BACKGROUND: Measurements of coronary flow reserve(CFR) and phasic coronary flow profile are useful in assessment of the physiologic significance of coronary lesions. However, alterations in hemodynamic status are known to influence coronary flow reserve. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of increase in heart rate on maximal pharmacologin coronry flow reserve and phasic flow pattern. METHODS: We investigated 12 patients(9 females and 3 males, mean age : 49+/-12 years) with normal coronary artery and atypical chest pain syndrome for the measurement of CFR and coronary flow profile. CFR and systolic and diastolic coronary flow velocity integral(CFVI) were measured at the proximal portion of left anterior descending artery with 0.018 inch(12MHz) Doppler guide wire before and during intracoronary injection of 12 mcg of adenosine. The heart rate at the baseline ranging from 62 beats/min to 79 beats/min(mean : 70+/-5 beats/min) was increased to 100 beats/min and again to 120 beats/min by right atrial pacing. RESULTS: CFR progressively decreased from 3.0+/-0.5 at baseline to 2.4+/-0.4 during pacing at 100 beats/min and to 2.0+/-0.3 during pacing at 120 beats.min(p<0.001). CFVI/min at baseline was progressively increased(130+/-15% of control value at 100 beats.min, 135+/-30% at 120 beats.min(p<0.01) whereas in adenosine hyperemia remained unchanged(286+/-81% at hyperemia baseline, 296+/-91% at 100 beats/min, 289+/-105% at 120 beats/min, p>0.05). Systolic CFVI/min was increased at baseline(185+/-35% at 120 beats/min, p<0.01) and in adenosine hyperemia(377+/-153% at hyperemia baseline, 457+/-178% at 120 beats/min, p=0.01). Diastolic CFVI/min was increased at baseline(134+/-178% at 120 beats/min, p<0.01), but in adenosine hyperemia, no significant change was observed(278+/-77% at hyperemia baseline and 251+/-77% at 120 beats/min, p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Increase in heart rate induces a substantial reduction in maximal CFR. Thus,heart rate appears to be one of important variable for the measurement of CFR and phasin coronary flow profile.
Adenosine ; Arteries ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Vessels ; Female ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Hyperemia ; Male

PURPOSE: At present renal transplantation, the most frequent surgical complications may be occurred on ureterovesical anastomosis site (i.e. leakage, stenosis and reflux). The results of ureteroureterostomy using recipient's own ureter in these complications, will be presented. METHODS: From 1983 to 2004, 410 renal transplantations were performed at our institution. In all cases, external ureteroneocystostomy technique was used. Complications involving the anastomosis site occurred in 23 cases (5.4%), with 15 stenosis (3.4%) and 8 cases of leakage (1.9%). All of them were living donor cases. The mean recipient's age was 47.2 years. Corrective surgery were performed as soon as complication confirmed radiologically (ultrasonography), 16.1+/-22.3 days after transplantaion for leakage and 86.8+/-87.6 days for stenosis. If the length of graft ureter was long enough, ureteroneocys tostomy was performed again and if not, end to side ureteroureterostomy was performed in 12 cases, end to end ureteroureterostomy in 1 case and end to end pyeloureterostomy in one case. A double J ureteral stent was used in every case. RESULTS: There were one graft loss due to stone formation nephropathy, one mortality due to herpetic infection with functioning graft and one failure of recovery of graft function because of too late patients visit. Others had good graft function until last follow up with 3.8+/-2.5years of mean follow-up without further ureteral complications. CONCLUSION: Ureteroureterostomy is a safe and permanent treatment for complications of ureterovesical anastomosis site and gives good results.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Living Donors ; Mortality ; Stents ; Transplants ; Ureter

Renal allograft rupture is an uncommon but life-threatening complication. The most common cause of the spontaneous rupture of the renal graft is acute rejection but other causes including acute tubular necrosis, renal vein thrombosis and urinary tract obstruction have been reported. Here we report a case of spontaneous rupture of renal graft caused by arteriovenous fistula in the patient being managed by plasmapheresis due to hemolytic uremic syndrome developed in the renal graft 3 years late after transplantation.
Allografts* ; Arteriovenous Fistula* ; Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Plasmapheresis ; Renal Veins ; Rupture* ; Rupture, Spontaneous ; Thrombosis ; Transplants ; Urinary Tract

