BACKGROUND: We analyzed the clinical characteristics of trauma involving the liver and/or the spleen to evaluate the safety of nonoperative management. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on 78 cases who were treated with operative (37 cases) and nonoperative (41 cases) management at Wonkwang University Hospital from January 1995 to June 1998. Nonoperative management was done in hemodynamically stable patients. RESULTS: Three cases in the operative group (OG) and 5 cases in the nonoperative group (NOG) were children. Causes of injury were traffic accidents (66.6%), falls (15.4%), penetrating injuries (11.4%), and assaults (6.4%). Associated intraabdominal injuries were renal contusions (42%), pancreatic injuries (18%), mesenteric tearing (12%), diaphragm ruptures (9%). Associated extraabdominal injuries were chest injuries (56.5%), long bone fractures (15.2%), pelvic bone fractures (9.8%), and CNS injuries (8.7%). Mean total blood requirements were 7.0 units in the OG and 1.2 units in the NOG. Complications were 35 cases in the OG (pleural effusion, 6 cases; intraabdominal abscess, 4 cases; pneumonia, 4 cases; biloma, 3 cases) and 15 cases in the NOG (pleural effusion, 5 cases; pneumonia, 5 cases; intraabdominal abscess, 2 cases). Causes of 8 delayed operations were bowel perforations (small bowel 2 cases, and colon, 1 case), bile peritonitis (2 cases), and hemodynamically instability (3 cases). The hospitalization period was 16 days in the OG and 14 days in the NOG. Six patients in the OG died and the causes were multiple organ failures (4 cases), hypovolemic shock (1 case), and ARDS (1 case). No patient died in the delayed operation cases and the NOG, even in major injury cases aquired respiratory distress syndrom. CONCLUSIONS: Nonoperative management of traumatic liver and/or spleen injury is safe and can be tried initially under the conditions of stable hemodynamics, feasible abdominal CT, and feasible immediate operation.
Abscess ; Accidents, Traffic ; Bile ; Child ; Colon ; Contusions ; Diaphragm ; Fractures, Bone ; Hemodynamics ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Liver* ; Multiple Organ Failure ; Pelvic Bones ; Peritonitis ; Pneumonia ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Shock ; Spleen* ; Thoracic Injuries ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Rheumatoid patients have poor bone quality and also have an increased incidence of sepsis, delayed wound healing, and general overall complications. It is the purpose of this paper to assess the clinical and roentgenographic results of ABG total hip replacement in rheumatoid arthritis. Twenty-six total hip arthroplasties done in seventeen patients with rheumatoid arthritis were studied prospectively. The average follow-up was 3 years and 4 months, with a minimum follow-up of 2 years and 7 months. The average age of the patients was 49.7 years (range 36-63) and there were sixteen females and one male. All patients fulfilled the 1987 revised criteria and there were eleven cases of protrusio acetabuli. All patients except two were taking oral steroids, nineteen cases were classed as Singhs index 1, five cases as Singhs index 2, and two cases as Singhs index 3. The Charnley approach with a trochanteric osteotomy was employed in all patients. Cup fixation was achieved with two spikes in twenty-one cases, two spikes and one screw in five cases, and in all cases the acetabular cup was angled at less than 45 from the horizontal. There was a gap between the acetabular cup and the acetabulum at DeLee and Charnley zone 1 in three cases, and at zone 2 in six cases. At 2 years, there was no radiolucency, reactive line or any sign of bone resorption. The development of cancellous and cortical densification was seen in Gruen's zone 2 and 6 for the first time in the 1 year radiographs. It became more prominent in the 2 year radiographs. The reactive bone line first became visible at the 6 month follow-up in the Gruen's zone 3 and 5. These lines extended more proximally, but it did not involve the proximal HA coated portion. Cortical hypertrophy of diaphysis was seen at Gruen's zone 3 and 5 in five cases. Rounding off of calcar was visible at zone 7 in six cases. There were no radiological changes of the femoral side in fourteen cases and the acetabular side in seven cases. There was one case of wire breakage, one case of trochanteric separation, and one case of intraoperative splitting of calcar. The result of the study indicated that the development of osseointegration in rheumatoid arthritis might be slow, but the clinical and radiological results were satisfactory. Further prospective follow up is necessary to determine whether the favorable early result of HA coated implant are maintained over longer periods.
Acetabulum ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip* ; Bone Resorption ; Diaphyses ; Durapatite* ; Female ; Femur ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Incidence ; Male ; Osseointegration ; Osteotomy ; Prospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Steroids ; Wound Healing

No abstract available.

