Myasthenia Gravis can be considered a lymphocyte dyscrasia. We report four cases of myasLhenia gravis, who were treated with whole body irradiation. Total of 180 rad was delivered in 9 fractions for 3 weeks with every other day treabmenL Three out of four cases showed remarkable symptomatic improvement on follow-up during 3 months.
Follow-Up Studies ; Lymphocytes ; Myasthenia Gravis* ; Pilot Projects* ; Whole-Body Irradiation*

In general, coronary steal is defined as a fall in blood flow toward a certain vascular region in favor of another area during arteriolar vasodilatation. The coronary artery fistulae is an unusual abnormality in the general population, but is the most common abnormality of the coronary arteries that are ED: Either the ARTERIES ARE hemodynamically significant, or the ABNORMALITY IS hemodynamically significant. Hemodynamically significant. We experienced a 58-year-old male patient with intermittent chest pain at rest. Coronary angiography showed coronary artery fistulae on the LCX and RCA and retrograde flow from the LAD to LCX. Retrograde flow caused coronary artery steal syndrome on LAD territory. A stress/rest MIBI myocardial scan showed reversible ischemia on the LAD territory. He underwent an operation for the coronary artery fistulae, and has since been doing well without chest pain.
Arteries* ; Arteriovenous Fistula* ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Vessels ; Fistula ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Vasodilation

BACKGROUND: Sevoflurane, a newly developed halogenated inhalation anesthetic agent shows myocardial protective effects against global ischemia like other inhalation agents. We investigated differences between pharmacologic preconditioning effects at various concentrations of sevoflurane. METHODS: Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were subdivided into 4 groups (each n = 10). All groups underwent the same procedure (Langendorff preparation, 30 minutes ischemia and 60 minutes reperfusion) except for the concentrations of sevoflurane. The control group received no sevoflurane treatment. The sevo 1.6% group was given 1.6% sevoflurane before ischemia, the sevo 205% group was given 2.05% sevoflurane before ischemia, and the sevo 2.5% group was given 2.5% sevoflurane before ischemia. Hemodynamic parameters of all groups were recorded through a thin, saline-filled latex balloon and a transducer. Coronary flows were also measured. All hearts were stained by triphenyl tetrazolium to measure infarct size. RESULTS: The sevoflurane administered groups showed higher left ventricular end systolic pressures and lower left ventricular end diastolic pressures than the control group after ischemia and reperfusion. The dP/dtMAX of the sevoflurane administration groups showed a more rapid recovery pattern after ischemia than the control. But no differences were found between the sevoflurane administered groups. Infarct sizes in the sevoflurane administered groups were smaller than those in the control group, and there were no significant differences between the sevoflurane administered groups. CONCLUSIONS: Sevoflurane (even below one MAC) administration before myocardial ischemia has a superb cardioprotective effects, i.e., rapid recovery of left ventricular fuctions, less stiffness development, and a reduced infarct size. There were no significant differences between the sevoflurane administered groups.
Animals ; Heart* ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Ischemia* ; Latex ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion ; Transducers ; Ventricular Function, Left