• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.371-374
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• 2003

Atherosclerosis has more than 60% of the causes of arterial occlusive diseases. The abdominal aorta and lower extremity arteries are the most common sites of occlusion. We have treated surgically 2 cases who had intermittent claudication and were diagnosed as simultaneous aortobifemoral and bilateral femoropopliteal obstruction by angiography, but had ineffective results from medical treatment or angioplasty. Simultaneously aortobifemoral bypass using Hemashield Y graft and bilateral femoropopliteal bypass using autologous greater saphenous vein were done. After operations, the symptom disappeared and there were no specific post-operative complications except abdominal wound dehiscence. In postoperative angiography, we had obtained good patency of bypass graft. We are following up patients through the out patient department without recurrence up to 16 months.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.120-124
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• 1988

Phenol sympathetic block is valuable for the treatment of ischemic pain, gangrene, intermittent claudication, Paget's disease of the bone and pain associated with pancreatitis, pancreatic carcinoma, etc. The author has experienced a case of successful lumber sympathetic block using 7% phenol under fluoroscopy and given to a patient with Buerger's disease who had severe pain and ulceration of the right great toe for several years. After the sympathetic block, 2 epidural blocks with 2.5% bupivacaine were done in order to augment the effects of this sympathetic block. Subsidence of rest pain, increase in walking distance from under 100 M to over 500 M and circulatory improvement of the affected limb were observed, Improvement of circulation was confirmed by strain gauge plethysmography.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.116-124
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• 2000

This clinical study was carried out 15 cases with lumbar spinal stenosis patients, who had been admitted and diagnosed by Computed Tomography from June, 1999 to May, 2000, in the department of acupuncture and moxibustion. Hanseo University Oriental Medical Nospital. The results obtained from this study were as follows; 1. We investigated 10 female and 5 male patients. The age distribution was from early 20's to 70's, among which 30's and 50's were most common. 2. The most common duration of symptom was less than a year(46.7%). 3. Regarding to the number of the involved levels, one was 12 cases(80%), two was 3 cases(20.0%). In the one level cases, L4~5 was the most common involved site. 4. Regarding to the clinical symptoms, low back pain was the most common, followed by lower extremity radiating pain, intermittent claudication, lower extremity paresthesia. 5. In orthopaedic examinations, positive sign in Milgram test was 80.0%, positive sign in straight leg raising test was 40.0%, and positive sign in Braggard test was 33.3%. Inneurologic examinations, sensory loss was seen in 60.0%, motor weakness and decreased deep tendon reflex were 26.7% in each. 6. According to clinical symptom scale proposed by Chae(1989), grade I1I was the most common (53.3%), followed by grade II, grade IV, grade I . 7. According to treatment outcome scale proposed by Chae(1989), Good was the most common (73.3%), followed by Excelleat, Fair and Poor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.3
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• pp.527-540
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• 2021

Peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) of the femoropopliteal artery is commonly caused by atherosclerosis. It can present with varying clinical symptoms depending on the degree of disease, ranging from intermittent claudication to critical limb ischemia and tissue loss. Therefore, appropriate and timely treatment is required to improve symptoms and salvage the affected limbs. Interventional approaches for femoropopliteal arterial disease commonly include percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, atherectomy, and stent placement. Over the years, endovascular recanalization has been widely performed for treating PAOD due to continuous developments in its techniques and availability of dedicated devices with the inherent advantage of being minimal invasive. In this review, we introduce various types of endovascular treatment methods, discuss the results of clinical research from existing literature, and illustrate the treatment procedures using representative images.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2020

