Dual Fistulas of Ascending Aorta and Coronary Artery to Pulmonary Artery

Coronary artery fistula to pulmonary artery is common. However, to the best of our knowledge, a case of coronary artery fistula to pulmonary artery associated with aortopulmonary fistula remains unreported. We herein report a 64-year-old female with a left anterior descending coronary artery and ascending aorta to pulmonary artery fistulas, and conduct a brief review of the literature.

A Case of Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma of the Duodenum and Jejunum / 대한소화기내시경학회지

Primary T-cell lymphoma of the duodenum is uncommon, and peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the duodenum is extremely rare. Approximately 90% of primary gastrointestinal lymphomas originate from B-cells and fewer than 10% originate from T-cells. A peripheral T-cell lymphoma involved in the small intestine is usually detected by complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, perforation, or obstruction. A 57-year-old man complained of postprandial discomfort and weight loss of 5 kg for 1 month. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed a deep ulcer with blood clots and whitish exudates. We conducted a Whipple's operation because of the high risk of ulcer perforation and difficulty in distinguishing the ulcer from malignancy. The resected tissue was confirmed as a peripheral T-cell lymphoma. We reported a case of peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the duodenum and jejunum that extended to the pancreatic head where a diffuse lesion was found without any complications or specific symptoms.

A Rare Case with Primary Undifferentiated Carcinoma of Pericardium

A primary pericardial tumor is very rare. A 77-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with chief complaint of exertional dyspnea due to large amount of pericardial effusion. She was finally diagnosed as pericardial undifferentiated carcinoma without definite histopathologial, immunochemistry feature. Despite palliative radiation therapy, the patient died of multiple organ failure. The prognosis of primary pericardial undifferentiated carcinoma is known to be very poor, especially in old people.

LDL cholesterols levels after statin treatment: A comparison of measured vs. estimated values / 대한내과학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is the primary target for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have shown that estimated LDL-C levels calculated using Friedewald's formula (FLDL-C) are closely correlated with directly measured LDL-C levels (DLDL-C). However, because statins not only reduce LDL-C, but also alter the levels of parameters used to calculate FLDL-C (i.e., total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), whether calculated LDL-C levels remain a reliable estimate of actual levels after statin treatment is unclear. METHODS: Subjects included 985 patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease who had taken statins for more than 6 months. FLDL-C data were compared to DLDL-C data. RESULTS: A strong correlation was observed between DLDL-C and FLDL-C data (R2=0.879). However, the absolute values for FLDL-C and DLDL-C differed significantly according to a paired t-test, and 42.3% of patients showed a difference of greater than 10% between these two values. Among patients with diabetes, the percentage of patients deemed to have achieved target LDL-C levels differed significantly according to the method of LDL-C determination (p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: FLDL-C and DLDL-C data remained well correlated after statin treatment, although the absolute values differed significantly according to the LDL-C determination method. Furthermore, the percentage of subjects deemed to achieve target LDL-C levels differed significantly according to the method of determination among patients with diabetes.

Assessing the Myocardial Function of Postmenopausal Women with Fibromyalgia / 대한류마티스학회지

BACKGROUND: Aberrations of cardiovascular regulation have been reported in patients who suffer with fibromyalgia (FM). Abnormalities of the cardiovascular autonomic regulation, as well as the correlation between coronary heart disease and depression, have been considered to be the causative factors. The clinical features of transient left apical ballooning syndrome with the patients under acute stress have been clearly described, but the effect of chronic stress such as FM on the myocardium is unknown. We investigated the cardiac strain in FM patients by strain imaging with using the 2D grayscale images, and we quantified the regional myocardial deformation properties. METHODS: We investigated 30 consecutive postmenopausal women (mean age: 48+/-8 years) who satisfied the criteria for fibromyalgia with atypical chest pain by performing standard and 2-dimensional strain echocardiography (2DS). Those patients with hypertension, coronary heart disease or diabetes were excluded. The global and segmental longitudinal deformation parameters of the LV from 3 apical views were analyzed, and the patients underwent a manual tender point survey for determining the number of tender points and tender point counts, and the patients completed the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQ), the brief fatigue inventory (BFI), and Beck depression inventory (BDI). RESULTS: The global longitudinal LV strain was significantly reduced in the FM patients with a high FIQ score (>40) as compared to the patients with a low FIQ score (-18.61% vs. -22.72%). Also, both the global and segmental longitudinal LV strains were negatively associated with fatigue or the tender point counts. However, there was no significant association between depression and the LV strain. CONCLUSION: This study showed the reduced myocardial longitudinal deformation in FM patients. This suggested that strain imaging is a feasible approach to assess the regional ventricular function in FM patients.