Suprarenal IVC obstruction occurs rarely but has various causes. Because this obstruction proceed chronically and usually has collateral circulation, if there is no IVC or hepatic vein obstruction symptom such as Budd-Chiari syndrome, operation is usually needless. However, although symptom is not combined, if malignancy can not be ruled out and there is no proper and radiologically visible collateral, mass resection with IVC wall and bypass graft should be done. 58 year-old female patient visit the hospital for IVC mass that is occasionally discovered by routine abdominal ultrasonography examination. After abdominal CT scanning and IVC venography, IVC obstructive mass between renal vein and hepatic vein was found. Patient didn't show any abnormality in hematological examination such as coagulation and platelet counts. There was no IVC obstruction symptom such as lower limb swelling. Inferior hepatic vein was abnormally dilated and this was regarded as collateral vessel for IVC obstruction. Radiologically, primary leiomyosarcoma was not ruled out and so operation was decided. Suprarenal IVC was dissected and mass was exposed. And with the use of femoral vein and right atrium, temporally veno-veno bypass was performed. Mass including IVC wall was excised and upper end of divided IVC was sutured. Lower end of divided IVC was anastomosed with 16 mm Dacron graft and graft was anastomosed with right atrium by end-to-end methods (Cavoatrial shunt). Postoperative pathologic examination revealed the mass to be organized thrombi. After 2 weeks later, follow-up IVC venography was performed and good patency was found from IVC to right atrium through artificial bypass graft and patient was discharged without complications.
Budd-Chiari Syndrome ; Collateral Circulation ; Female ; Femoral Vein ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Atria ; Hepatic Veins ; Humans ; Leiomyosarcoma ; Lower Extremity ; Middle Aged ; Phlebography ; Platelet Count ; Polyethylene Terephthalates ; Renal Veins ; Thrombosis* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Transplants ; Ultrasonography

Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the upper extremity has been recently been recognized as being more common than previously reported (probably because of the increasingly frequent use of subclavian venous access). Since the initial descriptions of axillary-subclavian vein thrombosis more than 100 years ago, studies cites a 1.3% to 2.1% incidence of all DVT that occurs in the axillary or subclavian veins. Axillary-subclavian vein thrombosis is commonly associated with significant morbidity. The most serious aspect of morbidity and mortality is pulmonary embolization. Venography or digital subtraction studies are most reliable in allowing detection of thrombosis and Duplex imaging of vein is useful in following the course and assessing the effect of treatment. Early diagnosis and initiation of treatment before thrombus organization are important for successful outcome. Polycythemia vera are at an especially high risk for both thrombotic and hemorrhghic events and postoperative complications. We report a case of axillary-subclavian vein thrombosis after left subclavian vein catheterization in polycythemia vera.
Catheterization* ; Catheters* ; Early Diagnosis ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Phlebography ; Polycythemia Vera* ; Polycythemia* ; Postoperative Complications ; Subclavian Vein* ; Thrombosis* ; Upper Extremity ; Veins* ; Venous Thrombosis

A case of symptomatic bilateral popliteal artery entrapment syndrome is reported. A twenty-one-year old male, a candidate of athlete, complained of coldness, weakness, pallor and cyanosis of right lower leg and intermittent claudication to both calves during walking or exercise for ten months. Studies revealed that the right popliteal artery was completely occluded, but the left popliteal artery was non-occlusive. An endarterectomy and onlay vein patch graft to the thrombosed and fibrotic right popliteal artery, and myotomies of bilateral medial heads of gastrocnemius muscle were done (May 20, 1998). Follow-up examinations for the last ten months showed a complete relief of symptoms with normal distal arterial flow. It is thought that even though the majority of patients present with unilateral calf claudication, the possiblity of bilateral problems need to be also considered.
Athletes ; Cyanosis ; Endarterectomy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Humans ; Inlays ; Intermittent Claudication ; Leg ; Male ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Pallor ; Popliteal Artery* ; Transplants ; Veins ; Walking

