Cor triatriatum is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly in which the accessory chamber is separated from the left atrium by an anomalous septum. We report a rare case of cor triatriatum with severe mitral regurgitation and atrial fibrillation in an adult. The patient was a 65-year old woman who developed congestive heart failure 3 years previously, and received medical follow-up with mitral regurgitation, atrial fibrillation and cor triatriatum since then. She developed congestive heart failure again and was referred to our hospital for operation for progressed mitral regurgitation, tricuspid regurgitation and atrial fibrillation. Mitral valve plasty (Physio ring II 28 mm, cleft closure, edge to edge repair for PMC), tricuspid annuloplasty (Physio tricuspid ring 28 mm), resection of the anomalous septum and maze procedure was performed. All of the pulmonary veins were connected to the accessory chamber. There was only one hole on the anomalous septum, and the hole was large, about 3.0 cm in diameter. The patient regained sinus rhythm without mitral and tricuspid regurgitation after the operation. Even though the duration of atrial fibrillation was long and left atrium diameter was large, complete excision of the anomalous septum and maze procedure were effective for the patient diagnosed cor triatriatum.

At the Niigata University School of Medicine, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) were performed for the first time in 2001 for 92 fourth-year medical students. The average evaluation scores students received from instructors were summarized, and the differences between scores given by different instructors were examined. We found that practice methods for the medical interview and physical examination before OSCE and the question topics and evaluation methods of OSCE were appropriate, but scores on some items were extremely low. The standardization and objectivity of the evaluation were satisfactory, perhaps because one explanatory conference and two training conferences were held for instructors before OSCE. However, some questions tended to produce differences between instructors, as did some topics, especially in the medical interview. The scores with standardized patients and those by teachers were strongly correlated, but those with the former were lower than those by the latter.

Objective: Pharmacists in inpatient pharmaceutical services are required to evaluate the medications that patients bring with them to the hospital when admitted and to make recommendations to physicians about these medications' proper use. Many hospitals perform such inpatient pharmaceutical services. Studies have found that pharmacists with insufficient years of experience are often put in charge of this practice. This has resulted in patients continuing to take inappropriate medications. We hypothesized that the involvement of another pharmacist in checking outpatient medications brought to the hospital might lower the rate of inappropriate use. We initiated the rechecking of medications brought to the hospital by the drug information (DI) pharmacist, based on the need for cooperation between the DI pharmacist and ward pharmacists.Methods: We initiated rechecks by DI pharmacists of medications brought to the hospital and first checked by ward pharmacists, and estimated the medical economic impact of pharmaceutical intervention between 1 May 2019 and 30 April 2020.Results: Within one year, the DI pharmacist suggested 15 interventions, including four interventions related to digitalis products and three related to direct oral anticoagulants. The medical economic impact was estimated to be 10,175,000 yen.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that checking by another pharmacist of outpatient medications brought to the hospital is a useful addition to the check by ward pharmacists.

Hydrophilic polymer embolism (HPE) associated with endovascular therapy has steadily gained attention. We report a case of a 70-year-old man who had undergone one-debranched TEVAR. He had a history of distal arch replacement for dissecting aortic aneurysm 14 years earlier. Pseudoaneurysm at the proximal site of graft anastomosis was found on computed tomography (CT) angiogram during the follow-up. 1 debranching TEVAR was performed using the pull-through technique. Fourth days after the procedure, a skin rash appeared in the right lower extremity around the access site. Skin biopsy with pathological examination revealed HPE. We decided to observe a patient because there was no symptom of limb ischemia. Skin lesions improved and he was discharged on the 27th postoperative day. Hydrophilic polymers are widely used in the endovascular devices and there is an urgent need to better understand the complication of HPE.

Objectives: The purpose of this research is to describe the social demographics and chief complaints of users of a free medical consultation application in Ibaraki Prefecture, where a free medical consultation application was released.Methods: The present study included users of a telehealth application in Ibaraki Prefecture between April 9 and May 17, 2020, during the state of emergency. User background characteristics were descriptively analyzed to clarify individual factors with the potential to act as barriers to equally using innovative solutions. Additionally, the age and consultation time distribution by sex were examined for those who used the application for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 issues.Results: Most of the participants were in their thirties. Moreover, 72% were female, with most being in their thirties (86%) and the least being in their sixties (45%). The number of consultations was concentrated between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., with the least between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. The telehealth application users were mainly females in their thirties and forties.Conclusions: To prevent the widening of health disparities due to the rapid introduction of telehealth, further research is required to identify why the use of the application did not spread beyond the aforementioned user groups.