BACKGROUND: The present study was carried out in association with neutrophilic respiratory burst in the lung in order to clarify the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS) following acute severe hemorrhage. Because oxidative stress has been suggested as one of the principal factors causing tissue injury, the role of free radicals from neutrophils was assessed in acute hemorrhage-induced lung injury. METHOD: In Sprague-Dawley rats, hemorrhagic shock was induced by withdrawing blood(20 ml/kg of B.W) for 5 min and the hypotensive state was sustained for 60 min. To determine the mechanism and role of oxidative stress associated with phospholipase A2(PLA2) by neutrophils, the level of lung leakage, pulmonary myeloperoxidase(MPO), and the pulmonary PLA2 were measured. In addition, the production of free radicals was assessed in isolated neutrophils by cytochemical electron microscopy in the lung. RESULTS: In hypotensive shock-induced acute lung injury, the pulmonary MPO, the level of lung leakage and the production of free radicals were higher. The inhibition of PLA2 with mepacrine decreased the pulmonary MPO, level of lung leakage and the production of free radicals from neutrophils. CONCLUSION: A. neutrophilic respiratory burst is responsible for the oxidative stress causing acute lung injury followed by acute, severe hemorrhage. PLA2 activation is the principal cause of this oxidative stress.
Acute Lung Injury* ; Free Radicals ; Hemorrhage ; Lung ; Lung Injury ; Microscopy, Electron ; Neutrophils* ; Oxidative Stress ; Phospholipases A2* ; Phospholipases* ; Quinacrine ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Respiratory Burst* ; Shock, Hemorrhagic

BACKGROUND: The goal of our study was to investigate the effects of propofol anesthesia on the pulmonary vascular response to prostacyclin during U46619 precontraction in dogs. METHODS: Eight mongrel dogs were anesthetized and instrumented to measure the left pulmonary vascular pressure-flow relation, by loosely positioning a hydraulic occluder around the right main pulmonary artery and placing an electromagnetic flow probe around the left main pulmonary artery. During slowly occlusion of the right main pulmonary artery, the pressure-flow plots were measured in the left main pulmonary artery in the control and propofol-anesthetized (5.0 mg/kg plus 0.5 mg/kg/min intravenously) states at baseline, after preconstriction with the U46619, and during the cumulative intravenous administration of prostacyclin. RESULTS: Propofol had no effect on the baseline pressure-flow relation versus the control state. A lower (P <0.05) dose of U46619 was necessary to achieve the same degree of preconstriction during propofol anesthesia. The pulmonary vasodilator response to prostacyclin was markedly attenuated (P <0.05) during propofol anesthesia compared to the control state. CONCLUSIONS: These results imply that propofol directly inhibits the pulmonary vasodilatory effects of prostacyclin. However the signal transduction pathway of cyclooxygenase-induced pulmonary vasodilation requires further investigation to determine mechanisms involved.
15-Hydroxy-11 alpha,9 alpha-(epoxymethano)prosta-5,13-dienoic Acid* ; Administration, Intravenous ; Anesthesia ; Animals ; Dogs* ; Epoprostenol ; Magnets ; Propofol* ; Pulmonary Artery ; Pulmonary Circulation ; Signal Transduction ; Vasodilation*

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a local, endoscopically controlled nonoperative therapeutic technique based on selective sensitization of mucosal, malignant and precancerous lesions of the esophagus, trachea and bronchus prior to light-induced tissue destruction in the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. PDT is effective and safe for palliative treatment of neoplasms in the stomach, esophagus, and lung. But skin phototoxicity is unsatisfactory, therefore optimization of management of post-PDT is necessary for preventing phototoxic side effects of skin. Careful patient education in photoprotection techniques, close patient follow-up, early dermatologic referral and medical treatment are recommended. We performed PDT in a patient with intrathoracic constructed stomach. We report this case with a brief review of literatures, therefore.
Bronchi ; Dermatitis, Phototoxic ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lung ; Palliative Care ; Patient Education as Topic ; Photochemotherapy* ; Referral and Consultation ; Skin ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stomach* ; Trachea

