[Objective and Patients] We carried out surveys of urinary condition and its change, and anxiety and depression status and its change in 44 male outpatients with a chief complaint of urinary difficulty. In these surveys, we distributed questionnaires of the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD Scale) to the patients twice-at their first visit and six monthslater.
[Results] The survey using the IPSS found that the urinary condition improved in 27 patients in six months, deteriorated in five and did not change in 12. The HAD Scale survey found that psychologicasl status improved in 17 patients, deteriorated in 11 and did not change in 16. The patients who had better points in the second IPSS test showed a tendency to make a good QOL score and get an improved state on the HAD Scale. However, the HAD Scale deteriorated in some of the patients who got improved IPSS.
[Conclusions] Although the patients who got better results in the second IPSS trial showed a tendency to get better marks on the HAD Scale, patients' anxiety and depression condition might have been affected by other factors than urinary difficulty.

Since April 1992 we have introduced a beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) inhalation therapy with a large spacer for patients with bronchial asthma who were admitted to the internal medicine department of our hospital because of the exacerbation of asthma.
To find out the effect of this BDP inhalation therapy, we investigated the number of emergency room visits by the patients with bronchial asthma who had been admitted to our hospital with asthmatic attacks before and after the introduction of the new therapy.
From April 1991 to March 1994, the proportion of asthma patients decreased significantly (p<0.05): from April 1991 to March 1992 (before the introduction of the BDP inhalation therapy) 10.4±3.0%; from April 1992 to March 1993 5.3±1.4%, from April 1993 to March 1994 3.7±1.4%.
We checked the inhalation technique of 21 patients who visited our hospital regularly during the same period. The BDP therapy could decrease the number of emergency-room visits by 10 patients whose inhalation technique was imperfect, as well as by the other 11 patients whose inhalation technique was perfect.

Oketsu-night sweat was first mentioned in the “Yi lin gai cuo” by Wang Qing ren and the “Xue zheng lun” by? Tang Rong chuan, but there are few explanations of its disease condition. Thus we made pathological studies in Oriental medicine based on three cases (women), where Oketsu-sho was alleviated with Keppu-chikuo-to modification, and Teitou-gan and Tokaku-joki-to (Tao he cheng qi tang) modification. Common disease conditions were Netsu-sho or heat syndrome (summer incidences, redness, flushing during night sweat), and lower Oketsu symptoms (lower abdominal distention, distention and cramping of the lower abdomen, and increased urinary frequency). The theory of these disease conditions is as follows: During sleep, Wei-energy enters the blood. Because of this, Wei-energy of the body surface becomes asthenia making it easier to break out in sweat. The Wei-energy in the blood is depressed by Oketsu, and heat of Oketsu becomes stronger during the night. This fever heats and evaporates bodily fluids, and as a result fluids are pushed outward and cause night sweat. Therefore heat syndrome appears to be a pre-condition of Oketsu-night sweat. If the lower aspect of the body is taken to mean the liver, one would hypothesize that Oketsu-night sweat is more likely to emerge because blood accumulates in the lower area because it returns to the liver at night. Thus, it is thought to be necessary to consider Oketsu as one of the causes of night sweat.

Syncope is a common chief complaint in emergency departments, and although causes in most patients with syncope are benign, some patients have a serious disease. Here we report a 50-year-old patient with facial trauma who had past history of alcoholic liver cirrhosis. He fell down by syncope due to portopulmonary hypertension (PPHTN) accompanied by portal hypertension. Oral ambrisentan, a potent ET_A-selective receptor, 2.5 mg once a day was initiated. His ECG and the results of cardiac catheterization showed improvement in hemodynamic abnormality after the treatment. Also, the patient had no significant symptoms, including syncope, for nine months after receiving ambrisentan.

Objective : We conducted a fact-finding survey for the consecutive past 3 years to establish whether inpatients with brain injury who had wished to resume driving after discharge from our hospital had in fact resumed driving after discharge. The survey included both driving status and information about collisions. Methods : Patients who had been evaluated for resumption of driving and were discharged more than 1 year ago were sent a fact-finding survey questionnaire aimed at establishing whether they were currently driving. The patients who had resumed driving (resumers) were compared with those who had not resumed driving (non-resumers). From the questionnaire results we investigated driving status and whether collisions had occurred. Results : We obtained effective responses from 40 of the 54 people (48 males, 6 females) who were sent the questionnaire ; the collection rate was 74.1%. Of these, twenty-nine people had resumed driving, all were male. There were no significant differences between the resumers and non-resumers in higher brain function tests. In regard to driving ability, hemiparesis impairments were significantly milder in the resumers than in the non-resumers. Two respondents had hit posts or walls within the year. All these collisions occurred when parking. One respondent had a collision while driving along a road. Conclusion : We hope to provide patients with useful and appropriate information on resuming driving so that we can support them in a safe return to the driving environment.

