Late cardiac tamponade following Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum.

The Nuss procedure is a recently developed technique for correction of pectus excavatum. A 23-year-old female patient presented at our emergency department with clinical signs of cardiac tamponade, which required an emergency procedure. Sixteen months ago, she underwent the Nuss procedure with a single bar.

Early Aggressive Surgical Treatment of Multiloculated Empyema.

Background: Empyema is the collection of purulent exudate within the pleural space. Overall, 36%-65% of patients with empyema cannot be treated by medical therapy alone and require surgery. Multiloculated empyema is particularly difficult to treat with percutaneous drainage.

Comparison of the Long-Term Results of R3 and R4 Sympathicotomy for Palmar Hyperhidrosis.

Background: Video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathicotomy has been determined to be the best way to treat palmar hyperhidrosis. However, satisfaction with the surgical outcomes decreases with the onset of compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) over time. The ideal level of sympathicotomy is controversial.

A case of solitary fibrous pleura tumor associated with severe hypoglycemia: doege-potter syndrome.

Solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura (SFTP) is a rare primary intrathoracic tumor that arises from mesenchymal tissue underlying the mesothelial layer of the pleura. It usually has an indolent clinical course. The hypoglycemia that accompanies SFTP was first described by Doege and Potter independently in 1930, hence the eponym Doege-Potter syndrome (DPS).

Pulmonary actinomycosis associated with endobronchial vegetable foreign body.

A 51-year-old woman visited our hospital with massive hemoptysis. She had suffered from recurrent hemoptysis for five years and had undergone bronchial artery embolization many times. The patient had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis and bronchiectasis.

Systemic inflammation response syndrome score predicts the mortality in multiple trauma patients.

Background: Numerous statistical models have been developed to accurately predict outcomes in multiple trauma patients. However, such trauma scoring systems reflect the patient's physiological condition, which can only be determined to a limited extent, and are difficult to use when performing a rapid initial assessment. We studied the predictive ability of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score compared to other scoring systems.

Well-circumscribed type of intramuscular lipoma in the chest wall.

A tumor shadow was identified in the chest X-ray of a 40-year-old Korean man and he was referred to our hospital. The computed tomographic (CT) scan of his chest showed a 3-cm rounded pleural-based mass lesion with calcification, which was growing into the intercostal muscles. Thoracoscopic surgery was performed to resect the tumor.

Functional mediastinal pheochromocytoma.

A 36-year-old man visited Yeungnam University Hospital with a sudden onset of palpitation, headache, and was found to be hypertensive. Chest radiography showed a 6 cm sized mass lesion on the posterior mediastinum. A biochemical study showed elevated levels of catecholamines.

Interleukin-1beta induces MUC2 gene expression and mucin secretion via activation of PKC-MEK/ERK, and PI3K in human airway epithelial cells.

Interleukin 1beta(IL-1beta), a proinflammatory cytokine, is related with inflammatory diseases and it up-regulates MUC2 gene expression and mucin secretion. This study was designed to investigate the signal transduction pathway of the IL-1beta-mediated MUC2 gene expression and mucin secretion in human airway epithelial cells. In cultured human airway NCI-H292 epithelial cells, the steady state of the mRNA level of MUC2 gene expression and mucin secretion induced by IL-1beta were determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), enzyme immunoassay, and immunoblot analysis.