Echocardiography was done on 51 cases with various cardiovascular disease and on 23 cases of normal control subjects from April, 1981 to March, 1982 in the Department of internal medicine, Eul Ji General Hospital, Seoul, Korea. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The left ventricular mass estimated by the measurements made with standard convention was 261+/-8gm in patient group and 126+/-6gm in control group. With penn convention, the left ventricular mass of the patients group was 297+/-11gm and that of control group was 127+/-6gm. The differences between both conventions were significant statistically. 2. In measurements made with standard convention, those who showed increased left ventricular posterior wall thickness were 37 cases(73%) and those who showed increased left ventricular internal dimension were 15 cases(29%). On the other hand, number of cases who showed increased left ventricular mass were 45 cases(88%) and this results suggested estimation of left ventricular mass seems to be more useful method in the diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy than simple measurements of left ventricular posterior wall thickness of left ventricular internal dimension. 3. The correlation coefficient between left ventricular mass and maximum voltage of electrocardiography, left ventricular posterior wall thickness left ventricularinternal dimension was 0.70, 0.74 0.51 respectively in standard method and 0.82, 0.76, 0.44 respectively in penn convention. Left ventricular mass was correlated fairly closely with the maximum voltage of electrocardiography and left ventricular posterior wall thickeness, less closely with the left ventricular internal dimension.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Diagnosis* ; Echocardiography* ; Electrocardiography ; Hand ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular* ; Internal Medicine ; Korea ; Seoul

PURPOSE: In this prospective study, we evaluated the clinical significance of inflammatory cytokines in women with acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis undergoing antimicrobial therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed 26 female patients diagnosed with acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis between September 2007 and March 2008. Body temperature, white blood cell (WBC) counts, serum C-reactive protein (CRP), and serum and urine interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 were measured before and 12 hours, 24 hours, and 4 days after the intravenous administration of empirical ciprofloxacin. RESULTS: Initial serum CRP levels were correlated with initial serum IL-6 and initial urine IL-8 levels. Twenty-four hours after the start of antibiotic treatment, the CRP level and urine IL-8 level continued to be high, whereas serum IL-6 levels decreased significantly (26.1+/-32.4 vs 9.9+/-23.5pg/dl, p<0.01). When we divided the patients into mild (CRP<15mg/dl, n=14) and severe (CRP> or =15mg/dl, n=12) groups according to initial CRP levels, the serum IL-6 level decreased significantly in both the mild (14.2+/-4.0 vs 4.0+/-1.7pg/dl, p<0.01) and the severe (41.1+/-12.7 vs. 22.7+/-16.4pg/dl, p<0.01) groups within 24 hours, whereas CRP and urine IL-8 levels did not change significantly in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically, initial serum IL-6 and urine IL-8 levels were increased according to disease severity. Moreover, the serum IL-6 level decreased rapidly after antibiotic treatment within 24 hours. Serum IL-6 levels are a better indicator of the severity of disease and the therapeutic effect of empirical parenteral antibiotic use in patients with acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis than were either CRP or WBC counts.
Administration, Intravenous ; Body Temperature ; C-Reactive Protein ; Ciprofloxacin ; Cytokines ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; Interleukin-8 ; Interleukins ; Leukocytes ; Prospective Studies ; Pyelonephritis