PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to help determine the optimal time and method for operation of pulmonary atresia(PA) with ventricular septal defect(VSD). METHODS: Seventy patients who were diagnosed as PA with VSD in the Pediatric Department of Cardiology, Severance Hospital between May, 1991 and April, 1995, were included in our study. Subjects were divided into two groups depending on the presence of major aorto-pulmonary collateral arteries(MAPCAs). In patients with MAPCAs, the distribution of MAPCAs concerning its relationship with central PA were analyzed, while in patients without them, morphologic changes of PA after performing conventional modified Blalock-Taussig(B-T) shunt were studied. RESULTS: After performing modified B-T shunts, the number of cases of PA stenosis and interruption increased from 26 to 37. Fifteen cases of advanced stenosis and six cases of interrupted PA were also observed. After performing modified B-T shunt, CSAI of both PA was increased from 197+/-101 to 311+/-138, more remarkably in cases without progression of PA stenosis. Among the patients with MAPCAs, 12 cases showed PDA, while 16 cases showed confluent PA. On average, MAPCAs were present in 2.5 cases. Concerning the types of MAPCAs, 14 cases were unifocal, while 36 cases were multifocal and most of them originated from descending aorta. CONCLUSION: In cases where pulmonary flow is maintained by PDA, stenosis of central PA is common, and can result in retarded pulmonary arterial development or increased stricture after modified B-T shunt, so careful attention is needed during follow-up. In cases with dominant MAPCAs, confluent PA is common, and multifocal pulmonary supply renders surgery difficult, so careful analysis of pulmonary supplies to each pulmonary segments, their shapes and relationships, are indicated preoperatively.
Aorta, Thoracic ; Cardiology ; Classification* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Equipment and Supplies ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular* ; Humans ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Pulmonary Atresia*

BACKGROUND: It has been known that alveolar macrophage exposed to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces a lots of nitric oxide (NO) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression. The Authors elucidated the effects of iNOS mRNA expression by inhalational anesthetics (isoflurane) on endotoxemic rats and positive pressure ventilation with and without LPS. METHODS: Fifty Sprague-Dawley rats (250 - 270 g) were anesthesized with urethane injected in the peritoneal cavity. Then the expression of iNOS mRNA in the alveolar macrophages of the rats were measured after injection of LPS, 2 hours of isoflurane (0.5 - 2.5%) anesthesia, and 2 hours of positive pressure ventilation. The activities of iNOS in macrophages were measured by analysing iNOS mRNA expression by Northern blot analysis with autoradiography using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. RESULTS: The size and patterns of the iNOS mRNA band in the 0.5 - 2% isoflurane group were almost same as with the control group. The size of the iNOS mRNA band in the 2.5% isoflurane group increased more than in the control group. In the continous positive-pressure ventilation with LPS group, the iNOS mRNA band was slightly increased compared to the normal lung and the continous positive-pressure ventilation without LPS group. CONCLUSIONS: Higher concentrations of isoflurane anesthesia may evoke the expression of iNOS mRNA in a septic model. Positive pressure ventilation in sepsis may induce iNOS mRNA production.
Anesthesia ; Anesthetics ; Animals ; Autoradiography ; Blotting, Northern ; Isoflurane* ; Lung ; Macrophages ; Macrophages, Alveolar ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Peritoneal Cavity ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Positive-Pressure Respiration ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; RNA, Messenger* ; Sepsis ; Urethane

Hypoxemia is a common and potentially serious postoperative complication. Hypoxic encephalopahty may occur in prolonged hypoxemia. This condition needs brain protection. There are many brain protective methods. The primary cental nervous system protective mechanism of the barbiturates is attributed to their ability to decrease the cerebral metabolic rate, thus improving the ratio of oxygen (O2) supply to O2 demand. The electroencephalogram-derived bispectral index system (BIS) is a promising new method to predict probability of recovery of consciousness. We experienced two cases of hypoxic brain damage in recovery room. The patients were treated with thiopental and monitored with BIS. The use of thiopental as brain protection during complete global ischemia after cardiac arrest was not effective.
Anesthetics ; Anoxia ; Barbiturates ; Brain ; Consciousness ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Hypoxia, Brain* ; Ischemia ; Nervous System ; Oxygen ; Postoperative Complications ; Recovery Room ; Thiopental*

