PURPOSE: There is growing evidence that thrombosis and inflammation are closely interrelated and that the inflammatory response may play a role in the development of the syndrome of post-thrombotic, chronic venous insufficiency. A thrombus contains biologically active factors that stimulate cellular and structural alterations and lead to post-thrombotic venous abnormalities. Prolonged exposure to thrombus may result in the development of more severe pathologic conditions. To assess the effect of prolonged thrombus exposure on the development of secondary venous wall changes, the level of D-dimer test and the microscopic findings of thrombosed vein were analyzed in a rat venous thrombosis model. METHOD: The left iliac vein of male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing of 250 to 300 gm were thrombosed by means of either proximal ligation or temporary 24-hour occlusion with a microvascular clamp. The rats were divided into three groups: control group (n=10), thrombosis model by proximal ligation of the iliac vein only; group A (n=10), thrombosis model by proximal ligation of the iliac vein with treatment of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH; Clexane(r) 0.5 mg/kg, s.c.b.i.d); and group B (n=10), thrombosis model by temporary 24-hours clamp of the iliac vein without treatment of LMWH. The vein located 2 cm below from the initial ligation was harvested at time intervals of 7 and 14 days after ligation or clamp. Thrombi were identified by gross findings and indirectly quantitated with D-dimer test. RESULT: The levels of D-dimer test on days 7 and 14 after ligation or occlusion were significantly higher in the control group than in groups A and B (P<0.05). However, gross findings of intraluminal thrombosis were not present only in group B. These findings suggest that injection of LMWH did not prevent the development of thrombi around the ligation area. The neutrophilic infiltration of the perivascular area was evaluated microscopically (Hematoxylin-Eosin stain, x100). Severe perivascular neutrophilic infiltration was found in the control group and group A, whereas in group B neutrophilic infiltration was decreased to a mild or moderate degree. The vein wall thickness was evaluated by counting cells on representative sections through the mid vein area and by direct measuring of the vein wall usinga scale bar. The rat vein walls on days 7 and 14 were significantly thicker in the control group and group A than in group B (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that prolonged exposure of thrombus plays a major role in the development of secondary venous wall changes. However, the injection of LMWH did not prevent the development of secondary venous wall changes during the prolonged exposure of thrombus.
Animals ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; Humans ; Iliac Vein ; Inflammation ; Ligation ; Male ; Neutrophils ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Thrombosis* ; Veins ; Venous Insufficiency ; Venous Thrombosis*

OBJECTIVE: Neurologic complications make a major contribution to morbidity and mortality in kidney transplant recipients. Most occur months or years after transplantation and may never come to the attention of the transplant surgeon. We report 5 cases of neurologic complications in kidney transplant recipients. Three of them were diagnosed as intracranial abscess by central nervous system infection and others were diagnosed as hypertensive encephalopathy. CASES: Three patients with intracranial abscess have experienced mild coughing, intermittent fever and pulmonary infection initially. During the treatment of pulmonary infection they experienced some of neurologic symptoms and signs, such as severe headache, loss of consciousness and dizziness. Brain MRI was performed and showed lesions of intracranial abscess. The etiologic organism were Nocardia in two cases and Staphylococcus epidermidis in one case. They were treated with stereotactic aspiration of abscess and antibiotics therapy. Two of them recovered but eventually one of them didn't recover. Two patients with hypertensive encephalopathy experienced severe headache, visual illusion and generalized seizure at the immediate postoperative period of kidney transplantation. Their systolic pressure was 190~210 mmHg and diastolic pressure was 140~150 mmHg. Brain MRI scan showed hyperintensity signals in T2WI and hypointensity signal in T1WI on bilateral occipital lobes. They were treated with antihypertensive agents and anticonvulsants. Seizure were well controlled and didn't recur. CONCLUSION: Meaningful survival in post-transplant neurologic complications is dependent on rapid diagnosis and initiation of effective treatment.
Abscess ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Anticonvulsants ; Antihypertensive Agents ; Blood Pressure ; Brain ; Brain Abscess ; Central Nervous System Infections ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Dizziness ; Fever ; Headache ; Humans ; Hypertensive Encephalopathy ; Illusions ; Kidney Transplantation ; Kidney* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mortality ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Nocardia ; Occipital Lobe ; Postoperative Period ; Seizures ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; Transplantation* ; Unconsciousness

