An epiglottic cyst is a common form of laryngeal cysts which are rare causes of upper airway obstruction. A congenital laryngeal cyst always causes neonatal respiratory distress, but an acquired cyst shows very wide spectrum of symptoms such as no specific complaints, dysphagia, respiratory difficulty, or even death according to its size, location, or age. From anesthesiologists' point of view, an asymptomatic undiagnosed laryngeal cyst is a major concern. Unexpectedly, it can cause difficult airway such as 'cannnot intubate' or 'cannot intubate and cannot ventilate' situation during anesthesia. Recently we discovered an undiagnosed epiglottic cyst obscuring laryngeal inlet, leading to difficult intubation during general anesthesia for decompression and fusion of lumbar vertebrae. Fortunately, mask ventilation was possible, and after failed attempts of direct laryngoscopy, we could perform oral fiberoptic bronchoscope-aided intubation. He was discharged 10 days later with no harmful events.
Airway Obstruction ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Bays ; Bronchoscopes ; Decompression ; Deglutition Disorders ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Laryngoscopy ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Masks ; Ventilation

Isolated sphenoid sinusitis is a rare disorder. There are some difficulties in its diagnosis; therefore the first presentation of this disorder might be with complications. These complications are essentially due to the anatomical location of the sinus and its proximity to the intra-cranial and orbital contents, to which infection may easily spread. A case of isolated sphenoid fungal sinusitis with unilateral abducent nerve palsy is being reported which was successfully treated by parenteral antibiotic therapy and endonasal endoscopic sphenoidotomy.
Abducens Nerve Diseases* ; Abducens Nerve* ; Diagnosis ; Orbit ; Paralysis ; Sinusitis* ; Sphenoid Sinus ; Sphenoid Sinusitis

OBJECTIVE: It was to analyze two failed arterial embolization cases in the treatment for pseudoaneurysm followed by D&C. METHODS: Two failure cases out of eight cases were gained in the transarterial embolization treatment for eight years.(1. 1. 1992 - 12. 31. 1999) To search for the factors of failure, we went through obstetrical history and biopsy. RESULTS: Eight cases of transarterial embolization were performed to the treatment for pseudoaneurysm appeared after undergoing D&C. Six cases were successfully treated without complications. However, laparotomy was done due to the continuous bleeding in the other two cases. According to tissue biopsy, they showed the cervical pregnancy in one case and placenta accreta in the other. CONCLUSION: Transarterial embolization is proved to be more preferable to operate in the treatment of pseudoaneurysm than laparotomy, and transarterial embolization therapy failure rate is higher in case of existing remnant villi than not.
Aneurysm, False* ; Biopsy ; Dilatation and Curettage* ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Hysterectomy ; Laparotomy ; Placenta Accreta ; Pregnancy

PURPOSE: Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is a new method of accessing intracavitary organs in order to minimize pain by avoiding incisions in the body wall. The aim of this study is to determine patients' acceptance of NOTES in Korea and to compare their views about laparoscopic surgery and NOTES for benign and malignant diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The target number of total subjects was calculated to be 540. The subjects were classified into 18 sub-groups based on age groups, gender, and history of prior surgery. The questionnaire elicited information about demographic characteristics, medical check-ups, diseases, endoscopic and surgical histories, marital status and childbirth, the acceptance of NOTES, and the preferred routes for NOTES. In addition, the subjects chose laparoscopic surgery or NOTES for a hypothetical cholecystectomy and rectal cancer surgery, and responded to questions regarding the acceptable complication rate of NOTES, the appropriate cost of NOTES, and the reason(s) why they did not select NOTES. RESULTS: 486 of 540 patients (90.0%) who agreed to participate in this study completed the questionnaire. NOTES was preferred by the following patients: elderly; a history of treatment due to a disease; having regular check-ups; and a history of an endoscopic procedure (p<0.05). The most preferred route for NOTES was the stomach (67.1%). Eighty-four percent of the patients choosing NOTES responded that the complication rate of the new surgical method should be the same or lower than laparoscopic surgery. Vague anxiety over a new surgical method was the most common reason why NOTES was not selected in benign and malignant diseases (64% and 73%), respectively. CONCLUSION: Patients appear to be interested in the potential benefits of NOTES and would embrace it if their concerns about safety are met. We believe that qualified surgical endoscopists can meet these safety concerns, and that NOTES development has the potential to flourish.
Aged ; Anxiety ; Cholecystectomy ; Endoscopy* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Laparoscopy ; Marital Status ; Mass Screening* ; Methods ; Natural Orifice Endoscopic Surgery* ; Parturition ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Stomach

