This case was an acquired aplastic anemia patient who required a major operation for excision of a mediastinal mass. The authors previewed that the coagulation abnormalities would be developed due to major operation. Thus we decided to monitoring the coagulation function using the thromboelastography during the perioperative period and checked the complete blood count, concommitantly. The total blood volume lost during operation was 1800 ml, so we gave him a transfusion of 10 U's of platelet concentrate, 10 U's of pheretic platelet rich plasma and 5 U's of whole blood. The thromboelastography was a good guide that helped us to avoid excessive treatment of the coagulation abnormalities. We concluded that the thromboelastograhy was a reliable and effective monitoring system at the intraoperative coagulation management.
Anemia, Aplastic* ; Anesthesia, General ; Blood Cell Count ; Blood Platelets ; Blood Volume ; Humans ; Perioperative Period ; Platelet-Rich Plasma ; Thrombelastography

BACKGROUND: Epidural anesthesia is becoming an increasingly important aspect of anaesthetic practice because it has many advantages. To achieve the appropriate sedation, various methods have been described. The authors applied the ketamine for this purpose in subanesthetic dose and compared with the midazolam that has been most commonly used for intravenous sedation. METHODS: Fifty-seven adult patients undergoing lower abdominal and extremity surgery who were receiving epidural anesthesia were randomely enrolled into this clinical study. They were allocated to three groups to receive only normal saline (group C), midazolam 0.05 mg/kg (group M) and ketamine 0.5 mg/kg midazolam 0.05 mg/kg (group K) in normal saline 10ml, respectively. Hemodynamic and respiratory measurements were recorded at baseline, 1 minute, 3 minute, 5 minute, 10 minute, 20 minute and 30 minute after sedation. The degree of sedation was assessed by a blinded observer using sedation score. RESULTS: There were no significant differences for hemodynamic and respiratory parameters, but decrements of arterial pressure at 1 minute after sedation were most remarkable in the group M. Sedation was satisfactorily achieved by combination of ketamine and midazolam without significant emergence reaction. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of ketamine and midazolam was judged to be suitable alternative for sedation during epidural anesthesia.
Adult ; Anesthesia, Epidural* ; Arterial Pressure ; Extremities ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Ketamine* ; Midazolam*

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to demonstrate the effect of esmolol to prevent reflex tachycardia occurred during sodium nitroprusside(SNP) induced hypotension. METHODS: Thirty patients were randomly assigned to the SNP group(n=15) received continuous infusion of SNP at 2.72+/-0.56 mcg/kg/min or combined SNP and esmolol(SNP-ESM) group(n=l5) received combined continuous infusion of SNP at 1.54+/-0.34 mcg/kg/min and esmolol at 200 mcg/kg/min for 1 hour to maintain a 20~25% reduction of mean arterial pressure(MAP) from baseline. Heart rate(HR) and MAP were measured at baseline, during hypotensive period(5, 10, 20, 30, 60 min) and after hypotensive period(70, 80, 90,1 20 min). RESULTS: SNP-induced hypotension resulted in significant(P<0.001) increases in heart rate during hypotensive period and MAP after the end of SNP infusion. However, infusion of SNP-ESM resulted in significant(p<0.05) reduction in heart rate and SNP requirement during hypotensive period, and rebound hypertension was not observed after the end of induced hypotension. CONCLUSIONS: SNP-ESM infusion is a safe and effective pharmacologic means and provides several advantages over single SNP that include reduction in SNP requirement, no reflex tachycardia during induced hypotension and no rebound hypertension following hypotensive period.
Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypotension* ; Nitroprusside* ; Reflex ; Sodium* ; Tachycardia

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to demonstrate the effect of esmolol to prevent reflex tachycardia occurred during sodium nitroprusside(SNP) induced hypotension. METHODS: Thirty patients were randomly assigned to the SNP group(n=15) received continuous infusion of SNP at 2.72+/-0.56 mcg/kg/min or combined SNP and esmolol(SNP-ESM) group(n=l5) received combined continuous infusion of SNP at 1.54+/-0.34 mcg/kg/min and esmolol at 200 mcg/kg/min for 1 hour to maintain a 20~25% reduction of mean arterial pressure(MAP) from baseline. Heart rate(HR) and MAP were measured at baseline, during hypotensive period(5, 10, 20, 30, 60 min) and after hypotensive period(70, 80, 90,1 20 min). RESULTS: SNP-induced hypotension resulted in significant(P<0.001) increases in heart rate during hypotensive period and MAP after the end of SNP infusion. However, infusion of SNP-ESM resulted in significant(p<0.05) reduction in heart rate and SNP requirement during hypotensive period, and rebound hypertension was not observed after the end of induced hypotension. CONCLUSIONS: SNP-ESM infusion is a safe and effective pharmacologic means and provides several advantages over single SNP that include reduction in SNP requirement, no reflex tachycardia during induced hypotension and no rebound hypertension following hypotensive period.
Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypotension* ; Nitroprusside* ; Reflex ; Sodium* ; Tachycardia

