The P wave during orthodromic atrioventricular reentry tachycardial were analysed in 19 patients to evaluate the usefulness in identifying the location of accessory pathways. The results were as follows; 1) Definitely inverted and upright P waves in lead I represented the left-sided and right-sided pathways respectively, but the converse is not necessarily true. 2) Dome and Dart appearance in lead VI(4 cases), upright P wave in inferior leads(3 cases), and negative P wave in aVL(3 cases) suggested the left-sided pathway and deeply inverted P waves in inferior leads suggested the posteroseptal or right-sided one. 3) In 17 cases(79%), inverted P wave appeared on more than one lead among the inferior leads, which were helpful to identify the position on P wave and mechanism of supraventricular tachycardia. Although the number of cases especially with right-sided pathway was small to conclude, P wave was useful for determining the location of accessory pathway noninvasively.
Humans ; Tachycardia* ; Tachycardia, Supraventricular

41 patients with hyperlipidemia(Serum cholesterol > or =260mg% or triglyceride> or =200mg%) were treated for 12 weeks each with either Bezafibrate(200mg t.i.d.)(n=23) or placebo(n=18) in a randomized trial. Compared with placebo, Bezafibrate was more effective in lowing total cholesterol(287+/-63 to 244+/-32 mg%, P<0.01), LDL-cholesterol(183+/-39 to 153 +/-25mg%, P<0.01) and the LDL/HDL ratio(4.7+/-2.9 to 3.4+/-1.3, P<0.05). There was also a marked reduction in serum triglyceride(307+/-295 to 218+/-167mg%, P<0.05) as well as a significant increase in HDL-cholesterol(43+/-12 to 48+/-12mg%, P<0.05). Compliance or tolerance to both Bezafibrate and placebo was good. No significant side effects except one case, who complained of mild indigestion, were observed. Therefore, Bezafibrate seemed to be effective in lowing serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholestrol, triglyceride and in increasing in HDL-cholesterol without significant side effect.
Bezafibrate ; Cholesterol ; Compliance ; Dyspepsia ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias* ; Triglycerides

Cytomegalovirus(CMV) rarely causes cutaneous rnanifestations. But since the recent development of organ transplants and the increased prevalence of AIDS, various skin manifestations of CMV infection such as varicelliform eruptions, perineal hulcerations, papular, purpurc and vesiculobllous lesions are increasing in immunocompromised subjects, Perineal ulceration is a typical cytomegalovirus-induced skin manifestation which exhibits similar morphology to herpes simplex viral infection. We describe a case of CMV-induced ulcer on labia majora in an AIDS patient, proven by histologic findings and immunohistochemistry. The patient was treated with ganciclovir and the lesion improved two months later.
Cytomegalovirus* ; Ganciclovir ; Herpes Simplex ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Prevalence ; Skin Manifestations ; Transplants ; Ulcer*

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained arrhythmia especially in the elderly. Despite the beneficial effect of anticoagulation to prevent disastrous complication of throm-boembolism, anticoagulation is not widely used in patients with atrial fibrillation. The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence and clinical characteristics of atrial fibrillation and investigate the current status of anticoagulation in the elderly. METHODS: Through electrocardiographic analysis of 6,138 elderly (> or =65yr) patients from tan. to Dec. 1997, 386 patients with atrial fibrillation was found. Among the 386 patients, 274 patients with available medical records were enrolled for review of clinical findings (associated diseases, risk factor of throm-boembolism, medications) retrospectively. RESULTS: Mean age of population with atrial fibrillation was 72+/-6yr. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation was 6.2% and increased with age (65-69yr: 5.4%, 70-74yr: 6.4%, 75-79yr: 7.5%, 80yr-:9.0%). Atrial fibrillation with valvular hear disease was 27% of patients. Common associated diseases with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation were hypertension (48%), diabetes mellitus (18%), coronary artery disease (25%), congestive heart failure (21%), history of stroke or transient ischemic attack (27%). Anti-coagulation was used in 59% of valvular atrial fibrillation patients without contraindications (prosthetic valve: 100%, native valve: 42%), 24% of nonval-vular atrila fibrillation. Antiplatelet therapy with aspirin was 15%, 30% respectively, Aspirin was used in only 20% of atrial fibrillation patients with contraindication of anticoagulation. CONCLUSION: Atrial fibrillation is prevalent in the elderly. Anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy in atrial fibrillation appears to be less than optimal.
Aged* ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Aspirin ; Atrial Fibrillation* ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Ischemic Attack, Transient ; Medical Records ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stroke ; Triacetoneamine-N-Oxyl

