Interest in the prevalence of patent foramen ovale(PFO) and its relation to embolic stroke has increased with the sophistication of methods for noninvasive cardiac assessment. The effect of foramen ovale closure on the risk for subsequent strokes is promised. A 22-year old woman was presented with sudden onset of cerebral infarct. She had a patent formen ovale, and right to left shunt during the Valsalva maneuver, which was diagnosed by transesophageal contrast echocardiography. Transcatheter closure of PFO was performed with Rashkind PDA umbrella under the guidance of transesophageal echocardiography. Transcatheter closure of PFO can be accomplised with little morbidity and may reduce the risk of embolic episode.
Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal* ; Female ; Foramen Ovale ; Foramen Ovale, Patent* ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Stroke* ; Valsalva Maneuver ; Young Adult

Carotid endarterectomy is superior to medical treatment in preventing secondary stroke in patients with symptomatic high grade carotid stenosis. Transluminal angioplasty is a promising procedure as an alternative treatment for these patients. We report two cases of carotid angioplasty with Palmaz-Schatz stent in patients with carotid artery occlusive disease. One patient presented with decreased right visual acuity because of retinal arterial embolism. The angiogram demonstrated a discrete tight stenosis of right internal carotid artery carotid stenting with Palmaz-Schatz coronary stent was performed without any significant complications. The other patient presented with recurrent episodes of cerebral infarction, for which he had undergone left carotid erdarterectomy 3-years ago. The carotid angiogram demonstrated tight stenoses of both internal carotid arteries. Carotid artery stenting was performed at left and right internal carotid arteries without any complications. We suggest that stenting may be an effective and safe therapeutic alternative to surgical treatment in some selected patients with carotid artery occlusive disease.
Angioplasty* ; Carotid Arteries* ; Carotid Artery, Internal ; Carotid Stenosis* ; Cerebral Infarction ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Embolism ; Endarterectomy, Carotid ; Humans ; Retinaldehyde ; Stents* ; Stroke ; Visual Acuity

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The combination of hypertension and obesity are well known to act as risk factors of left ventricular hypertrophy in a number of studies, but it is unclear whether obesity itself stimulates LVH independently. Therefore, we investigated the relationship of left ventricular mass to body size in normotensive adults. METHODS: A population sample of 240 normotensive (systolic BP < 140 mmHg and diastolic BP < 90 mmHg) adults (139 men and 101 women) was examined by echocardiography. We excluded adults with history of hypertension, thyroid diseases, diabetes mellitus and other cardiac diseases. Left ventricular mass normalized for height(2.7) was used in the analyses and left ventricular hypertrophy was defined as a value of 50 g/m(2.7) men or 47 g/m(2.7) in women. RESULTS: Left ventricular mass significantly and positively correlated with body mass index. On univariate correlation analysis after adjusting for age, the body mass index was associated with LV mass/height(2.7) (LVMI: Left Ventricular Mass Index) in males and body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference and waist/hip circumference ratio were associated with LVMI in females. Left ventricular hypertrophy was more frequent in overweight (33.3%) and obese (39.4%) groups than in lean group (15.9%). CONCLUSION: Left ventricular mass was strongly related to obesity in normotensive adults, especially in females. Obesity may be an independent risk factor for left ventricular hypertrophy.
Adult* ; Body Mass Index ; Body Size ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Diseases ; Hip ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Male ; Mortality ; Obesity* ; Overweight ; Risk Factors ; Thyroid Diseases ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The combination of hypertension and obesity are well known to act as risk factors of left ventricular hypertrophy in a number of studies, but it is unclear whether obesity itself stimulates LVH independently. Therefore, we investigated the relationship of left ventricular mass to body size in normotensive adults. METHODS: A population sample of 240 normotensive (systolic BP < 140 mmHg and diastolic BP < 90 mmHg) adults (139 men and 101 women) was examined by echocardiography. We excluded adults with history of hypertension, thyroid diseases, diabetes mellitus and other cardiac diseases. Left ventricular mass normalized for height(2.7) was used in the analyses and left ventricular hypertrophy was defined as a value of 50 g/m(2.7) men or 47 g/m(2.7) in women. RESULTS: Left ventricular mass significantly and positively correlated with body mass index. On univariate correlation analysis after adjusting for age, the body mass index was associated with LV mass/height(2.7) (LVMI: Left Ventricular Mass Index) in males and body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference and waist/hip circumference ratio were associated with LVMI in females. Left ventricular hypertrophy was more frequent in overweight (33.3%) and obese (39.4%) groups than in lean group (15.9%). CONCLUSION: Left ventricular mass was strongly related to obesity in normotensive adults, especially in females. Obesity may be an independent risk factor for left ventricular hypertrophy.
Adult* ; Body Mass Index ; Body Size ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Diseases ; Hip ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Male ; Mortality ; Obesity* ; Overweight ; Risk Factors ; Thyroid Diseases ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND: Restenosis is a major limitation of balloon angioplasty. Recently, new angioplasty devices have been used in an attempt to reduce the restenosis compared with coronary balloon angioplasty. Directional coronary atherectomy effectively dilated the lesion by removal of the atherosclerotic plaque. Therefore, we tried to evaluate immediate and late clinical outcomes after directional coronary atherectomy in the 57 patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS: From October 1991 to March 1997, fifty seven consecutive patients with 69 lesions were treated with directional coronary atherectomy. The patients underwent coronary angiography at pre-intervention, immediately after intervention and at 6 months post-intervention. Restenosis was assessed clinically and by computer-assissted quantitative measurements of luminal dimensions. Patients were requested to undergo coronary angiography at 6 months after directional coronary atherectomy. Angiographic restenosis was defined as more than 50% diameter stenosis by quantitative coronary angiographic analysis. RESULTS: Successful results were achieved in 61 of the 69 lesions(88%) and mean stenosis was reduced from 78.0+/-13.0% to 10.0+/-5.0%. Atherectomy resulted in an increase in minimal lumen diameter from 0.8+/-0.3mm to 3.0+/-0.6mm. Six months follow-up angiogram was obtained in 68% of 50 eligible lesions. The overall angiographic restenosis rate was 32%. Six month clinical follow-up was obtained in 94% of the eligible lesions. The clinical recurrence occured in 38% of the patients. The target lesion revascularization rate was 17%. CONCLUSIONS: Removal of coronary artery plaque with directional atherectomy led to large luminal diameter and six months follow-up angiography shows an overall restenosis rate of 32% However, further clinical study is warranted to evaluate the efficacy of atherectomy with larger numbers of patients.
Angiography ; Angioplasty ; Angioplasty, Balloon ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Atherectomy ; Atherectomy, Coronary* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Phenobarbital ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; Recurrence

BACKGROUND: The clinical use of intracoronary stents is impeded by the risk of subacute stent thrombosis and complications associated with the anticoagulant regimen. The use of high pressure balloon dilatations and confirmation of adequate stent expansion by intravascular ultrasound provide assurance that anticoagulation therapy can be safely omitted. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of anticoagulation of subacute thrombosis sfter stenting retrospectively on a consecutive series of patients who received palmaz-Schatz coronary stents with high pressure balloon dilatation. METHOD: From March 1995 to August 1995, 62 patients underwent Palmaz-Schatz coronary stent implantation. After deploying stents successfully, high pressure overdilatation of the stents was performed in all patients. According to post-stent anticoagulation, 32 patients received aspirin 200 mg/day, ticlopidine 500 mg/day and warfarin for two months, 30 patients received aspirin and ticlopidine. RESULTS: The clinical or angiographic variables were not significantly different between the two groups. There was no acute or subacute thrombosis in the two groups. The hospital stay after stenting was significantly shorter in the patients without antcoagulation than in patients with anticoagulation. CONCLUSION: The Palmaz-Schatz stent can be safely implanted without anticoagulation provided that stent expansion is daequate by the use high pressure balloon dilatation This technique significantly reduces hospital time and vascular complications and has a low stent thrombosis rate.
Aspirin ; Dilatation* ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents* ; Thrombosis ; Ticlopidine ; Ultrasonography ; Warfarin

PURPOSE: To determine correlation between stress fracture of the posterior tibia and flexor digitorum longusmuscle injury caused by athletic or sporting activity during adolescence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven casesdiagnosed as stress fracture after X-ray and MR imaging of the lower leg were reviewed. With regard to eachfracture, the following features were noted: age, sex, and athletic or sporting activity of the patient, and site.Using MR imaging techniques, axial and sagittal T1 and T2 weighted images were obtained in all cases and T1-GdDTPA images in seven. RESULTS: The activities undertaken were running (n=3), football (n=2), ballet (n=2),taekwando (n=1), badminton (n=1), field hockey (n=1), and basketball (n=1). MR images revealed localized corticalthickness (n=11), linear intramedullary callus showing a low signal on T1 and T2 weighted images (n=9), marrowhyperemia (n=7), and flexor digitorum longus muscle injury showing a high signal on T1-Gd DTPA and T2 weightedimage (n=7). CONCLUSION: Stress fracture of the posterior tibia might be induced by flexor digitorum longusmuscle activity induced by athletic or sporting activities during adoleseence.
Adolescent ; Basketball ; Bony Callus ; Football ; Fractures, Stress* ; Hockey ; Humans ; Leg ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pentetic Acid ; Racquet Sports ; Running ; Sports ; Tibia*

In literatures, most of the studies of severe hyponatremia during or following its treatment has been concentrated with special references to the rate of correction and its neurologic outcomes. But, there is relatively few ones analyzing the diverse clinical manifestations of neurologic symptorns or complications during the course of treating severe hyponatremia. We experienced a catastrophic course related to hyponatremia in a 51 year woman with severe rheumatoid arthritis, who underwent knee joint replacement, and this case revealed the initial transient neurologic recovery for 3 days by the initial rapid correction of hyponatremia, then followed by delayed deterioration of osmotic demyelination syndrome leading to locked-in syndrome. Reported cases with similar clinical course (biphasic course) in the world lituratures were reviewed with special interests in the initial maximum rate of correction of hyponatremia and radiologic findings. This review suggests that clinicians treating the patients with severe symptomatic hyponatremia should be aware of the possibility of delayed neurologic sequelae despite the recovery of neurologic status as well as the degree of hyponatremia in the early treatment course of hyponatremia.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Demyelinating Diseases* ; Female ; Humans ; Hyponatremia ; Knee Joint ; Quadriplegia

Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome is a rare systemic, leukoproliferative disorder characterized by eosinophil- mediated tissue injury causing multiple organ failure, including the heart. Cardiac involvement occurs in more than 75% of patients with hypereosinophilic syndrome. Cardiac manifestations include subendocardial fibrosis, thrombus leading to peripheral emboli, restrictive cardiomyopathy, and valvular dysfunction. It is more common in men than in women (9:1), and trends to present between the ages of 20 and 50 years. Presentation in childhood is unusual. We report for the first time a case of a 58-year-old man with idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome manifested by prosthetic aortic valve dysfunction that was successfully treated by steroid and hydroxyurea therapy after surgical valvular replacement.
Aortic Valve* ; Cardiomyopathy, Restrictive ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Heart ; Humans ; Hydroxyurea ; Hypereosinophilic Syndrome* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Organ Failure ; Thrombosis

BACKGROUND: Atrial flutter is a common arrhythmia for which no entirely satisfactory treatment is available. Despite the growing number of antiarrhythmic agents available for arrhythmia prophylaxis many patients are either intolerant of drug treatment or achieve inadequate relief from their symptoms. Recently, catheter ablation using radiofrequency energy has been used to result in high success rate for immediate prevention of atrial flutter but significant recurrence rate. We report our initial experience on radiofrequency cather ablation(RFCA) of atrial flutter in 8 patients. METHODS: The electrophysiologic approach guided by the earliest artial activation was used in the first patient and then anatomically guided approach in the remaining patients. The end point of RFCA was both demonstration of conduction block across the linear lesion at the atrial isthmus between the inferior vena cava and the tricuspid ring and noninducibility of atrial flutter with atrial burst pacing and extrastimulation up to 3 during isoproterenol infusion. RESULTS: Eight consecutive patients underwent RFCA.All were male and mean age was 53+/-22 years. Initial success was achieved in 7 patients(88%). During the follow-up period of 4+/-2.3 months, early sympomatic recurrence occurred in 2/7 patients(29%) within 1 month after initial success and the second ablation procedure was successfully performed in one patient. Overall success rate at the end of the follow-up period was 6/8(75%). there were no serious complications during and after the procedure. CONCLUSION: 1) radiofrequency catheter ablation is safe and highly effective treatment modality for prevention of atrial flutter. 2) Demonstration of conduction block across the lesion at the atrial isthmus should be achieved as an endpoint.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Atrial Flutter* ; Catheter Ablation* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Isoproterenol ; Male ; Recurrence ; Vena Cava, Inferior