A 27-year-old male presented with an anterior myocardial infarction following blunt chest trauma sustained in motorcycle accident. On examination, there was no visible wound on the chest wall. Echocardiogram showed dyskinesia over anterior left ventricular wall. Subsequent coronary angiogram demonstrated dissection at the proximal portion of the left anterior descending coronary artery and left ventriculogram showed apical anerysm and thrombus. He was treated by coronary artery bypass graft.
Adult ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Vessels* ; Dyskinesias ; Humans ; Male ; Motorcycles ; Myocardial Infarction ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax* ; Thrombosis ; Transplants ; Wounds and Injuries

We report a non-obese patient suffering from spastic gait and right leg paresis caused by thoracic spinal cord compression secondary to spinal epidural lipomatosis. Although spinal epidural lipomatosis is most often associated with the administration of exogenous steroid or endogenous Cushing syndrome, obesity also has been reported as a possible cause. However, idiopathic(non-glucocorticoid induced) spinal epidural lipomatosis in non-obese healthy man is an extremely rare disease and dose not have any good explanation for the abnormal fat deposition in spinal epidural space. We recently experienced a patient with idiopathic thoracic epidural lipomatosis in whom MRI and histopathology established the specific diagnosis. With a case report, brief review of the disease including clinical feature, diagnostic procedure and therapeutic considerations is described.
Cushing Syndrome ; Diagnosis ; Epidural Space ; Gait Disorders, Neurologic ; Humans ; Leg ; Lipomatosis* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Obesity ; Paresis ; Rare Diseases ; Spinal Cord Compression

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human herpes virus which causes certain type of lymphoma and some epithelial neoplasm such as undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, the role of EBV as a causative factor in other head and neck tumor especially, in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma is not fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the prescence of EBV in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and clinicopathologic characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 65 cases of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were retrieved from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks and analyzed for EBV by immunohistochemical staining. Results : The EBV was detected in 26(40%) of the 65 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and 2(10%) of the 20 control ases. In 26 cases of EBV-positive patients, 13(46.4%) cases were supraglottic cancer and 13(35.1%) cases were glottic cancer. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that EBV may possibly play an etiologic role in the pathogenesis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Head ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Neck ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial

Double aortic arch is the most common type of symptomatic vascular ring. In most patients, the symptoms are manifested at birth or in early infancy. Double aortic arch usually has more severe symptoms than other types of complete vascular rings. We experienced one case of complete duplicated double aortic arch with left descending aorta and left patent ductus arteriosus. A one-day-old female neonate was transferred to our hospital because of mild dyspnea and stridor. She showed intractable CO2 retention and respiratory difficulty with time in spite of ventilator therapy. She died of respiratory failure 23 hours after birth. On autopsy, we found that the diameter of the vascular ring was 0.7cm in maximum extent. It was ovoid and contained trachea and esophagus. The trachea was flattened due to allowing 0.1x0.2cm. The compression level of the trachea was approximately 1cm from the tracheal bifurcation.
Aorta, Thoracic* ; Autopsy* ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent ; Dyspnea ; Esophagus ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Parturition ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Respiratory Sounds ; Trachea ; Ventilators, Mechanical

A large tumor located at right temporoparietal lobe was found in 25-years-old female. The brain CT scan and MR imaging revealed a large multi-lobulated mass which was composed of solid and cystic portions involving right temporoparietal lobe. Preoperative routine laboratory check showed microcytic hypochromic anemia and monoclonal gammopathy with bate-gamma bridging. The mass was removed totally by operation and histologic diagnosis resulted in chordoid meningioma surrounded by massive polyclonal lymphoplasmacellular infiltrates. After the mass was removed, the blood picture of the patient normalized and the patient discharged with neurologically free stage. We report this case with relative literatures.
Anemia, Hypochromic ; Brain ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Meningioma* ; Paraproteinemias ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Cor triatriatum is a rare anomaly in old age. This is a case report of a 66 year-old man who had been preoperatively diagnosed as coronary artery disease and cor triatriatum. The operative findings revealed that the left atrium had an intra-atrial septum with one small opening 10mm in diameter, the upper compartment received both pulmonary veins, and there were no other anomalies like anormalous pulmonary venous connection or atrial septal defect. The patient successfully underwent open heart surgery ; the anomalous septum was resected, the mitral valve was reconstructed using French technique with Carpentier-Edwards ring, and coronary artery bypass grafting was performed.
Aged ; Cor Triatriatum* ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Heart Atria ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; Humans ; Mitral Valve ; Pulmonary Veins ; Thoracic Surgery

Palatal myoclonus (palatal tremor) was reported to be presented with a sole symptom of objective pulsating tinnitus and could be controlled by botulinum toxin injection alone. However, there were 3 cases reported in Korea of palatal myoclonus tinnitus controlled with botulinum toxin injection through the dual administration route of the mouth and nasal cavity. We present an 11-year-old boy of essential palatal myoclonus tinnitus, which was controlled by intraoral botulinum toxin injection to the tensor veli palatini muscle alone. Intraoral injection of botulinum toxin to the anatomical location of tensor veli palatini muscle with the guidance of electromyography was effective and safe for the child of objective tinnitus caused by palatal myoclonus.
Botulinum Toxins ; Child ; Electromyography ; Humans ; Korea ; Mouth ; Muscles ; Myoclonus ; Nasal Cavity ; Tinnitus

PURPOSE: An anthracofibrosis(AF), dark multiple anthracotic pigmentations combined with narrowing and obstruction of bronchi, was reported to be strongly related with past and active pulmonary tuberculosis. This study was performed to determine whether anti-tuberculous regiemens would be helpful in patients with anthracofibrosis who failed to demonstrate the evidences of pulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with multiple anthracotic pigmentations in bronchia mucosa with luminal narrowing were enrolled in this study. The bacteriological and histological findings for Mycobacterium tuberculosis was reviwed in each patients. They are composed of 8 males and 14 females ranging from 55 to 85 years old in age. RESULTS: The most common symptoms were coughing(73%, 16/22), followed by sputum(41%, 9/22), dyspnea on exertion (32%, 7/22), and hemoptysis(27%, 6/22). The evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis, defined by positive AFB smear or culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from sputum or bronchial washing fluid or histological findings of granuloma with caseous necrosis, were found in eleven patients(50%) and the others has showed no evidences. Among 11 patients without pulmonary tuberculosis, only one patient showed the evidences of pulmonary tuberculosis after 16 months, and the 8 patients still showed no evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis during follow-up periods of ranging from 8 months to 60 months. CONCLUSION: Beause the authracofibrosis is closely related to tuberculosis, it needs to find out extensively the evidences of tuberculosis in patient with authracofibrosis. Chemotherapy for tuberculosis should be administrated only with confirmation of tuberculosis on bacteriologic study.
Bronchi ; Drug Therapy ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Male ; Mucous Membrane ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Necrosis ; Phenobarbital ; Pigmentation ; Sputum ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The Dieulafoy lesion is an important cause of gastrointestinal bleeding. The bleedings from caliber- persistent vessel or abnormally large and tortuous submucosal artery are usually located on proximal stomach. Endoscopic band ligation (EBL) is currently regarded as the treatment of choice of Dieulafoy lesions. This study reports on the clinical features, the efficacy and safety of EBL. METHODS: 10 patients with Dieulafoy-like lesion (median age: 47 yr range: 22~71, M:F 8:2 ) were treated using EBL. EBL was performed as the primary hemostatic tratment as follows in 8 cases of urgency and 2 cases of emergency. RESULTS: The location of all lesions (n=10) were in stomach, 8 in body (4 in posterior wall), 2 in fundus. The bleeding focuses were identified during the first endoscopy. Five lesions were bleeding, 5 had adherent clots or protruding vessels without active bleeding. Hemostasis were achieved with first session of EBL in 9 patients successfully, one case in the fundus was failed due to early band release. CONCLUSION: EBL is a simple, effective, and safe endoscopic method of Dieulafoy-like lesions and, it should be proposed as a primary option.
Arteries ; Emergencies ; Endoscopy ; Hemorrhage ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Ligation* ; Stomach

Emerging evidence suggests that intestinal dysbiosis contributes to systemic inflammation and cardiovascular diseases in dialysis patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of probiotic supplementation on various inflammatory parameters in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: Twenty-two patients with maintenance HD were enrolled. These patients were treated twice a day with 2.0 ×1010 colony forming units of a combination of Bifidobacterium bifidum BGN4 and Bifidobacterium longum BORI for 3 months. The microbiome and fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were analyzed. The percentages of CD14+ CD16+ proinflammatory monocytes and CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T-cells (Tregs) before and after probiotic supplementation were determined by flow cytometry. Serum levels of calprotectin and cytokine responses upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge were compared before and after probiotic supplementation. Results: Fecal SCFAs increased significantly after probiotic supplementation. Serum levels of calprotectin and interleukin 6 upon LPS stimulation significantly decreased. The anti-inflammatory effects of probiotics were associated with a significant increase in the percentage of CD4+ CD25+ Tregs (3.5% vs. 8.6%, p < 0.05) and also with a decrease of CD14+ CD16+ proinflammatory monocytes (310/ mm2 vs. 194/mm2 , p < 0.05). Conclusion: Probiotic supplementation reduced systemic inflammatory responses in HD patients and this effect was associated with an increase in Tregs and a decrease in proinflammatory monocytes. Hence, targeting intestinal dysbiosis might be a novel strategy for decreasing inflammation and cardiovascular risks in HD patients.