No abstract available.
Antioxidants* ; Glutathione* ; Humans

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is an uncommon disorder with few cases reported. It usually occurs in young males and has benign self-limiting course without any apparent concomitant factor. It is seen after intrathoracic pressure changes leading to alveolar rupture. The clinical experiences of two medical centers were reviewed to aid in optimal management. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Retrospective review between March 2003 and August 2010 with spontaneous pneumomediastinum patients was performed. RESULT: 24 patients were identified with a diagnosis of spontaneous pneumomediastinum. These 24 patients were comprised of 18 men and 6 women with mean age 18.9 years (range 10~33). The major initial complaints were chest pain (79.2%), throat pain (62.5%), and subcutaneous emphysema (41.7%). The triggering events were exercise (16.7%), coughing (12.5%) and vomiting (12.5%). No apparent triggering event was noted in 54.2% of patients. In all cases, chest radiograph and computed tomography was done. Diagnostic computed tomography was required in 25%. White blood cell counts and C-reactive protein (CRP) were checked, and their initial mean values were 9,790+/-3,240/microL and 1.31+/-1.71 mg/dL, final mean values were 5,440+/-1,665/microL and 0.72+/-0.73 mg/dL, respectively. 23 patients were admitted (average 5.0+/-1.8) and the symptoms were self-limiting in all cases without complications. CONCLUSION: Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a benign condition with mild inflammatory signs that often presents with chest or throat pain. Secondary causes must be ruled out to avoid an unfavorable outcome with less invasive study. Because of very rare complications and recurrence, outpatient basis and shortened hospitalization may be feasible.
C-Reactive Protein ; Chest Pain ; Cough ; Female ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Leukocyte Count ; Male ; Mediastinal Emphysema ; Mediastinum ; Outpatients ; Pharynx ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Subcutaneous Emphysema ; Thorax ; Vomiting

No abstract available.
Blepharophimosis* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Humans*

The prognosis of Behcet's disease characterized by recurrent orogenital ulcers and ocular and skin lesions depends upon the complications in the central nervous system, the gastrointestinal tract and the vascular system. Cardiac involvement, especially aortic regurgitation, is quite uncommon and hemodynamic instability is usually treated with open heart surgery. But serious postoperative complications had been reported in many cases, which are prosthetic valve detachment, paravalvular leakage, conduction disturbance, and false aneurysm. Many efforts to prevent the complications have been made such as application of cryopreseved homograft. We have described an experience of root replacement with homograft in a 39 year-old male patient for prosthetic valve detachment because of Behcet's aortitis with a review of the literatures regarding treatment, complication, and prognosis.
Adult ; Allografts* ; Aneurysm, False ; Aortic Valve Insufficiency ; Aortitis ; Central Nervous System ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Male ; Postoperative Complications ; Prognosis ; Skin ; Thoracic Surgery ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous hemopneumothorax is characterized by the accumulation of air and more than 400 mL of blood in pleural cavity without any apparent cause. It is a rare disease and can cause life-threatening situation. We analyzed clinical reviews of two medical centers to aid in optimal management. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Retrospective review between March 2003 and August 2010 with 18 spontaneous hemopneumothorax patients was made. RESULT: These 18 patients were comprised of 15 male and 3 female with average 24.6 years (range 15~46 years). Almost patients (16) underwent a closed thoracostomy initially and 15 patients received video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). Mean postoperative chest tube removal was 2.9 days and one complication was post-removal pneumothorax. During the follow-up periods there were no other complications and recurrence. CONCLUSION: Proper initial diagnosis and management of spontaneous hemopneumothorax prevent significant hypovolemic shock. Video-assisted thoracic surgery should be considered an early surgical management in spontaneous hemopneumothorax. However conservative manage without bleb excision may be effective in selected patients.
Blister ; Chest Tubes ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemopneumothorax ; Hemothorax ; Humans ; Male ; Pleural Cavity ; Pneumothorax ; Rare Diseases ; Retrospective Studies ; Shock ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thoracostomy

No abstract available.
Empyema* ; Humans* ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator*

