Ultrastructural Change of Myocardium in Open Cardiac Surgery with Cold Blood Cardioplegia / 대한흉부외과학회지

BACKGROUND: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effect of myocardial protection with our cold blood cardioplegic solution and to observe the relationship between ultrastructural study and other evaluation methods and its effectiveness. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We evaluated the changes of myocardial ultrastructure using semiquantitative scoring system, CK-MB fraction, SGOT and LDH1/LDH2, and EKG in 18 patients undergoing valvular heart surgery and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Right atrial auricular biopsies were taken before the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and shortly after the end of CPB. Myocardium-related serum enzymes & EKG were checked for 3 days of postoperative period and their postoperative peak enzyme value and observed new Q wave & ST segment elevation in EKG were choosen. RESULT: There were 8 males and 10 females, and their mean age was 55.6+/-13. Eight patients underwent valvular heart surgery and ten coronary artery bypass grafting. The mean CPB time was 119+/-29minutes and the mean aortic cross-clamp (ACC) time was 75.4+/-24 minutes. Before the start of CPB, the mean mitochondrial score was 1.28+/-0.53 and after the end of CPB, it significantly increased to 2.35+/-0.79. There was no evidence of perioperative myocardial infarction in terms of myocardiumrelated serum enzyme value and Q wave and ST change in EKG. There was no significant relationship between pre-CPB and post-CPB mitochondrial score and the mean time of CPB and ACC, and the mean value of postoperative peak CK-MB, SGOT and LDH1/LDH2, but there was relatively positive correlation of CPB time with peak LDH1/LDH2. CONCLUSION: Despite the apparent satisfactory results in myocardium-related serum enzymes & EKG, with this study using the cold blood cardioplegic solution, there were many changes in myocardial ultrastructures, and more studies are needed to obtain further information.

Histopathological Features and the Clinical Significance of White Spots around Colon Cancer / 대한소화기내시경학회지

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To investigate the difference between colorectal adenocarcinomas with white spots (foamy cells) and those without white spots, clinically and histopathologically, were examined 37 cases of colorectal adenocarcinomas were classified in this study. METHODS: Two groups: those with white spots and those without. In each case, evidence of lymph node and liver metastasis was sought. Immunoreactive staining for macrophage was performed. RESULTS: Increased incidence of exophytic tumors was found (73%, p=0.028) in the group with white spots. The incidences of lymph node metastasis were 33% vs. 45% between the group with white spots and the group of without, but the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that foamy cells might have a beneficial role in colorectal cancer, although they were not statistically significant. Therefore, further prospective study be warranted.

One Family of Aniridia

Aniridia is a congenital lack of iris and rudimentary iris tissue, almost always bilateral, occuring as a dominant characteristic by an autosomal gene with high penetrance and variable expression. The syndrome of congenital aniridia may be composed of four phenotypes. The authors have experienced one an iridic family: mother, one daughter and four sons. The most family members have ectopia lentis. cataract. corneal pannus and glaucoma as well as aniridia, so they were expected the first phenotype of aniridia due to a failure in development of retinal ectoderm. Two sons of them were operated in Chungnam National University Hospital for control of glaucoma and visual impairment due to cataractous ectopic lens. In one case the intraocular pressure was not controlled after trabeculectomy and in another case lens extraction resulted in visual improvement. The review was made of relating literatures for the case of aniridia family, breifly.