Autonomic nervous activity and stress hormones induced by hyperbaric saturation diving.

This study describes the changes in autonomic nervous activity and stress hormones during a hyperbaric saturation dive up to 4.1 MPa in six subjects. Their autonomic nervous activity was assessed by a power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). The levels of plasma epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE), and those of salivary chromogranin A and cortisol, were compared with the pre-dive control levels. Restrained activity of the cardiac vagal nerve was recognized in the early post-dive period by a decrease in high frequency power and by the standard deviation of the HRV. By contrast, enhanced activity of sympathetic nerve was recognized in the early post-dive period by an elevated plasma E, and also in the late 3.1 MPa, 4.1 MPa, and post-dive periods by elevated plasma NE. The levels of plasma E and NE were the most sensitive indicators of sympathetic nervous activity. A joint utilization of HRV parameters with stress hormones may be an effective means of estimating the adaptive responses between hyperbaric and normobaric environments.

[Pulmonary root reconstruction with a cryopreserved pulmonary allograft for mechanical pulmonary valve thrombosis].

A 58-year-old woman suffering from congestive heart failure caused by a mechanical pulmonary valve thrombosis was operated on with a pulmonary allograft. She had experienced pulmonary valvotomy and resection of infundibular stenotic muscle for congenital pulmonary stenosis at the age of 23 years old. She got congestive heart failure caused by pulmonary regurgitation, and underwent pulmonary valve replacement with a St. Jude Medical (SJM) valve when she was 48 years old. She suffered from episodes of a thrombosed SJM valve in 1984 and 1993. Each time, thrombolytic treatment with urokinase or recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator was effective. She suffered from the third episode of SJM valve thrombosis in January 1994. As thrombolytic treatment was not effective this time, the thrombosed SJM valve was resected and her pulmonary root was reconstructed with a cryopreserved pulmonary allograft. Postoperative course was uneventful, and she now enjoys her life without anticoagulant therapy.

Peritoneal dissemination after a curative gastrectomy in patients with undifferentiated adenocarcinoma of the stomach.

Peritoneal dissemination is the major pattern of recurrence in patients with gastric cancer. Among the 1,337 patients with gastric cancer who underwent a curative resection, a multivariate analysis showed that the independent risk factors for the occurrence of peritoneal dissemination were an undifferentiated tissue type and serosal invasion. We focus our attention on 477 patients with undifferentiated type tumor, in which the postoperative prognosis and the pattern of recurrence after curative resection were evaluated with regard to the depth of the cancerous invasion in the gastric wall. Patients with tumors limiting to the subserosal layer had a satisfactory post-operative course, with five-year survival rates of 98.5%, 97.4%, and 82.5% in patients with tumors limiting to the submucosal layer, the muscularis propria and subserosal layer, respectively. In 179 patients with tumors invading to the subserosal layer, however, the five year survival rate was only 48.2%. Seventy-one died of peritoneal dissemination, while 24 and 15 were due to hematogenous and local recurrences, respectively. Only 50 (27.9%) survived over 5 years without any recurrence.

[Clinical study of patients with hepatic disease at a city hospital in Japan--consideration on indications for liver transplantation].

One-hundred and ninety-one patients with liver diseases who were admitted to National Fukuoka Central hospital during a 3 years period between January 1, 1984 and December 31, 1986 were studied to assess the indications for liver transplantation with the use of a criteria by Dr. Van Thiel et al. The patients were divided into 2 groups; I--indication and II--no indication. Then group I was divided into 3 groups; A--no contraindication, B--relative-contraindication and C--contraindication. Of the 131 patients, group A and B which had the indication of liver transplantation without contraindication were 17%. Deaths by April 30, 1990 were as follows; I 62% (A 36%, B 86%, C 100%) and II 12%. Ten out of 13 deaths in Group I were all due to hepatic failure, while only 3 out of 8 deaths in Group II were due to hepatic failure. Of the other 60 patients with malignancy, 57 were hepatocellular carcinomas, and the other 3 were 2 metastatic hepatic cancers and cholangioma. Among the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 24 out of 46 died of cancer, while the other 19 patients died of hepatic failure. The criteria of the indication of liver transplantation seems acceptable for the evaluation of Japanese patients with non-malignant hepatic diseases. As to patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, a new and separate criteria is in need to evaluate them for liver transplantation.