The effectiveness of Shakuyaku-kanzo-to on myotonia in a 50-year-old female with myotonic dystrophy is reported. Neurological examination showed myogenic distal dominant muscle weakness and myotonia. Treatment with Shakuyaku-kanzo-to improved myotonic time from 12.8 to 6.8 seconds. This effect was equal to phenytoin and mexiletine. The results indicated that Shakuyaku-kanzo-to affected the ion channels of the skeletal muscle membrane. The apaminsensitive K channel was speculated to be the affected site of the ion channel. Glycyrrhizin might play an important role in this mechanism.
Five week treatment with Shakuyaku-kanzo-to showed no adverse effects on the myopathy.

A 44-year-old male, with past history of mitral valve re-replacement, tricuspid annuloplasty and re-replacement of aorto-biiliac prosthetic graft 4 years previously, was admitted to Asahi General Hospital because of massive melena, sepsis and shock. Angiography revealed a false aneurysm at the site of the anastomosis between the graft and the right external iliac artery. He was diagnosed as having graft-enteric fistula, and the emergency operation, including partial resection of the graft, excision of the false aneurysm and extraanatomic bypass, was performed successfully. Pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of graft-enteric fistula are discussed.

A case of xenograft valve dysfunction presenting with musical cooing murmur is reported. The patient was a 47-year-old woman and had received mitral valve replacement with porcine xenograft (Carpentier-Edwards 31-M) 10 years before Preoperative echocardiogram showed vibration of a leaflet outside the stent of the bioprosthetic valve. Cardiac catheterization revealed stenosis as well as regurgitation of the bioprosthetic valve. The resected xenograft valve showed a tear which produced regurgitation and musical cooing murmur in one of three pliable leaflets and it also showed pannus formation which caused stenosis.