Percutaneous catheter-based therapy has recently been introduced to decrease blood pressure by ablation of efferent and afferent sympathetic renal nerves. The patient described here had a seven-year history of hypertension and presented with poorly controlled blood pressure despite antihypertensive therapy with four different drugs. A 44-yr-old man underwent percutaneous renal denervation under local anesthesia using an ablation catheter. After six months of follow-up his blood pressure had dropped 49/37 mmHg with a decrease in 24-hr ambulatory BP of 20/18 mmHg. Renal Doppler ultrasound showed no significant stenosis in either renal artery. This is the first case of successful percutaneous renal denervation, which has recently become available in Korea.
Adult ; Blood Pressure ; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory ; Heart Failure/complications ; Humans ; Hypertension/complications/*surgery ; Kidney/ultrasonography ; Male ; Renal Artery/radiography ; Republic of Korea ; Sympathectomy

Stent migration from the delivery balloon catheter is a rare but serious complication during percutaneous coronary intervention, particularly when a part of the stent stretches into the aorta. We report an unusual case of stent migration treated with a combination of a gooseneck snare and rotablation. A part of the stent was overstretched and unrolled into the aorta and the rest of the stent remained implanted in the coronary artery. The stent was captured with a gooseneck snare but could not be retrieved because it was connected to a stent remnant implanted in the coronary artery. The stent strut was cut with rotablation, and the stent was successfully removed through the femoral sheath.
Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Aorta ; Atherectomy, Coronary ; Catheters ; Coronary Vessels ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; SNARE Proteins ; Stents

We aimed to investigate that complete revascularization (CR) would be associated with a decreased mortality in patients with multivessel disease (MVD) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). We enrolled a total of 263 patients with MVD and LVEF <50% who had undergone percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stent between March 2003 and December 2010. We compared major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular accident (MACCE) including all-cause death, myocardial infarction, any revascularization, and cerebrovascular accident between CR and incomplete revascularization (IR). CR was achieved in 150 patients. During median follow-up of 40 months, MACCE occurred in 52 (34.7%) patients in the CR group versus 51 (45.1%) patients in the IR group (P=0.06). After a Cox regression model with inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighting using propensity score, the incidence of MACCE of the CR group were lower than those of the IR group (34.7% vs. 45.1%; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44-0.95, P=0.03). The rate of all-cause death was significantly lower in patients with CR than in those with IR (adjusted HR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.29-0.80, P<0.01). In conclusion, the achievement of CR with drug-eluting stent reduces long-term MACCE in patients with MVD and reduced LVEF.
Age Factors ; Aged ; Coronary Artery Disease/*drug therapy/mortality/physiopathology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/complications ; *Drug-Eluting Stents ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction/etiology ; Myocardial Revascularization ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention/adverse effects ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/complications ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Factors ; Treatment Outcome ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left/physiopathology

