Plasmacytoma is a plasma cell neoplasm that locally infiltrates a bone or spreads to extramedullary areas. A new World Health Organization criterion defines solitary plasmacytoma of bone as a localized bone tumor consisting of plasma cells identical to those seen in plasma cell myeloma, which is manifested as a solitary osteolytic lesion in a radiological evaluation. Primary tumors of the sternum are generally malignant, and solitary plasmacytomas of the sternum are very rare tumors. We present herein the case of a patient who had a primary sternal tumor with solitary plasmacytoma and no evidence of multiple myeloma.
Humans ; Multiple Myeloma ; Neoplasms, Plasma Cell ; Plasma Cells ; Plasmacytoma* ; Sternum* ; World Health Organization

A 57-year-old male patient was admitted to our center because of a cystic mass on the lower portion of the right major fissure that was found incidentally by chest X-ray. He did not have a history of trauma or anticoagulant use. The lesion was removed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Pathological examination revealed an organizing pulmonary hematoma without any complications, and a follow-up chest X-ray after 1 year showed no recurrence.
Follow-Up Studies ; Hematoma* ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Recurrence ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thorax

A coronary-bronchial artery fistula is a very rare congenital anomaly of the coronary artery whose etiology and pathogenesis have not yet been clarified. Most patients with coronary-bronchial fistulas are asymptomatic; however, some patients present with congestive heart failure, infective endocarditis, myocardial ischemia induced by a coronary steal phenomenon, or rupture of an aneurysmal fistula. Furthermore, patients with a coronary-bronchial artery fistula rarely manifest life-threatening hemoptysis due to the associated bronchiectasis. We report herein the case of a patient with a coronary-bronchial artery fistula who had bronchiectasis and a history of massive hemoptysis and myocardial ischemia.
Aneurysm ; Arteries ; Bronchiectasis ; Coronary Vessels ; Endocarditis ; Fistula ; Heart Failure ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Rupture

Granular cell tumors are uncommon soft tissue neoplasm of nerve sheath origin, which are predominately benign. Granular cells can be found at any site in the body including the tongue, skin, subcutaneous tissue, breast, gastrointestinal, and urogenital systems. However, granular cell tumors have only been rarely described in the chest wall. Here we report a case of a granular cell tumor that occurred in the chest wall of a 59-year-old woman, along with a review of the literature.
Breast ; Female ; Granular Cell Tumor ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Skin ; Soft Tissue Neoplasms ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax ; Tongue ; Urogenital System

BACKGROUND: Open heart surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is considered one of the most frequent surgical procedures in which acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent and serious complication. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) as an early AKI biomarker after CPB in cardiac surgery (CS). METHODS: Thirty-seven adult patients undergoing CS with CPB were included in this retrospective study. They had normal preoperative renal function, as assessed by the creatinine (Cr) level, NGAL level, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Serial evaluation of serum NGAL and Cr levels was performed before, immediately after, and 24 hours after the operation. Patients were divided into two groups: those who showed normal immediate postoperative serum NGAL levels (group A, n=30) and those who showed elevated immediate postoperative serum NGAL levels (group B, n=7). Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 18. RESULTS: Of the 37 patients, 6 (6/37, 16.2%) were diagnosed with AKI. One patient belonged to group A (1/30, 3.3%), and 5 patients belonged to group B (5/7, 71.4%). Two patients in group B (2/7, 28.5%) required further renal replacement therapy. Death occurred in only 1 patient (1/37, 2.7%), who belonged to group B. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that postoperative plasma NGAL levels can be used as an early biomarker for the detection of AKI following CS using CPB. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm our results.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Adult ; Biomarkers ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Creatinine ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Humans ; Lipocalins* ; Neutrophils* ; Plasma* ; Renal Replacement Therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Sample Size ; Social Sciences ; Thoracic Surgery*

BACKGROUND: A peripheral extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (p-ECMO) has been developed to support patients who are dying due to a serious cardiopulmonary condition. This analysis was planned to define the clinical situation in which the patient benefits most from a p-ECMO. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between June 2007 and Aug 2009, a total of 41 adult patients used the p-ECMO. There were 23 males and 18 females (mean age 54.4+/-15.1 years). All patients had very unstable vital signs with hypoxia and complex cardiac problems. We divided the patients into 4 groups. In the first group, a p-ECMO was used as a bridge to cardiac operation. In the second group, patients did not have the opportunity to undergo any cardiac procedures; nevertheless, they were treated with a p-ECMO. In the third group, patients mostly had difficulty in weaning from CPB (cardiopulmonary bypass) after cardiac operation. The fourth group suffered from many complications, such as pneumonia, bleeding, infections, and LV dysfunction with underlying cardiac problems. All cannulations were performed by the Seldinger technique or cutting down the femoral vessel. A long venous cannula of DLP(R) (Medtronic Inc, Minneapolis, MN) or RMI(R) (Edwards Lifesciences LLC, Irvine, CA) was used together with a 17~21 Fr arterial cannula and a 21 Fr venous cannula. As a bypass pump, a Capiox emergency bypass system (EBS(R); Terumo, Tokyo, Japan) was used. We attempted to maintain a flow rate of 2.4~3.0 L/min/m2 and an activated clotting time (ACT) of around 180 seconds. RESULTS: Nine patients survived by the use of the p-ECMO. Ten patients were weaned from a p-ECMO but they did not survive, and the remainder had no chance to be weaned from the p-ECMO. The best clinical situation to apply the p-ECMO was to use it as a bridge to cardiac operation and for weaning from CPB after cardiac operation. CONCLUSION: Various clinical results were derived by p-ECMO according to the clinical situation. For the best results, early adoption of the p-ECMO for anatomical correction appears important.
Adoption ; Adult ; Anoxia ; Catheterization ; Catheters ; Emergencies ; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation ; Female ; Glycosaminoglycans ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Male ; Membranes ; Oxygenators, Membrane ; Pneumonia ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; Tokyo ; Vital Signs ; Weaning

BACKGROUND: A chest computed-tomography has become more prevalent so that it is more common to detect small sized pulmonary nodules that have not been found in previous simple chest x-ray. If those detected nodules are undersized or located in pulmonary parenchyma, it is difficult to accomplish a biopsy since it is vulnerable to explore them either grossly or digitally. Thus, in our hospital, a thoracoscopic pulmonary wedge resection was performed after locating a lesion by means of hook wire with CT-guided. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 31 patients (17 males and 14 female patients) from December in 2006 to June in 2010 became our subjects; their 34 pulmonary nodules were subjected to the thoracoscopic pulmonary wedge resection after locating a lesion by means of hook wire with CT-guided. Also we analyzed a possibility of hook wire dislocation, a frequency of conversion to open thoracotomy, time consumed to operation after location of a lesion, operation time, post operation complication, and histological diagnosis of the lesion. RESULT: 12 of 34 cases were ground glass lesion, whereas 22 cases of them were solitary pulmonary lesion. The median value of the lesion was 8mm in size (range: 3 to 23 mm), while the median value was 12.5 mm in depth (range: 1 to 34 mm). The median value of time consumed from location of the lesion to anesthetic induction was 86.5 minutes (41~473 minutes); furthermore the mean value of operation time was 103 minutes (25~345 minutes). Intrathoracic wire dislocation was found in one case, but a target lesion was successfully excised. Open thoracotomy was performed in four cases due to pleural adhesion. However, there was no case of conversion to open thoracotomy due to failure to detect a target lesion. In histological diagnosis, metastatic cancer were found in 15 cases, which were the most common, primary lung cancer were in 9 cases, non-specific inflammation were in 3 cases, tuberculosis inflammation were in 2 cases, lymph nodes were in 2 cases, active tuberculosis were in 1 case, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia was in 1 case and normal lung parenchymal finding was in 1 case, respectively. CONCLUSION: In our hospital, in order to accomplish a precise histological diagnosis of ground-glass lesion and pulmonary nodules in lung parenchyma, location of pulmonary nodules were exactly located with hook wire under chest computed-tomography, which was followed by lung biopsy. We concluded that this was an accurate, minimally invasive and valuable method to minimize the complications and increase of cost of medical service provided.
Biopsy ; Dislocations ; Female ; Glass ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Inflammation ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Thoracoscopy ; Thoracotomy ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a mixture of hyaluronic acid and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Guardix-sol(R)) on experimental pericardial adhesion. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Thirty rats were divided into 2 groups of 15 rats each and pericardial mesothelial injury was induced during surgery by abrasion. In the control group, blood and normal saline were administered into pericardium; in the test group, blood and HA-CMC solution were administered. Pericardial adhesions were evaluated at 2 weeks (n=5), 4 weeks (n=5), and 6 weeks (n=5) after surgery. The severity of adhesions was graded by macroscopic examination, and the adhesion tissue thickness was analyzed microscopically with Masson trichrome stain and an image processing program. RESULT: The test group had significantly lower macroscopic adhesion scores (2.9+/-0.6 : 3.9+/-0.4, p<0.000) compared with the control group. For microscopic adhesion tissue thickness, the test group had lower scores compared with the control group, but this difference was not statistically significant (91.73+/-49.91 : 117.67+/-46.4, p=0.106). CONCLUSION: We conclude that an HA-CMC solution (Guardix-sol(R)) reduces the formation of pericardial adhesions in this animal model.
Animals ; Azo Compounds ; Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Hyaluronic Acid ; Methyl Green ; Models, Animal ; Pericardium ; Rats ; Sodium

Bypass surgery is performed for insuring continuity of a blood supply that is restricted due to obstruction of the native blood supply. Two types of surgery are commonly carried out: one is anatomic bypass and the other is extraanatomic bypass. Especially, extraanatomic bypass surgery is performed in patients who are a high risk for performing anatomical bypass surgery. The risk factors for anatomical bypass surgery are old age, infection, previous surgery and trauma. A 96-year-old patient underwent extraanatomic bypass surgery from the right femoral artery to the left femoral artery due to total occlusion of the left iliac artery, and 7 years after that operation, a pseudoaneurysm abruptly and spontaneously appeared from the bypass suture site without any predisposing factor. The lesion was revealed to be an organizing thrombus.
Aneurysm, False ; Femoral Artery ; Humans ; Iliac Artery ; Risk Factors ; Sutures ; Thrombosis

BACKGROUND: Rib fractures are the most common injuries that are caused by blunt chest trauma. However, fractures of the costal cartilage generally go unnoticed on chest X-rays unless they involve a calcified cartilage. For this reason, the sensitivity of conventional radiography for detecting rib fractures is low, and especially those involving the cartilaginous part of the rib. Thus, we have evaluated the usefulness of ultrasonography for detecting fractures of the costal cartilage that were overlooked on the conventional radiographs of patients who suffered minor blunt chest traumas. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A total of 45 patients who suffered minor blunt chest trauma and who had no evidence of rib fractures or other major fractures on conventional radiographs were admitted for ultrasonography between April 2008 and March 2009. There were 24 women and 21 men, and the mean age of the patients was 50.4+/-15.91 years (range: 17~76 years). They were examined for the detection of fractures of the costal cartilage by performing ultrasonography with a 7.5-MHz linear transducer. RESULT: A total of 30 patients (67%) had fractures of the costal cartilage, whereas 15 patients (33%) had no evidence of chondral rib fractures. The mean number of fracture sites of the fractured costal cartilage was 1.6+/-0.81 (range: 1~4 sites) in 30 patients. Periosteal hematoma was the most common finding associated with fractures of the costal cartilage (n=7, 17%), followed by sternum fracture (n=5, 12%). However, periosteal hematoma was noticed in 1 patient (2%) who was without fracture of the costal cartilage, and sternum fracture was noticed in 1 patient (2%) who was without fractures of the costal cartilage. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that ultrasonography may be a useful imaging modality for detecting fractures of the costal cartilage that are overlooked on the conventional radiographs of patients who suffer minor blunt chest trauma.
Cartilage ; Female ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Male ; Rib Fractures ; Ribs ; Sternum ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax ; Transducers