Trauma is frequently not purely penetrating or purely blunt. Such mixed trauma can result from the mechanism of injury. Recently, we encountered a patient who accidentally shot himself with a shotgun. He had a 15 x 8-cm-sized penetrating injury on left flank that did not penetrate into the peritoneal cavity and a blunt splenic injury with hemoperitoneum. Surgical and interventional treatments were performed for each injury. We present this case with a review of the related literature.
Hemoperitoneum ; Humans ; Peritoneal Cavity

Purpose: Proper use of antibiotics during emergency abdominal surgery is essential in reducing the incidence of surgical site infection. However, no studies have investigated the type of antibiotics and duration of therapy in individuals with abdominal trauma in Korea. We aimed to investigate the status of initial antibiotic therapy in patients with solitary abdominal trauma. Methods: From January 2015 to December 2015, we retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients with solitary abdominal trauma from 17 institutions including regional trauma centers in South Korea. Both blunt and penetrating abdominal injuries were included. Time from arrival to initial antibiotic therapy, rate of antibiotic use upon injury mechanism, injured organ, type, and duration of antibiotic use, and postoperative infection were investigated. Results: Data of the 311 patients were collected. The use of antibiotic was initiated in 96.4% of patients with penetrating injury and 79.7% with blunt injury. Initial antibiotics therapy was provided to 78.2% of patients with solid organ injury and 97.5% with hollow viscus injury. The mean day of using antibiotics was 6 days in solid organ injuries, 6.2 days in hollow viscus. Infection within 2 weeks of admission occurred in 36 cases. Infection was related to injury severity (Abbreviated Injury Scale of >3), hollow viscus injury, operation, open abdomen, colon perforation, and RBC transfusion. There was no infection in cases with laparoscopic operation. Duration of antibiotics did not affect the infection rate. Conclusion Antibiotics are used extensively (84.2%) and for long duration (6.2 days) in patients with abdominal injury in Korea.

BACKGROUND: The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II model has been widely used in Korea. However, there have been few studies on the APACHE IV model in Korean intensive care units (ICUs). The aim of this study was to compare the ability of APACHE IV and APACHE II in predicting hospital mortality, and to investigate the ability of APACHE IV as a critical care triage criterion. METHODS: The study was designed as a prospective cohort study. Measurements of discrimination and calibration were performed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test respectively. We also calculated the standardized mortality ratio (SMR). RESULTS: The APACHE IV score, the Charlson Comorbidity index (CCI) score, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and unplanned ICU admissions were independently associated with hospital mortality. The calibration, discrimination, and SMR of APACHE IV were good (H = 7.67, P = 0.465; C = 3.42, P = 0.905; AUROC = 0.759; SMR = 1.00). However, the explanatory power of an APACHE IV score >93 alone on hospital mortality was low at 44.1%. The explanatory power was increased to 53.8% when the hospital mortality was predicted using a model that considers APACHE IV >93 scores, medical admission, and risk factors for CCI >3 coincidentally. However, the discriminative ability of the prediction model was unsatisfactory (C index <0.70). CONCLUSIONS: The APACHE IV presented good discrimination, calibration, and SMR for hospital mortality.
APACHE* ; Calibration ; Cohort Studies ; Comorbidity ; Critical Care ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Hospital Mortality ; Intensive Care Units ; Korea ; Mortality* ; Prospective Studies ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Risk Factors ; ROC Curve ; Tertiary Care Centers* ; Triage

