cell apoptosis in vivo with ensuing emphysema-that is,...

Die chronisch obstruktive Lungenerkrankung und das Lungenemphysem werden weltweit mit steigender Tendenz diagnostiziert. Als Hauptursache für die Entwicklung eines Emphysems wird das Zigarettenrauchen verantwortlich gemacht. Doch bisher ist nicht klar, wie der Zigarettenrauch die Lunge schädigt und letztendlich bei nur 15 % der Rauchern zum Emphyse...