Seventeen cases of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopthy were reviewed to clarify whether there is any racial difference in phenotypic expression of apical hypertrophic cardiomopathy and to study whether there is any clinical or morphological difference between apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy of Japanese type (J-APH) and apical hypertrophic cardiomyophthy of non-Japanese type (NJ-APH). The diagnosis was made by cardiac catheterization, left ventriculography and echocardiography. Seventeen patients were divided into 9 (53%) patients with J-APH and 8 (47%) patients with NJ-APH. Mean ages of patients with J-APH and NJ-APH were 55 years and 57 years, respectively. The most common clinical symptoms were chest pain(100%), dyspnea(59%) and palpitation(35%). Mean values of S1+R5 and T wave depth were 58+/-16mm and 16+/-6mm in J-APH and 42+/-11mm and 7+/-3mm in NJ-APH(p<0.05, respectively). Seven patients experienced transient or permanent atrial fibrillation without significant symptoms. Seven patients showed progression or regression of T wave depth greater than 5mm during the period of follow-ups. On echocardiography IVS/LVPW thickness(mm) at the base were 11+/-2/10+/-2 in J-APH and 17+/-7/11+/-2 in NJ-APH, and IVS/LVPW thickness(mm) at the apex were 25+/-7/24+/-5 in J-APH and 26+/-3/26+/-2 in NJ-APH. Three patients with NJ-APH showed asymmetrical septal hypertrophy, cardiac catheterization disclosed elevated left ventricular end diastolic pressure in 11 out of 19 patients. Dye entrapment at the apex during systole was noted in 5 out of 18 patients. In conclusion, our study showed high prevalence rate expression of J-APH in contrast to the Western countries, there may be racial difference in phenotype of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Considering progression or regression of T-wave depth, NJ-APH may be a forme fruste or regressed form of J-APH.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Cardiac Catheters ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Classification* ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Doppler* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular* ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Phenotype ; Prevalence ; Systole ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is the most important disease that may cause ischemic syndrome in many organs including heart. It is supposed that apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs) is closely related to the progression and rupture of atheromatous plaque. Recent studies have documented evidence for elevated level of nitric oxide(NO) within advanced human atheroma and evidence of regression of atheroma by NO. So this study is designed to evaluate whether exogenous NO from NO donors can induce apoptosis of cultured rat VSMCs and which proapoptotic gene(s) is involved in this type of apoptosis. METHODS: Rat VSMCs were cultured and used for experiment at passage 5 through 7. For NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine(SNAP) of 0.5, 1, 2, 4mM were exposed to subconfluent VSMCs. The cells were harvested at 6, 12, 24, 48, 72hours after exposure of NO donors. Apoptosis was to be identified by 4, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride(DAPI) staining of nuclei and in-situ nick end labeling(TUNEL). The amount of fragmented DNA was analyzed semiquantitatively by diphenylamine(DPA) assay. Immunocytochemical(ICC) staining and western bolt analyses were designed to detect apoptosisrelated gene products, such as Bax-a, Fas and Bcl-2. RESULTS: 1) Decreased mitotic activity was shown after 12 hours exposure of exogenous NO donors, and condensation and margination of chromatin was identified agter 24 hours exposure, by DAPI staining. 2) Percent DNA fragmentation assessed by DPA method was 0,2,9,48,45% at 0,6,12,24,48 hours after exposure of 2mM of NO donors respectively. 3) The expression of Bax-a and Bcl-2 proteins was demonstrated in apoptotic cells by ICC staining. 4) The expression of Bax-a protein in cells under 24 hours exposure of NO donors was elevated by more than 18% of control level on densitometric analysis of western blot. The level of Bcl-2 was suppressed by 26% of control. So, Bax-a/Bcl-2 ratio in cells under exposure of NO donors was elevated to 2.0 from 1.2 of control level. CONCLUSIONS: Exogenous NO from NO donors can induce apoptosis of cultured rat VSMCs, and it is considered that bax-a and bcl-2 genes are involved in this type of apoptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis* ; Atherosclerosis ; Blotting, Western ; Chromatin ; DNA ; DNA Fragmentation ; Genes, bcl-2 ; Heart ; Humans ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitroprusside ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; Rats* ; Rupture ; Tissue Donors