Lung cancer with pleural seeding has poor prognosis and is generally treated by intravenous anticancer chemotherapy only. We performed intrapleural perfusion hyperthermic-chemotherapy in two lung cancer patients with pleural seeding. Herein, we report our outcome with literature review.
Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Neoplasm Seeding ; Perfusion* ; Pleural Effusion ; Pleurodesis ; Prognosis

From March 1988 to June 1994, 275 CarboMedics cardiac valve prostheses (199 mitral, 70 aortic and 3 tricuspid) were implanted in 226 consecutive patients(mean age 39 years, male/female 90/136) by one surgical team operating on adult cardiac patients at Kyungpook University Hospital. Total follow up represented 16,848 patient-months (mean 76 months) and follow up rate was 96%. One hundred and forty-nine patients (66%) wer in NYHA functional class III or IV preoperatively, and 204 patients (99.5%) were in class I or II postoperatively. Early mortality was 4.9% and late death was 9.3%. The actuarial survival at 81 months was 86.l2+/-3.1%. The linearized incidence of valve-related death, prosthetic valve thrombosis, anticoagulation-related hemorrhage, non-structural dysfunction and reoperation were 0.71%, 0.43%, 0.07%, 0.21%, and 0.14% respectively. The 81-month rate of freedom from all valve related complications and deaths including hospital mortality was 88.1+/-2.5%. Thee facts suggest that the CarboMedics cardiac valve has excellent result, low incidence of valve-related complications and no structureal deterioration.
Adult ; Follow-Up Studies ; Freedom ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Heart Valves ; Hemorrhage ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Reoperation ; Thrombosis

BACKGROUND: There has been controversy over the prevalence of recoarctation in infants treated by subclavian flap aortoplasty (SFA) for coarctation of the aorta. To assess the rate of recurrence of coarctation after SFA, we reviewed the surgical results of SFA in infants with coarctation of the aorta. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Between 1986 and 1998, a total of 25 patients less than 1 year of age (12 neonates and 13 infants) underwent SFA for aortic coarctation. Age at operation was 3.0+/-3.0 months (mean +/- standard deviation); mean weight was 5.0+/-1.4kg. Classic SFA was performed in 20 patients, reversed SFA in 2 patients, subclavian artery reimplantation in 2 patients and the combined resection-flap aortoplasty in one. The aortic clamping time ranged from 20 to 88 minutes(mean 35.8 minutes). There were one operative death and two late deaths. There was no case of paraplegia or left arm ischemia in complications. Twenty-one (84%) of 24 hospital survivors were followed for 26.0+/-24.0 months. The risk of recoarctation in neonates (33.3%) was a little greater than infants (25.0%) without statistical significance. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that SFA resulted a relatively high incidence of recarctation in infants. It is desirable to select other methods of surgical treatment (combined resection-flap aortoplasty, extended end-to-end repair etc.) for severe isthmic coarctation or hypoplasia of the distal aortic arch in infants, instead of choosing SFA indiscriminately.
Aorta, Thoracic ; Aortic Coarctation* ; Arm ; Constriction ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn ; Ischemia ; Paraplegia ; Prevalence ; Recurrence ; Replantation ; Subclavian Artery ; Survivors

Reexpansion pulmonary edema is a rare complication of the treatment of lung collapse secondary to pneumothorax, pleural effusion, or atelectasis. But occasionally, severe morbidity and death may result. Reexpansion pulmonary edema occurs when chronically collapsed lung is rapidly reexpanded by evacuation of large amounts of air or fluid. In the treatment of the chronically collapsed lung, physicians must remember the possible events and prevent the complications. When the difference in airway resistance or lung compliance between the two lungs is exaggerated, conventional mechanical ventilation might lead to preferential ventilation with hyperexpansion of one lung and gradual collapse of the other. Differential ventilation has been advocated to avert this problem. By differential lung ventilation, we successfully treated a severe reexpansion pulmonary edema in two patients. Therefore we suggest that differential lung ventilation is the treatment of choice for severe reexpansion pulmonary edema.
Airway Resistance ; Humans ; Lung Compliance ; Lung* ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumothorax ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Pulmonary Edema* ; Respiration, Artificial ; Ventilation*

