Although symptoms related to airflow obstruction are the most prominent symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), there are many local and systemic complications contributing to the morbidity and mortality of the patients. This review article briefly discusses the following complications of COPD and their clinical implications: change of pulmonary circulation, peripheral edema, systemic inflammation, cardiovascular complication, weight loss, skeletal muscle dysfunction, osteoporosis, and anxiety. A better understanding and management of these complications as well as treatment of the airflow obstruction can improve the quality of life, and even the survival of the patients.
Anxiety ; Edema ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Mortality ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Osteoporosis ; Pulmonary Circulation ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Quality of Life ; Weight Loss

The villous adenoma of the duodenum is a rare disease and a considerable portion of the cases are known to be associated with malignancy. Although the diagnosis can be made with duodenoscopy, some cases showed false negative rate for malignancy detection with endoscopic biopsy only. So Whipple's operation is preferred than local excision. We experienced a case of tubulovillous adenoma involving ampulla of Vater, which recurred after local excision. So we report a case of tubulovillous adenoma involving ampulla of Vater with relevant literature.
Adenoma* ; Adenoma, Villous ; Ampulla of Vater* ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Duodenoscopy ; Duodenum ; Rare Diseases

No abstract available.
Smoking* ; Tobacco Products*

Bochdalek hernia through Bochdalek foramen, defect at the posterolateral side of the diaphragm is one of the congenital diaphragmatic hernias. It usually occurs in infants, but very rare in old age and also on the right side. We experienced the right-side Bochdalek hernia including kidney herniation in 68 years old man man ifested by hemoptysis. CT scan revealed diaphragmatic defect and herniated liver, colon and kidney. Thoracotomy was performed and the 10 cm-sized large defect was closed with patch. After then, the patient has been well without symptom.
Aged ; Colon ; Diaphragm ; Hemoptysis ; Hernia* ; Hernia, Diaphragmatic ; Humans ; Infant ; Kidney* ; Liver ; Thoracotomy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Central venous catheterization is a common diagnostic and therapeutic procedure in modern clinical practice. Pseudoaneurysms of the subclavian artery are rare and usually occur immediately after the causative event, whether the cause was trauma or a medical procedure. Here we report the rare case of a 71-year-old woman with delayed presentation of catheter-related subclavian pseudoaneurysm. The patient was treated for aspiration pneumonia with respiratory failure in another hospital. The patient's chest wall swelling began two weeks after the initial catheterization in the other hospital, probably because of slow leakage of blood from the injured subclavian artery caused by incomplete compression of the puncture site and uremic coagulopathy. She was successfully treated with ultrasound-guided thrombin and angiography-guided histoacryl injection without stent insertion or surgery. Her condition improved, and she was discharged to her home.
Aged ; Aneurysm, False* ; Catheterization ; Catheterization, Central Venous ; Catheters ; Central Venous Catheters ; Enbucrilate ; Female ; Humans ; Pneumonia, Aspiration ; Punctures ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Stents ; Subclavian Artery* ; Thoracic Wall ; Thrombin

BACKGROUND: In volume-controlled ventilation, the use of inspiratory pause increases the inspiratory time and thus increases mean airway pressure and improves ventilation But under the same I : E ratio, the effects of in spiratory pause on mean airway pressure and gas exchange are not certain. Moreover, the effects may be different according to the resistance of respiratory system. So we studied the effects of inspiratory pause on airway pressure and gas exchange under the same I : E ratio in volume-controlled ventilation. METHODS: Airway pressure and arterial blood gases were evaluated in 12 patients under volume-controlled mechanical ventilation with and without inspiratory pause time 5%. The I : E ratio of 1 : 3, FiO2, tidal volume, respiratory rate, and PEEP were kept constant. RESULTS: PaCO2 with inspiratory pause was lower than without inspiratory pause (38.6 +/- 7.4 mmHg vs.41.0 +/- 7.7 mmHg. p < 0.01). p(A-a)O2 was not different between ventilation with and without inspiratory pause (185.3 +/- 86.5mm Hg vs. 184.9 +/- 84.9mmHg vs. p=0.766). Mean airway pressure with inspiratory pause was higher than without inspiratory pause (9.7 +/- 4.0 cmH2O vs. 8.8 +/- 4.0 cm H2O, p < 0.01). The resistance of respiratory system inversely correlated with the pressure difference between plateau pressure with pause and peak inspiratory pressure without pause (r=-0.777, p < 0.01), but positively correlated with the pressure difference between peak inspiratory pressure with pause and peak inspiratory pressure without pause (r=0.811, p < 0.01). Thus the amount of increase in mean airway pressure with pause positively correlated with the resistance of respiratory system (r=0.681, p < 0.05). However, the change of mean airway pressure did not correlated with the change of PaCO2. CONCLUSION: In volume-controlled ventilation under the same I : E ratio of 1 : 3, inspiratory pause time of 5% increases mean airway pressure and improves ventilation. Although the higher resistance of respiratory system, the more Increased mean airway pressure, tile increase in mean airway pressure did not correlated with the change in PaCO2.
Gases ; Humans ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Rate ; Respiratory System ; Tidal Volume ; Ventilation*

