Acute myocardial infarction after a bee sting is a very rare process. Among proposed mechanisms, vasospasm of the coronary artery is the most probable mechanism. Many mediators are included in the venom of wasps, and those mediators have vasoconstrictive properties and may constrict the coronary artery. Furthemore, those mediators have thrombogenic properties that lead to thrombogenesis in the coronary artery and aggravate myocardial ischemia. Epinephrine, commonly used in the management of anaphylactic shock, may further aggravate myocardial ischemia. We experienced two cases of acute myocardial infarction after a bee sting. In the first case, we could find no underlying abnormalities of the coronary vessel because the patient died during coronary angiography. In the second case, the electrocardiogram showed inferior wall myocardial infarction, but only mild stenosis of the right coronary artery was seen in coronary angiography.
Anaphylaxis ; Bees* ; Bites and Stings* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Vessels ; Electrocardiography ; Epinephrine ; Humans ; Inferior Wall Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Venoms ; Wasps

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPSS) is a promising method of treatment for gastric or esophageal variceal bleeding. This study was performed to determine the prognostic factors contributing to the survival of patients after TIPSS for gastric or esophageal variceal bleeding. One hundred and fifty-five patients who underwent TIPSS between September 1991 and March 2001 were followed up by clinical examination, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and Duplex sonography. The mean portohepatic pressure gradient prior to TIPSS was 20.5 +/-9.93 mmHg and dropped to 10.7 +/-6.62 mmHg after TIPSS (p<0.001). The cumulative survival rate was 75.1% at 6 months, 66.6% at 1 yr, 58.4% at 2 yr, and 38.1% at 5 yr. Survival after TIPSS was inversely related to the Child-Pugh classification (p<0.05). The rebleeding rate was 18.3% at 6 months, 21.0% at 1 yr, 32.8% at 2 yr, and 53.1% at 5 yr. The causes of deaths were hepatic failure (53.5%), recurrent variceal bleeding (11.6%), pneumonia (4.6%), sepsis (3.5%), hepatic encephalopathy (2.3%), and unknown (17.4%). Multivariate analysis (Cox proportional hazard model) revealed that the Child-Pugh classification and age were statistically significant independent prognostic factors. In conclusion, TIPSS is an effective method of treatment for variceal bleeding in cases where other treatment modalities including endoscopic therapy are unsuccessful and the most important prognostic factors are preprocedural hepatic reserve (Child-Pugh class) and age.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Fibrosis/diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/*diagnosis/*mortality/*therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Portasystemic Shunt, Transjugular Intrahepatic ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome

Primary biliary cirrhosis(PBC) is a chronic cholestatic liver disease of unknown origin. The small and medium sized intrahepatic bile ducts are destroyed by an inflammatory process, which, it has been suggested, is of the autoimmune type. It is strongly associated with the presence of antimitochondrial antibodies, predominantly IgM and IgG. The liver changes are classified into four stages, of which stage IV represents the development of cirrhosis, which required orthotropic liver transplantation in the longrun. The prevalence rates was reported 128 per millon in Sweden , but the disease is relatively rare in Oriental area. In medical treatment, long-term administration of ursodeoxycholic acid improves both clinical and biochemical signs, slows the progression of the disease and reduces the complication requiring liver transplantation. We report two cases of PBC, one with histologically proven cirrhosis, and the other with bile duct destruction consistent with stage III and hypothyroidism.
Antibodies ; Bile Ducts ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; Fibrosis ; Hypothyroidism ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary* ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Transplantation ; Prevalence ; Sweden ; Ursodeoxycholic Acid

BACKGROUND: Most surgeons favor the pledgeted suture technique for heart valve replacements because they believe it decreases the risk of paravalvular leak (PVL). We hypothesized that the use of nonpledgeted rather than pledgeted sutures during mitral valve replacement (MVR) may decrease the incidence of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) and risk of a major PVL. METHODS: We analyzed 263 patients, divided into 175 patients who underwent MVR with nonpledgeted sutures from January 2003 to December 2013 and 88 patients who underwent MVR with pledgeted sutures from January 1995 to December 2001. We compared the occurrence of PVL and PVE between these groups. RESULTS: In patients who underwent MVR with or without tricuspid valve surgery and/or a Maze operation, PVL occurred in 1.1% of the pledgeted group and 2.9% of the nonpledgeted group. The incidence of PVE was 2.9% in the nonpledgeted group and 1.1% in the pledgeted group. No differences were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: We suggest that a nonpledgeted suture technique can be an alternative to the traditional use of pledgeted sutures in most patients who undergo MVR, with no significant difference in the incidence of PVL.
Endocarditis ; Heart Valves ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mitral Valve* ; Suture Techniques* ; Sutures ; Tricuspid Valve

BACKGROUND: Remarkable progress has recently been made in achieving successful early repair of congenital heart disease with using cardiopulmonary bypass in the neonatal period. The aim of this study is to evaluate our short-term outcomes for performing neonatal cardiac surgery under extracorporeal circulation. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifty five neonates underwent open heart surgery from February 2002 to December 2007. The mean ages and body weight was 13.5 days and 3.2 kg, respectively. The diagnoses of the patients were transposition of the great arteries (14), total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (7), large ventricular septal defect (VSD) (7), coarctation of the aorta with VSD (6), interrupted aortic arch (5) and others (16). RESULT: Six patients had difficulties being weaned from extracorporeal circulation. Four patients left the operating room with an open sternum. Low cardiac output syndrome and acute renal insufficiency were observed in 3 patients each, respectively. Post-operative complications were observed in 27 patients (49.1%). The postoperative mortality was 12.7% (7 patients); 5 patients experienced early hospital death and 2 experienced late death (2). CONCLUSION: In our hospital, early surgical repair with extracorporeal circulation in neonates was feasible with tolerable mortality. Further follow-up is required to establish the long-term survival and complications.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Aorta, Thoracic ; Aortic Coarctation ; Arteries ; Body Weight ; Cardiac Output, Low ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Extracorporeal Circulation ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Operating Rooms ; Sternum ; Thoracic Surgery

