The development of cardiac CT has provided a non-invasive alternative to echocardiography, exercise electrocardiogram, and invasive angiography and cardiac CT continues to develop at an exponential speed even now. The appropriate use of cardiac CT may lead to improvements in the medical performances of physicians and can reduce medical costs which eventually contribute to better public health. However, until now, there has been no guideline regarding the appropriate use of cardiac CT in Korea. We intend to provide guidelines for the appropriate use of cardiac CT in heart diseases based on scientific data. The purpose of this guideline is to assist clinicians and other health professionals in the use of cardiac CT for diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases, especially in patients at high risk or suspected of heart disease.
Chest Pain/*diagnosis/radiography ; Exercise ; Heart/radiography ; Heart Diseases/diagnosis/*radiography ; Humans ; Republic of Korea ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/instrumentation/*methods/*standards

Benign fibrous mesothelioma of the pleura is a relatively rare neoplasm originated from pleural mesothelial cell, often asymptomatic or presenting with a specifical sign. One of the main problems, concerns the preoperative differential diagnosis, mainly because it is difficult to differentiate between benign and malignant type. A 62-year old woman presented with recurrent chest pain. The chest radiography in a patient was suspected localized pleural mesothelioma. The chest computed tomography scan showed that mass like lesion of well marginated ovoid shape with homogenous attenuation on anterior-basal segment of right lower lobe. After resection of a pleural mass by thoracoscopic extirpation from right hemithorax, Localized benign fibrous mesothelioma of the pleura was confirmed by pathology and immunohisto-chemical staining. We report here one case of pleural benign fibrous mesothelioma with some considerations on its diagnosis and treatment.
Chest Pain ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Mesothelioma ; Middle Aged ; Pathology ; Pleura* ; Radiography ; Solitary Fibrous Tumor, Pleural* ; Thorax

PURPOSE: Chest pain in the pediatric population is not rare and mostly benign. Causes of chest pain are diverse, and differential diagnosis is not easy. Chest pain in children is less likely to be cardiac in origin. Furthermore, chest pain in the pediatric population is rarely associated with life-threatening disease. This study was designed to evaluate children with chest pain and the usefulness of several diagnostic examinations. METHODS: Between March 2001 and August 2002, 33 patients(15 boys and 18 girls, aged four to 15 years) presented with chronic chest pain. The records of these patients were reviewed. Chest radiography and electrocardiogram were performed in all patients. Cardiologic and gastrointestinal evaluations were carried out when considered necessary. RESULTS: Chest pain was most common in the age group of 10 to 12 years old, and the four to six years old group. The most common diagnostic findings of chest pain were idiopathic(15 cases, 45.5 %), heart disease(9 cases, 27.3%), upper gastrointestinal disease(6 cases, 18.2%), respiratory disease (2 cases, 6%) and trauma(1 case, 3%). In children with abnormal results of cardiologic evaluation, these findings are not major etiologic categories of chest pain. Through history taking and physical examinations, six cases were evaluated concerning gastrointestinal disease and all of them showed gastrointestinal diseases(esophagitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, nodular gastritis and chronic superficial gastritis). CONCLUSIONS: Chest pain is usually benign in children but the possibility of cardiovascular or gastrointestinal disease is considered. Careful history taking, physical examination and proper clinical examinations are usually required to find out the rare life-threatening causes of chest pain.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Chest Pain* ; Child* ; Diagnosis* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Gastritis ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Heart ; Humans ; Physical Examination ; Radiography ; Thorax*

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the value of clinical signs in the identification of Mycoplasma pneumonia in children's community acquired pneumonia.

METHODWe searched the Cochrane library, PubMed, CNKI, Wan Fang and VIP databases. According to the inclusion and exclusion criterias, we selected and extracted the related information in the literature. According to the QUADAS evaluation system, we established the quality evaluation standard to evaluate the quality of the included studies and analyzed the difference of the clinical manifestations between Mycoplasmae pneumoniae and non-Mycoplasma pneumoniae in children's community acquired pneumonia. We used the RevMan 5.3 software to do the meta-analysis and collected the data according to the requirements. We calculated the pooled sensitivities, specificities and 95%CIs. Then we calculated the negative and positive likelihood ratio, the ratio of the diagnosis and the pre-/post-test probabilities with 95% CIs.