A rare surgical case of chronic expanding hematoma in the pericardial cavity is reported. A 78-year-old man had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting 2 years previously. He had suffered from general malaise, increasing shortness of breath and systemic edema from 18 months after the operation. Echocardiography revealed an intrapericardial mass compressing the cardiac chambers resulting in insufficiency of the ventricular expansion. Under extracardiopulmonary bypass and cardiac beating, resection of the mass and additional coronary artery surgery were implemented. The mass was encapsulated with thick fibrous membrane containing old degenerated coagula the bacterial culture of which was negative and was histopathologically diagnosed as chronic expanding hematoma. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful and symptoms with cardiac failure were relieved. There has been no recurrence for more than 18 months.

We report a case of a 64-year-old man who had a fistula from the right coronary artery to the right ventricle, with an asymptomatic giant coronary aneurysm. Multi-detector computer tomography showed an aneurysm from the sinus of Valsalva to the mid-right coronary artery (RCA). Its diameter was over 50 mm. We performed aneurysmectomy direct closure of the fistula, and coronary artery bypass graft with saphenous vein graft cardiopulmonary bypass. The enlarged RCA orifice was closed with a vascular prosthesis, and the postoperative course was uneventful.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between alterations of salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) and the occurrence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in rugby football players.We examined the relationship between the onset of URTI and the daily alterations of SIgA levels in 32 male collegiate rugby football players (20.5±1.3 years) during summer training camp for 36 days.Total of 6 in 32 subjects had the appearance of URTI symptoms (18 %). SIgA secretion rate decreased significantly in the middle of training camp compared to the baseline (P＜0.05). Furthermore, SIgA secretion rate during the appearance of URTI (13.7±1.1μg/min) were significantly lower than that without symptoms (19.2±1.4 μg/min, P＜0.01). These results suggest that serial monitoring of SIgA may be useful to assess the risk status of URTI affection in athletes.

The effectiveness of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) was evaluated in elderly patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting. A total of 133 patients were divided into three groups: those who were 70 years of age or older and received rHuEPO (group I; n=32), those who were also 70 years of age or older but did not receive rHuEPO (group II; n=35), and those who were 60 years or younger and received rHuEPO (group III; n=66). In 87.5% of group I, 42.9% of group II, and 98.5% of group III, homologous blood transfusion could be avoided. The percentage of patients without homologous blood transfusion was significantly higher in group I than in group II (p<0.001). The rate of homologous blood transfusion was significantly higher in group I than in group III (p<0.05), but rHuEPO had equal effects in terms of increase in hemoglobin level in the two groups. Furthermore, in patients without anemia, the rate of homologous blood transfusion was almost the same in the two groups. In conclusion, the administration of rHuEPO enables even elderly patients to undergo coronary artery bypass grafting without homologous blood transfusion.

We studied 90 consecutive cases undergoing open heart surgery with preoperative collection of autologous blood and ultrafiltration during extracorporeal circulation. Among the 58 out of 90 patients (64.4%), open heart surgeries were achieved without homologous blood. We evaluated 13 factors (age, height, weight, body surface area, cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross clamping time, dilutional rate, Hct before predonation, lowest Hct during cardiopulmonary bypass, amount of predonated autologous blood, term of autologous blood predonation, amount of bleeding during surgery, amount of bleeding after surgery) in connection with open heart surgery without homologous blood. Among these factors, age, body surface area, cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross clamping time, lowest Hct during cardiopulmonary bypass, amount of predonated autologous blood, amount of bleeding during surgery and amount of bleeding after surgery demonstrated differed significantly between the only autologous blood transfusion group and the homologous blood transfusion group. According to the evaluation by multivariate regression analysis of these factors, the amount of bleeding after surgery was the most contributor to open heart surgery without homologous blood, followed by amount of bleeding during surgery and body surface area. We concluded that open heart surgery without homologous blood may be achieved in more patients by understanding these factors. Autologous blood predonation by the “leapfrog” method, control of the dilution rate by ultrafiltration during extracorporeal circulation and fresh autologous blood transfusion after extracorporeal circulation were effective to achieve open heart surgery without homologous blood.