BACKGROUND: The radiographic characteristics of tuberculous pneumonia in adults are similar to primary tuberculosis that occurs in childhood, and upper lobe cavitary tuberculosis is the hallmark of postprimary tuberculosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors associated with tuberculous pneumonia by making comparison with cavitary tuberculosis. METHODS: The medical records and radiographic findings of patients with cavitary tuberculosis and tuberculous pneumonia, and who were diagnosed between March 2003 and February 2006, were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Forty patients had cavitary tuberculosis and sixteen patients had tuberculous pneumonia. Fever was more frequent for tuberculous pneumonia, whereas hemoptysis was more frequent for cavitary tuberculosis. The duration of symptoms before visiting the hospital was shorter, but the diagnosis after admission was more delayed for tuberculous pneumonia patients than for cavitary tuberculosis patients. The prevalence of underlying comorbidities such cancer, diabetes, alcoholism and long-term steroid use was not different between the two groups. The patients with tuberculous pneumonia were older and they had lower levels of serum albumin and hemoglobin than those with cavitary tuberculosis. The patients with tuberculous pneumonia showed a tendency to have more frequent endobronchial lesion. Tuberculous pneumonia occurred in any lobe, whereas the majority of cavitary tuberculosis patients had upper lung lesion, but the prevalence of lymphadenopathy, pleural effusion and previous tuberculosis scar was not different between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Older age, a lower level of serum albumin and hemoglobin and a random distribution of lesion were associated with tuberculosis pneumonia as compared with cavitary tuberculosis. These findings suggest that the pathogenesis of tuberculous pneumonia might be different from that of cavitary tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/blood/*diagnosis/microbiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Sputum/microbiology ; Severity of Illness Index ; Serum Albumin/metabolism ; Retrospective Studies ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Pneumonia, Bacterial/blood/*diagnosis/microbiology ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis/isolation & purification ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Lung/microbiology/pathology/radiography ; Humans ; Hemoglobins/metabolism ; Female ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Bronchoscopy ; Biopsy ; Adult

No abstract available.
Pulmonary Embolism ; Venous Thrombosis

Echocardiography and catheterization angiography suffer certain limitations in the evaluation of congenital heart diseases in adults, though these are overcome by MRI, in which a wide field-of view, unlimited multiplanar imaging capability and three-dimensional contrast-enhanced MR angiography techniques are used. In adults, recently introduced fast imaging techniques provide cardiac MR images of sufficient quality and with less artifacts. Ventricular volume, ejection fraction, and vascular flow measurements, including pressure gradients and pulmonary-to-systemic flow ratio, can be calculated or obtained using fast cine MRI, phase-contrast MR flow-velocity mapping, and semiautomatic analysis software. MRI is superior to echocardiography in diagnosing partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection, unroofed coronary sinus, anomalies of the pulmonary arteries, aorta and systemic veins, complex heart diseases, and postsurgical sequelae. Biventricular function is reliably evaluated with cine MRI after repair of tetralogy of Fallot, and Senning's and Mustard's operations. MRI has an important and growing role in the morphologic and functional assessment of congenital heart diseases in adolescents and adults.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Heart Defects, Congenital/*diagnosis ; Human ; *Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; *Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't