A total of 4757 apparently healthy aged persons over 65 years of age was surveyed for geriatric hypertension. A single blood pressure measurement was taken in the sitting position. Mean systolic blood pressure rose significantly with age in female but didn't in male and mean diastolic blood pressure didn't change with age in both sex. The prevalence of pure systolic hypertension, i.e., a systolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 160 mmhg and a diastolic blood pressure less than 95mmhg, increased with age. The prevalence was slighty lower for female than it was for male, being 7.0% for female and 8.0% for male. The prevalence of classical hypertension-defined as diastolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 95mmhg - was 42.7% for female and 48.2% for male and it rose with age in female. The prevalence of both pure systolic and classical hypertension was 49.7% for female and 56.1% for male.
Blood Pressure ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Korea* ; Male ; Prevalence

Stereotactic radiosurgery is an effective and widely used surgical procedure for the management of cerebral vascular malformations. Long-term analysis of results has led to an evolution in technique and patient selection, a better understanding of the safe and effective dose reponse, and of the risks to surrounding normal tissue. Radiosurgery is a minimally invasive technique but is not risk-free. Successful AVM obliteration depends on proper stereotactic nidus definition and delivery of an adequate radiosurgery dose.
Arteriovenous Malformations ; Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations* ; Patient Selection ; Radiosurgery* ; Vascular Malformations

Pulmonary blastoma are a family of tumors in which the glands or mesenchyme composing the neoplasm are primitive or embryonal in appearance. We report a pulmonary blastoma occurring in a 31 years old man. An abnormal shadow was detected in the right lower lung field in a routine chest X-ray film. The preoperative imaging films showed about a 5cm sized well circumscribed solid tumor of the right lung. A preoperative clinical diagnosis of primary lung cancer was considerd. The operative field showed that the hard, round mass, 6 x 5 x 4cm in diameter was localized in middle lobe of the right lung, and partially adhered to the upper lobe, pericardium and diaphragm. Right middle lobe lobectomy, right upper lobe wedge resection, partial pericardiectomy and diaphragm resection with plication was performed with radical lymph node dissection. Histopathologic diagnosis was pulmonary blastoma (Biphasic blastoma). It is considered that the prognosis of biphasic blastoma is worse than WDFA(well differentiated fetal adenocarcinoma). There are no other available treatments except for surgical resection. It is suggested that it is necessary to collect as many cases as possible, to make definite classifications and to examine the clinical course and prognosis of pulmonary blastoma.
Adult ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Diaphragm ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lymph Node Excision ; Mesoderm ; Pericardiectomy ; Pericardium ; Prognosis ; Pulmonary Blastoma* ; Thorax ; X-Ray Film

Little is known about the long-term prognosis of or predictors for the different clinical types of atrial fibrillation (AF) in Korean populations. The aim of this study was to validate a risk stratification to assess the probability of AF progression from paroxysmal AF (PAF) to persistent AF (PeAF) or permanent AF. A total of 434 patients with PAF were consecutively enrolled (mean age; 71.7 +/- 10.7 yr, 60.6% male). PeAF was defined as episodes that are sustained > 7 days and not self-terminating, while permanent AF was defined as an ongoing long-term episode. Atrial arrhythmia during follow-up was defined as atrial premature complex, atrial tachycardia, and atrial flutter. During a mean follow-up of 72.7 +/- 58.3 months, 168 patients (38.7%) with PAF progressed to PeAF or permanent AF. The mean annual AF progression was 10.7% per year. In univariate analysis, age at diagnosis, body mass index, atrial arrhythmia during follow-up, left ventricular ejection fraction, concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, left atrial diameter (LAD), and severe mitral regurgitation (MR) were significantly associated with AF progression. In multivariate analysis, age at diagnosis (P = 0.009), atrial arrhythmia during follow-up (P = 0.015), LAD (P = 0.002) and MR grade (P = 0.026) were independent risk factors for AF progression. Patients with younger age at diagnosis, atrial arrhythmia during follow-up, larger left atrial chamber size, and severe MR grade are more likely to progress to PeAF or permanent AF, suggesting more intensive medical therapy with close clinical follow-up would be required in those patients.
Aged ; Atrial Fibrillation/epidemiology/mortality/*pathology ; Atrial Flutter/*epidemiology/mortality/pathology ; Atrial Premature Complexes/*epidemiology/mortality/pathology ; Disease Progression ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Atria/pathology/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Tachycardia, Ectopic Atrial/*epidemiology/mortality/pathology ; Tachycardia, Paroxysmal/*epidemiology/mortality/pathology ; Thromboembolism/epidemiology/mortality ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: Diagnosing a pulmonary embolism is difficult because its presenting symptoms are nonspecific and there are limitations with all of the objective tests. The D-dimer is known to be a marker of the lysis of intravascular cross-linked fibrin as a result of the activation of the endogenous fibrinolytic pathways, and the D-dimer assay is these an objective method for diagnosing a pulmonary embolism. This study assessed the benefits of the D-dimer test for diagnosing a pulmonary embolism using semiquantitative latex agglutination. METHODS: The latex agglutination results of 185 patients were retrospectively reviewed. The D-dimer test was performed at the time a pulmonary embolism was suspected. Ninety patients(group I) were diagnosis with PE through spiral chest CT or a chest CT angiogram, perfusion/ventilation scans, and/or pulmonary angiogram. Ninety-five patients (group II) were found not to have a pulmonary embolism through the above tests. RESULTS: The male to female ratio and mean age in groups I and II was 37:55, and 57 years old to 50:45 and 52 years old, respectively. When the cut off value for a positive D-dimer assay was set to 500 microgram, the sensitivity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and specificity was 86.7%, 61.4%, 79.3%, and 48.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The semiquantitative latex agglutination method in the D-dimer test has a lower sensitivity and negative predictive value than the well known ELISA test particularly for small emboli. Therefore, this test is not a suitable screening test for excluding a pulmonary embolism.
Agglutination* ; Diagnosis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Fibrin ; Humans ; Latex* ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Embolism* ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed