Characteristics of hospitalized cases in the Department of General Internal / 日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会誌

 Our hospital comprises nine departments of internal medicine that specialize in different organs, and the Department of General Internal Medicine is one of these departments. The inpatient department has 30 beds for providing medical care, and education is provided for junior and senior residents. We examined the diagnoses in 593 cases (289 men, 304 women ; mean age, 64.2±21.2 years old) who were hospitalized in the Department of General Internal Medicine at this hospital between April 2007 and March 2008. The major diseases included pneumonia, 111 cases ; urinary tract infections, 44 cases ; infectious enteritis, 34 cases ; bronchial asthma, 24 cases ; fever of unknown origin, 12 cases ; heart failure, 11 cases ; viral infections 9 cases, diverticulitis, 8 cases ; malignant lymphoma, 7 cases ; infectious mononucleosis, 7 cases ; polymyalgia rheumatica, 6 cases ; and others. In order to provide diagnoses and treatments for cases in which no diagnosis could not be obtained on the first outpatient visit, for example, it is necessary to have a ward for general internal medicine as a location for providing medical care that is not limited to any specialized field.

A Case of Left Atrial Myxoma Mimicking Mitral Valve Stenosis Which Required the Mitral Valvoplasty after Tumorectomy / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

A 58-year-old woman was referred to our department with subacute onset dyspnea on effort. A transthoracic echocardiogram revealed mobile left atrial mass originating from the intra-atrial septum, and almost obstructing the left atrial outflow in diastole. From continuous doppler recordings of the tricuspid valve, a systolic pulmonary artery pressure of 114mmHg was estimated. The tumor was exposed through a left atriotomy after bicaval cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). We performed complete excision of the tumor with the endocardium of the intra-atrial septum, to which it was attached. The defect was closed directly with running sutures. The CPB was weaned off uneventfully, however, there was moderate mitral regurgitation shown by transesophageal echocardiogram. Repeat cardioplegic arrest was induced and the mitral valve was exposed again, and mitral valvoplasty was performed. The mitral incompetence was probably due to an extreme tension of the mitral annulus after closure of the resulting intra-atrial defect.

A Case of Reoperation for a Starr-Edwards Ball Valve Prosthesis Implanted in the Aortic Position 29 Years Previously / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

A 53-year-old woman had dyspnea on effort since half a year previously and was categorized as NYHA II. She had suffered from chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) for three years. She had undergone aortic valve replacement using a Starr-Edwards ball valve (SEV) for aortic regurgitation and mitral commissurotomy for mitral stenosis 29 years previously. Echocardiography revealed mitral stenosis with an orifice area of 0.9cm² and neither dysfunction of the SEV nor abnormal findings on the valve itself. She underwent mitral valve replacement and left atrial maze procedure for AF. Because of the intraoperative findings of the cloth wear-covered SEV cage, redo aortic valve replacement was performed simultaneously. St. Jude Medical valves were used for valve prostheses. There was no complication and the ECG returned to sinus rhythm postoperatively. These has been no report of a patient with such a long period between SEV implantation and replacement in Japan. This experience made us realize again the importance of attention to the cloth wear covered cage during long term follow up for SEV.

Postoperative Hypoxia in Obese Patients following Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

Postoperative hypoxia in 53 consecutively treat patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and who were weaned from mechanical ventilation were studied. The 29 patients who required high concentration oxygen (more than 70% H-group) were compared with the 24 patients who required lower concentration oxygen (less than 70% L-group). The preoperative body mass index (BMI) was significantly higher in the H-group (25.6±3.5) than the L-group (23.3±2.8). (<i>p</i>=0.012). Respiratory index (RI) decreased after extracorporeal circulation in all patients. The RI of the H-group during a stay in intensive care unit was significantly lower than that in the L-group. The RI in obese patients (BMI≥26.5) showed a significant reduction. Late deaths were seen in 3 obese patients in the H-group. These data suggested that careful postoperative respiratory managements is necessary in obese patients.