A 34 year-old woman was hospitalized with anterior chest pain and indigestion. Chest radiograph and computed tomogram revealed a sewing needle in the cardiac cavity. She had no histories of surgical intervention, drug abuse, or acupuncture. We removed the needle from the right ventricle under cardiopulmonary bypass.
Acupuncture ; Adult ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Chest Pain ; Dyspepsia ; Female ; Foreign Bodies* ; Heart Ventricles* ; Humans ; Needles* ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Substance-Related Disorders

No abstract available.
Genetic Therapy*

the ineidence of abdominal subcutaneous endometriosis is quite rare we have experienced one case of subcutaneous endometriosis. The typical clinical bistory and local findings of endometriasis enabk us to make the conect diagnosis. the treatment of choice is complete surgical excision of endometrial tissue and post operative medical therapy. This case was reported with a brief review of the comcemed literatures.
Diagnosis ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Subcutaneous Tissue*

No abstract available.
Apoptosis* ; Female ; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced* ; Placenta* ; Pregnancy*

In the present study, the authors investigated the management of mechanical valve thrombosis (MVT). From January 1981 through March 2006, 2,908 mechanical valve replacements were performed in 2,298 patients at our institution. Twenty (0.87%) patients presented with MVT, 14 (70.0%) were women, and the mean age of the patients was 42.0+/-14.0 (27-66) yr. Thrombosis involved mitral in 14 (70.0%), aortic in 2 (10.0%), tricuspid/aortic in 1 (5%), and tricuspid in 3 (15%). The interval from first operation to valve thrombosis was 121.8+/-75.4 (0.9-284.7) months. The most frequent clinical presentation was heart failure (13/20, 65%), and predisposing causes of MVT were: poor compliance with warfarin (7), pregnancy (5), drug interaction (2), and unknown (6). All 20 patients underwent valve replacement: mitral (14, 70.0%), tricuspid (3, 15.0%), aortic (2, 10%) and tricuspid/aortic (1, 5%). One early death occurred due to left ventricular failure, but no late mortality occurred during 63.3+/-49.9 (0.5-165.1) months of follow-up. MVT was treated successfully, and pregnancy and inadequate anticoagulation were found to influence the occurrence of this rare complication.
Adult ; Aged ; Anticoagulants/therapeutic use ; Coronary Thrombosis/drug therapy/*mortality/*surgery ; Drug Interactions ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Valve Prosthesis/*adverse effects/*statistics & numerical data ; Heparin/therapeutic use ; Humans ; International Normalized Ratio ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Compliance ; Postoperative Complications/drug therapy/*mortality/*surgery ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications/mortality ; Recurrence ; Reoperation/statistics & numerical data ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Thrombolytic Therapy ; Warfarin/therapeutic use

Besides lung transplantation, pulmonary thromboembolectomy is the only effective therapeutic option for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. It is however associated with a considerably high hospital mortality between 6.6 to 23%. Proper patient selection is critical when considering a patient for pulmonary thromboembolectomy. And It cannot be overemphasised that the key to the success of the operation is complete endarterectomy of the entire pulmonary arterial tree. We report that pulmonary thromboendarterectomy under total circulatory arrest was an effective and safe method in the surgical correction of the chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and enabled complete removal of superimposed peripheral organized thrombi in a good operative field.
Endarterectomy* ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Lung Transplantation ; Patient Selection ; Pulmonary Embolism

OBJECTIVE: To plan the goals of the rehabilitation management after stroke, it was important to know functional prognosis of the patients. The purpose of this article was to predict functional outcomes of stroke patients by means of an analysis of the well-known prognostic factors of function at admission. METHOD: This study was performed retrospectively on 102 patients with acute stroke who were admitted to Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. The inpatients, clinical and functional evaluation were carried out at admission. Functional abilities were measured with the use of the Functional Ambulatory Category (FAC) and the modified Barthel Index (MBI). RESULTS: The significant prognostic factors of FAC improvement rate were age, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Morticity Index, MBI, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), aphasia and Trunk Control Test (TCT) (p<0.01). The most valuable single factor of FAC improvement rate was TCT. The significant prognostic factors of MBI improvement rate were age, NIHSS, Morticity Index, MMSE, aphasia and TCT (p<0.01). The most valuable single factor of MBI improvement rate was TCT. CONCLUSION: We concluded that TCT could be the most valuable prognostic factor in rehabilitation management outcome of stroke.
Aphasia ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Prognosis ; Rehabilitation ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke*