Primary pulmonary artery sarcoma is a rare tumor and commonly misdiagnosed as pulmonary embolism. The prognosis of these tumors is very poor. The Median length of survival without surgical resection is approximately 1.5 months, but surgical resection has lengthened survival time to approximately 1 year. We encountered a case of primary pulmonary artery sarcoma, with a 55 year-old woman whose symptoms were exertional dyspnea, right chest pain, and hemoptysis. A preoperative chest CT scan revealed mass lesion mimicking pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary angioplasty and right pneumonectomy were performed on partial cardiopulmonary bypass. Postoperatively the mass was confirmed as undifferenciated sarcoma histopathologically. The symptoms were somewhat improved, but the patient died of unknown causes about 3 months after surgery.
Angioplasty ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Chest Pain ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pneumonectomy ; Prognosis ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Sarcoma* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: Bronchial wash fluid may be a useful for detecting lung cancer. To increase the detection rates, we performed molecular analysis with using MAGE A1-6 and SSX4 RT-PCR on bronchial wash fluid specimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We obtained 57 lung cancer tissue specimens by bronchoscopic biopsy and 131 bronchial washes from 96 patients with lung cancer and 35 patients with benign lung diseases. The MAGE A1-6 and SSX4 gene expressions were investigated in the cancer tissue specimens and bronchial wash fluids. We evaluated the positive detection rates of these methods according to the cytology results and the clinical findings. RESULTS: For the cancer tissue specimens and the bronchial wash fluid, the positive detection rate of MAGE or SSX4 was 91.2% and 75.0%, respectively. Combined MAGE and SSX4 PCR and cytology tests showed an 83.3% detection rate for the bronchial wash fluid. From bronchial washes of patients with benign lung diseases, the positive rates of using MAGE or SSX4 was 11.4%. In the bronchial wash fluid of lung cancer patients, 66.7% of the peripheral cancers were detected by MAGE or SSX4, while examination with cytology did not detect any peripheral lung cancer. CONCLUSION: The application of both MAGE and SSX4 showed high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of lung cancer. Thus, MAGE and SSX4 RT-PCR may be effectively utilized as additional methods to improve detection of lung cancer with using bronchial wash fluids.
Biopsy ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: Minimally invasive techniques for open heart surgery are widely accepted in these days. There are minimally invasive approaches by the right or left parasternal incision and another approaches by mini-sternotomy of upper or lower half or sternum. We report the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive technique with right parasternal incision compared with the routine full sternotomy. MATERIAL AND METHOD: From April 1997 through February 1999, 20 patients (Group A) underwent minimally invasive cardiac operations. We chose 41 patients (Group B) whose preoperative diagnosis were the same and general conditions were similar and who underwent routine full sternotomy before April 1997. We compared A group and B group in many aspects. We performed routine full median sternotomy in B group but we did a minimally invasive technique through a small right parasternal incision in A group. RESULT: mean age was 36.1 years in both groups. In disease entities, there were 11 cases of ASD, 9 cases of mitral valve disease in group A, and 16 cases of ASD, 25 cases of mitral valve diseases in group B. In ASD, operation time, cardiopulmonary bypass time of aortic occulusion time were 263 min, 82 min, and 41 min in group A and 180 min, 53 min, and 32 min in group B. In mitral valve disease, operation time, cardiopulmonary bypass time and aortic occlusion time were 267min, 106 min, and 70min in A group and were 207 min, 82 min, and 69 min in group B. There were significant differences in operation time, CPB time, and ACC time between group A and group B. There was a significant difference in the amount of bleeding in postoperative day 1 between group A and group B of mitral diasease. However, there was no significant difference in the amount of bleeding in other comparisons. Mean length of incision was 8.7 cm in group A. There was no significant difference in postoperative complications between A group and B group. There was no mortality in either group. CONCLUSION: We conclude that this minimally invasive technique with right parasternal incision is cosmetically excellent but it is not effective in reducing operative time and there was no significant difference in recovery time and postoperative complications compared with routine full sternotomy.
Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Diagnosis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Mitral Valve ; Mortality ; Operative Time ; Postoperative Complications ; Sternotomy ; Sternum ; Thoracic Surgery*