Diagnostic problems faced by a clinician remain the most exciting challenges in medical practice, more so in the field of pulmonary medicine. The physician makes the diagnosis essentially required to treat patients, effectively with the help of history and physical examination, supported by a variety of radiological images, physiological measurements, microbiological, histological and other relevant laboratory tests. In the context, the publication of this book on 100 cases in Pulmonary Medicine is a timely and useful addition in the existing literature on clinical practice. In this book, Dr Rajendra Prasad has presented diagnostic approach to 100 interesting and challenging cases in Pulmonary Medicine. He has also discussed the salient features of pathophysiology and clinical presentation. Various other aspects of diagnosis and treatment in light of current evidence based knowledge have been also deliberated upon. There are a large number of radiological images of interesting cases in this book which make its reading extremely interesting for clinicians treating pulmonary diseases.

It occurred to me that presentation of interesting cases in a concise format would provide valuable information that is difficult to find and not readily available in standard textbook for practicing physicians and PG students interested in diagnosis and management of pulmonary diseases. As a senior author of this book, I have come across many interesting cases in my more than 4 decades of clinical practice in Pulmonary Medicine. Of all those cases, I have compiled 100 Cases which are challenging and educative for general physician and consultants in medicine, pulmonary medicine and allied branches. These cases are collection of interesting case studies in day-to-day clinical practice of pulmonary medicine in Indian scenario. Each case follows a step-by-step approach which includes good history points, salient findings in physical examination and relevant investigations for diagnosis. There are a large number of radiological images of interesting cases which will make the reading extremely interesting. Treatment of cases is also discussed. Each case report is also followed by discussion of the salient features of pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment in light of current evidence-based knowledge. These interesting cases included various diffuse Parenchymal lung diseases, Tuberculosis including MDR and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), Pleural diseases, Lung infection, Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and Thoracic malignancies. Cases with rare presentation such as Alveolar microlithiasis, Pulmonary sequestration, Chilaiditi syndrome, Endobronchial polyp, Carcinoid syndrome and Lympho tracheal fistula which are generally difficult to diagnose are also included. This book will be useful for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical students, general physicians, consultants in pulmonary medicine and allied branches interested in diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary diseases.

As a senior author of this book, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to a number of people who significantly contributed to the publication of this book. The individual to whom I would like to acknowledge first is Late Professor BK Khanna who as a Head of Department of Tuberculosis at the King George's Medical College, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, while I was postgraduate student in that department, markedly stimulated my interest in tuberculosis and other chest diseases. Professor BK Khanna's own tremendous knowledge and wisdom in the field of tuberculosis set an example of thoughtfulness and meticulousness which I have always tried to emulate. I am also indebted to Professor PK Mukherjee, Late Dr MS Agnihotri, Late Dr Jafar Jameel and Late Dr J Nath, for their great inspiration as teachers during my postgraduate days. I am greatly indebted to many postgraduate students who have been trained with me in the department at King George's Medical College, Lucknow; Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi, India, and Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, especially Dr Sanjay Verma, Dr Kiran Vishnu Narayan, Dr Suneesh C Anand, Dr Giridhar BH, Dr Abhijeet, Dr Abhishek Agrawal, Dr Saurabh Karmakar, Dr Mandeep Singh, Dr Pawan Gupta, Dr Visweswaran Balasubramanian, Dr Faizan Ahmad, Dr Amitabh Banka, Dr Sakshi Batra, Dr Ronal Naorem, and Dr Asna Khan, Dr Harsh Saxena, Dr Rishabh Kacker, Dr Huda Shamim, Dr Syed Ahmed Hussain Kazmi, Dr Mohammad Tanzeem and Dr Tanmay Bhargava. The efforts of these postgraduate students in part is responsible for generating much of the data that can be incorporated in making the chapters in book more evidence based.