A 62-year-old woman with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) was admitted to undergo cardiac surgery for aortic stenosis, angina pectoris, and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. A bleeding tendency was expected due to the dramatic decrease in platelets during cardiopulmonary bypass. We performed high-dose transvenous gammaglobulin infusion (400mg/kg/day) for 5 consecutive days immediately before surgery. The gammaglobulin therapy caused steady increase of thrombocytes from 4 days after surgery, even though the platelet count showed no significant change preoperatively. The postoperative course was satisfactory with neither a bleeding tendency nor wound infection. High-dose transvenous gammaglobulin therapy is thus useful for perioperative patients with accompanying ITP, who are often under medication with steroids. This therapy is also effective for prevention of infection.

Congenital quadricuspid aortic valve is a very rare malformation. Most cases have been discovered as an incidental finding at aortic valve surgery or at autopsy. It frequently evolves to aortic regurgitation, which can manifest in adulthood and may require surgical treatment. A 66-year-old man was admitted because of dysprea. Echocardiogram revealed aortic regurgitation, mitral regurgitation, and tricuspid regurgitation. We performed aortic valve replacement, mitral annuloplasty, and tricuspid annuloplasty successfully. The aortic valve showed one large, two intermediate and one smaller cusp, which were classified as typed by Hurwitz's classification. An accessory cusp was situated between the right and left coronary cusps. No coronary abnormality was involved. The postoperative course was uneventful and he is doing well 6 months after operation.

In the presence of Leriche syndrome, the lower extremities are perfused by collateral flow from internal mammary arteries. If an internal mammary artery graft is used in coronary artery surgery, an acute ischemic limb will develop postoperatively. A 52-year-old man was admitted to our department with bilateral claudication. Multidetector row computed tomography with contrast showed total occlusion of the infrarenal abdominal aorta and rich collateral flow to the lower extremities from internal mammary arteries. Cardiac angiography revealed three-vessel disease. Simultaneous coronary artery bypass grafting and an ascending aorto-bifemoral bypass were performed without cardiopulmonary bypass. Postoperative computed tomography angiography showed that grafts to the coronary and bifemoral arteries were patent. This combined procedure is useful for patients with coronary artery disease and aortoiliac occlusive disease. This procedure without cardiopulmonary bypass has not previously been reported.

We report a 25-year-old man with ventricular septal perforation due to blunt chest trauma. He was transferred by ambulance to our hospital following a traffic accident. On admission, he had no cardiac murmur. Two days later, a pansystolic murmur appeared over the left lower sternal border. Doppler echocardiogram revealed a large left-to-right shunt through a ventricular septal perforation. We postponed surgical treatment as long as possible because he also exhibited bronchial bleeding due to a lung contusion. Surgical repair of the ruptured ventricular septum was performed 8 days after the chest trauma, because the pulmonary to systemic flow ratio was elevated to 4.6 and cardiac function had deteriorated. During the operation, the site of the septal perforation was easily detected by epicardial echocardiography. A 4-cm tear in the muscular septum was closed through a right ventriculotomy using a pericardial patch reinforced with a Dacron patch. Postoperative recovery was uneventful with the exception of transient right ventricular failure. There was no residual shunt.

Triple-vessel disease of coronary artery was recognized in the examination of a 78-year-old man when hemodialysis was introduced for diabetic nephropathy. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed as initial treatment for the lesion of the right coronary artery. Contrast CT was performed because of persistent fever from the first day after the PCI. Since the tumor occupying the inside of the left atrium which was not found before PCI we were concerned about the failure of the hemodynamics and decided to treat it surgically. Surgery was performed with off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, followed by left atrial mass removal surgery under cardiac arrest using cardio-pulmonary bypass. When examining the interior of the left atrium with a right lateral incision of the left atrium, the tumor was found to be on the posterior wall. This surface was smooth, and there was no endometriosis or hematoma. After incising the left atrial adventitia, old hematoma was found in the inside of the left atrium muscle layer, and it was removed as much as possible. The left atrial tumor was actually an intramural hematoma, based on image findings and macroscopic findings. Searching for the cause retrospectively, it was thought that the wire which was displaced during PCI was the cause of bleeding. We confirmed that there was no recurrence of left atrial intramural hematoma on an outpatient visit on the 113th postoperative day. We report a rare case of removing left atrial intramural hematoma under cardiac arrest which appeared after PCI.

