[Pericardial Cavernous Hemangioma；Report of a Case].

A case of pericardial cavernous hemangioma is presented. A 62-year-old man had a chest pain and was referred to our hospital because of an abnormal shadow in the mediastinum. Chest computed tomography showed a hypervascular tumor of 2.0 cm in size at the left side of pulmonary artery. Magnetic resonance imaging findings suggested the mucinous part of the tumor, suggesting liposarcoma, thymoma, and neurinoma etc. At surgery, the tumor was found to be in the pericardial cavity. After pericardotomy, the tumor was resected. The diagnosis of the tumor was cavernous hemangioma. There was no evidence of recurrence 2 years after the operation.

Much caution does no harm! Organophosphate poisoning often causes pancreatitis.

Organophosphate poisoning (OP) results in various poisoning symptoms due to its strong inhibitory effect on cholinesterase. One of the occasional complications of OP is pancreatitis. A 62-year-old woman drank alcohol and went home at midnight. After she quarreled with her husband and drank 100 ml of malathion, a parasympathomimetic organophosphate that binds irreversibly to cholinesterase, she was transported to our hospital in an ambulance. On admission, activated charcoal, magnesium citrate, and pralidoxime methiodide (PAM) were used for decontamination after gastric lavage. Abdominal computed tomography detected edema of the small intestine and colon with doubtful bowel ischemia, and acute pancreatitis was suspected. Arterial blood gas analysis revealed severe lactic acidosis. The Ranson score was 6 and the APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation) score was 14. Based on these findings, severe acute pancreatitis was diagnosed. One day after admission, hemodiafiltration (HDF) was started for the treatment of acute pancreatitis. On the third hospital day, OP symptoms were exacerbated, with muscarinic manifestations including bradycardia and hypersalivation and decreased plasma cholinesterase activity. Atropine was given and the symptoms improved. The patient's general condition including hemodynamic status improved. Pancreatitis was attenuated by 5 days of HDF. Ultimately, it took 14 days for acute pancreatitis to improve, and the patient discharged on hospital day 32. Generally, acute pancreatitis associated with OP is mild. In fact, one previous report showed that the influence of organophosphates on the pancreas disappears in approximately 72 hours, and complicated acute pancreatitis often improves in 4-5 days. However, it was necessary to treat pancreatitis for more than 2 weeks in this case. Therefore, organophosphate-associated pancreatitis due to malathion is more severe. Although OP sometime causes severe necrotic pancreatitis or pancreatic pseudocysts, it was thought that the present patient had a good clinical course without these complications due to the appropriate intensive care including nafamostat, antibiotics, fluid resuscitation, and HDF. In conclusion, OP-associated pancreatitis requires careful assessment because it may be aggravated, as in this case.

[Review of chemoradiotherapy followed by surgical resection in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer].

Chemoradiotherapy is recommended for locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC). However, the overall median survival time remains poor(<20 months). We evaluated the outcome and complications of chemoradiotherapy, followed by surgical resection, in locally advanced NSCLC. Eight patients(7 men and 1 woman; median age, 59.5 years (range, 47-68 years) who underwent chemoradiotherapy followed by surgical resection for locally advanced NSCLC from 2002 to 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. In all cases, chemotherapy consisted of platinum-based combination therapy. Postoperatively, bronchopleural fistula occurred in 1 patient and Horner syndrome was observed in 1 patient. No treatment -related deaths were observed. The median of progression-free survival was 34.2 months. In conclusion, chemoradiotherapy should be the standard of care for locally advanced NSCLC. Trimodality therapy is still experimental but seems to be promising for certain subgroups of patients with locally advanced NSCLC.

[Stereotactic radiotherapy following chemo-radiotherapy for lymph node metastasis of stage III non-small-cell lung cancer].

It has been expected that stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) is one of the useful treatments for non-resectable early lung cancer. In the case radiotherapy was thought to be difficult due to the wideness of irradiation area, it is probable to undergo chemo-radiotherapy safely using SRT for a primary lesion. We report two cases of Stage III non-small-cell lung cancer, which underwent SRT for primary tumors following chemo-radiotherapy for the lymph node metastasis. In both two cases, a reduction of V20 (the normal pulmonary volume to receive radiation exposure: more than 20 Gy) was a possibility, and symptomatic radiation pneumonitis was not observed.