The P wave during orthodromic atrioventricular reentry tachycardial were analysed in 19 patients to evaluate the usefulness in identifying the location of accessory pathways. The results were as follows; 1) Definitely inverted and upright P waves in lead I represented the left-sided and right-sided pathways respectively, but the converse is not necessarily true. 2) Dome and Dart appearance in lead VI(4 cases), upright P wave in inferior leads(3 cases), and negative P wave in aVL(3 cases) suggested the left-sided pathway and deeply inverted P waves in inferior leads suggested the posteroseptal or right-sided one. 3) In 17 cases(79%), inverted P wave appeared on more than one lead among the inferior leads, which were helpful to identify the position on P wave and mechanism of supraventricular tachycardia. Although the number of cases especially with right-sided pathway was small to conclude, P wave was useful for determining the location of accessory pathway noninvasively.
Humans ; Tachycardia* ; Tachycardia, Supraventricular

Seventeen cases of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopthy were reviewed to clarify whether there is any racial difference in phenotypic expression of apical hypertrophic cardiomopathy and to study whether there is any clinical or morphological difference between apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy of Japanese type (J-APH) and apical hypertrophic cardiomyophthy of non-Japanese type (NJ-APH). The diagnosis was made by cardiac catheterization, left ventriculography and echocardiography. Seventeen patients were divided into 9 (53%) patients with J-APH and 8 (47%) patients with NJ-APH. Mean ages of patients with J-APH and NJ-APH were 55 years and 57 years, respectively. The most common clinical symptoms were chest pain(100%), dyspnea(59%) and palpitation(35%). Mean values of S1+R5 and T wave depth were 58+/-16mm and 16+/-6mm in J-APH and 42+/-11mm and 7+/-3mm in NJ-APH(p<0.05, respectively). Seven patients experienced transient or permanent atrial fibrillation without significant symptoms. Seven patients showed progression or regression of T wave depth greater than 5mm during the period of follow-ups. On echocardiography IVS/LVPW thickness(mm) at the base were 11+/-2/10+/-2 in J-APH and 17+/-7/11+/-2 in NJ-APH, and IVS/LVPW thickness(mm) at the apex were 25+/-7/24+/-5 in J-APH and 26+/-3/26+/-2 in NJ-APH. Three patients with NJ-APH showed asymmetrical septal hypertrophy, cardiac catheterization disclosed elevated left ventricular end diastolic pressure in 11 out of 19 patients. Dye entrapment at the apex during systole was noted in 5 out of 18 patients. In conclusion, our study showed high prevalence rate expression of J-APH in contrast to the Western countries, there may be racial difference in phenotype of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Considering progression or regression of T-wave depth, NJ-APH may be a forme fruste or regressed form of J-APH.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Cardiac Catheters ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Classification* ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Doppler* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular* ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Phenotype ; Prevalence ; Systole ; Thorax

PURPOSE: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a relatively uncommon type of stress-induced cardiomyopathy characterized by transient left ventricular regional wall motion abnormalities. Emotional and physical stresses play a key role in this type of cardiomyopathy in postmenopausal women. The current hypothesis is that the syndrome represents a form of catecholamine surge due to stress or epinephrine-mediated acute myocardial stunning. METHODS: A 44-year-old woman had suffered premature ventricular contraction following a cardiogenic shock during a breast augmentation surgery under enflurane anesthesia and tumescent solution infiltration. She was treated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation at a local clinic. Then she was brought to the Emergency Department of the authors' hospital. RESULTS: The woman's echocardiogram showed an ejection fraction of 20~25% with associated basal hyperkinesis and left ventricular apical ballooning. The patient was admitted to the ICU and required inotropic support for two weeks. The patient's condition dramatically improved, and her ejection fraction returned to 70%. CONCLUSION: It is believed that there were multiple triggering factors of the onset of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in the woman's social and family history, including infiltration of a large volume of the tumescent solution and VPCs induced by enflurane anesthesia without premedication. The importance of careful history-taking, careful pre-operative consultation on psychological suffering especially for breast surgery, premedication before surgery, patient reassurance, and post-operative psychosocial and emotional assistance was again seen in this case.
Adult ; Anesthesia ; Breast ; Cardiomyopathies ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Emergencies ; Enflurane ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperkinesis ; Premedication ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; Stress, Psychological ; Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy ; Ventricular Premature Complexes

No abstract available.

An anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery(Bland-White-Garland syndrome) is a rare congenital malformation and sometimes fatal. It is caused by an abberant endothelial budding from or an anomalous division of the truncus arteriosus. Echocardiography (transthoracic and transesophageal) and angiographical imaging are essential for the diagnosis of this anomaly. Corrective Surgery is recommended due to its fatal natural course. A case was diagnosed in a 45-year-old man who presented with intermittent palpitation. This patient was successfully treated with closure of anomalous left coronary artery orifice combined with right saphenous vein graft anastomosis.
Bland White Garland Syndrome ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Saphenous Vein ; Transplants ; Truncus Arteriosus

OBJECTIVE: Pituitary apoplexy (PA) is described as a clinical syndrome characterized by sudden headache, vomiting, visual impairment, and meningismus caused by rapid enlargement of a pituitary adenoma. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical presentation and surgical outcome in PA presenting with cranial neuropathy. METHODS: Twelve cases (3.3%) of PA were retrospectively reviewed among 359 patients diagnosed with pituitary adenoma. The study included 6 males and 6 females. Mean age of patients was 49.0 years, with a range of 16 to 74 years. Follow-up duration ranged from 3 to 20 months, with an average of 12 months. All patients were submitted to surgery, using the transsphenoidal approach (TSA). RESULTS: Symptoms included abrupt headache (11/12), decreased visual acuity (12/12), visual field defect (11/12), and cranial nerve palsy of the third (5/12) and sixth (2/12). Mean height of the mass was 29.0 mm (range 15-46). Duration between the ictus and operation ranged from 1 to 15 days (mean 7.0). The symptom duration before operation and the recovery period of cranial neuropathy correlated significantly (p = 0.0286). TSA resulted in improvement of decreased visual acuity in 91.6%, visual field defect in 54.5%, and cranial neuropathy in 100% at 3 months after surgery. CONCLUSION: PA is a rare event, complicating 3.3% in our series. Even in blindness following pituitary apoplexy cases, improvement of cranial neuropathy is possible if adequate management is initiated in time. Surgical decompression must be considered as soon as possible in cases with severe visual impairment or cranial neuropathy.
Blindness ; Cranial Nerve Diseases ; Decompression, Surgical ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Headache ; Humans ; Male ; Meningism ; Pituitary Apoplexy ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies ; Vision Disorders ; Visual Acuity ; Visual Fields ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: Dipyridamole stress myocardial perfusion SPECT could predict prognosis, however, long-term follow-up showed change of hazard ratio in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. We investigated how long normal SPECT could predict the benign prognosis on the long-term follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We followed up 1169 patients and divided these patients into groups in whom coronary angiography were performed and were not. Total cardiac event rate and hard event rate were predicted using clinical, angiographic and SPECT findings. Predictive values of normal and abnormal SPECT were examined using survival analysis with Mantel-Haenszel method, multivariate Cox proportional hazard model analysis and newly developed statistical method to test time-invariance of hazard rate and changing point of this rate. RESULTS: Reversible perfusion decrease on myocardial perfusion SPECT predicted higher total cardiac event rate independently and further to angiographic findings. However, myocardial SPECT showed independent but not incremental prognostic values for hard event rate. Hazard ratio of normal perfusion SPECT was changed significantly (p<0.001) and the changing point of hazard rate was 4.4 years of follow up. However, the ratio of abnormal SPECT was not. CONCLUSION: Dipyridamole stress myocardial perfusion SPECT provided independent prognostic information in patients with known and suspected coronary artery disease. Normal perfusion SPECT predicted least event rate for 4.4 years.
Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Dipyridamole* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Perfusion ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*