Successful Management of Fatal Paraquat Poisoning with Four Courses of Steroid and Cyclophosphamide Pulse / 대한내과학회지

Although severe paraquat poisoning is fatal, intensive immunosuppression can be successful in selected patients. We report the case of a 33-yr-old patient who was poisoned by paraquat and developed multi-organ failure, progressive hypoxemia, and pulmonary fibrosis. The patient was successfully treated with four courses of immunosuppressive pulse therapy. The patient presented to the hospital 2.5 hours after ingesting 2 mouthfuls of paraquat. The serum level of paraquat was 10.40 microg/mL at 3 hours and 3.36 microg/mL at 10 hours after ingestion, which is predictive of a fatal outcome. The first course of steroid and cyclophosphamide pulse therapy was initiated after hemoperfusion. During the hospital course, the patient showed progressive hypoxemia with pulmonary fibrosis. Accordingly, three additional courses of immunosuppressive pulse therapy were administered to prevent pulmonary injury. This treatment inevitably led to bone marrow suppression, which was recovered with supportive care. The patient fully recovered after repeated immunosuppressive pulse therapy without residual hypoxemia and was successfully discharged from the hospital.

A Case of Giant Lipoma Causing Chronic Recurrent Intussusception of the Colon

Colonic lipomas, which often occur in elderly women, usually have small size and occur mainly in the cecum and ascending colon. Most colonic lipomas are asymptomatic and identified incidentally at the time of endoscopy or surgery. However, they may cause symptoms such as bleeding, obstruction or intussusception as their size increases. Intermittent episodes of intussusception are uncommon but may be caused by large pedunculated lipoma. In a 68-year-old woman suffering intermittent abdominal pain, 5.5x4.5x3.8-cm huge mass was found by colonoscopy at proximal ascending colon, which was intussuscepted to proximal transverse colon on abdominal computed tomography. Segmental right colonic resection was conducted. We report a case of symptomatic giant pedunculated colonic lipoma causing intussusception requiring surgical intervention, with a successful recovery after surgery.

Clinical Outcomes and Risk Factors of Rebleeding Following Endoscopic Therapy for Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Rebleeding after endoscopic therapy for non-variceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (NGIH) is the most important predictive factor of mortality. We evaluated the risk factors of rebleeding in patients undergoing endoscopic therapy for the NGIH. METHODS: Between January 2003 and January 2007, 554 bleeding events in 487 patients who underwent endoscopic therapy for NGIH were retrospectively enrolled. We reviewed the clinicoendoscopical characteristics of patients with rebleeding and compared them with those of patients without rebleeding. RESULTS: The incidence of rebleeding was 21.7% (n=120). In the multivariate analysis, initial hemoglobin level < or =9 g/dL (p=0.002; odds ratio [OR], 2.433), inexperienced endoscopist with less than 2 years of experience in therapeutic endoscopy (p=0.001; OR, 2.418), the need for more 15 cc of epinephrine (p=0.001; OR, 2.570), injection therapy compared to thermal and injection therapy (p=0.001; OR, 2.840), and comorbidity with chronic renal disease (p=0.004; OR, 2.908) or liver cirrhosis (p=0.010; OR, 2.870) were risk factors for rebleeding following endoscopic therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Together with patients with low hemoglobin level at presentation, chronic renal disease, liver cirrhosis, the need for more 15 cc of epinephrine, or therapy done by inexperienced endoscopist were risk factors for the development of rebleeding.