Iliofemoral vein thrombosis is a serious disease causing major morbidity, such as phlegmasia alba dolens, phlegmasia cerulea dolens, fatal pulmonary embolism, and post-thrombotic syndrome. Systemic anticoagulation therapy with heparin and coumadin often shows no effect and thrombectomy often results in poor long term patency due to recurrent thrombosis. Some recent studies have reported good results by catheter-guided thrombolysis therapy (CGTT) in iliofemoral vein thrombosis. Authors have experienced a good result by CGTT in an old (aging 7 weeks) iliofemoral vein thrombosis. (Case) A 21 years-old female patient with diffuse edema of left thigh and leg was admitted in SNUH. Her parents notified her abnormal gait at the age of three, but no treatment was done. In Jan. 1998, she was diagnosed as spastic diplegia due to cerebral palsy and underwent orthopedic surgery (semitendinosus tendon transfer) at other hospital. After long leg cast for 6 weeks, swelling of her left thigh developed, which waxed and waned. Seven weeks thereafter, she was diagnosed to have left iliofemoral vein thrombosis and transferred to our hospital. After initial evaluation and systemic heparin therapy, we performed CGTT via left popliteal vein puncture. After successful passage of guidewire, serial balloon dilatation and intra-clot urokinase infusion was done. Total 3.5 million units of urokinase was infused for 28 hours with simultaneous intravenous heparin. Despite of some residual thrombi, the venous flow of iliofemoral vein was restored with no complication and her symptom has much improved. Patent venous flow was detected at 6 months follow-up doppler examination.
Cerebral Palsy ; Dilatation ; Edema ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gait ; Heparin ; Humans ; Leg ; Orthopedics ; Parents ; Popliteal Vein ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Punctures ; Tendons ; Thigh ; Thrombectomy ; Thrombolytic Therapy* ; Thrombophlebitis ; Thrombosis* ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator ; Veins* ; Warfarin ; Young Adult

Behcet's disease is a multisystem disorder presenting with recurrent oral and genital ulcerations as well as ocular involvement. The etiology and pathogenesis of this disease remain obscure; it is considered an autoimmune disease since vasculitis is the main pathologic lesion and circulating autoantibodies to human oral mucous membrane are found in approximately 50 percent of the cases. Vascular lesions with Behcet's disease may include deep venous thrombosis, superficial thrombophlebitis, arterial obstruction, or arterial aneurysms. Although arterial aneurysmal lesions are uncommon in patients with Behcet's disease, they may pose serious, life-threatening therapeutic problems due to the risk of rupture. Here, we report a case of Behcet's disease, involving abdominal aorta with review of literature.
Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, False* ; Aorta ; Aorta, Abdominal* ; Autoantibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane ; Rupture ; Thrombophlebitis ; Ulcer ; Vasculitis ; Venous Thrombosis

Acute mesenteric infarction is a catastrophic illness representing a diverse spectrum of pathologic conditions which ultimately lead to necrosis of the intestine and which is uniformly fatal if left untreated. Despite better understanding of the disease process, acute mesenteric infarction continues to be a lethal disorder with high mortality rate. We experienced two cases of acute mesenteric infarction due to superior mesenteric arterial and venous branch occlusion, respectively, in recent years: One case was focal segmental ischemia with normal radiologic finding including angiography, successfully treated with segmental resection of the necrotized ileum, another case was mesenteric venous thrombosis, also treated with resection of necrotized small intestine followed by second look operation.
Angiography ; Catastrophic Illness ; Ileum ; Infarction* ; Intestine, Small ; Intestines ; Ischemia ; Mortality ; Necrosis ; Venous Thrombosis

The most common limiting factor in arterio-venous fistula operation (AVF) is the lack of a suitable native vein. So preoperative assessment of venous system is essential for successful results. But simple physical examination alone is not enough to assess in many cases. To evaluate difference between venogram results with physical examination, 20 patients (group A) imaged with venogram preoperatively compared with 20 patients (group B) who examined only physically. In group A, all patients palpated thrill in immediate post operation and one patient revealed fistula occlusion within post operative 2 months. In group B 4 patients revealed failed fistula within 24 hours and 5 fistula failed in 2 months. Twelve patients (>50%) of group A showed different results in venogram compared with physical examination, which influenced type of operation. Physical examination alone was not enough to assess venous system and venogram provided valuable information in AVF constructive surgery.
Fistula ; Humans ; Physical Examination ; Veins