STUDY DESIGN: Observational study. PURPOSE: To assess the correlation among inflammatory cytokine expression levels, degree of intervertebral disk (IVD) degeneration, and predominant clinical symptoms observed in degenerative disk disease (DDD). OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Low back pain (LBP) is associated with inflammatory cytokine expression levels, including those of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and nerve growth factor (NGF). However, the association between cytokine expression levels and the physiological mechanisms of disk degeneration and clinical pain remain controversial. METHODS: Using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, TNF-α, IL-6, and NGF expression levels were analyzed in 58 IVD samples that were harvested from patients with lumbar DDD. Patient samples were grouped according to the degree of IVD degeneration using the Pfirrmann grading system and magnetic resonance imaging, and the correlations between the disease groups and each cytokine expression level were assessed. In addition, on the basis of their predominant preoperative symptoms, the patients were assigned to either an LBP or leg pain group to determine the correlation among these disease manifestations and individual cytokine expression levels. RESULTS: A gradual increase in TNF-α (R=0.391) and IL-6 (R=0.388) expression levels correlated with the degree of IVD degeneration, whereas NGF (R=0.164) expression levels exhibited a minimal decrease with disease progression. Regarding the predominant clinical manifestation, only the LBP group exhibited a significant increase in TNF-α expression levels (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that TNF-α and IL-6 play an important role in the pathophysiology of IVD degeneration at any stage, whereas NGF plays an important role during the early disease stages. Moreover, because TNF-α expression levels were significantly high in the LBP group, we propose that they are involved in LBP onset or progression.
Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane ; Disease Progression ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration* ; Intervertebral Disc* ; Leg ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Nerve Growth Factor ; Observational Study ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

No abstract available.
Spondylolisthesis*

STUDY DESIGN: An experimental animal study. PURPOSE: To evaluate effects of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on the content and distribution of the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the dorsal ganglia in a rat model. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Increased expression of VEGF in degenerative disc disease increases the levels of inflammatory cytokines and nerve ingrowth into the damaged discs. In animal models, increased levels of VEGF can persist for up to 2 weeks after an injury. METHODS: Through abdominal surgery, the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) innervating L5/L6 intervertebral disc were labeled (FluoroGold neurotracer) in 24, 8-week old Sprague Dawley rats. The rats were randomly allocated to three groups of eight rats each. The anti-VEGF group underwent L5/6 intervertebral disc puncture using a 26-gauge needle, intradiscal injection of 33.3 µg of the pegaptanib sodium, a VEGF165 aptamer. The control-puncture group underwent disc puncture and intradiscal injection of 10 µL saline solution, and the sham-surgery group underwent labeling but no disc puncture. Two rats in each group were sacrificed on postoperative days 1, 7, 14, and 28 after surgery. L1–L6 DRGs were harvested, sectioned, and immunostained to detect the content and distribution of CGRP. RESULTS: Compared with the control, the percentage of CGRP-positive cells was lower in the anti-VEGF group (p<0.05; 40.6% and 58.1% on postoperative day 1, 44.3% and 55.4% on day 7, and 42.4% and 59.3% on day 14). The percentage was higher in the control group compared with that of the sham group (p<0.05; sham group, 34.1%, 40.7%, and 33.7% on postoperative days 1, 7, and 14, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Decreasing CGRP-positive cells using anti-VEGF therapy provides fundamental evidence for a possible therapeutic role of anti-VEGF in patients with discogenic lower back pain.
Animals ; Back Pain ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; Cytokines ; Diagnosis-Related Groups ; Endothelial Growth Factors ; Ganglia ; Ganglia, Spinal* ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc* ; Low Back Pain ; Models, Animal ; Needles ; Neuropeptides* ; Punctures ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sodium ; Sodium Chloride ; Spinal Nerve Roots* ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. PURPOSE: To determine whether low-dose tramadol plus non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug combination therapy could prevent the transition of acute low back pain to chronic low back pain. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Inadequately treated early low back pain transitions to chronic low back pain occur in approximately 30% of affected individuals. The administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is effective for treatment of low back pain in the early stages. However, the treatment of low back pain that is resistant to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is challenging. METHODS: Patients who presented with acute low back pain at our hospital were considered for inclusion in this study. After the diagnosis of acute low back pain, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug administration was started. Forty patients with a visual analog scale score of >5 for low back pain 1 month after treatment were finally enrolled. The first 20 patients were included in a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug group, and they continued non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy for 1 month. The next 20 patients were included in a combination group, and they received low-dose tramadol plus non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug combination therapy for 1 month. The incidence of adverse events and the improvement in the visual analog scale score at 2 months after the start of treatment were analyzed. RESULTS: No adverse events were observed in the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug group. In the combination group, administration was discontinued in 2 patients (10%) due to adverse events immediately following the start of tramadol administration. At 2 months, the improvement in the visual analog scale score was greater in the combination group than in the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug group (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Low-dose tramadol plus non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug combination therapy might decrease the incidence of adverse events and prevent the transition of acute low back pain to chronic low back pain.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Low Back Pain* ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine ; Tramadol* ; Visual Analog Scale