BACKGROUND: Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk) phosphorylates the prodrug ganciclovir to a nucleoside analog that inhibits DNA synthesis, causing cell death. Neighbouring nontransfected cells may be affected through a 'bystander effect', thereby amplifying the antiproliferative actions. This study was carried out to determine whether retrovirus-mediated HSVtk gene therapy could reduce intimal hyperplasia and prevent stenosis following balloon injury of the rat carotid artery. METHODS: A replication-defective recombinant retroviral vector containing HSVtk cDNA (LtkSN) was constructed. Cultured primary rat smooth muscle cells (SMCs) infected with this vector (SMC/LtkSN) were transplanted to the balloon injured rat right carotid artery. One week after transplantation, HSVtk gene therapy group was administered a 2-week treatment of ganciclovir (30 mg/kg/d). Three weeks after balloon injury and SMC/LtkSN transplantation, carotid arteriography was performed and carotid arteries were perfusion-fixed for histologic examination. RESULTS: Carotid arteriographic evaluation comparing with the uninjured left carotid artery showed that the mean luminal diameter of HSVtk gene therapy group (n=5, 85+/-3%) was significantly larger than that of balloon injury only group (n=5, 65+/-5%). The neointimal mass of HSVtk gene therapy group was less than that of balloon injury only group. SMC/LtkSN transplantation without ganciclovir treatment group (n=3) showed asymmetric intimal proliferation probably because of gravitational pooling of seeding. There were inflammatory cell infiltrations at the gravity dependent portion of HSVtk gene therapy group. CONCLUSION: Retrovirus-mediated HSVtk gene therapy following balloon injury of the rat carotid artery reduced neointimal expansion and arteriographic stenosis.
Angiography ; Animals ; Carotid Arteries* ; Carotid Artery Injuries* ; Cell Death ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; DNA ; DNA, Complementary ; Ganciclovir ; Genetic Therapy* ; Gravitation ; Herpes Simplex* ; Hyperplasia ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Phenobarbital ; Phosphotransferases* ; Rats* ; Simplexvirus* ; Thymidine Kinase ; Zidovudine

BACKGROUND: Atrial septal defect (ASD) is the most common congenital cardiac anomaly, accounting for 30 percent of congenital heart disease detected in the adult. Many patients with ASD are well tolerated and reach adult without significant symptoms. The patients with ASD die 4th and 5th decades, but prolonged survival is not uncommon. In general, the survival depends on whether pulmonary hypertension develops during adulthood or not. The most common cause of death in the patients with ASD is right ventricular failure or arrhythmias. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 1988 to June 1997, 33 cases of ASD underwent open heart surgeries in our hospital. Among them, 31 cases were adult ASD, and 2 tricuspid regurgitation, 1 pulmonic stenosis, 1 mitral regurgitation, 1 tricuspid regurgitation, and 1 coronary artery disease were combinded. All of the patients underwent surgical repair using autologus pericardial patch or direct closure. RESULTS: The postoperative course was smooth and uneventful. Most of the patients showed significant improvement in ECG finding, hemodynamic profile, radiologic finding, and echocardiography, after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Conclusively, most of the ASD should be closed even in patients over the age of 60 years, and early surgical repair must be done to prevent pulmonary hypertension, right ventricular failure, and arrythmias.
Adult* ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Cause of Death ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Heart ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Heart Septal Defects ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial* ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency ; Pulmonary Valve Stenosis ; Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency

The patient was a 42-year-old female with breast cancer who had an implantable central venous catheter inserted percutaneously into left subclavian vein for chemotherapy. The postinsertion chest x ray revealed that there was no compressive sign of catheter. Three months after insertion of the catheter, the patient was admitted to the hospital for 4th chemotherapy. The port was accessed but blood could not be aspirated and the catheter could not be flushed. A chest x ray revealed that the catheter was completely transected at the point where the catheter passed under the clavicle. Percutaneous removal of the distal fragment of the catheter was accomplished. The patient was discharged after successful removal of fragment of catheter.
Adult ; Breast Neoplasms ; Catheters* ; Central Venous Catheters ; Clavicle ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Subclavian Vein ; Thorax

Multiple gastric caner, now considered to be a sort of multiple primary cancer by Moertel's classification, is a special type of cancer in which two or more tumor lesions arise independently from the stomach. Although its incidence is rare and it has never been reported in Korea yet, the report of multiple gastric cancer is increasing with lengthened life survival and improved diagnostic method. We recently experienced two cases of triple gastric cancer, the one in 53-years-old male who had well differentiated adenocarcinoma(EGC IIb+c) on antrum, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma on cardia and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma on mid-body, and the other in 65-years-old female who had two poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma on cardia and anterior wall of low body and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (EGCIIc) on posterior wall of low body. Triple gastric cancer is rare, so we reported 2 cases of triple gastric cancer.
Adenocarcinoma ; Cardia ; Classification ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms*

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma(EH) is a rare vascular tumor of low-grade malignancy. It was previously described as intravascular bronchioloalveolar tumor (IVBAT). But electron microscopic study and immunohistochemical staining results have proved endothelial origin. Patients are usually asymptomatic and the tumors are found incidentally on routine chest X-rays. Most patients show a slowly progressive clinical course, even though some patients occasionally die as results of respiratory failure or extrathoracic complications. Confirmative diagnosis is made through thoracoscopic or open-lung biopsy. There is still no effective therapeutic modality for pulmonary EH. We have experienced a 55-year-old woman whose simple chest x-ray film revealed bilateral multiple small nodules. The nodules were histopathologically and immunohistochemically diagnosed as primary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the lung. The possibility of metastatic disease was excluded thorough clinical, laboratory and radiological studies. Comparison of radiographic chest film taken 3 years ago showed no significant progression of the pulmonary nodular lesions. Conservative management was instituted and careful 4 months follow-up showed no significant changes.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemangioendothelioma, Epithelioid* ; Humans ; Lung ; Middle Aged ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Thorax ; X-Ray Film

Some variables can influence the efficiency of leukocyte removal filter for red cell concentrates. We performed this study to evaluate whether the filtration efficiency for platelet concentrates(PCs) can be influenced by bedside filter(PXL8K, Pall Corporation, USA) used, platelet storage time and transient stopping of platelet agitation, and to measure the amount of cytokines released from donor leukocytes in PCs during the storage time. In addition, we examined the effect of leukocyte reduction by filtration before the storage of PCs on the subsequent generation of cytokines. Any of the above mentioned variables did not make significant differences. From day 1 to day 5, there were significant increases in IL-1 beta (<1 vs. 8.6 pg/mL, p<0.05), IL-8 (<10 vs. 455.3 pg/mL, p<0.05) and TNF-alpha (<4 vs. 16.6 pg/mL, p<0.05) in unflltered PCs, whereas no increased revels of cytokines were found in the cases of prestorage filtration.
Blood Platelets* ; Cytokines ; Dihydroergotamine ; Filtration* ; Humans ; Interleukin-1beta ; Interleukin-8 ; Leukocytes* ; Tissue Donors ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

A 60-year-old male was admitted because of dyspnea and angina like chest pain. Noninvasive findings showed a mass at the posterior aspect of the left atrium. The mass was removed under cardiopulmonary bypass. An encapsulated adipose mass, which originated from the left atrium without any invasion to the pericardium, was completely excised. Histological examination showed mature adipose tissue with partial necrosis, confirming the diagnosis of lipoma. We report a rare of case of massive left atrial lipoma occupying the pericardial space.
Adipose Tissue ; Angina Pectoris* ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Chest Pain* ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Heart Atria ; Heart Neoplasms ; Humans ; Lipoma* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Pericardium ; Thorax*

BACKGROUND: CD44 is a glycoprotein on the cell surface which is involved in the cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix interaction. The standard form, CD44s and multiple isoforms are determined by alternative splicing of 10 exons. Recent studies have suggested that CD44 may help invasion and metastasis of various epithelial tumors as well as activation of lymphocytes and monocytes. The expression pattern of CD44 can be different according to tumor types. The author studied the expression pattern of CD44s and one of its variants, CD44v6 in non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) to find their implications on clinicopathologic aspects, including the survival of the patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A total of 89 primary NSCLSs (48 squamous cell carcinomas, 33 adenocarcinomas, and 8 undifferentiated large cell carcinomas) were retrieved during the years between 1985 to 1994. The immunohistochemistry was done by using monoclonal antibodies and the CD44 expression for angiogenesis was evaluated by counting the number of tumor microvessels. RESULT: Seventy-one (79.8%) and 64 (71.9%) among 89 NSCLSs revealed the expression of CD44s and CD44v6, respectively. The expression of CD44s was well correlated with that of CD44v6 (r=0.710, p<0.0001). The expression of CD44s and CD44v6 was associated with the histopathologic type of the NSCLCs, and squamous cell carcinoma was the type that showed the highest expression of CD44s and CD44v6 (p<0.0001). Microvessel count was the highest in adenocarcinomas (113.6+/-69.7 on 200-fold magnification and 54.8+/-41.1 on 400-fold magnification) and correlated with the tumor size of TNM system (r=0.217, p=0.043) and CD44s expression (r=0.218, p=0.040). In adenocarcinoma, the patients with higher CD44s expression survived shorter than those with lower CD44s expression (p=0.0194) but there was no statistical significance on multivariate analysis(p=0.3298). CONCLUSION: The expression of both CD44s and CD44v6 may be associated with the squamous differentiation in non-small cell lung carcinomas. The relationship of CD44s expression with microvessel density of the tumor suggests an involvement of CD44s in tumor angiogenesis, which in turn would help tumor growth.
Adenocarcinoma ; Alternative Splicing ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Exons ; Glycoproteins ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung* ; Lymphocytes ; Microvessels ; Monocytes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Protein Isoforms

BACKGROUND: It is controversial whether the presence of bullae on the contralateral lung on HRCT plays a role in occurrence of contralateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax. We analyzed the significance of bullae on the contralateral lung and the risk factors associated with contralateral occurrence of primary spontaneous pneumothorax. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Three hundred ninety four patients who were undergone Video.Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery for primary spontaneous pneumothorax between January 2004 and December 2009 were reviewed. The clinical features, HRCT and treatment of these patients were analyzed retrospectively. RESULT: Twenty eight of 394 patients had contralateral occurrence (7.10%). The average time was 13.06+/-9.79 months. A presence of contralateral bullae of lung on HRCT may not seem to be significant for occurrence of contralateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax (p=0.059). But bullae numbers were much more in contralateral pneumothorax patients (p=0.011). Younger than 20, being underweight (Body Mass Index<18.5 kg/m2) are independent risk factors for contralateral occurrence (odds ratio, 5.075 (1.679~5.339), 2.366 (1.048~5.339) respectively). CONCLUSION: The presence of bullae on the contralateral lung on HRCT was not significantly influenced the occurrence of contralateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax. However, age, body mass index, and the number of bullae were significant factors for the contralateral pneumothorax. We suggest that those high risk patients may require special attentions and general supportive care to prevent occurrence of contralateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax during the follow-up.
Attention ; Blister ; Body Mass Index ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lung ; Pneumothorax ; Risk Factors ; Thinness ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thoracoscopy

BACKGROUND: The granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is crucial in neutrophil regulation. Since recombinant G-CSF became clinically available, it has been widely used in the treatment of neutropenia. Ex vivo therapy of recombinant G-CSF, however, requires large dose and frequent administration, which brings financial burden on the patients. To overcome disadvantages of ex vivo therapy, we have tried to make an in vivo G-CSF delivery system in rat using gene therapy technique. METHODS: We have tried to make an in vivo G-CSF delivery system using transduced vascular smooth muscle cells with G-CSF gene in a rat model. Retroviral vector plasmid containing rat G-CSF gene was made employing LXSN and LNFX plasmid. Recombinant retrovirus was produced from PA317 packaging cells. Infection of the vascular smooth muscle cells with the virus and selection with G418 was done in vitro. These transduced cells were transplanted to the balloon-injured carotid arteries of Fisher 344 rats, and complete blood count as well as differentials were measured in sequence. RESULTS: The virus titer was three times greater in case of LNFG than LGSN, whereas G-CSF production from infected vascular smooth muscle cell was lower in LNFG vector (0.1ng/106cells/day) than in LGSN vector (0.4ng/106cells/day). The increment of WBC count was observed until 25 days after transplantation, being 9,600 +/- 1,000/uL on seventh day after transplantation, which was significantly higher than that of controls, 7,300 +/- 540/uL. The levels of neutrophil increased gradually after transplantation, reached to the peak after 1 week (3,250 +/- 1,099/uL in case of neutrophil count and 30 +/- 10% in case of differentials). The duration of increment, however, was relatively short, neutrophil count being decreased to the basal level within 4 weeks. CONCLUSION: The effective increase of neutrophil count with low dose of G-CSF produced from vascular smooth muscle cells could make this gene therapy feasible in the clinical settings only if the problem of short duration of effect could be solved.
Animals ; Blood Cell Count ; Carotid Arteries ; Genetic Therapy ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor* ; Granulocytes* ; Humans ; Leukocytes* ; Models, Animal ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Plasmids ; Product Packaging ; Rats* ; Retroviridae ; Viral Load ; Zidovudine*