We reviewed our experience with 4 cases of chronic dissecting aortic aneurysm (DeBakey IIIb) with the false lumen extending into the abdominal aorta and major branches being perfused from the false lumen. In such cases, resection of the intrathoracic portion of the aneurysm and closing of the distral false lumen may exclude visceral perfusion from the false lumen. In order to ensure continued perfusion of true and false lumens after repair, we performed “double barrel” anastomosis for distal anastomosis in graft replacement of the descending aorta. Follow-up periods ranged from 8 to 21 months, 17 months on average. Postoperatively, neither apparent expansion of the false lumen nor compression of the true lumen was found in these cases. The advantage of this procedure is the effective restoration of visceral perfusion. We emphasize that this procedure is one of the choices of procedures, as a two-staged approach for chronic aortic dissection presenting with visceral perfusion from the false lumen and without an enlarged abdominal aorta, though more patients and longer follow-up are required to fully evaluate this procedure.

We report the case of a 34-year-old man who was initially diagnosed with a tension-type headache after complaining of a headache and nausea. His headache worsened in severity and it was exacerbated on standing in the upright position. The patient was admitted to the hospital on suspicion of spontaneous low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure headache. Gadolinium-enhanced brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed diffuse pachymeningeal enhancement, brain sagging, cerebellar tonsillar herniation, brainstem descent and a subdural hematoma. Successful emergency surgery was undertaken.
Spontaneous low CSF pressure headache syndrome is characterized by orthostatic headache, and if such a headache worsens, clinicians should consider a subdural hematoma, a life-threatening complication of this unusual disorder.

Many papers on medical education emphasize the idea that obtaining structure through the practice of Oral Case Presentations (OCPs) is essential and efficient to brush up presentation skills. However, psychological resistance to giving a public presentation is an obstacle in learning OCPs. The aim of this survey is to evaluate the educational effect of our teaching method using a playful learning approach for presentation. This study was conducted by using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire for medical students during their clinical clerkship. One hundred twenty eight students participated in this survey.　Didactics and small group discussions took place during the first week of clerkship, and participants were asked to give presentations about their original theme during the second week. Questionnaires were distributed before and after the end of each session. The results showed that psychological resistance to presentations decreased, positive feelings increased, and students became more aware of the purpose, place, and subject of their presentations. Each parameter statistically improved at each phase. A playful learning approach is effective in teaching presentations, including OCPs.