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that all components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) are present in the vascular wall and that the vascular RAAS modulates vascular tone and vascular hypertrophy. One of the catalytic step in the RAAS cascade is the local conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II (Ang II) by angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). One of the major sources of ACE in the vasculature is vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). Here, we provide insight into the intrinsic mechanisms by which the components of RAAS regulate gene expression of ACE in cultured smooth muscle cells of the rat and we also investigated the effects of cytokines on ACE mRNA. METHODS: RNA was extracted from the primary cultured VSMCs. We analyzed the expression levels of ACE by competitive reverse transcription-PCR using recombinant RNA as an internal standard. RESULTS: 1) ACE mRNA level was increased markedly by aldosterone in a dose- and time-dependent manner, indicating that there exists positive feedback mechanism within RAAS. 2) The induction of ACE mRNA by aldosterone was inhibited by spironolactone. 3) Aldosterone-stimulated expression of ACE was also inhibited by Ang II, which shows that Ang II acts as a negative regulator of the expression of ACE in RAAS cascade. 4) Interleukin-1beta or TNF-alpha did not induce ACE mRNA expression. 5) However, mixture of interleukin-1betaand TNF-alpha(CytoMix) significantly increased the expression of ACE. It was also shown that CytoMix increased aldosterone-stimulated ACE mRNA expression in an additative manner. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the expression of ACE in smooth muscle cells is modulated by the components of RAAS and cytokines. The intrinsic positive and negative feedback controls of RAAS would play an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular diseases.
Aldosterone* ; Angiotensin I ; Angiotensin II ; Angiotensins* ; Animals ; Cytokines* ; Gene Expression ; Hypertrophy ; Interleukin-1beta ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A* ; Rats ; Renin-Angiotensin System ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger ; Spironolactone ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha* ; Vascular Diseases

BACKGROUND: The analysis of ACE gene expression in vital to study the role of angiotensin conveting enzyme(ACE) in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. Traditionally, levels of individual mRNA expression have been analyzed by semiquantitative Northern blotting, which requires a large quantity of tissue. Therefore, gene expression of a little biopsy specimen from the human heart or atherectomy specimen from the blood vessel cannot be measured easily. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) is very effective, sensitive and rapid method of detecting the method of quantitative RT-PCR(QRT-PCR) using recombinant RNA template as internal standard to measure the expression of ACE. METHOD: Recombinant RNA(rcRNA) was designed to yield PCR product which differs in size by about 200bp from that of the target RNA. Initially, spacer gene, which was composed of ACE sense primer, antisense primer, T7 promotor and poly(dT) tail with glutathione transferase(GSTM) gene of 180bp in the middle, was constructed. Then, standard rcRNA was obtained by in vitro transcription. Target RNA was mixed with rcRNA and amplified by PCR, togather with P-dCTP. PCR products were analyzed by gel electrophoresis. For quantitation, either gel was cut and radioactivity was counted or gel was dried and exposed to X-ray film and density was measured using image densitometer. We carried out semiquantitative RT-PCR to study the modulation of ACE expression in vascular smooth muscle cell(VSMC) by dexamethasone and basis FGF(bFGF). RESULT: The size difference of PCR products from the standard RNA and the extracted target RNA was matched as designed. By using QRT-PCR, there was 1.7*10(8) ACE mRNA molecules in 1 ng of rat lung total RNA. bFGF and dexamethasone upregulated ACE mRNA expression in cultured VSMC. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that RT-PCR using rcRNA as internal standard is a very useful method for quantitation or semiquantitation of ACE mRNA from a small amount of tissue or cultured cells. Expression of ACE in VSMC can be modulated by various stimuli such as basic FGF and dexamethasone. QRT-PCR could be widely used in the studies of expression of specific human genes.
Angiotensins* ; Animals ; Atherectomy ; Biopsy ; Blood Vessels ; Blotting, Northern ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cells, Cultured ; Dexamethasone ; Electrophoresis ; Gene Expression ; Glutathione ; Heart ; Humans ; Lung ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Radioactivity ; Rats ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger* ; X-Ray Film

Hysteroscopic surgery has become a routine gynecologic procedure. The advantages are associated with more accurate removal of lesion, its short operating time, rapid post-operative recovery and low morbidity. However, there are potentially serious complications which can be occured during and following hysteroscopic surgery. The complications are uterine perforation, fluid overload and electrolyte disturbance due to intravasation and absorption of uterine distention media, hemorrhage and, rarely, gas or air embolism. We experienced pulmonary edema during hysteroscopic surgery in three consecutive patients. Therefore, we report these cases of fluid overload with uterine distention media resulting acute pulmonary edema during hysteroscopic surgery.
Absorption ; Anoxia ; Embolism, Air ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hysteroscopy ; Pulmonary Edema ; Uterine Perforation