A 75-year-old man with situs inversus totalis, presented to our hospital complaining of chest pain. ECG showed ST depression in the leads of Ⅰ, aVL, V5, and V6. Blood tests showed cardiac enzyme (Troponin I) elevation. Coronary angiography revealed severe calcification and stenosis of the anatomical left anterior descending artery (LAD) , and the anatomical right coronary artery (RCA). The Patient underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) using the right internal thoracic artery and saphenous vein graft. The postoperative course was uneventful. CABG in a patient with situs inversus totalis is very rare. We present this case with a review of the relevant literature.

Objective: To report a case of anterior longitudinal ligament (ALL) injury that was not noticeable during lateral lumbar interbody fusion and was disclosed after posterior corrective fusion surgery.Case presentation: After performing lateral lumbar interbody fusion followed by posterior corrective fusion surgery, we observed an anterior longitudinal ligament rupture that required additional surgery. Postoperative pain in the left lower limb and muscle weakness due to nerve traction appeared, but this was improved by stabilization between the vertebral bodies.Conclusion: Unidentified anterior longitudinal ligament rupture can result in unexpected local lordosis during posterior surgery, possibly related to lower extremity palsy. Therefore, checking for possible rupture during and after anterior surgery is important. If the ALL damage is disclosed before posterior surgery, the proper surgical strategy for the posterior surgery must be considered.

Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) is an important postoperative complication of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (rAAA). Open abdominal management (OAM) has been reported to be effective in EVAR ; however, only a limited number of reports are available on when and how to close the abdomen. Here we report a case of early abdominal wall closure achieved through the combined use of retroperitoneal hematoma evacuation after EVAR and OAM for rAAA. The patient was a 79-year-old woman who underwent EVAR for rAAA on an emergency basis. She developed ACS after EVAR and underwent OAM. Four days after surgery, a decrease in intraabdominal pressure was confirmed, and subsequent contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed the absence of an endoleak ; retroperitoneal hematoma evacuation was performed, during which the abdominal wall was closed. The postoperative course was good, and the patient was discharged. Early closure of the abdomen may be possible by concomitant retroperitoneal hematoma evacuation after EVAR and OAM for rAAA.

We report the case of a 62-year-old man who was admitted for acute cerebral infarction linked to a cardiac calcified amorphous tumor (CAT). The patient, who had been on hemodialysis for about 10 years, was referred to our hospital with dysarthria, and left hemiplegia. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed acute cerebral infarction in right parietal lobe of the cortex, and transthoracic echocardiography revealed moderate aortic valve stenosis and a mobile mass measuring 8 mm×5 mm in diameter attached to the aortic valve. The mobile structure was thought to be related to the cerebral infarction. Aortic valve replacement was performed. On the basis of the pathological examination, a cardiac calcified amorphous tumor was diagnosed. The patient was discharged from our hospital without any complication.

The treatment by Kampo decoction is partly covered by National Health Insurance in Japan. However, this system is facing bankruptcy crisis because of rising prices of crude drugs in China, their main producer. The board of crude drug materials of the Japan Society for Oriental Medicine (JSOM) distributed questionnaires to 7416 JSOM member doctors, and performed statistical analysis (with JSOM approval) of 1877 answers to visualize the data. Twenty-six percent of respondents said that they had prescribed a decoction, and 29% of respondents said they had not, but wanted to prescribe a crude drug. Eighty-eight percent of doctors who prescribe decoctions offered medical treatment primarily to insured patients. Nine percent offered medical treatment at patients' own expense. The latter group prescribed decoctions more frequently. Many doctors were aware of the financial risk of prescribing crude drugs imposed by the drug price standard and rising crude drug import prices. Four hundred and fifty­-five doctors explained when they were most inclined to prescribe a decoction. Thirty-five percent of these said they used decoctions when they couldn't treat patients with extracts. This result implies a necessity for decoctions. Many doctors said they prescribed decoctions for autoimmune or allergic diseases. Financial constraints were the most frequently cited barrier to treatment with decoctions. This survey made clear the financial difficulties clinics are facing. We therefore calculated the amount of crude drugs used for decoctions to validate the possibility of their domestic production.

Objectives: Peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) is widely used, because the incidence of complications and bloodstream infection in patients receiving PICC was lower than that in patients receiving central venous catheter. We compared PICC between cancer patients and non-cancer patients. Methods: This retrospective single-center study included 157 patients receiving PICC from May 2012 to September 2015. Patients were separated into cancer and non-cancer groups. Results: Cancer patients were 88 and non-cancer patients were 69. The most common causes of PICC were intravenous hyperalimentation (Cancer vs. non-cancer: 45 vs. 51) and difficult peripheral venous access (40 vs. 12) (p=0.0022). The duration of catheterization was 15 (6-39) vs. 21 (12-40) days (p<0.0001). The causes of catheter removal were death (50 vs. 14), remission (9 vs. 26), redness on insertion site or infection suspicion (10 vs. 11), and Some kind of catheter trouble (8 vs. 4) (p=0.0002). Complications occurred in 8 vs. 9 patients (p=0.429), and infection occurred in 0.9 vs. 2.0/1000 catheter days (p=0.041). Discussion: End-stage cancer patients have a weakened immune system. In this study, the incidences of PICC-related infection and other complications were not different between cancer and non-cancer patients, suggesting PICC was a safer method.

Introduction: This report describes a case of hyperactive delirium induced by tapenatadol whose symptoms were successfully managed with opioid-switching to oxycodon. Case: A 67-year-old female, who had been treated with chemotherapy for malignant thymoma, had to stop chemotherapy because of her carcinomatous pericarditis. Tapentadol 200 mg per day was administrated for her unbearable chest wall tumor invasion-related somatic pain. After a while, insomnia, visual hallucination, thought disturbance, and attention disturbance were appeared. We diagnosed as hyperactive delirium. Because her somatic pain was favorably controlled by tapentadol, we additionally administered quetiapine 50 mg per day instead of replacing tapentadol. Unfortunately, quetiapine was not effective for the delirium. We therefore switched opioids from tapentadol to oxycodon. The delirium was remitted soon after the switching without relapsing of the pain. Conclusion: Tapentadaol reportedly induce hyperactive delirium via its noradrenaline reuptake inhibitory action. This case suggests that switching tapenatadol to other opioid could be an effective option for opioid induced delirium.