Mediastinal parathyroid cyst is a very rare disease and is usually found incidentally. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice and recurrence is very rare when complete excision is done. A 71-year-old man was referred to our department because of 6x5cm sized right superior mediastinal mass found incidentally on chest X-ray. Surgical excision was performed and pathologic findings were confirmed as mediastinal parathyroid cyst. The patient has been followed up postoperatively without recurrence for 4 months up to now. We report a case of mediastinal parathyroid cyst.
Aged ; Humans ; Mediastinal Cyst ; Parathyroid Glands ; Parathyroid Neoplasms ; Rare Diseases ; Recurrence ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: In the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, measurement of CK-MB is widely used as an enzyme test, but it needs special instruments, lacks specificity in the presence of concomitant skeletal muscle injuries, and has narrow diagnostic time window. Cardiac specific troponin T-a new marker for the diagnosis of myocardial injury-is now available. Besides the quantitative assay, rapid qualitative asay is also possible with the development of rapid assay Kit. We studied about the efficacy of the Troponin T rapid assay Kit in early doagnosis of actue myocardial infarction in the emergency room. METHODS: Total Ck, Ck-MB, LDH and serum troponin T activities were determined when the patients arrived at the emergency room and at the same time Troponin T rapid assay kit test was done. Final diagnosis was made through the serial measurement of CK, CK-MB and LDH. Diagnostic efficacy of each rest was evaluated. RESULTS: Overall diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of Troponin T rapid assay kit were 0.97 and 0.91. When evaluated only with the initial results, Troponin T rapid assay kit showed sensitivity 0.87, specificity 0.97, serum troponin T 0.75, 0.92, and Ck-Mb 0.81,0.95. In one patient who was finally diagnosed as a septic shock, Ck-MB was elevated but serum troponin T was not and Troponin T rapid assay kit test showed negative result. CONCLUSION: Troponin T rapid assay kit test seems to show nearly the same sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction compared to CK-MB. This test can be done simply and easily in a short time. Thus, with the use of this test, morbidity, mortality and economic loss due to misdiagnosis and delay of diagnosis of myocardial infarction might be reduced.
Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Early Diagnosis* ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Mortality ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Shock, Septic ; Troponin T* ; Troponin*

Thymic carcinoid or neuroendocrine tumor of thymus is a very rare disease and has poor prognosis due to frequent recurrence and distant metastasis. A 43-year-old man was refered to our hospital because of Rt. chest pain and tightness. Chest X-ray revealed 7 X 8cm sized mass on Rt. anterior mediastinum. Surgical excision was performed and light microscopic, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic findings were confirmed as atypical thymic carcinoid tumor with thymic cyst. The patient has been followed up without recurrence or distant metastasis postoperatively for 3 months to now. We report a case of atypical thymic carcinoid with thymic cysts.
Adult ; Carcinoid Tumor* ; Chest Pain ; Humans ; Mediastinal Cyst* ; Mediastinum ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Prognosis ; Rare Diseases ; Recurrence ; Thorax ; Thymus Gland

Pseudoaneurysm is one of the undesirable complications of interventional cardiology procedures involving peripheral puncture site. Nowadays, it is not uncommon as a consequences of more complex interventional preocedures, larger catheters and prolonged anticoagulation treatment. Surgical repair has been mainstay of treatment for pesudoaneurysm. However, sucessful closures of pseudoaneurysms have been reported recently by using direct compression guided by color doppler ultrasound. We report a case of pseudoaneurysm in femoral artery, which was developed at the right inguinal puncture site in 38 year old male patient with unstabel angina who had received continuous intravenous infusion of heparin and had undergone coronary angiography treated successfully with direct compression guided by color doppler ultrasound.
Adult ; Aneurysm, False* ; Cardiology ; Catheters ; Coronary Angiography ; Femoral Artery* ; Heparin ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Male ; Punctures ; Ultrasonography*

