• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.525-530
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• 1998

Thoracoscopic thoracic sympathectomy for primary palmar hyperhidrosis has been known to be effective and to have cosmetic merits compared to conventional open sympathectomy. In spite of its cosmetic advantages over thoracotomy, VATS using 5 mm or 10 mm instruments still has the problem of operative wound as well as pain on trocar sites. Recently, 2 mm thoracoscopic instruments have been used. The purpose of this study was to examine the results of thoracoscopic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis with 2 mm thoracoscopic instruments. From January 1997 to April 1997, 46 patients underwent bilateral thoracoscopic sympathectomy with 2mm instruments at Seoul National University Hospital. T-2 ganglion was carefully dissected and resected out in all patients. In one patient, the lower third of T-1 ganglion was inadvertently resected together with T-2 ganglion due to poor anatomical localization. In 4 patients who also complained of excessive axillary sweating, T-3 ganglion was resected as well. The instruments were removed without leaving any chest drain after reexpansion of the lung. Trocar sites were approximated with sterile tapes. All patients were relieved of excessive sweating in their upper extremities immediately after the operation. Nine patients(19.6%) showed incomplete reexpansion of the lung, and two of them required needle aspiration. Complications related to the surgical procedures, such as Horner's syndrome, hemothorax, and brachial plexus injury, were not detected in any cases. Most patientsdid not complaine of pain. All patients were discharged from the hospital on the day of operation. Despite a narrow operative viewfield, thoracic sympathectomy with 2 mm thoracoscopic instruments can be performed without increasing any severe complications. We recommend 2 mm instruments for thoracoscopic sympathectomy because they make as the more cosmetic, less painful, and equally effective compared to thoracoscopic sympathectomy using 5 mm or greater instruments.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.155-166
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• 1989

Bonica defined, that reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) may develop pain, vasomotor abnoramalities, delayed functional recovery, and dystrophic changes on an affected area without major neurologic injury following trauma, surgery or one of several diseased states. This 45 year old male patient had been crushed on his left shoulder by a heavily laden rear car, during his job street cleaning about 10 years ago (1978). At first the pain was localizea only to the site of injury, but with time, it spreaded from the shoulder to the elbow and hand, with swelling. X-ray studies in the local clinic, showed no bone abnormalities of the affected site. During about 10 years following the injury, the had recieved several types of treatments such as nonsteroidal analgesics, steroid injections into the glenoidal cavity (10 times), physical therapy, some oriental herb medicines, and acupuncture over a period of 1~3 months annually. His shoulder pain and it's joint dysfunction persisted with recurrent paroxysmal aggrevation because of being mismanaged or neglected for a sufficiently long period these fore permiting progression of the sympathetic imbalance. On July 14 1988 when he visited our clinic. He complained of burning, aching and had a hyperpathic response or hyperesthesia in touch from the shoulder girdle to the elbow and the hand. Also the skin of the affected area was pale, cold, and there was much sweating of the axilla and palm, but no edema. The shoulder girdle was unable to move due to joint pain with marked weakness. We confirmed skin temperatures $5^{\circ}C$ lower than those of the unaffected axilla, elbow and palm of his hand, and his nails were slightly ridged with lateral arching and some were brittle. On X-ray findings of both the shoulder AP & lateral view, the left humerus and joint area showed diffuse post-traumatic osteoporosis and fibrous ankylozing with an osteoarthritis-like appearance. For evaluating the RSD and it's relief of pain, the left cervical sympathetic ganglion was blocked by injecting 0.5% bupivacaine 5 ml with normal saline 5 ml (=SGB). After 15 minutes following the SGB, the clinical efficacy of the block by the patients subjective score of pain intensity (=PSSPI), showed a 50% reduction of his shoulder and arm pain, which was burning in quality, and a hyperpathic response against palpation by the examiner. The skin temperatures of the axilla and palm rose to $4{\sim}5^{\circ}C$ more than those before the SGB. He felt that his left face and upper extremity became warmer than before the SGB, and that he had reduced sweating on his axilla and his palm. Horner's sign was also observed on his face and eyes. But his deep shoulder joint pain was not improved. For the control of the remaining shoulder joint pain, after 45 minutes following the SGB, a somatic sensory block was performed by injecting 0.5% bupivacaine 6 ml mixed with salmon calcitonin, $Tridol^{(R)}$, $Polydyn^{(R)}$ and triamcinolone into the fossa of the acromioclavicular joint region. The clinical effect of the somatic block showed an 80% releif of the deep joint pain by the PSSPI of the joint motion. Both blocks, as the above mentioned, were repeated a total of 28 times respectively, during 6 months, except the steroid was used just 3 times from the start. For maintaining the relieved pain level whilst using both blocks, we prescribed a low dose of clonazepam, prazocin, $Etravil^{(R)}$, codeine, etodolac micronized and antacids over 6 months. The result of the treatments were as follows; 1) The burning, aching and hyperpathic condition which accompanied with vaosmotor and pseudomotor dysfunction, disappeared gradually to almost nothing, within 3 weeks from the starting of the blocks every other day. 2) The joint disability of the affected area was improved little by little within 6 months. 3) The post-traumatic osteoporosis, fibrous ankylosis and marginal sclerosis with a narrowed joint, showed not much improvement on the X-ray findings (on April 25, 1989) 10 months later in the follow-up. 4) Now he has returned to his job as a street cleaner.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.214-222
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• 1988

With the arm in hyperabduction, we have carried out 525 procedures of supraclavicular brachial plexus block from Aug. 1976 to June 1980, whereas block with the arm in adduction has been customarily performed by other authors. The anesthetic procedure is as follows: 1) The patient lies in the dorsal recumbent position without a pillow under his head or shoulder. His arm is hyperabducted more than a 90 degree angle from his side, and his head is turned to the side opposite from that to be blocked. 2) An "X" is marked at a point 1 cm above the mid clavicle, immediately lateral to the edge of the anterior scalene muscle, and on the palpable portion of the subclavian artery. The area is aseptically prepared and draped. 3) A 22 gauge 3.5cm needle attached to a syringe filled with 2% lidocaine (7~8mg/kg of body weight) and epineprine(1 : 200,000) is inserted caudally toward the second portion of the artery where it crosses the first rib and parallel with the lateral border of the muscle until a paresthesia is obtained. 4) Paresthesia is usually elicited while inserting the needle tip about 1~2 em in depth. If so, the local anesthetic solution is injected after careful aspiration. 5) If no paresthesia is elicited, the needle is withdrawn and redirected in an attempt to elicit paresthesia. 6) If, after several attempts, no paresthesia is obtained, the local anesthetic solution is injected into the perivascular sheath after confirming that the artery is not punctured. 7) Immediately after starting surgery, Valium is injected for sedation by the intravenous route in almost all cases. The age distribution of the cases was from 11 to 80 years. Sex distribution was 476 males and 49 females (Table 1). Operative procedures consisted of 103 open reductions, 114 skin grafts combined with spinal anesthesia in 14, 87 debridements, 75 repairs, i.e. tendon (41), nerve(32), and artery (2), 58 corrections of abnormalities, 27 amputations above the elbow (5), below the elbow (3) and fingers (17), 20 primary closures, 18 incisions and curettages, 2 replantations of cut fingers. respectively (Table 2). Paresthesia was obtained in all cases. Onset of analgesia occured within 5 minutes, starting in the deltoid region in almost all cases. Complete anesthesia of the entire arm appeared within 10 minutes but was delayed 15 to 20 minutes in 5 cases and failed in one case. Thus, our success rate was nearly 100%. The duration of anesthesia after a single injection ranged from $3\frac{1}{2}$ to $4\frac{1}{2}$, hours in 94% of the cases. The operative time ranged from 0.5 to 4 hours in 92.4% of the cases(Table 3). Repeat blocks were carried out in 33 cases when operative times which were more than 4 hours in 22 cases and the others were completed within 4 hours (Table 4). Two patients of the 33 cases, who received microvasular surgery were injected twice with 2% lidocaine 20 ml for a total of $13\frac{1}{2}$ hours. The 157 patients who received surgery on the forearms or hands had pneumatic tourniquets (250 torrs) applied without tourniquet pain. There was no pneumothorax, hematoma or phrenic nerve paralysis in any of the unilateral and 27 bilateral blocks, but there was hoarseness in two, Horner's syndrome in 11 and shivering in 7 cases. No general seizures or other side effects were observed. By 20ml of 60% urcgratin study, we confirm ed the position of the needle tip to be in a safer position when the arm is in hyperabduction than when it is in adduction. And also that the humoral head caused some obstraction of the distal flow of the dye, indicating that less local anesthetic solution would be needed for satisfactory anesthesia. (Fig. 3,4).

