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*

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

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

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*

BACKGROUND: pH measurement is an important test in assessing the etiology of pleurisy and in identifying complicated parapneumonic effusion. Although the blood gas analyzer is the' gold standard method' for pleural pH measurement, pH meter & pH strip methods are also used for this purpose interchangably. However, the correlation among the pH data measured by the three different methods needs to be evaluated. In this study, we measured the pH of pleural fluid with the three different methods respectively and evaluated the correlation among the measured data. METHODS: From August 1999 to March 2000, were measured the pleural fluid pH in 34 clinical samples with three methods-blood gas analyzer, pH meter, and pH strip. In the blood gas analyzer and pH meter methods, the temperature of plerual fluid was maintained around 0℃ in air-tight condition before analysis and measurement was performed within 30 minutes after collection. As for the pH strip method, the pleural fluid pH was checked in the ward immediately after tapping and in the clinical laboratory of our hospital. This part is unclear. RESULTS: The causes of pleural effusion were tuberculosis pleurisy in 16 cases, malignant pleural effusion 5 cases, parapneumonic effusion 9 cases, empyema 3 cases, and congestive heart failure 1 case. The pH of pleural fluid (mean±SD) was 7.34±0.12 with blood gas analyser, 7.52±0.25 with pH meter, 7.37±0.16 with pH strip of immediate measurement and 6.93±0.201 with pH strip of delayed measurement. The pH measured by delayed pH strip measurement was lower than those of other methods(p<0.05). The correlation of the results between the blood gas analyzer and pH meter(p=0.002, r=0.518) and the blood gas analyzer and pH strip of immediate measurement(p<0.001, r=0.607). CONCLUSION: In the determination of pH of pleural fluid, pH strip method could be a simple and reliable method under immediate measurement conditions after fluid tapping.
Empyema ; Heart Failure ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration* ; Methods* ; Pleural Effusion ; Pleural Effusion, Malignant ; Pleurisy ; Tuberculosis

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

PURPOSE: An abridged 5-item version of the 15-item International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) was developed and its validity has been proven in the western medical community. This study was designed to assess the validity of the abbreviated Korean version of the IIEF as a diagnostic tool for ED. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who visited the Andrology Clinic of the Asan Medical Center with a chief complaint of ED fall into the patient group. Patients who visited the Family Medicine Clinic of the same hospital with chief complaints other than ED, and checked no ED in the self-assessment questionnaire, fall into the control group. Patients, both of the patient group and control group, were asked to fill out the self-administered IIEF-5 and the questionnaire asking the severity of the ED. RESULTS: Collected questionnaires from a total of 309 subjects (the patient group: 149; the control group: 160) were used for statistical analysis. Mean ages were 43 and 52 for the control group and the patient group, respectively. A Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) Curve analysis indicated that there is a close correlation between IIEF-5 total scores and the presence of ED (area under the ROC curve=0.961). The most appropriate cutoff score between ED and no ED was 17 (sensitivity=91.3%, specificity=86.3%). Substantial consistency existed between the predicted and the patient-answered ED severity levels (Weighted Kappa=0.681). CONCLUSIONS: The Korean version of IIEF-5 is highly effective in detecting the presence and assessing the severity of ED. The result of our study supports its validity as a diagnostic instrument in the clinical setting.
Andrology ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Diagnosis ; Erectile Dysfunction* ; Humans ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; ROC Curve ; Self-Assessment