A 48-year-old man complained of hemoptysis. Chest CT scan showed a large cardiac tumor invading the atrial septum and both atria, as well as multiple small nodules in bilateral lung fields. They were diagnosed as a malignant cardiac tumor and its lung metastases. As the tumor in the left atrium was extremely massive, operation was performed to prevent sudden death due to occlusion and to make a pathological diagnosis. The cardiac tumor invaded the atrial septum from the right atrium and occupied the left atrium. After the cardiac tumor was completely removed, the bilateral atria, the atrial septum, SVC, IVC and the right lower pulmonary vein were reconstructed with prosthetic pericardial patches. The tumor was angiosarcoma. During the postoperative period, Interleukin-2 was used as the treatment for angiosarcoma. Unfortunately the patient died of lung failure on the 107th postoperative day. Though IL-2 could not stop the development of lung metastasis in this case, the effectiveness of radiotherapy or IL-2 for angiosarcoma has recently been reported. In such cases where complete resection of the primary cardiac lesion is possible, postoperative radiotherapy or IL-2 administration seems to be effective for cardiac sarcoma.

The number of surgical treatments for acute aortic dissection in octogenarians is increasing. They should return to their daily life as soon as possible after the operation without any complications. Some literature reported that minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS) helps quick recovery for the patients. We report a case of minimally invasive ascending aorta replacement for Stanford type A chronic thrombosed aortic dissection in an octogenarian to help quick recovery. An 81-year-old man was admitted in our hospital suffering from chest and back pain. Enhanced CT scan showed Stanford type A acute thrombosed aortic dissection. The diameter of ascending aorta was 45 mm and the diameter of false lumen was 7 mm. Therefore we decided on medical treatment for this patient according to the guideline. After four weeks medical treatment, ascending aorta was dilated to 49 mm and the false lumen also expanded to 9 mm. He underwent minimally invasive ascending aorta replacement to help quick recovery considering his age. He was discharged 11 days postoperatively without any complications. MICS offers a better cosmetic result, less blood loss, less pain, better respiratory function and quick recovery. Thus, minimally invasive operation for the elderly is also very satisfactory.

There is no report that describes in detail the radiological and intraoperative findings of rickets with symptomatic cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. Here, we describe a case of X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets with cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament presenting unique radiological and intraoperative findings. The patient presented progressive tetraparesis. Magnetic resonance imaging studies revealed severe cervical spinal cord compression caused by ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. Computed tomography scans revealed homogeneously increased vertebral bone density. An expansive laminoplasty was performed. At surgery, homogeneously hard lamina bone was burdened in drilling and opening of the laminae. The patient's neurological symptoms were improved postoperatively. Bony fusion of the hinges occurred postoperatively. Therefore, expansive laminoplasty could be performed for symptomatic cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament with X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets. However, unusual bone characters should be taken into consideration for careful operation during surgery.
Bone Density* ; Familial Hypophosphatemic Rickets* ; Humans ; Longitudinal Ligaments ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Ossification of Posterior Longitudinal Ligament* ; Rickets ; Spinal Cord Compression

Detection of the coronary artery is usually an easy procedure in the coronary artery surgery. However in cases with an intra-muscular and/or intra-fat coronary artery, it requires special skill and experience. Dissection of epicardial adipose tissue and/or muscle along the epicardial groove is a common procedure to reach such coronary artery in conventional CABG (C-CABG). Recently, off-pump CABG (OPCAB) has become a standard operation, and detection of such a coronary artery is difficult under the beating heart. Then conversion to the C-CABG becomes necessary to avoid ventricular rupture. We report a new procedure to easily detect such a coronary artery in OPCAB, using an ultrasonic Fowmeter used in neurosurgery. Because the tip of the probe is small (2mm in diameter) and flexible, its handling is quite similar to that of the micro-blade knife. Furthermore, audiable Doppler flow sound allows detection and dissection of the coronary artery without looking away from the operative field to check the coronary flow. In our case, use of the instrument enabled us to detect the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery which was very deep in adipose tissue. Therefore, application of this ultrasound instrument is beneficial in OPCAB with an intra-muscular and/or intra-fat coronary artery.

