We report a case of transposition of the great arteries (TGA) with severe pulmonary hypertension from the right to left shunt in the right modified Blalock-Taussig shunt. The patient was diagnosed with TGA with a small ventricular septal defect, restrictive patent foramen ovale, and patent ductus arteriosus. Balloon atrial septostomy was performed, and an arterial switch operation (ASO) was planned. However, ASO was delayed during the neonatal period due to cerebral bleeding. Moreover, left outflow tract obstruction was noted ; hence, the surgical strategy was shifted to an atrial switch operation or Rastelli type operation. The patient was palliated at the age of 5 months with a right 4-mm Gore-Tex modified Blalock-Taussig shunt. After this procedure, he was followed up at the outpatient clinic with good saturation level. However, at 9 months, he revisited the hospital due to septic shock. His SpO2 was 60% in the upper right limbs and 40% in the upper left and lower limbs. Nitric oxide inhalation and 100% oxygen were administered to improve pulmonary hypertension and subsequent differential cyanosis. Pulmonary hypertension decreased from over-systemic to 70% of the systemic arterial pressure. The Senning procedure with a fenestration in an atrial baffle was successfully performed at the age of 1 year.

Problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials were introduced at our university in April 2001. Because a complete PBLbased curriculum could not be adopted, a transitional curriculum incorporating 3-hour PBL tutorial sessions into the traditional curriculum was introduced. More than 80% of students agreed that PBL is an effective way of learning problem solving at the bedside. Twenty percent to 40% of teachers felt that students who took PBL were more motivated for bedside learning and self-directed learning and had better at presentation than were students who did not take PBL. Because of 80% of the curriculum comprised didactic lectures, most students considered PBL tutorials a type of lecture. For this reason, motivating students to learn additional material originating from PBL tutorials was difficult. Although the combination of a traditional curriculum and PBL tutorials may appear to be a new curriculum, this type of PBL has limited value as a method for studying problem solving.

Background: and Purpose To assess the long-term outcomes of intracranial dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) alone or embolization and SRS (Emb-SRS) and to develop a grading system for predicting DAVF obliteration. Methods: This multi-institutional retrospective study included 200 patients with DAVF treated with SRS or Emb-SRS. We investigated the long-term obliteration rate and obliteration-associated factors. We developed a new grading system to estimate the obliteration rate. Additionally, we compared the outcomes of SRS and Emb-SRS by using propensity score matching. Results: The 3- and 4-year obliteration rates were 66.3% and 78.8%, respectively. The post-SRS hemorrhage rate was 2%. In the matched cohort, the SRS and Emb-SRS groups did not differ in the rates of obliteration (P=0.54) or post-SRS hemorrhage (P=0.50). In multivariable analysis, DAVF location and cortical venous reflux (CVR) were independently associated with obliteration. The new grading system assigned 2, 1, and 0 points to DAVFs in the anterior skull base or middle fossa, DAVFs with CVR or DAVFs in the superior sagittal sinus or tentorium, and DAVFs without these factors, respectively. Using the total points, patients were stratified into the highest (0 points), intermediate (1 point), or lowest (≥2 points) obliteration rate groups that exhibited 4-year obliteration rates of 94.4%, 71.3%, and 60.4%, respectively (P<0.01). Conclusions SRS-based therapy achieved DAVF obliteration in more than three-quarters of the patients at 4 years of age. Our grading system can stratify the obliteration rate and may guide physicians in treatment selection.