Spontaneous coronary artery dissection by intravascular ultrasound in a patient with myocardial infarction

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome and sudden cardiac death. The incidence, causes, pathogenesis, and treatment have not been defined clearly, but spontaneous coronary artery dissection should be considered in young patients without major cardiovascular risk factors or in patients in the peripartum period who present with acute coronary syndrome. The treatment is often challenging. Medical treatment is usually considered, and percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass surgery may be possible in some patients. We herein report two cases of middle-aged males with myocardial infarction who were treated with percutaneous coronary angioplasty.

Transient J-Wave Appearance in the Inferior-Lateral Leads during Electrical Storm in a Patient with Brugada Syndrome

A 67-year-old male patient was admitted with an abrupt sudden cardiac death. He represented with an extreme electrical storm of 30 times of ventricular fibrillation (VF) episodes on one day. External shocks were performed to terminate VF. Transient J-wave in the inferior-lateral leads and Brugada electrocardiography pattern on the right precordial leads appeared during the electrical storm. And J-wave disappeared after the termination of electrical storm. We report a case of the appearance of J-wave during electrical storm in a patient with Brugada syndrome.

A case of biopsy-proven chronic kidney disease on progression from acute phosphate nephropathy

Acute phosphate nephropathy (APhN) following oral sodium phosphate solution (OSP) ingestion as a bowel purgative has been frequently reported. It was recently suggested that APhN could progress to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and a history of APhN might be considered as one of the causes of CKD. However, there are few reports proving APhN as a cause of CKD. Here, we report a case of APhN that progressed to CKD, as proven by renal biopsy.

Application of an Insulin Analogue in Six Hypoglycemia-Prone Hemodialysis Patients with Type 2 Diabetes / 대한내과학회지

Day-to-day insulin requirements often change due to subtle variations in insulin metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing hemodialysis. In such cases, intra-hemodialysis hypoglycemia frequently occurs and is a main factor interfering with the delivery of dialysis. As a result, it reduces the quality of life in patients undergoing hemodialysis. The long-acting insulin analogue glargine provides peakless, continuous release over 24 h that approximates a normal basal insulin pattern. Because it has no peak, its use in patients with diabetes undergoing hemodialysis would hypothetically be useful. Specifically, patients would be able to avoid intra-hemodialysis hypoglycemia without the necessity of skipping insulin administration on the day of hemodialysis and achieving adequate glucose control on other days. We recently experienced six cases that switched from treatment with intermediate-acting insulin to a long-acting insulin analogue, which provided better glycemic control by reducing hypoglycemia risk. Limited data are available in the literature concerning insulin analogue usage in patients with diabetes undergoing hemodialysis. Our experience suggests a large-scale prospective investigation is required on this issue.

A Case of Pantoea species Cholangitis with Bacteremia

Pantoea infections are rare in humans and an unusual cause for sepsis in immunocompetent patient. It is a gram-nagative bacillus of the family Enterobacteriaceae. Infections are usually associated with plant thorn injury or outbreak traced to comtaminated parenteral nutrition. We experienced a case of pantoea species cholecystitis and cholangitis with bacteremia. The patient was administrated intravenous antibiotics, and then patient was improved.

Clinical Characteristics of Slowly Growing Lung Cancer: 6 Case-Series Evaluation / 결핵및호흡기질환

Slowly growing lung cancers are quite rare and the leading cause of length time bias and over-diagnosis bias in lung cancer screening. We report 6 cases of slowly growing lung cancer in a tertiary hospital between January 1999 and December 2008. The clinical characteristics of these 6 cases with slowly growing lung cancer were examined. The median age at diagnosis was 68 years (range, 49~72), and 5 patients (83%) were female. The most common histology type was adenocarcinoma (83%). After excluding two patients who showed no change in the tumor size, the median tumor doubling time was 189 months (range, 86~387). The proportion of patients with slowly growing lung cancer appears to be particularly large in women, especially among patients with adenocarcinoma. Our experience shows that slowly growly lung cancers are more heterogeneous and diverse.