Effects of omentopexy combined with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in a rabbit heart model.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether omentopexy combined with subcutaneously administered granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) reduces infarction areas and improves left ventricular dysfunction in a rabbit model of coronary occlusion and reperfusion. METHODS: A coronary artery of a male Japanese white rabbit was ligated for 30 min and then reperfused. An omental pedicle graft was fixed onto the myocardial ischemic area after abrading the epicardium. G-CSF (10 µg kg(-1)day(-1)) was subcutaneously administered for 5 days postoperatively. Animals were assigned to groups (n = 7 per group) as follows: group N, saline; group O, omentopexy and saline; group G, G-CSF; and group OG, omentopexy and G-CSF. At 4 weeks postoperatively, left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter were evaluated by echocardiography. Harvested left ventricles were stained with Evans blue and triphenyltetrazolium chloride to measure necrotic and fibrotic areas. The arteriolar density in ischemic and nonischemic areas was evaluated. At 7 days postoperatively, the intrathoracic omentum was evaluated (n = 6 per group). RESULTS: Echocardiography at 4 weeks postoperatively revealed significant improvement in the left ventricular dysfunction of group OG. Necrosis and fibrosis in ischemic areas were significantly reduced in groups G and OG. Arteriolar density in the ischemic area and intrathoracic omentum weight were increased largely in group OG than in the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Omentopexy with G-CSF offers more potential benefits for the ischemic heart than G-CSF alone.

Prevention of arterial graft spasm by botulinum toxin: an in-vitro experiment.

In coronary artery bypass surgery, arterial grafts result in improved patency rates. However, these grafts frequently fail due to spasm. Papaverine has been used to prevent graft spasm, but its effect is short-lived. Botulinum toxin inhibits muscle contraction for about three months. We investigated the usefulness of botulinum toxin in preventing arterial grafts spasm in vitro. Samples of abdominal aorta from male Wistar rats were cut into 2 mm rings and treated with various doses of botulinum toxin or papaverine for 30 min. All rings were stimulated with KCl and noradrenaline. Tension was recorded using myography. We compared constriction caused by noradrenaline or KCl in rings treated with botulinum toxin, or papaverine, or physiological salt solution (PSS) (control). In the presence of KCl and noradrenaline, almost all concentrations of botulinum toxin completely inhibited arterial contraction when compared with controls. Spasm prevention was lost after 60 min in rings with papaverine but persisted for 120 min in rings with botulinum toxin. In the histological examination, arterial wall structure was not destroyed by botulinum toxin. Botulinum toxin prevented arterial graft spasm in vitro and had a longer lasting effect than papaverine, with no toxic effect on the artery.

Cardiac tamponade due to intrapericardial rupture of an amebic liver abscess.

Pericardial abscess is rare in healthy individuals, especially the amebic type. We report a case of pericardial abscess and cardiac tamponade due to intrapericardial rupture of an amebic liver abscess. A 31-year old Japanese male complained of fever to a local hospital. A liver mass was discovered in his left hepatic lobe by an abdominal echogram. He was referred to the internal department of our hospital and was treated with quinolone antibiotics. Two weeks after medication, he suddenly complained of epigastralgia and severe orthopnea and was admitted. Abdominal computed tomographic scan showed an enlarged liver mass, and massive pericardial effusion suggested cardiac tamponade. He underwent an emergency subxiphoid partial pericardiectomy under local anesthesia. 1,000 ml of light brownish fluid was removed and his condition improved. Although no ameba was cultivated from the pus, the amebic serological test was positive. Metronidazole was administered and the patient was discharged 31 days after surgery.

[Successful staged repair of a symptomatic neonate of tetralogy of Fallot with severe absent pulmonary valve syndrome].

Tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve has been classified to a few groups. The most severe one is characterized by symptomatic onset immediately after birth. The others are no or slightly symptomatic at least during their neonatal period. In a severely symptomatic 12-day-old neonate of tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve who had required intubation immediately after birth, tight pulmonary banding and left side modified Blalock-Taussig shunt were performed on emergency basis. Consequently, prior massive pulmonary regurgitation was decreased significantly. Forty-five days after this first stage operation, he weaned from respiratory management. At 1-year-old, radical repair based on conotruncal repair, which consisted of patch closure of ventricular septal defect preserving the tricuspid septal leaflet function, resection of anterior wall of enlarged left pulmonary artery, and right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction using autologous tissue and a pericardial patch was performed. Bicuspid pulmonary valve, posterior one of procured autologous pulmonary wall and anterior one of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) respectively, was created to minimize deterioration of the pulmonary insufficiency. Although postoperative cardiac function was kept feasible showing his central venous pressure of 7 mmHg in the main, postoperative general course was eventful especially regarding the respiratory function. The patient was weaned from the prolonged ventilator management 5 months after this radical repair eventually. Generally, to diminish the massive pulmonary regurgitation in early lifetime period could reduce a progressive airway obstruction and minimize pulmonary tissue damage. However, even after the total correction in this case, considerable peripheral segmental pulmonary obstructive lesions were persistent according to the perfusion lung scanning with 99mTc macroaggregated albumin and 99mTechnegas ventilation lung scanning studies. This persistent, supposed to be innate, pulmonary obstructive lesions might prevent ordinal recovery after cardiac radical repair for this most severe subtype of absent pulmonary valve syndrome.