Isometric tension recording was performed in the transverse strips of porcine coronary arteries and rabbit aorta to observe the effects of the endothelium and endothelium-derived relaxing factor(EDRF) on vasomotor tone and to test the hypothesis that alcohol may have the deleterious effect on endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. Tension-development by vasoconstrictor was markedly attenuated in the endothelium-intact strips compared to the endothelium denuded strips. Administration of hemoglobin(10-5M) to inhibit the action of EDRF increased tension selectively in the endothelium-infarct strips, which is suggestive of basal EDRF secretion. Nitro L-arginine(10-5M). an analogue of L-arginine(10-4M) partially reversed the inhibitory effect of nitro L-arginine. Ethyl alchol inhibited bradykinin-induced endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of porcine coronary artery in dose dependent manner. These data suggest that the protective effect of vascular endothelium to the action of vasoconstirctor can be explained by exercise of basal EDRF release and damaged endothelium would be a great risk of induction of vasospasm. Also we believe that there is a relationship of competive inhibition between L-arginine. a precursor of EDRF, and its analogues on the action of EDRF and alcohol intake would be hazardous to the patients with coronary artey disease because its inhibitory action on endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation may evoke myocardial ischemia.
Aorta ; Arginine ; Coronary Vasospasm ; Coronary Vessels* ; Endothelium* ; Endothelium, Vascular ; Ethanol* ; Humans ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Spasm* ; Vasodilation

Infective endocarditis by Hemophilus species is very rare:there are only 22 reported-cases of Hemophilus paraphrophilus endocarditis. We report a case of Hemophilus paraphrophilus endocarditis in a middle-aged woman with cerebral embolism and hemorrhage.
Endocarditis* ; Female ; Haemophilus ; Haemophilus paraphrophilus* ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Intracranial Embolism*

OBJECTIVE: The present study is conducted to clarify the long-term outcome of intracranial giant aneurysm(IGA) and to elucidate optimal treatment strategy. METHODS: The authors analyzed respectively clinical records and radiological images of 51 patients with IGA treated from 1981 to 2000. Ten patients underwent conservative treatment. Twenty-nine patients underwent surgical procedure and twelve patients underwent endovascular treatment. RESULTS: The patients' ages ranged from 5 to 75 years, with a peak incidence in the sixth decade. The male to female ratio was 1:2.4. Twenty-seven cases presented with mass effect, and twenty-one cases manifested with subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH). The incidence of rebleeding among twenty-one patients that presented with SAH was 16.4% within 7 dyas after first bleeding. Five of ten patients that underwent conservative treatment died. Permanent balloon occlusion after successful temporary carotid occlusion was performed in eight cases of unclippable internal carotid aneurysm. Seven of them demonstrated both clinical and angiographic tolerance. The clinical outcome for the aneurysmal neck clipping was good in 10, poor in one, death in three, and follow up loss in one patient. The clinical outcome of fourteen patients that underwent other surgical treatment was good in eight, poor in one, death in four, and follow up loss in one patient. CONCLUSION: High mortality rate has been observed with conservative management. Immediate obliteration of aneurysm is mandatory in intracranial giant aneurysm unless medical risks are prohibitive.
Aneurysm* ; Balloon Occlusion ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Incidence ; Male ; Mortality ; Neck ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has a high risk for postoperative thromboembolic complications such as venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared to other surgical diseases, but the relationship between VTE and CRC in Asian patients remains poorly understood. The present study examined the incidence of symptomatic VTE in Korean patients who underwent surgery for CRC. We also identified risk factors, incidence and survival rate for VTE in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The patients were identified from the CRC database treated from January 2011 to December 2012 in a single institution. These patients were classified into VTE and non-VTE groups, their demographic features were compared, and the factors which had significant effects on VTE and mortality between the two groups were analyzed. RESULTS: We analyzed retrospectively a total of 840 patients and the incidence of VTE was 3.7% (31 patients) during the follow-up period (mean, 17.2 months). Histologic subtype (mucinous adenocarcinoma) and previous history of VTE affected the incidence of VTE on multivariate analysis. There was a statistically significant difference in survival rate between the VTE and non-VTE group, but VTE wasn't the factor affecting survival rate on multivariate analysis. Comparing differences in survival rate for each pathologic stage, there was only a significant difference in stage II patients. CONCLUSION: Among CRC patients after surgery, the incidence of VTE was approximately 3% within 1 year and development of VTE wasn't a significant risk factor for death in our study but these findings are not conclusive due to our small sample size.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sample Size ; Survival Rate ; Venous Thromboembolism*