Exploration of Predictive Biomarkers for Sudden Unexplained Cardiac Death in Nonelderly People: A Case-Control Study With Biochemical Parameters Related to Heart Failure.

Sudden unexplained cardiac death (SUCD) can occasionally occur in nonelderly patients with epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, or no medical history. This study was conducted to aim to analyze whether values of the biomarkers for heart failure are associated with the SUCD. Serum concentrations of N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and tumor necrosis factor α were analyzed in 57 nonelderly patients with SUCD who was diagnosed at medicolegal autopsy. The subjects were divided into 3 subgroups according to the medical history: (1) epilepsy, (2) psychiatric disorders, and (3) no specific medical history. The results showed that serum hs-CRP levels were significantly high in patients with epilepsy (P = 0.01) or psychiatric disorders (P = 0.01) as compared with the controls. Also, significantly high concentrations of hs-CRP were observed in psychiatric patients with schizophrenia, compared with the controls (P = 0.003) or the other psychiatric diseases (P = 0.01). The level of N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide and tumor necrosis factor α did not show a significant difference between the SUCD and the controls. These results might suggest the association between high serum hs-CRP levels and the potential impairment of the cardiac function before the fatal event.

An Autopsy Case of Bilateral Tension Pneumothorax after Acupuncture / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

Acupuncture is one of the most popular complementary therapies in the world. Pneumothorax due to perforation of the lungs by needle insertion is one of the most common and serious complications of acupuncture treatment. Although there have been several case studies of pneumothorax induced by acupuncture, as far as we know there have been no reports on the pathological findings of autopsy cases.<BR>In this report, we describe the pathological findings of an autopsy case of bilateral tension pneumothorax after acupuncture. The patient suffered dyspnea and chest pain soon the completionof an acupuncture treatment, and died 90 min later. Several ecchymoses were macroscopically observed on the parietal pleura in the left and right thoracic cavity, suggesting that needles were inserted into the thoracic cavity and that the lungs were perforated. The many black spots we observed on the parietal pleura along the vertebral column microscopically consisted of a number of dust-like black pigments and macrophages containing these pigments. These spots seemed to have appeared because of the previous insertion of needles.