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a fatal disease, is mostly idiopathic but can occur secondary to cancer, infection, transplantation, pregnancy, surgery, or drugs. The mechanism of TTP is still unknown, however, and detection is difficult because of unclear diagnosis criteria. Colonic stent insertion is commonly used in management of malignant colon obstruction. This is a very safe procedure with a low procedure-related mortality rate, but serious complications can develop. The authors first experienced a patient with TTP when the phenomenon occurred after stent insertion for palliation of obstructive colon cancer and therefore would like to report the case.
Colon ; Colonic Neoplasms* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Mortality ; Pregnancy ; Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic* ; Stents*

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of mortality in dialysis patients. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is used as a surrogate marker of early atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis can cause vascular access failure.The purpose of this study was to define the clinical features of atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients based on CIMT and to define the relationship between CIMT and access failure. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the CIMT of 60 patients on hemodialysis was examined using B-mode Doppler ultrasonography between May 2012 and November 2012. Carotid atherosclerosis was defined as a CIMT> or =0.9 mm or the incidence of atherosclerotic plaques. RESULTS: The patients' mean age was 54.5+/-10.6 years, and 60% of the patients were male. The CIMT was 0.81+/-0.47 mm (range, 0.35-2.50 mm).The group with atherosclerosis was characterized by older age compared with those without atherosclerosis. Patients with atherosclerosis showed much shorter durations of access patency than their counterparts in the nonatherosclerosis group (hazard ratio, 2.822; 95% confidence interval, 1.113-7.156; P=0.029). Moreover, being overweight was associated with a 2.47-fold (95% confidence interval,1.101-5.548) increased primary access failure. CONCLUSION: This study shows that atherosclerosis is associated with older age. Patients who are overweight and have atherosclerosis may have shortened access patency.
Atherosclerosis* ; Biomarkers ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dialysis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mortality ; Overweight ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; Renal Dialysis* ; Ultrasonography, Doppler

Previously reported series suggested that the morbidity rate of internal surgical drainage procedure alone was about 15% and the mortality rate was less than 5% in patients with pancreatic pseudocysts. Recently, ultrasonography or CT-guided percutaneous drainage and endoscopic drainage techniques have created a new dimension of invasive, non-surgical treatment options for these patients. In the absence of prospective, randomized, controlled studies comparing outcomes of different pseudocysts drainage techniques, the decision as to which method should be employed often lies with local expertise and enthusiasm. In our experience, radiologic percutaneous drainage with subsequent transpapillary endosopic drainage had a high success rate and was relatively less difficult which resulted in rapid clinical improvement. We report three cases of pancreatic pseudocysts treated with percutaneous drainage as a first-line treatment followed by endoscopic treatment.
Aged ; *Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; *Drainage/instrumentation ; Female ; Hemostasis, Surgical ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatic Ducts/radiography ; Pancreatic Pseudocyst/*radiography/*therapy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

While endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is prevailing for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in modern vascular practice, PURPOSE: we conducted nationwide questionnaire survey to investigate the current status of AAA treatment and their results in Korea. METHOD: We reviewed the replies from 28 hospitals (33 departments) to the questionnaire inquiring annual number, clinical features, mode of treatment and results of AAA patients during the period from Jan. 2000 to Jul. 2004. Results: 980 AAA patients were reported including 292 ruptured AAA (29.8%) and 688 non-ruptured AAA (70.2%). For treatment of AAA, 834 (85.1%) surgical repairs (SRs) and 111 (11.3%) endovascualr aneurysm repairs (EVARs) were performed while 35 patients (3.6%) died of AAA rupture before operation. The locations of AAA were infrarenal in 889 (90.7%), juxtarenal in 62 (6.3%), and suprarenal in 29 patients (3.0%). Among 834 patients undergoing SR, 577 patients (69.2%) had non-ruptured AAAs and 257 patients (30.8%) had ruptured AAAs. Mean operative mortality rate was 4.1% after elective SRs, 30.7% after SR for ruptured AAAs, and 2.3% after EVARs. The reported brand name of stent graft devices were various including domestic custom-made in 56 (50.5%), imported brand in 18 (16.2%) while 37 (33.3%) stent grafts were not reported their brand name. The frequencies of type I and III endoleaks after EVAR were reported 5.8% and 5.8% respectively in 86 patients with an available data. CONCLUSION: SR has been used as a major treatment option in Korea for the treatment of AAA patients while EVAR is increasing. The mortality rate of SR of AAA was comparable to western multi-center trial reports but mortality or morbidity rates of EVAR were unable to know in this questionnaire survey.
Aneurysm ; Aortic Aneurysm ; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal* ; Blood Vessel Prosthesis ; Endoleak ; Humans ; Korea* ; Mortality ; Questionnaires* ; Rupture ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: Buerger's disease (Thromboangiitis obliterans, TAO) is characterized by non- atheromatous inflammatory disease, and segmental inflammatory thrombotic occlusions of the small & middle-sized arteries and veins of the upper or lower extremities. Any epidemiological study of Buerger's disease in Korea has not been carried out until now. This study was undertaken to investigate the incidence of Buerger's disease in Korea among the patients suffering with arterial disease. METHODS: We collected and analyzed the data on 11,128 patients who were admitted to or visited the participating 22 hospitals for chronic arterial diseases throughout the major region of the South Korea from January 1986 to December 2003. The clinical diagnostic inclusion criteria for Buerger's disease were the followings: (1) a history of smoking or tobacco abuse; (2) an age of onset less than 50 years; (3) infrapopliteal, segmental arterial occlusions with sparing of the proximal vasculature; (4) frequent distal upper extremity arterial involvement (Raynaud's syndrome or digital ulceration) or-superficial phlebitis; and (5) the absence of arteriosclerotic risk factors other than smoking. RESULTS: The incidence rate of Buerger's disease among the arterial disease (11,128 patients) was 93 patients (0.83%) when the strict criteria of Shionoya was applied. 699 male-patients (6.55%) and 30 female patients (4.12%) who met the less strict criteria (the extended clinical diagnostic criteria group) were also reviewed. The 4th and 5th decades were the most common ages with-249 patients (34.2%) and 222 patients (30.5%) respectively, being found at these ages. The mean age was 40.4+/-1.6 years (age range: 16~83 years) and this was similar in both the strict criteria group and the less strict criteria group. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests there was a low incidence of Buerger's disease in Korea among the patients who visited the participating hospitals when the strict diagnostic criteria were used. The incidence was lower than expected even when the less strict criteria were used. The more accurate incidence of Buerger's disease among the general population can be obtained by performing careful prospective study that is participated in by not only vascular surgeons, but also the other medical specialists with utilizing the strict diagnostic criteria.
Age of Onset ; Arteries ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Lower Extremity ; Phlebitis ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Specialization ; Thromboangiitis Obliterans* ; Tobacco ; Upper Extremity ; Veins

BACKGROUND: Hand eczema is one of the most common skin disorders and negatively affects quality of life. However, a large-scale multicenter study investigating the clinical features of patients with hand eczema has not yet been conducted in Korea. OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of various hand diseases, which is defined as all cutaneous disease occurring in hands, and to investigate the clinical features of patients with hand eczema and the awareness about hand eczema in the general population and to compare the prevalence of hand eczema between health care providers and non-health care providers. METHODS: To estimate the prevalence of hand diseases, we analyzed the medical records of patients from 24 medical centers. Patients were assessed by online and offline questionnaires. A 1,000 from general population and 913 hand eczema patients answered the questionnaire, for a total of 1,913 subjects. RESULTS: The most common hand disease was irritant contact dermatitis. In an online survey, the lifetime prevalence of hand eczema was 31.2%. Hand eczema was more likely to occur in females (66.0%) and younger (20~39 years, 53.9%). Health care providers and housewives were the occupations most frequently associated with hand eczema. Winter (33.6%) was the most common season which people experienced aggravation. The 63.0% and 67.0% answered that hand eczema hinders their personal relationship and negatively affects daily living activities, respectively. CONCLUSION: Hand eczema is a very common disease and hinders the quality of life. The appropriate identification of hand eczema is necessary to implement effective and efficient treatment.
Activities of Daily Living ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Eczema* ; Female ; Hand* ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Korea* ; Medical Records ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Seasons ; Skin ; Surveys and Questionnaires