PURPOSE: This study describes the CT findings of changes in the maxillary sinus after the Caldwell-Luc procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The maxillary sinus-related findings in 35 cases among 20 patients(17 cases in 10 males and 18 cases in 10 females)who had undrgone the Caldwell-Luc procedure mean 14.6 years earlier were reviewed. CT scans were obtained in the axial and coronal planes, with 5mm thickness. By means of the t test, changes in the size of the bony wall of the maxillary sinus, as well as antral volume change, were compared with the normal maxillary sinus group(41 male and 23 female cases). Males and females were compared separately, and surgical bony defect of nasolabial antrotomy and nasoantral window, fibroosseous proliferation, compartmentation and mucosal thickening of the postoperative maxillary sinus were evaluated, as were findings of chronic or recurrent maxillary sinusitis and postoperative complications. RESULTS: Naso-labial antrotomy was clearly identified in 27 of 35 cases, and irregular bony surface in the remaining eight, as were 27 bony defects and one irregular bony margin among a total of 28 cases of nasoantral window. Due to shortening of the height of the orbit, reductions in maxillary width, nasoantral communication width and anteroposterior diameter of the maxilla, and widening of the width of the inferior meatus, the maxillary sinus tended to become hypoplastic and centripetally contracted. Reduced cavitary volume of the maxillary sinus was noted(p<0.05), and fibro-osseous proliferation(n=29), compartmentation(n=11), and mu-cosal thickening(n=22) of the postoperative maxillary sinus were also seen. There were findings of chronic si-nusitis(n=22), as well as complications of postoperative mucocele(n=3) and oroantral fistula(n=2) of the maxillary sinus. CONCLUSION: The characteristic maxillary sinus-related findings seen after the Caldwell-Luc procedure are helpful in distinguishing postoperative change from recurrent paranasal diseases and resulting complications.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Maxilla ; Maxillary Sinus* ; Maxillary Sinusitis ; Orbit ; Paranasal Sinuses ; Postoperative Complications ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Vaccination is one of the most effective ways of controlling and preventing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks. The effective prevention of this disease requires the use of high-quality vaccines to meet the criteria that enable customers to use them simply. The administration of FMD vaccines containing oil-based adjuvants in pigs can induce the formation of granuloma in the muscle of the vaccinated, which makes these vaccines a less preferable option. Therefore, it is important to establish an FMD vaccine and vaccine delivery tool that offers better immunity and safer application. This study compared the immune responses of intramuscular and needleless intradermal vaccination in pigs. When the same amount of an FMD virus (FMDV) antigen was administered to pigs, both the intradermally and intramuscularly vaccinated groups were protected completely against a challenge of the homologous FMDV, but the intramuscularly vaccinated group showed an overall higher level of neutralizing antibodies. Importantly, the formation of granuloma in muscle could be excluded in the intradermally vaccinated group. Of the oil-based adjuvants selected in this study, ISA 207 was effective in eliciting immunogenicity in intradermal vaccination. In conclusion, a new vaccine formula can be chosen for the delivery of intradermal route to exclude the possibility of local reactions in the muscle and generate protective immunity against an FMDV challenge.
Animals ; Antibodies, Neutralizing ; Disease Outbreaks ; Foot-and-Mouth Disease ; Granuloma ; Swine ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

Retrograde myocardial protection is widely accepted in CABG operation because of the limitations of the antegrade method in the coronary arterial stenosis lesions. We analyzed 76 cases of retrograde myocardial protection among 96 cases of CABG operation performed between April 1994 and August 1995. There were 48 males and 28 females, and the mean age was 58.2+/-8.3 years. 53 patients(70%) were operated for unstable angina, 14(18%) for stable angina, 6(8%) for post-infarct angina, 1(1%) for acute myocardial infarction, and 2(3%) for failed PTCA. Preoperative coronary angiography revealed 3-vessel disease in 42 cases, 2-vessel disease in 11, 1-vessel disease in 10, and left main disease in 13 cases. We used SVG(63 cases), LIMA(69 cases), RIMA(11 cases), radial artery(6 cases), and gastroepiploic artery(1 case) for the grafts. Mean anastomosis was 3.2+/-1.1. We protected the myocardium with antegrade induction and retrograde maintenance in all the cases except a case of retrograde induction and maintenance. During the aortic cross-clamping, blood cardioplegia was administered intermittently in 19 cases, and continuously in 57. In 39 cases, we used retrograde cardioplegia and antegrade perfusion of RCA graft simultaneously. We had no operative motality. Perioperative complications were arrhythmia in 15 cases, perioperatve myocardial infarction in 10, low cardiac output syndrome in 8, transient neurologic problem in 7, transient psychiatric problem in 6, ARF in 3, bleeding in 2, pneumonia in 2, wound infection in 1, and duodenal ulcer perforation in 1. In this report, we experienced 76 cases of CABG operation with retrograde myocardial protection under the acceptable operative risk without operative mortality.
Angina, Stable ; Angina, Unstable ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Cardiac Output, Low ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Female ; Heart Arrest, Induced ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Male ; Mortality ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardium ; Perfusion ; Pneumonia ; Transplants ; Wound Infection