Objective: Pharmacists need to know at what positioning a drug is recommended in clinical practice guidelines when they make prescription proposals.  However, the format of guidelines and the definition of recommendation grades differ between academic societies, making it difficult to comprehensively extract only the information one needs.  Therefore, we developed a guideline utilization system to support prescription proposals by pharmacists.
Methods: We built a database comprised of clinical practice guidelines on pharmacological therapy for breast cancer and breast cancer-related conditions.  FileMaker®was used in the development of the system.
Result: This system allows the comprehensive extraction of clinical questions and recommendations from multiple guidelines by means of standardized keywords.
Conclusion: This system supports prescription proposals by pharmacists when generating pharmacological therapy protocols or when in discussions with healthcare professionals as information on the positioning of therapeutic agents in different guidelines and recommended drugs is readily available.

Introduction: Tramadol (TRM) has been included as a weak opioid at the second step of the WHO analgesic ladder and has been widely used in palliative medicine. Here we report a case of amelioration of cancer pain by TRM therapy in a female patient with myasthenia gravis (MG). Case:The patient was a 70’s woman who was diagnosed with advanced endometrial carcinoma and suffered from chest pain caused by chest metastasis. 25 mg of a TRM capsule was orally administered three times a day. The dose was increased to 50 mg twice a day. It was resulted in sound pain relief with transient muscle weakness but without a myasthenic crisis.

OBJECTIVESExposure misclassification is a major obstacle to obtain accurate dose-response relationships. In order to solve this problem, the impact of hair treatment on total mercury in hair was assessed in Japanese women.

METHODSA cross-sectional study was carried out among 327 women at age 24-49 years to determine hair mercury levels and estimate daily mercury intakes from seafood by using a food frequency questionnaire.

RESULTSHair mercury levels in the women and daily mercury intake ranged from 0.11 to 6.86 (median 1.63) μg/g and from 0.77 to 144.9 (median 15.0) μg/day, respectively. The hair mercury was positively correlated with the daily mercury intake (p<0.001). When the women were divided into two subgroups based on artificial hair-waving, hair coloring/dyeing, residence (non-fishing and fishing areas), and working status, a significant difference in the hair mercury level was observed between the women with and without artificial hair-waving only (p<0.001). The multiple regression analysis showed that the log-transformed hair mercury level was significantly related to the log-transformed daily mercury intake (standardized regression coefficient βs=0.307) and artificial hair-waving (βs=-0.276); but not to hair coloring/dyeing, residence, working status or age. Permanent hair treatment was estimated to reduce total mercury in hair by approximately 30%, after adjusting for daily mercury intake and other possible factors.

CONCLUSIONSThese findings suggest that hair mercury is not the best biomarker of methylmercury exposure when a study population includes women with artificial hair-waving.

Objective: The benefits of combining cancer screenings with clinical surveys have become increasingly obvious as cancer morbidity and mortality have steadily increased. This paper discusses a study on the current status of and issues surrounding breast cancer screening in a clinical survey. The study also investigated the patients' awareness of the benefits of breast cancer screening. A secondary aim of the study was to promote mammographic screening.;Subjects and Methods: During the 72 months between April 1999 and March 2005, a total of 36,505 women underwent clinical surveys in our hospital. In October 2002, mammographic examination was included as an optional part of the routine physical examination. We evaluated the results of breast cancer screening with or without mammographic examination and used a questionnaire to investigate the patients' awareness of the benefits of breast cancer screening.;Results: Compared with the pre-2001 results, the detection rate of breast cancer significantly increased after 2003 when physical examination was combined with mammographic examination. Our study also found that both elderly patients and those residing in the suburbs of Sapporo City tended to choose physical examination alone rather than combining it with mammographic examination. An analysis of the questionnaires collected from these patients indicates they had a poor understanding of and lacked awareness of the benefits of mammographic examinations during breast cancer screenings.;Conclusions: The inclusion of mammographic screenings with clinical surveys was found to be significantly useful in the detection of breast cancer. Further continued education is needed for women, particularly the elderly and residents in the suburbs, so they understand the benefits of breast cancer screening by mammographic examination for the early detection of breast cancer and, consequently, decreased mortality of the disease.
Breast neoplasm screen NOS ; Clinical ; benefits ; Awareness ; Surveys