Purpose: To determine if sparing the interspinous and supraspinous ligaments during posterior decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis is significant in preventing postoperative spinal instability. Materials and Methods: A total of 83 patients who underwent posterior decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis between March 2014 and March 2017 with a minimum one-year follow-up period, were studied retrospectively. The subjects were divided into two groups according to the type of surgery. Fifty-six patients who underwent posterior decompression by the port-hole technique were grouped as A, while 27 patients who underwent posterior decompression by a subtotal laminectomy grouped as B. To evaluate the clinical results, the Oswestry disability index (ODI), visual analogue scale (VAS) for both back pain (VAS-B) and radiating pain (VAS-R), and the walking distance of neurogenic intermittent claudication (NIC) were checked pre- and postoperatively, while simple radiographs of the lateral and flexion-extension view in the standing position were taken preoperatively and then every six months after to measure anteroposterior slippage (slip percentage), the difference in anteroposterior slippage between flexion and extension (dynamic slip percentage), angular displacement, and the difference in angular displacement between flexion and extension (dynamic angular displacement) to evaluate the radiological results. Results: The ODI (from 28.1 to 12.8 in group A, from 27.3 to 12.3 in group B), VAS-B (from 7.0 to 2.6 in group A, from 7.7 to 3.2 in group B), VAS-R (from 8.5 to 2.8 in group A, from 8.7 to 2.9 in group B), and walking distance of NIC (from 118.4 m to 1,496.2 m in group A, from 127.6 m to 1,481.6 m in group B) were improved in both groups. On the other hand, while the other radiologic results showed no differences, the dynamic angular displacement between both groups showed a significant difference postoperatively (group A from 6.2° to 6.7°, group B from 6.5° to 8.4°, p-value=0.019). Conclusion: Removal of the posterior ligaments, including the interspinous and supraspinous ligaments, during posterior decompression of lumbar spinal stenosis can cause a postoperative increase in dynamic angular displacement, which can be prevented by the port-hole technique, which spares these posterior ligaments.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.11 no.1 s.17
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• pp.33-38
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• 1975

The clinical efficacy of Ethaverine, a peripheral vasodilator, was studied according to a double-blind, non-cross over method in 29 diabetic patients with peripheral arterial diseases. The clinical improvement was assessed from the history of patients including the incidence and frequency of intermitten claudication. Ethaverine, after 4 weeks of therapy, was not effective in improving clinical symptoms compared to placebo. Ethaverine, however, was an efective vasodilator than placebo. The quality of vasodilation induced by Ethaverine, was similar to that of alcohol. A new clinical method of studying peripheral vasodilator was presented. The clinical symptoms of peripheral vascular arterial disease in the lower extrimities include reduced intensity of palpable pulses, coldness, and discoloration of the skin. Intermittent claudication may be present. Pathologic changes in vessel architecture precede the symptoms, and recognition of impending vascular insufficiency is a determining factor in selecting vasodilating therapy or surgical management. Also, post-operative patients who have chronic peripheral vascular arterial disease may be candidates for subsequent vasodilating therapy. Peripheral vasodilators, according to the series of reports, may be indicated in vasospastic peripheral vascular condition rather than an occlusive vascular disease and the vessel responds best when a relatively large vascular beds are involved rather than a small, capillary beds. Recently, the clinical efficacy of peripheral vasodilators have been challanged by many clinical investigators and clinicians. In this study, we have re-evaluated the efficacy of Ethaverine HCl as peripheral vasodilator in patients with vasospastic peripheral arterial disease. Ethaverine is claimed to be two to four times as potent a spasmolytic agent as papaverine in a variety of laboratory and clinical work.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.123-128
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• 2016

The object of this study was to obtain accurate information about the co-administration effects of cardiotonic pills on the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol were observed as a process of the comprehensive and integrative medicine. Cilostazol is a synthetic anti-platelet and vasodilator agent developed for the treatment of intermittent claudication resulting from peripheral arterial disease. By increasing intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), cilostazol induces the activation of protein kinase A, which activates endothelial nitric oxide synthase. In order to evaluate the effect of a single or repeated cardiotonic pill dose on the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol, a single dose of pure_distilled water or a colloidal suspension of distilled water and cardiotonic pills were administered to the control and test groups, respectively. After 30 min, both groups were administered cilostazol. Plasma was collected 30min before administration, and 0.25, 0.5, 0.45, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 24h after the end of cilostazol treatment. We then evaluated the pharmacokinetic changes observed with cilostazol between the control and test groups. No statistically significant differences were observed. These findings demonstrated that a single dose of cardiotonic pills did not affect the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol. The results obtained in this study suggest that co-administration of cardiotonic pills and cilostazol may not affect the bioavailability of cilostazol as a potential drug interaction.

