The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between toe muscular strengths and single and/or repetitive jump performances on different directions (vertical or horizontal) in athletes. Thirty two male collegiate students participated (athletes group n=24, control group n=8). Two types of measurements were performed to evaluate toe muscular strengths: toe pushing force (TPF) with the metatarsophalangeal joint (MPJ) at neutral position (0°) and the MPJ in the dorsiflexed position (45°). Jump performances were assessed by press jump (vertical jump and standing broad jump) that measures jumping height or distance, and rebound jump (rebound jump and repetitive hopping) that measures “RJ-index” (the jumping height divided by the contact time). Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between the toe muscular strengths and the performances of each jumping test. There were significant correlations between TPF with the MPJ in the dorsiflexed position and the performances of the repetitive hopping and rebound jump in athletes (P<0.05), but no significant correlations were found in controls. Also, there were no significant correlation between TPF and the performances of vertical jump and standing broad jump of all groups. These results suggest that, TPF in the dorsiflexed positions is one of the indicators that affect repetitive jump performance.

Entrapment of an intravascular ultrasonography (IVUS) catheter is an infrequent but serious complication associated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We report a case of successful surgical treatment of an IVUS catheter entrapped in a coronary stent after PCI. An-80-year-old man was admitted to a hospital with sudden anterior chest pain. He underwent PCI to left circumflex branch (Cx) and left anterior descending artery (LAD), followed by IVUS to ascertain stent expansion of the LAD stent. The IVUS catheter became entangled in the stent and could not be withdrawn from the outside. The patient was transferred to our hospital for its surgical removal. For the emergent surgery, we opened the stent region in the LAD and directly removed the IVUS catheter with the twisted stent. The opened place in the LAD was directly closed. Additional coronary bypass grafting involving two vessels was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful with no graft occlusion.

Aortic dissection presents with acute chest or back pain. However, it can be asymptomatic in the acute phase with delayed symptomatic presentation or incidental diagnosis upon chest imaging. We report a case of acute type B aortic dissection subsequent to chronic type A aortic dissection which was difficult to distinguish from acute type A aortic dissection. A 45-year-old man was admitted to a hospital with sudden back pain. An enhanced chest CT revealed a suspected acute type A aortic dissection. The patient was transferred to our hospital and we performed an emergent total arch replacement. Intraoperative findings showed that there were two entries at the origin of the brachiocephalic artery and the left subclavian artery. The ascending aorta presented wall thickening but the descending aorta did not present wall thickening. Histopathologically, the adventitia was obviously thickened with dissection findings in the tunica media. Thus it was diagnosed as acute type B aortic dissection subsequent to chronic type A aortic dissection. Great caution should be taken in asymptomatic chronic aortic dissection.