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to clarify the role of alcohol use disorders and acute alcohol consumption in suicide attempts by gender. METHODS: Data of 1,152 suicide attempters(487 males and 742 females) who had visited an emergency center was gathered. Suicide attempts were categorized into three groups according to alcohol use: an alcohol use disorder group(AUD), an acute alcohol use group(AAU), and a no-alcohol use group(NAU). The intent and lethality of suicide attempts were evaluated by Suicidal Intents Scale and Risk-Rescue Rating Scale. RESULTS: For Suicidal Intents Scale score, the male AUD group revealed a significantly lower mean score than the male AAU one. However, there were no statistically significant differences for female subjects across subgroups. With regard to the Risk-Rescue Rating Scale score, there were no significant differences for males, while the AUD group showed both the lowest highest rescue scores and lowest risk-rescue scores within female groups. CONCLUSIONS: AUD in females was more likely regarding impulsive suicide attempts with high rescue chances. Consuming alcohol might have different effect on suicide attempts by gender and our study shows that alcohol use is an important risk factor according to gender, particularly with regard to female suicide attempts.
Alcohol Drinking ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Suicide

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article was investigated whether changes of superoxide dismutase isozymes in the placenta of patients with preeclampsia contribute to radical-induced tissue injury. METHODS: The activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx)) and the contents of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) in the erythrocytes and in the placenta were assayed from 35 women with preclampsia and 35 normotensive pregnant women. RESULTS: The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were significantly reduced in the erhtyrocytes and the placenta of patients with pre-eclampsia compared with normotensive pregnant women. The activity of catalase was increased in the erythrocytes of patients with preeclampsia but the statistically significant difference of catalase activity in the placenta and GSHPx activity in both erythrocytes and placenta were not observed. The contents of TBARS were increased significantly in the erythrocytes and placenta of patients with preeclampsia. In preeclamptic placenta, copper and zinc containing superoxide dismutase (CuZn-SOD) was decreased (3.9+/-0.5 vs 5.1+/-0.6 U/mg protein) whereas manganeus containing superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) was increased (2.0+/-0.3 vs 2.7+/-0.4 U/mg protein). CONCLUSION: In these results, the decreased CuZn-SOD activity may some roles in increment of TBARS contents in pre-eclamptic placenta and decreased CuZn-SOD activity may be more prone to oxidative stress in the placenta.
Catalase ; Copper ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; Humans ; Isoenzymes* ; Oxidative Stress ; Placenta* ; Pre-Eclampsia* ; Pregnant Women ; Superoxide Dismutase* ; Superoxides* ; Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances ; Zinc

BACKGROUND: The CarboMedics mechanical valve has been reported to show acceptable valve-related complication rates. The aim of this study is to evaluate our clinical experience with the CarboMedics valve. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Between August 1988 and September 1999, we implanted 1,144 CarboMedics valves in 850 patients (aortic 179; mitral 385; double-valve 234; tricuspid 52). The mean age was 44.5+/-12.5 years. Follow-up was completed in 95.2% and median follow-up period was 7.9 years (6753 patient-years). RESULT: The overall hospital mortality rate was 3.4% and the mortality rate for each group was 1.7% for aortic group, 2.6% for mitral group, 4.7% for double-valve group, and 9.6% for tricuspid group. Tricuspid group showed significantly higher mortality rate than aortic and mitral group (p<0.05). The actuarial survival at 10 years was 87.1+/-2.6%, 88.9+/-1.7%, 82.4+/-2.9%, and 77.5+/-7.0% for aortic, mitral, double, and tricuspid valve group, respectively. Age and tricuspid valve replacement were significant risk factors for long-term survival in multivariate analysis (p<0.05). Freedom from valve thrombosis at 10 years was 99.4+/-0.6%, 98.2+/-0.8%, 99.2+/-0.8%, and 87.6+/-0.5% for aortic, mitral, double and tricuspid valve group. Tricuspid valve group showed significantly higher rate of valve thrombosis (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Long-term results of our experience demonstrated that CarboMedics valve showed acceptable incidence of valve-related complications. However, tricuspid valve replacement showed higher rate of early mortality and valve thrombosis than other valve replacement groups.
Follow-Up Studies ; Freedom ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Thrombosis ; Tricuspid Valve