• Vascular Specialist International
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.94-102
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• 2018

Purpose: Aim of this study is to report real-life experience on the treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD) with a specific drug-coated balloon (DCB), and to evaluate potential prognostic factors for outcomes. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study reporting outcomes in patients with PAD who were treated with the Lutonix DCB during a four-year period. Major outcomes included: all-cause mortality, amputation, clinical improvement, wound healing and target lesion revascularization (TLR). Mean follow-up was $24.2{\pm}2.3$ months. Results: Overall, 149 patients (mean age: $68.6{\pm}8.3$ years; 113 males) were treated, either for intermittent claudication (IC) (n=86) or critical limb ischemia (CLI) (n=63). More than half the target lesions (n=206 in total) were located in the superficial femoral artery and 18.0% were below-the-knee lesions. CLI patients presented more frequently with infrapopliteal (P=0.002) or multilevel disease (P=0.0004). Overall, all-cause mortality during follow-up was 10.7%, amputation-free survival was 81.2% and TLR-free survival was 96.6%. CLI patients showed higher all-cause mortality (P=0.007) and total amputation (P=0.0001) rates as well as lower clinical improvement (P=0.0002), compared to IC patients. Coronary artery disease (CAD), gangrene and infrapopliteal disease were found to be predictors for death whereas CLI and gangrene were found to be predictors for amputation, during follow-up. Conclusion: PAD treatment with Lutonix DCBs seems to be an efficient and safe endovascular strategy yielding promising results. However, CAD, gangrene, CLI and infrapopliteal lesions were found to be independent predictors for adverse outcomes. Larger series are needed to identify additional prognostic factors.

• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1043-1052
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• 2018

Study Design: Level III retrospective cross-sectional study. Purpose: To define and characterize the presentation, symptom duration, and patient/surgical risk factors associated with 'post-decompressive neuropathy (PDN).' Overview of Literature: PDN is characterized by lower extremity radicular pain that is 'different' from pre-surgical radiculopathy or claudication pain. Although it is a common constellation of postoperative symptoms, PDN is incompletely characterized and poorly understood. We hypothesize that PDN is caused by an intraoperative neuropraxic event and may develop early (within 30 days following the procedure) or late (after 30 days following the procedure) within the postoperative period. Methods: Patients who consented to undergo lumbar laminectomy with or without an instrumented fusion for degenerative lumbar spine disease were followed up prospectively from July 2013 to December 2014. Relevant data were extracted from the charts of the eligible patients. Patient demographics and surgical factors were identified. Patients completed postoperative questionnaires 3 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year postoperatively. Questions were designed to characterize the postoperative pain that differed from preoperative pain. A diagnosis of PDN was established if the patient exhibited the following characteristics: pain different from preoperative pain, leg pain worse than back pain, a non-dermatomal pain pattern, and nocturnal pain that often disrupted sleep. A Visual Analog Scale was used to monitor the pain, and patients documented the effectiveness of the prescribed pain management modalities. Patients for whom more than one follow-up survey was missed were excluded from analysis. Results: Of the 164 eligible patients, 118 (72.0%) completed at least one follow-up survey at each time interval. Of these eligible patients, 91 (77.1%) described symptoms consistent with PDN. Additionally, 75 patients (82.4%) described early-onset symptoms, whereas 16 reported symptoms consistent with late-onset PDN. Significantly more female patients reported PDN symptoms (87% vs. 69%, p=0.03). Patients with both early and late development of PDN described their leg pain as an intermittent, constant, burning, sharp/stabbing, or dull ache. Early PDN was categorized more commonly as a dull ache than late-onset PDN (60% vs. 31%, p=0.052); however, the difference did not reach statistical significance. Opioids were significantly more effective for patients with early-onset PDN than for those with late-onset PDN (85% vs. 44%, p=0.001). Gabapentin was most commonly prescribed to patients who cited no resolution of symptoms (70% vs. 31%, p=0.003). Time to symptom resolution ranged from within 1 month to 1 year. Patients' symptoms were considered unresolved if symptoms persisted for more than 1 year postoperatively. In total, 81% of the patients with early-onset PDN reported complete symptom resolution 1 year postoperatively compared with 63% of patients with late-onset PDN (p=0.11). Conclusions: PDN is a discrete postoperative pain phenomenon that occurred in 77% of the patients who underwent lumbar laminectomy with or without instrumented fusion. Attention must be paid to the constellation and natural history of symptoms unique to PDN to effectively manage a self-limiting postoperative issue.