PURPOSE: We conducted this study to evaluate the efficacy of Doppler study by examining obstruction at the site of anastomosis in patients with total anomalous pulmonary venous return(TAPVR). METHODS: Retrograde analysis of the postoperative echocardiography results was done in 14 patients with simple TAPVR, who were operated at Dong-A University Hospital from January 1993 to July 1998. The peak systolic velocities, peak diastolic velocities and flow patterns of the 14 patients were compared with those of 9 control cases. Among the 14 patients, 2 cases showed evidence of obstruction at the anastomosis site. RESULTS: Pulmonary venous flow patterns of normal infants were biphasic, varying with the cardiac cycle. The peak velocities during systole and diastole were 40 to 60cm/sec(mean 51+/-9cm/sec) and 45 to 78cm/sec(mean 59+/-9cm/sec), respectively. The flow patterns of patients without postoperative stenosis were also biphasic. The peak velocities during systole and diastole was 38 to 115cm/sec(mean 71+/-27cm/sec) and 55 to 140cm/sec(mean 111+/-28cm/sec), respectively. The diastole peak velocity was significantly higher than normal(P=0.0002). The flow patterns of patients with postoperative stenosis was continuous, non-phasic or increased peak velocity even though it was phasic. CONCLUSION: Postoperative Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of pulmonary venous return in patients with TAPVR is useful in examining obstruction at the site of anastomosis. But a study on the Doppler echocardiographic normal range of postoperative patients will be needed.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Diastole ; Echocardiography* ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Humans ; Infant ; Reference Values ; Scimitar Syndrome* ; Systole

PURPOSE: We conducted this study to evaluate the efficacy of Doppler study by examining obstruction at the site of anastomosis in patients with total anomalous pulmonary venous return(TAPVR). METHODS: Retrograde analysis of the postoperative echocardiography results was done in 14 patients with simple TAPVR, who were operated at Dong-A University Hospital from January 1993 to July 1998. The peak systolic velocities, peak diastolic velocities and flow patterns of the 14 patients were compared with those of 9 control cases. Among the 14 patients, 2 cases showed evidence of obstruction at the anastomosis site. RESULTS: Pulmonary venous flow patterns of normal infants were biphasic, varying with the cardiac cycle. The peak velocities during systole and diastole were 40 to 60cm/sec(mean 51+/-9cm/sec) and 45 to 78cm/sec(mean 59+/-9cm/sec), respectively. The flow patterns of patients without postoperative stenosis were also biphasic. The peak velocities during systole and diastole was 38 to 115cm/sec(mean 71+/-27cm/sec) and 55 to 140cm/sec(mean 111+/-28cm/sec), respectively. The diastole peak velocity was significantly higher than normal(P=0.0002). The flow patterns of patients with postoperative stenosis was continuous, non-phasic or increased peak velocity even though it was phasic. CONCLUSION: Postoperative Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of pulmonary venous return in patients with TAPVR is useful in examining obstruction at the site of anastomosis. But a study on the Doppler echocardiographic normal range of postoperative patients will be needed.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Diastole ; Echocardiography* ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Humans ; Infant ; Reference Values ; Scimitar Syndrome* ; Systole

Many previously described nuclear medicine procedures to assess glomerular filtration rate have some problems because numerous blood sample is to be taken and they don't measure each separate renal function. Gates described isotopic method for the measurement of global and unilateral GFR based on the fractional renal uptake of (99m)Tc-DTPA 2 to 3 minutes after its intravenous injection. We evaluated GFR using (99m)Tc-DTPA in 57 people according to Gates method and compared with creatinine clearance. A good correlation was observed between creatinine clearance and GRF calculated by Gates' formula with an r value of 0.9(P<0.05). And also the relationship between parameters of (99m)Tc-DTPA renal scan images and GFR was taken. They were significantly correlated with GFR calculated by Gates' formula : r value 0.66 between relative intensity of peak renal to peak aortic activity(pK/pA) and GFR, -0.42 between time between aortic and kidney peak(A-K) and GFR and -0.48 between parenchymal renal activity at 25 min compared to peak kidney activity(25K/pK) and GRF. In conclusion, the determination of GFR according to Gates' formula shows good and reproducible of GRF with rapidity and simplicity. And the parameters from the renal scan images can use to estimate the renal function.
Creatinine ; Filtration* ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Injections, Intravenous ; Kidney ; Methods ; Nuclear Medicine

No abstract available.
Thyroid Dysgenesis*

The authors analysed the results of 300 microvascular decompression(MVD) procedures for hemifacial spasm. The follow up period ranged from 6months to 3years. Of these, 70% were women(mean age 54). The vessel most frequently found to compress the facial nerve was the posterior inferior cerebellar artery(43.3%) followed by anterior inferior cerebellar artery(26.7%). For the surgical results, 210 patients(70%) had complete relief of spasm within 3 days after MVD, 65 patients(21.7%) subsequently experienced complete relief, noted in 4 days to 6 months after MVD, ten patients had delayed partial relief and remaining 15 patients showed no improvement. Twelve patients of these 15 unresponsive patients underwent reoperation without beneficial results. Recently the authors have monitored facial elctromyography(EMG) intraoperatively to observe the abnormal late response. There were few cases of permanant major complications, including two cases of ipsilateral hearing loss, ataxia and no operation-related death. These results suggest that MVD is a safe and definite treatment for hemifacial spasm, if performed by experienced surgeon with gentle operative technique, and with intraoperative monitoring such as auditory evoked potential and facial EMG, better surgical results with less complications can be expected.
Ataxia ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory ; Facial Nerve ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hearing Loss ; Hemifacial Spasm* ; Humans ; Microvascular Decompression Surgery* ; Monitoring, Intraoperative ; Reoperation ; Spasm