There are many possible causes of esophageal ulcer, such as reflux esophagitis, pill-induced esophagitis, infectious esophagitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, Behcet's disease, radiation injury, caustic injury, foreign body-induced injury, esophageal cancer, and so on. However, there are only a few cases of esophageal ulcer by thermal injury from food, and most of these were caused by liquids; few are related to ingestion of solid food. We experienced a case of a large symmetrical esophageal ulcer caused by thermal and compressive injury from a hot solid foodstuff known as 'Song-pyen', a traditional Korean food, and report the natural course of healing by conservative treatment, with a review of the few available reports regarding such injuries.
Eating ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagitis ; Esophagitis, Peptic ; Radiation Injuries ; Syphilis ; Tuberculosis ; Ulcer

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory reactions and fibrosis. Myofibroblasts are considered therapeutic targets for preventing and reversing the pathogenesis of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. Although the mechanisms that differentiate into myofibroblasts are diverse, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is known to be a key mediator of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. This study investigated the effects of extracellular vesicles derived from human adipose stem cells (ASC-EVs) in an in vivo systemic sclerosis model and in vitro TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts. The therapeutic effects of ASC-EVs on the in vivo systemic sclerosis model were evaluated based on dermal thickness and the number of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-expressing cells using hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry. Administration of ASC-EVs decreased both the dermal thickness and α-SMA expressing cell number as well as the mRNA levels of fibrotic genes, such as Acta2, Ccn2, Col1a1 and Comp. Additionally, we discovered that ASC-EVs can decrease the expression of α-SMA and CTGF and suppress the TGF-β pathway by inhibiting the activation of SMAD2 in dermal fibroblasts induced by TGF-β1. Finally, TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts underwent selective death through ASC-EVs treatment. These results indicate that ASC-EVs could provide a therapeutic approach for preventing and reversing systemic sclerosis.

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory reactions and fibrosis. Myofibroblasts are considered therapeutic targets for preventing and reversing the pathogenesis of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. Although the mechanisms that differentiate into myofibroblasts are diverse, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is known to be a key mediator of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. This study investigated the effects of extracellular vesicles derived from human adipose stem cells (ASC-EVs) in an in vivo systemic sclerosis model and in vitro TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts. The therapeutic effects of ASC-EVs on the in vivo systemic sclerosis model were evaluated based on dermal thickness and the number of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-expressing cells using hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry. Administration of ASC-EVs decreased both the dermal thickness and α-SMA expressing cell number as well as the mRNA levels of fibrotic genes, such as Acta2, Ccn2, Col1a1 and Comp. Additionally, we discovered that ASC-EVs can decrease the expression of α-SMA and CTGF and suppress the TGF-β pathway by inhibiting the activation of SMAD2 in dermal fibroblasts induced by TGF-β1. Finally, TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts underwent selective death through ASC-EVs treatment. These results indicate that ASC-EVs could provide a therapeutic approach for preventing and reversing systemic sclerosis.

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory reactions and fibrosis. Myofibroblasts are considered therapeutic targets for preventing and reversing the pathogenesis of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. Although the mechanisms that differentiate into myofibroblasts are diverse, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is known to be a key mediator of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. This study investigated the effects of extracellular vesicles derived from human adipose stem cells (ASC-EVs) in an in vivo systemic sclerosis model and in vitro TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts. The therapeutic effects of ASC-EVs on the in vivo systemic sclerosis model were evaluated based on dermal thickness and the number of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-expressing cells using hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry. Administration of ASC-EVs decreased both the dermal thickness and α-SMA expressing cell number as well as the mRNA levels of fibrotic genes, such as Acta2, Ccn2, Col1a1 and Comp. Additionally, we discovered that ASC-EVs can decrease the expression of α-SMA and CTGF and suppress the TGF-β pathway by inhibiting the activation of SMAD2 in dermal fibroblasts induced by TGF-β1. Finally, TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts underwent selective death through ASC-EVs treatment. These results indicate that ASC-EVs could provide a therapeutic approach for preventing and reversing systemic sclerosis.