BACKGROUND: Clonidine, which is known to have analgesic and sedative properties, has recently been shown to be an effective preanesthetic medication in humans. The drug may cause side effects, including bradycardia and hypotension. This study was conducted to evaluate the ability of intravenous atropine to increase the heart rate (HR) in awake adults receiving clonidine preanesthetic medication. METHODS: We studied HR responses to intravenous atropine in 45 patients assigned randomly to either a control group, who received no medication (group 1, n=15), or clonidine groups, who received oral clonidine of 2~2.5 mcg/kg (group 2, n=15), or 4.5~5 mcg/kg (group 3, n=15) 90 min before scheduled induction of anesthesia. When HR and blood pressure had been confirmed to be stable in operating room, all patients received incremental doses of atropine, 2.5, 2.5 and 5 mcg/kg at 2-min intervals. The HR and mean arterial pressure were recorded at 1-min intervals. RESULTS: Before atropine injection, the HR decreased significantly (P<0.05) in group 3. The increases in HR in response to a cumulative dose of atropine 10 mcg/kg were 21+/-8, 17+/-7 and 7+/-5 beats/min (mean+/-SD) in group 1, 2 and 3, respectively (P<0.05). The positive chronotropic response to intravenous atropine was attenuated significantly only in group 3 (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that oral clonidine of 4.5~5 mcg/kg decreased HR significantly, and blunted the increase in HR after intravenous atropine in awake adults although oral clonidine of 2~2.5 mcg/kg did not.
Adult* ; Anesthesia ; Arterial Pressure ; Atropine* ; Blood Pressure ; Bradycardia ; Clonidine* ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Operating Rooms ; Preanesthetic Medication

PURPOSE: This study was done to know the usefulness of fractal analysis when evaluating the radiologic changes after decompression on jaw bone cystic lesions using fractal analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 30cases of cystic lesions were followed up after decompression. Panoramic image was used to observe radiologic changes around the cystic lesion. The part of the panoramic image which showed radiologic change was defined as region of interest(ROI); The fractal dimension of the ROI was calculated using box-counting method. RESULTS: Using sign-rank test, there was a statistically significant difference in fractal dimensions after decompression therapy(P<;0.0001). The fractal dimensions statistically increased after decompression(the median of D:0.12). CONCLUSIONS: The ROI after decompression showed higher fractal dimensions which offer the objective proof of the bone healing around cystic lesions after decompression treatment.
Bone Cysts* ; Decompression* ; Fractals* ; Jaw*

Pheochromocytoma during pregnancy is very rare tumor, and this condition is life threatening to both mother and fetus. We describe a case of pheochromocytoma antenatally diagnosed at the midtrimester in gestation. A patient was transferred to National Medical Center during gestational week 24 with severe hypertension, generalized edema. Pheochromocytoma caused by a left adrenal mass was diagnosed. The patient was treated with titrated dose of phenoxybenzamine, propranolol, and intravenous nicardipine, but, intermittent severe hypertension was developed. At 33 weeks gestation, fetal distress was developed, and emergent c-sec was done. Two weeks after delivery, she underwent a successful left adrenalectomy. Two months after surgery, all antihypertensive medications were discontinued and her blood pressure have remained normal range.
Adrenalectomy ; Blood Pressure ; Edema ; Female ; Fetal Distress ; Fetus ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Mothers ; Nicardipine ; Phenoxybenzamine ; Pheochromocytoma* ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Pregnancy* ; Propranolol ; Reference Values

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of positive psychological characteristics on posttraumatic stress symptoms after traumatic experiences. METHODS: The subjects were 97 firefighters (83 males and 14 females), who completed the Life Events Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised Korean version. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were computed to examine the relationships among the variables, and Structural Equation Modeling was used to investigate the mediation process in the relationships among traumatic experiences, positive psychological characteristics, and posttraumatic stress. RESULTS: The results showed that self-esteem had a mediating effect on the relationship between traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Traumatic experiences affected posttraumatic stress symptoms not only directly, but also through self-esteem to posttraumatic stress symptoms. Therefore the lower firefighters' self-esteem was, the more posttraumatic stress symptoms occurred. Resilience, however, apparently had no function as mediating variable in the relationship between traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Traumatic experiences and resilience each seemed to affect posttraumatic stress symptoms directly. Hence, the lower firefighters' resilience was, the more posttraumatic stress symptoms occurred. CONCLUSION: This study showed that self-esteem had a mediating effect on the relationship between traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms. We also found that resilience affects posttraumatic stress symptoms directly, regardless of the number of traumatic experiences. Likewise, these results showed that we should be concerned in positive psychological characteristics such as self-esteem and resilience in order to prevent posttraumatic stress symptoms.
Firefighters ; Humans ; Male ; Negotiating

No abstract available.

Ameloblasts ; Animals ; Dental Enamel ; Dentin ; Epithelial Cells ; Inclusion Bodies ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Morphogenesis ; Neural Crest ; Odontoblasts ; Tooth ; Tooth Germ