OBJECTIVE: To compare between the American College of Radiology (ACR) accreditation phantom and digital mammography accreditation phantom in assessing the image quality in full-field digital mammography (FFDM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In each week throughout the 42-week study, we obtained phantom images using both the ACR accreditation phantom and the digital mammography accreditation phantom, and a total of 42 pairs of images were included in this study. We assessed the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in each phantom image. A radiologist drew a square-shaped region of interest on the phantom and then the mean value of the SNR and the standard deviation were automatically provided on a monitor. SNR was calculated by an equation, measured mean value of SNR-constant coefficient of FFDM/standard deviation. Two breast radiologists scored visible objects (fibers, specks, and masses) with soft-copy images and calculated the visible rate (number of visible objects/total number of objects). We compared SNR and the visible rate of objects between the two phantoms and calculated the k-coefficient for interobserver agreement. RESULTS: The SNR of the ACR accreditation phantom ranged from 42.0 to 52.9 (Mean, 47.3 +/- 2.79) and that of Digital Phantom ranged from 24.8 to 54.0 (Mean, 44.1 +/- 9.93) (p = 0.028). The visible rates of all three types of objects were much higher in the ACR accreditation phantom than those in the digital mammography accreditation phantom (p < 0.05). Interobserver agreement for visible rates of objects on phantom images was fair to moderate agreement (k-coefficients: 0.34-0.57). CONCLUSION: The ACR accreditation phantom is superior to the digital mammography accreditation phantom in terms of SNR and visibility of phantom objects. Thus, ACR accreditation phantom appears to be satisfactory for assessing the image quality in FFDM.
Accreditation ; *Breast ; Female ; Humans ; *Mammography ; *Phantoms, Imaging ; *Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Societies, Medical

OBJECTIVES: Infection and replication of the hepatitis B virus are closely related to the host immunity. Anticancer chemotherapy decreases the immune response of the host, Especially, glucocorticoid can activate the replication of hepatitis B virus directly. It is well known that hepatitis B virus infection and hepatic complications are more common in patients with hematologic malignancies like malignant lymphoma. We studied the incidence of hepatitis B virus infection and hepatic complications following anti-cancer chemotherapy in patients with malignant lymphoma. METHODS: Among 224 cases diagnosed as malignant lymphoma from January 1989 to December 1993 at Yonsei University Medical Center, 77 cases tested for hepatitis B virus serology was studied. RESULTS: 1) Eighteen cases (23%) was HBsAg positive. 2) The results of hepatitis C virus serology in six cases were all negative. 3) Eight (57%) of 14 follow-up cases had hepatic complications, Two patients had fulminant hepatitis, two nonicteric hepatitis and four icteric hepatitis. 4) Interferon-alpha was administered in three cases among the patients with hepatic complications. Loss of HBeAg was observed in one case and loss of HBsAg in another case. CONCLUSION: Serious hepatic complications can be occurred following anticancer chemotherapy in HBsAg-positive patients with malignant lymphoma. Therefore, we recommend that patients being considered as candidates for anticancer chemotherapy should routinely undergo serologic test for Hepatitis B virus. In addition HBsAg-positive patients with anticancer chemotherapy should be regularly monitored for hepatic injury. And with the careful use of steroid and interferon, prolongation of survival might be searched for these patients.
Academic Medical Centers ; Drug Therapy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Hepatitis B virus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Interferon-alpha ; Interferons ; Lymphoma* ; Serologic Tests

BACKGROUND: Cushing syndrome is characterized by glucose intolerance, cardiovascular disease, and an enhanced systemic inflammatory response caused by chronic exposure to excess cortisol. Eosinopenia is frequently observed in patients with adrenal Cushing syndrome, but the relationship between the eosinophil count in peripheral blood and indicators of glucose level in patients with adrenal Cushing syndrome has not been determined. METHODS: A retrospective study was undertaken of the clinical and laboratory findings of 40 patients diagnosed with adrenal Cushing syndrome at Chungnam National University Hospital from January 2006 to December 2016. Clinical characteristics, complete blood cell counts with white blood cell differential, measures of their endocrine function, description of imaging studies, and pathologic findings were obtained from their medical records. RESULTS: Eosinophil composition and count were restored by surgical treatment of all of the patients with adrenal Cushing disease. The eosinophil count was inversely correlated with serum and urine cortisol, glycated hemoglobin, and inflammatory markers in the patients with adrenal Cushing syndrome. CONCLUSION: Smaller eosinophil populations in patients with adrenal Cushing syndrome tend to be correlated with higher levels of blood sugar and glycated hemoglobin. This study suggests that peripheral blood eosinophil composition or count may be associated with serum glucose levels in patients with adrenal Cushing syndrome.
Blood Cell Count ; Blood Glucose* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Cushing Syndrome* ; Eosinophils* ; Glucose ; Glucose Intolerance ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Leukocytes ; Medical Records ; Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion ; Retrospective Studies