Effectively functioning arterio-venous fistula (AVF) is so important as to be called a lifeline of the patient with end stage renal disease by maintaining hemodialysis. Not infrequent development of complications of AVF is a major cause of patient's admission and medical cost. Rescue therapy of complicated AVF had several advantages; delay or prevention of new AVF formation, prevention of temporary percutaneous central vein cannulation, and maintenance of psychologic stability. PURPOSE: In order to analyse the patterns of AVF complications and the short- and long-term results of rescue therapy, we made a clinical review retrospectively. PATIENTS & METHODS: We performed AVF in 1503 cases from Jan. 1986 to Dec. 1997. Among them, we performed 93 rescue therapies in 70 patients. Rescue therapy is defined to be a secondary procedure to correct complications while maintaining the primary anastomosis. Secondary procedures in immediate postoperative failure due to technical cause, such as improper selection of vein, were excluded. RESULTS: The most common indication of rescue therapy in 93 cases was thrombosis (78 cases, 83.9%), which is followed by aneurysm in 9 cases, venous hypertension in 2 cases, steal syndrome in 2 cases, high output cardiac failure in 1 case. Autogenous veins were used in initial operation in 55 cases and PTFEs in 38 cases. Early failure within 1 month after rescue therapy happened in 20 cases (21.5%). Complications occured in 4 cases, such as infection (2), brachial plexus injury (1), and arm edema. (1) Mean follow up duration was 3.9 months (1~123 months). Secondary patency rate after 3, 6, 12, 24 months were 70.3+/-3.97, 62.0+/-4.89, 50.6+/-5.85, 37.9+/-7.03% respectively. Secondary patency rate in successfully rescued patients excluding early failure within 1 month after rescue therapy were 91.5+/-3.11, 80.9+/-4.46, 68.9+/-6.15, 54.1+/-8.19%. CONCLUSIONS: Thrombosis or malfunction due to neointimal hyperplasia was the most common complication in AVF. Early and proper rescue therapy in complicated fistula could salvage the AVF. So careful and prompt evaluation of the inflow and outflow of the complicated fistula is necessary, and every effort to rescue the fistula should be made.
Aneurysm ; Arm ; Brachial Plexus ; Catheterization ; Edema ; Fistula* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Hypertension ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Polytetrafluoroethylene ; Renal Dialysis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Thrombosis ; Veins

BACKGROUND: There are two methods to understand a periodic signal. One is describing it in the time domain, and the other is in the frequency domain. Various methods have been described for analysis of Doppler signals in terms of velocities and they need to be further characterized. Frequency domain analysis involves conventional Fourier transformation and analysis by modeling. In 1980's, Skidmore et al. applied Laplace transformation analysis to the femoral and ankle Doppler waveforms and described the waveforms in terms of damping, stiffness and distal impedance. However, few subsequent studies have been reported by other authors. Further, an appealing feature of frequency function analysis is that it can be used for modeling of the resistive and/or storage property of the circuit. PURPOSE: The purpose of study is to analyze the Doppler waveforms of lower extremity in frequency domain and compare the results with the currently known parameters of pusatility in the time domain. METHODS: This study includes 119 Doppler waveforms from 7 non-symptomatic limbs and from 18 limbs with symptoms of chronic low extremity ischemia. Each five representative beats of Doppler waveforms were curve-fitted by third-order AR (auto-regressive) model and z-transformed resulting in three representative roots in the z-plane. Maximum velocity (Max), minimum velocity (Min), maximum excursion of the waveform (Max-Min; MaxE), mean velocity (Avg), pulsatility index (PI) and resistive index (RI) were calculated and compared with the values of the roots. RESULTS: Mostly, the poles of the transfer function were two imaginary and one real poles. Severely diseased waveforms had all three poles in real axis or the imaginary poles approached toward the real axis. The average value of the three poles (Rmean) was 0.5096 ( 0.0967 S.D.) (range: 0.2193~0.7197). The real value of the first pole (R1real) was 0.8957 ( 0.067 S.D.) (range: 0.5964~0.97). The absolute value of imaginary value of the first pole (R1imag) was 0.0998 ( 0.0713 S.D.) (range: 0~0.2336). Significant correlation was observed between 1) Rmean and MaxE (r=0.769), Max (r=0.7498), Avg (r=0.3106), RI (r=0.4378), 2) R1real and MaxE (r=0.5382), Max (r=0.4732), RI (r=0.3629), and 3) R1imag and MaxE (r=0.4785), Max (r=0.3333), Min (r= 0.3703), RI (r=0.5611). CONCLUSIONS: The position of roots of third-order transfer function of Doppler waveforms seems to correlate with the known parameters of velocity. In addition to these parameters of velocity, transfer function analysis appears to be a useful tool to evaluate the Doppler waveforms. Further studies are needed in relation to clinical manifestation.
Ankle ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Electric Impedance ; Extremities ; Fourier Analysis ; Ischemia ; Lower Extremity*

A temporary balloon occlusion of internal carotid artery (ICA) was performed in 3 patients for carotid artery endarterectomy and 1 patient require sacrifice ICA with neck malignancy. EEG monitoring and neurologic evaluation was done during the test. In one patient who has bilateral ICA stenosis more than 95% shows slurred speech and aphasia during test. Another 3 patients shows no clinical change during test, and operation was done without shunt. There were no postoperative neurologic complication. We believe that preoperative balloon occlusion of ICA provide another helpful criteria to decide using shunt. But it needs another hemodynamic analysis tool according to other's report.
Aphasia ; Balloon Occlusion ; Carotid Arteries* ; Carotid Artery, Internal ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Electroencephalography ; Endarterectomy ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Neck