RESULTA total of 11 articles were included in the literature. In summary, the cases of the clinical signs of true positive (TP) and false positive (FP) were as follows : chest pain: TP: 287, FP: 1090; rales: TP: 1906, FP: 6886; headache: TP: 590, FP: 2051; pleural effusion: TP: 10, FP: 16; consolidation: TP: 75, FP: 83; emphysema: TP: 443, FP: 116. The pooled sensitivity, the pooled specificity, the diagnostic ratio (DOR) and 95% CI were: chest pain: pooled sensitivity: 0.12, 95% CI: 0.10-0.13, pooled specificity: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.88-0.90, DOR: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.92-1.21; rales: pooled sensitivity: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.64, 0.67, pooled specificity: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.35, 0.37, DOR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.22; headache: pooled sensitivity: 0.23, 95% CI: 0.21-0.25, pooled specificity: 0.80, 95%CI: 0.79-0.80, DOR: 1.16, 95%CI: 1.05-1.29; pleural effusion: pooled sensitivity: 0.04, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.08, pooled specificity: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.96, 0.99, DOR: 1.28, 95% CI: 0.56, 2.89; consolidation: pooled sensitivity: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.26, 0.39, pooled specificity: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.84, 0.90, DOR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.23, 2.90; emphysema: pooled sensitivity: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.29, pooled specificity: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.69, 0.77, DOR: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.68, 1.61.

CONCLUSIONThe value of clinical symptoms and signs in the identification of mycoplasma pneumonia in children's community acquired pneumonia was not significant. Although the clinical symptoms/signs of chest pain, headache, rales and chest X-ray manifestations of pleural effusion, consolidation, emphysema could suggest Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, the presence or absence of any clinical signs were not positive or negative indicators for the identification of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections.

Chest Pain ; Child ; Community-Acquired Infections ; diagnosis ; Headache ; Humans ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; diagnosis ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Respiratory Sounds ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia is characteristically found as a hospital-acquired infection in patients with underlying medical disorders. Few cases of community acquired P. aeruginosa pneumonia have been reported in individuals without underlying diseases. We report a case of P. aeruginosa pneumonia in a healthy 33-year-old man. He visited our hospital because of fever, non-productive cough, and pleuritic chest pain. On physical examination, the breathing sounds were decreased on the right lower lung field. The chest radiograph showed lobar consolidations with a cavity on the right upper lung field. Blood cultures and a pleural fluid culture yielded P. aeruginosa. Despite aggressive management including antibiotics and mechanical ventilation, he died 26 hours after the onset of symptoms. P. aeruginosa should be included in the differential diagnosis of severe community-acquired pneumonia.
Adult* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Chest Pain ; Cough ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Fever ; Humans ; Lung ; Physical Examination ; Pneumonia* ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa* ; Pseudomonas* ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Sounds ; Sepsis

Mediastinal tumors are uncommon in the pediatric age group and teratoma comprises 5 percent of mediastinal lesions developing in the anterior mediastinum. It is characterized by staying asymptomatically till adulthood and the most common symptoms of mediastinal teratoma are chest pains, dyspnea, and coughs due to the compression of adjacent airways. Untreated benign teratoma can cause complications such as atelectasis of the lung, adjacent tissue compression, infection and rupture of mass. The diagnosis can be made by chest radiography and chest CT, and the treatment of choice is surgical. We report a 2 year, 10 months male patient who presented with coughs, respiratory difficulty caused by pleural effusion due to rupture, and perforation of the mass. The diagnosis was made by chest radiography and chest CT and he underwent surgical resection successfully.
Chest Pain ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Mediastinal Neoplasms ; Mediastinum ; Pleural Effusion* ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Radiography ; Rupture ; Teratoma* ; Thorax ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND: Although patients may present with typical chest pain and exhibit ischemic changes on the cardiac stress test, they are frequently found to have a normal coronary angiogram. Thus, we wanted to determine which procedures should be performed in order to make an adequate diagnosis of the cause of chest pain. METHODS: 121 patients (males: 42, 34.7%) who had a normal coronary angiogram with typical chest pain were included in this study. All the patients underwent upper endoscopy, Bernstein's test and esophageal manometry. RESULTS: Among the 121 patients, clinically stable angina was noted in 107 (88.4%). Stress testing was done in 82 (67.8%); it was positive in 52 (63.4%). Endoscopic findings were erosive gastritis in 18 (14.8%), gastric ulcer in 4 (3.3%), duodenal ulcer in 5 (4.1%), and reflux esophagitis in 16 (13.2%). Positive results were observed on Berstein's test for 68 patients (56.2%); 59 (86.8%) of them had non-erosive reflux disease. On the esophageal manometry, 35 (28.9%) of these patients had motility disorders. Nutcracker esophagus was observed in 27 patients (22.3%), nonspecific esophageal motility disorder was observed in 5 (4.1%), and hypertensive lower esophageal sphincter was observed in 3 (2.5%). Among the 52 patients with positive cardiac stress testing and a negative coronary angiogram (this clinically corresponded to microvascular angina), 46 patients (85.1%) showed abnormal findings on the gastro-esophageal studies. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, 85.1% of the patients with microvascular angina revealed positive results of gastric or esophageal disease. In spite of any existing evidence of microvascular angina or cardiac syndrome X, it would be more advisable to perform gastro-esophageal studies to adequately manage chest pain.
Stomach Diseases/*complications/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Incidence ; Humans ; Female ; Esophageal Diseases/*complications/epidemiology ; Coronary Angiography ; Chest Pain/diagnosis/*etiology/radiography ; Aged ; Adult

Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia is characterized by multiple and dense areas of consolidation on chest radiographs and computed tomographic scans, persistent symptoms, a requirement for steroid therapy and possible relapses. The finding of increased BAL eosinophils is most helpful in diagnosis of patients presenting with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia. Therefore, although biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia, it is usually not required if the clinical findings are characteristic and if the response to a trial of corticosteroids is rapid and complete. The male patient, aged 40years, presented with cough, chest pain, weight loss and peripheral infiltration of right middle lobe on the chest radiograph and chest computed tomographic scans. We confirmed chronic eosinophilic pneumonia with bronchoalveolar lavage analysis and transbronchial lung biopsy. We herein report a lobal type of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia with a brief review of literature.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Biopsy ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Chest Pain ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Eosinophils* ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Pulmonary Eosinophilia* ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Recurrence ; Thorax ; Weight Loss

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is now widely used in several fields of cardiovascular disease assessment due to recent technical developments. CMR can give physicians information that cannot be found with other imaging modalities. However, there is no guideline which is suitable for Korean people for the use of CMR. Therefore, we have prepared a Korean guideline for the appropriate utilization of CMR to guide Korean physicians, imaging specialists, medical associates and patients to improve the overall medical system performances. By addressing CMR usage and creating these guidelines we hope to contribute towards the promotion of public health. This guideline is a joint report of the Korean Society of Cardiology and the Korean Society of Radiology.
Cardiomyopathies/diagnosis/radiography ; Cardiotonic Agents/therapeutic use ; Chest Pain/complications/diagnosis/radiography ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Artery Disease/*diagnosis/drug therapy/radiography ; Dobutamine/therapeutic use ; Echocardiography ; Heart Defects, Congenital/diagnosis/radiography ; Heart Failure/diagnosis/ultrasonography ; Humans ; *Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome/complications/diagnosis ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Prognosis ; Risk Assessment ; Ventricular Function, Left/physiology

OBJECTIVETo analyze the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) in children.

METHODA retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 18 children diagnosed with SPM in Yuying Children's Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University from December 2007 to February 2013 was performed. Information of the sequelae and recurrence of SPM was obtained by telephone follow-up. SPM was diagnosed according to Versteegh's standard. SPM cases due to mechanical ventilation, trauma, inhaled foreign body or as a result of the underlying disease were not included. Also cases of secondary pneumothorax pneumomediastinum and neonatal mediastinal emphysema were excluded.

RESULTFifteen of 18 cases were boys and 3 were girls, the range of age was from 9 to 17 years. Predisposing factors included sport activities, severe cough or without a known cause. Clinical manifestations included chest pain, chest tightness, dyspnea, neck pain, back pain, foreign body sensation or pain on swallowing, throat pain of swelling. Chest CT of 18 cases showed pneumomediastinum, 8 cases displayed varied degrees of air in neck, chest; 18 cases of SPM responded well to bed rest, oxygen, antitussive and anti-infection treatment. Fifteen cases received chest CT or X-ray inspection after therapy, showing that the pneumomediastinum disappeared or significantly absorbed, 3 cases improved in clinical symptom. Among 18 patients, telephone follow-up of 14 were successful and 4 cases were lost. An average follow-up time was (24 ± 17) months. None of the cases had any serious consequences, and recurrence happened in one case.

CONCLUSIONChildren's spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a benign disease. When a child has chest pain or chest tightness, SPM should be considered after excluding the common diseases. SPM can be diagnosed in association with clinical feature and chest CT examination. Patients respond well to conservative therapy and most of them had no severe sequelae.

Adolescent ; Chest Pain ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Child ; Dyspnea ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Mediastinal Emphysema ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Oxygen Inhalation Therapy ; Prognosis ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Recurrence ; Subcutaneous Emphysema ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed