No abstract available.
Congenital Abnormalities* ; Osteotomy*

We have experienced an anesthetic management of a 34 year old female patient with pheochromocytoma of left adrenal gland. The anesthetic management of patients presents many difficult problems, such as hypertension, arrhythmia and hypotension. The patient had been treated with phenoxybenzamine for 2 weeks preoperatively. Following induction of anesthesia with intravenous fentanyl, thiopental sodium and vecuronium, endotracheal intubation was performed. Anesthesia was maintained with nitrous oxide, oxygen and isoflurane administration. Blood pressure and pulse were controlled well with nitroprusside and isoflurane. After removal of tumor, blood pressure was controlled by Hartman's solution, packed red cell and dopamine administration. The patient tolerated well despite the episodic hemodynamic changes. Importance of preoperative preparation, sufficient sedation, smooth induction, complete analgesia, good muscle relaxation and stable cardiovascular control has been discussed.
Adrenal Glands ; Adult ; Analgesia ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Inhalation* ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Blood Pressure ; Dopamine ; Female ; Fentanyl ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypotension ; Inhalation* ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Isoflurane* ; Muscle Relaxation ; Nitroprusside ; Nitrous Oxide ; Oxygen ; Phenoxybenzamine ; Pheochromocytoma* ; Thiopental ; Vecuronium Bromide

Local or general anesthesia is essential for safe operation. Patients in good preoperative condition are relatively to tolerable to the operation, but the patients in poor preoperative condition have the high mortality and morbidity during and after the operation. Therefore, we should choose the anesthetic agents and methods, which cause little effect to the patient's life. Among the intraventricular blocks, bundle branch is the most common type, and left bundle branch block may progress to a more serious condition of complete heart block. Optimal anesthetic management of patients with cardiovascular disease requires a thorough knowledge of normal cardiac physiology, the circulatory effects of the various anesthetic agents, and the pathophysiology and treatment of these diseases. The authors successfully performed balanced anesthesia in operation of a 63 year old female patient who showed complete left bundle branch block pattern in a preoperative electrocardiographic tracing without any subjective symptoms.
Anesthesia, General ; Anesthetics ; Balanced Anesthesia* ; Bundle-Branch Block* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Heart Block ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Physiology

Local or general anesthesia is essential for safe operation. Patients in good preoperative condition are relatively to tolerable to the operation, but the patients in poor preoperative condition have the high mortality and morbidity during and after the operation. Therefore, we should choose the anesthetic agents and methods, which cause little effect to the patient's life. Among the intraventricular blocks, bundle branch is the most common type, and left bundle branch block may progress to a more serious condition of complete heart block. Optimal anesthetic management of patients with cardiovascular disease requires a thorough knowledge of normal cardiac physiology, the circulatory effects of the various anesthetic agents, and the pathophysiology and treatment of these diseases. The authors successfully performed balanced anesthesia in operation of a 63 year old female patient who showed complete left bundle branch block pattern in a preoperative electrocardiographic tracing without any subjective symptoms.
Anesthesia, General ; Anesthetics ; Balanced Anesthesia* ; Bundle-Branch Block* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Heart Block ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Physiology

BACKGROUND: Epidural administration of local anesthetics and opiate or intravenous administration of opiate and ketorolac has proven to be effective in the treatment of postoperative pain. Studies that compare epidual morphine-bupivacaine vs intravenous nalbuphine-ketorolac administration showed conflicting results. We compared the ability and side effects of epidural (EPI-PCA) morphine-bupivacaine versus intravenous (IV-PCA) nalbuphine-ketorolac for postoperative pain relief after cesarean delivery. METHOD: Sixty healthy women were randomly assigned to receive an epidural bolus of morphine 3 mg mixed with 0.5% bupivacaine 10 ml, followed by a EPI-PCA with 0.0125% morphine and 0.125% bupivacaine (basal infusion 2 ml/hr, bolus 0.5 ml, lock-out interval 15 min) or intravenous bolus of nalbuphine 5 mg, followed by a IV-PCA with 0.05% nalbuphine and 0.15% ketorolac (basal infusion 2 ml/hr, bolus 0.5 ml, lock-out interval 30 min) for pain relief after cesarean delivery. The intensity of pain was assessed by the patient, who was unawared of the dose given, using a visual analog scale (VAS). To compare intensity of pain, VAS was used at 1, 6, 12, 24 and 40 hour after the end of surgery. RESULT : EPI-PCA group had significant lower visual analog scale (VAS) at immediate postoperative period, whereas no significant difference was observed when pain was assessed at other time sequence. Pruritus was more frequent with EPI-PCA group, although the incidence of other side effects were the same. CONCLUSION: We conclude that EPI-PCA or IV-PCA using morphine-bupivacaine or nalbuphine- ketorolac is relatively effective and safe method for the postoperative pain control. Although EPI-PCA with morphine-bupivacaine shows lower VAS at immediate postoperative period, IV-PCA with nalbuphine-ketorolac is a safe and effective alternative to EPI-PCA with morphine-bupivacaine for providing pain relief after cesarean delivery.
Administration, Intravenous ; Analgesia* ; Analgesia, Patient-Controlled* ; Anesthetics, Local ; Bupivacaine ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Ketorolac ; Morphine ; Nalbuphine ; Pain, Postoperative ; Postoperative Period ; Pruritus ; Visual Analog Scale

BACKGROUND: Caudal injection of local anesthetics with morphine is the most common anesthetic technique for perianal operation and postoperative analgesia. This study was purposed to compare the onset time of caudal analgesia, postoperative analgesic effect and side effects. METHOD: Sixty healthy patients scheduled for perianal operation were divided into 2 groups randomly. Group I was given 2 mg of morphine in 20 ml of 2% mepivacaine via sacral hiatus. Group II was also given 2 mg of morphine in 20 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine caudally. We measured the onset time of caudal block, time to the first request of analgesics, the number of analgesics within 24 hours and the incidence of postoperative side effects. Analgesic effect was evaluated by visual analogue scales (VAS) at 1, 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours postoperatively. RESULT : The onset time of caudal block for operation and the first request time of analgesic for postoperative pain was significantly shorter in group I than group II. The analgesic use in the first 24 hours was significantly more in group I than group II. The side effects were similar in both groups. CONCLUSION: We concluded that the combined use of morphine and bupivacaine provided better postoperative analgesia than the combined use of morphine and mepivacaine.
Analgesia ; Analgesics ; Anesthetics, Local ; Bupivacaine* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mepivacaine* ; Morphine* ; Pain, Postoperative ; Weights and Measures

Massive hemoptysis represents a major medical emergency that is associated with high mortality. The causes of hemoptysis are various and include pulmonary and cardiovascular disorders and trauma. The causes of pulmonary disorder are tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, abscess, malignancy, bronchitis, and fungal infection. The causes of cardiovascular disorder are mitral stenosis, pulmonary embolism, and congestive heart failure. A fistula between an aortic aneurysm and the pulmonary parenchyma is one of the causes of hemoptysis, but it is a rare. However, if undiagnosed, it is a uniformly fatal cause of massive hemoptysis. This is a case of bleeding from a fistula between an aortic arch aneurysm and a lung parenchyma in a patient with an aortic arch aneurysm who presented with massive hemoptysis. He had suffered intermittent hemoptysis since he was diagnosed with an aortic arch aneurysm three years before. A high clinical suspicion must be maintained when a history of intermittent hemoptysis is obtained in patients with an aortic aneurysm or prior aortic graft surgery.
Abscess ; Aneurysm* ; Aorta, Thoracic* ; Aortic Aneurysm ; Bronchiectasis ; Bronchitis ; Emergencies ; Fistula* ; Heart Failure ; Hemoptysis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Lung ; Mitral Valve Stenosis ; Mortality ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Transplants ; Tuberculosis

Risk factors for infective endocarditis include injection drug abusers and patients with structural heart defects undergoing dental procedures. Infective endocarditis is clinically important because it is hard to diagnose it in its early stage owing to its various clinical manifestations, and because its morbidity and mortality increase when neurologic complications occur. This is a case of infective endocarditis in the course of treatment of which complicating cerebral hemorrhage and infarction progressed rapidly and prompted death.
Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Cerebral Infarction* ; Drug Users ; Endocarditis* ; Heart ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Infarction ; Mortality ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: Paraquat is widely used non-selective contact herbicide. In spite of efforts to improve the outcome in paraquat poisoning, the mortality rate still remains high. The purpose of this study is to assess the predictive factors of prognosis by investigating initial laboratory data on paraquat poisoning. METHODS: The author retrospectively analyzed the clinical features, laboratory data, and outcomes for 130 paraquatpoisoning patients treated from June 1997 to September 2003 at the emergency medical center of Chonnam National University Hospital. RESULTS: The results were as follows: 1) The mortalities were significantly older than the survivors (49.3 years vs 37.6 years, p<0.05). Among the total 130 cases, the survivors numbered 50, and the deceased numbered 80. The mean age of all 130 cases was 44.8+/-16.9 years. 2) The white blood cell count and the levels of serum AST and ALT in the deceased were significantly higher than they were in the survivors. The levels of arterial pH, PaCO 2, base excess, HCO3 -, and serum potassium in the survivors were significantly higher than they were in the deceased. 3) A multivariate Cox-Regression analysis revealed that sex, serum potassium, and arterial HCO3 - were associated with the mortality rate. CONCILUSION: The above data reveal that the ingested amount, the result of the urine sodium dithionite test, and the initial state of laboratory parameters, including the white blood cell count, ABGA (pH, PaCO2, HCO3 -, base excess), serum potassium, AST, and ALT, can be used to predict the outcome of paraquat poisoning.
Dithionite ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Jeollanam-do ; Leukocyte Count ; Mortality ; Paraquat* ; Poisoning* ; Potassium ; Prognosis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Survivors

PURPOSE: Hyponatremia is the most common electrolyte imbalance encountered in the hospital, there have been few studies about the clinical characteristics of hyponatremia in emergency patients. This study was performed to evaluate the causes and the initial symptoms of hyponatremia in emergency patients, the relationship between their ages and their initial symptoms and the relationship between the causes and the recovery time. METHODS: A total of 42 patients with hyponatremia, who were treated in the Emergency Department of Chonnam National University Hospital from 2000 to 2001, were studied by chart review. RESULTS: The initial symptoms were generalized weakness (33.3%), seizure (28.6%), mental change (21.6%), confusion (9.5%), dizziness (4.8%), and non-specific (2.4%). There was a significant difference in the initial symptoms between children and older. The initial symptom for younger patients was usually seizure. The most common causes of hyponatremia were dehydration and sodium loss (52.4%), other causes were hypothyroidism (11.9%), SIADH (7.1%), heart failure (7.1%), adrenal insufficiency (4.8%), polydypsia (4.8%), CRF (2.4%), nephrotic syndrome (2.4%) and unidentified causes (7.1%). There were significant differences in the recovery times among the causes of hyponatremia. CONCLUSION: The initial symptoms of hyponatremia in emergency patients were usually generalized weakness in older patients and seizure in the young. There were significant differences in the recovery times among the causes of hyponatremia. There were many more incidences of hypovolemic hyponatremia of emergency patients than normovolemic hyponatremia.
Adrenal Insufficiency ; Child ; Dehydration ; Dizziness ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hyponatremia* ; Hypothyroidism ; Hypovolemia ; Inappropriate ADH Syndrome ; Incidence ; Jeollanam-do ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Seizures ; Sodium