Is severe re-expansion pulmonary edema still a lethal complication of closed thoracostomy or thoracic surgery?

Background: Re-expansion pulmonary edema (REPE) is a lethal complication that can occur after inserting a chest tube. However, no clinical research reports have analyzed the progress and treatment of REPE, except for a single case report review. We retrospectively analyzed the common clinical characteristics, clinical progress, and treatment outcome of REPE with respiratory failure.

Concomitant Avulsion Injury of the Subclavian Vessels and the Main Bronchus Caused by Blunt Trauma.

Concomitant rupture of the subclavian vessels and the left main bronchus caused by blunt trauma is a serious condition. Moreover, the diagnosis of a tracheobronchial injury with rupture of the subclavian vessels can be difficult. This report describes the case of a 33-year-old man who suffered from blunt trauma that resulted in the rupture of the left subclavian artery and vein.

The usefulness of Wi-Fi based digital chest drainage system in the post-operative care of pneumothorax.

Background: Chest drainage systems are usually composed of chest tube and underwater-seal bottle. But this conventional system may restrict patients doing exercise and give clinicians obscure data about when to remove tubes because there is no objective indicator. Recently developed digital chest drainage systems may facilitate interpretation of the grade of air leak and make it easy for clinicians to decide when to remove chest tubes.

Modified blowhole skin incision using negative pressure wound therapy in the treatment of ventilator-related severe subcutaneous emphysema.

Objectives: A 2-3-cm blowhole incision in the supraclavicular or infraclavicular area is widely used to eliminate the presence of subcutaneous air in cases of life-threatening subcutaneous emphysema (SE). However, when the patient is supported by mechanical ventilation, it is difficult to eliminate completely such air because mechanical ventilation leads consistently to the formation of large amounts of air. To overcome this, we applied negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) along with blowhole incisions for the treatment of severe SE.

Leukotriene enhanced allergic lung inflammation through induction of chemokine production.

The leukotrienes (LTs) enhance allergen- and interleukin (IL)-13-dependent allergic lung inflammatory disease. However, the precise requirement of LTs and the mechanism by which they elicit allergic lung responses remain uncertain. To clarify the involvement of LTs in respiratory allergen- and IL-13-induced experimental asthma and elucidate the underlying mechanisms of LTs-mediated enhanced allergic asthma, we investigated the role of LTs in two models of allergic inflammation: intranasal Aspergillus protease allergen and recombinant IL-13-induced T helper type 2 (Th2) cell-mediated inflammation, and also examined Th2-related chemokines downstream of LTs signaling.

Vacuum-assisted closure therapy as an alternative treatment of subcutaneous emphysema.

Vacuum-assisted closure therapy is an alternative method for a massive subcutaneous emphysema treatment. It is easily applicable and shows rapid effectiveness in massive subcutaneous emphysema, intractable with chest tube drainage.

Innate type 2 immunity is associated with eosinophilic pleural effusion in primary spontaneous pneumothorax.

Rationale: Eosinophilic pleural effusion (EPE) is characterized by greater than 10% eosinophilia and is frequently associated with air and/or blood in the pleural cavity. Primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP), defined as the spontaneous presence of air in the pleural space, is one of the most common causes of EPE. Recent studies have shown that type 2 immune responses play important roles in eosinophilic airway inflammation resulting in pleural pathology.

Extended aortic arch replacement through the L-incision approach.

There are various methods for approaching the aortic arch, such as median sternotomy or lateral thoracotomy. However, accessing the site of distal anastomosis is problematic when the distal arch is extensively involved. We report a case of extended aortic arch replacement and coronary artery bypass through the L-incision approach.

Traumatic tracheobronchial injury: delayed diagnosis and treatment outcome.

Background: Most traumatic tracheobronchial injuries are fatal and result in death. Some milder cases are not life threatening and are often missed at the initial presentation. Tracheobronchial rupture is difficult to diagnose in the evaluation of severe multiple trauma patients.

The use of neutrophil elastase inhibitor in the treatment of acute lung injury after pneumonectomy.

Background: The prognosis of acute lung injury (ALI) after pneumonectomy is poor, with reported mortality rates of 30-100%. Neutrophil elastase inhibitor (NEI) is known to prevent lung injury caused by neutrophil elastase and improve lung function in ALI. We evaluated the effect of NEI on ALI after pneumonectomy.

A comparison between two types of limited sympathetic surgery for palmar hyperhidrosis.

Purpose: Endoscopic thoracic sympathetic surgery is effective for treating palmar hyperhidrosis, although compensatory sweating (CS) is a significant and annoying side effect. The purpose of this study was to compare the results of limited resection at two different locations.

Methods: From May 2004 to June 2009, T3 sympathicotomy (group I) was performed in 46 patients and T3,4 ramicotomy (group II) was performed in 43 patients during the same period.

Altered expression of phosphatase of regenerating liver gene family in non-small cell lung cancer.

Protein tyrosine phophatases (PTPs) are implicated in the tumorigenesis and metastasis of human cancer. The phosphatase of regenerating liver (PRL) gene family, a subgroup of PTPs is also linked to these processes. In many solid cancers, high levels of PRL-3 expression are related with metastasis and poor prognosis.

Topographical considerations under video-scope guidance in the T3,4 levels sympathetic surgery.

Introduction: Anatomical variation of the sympathetic nervous system is known to be one of the main causes of failure and dissatisfaction after sympathetic surgery. However, there are only few reports on the descriptive analysis of sympathetic nerve variants. The purpose of this study is to investigate the anatomical variations of the sympathetic trunk at the levels of T3 and T4 ganglia considered in a topographic approach for sympathetic procedures and to further improve the postoperative outcome.

Thoracoscopic diaphragmatic plication using three 5 mm ports.

Thoracoscopic plication is the most effective treatment for diaphragmatic enventration. However, the conventional thoracoscopic plication procedure introduced by Mouroux in 1996 has some disadvantages. We improved and simplified the Mouroux technique with the patient in the head up position, CO(2) insufflations and figure-of-eight sutures.

Fine-scale map of encyclopedia of DNA elements regions in the Korean population.

The International HapMap Project aims to generate detailed human genome variation maps by densely genotyping single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CEPH, Chinese, Japanese, and Yoruba samples. This will undoubtedly become an important facility for genetic studies of diseases and complex traits in the four populations. To address how the genetic information contained in such variation maps is transferable to other populations, the Korean government, industries, and academics have launched the Korean HapMap project to genotype high-density Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) regions in 90 Korean individuals.

Analysis of the Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum in different age groups.

Background: The Nuss procedure is a newly developed operative method for minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum in pediatric patients. However, the surgical indication for this procedure has been extended into adult patients. The aim of this study was to assess the surgical outcome of the Nuss procedure in different age groups and to analyze its feasibility in the adult population.

Lung transplantation in patients with pulmonary emphysema.

Lung transplantation is a viable option for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and emphysema is the most common indication to undergo lung transplantation. A total of seven lung and one heart-lung transplantations were performed between July 1996 and June 2004 at the Yongdong Severance Hospital, and herein, three emphysema patients who underwent single lung transplantations are reviewed. There were 2 males and 1 female, with a mean age of 50 years (35, 57 and 58 years).

Bridging expressed sequence alignments through targeted cDNA sequencing.

One of the major challenges in genome research is the identification of the complete set of genes in a genome. Alignments of expressed sequences (RNA and EST) with genomic sequences have been used to characterize genes. However, the number of alignments far exceeds the likely number of genes in a genome, suggesting that, for many genes, two or more alignments can be joined through overlapping sequences to yield accurate gene structures.