Pentalogy of Cantrell was very rare congenital anomaly and represent a regional prevalence of 5.5/1 million live births. The syndrome, Cantrell's pentalogy is characterized by defects in the lower sternum with ectopia cordis, anterior diaphragm defects, midline supraumbilical abdominal wall defects, defects in the diaphragmatic pericardium, and various intracardiac defects. Anencephaly involves acrania with a degenerated mass of brain tissue. Combination of both conditions are extremely rare. We experienced a case of Cantrell's pentalogy with anencephaly detected by ultrasonography at 15 weeks 1 day menstural age and confirmed at autopsy. Thus we report a case with brief review of the literature.
Abdominal Wall ; Anencephaly* ; Autopsy ; Brain ; Diaphragm ; Ectopia Cordis ; Hernia, Umbilical ; Live Birth ; Neural Tube Defects ; Pentalogy of Cantrell* ; Pericardium ; Prevalence ; Sternum ; Ultrasonography ; Ultrasonography, Prenatal*

Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage is one of the most devastating forms of cerebrovascular disease in the field of neurosurgery, and is most frequently associated with the hypertension in the distribution of the penetrating vessels, or can be secondary to other factors, like aneurysm, arteriovenous malformation, glial tumor, metastasis, infarction, anticoagulation therapy, coagulation disorders such as leukemia or thrombocytopenia. Although many cases of recurrent hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage have been reported, bilateral simultaneous hemorrhage has not been reported. The authors report a case of bilateral simultaneous hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage in a 62-year-old male, which was treated by conservative management.
Arteriovenous Fistula ; Basal Ganglia* ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Infarction ; Intracranial Hemorrhage, Hypertensive* ; Leukemia ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neurosurgery ; Thrombocytopenia

There remains controversy regarding the appropriate surgical treatment for coarctation of the aorta because of relatively high rate of recoartation and high mortality in the cases associated with complex anomalies. We evaluated 31 consecutive patients who underwent surgical repair of coarctation of the aorta from May 1992 through June 1996. Nineteen patients(61.3%) were neonates and 26(83.9%) were under three months. Nine patients did not have major associated anomalies(Group I), 15 patients had ventricular septal defect(Group II), and 7 patients had major complex anomalies(Group III). 35.5% of the patients had arch hypoplasia. Surgical procedures performed were as follows: extended end-to-end anastomosis in 17 patients, combined resection-flap procedure in 7 patients, and subclavian flap aortoplasty in 7 patients. Residual coarctation occurred in 7(25%) of 28 patients; 2 after subclavian flap aortoplasty(2/6, 33.3%), none after combined resection-flap procedure(0/7, 0%)), and 5 after extended end-to-end anastomosis(5/15, 33.3%). Higher incidence of residual coarctation was noticed in the group with arch hypoplasia. The incidence of postoperative coarctation at a mean follow-up of 20.5 months in survivals was 12.0%(3/25); 2 cases after subclavian flap aortoplasty(2/6, 33.3%), none after combined resection-flap procedure(0/7, 0%), and one after end-to-end anastomosis(1/12, 8.3%). The mortality rate related to coarctation repair was 9.7%(3 patients, all in Group III). This study revealed that isolated coarctation of aorta and coarctation with ventricular septal defect(groups I and II) can be repaired with low mortality, but repair of coarctation with complex anomaly had a high operative mortality. Also the patients with arch hypoplasia had higher incidence of post-operative residual coarctation.
Aortic Coarctation* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Mortality

Paragangliomas of the orbit are extremely rare. A case of 43-year-old woman who presented with left exophthalmus of 1 month duration is described. The patient underwent surgery with gross total removal of the tumor and relief of her initial chief complaint of exophthalmus. We review the literature and discuss the clinical features and the pathogenesis of orbital paraganglioma.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Orbit* ; Paraganglioma*

PURPOSE: The arterial switch operation (ASO) has become the preferred procedure for the surgical management of transposition of the great arteries (TGA). We conducted a retrospective evaluation of our experience in 30 patients seen from January 2003 to July 2008, in order to determine outcomes and related risk factors after the arterial switch operation. METHODS: Patients charts, surgical reports, and echocardiograms were retrospectively reviewed. And they were analyzed in 2 different groups: complex (n=16) versus simple TGAs (n=14). Complex TGAs are TGAs with VSD or the Taussig-Bing anomaly with or without aortic arch anomalies. Simple TGAs are defined as TGAs with intact ventricular septum having no such anomalies. Median follow-up time was 44 months (3-63 months). RESULTS: Hospital mortality was 0%. However, follow-up echocardiographies revealed potential complications, including stenosis of the branch pulmonary arteries, neo-aortic and/or neo-pulmonary valvar regurgitation, and right or left ventricular outflow tract obstructions. Great arterial relationship (side-by-side), association of aortic arch anomalies, and the existence of the Taussig-Bing anomaly were assessed as significant risk factors of neo-aortic and/or neo-pulmonary valvar regurgitation in this series. On the other hand, right or left ventricular outflow tract obstructions were more frequently found in patients demonstrating VSD, side-by-side positioned great arteries, or associated coronary anomalies. CONCLUSION: The ASO is the procedure of choice in the treatment of TGA. However, special attention and follow-ups are needed to detect residual problems like the stenosis of the branch pulmonary arteries, neo-aortic and/or neo-pulmonary valvar regurgitation, as well as ventricular outflow tract obstructions.
Aorta, Thoracic ; Arteries ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Double Outlet Right Ventricle ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Postoperative Complications ; Pulmonary Artery ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Transposition of Great Vessels ; Ventricular Septum