The occurrence of a trigeminal neuropathy associated with connective tissue disease is rare. Trigeminal neuropathy in connective tissue disease is predominantly sensory and it is characterized by numbness, hypesthesia, slurred speech, and touch pain. Although the pathogenesis of trigeminal neuropathy associated with connective tissue disease remains obscure, the main pathologic findings are vasculitis and neuritis. A case of trigeminal neuropathy associated with mixed connective tissue disease is described, and the incidence, symptoms, pathophysiology, treatment of the disease is discussed.
Connective Tissue Diseases ; Hypesthesia ; Incidence ; Mixed Connective Tissue Disease* ; Neuritis ; Trigeminal Nerve Diseases* ; Vasculitis

Mesenchymal stem cells are stem cells originated from the mesoderm have the capacity to differentiate into cells of connective tissue lineages, including bone, fat, cartilage and muscle. Nontraumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head has been suggested the cause is likely relevant to the poor proliferation activity of mesenchymal stem cells in the femoral head region. The altered function of mesenchymal stem cells may be responsible for the pathogenesis and progression of osteonecrosis, in steroid or alcohol induced nontraumatic osteonecrosis of femoral head.
Cartilage ; Connective Tissue ; Head ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Mesoderm ; Muscles ; Osteonecrosis ; Stem Cells

BACKGROUND: The benefits of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) have been demonstrated over the past decades; as a result, VATS has become the gold-standard treatment for primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP). Due to improvements in surgical technique and equipment, single-port VATS (s-VATS) is emerging as an alternative approach to conventional three-port VATS (t-VATS). The aim of this study was to evaluate s-VATS as a treatment for PSP by comparing operative outcomes and recurrence rates for s-VATS versus t-VATS. METHODS: Between March 2013 and December 2015, VATS for PSP was performed in 146 patients in Kyungpook National University Hospital. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of these patients. RESULTS: The mean follow-up duration was 13.4±6.5 months in the s-VATS group and 28.7±3.9 months in the t-VATS group. Operative time (p<0.001), the number of staples used for the operation (p=0.001), duration of drainage (p=0.001), and duration of the postoperative stay (p<0.001) were significantly lower in the s-VATS group than in the t-VATS group. There was no difference in the overall recurrence-free survival rate between the s-VATS and t-VATS groups. CONCLUSION: No significant differences in operative outcomes and recurrence rates were found between s-VATS and t-VATS for PSP. Therefore, we cautiously suggest that s-VATS may be an appropriate alternative to t-VATS in the treatment of PSP.
Drainage ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Operative Time ; Pneumothorax* ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted*

PURPOSE: To evaluate clinical and radiological results of AO type C distal radius fractures treated with a volar locking plating system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 31 patients with AO type C distal radius fracture treated with a volar locking plating system. We evaluated the clinical results according to the Mayo wrist performance scoring system and disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) score and evaluated the radiographic results. RESULTS: All cases had bony union. The mean Mayo wrist performance score was 81.9. The mean DASH score was 11.2. Between preoperative and immediate postoperative radiographic measurements, the mean radial length was improved from 8.8 mm to 13mm, radial inclination from 14.7degrees to 22.5degrees, volar tilt from -11.3degrees to 9.4degrees and intra-articular step-off from 2.2 mm to 0.3 mm (p<0.05). Between immediate postoperative and latest follow-up radiographic measurements, the mean loss of radial length measured under 1 mm, radial inclination under 1degrees, volar tilt under 1degrees and intra-articular step-off under 1 mm (p>0.05). Internal fixation using volar locking compression plate could allow early postoperative exercise and could result in low incidence of postoperative complication. All cases showed bone union showing no evidence of malunion, nounion, nor metal failure. CONCLUSION: Treatment of AO type C fractures using a volar locking plate showed satisfactory outcomes. It is a good option to obtain stable fixation without significant loss of reduction.
Arm ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Postoperative Complications ; Radius ; Radius Fractures ; Retrospective Studies ; Shoulder ; Wrist

PURPOSE: To evaluate clinical and radiological results of AO type C distal radius fractures treated with a volar locking plating system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 31 patients with AO type C distal radius fracture treated with a volar locking plating system. We evaluated the clinical results according to the Mayo wrist performance scoring system and disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) score and evaluated the radiographic results. RESULTS: All cases had bony union. The mean Mayo wrist performance score was 81.9. The mean DASH score was 11.2. Between preoperative and immediate postoperative radiographic measurements, the mean radial length was improved from 8.8 mm to 13mm, radial inclination from 14.7degrees to 22.5degrees, volar tilt from -11.3degrees to 9.4degrees and intra-articular step-off from 2.2 mm to 0.3 mm (p<0.05). Between immediate postoperative and latest follow-up radiographic measurements, the mean loss of radial length measured under 1 mm, radial inclination under 1degrees, volar tilt under 1degrees and intra-articular step-off under 1 mm (p>0.05). Internal fixation using volar locking compression plate could allow early postoperative exercise and could result in low incidence of postoperative complication. All cases showed bone union showing no evidence of malunion, nounion, nor metal failure. CONCLUSION: Treatment of AO type C fractures using a volar locking plate showed satisfactory outcomes. It is a good option to obtain stable fixation without significant loss of reduction.
Arm ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Postoperative Complications ; Radius ; Radius Fractures ; Retrospective Studies ; Shoulder ; Wrist