Was the internal thoracic arterial graft selection for coronary artery bypass grafting appropriate in a patient with neurofibromatosis-1?

Neurofibromatosis type 1, also called von Recklinghausen's disease, is a hereditary congenital disorder that affects tissues of neuroectodermal or mesodermal origin. This disease has various manifestations, including pigmented skin lesions, cutaneous neurofibromas, skeletal abnormalities, and tumors of the central/peripheral nervous and gastrointestinal systems, and vascular abnormalities. Because of vasculopathy, part of the vessel wall may be replaced by neurofibromatosis tissue.

[Redo Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Through Left Thoracotomy in Patient with Patent Left Internal Thoracic Artery Graft;Report of a Case].

A 61-year-old man was admitted because of unstable angina. The patient had a history of CABG [LITA-left anterior descending artery(LAD), aorta-saphenous vein graft(SVG)-posterolateral branch (PL)-diagonal branch (D1)]4 years ago. Coronary angiography revealed an occlusion of old SVG at proximal anastomosis site and a stenosis of native high lateral artery (HL).

Treatment responses and their predictors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biological agents.

Biological agents represent an important advancement in for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but there is a subset of patients who do not improve despite therapy. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of biological agents for RA and to identify clinical factors that are associated with their response. We studied 98 patients with RA who started an initiating biological agent which was selected from infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab and tociliximab at 4 medical institutions.

Comparison of clinical course of polymyositis and dermatomyositis: a follow-up study in Tokushima University Hospital.

Polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) are systemic inflammatory disorders affecting skeletal muscles and other organs, and are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. In this study, we studied the prevalence, clinical features and its comparative outcome of PM/DM, comparing PM and DM. Twenty-three PM/DM patients (9 PM and 14 DM) were included in this study.