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.78-84
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• 2020

Purpose: This paper compares the clinical outcomes of patients who were treated with a cervical nerve block by ultrasound and C-arm and reports the complication. Materials and Methods: A total of 97 patients were treated with an ultrasound-guided nerve root block from May 1, 2015 to February 8, 2018. On the other hand, 94 patients were treated with a C-arm guided nerve root block. The consequences of the cervical pain and the radiating pain before and after the procedures were reviewed using the verbal numeric rating scale (VNRS). In addition, the complications related to the procedures from the daily notes from the chart were inspected. Results: Sixty-six cases out of 97 cases of ultrasound-guided nerve root block were enrolled in the study. The average age of the patients was 57 years, including 41 males and 25 females. Seventy seven out of 94 cases by a C-arm guided root block were included in the study. The average age of the patients was 55 years, including 40 males and 37 females. Before the nerve root block, the mean numeric rating pain scale (NRS) of the cervical pain in ultrasound-guided block decreased from 5.4 points to 2.7 points at three weeks and 1.4 points at six weeks (p=0.0023, p<0.001), and 3.1 points in the C-arm (p<0.001, p<0.001) at three weeks and 1.5 points at six weeks (p<0.001, p<0.001). In the case of radiating pain, the mean NRS in the ultrasound-guided nerve root block group improved from 6.3 points after the procedure to 2.8 points at three weeks and 1.5 points at six weeks (p<0.001, p<0.001). In the C-arm guided nerve root block group, the NRS improved from 7.4 points after the procedure to 3.3 points at three weeks and 1.9 points at six weeks. In the case of complications, Horner's syndrome and propriospinal myoclonus were observed in one case of C-arm guided block group. Conclusion: The clinical results of the patients who underwent ultrasound-guided cervical nerve root block were not significantly different from those who underwent a C-arm guided cervical nerve root block.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.219-229
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• 2003

Background : The management of thoracic empyema and complicated parapneumonic effusion requires adequate antibiotics use and prompt drainage of infected pleural space. Tube thoracostomy for loculated empyema has low success rate and is also an invasive procedure with potential morbidity. Complications include hemothorax, perforation of intra-abdominal or intra-thoracic organs, diaphragmatic laceration, empyema, pulmonary edema, and Horner's syndrome. Given the potential morbidity of traditional chest tube insertion, use of the image-guided pigtail catheter drainage(PCD) of empyema has been employed. We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients with empyema or complicated parapneumonic effusion to determine the efficacy of percutaneous pigtail catheter drainage. Materials and Methods : 45 patients with complicated parapneumonic effusions or empyema were treated at Gil medical center from January 1998 to June, 1999. All were initially given PCD procedure and the following data were collected: clinical symptoms at the time of diagnosis, alcohol and smoking history, the characteristics of pleural effusion, radiologic findings (at the time of catheter insertion, removal and 1 month after catheter removal), the amount of effusion drained for initial 24 hours, the time from catheter insertion to removal and the use of surgical approach. Results : Male gender was more frequent (42 men vs. 3 women), the mean age of the study population was 52(range: 21~74) years. Empyema was found in 23 patients, complicated parapneumonic effusion in 22 patients. Four patients(three, parapneumonic effusion and one, with empyema) with PCD only treated, were cast off. Among the available patients, 36(80%) patients were treated with PCD only or PCD with urokinase. Among the 23 patients with empyema, surgical approach was required in five patients(27.1%, one required decortication, four open thoracostomy), one patient, treated with surgical procedure, died of sepsis. There was no significant difference of the duration of catheter insertion, the duration of hospital admission after catheter insertion and the mean amount of effusion drained for initial 24 hours between the patients with only PCD treated and the patients treated with PCD and urokinase. The duration of catheter insertion($9.4{\pm}5.25days$ vs. $19.2{\pm}9.42days$, p<0.05) and the duration of hospital admission after catheter insertion($15.9{\pm}10.45days$ vs. $38.6{\pm}11.46days$, p<0.01) of the patients with only PCD treated were more longer than those of the patients treated with surgical procedure after PCD. They were same between the patients treated with urokinase after PCD and the patients treated with surgical procedure after PCD($11.1{\pm}7.35days$ vs. $19.2{\pm}9.42days$, p<0.05, $17.5{\pm}9.17days$ vs. $38.6{\pm}11.46days$, p<0.01). In 16 patients(44.4%) with only PCD treated or PCD and urokinase treated, the amount of effusion at the time of catheter removal was decreased more than 75% and in 17 patients(47.2%) effusion decreased 50~75%. .In one patient effusion decreased 25~50%, in two patients effusion decreased less than 25%. One month after catheter removal, in 35 patients(97.2%, four patients were cast off), the amount of pleural effusion was successfully decreased more than 50%. There were no complications related to pigtail catheter insertion. Conclusion : In this study, PCD seemed to be an early efficacious procedure in treating the patients with complicated parapneumonic effusion or empyema without any serious procedure related complication.