• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.55 no.4
• /
• pp.269-275
• /
• 2023

Echocardiography is a non-invasive method that is useful for diagnosing pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is known that echocardiography depends on the experience, education, and knowledge level of the cardiac sonographer. This study aimed to compare the agreement values between cardiac sonographer with different practical experiences in the diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension using echocardiography. Three readers re-evaluated the echocardiography images of 148 patients who were diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension at the S Medical Center from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. The echocardiography values measured by each reader were compared and analyzed. The results of the analysis of discrete variables revealed that the agreement values of the cardiac sonographers showed excellent consistency for both reader 3 and the cardiologist group, indicating that more experience leads to better predictive accuracy for diagnosis of the condition. Furthermore, in terms of continuous variables, all the cardiac sonographer demonstrated good agreement in the measured values of the right atrium, which was easier to assess and clearer than the structurally complex measurements of the right ventricle. This study represents the first analysis in Korea of the agreement values measured by medical technologists who are cardiac sonographers.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.75-79
• /
• 2015

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a common complication of Congenital heart defects (CHD) with left-to-right shunts, and PAH with increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. General anesthesia (GA) can be life-threatening in patients with PAH, because the positive pressure ventilation during GA increases pulmonary arterial pressure and decreases pulmonary blood flow. This may also lead to hypoxia. Therefore, spontaneous ventilation may be safer than positive pressure ventilation in patients with PAH. A five-year-old male child, weighing 11 kg, with medical history showing a total correction of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) in 2009 and ongoing treatment with hypertension (HTN) medicine since 2007, visited the Dankook University Dental Hospital. He had multiple dental caries, and the treatment was completed under sevoflurane insufflation sedation via nasal cannula. The patient remained sedated throughout the operation while maintaining normal vital signs and spontaneous respiration. In conclusion, sevoflurane insufflation sedation may be a safer alternative to GA for the dental treatment of patients with PAH.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.29 no.11
• /
• pp.1191-1196
• /
• 1996

Recently, if there is pulmonary hypertension in ventricular septal defect, early operation without pulmonary artery banding is recommended even though patient is under 1 year in age or has low body weight. We also had been performing operations under the above mentioned policy. From October 1986 to December 1995, eighty eight cases of ventricular septal defect under 10Kg in body weight were operated upon by open cardiac surgery. Mortality was compared by age, body weight and degree of pulmonary vascular hypertension. Total mortality was 10cases(11.4%); under 6months, the mortality was 5 in 14 cases(35.8%), from 6 months to 1year, 4 in 43 cases(9.3%) and over 1 year, one in 31 cases(3.2%), while there was no significant difference in mortality compared by degree of pulmonary vascular hypertension. And mortality under 6months in age was so high regardless of severity of pulmonary hypertension. After this exprience, too early operation,. especially under 6 months, should be considered very prudently, unless there were life threatning heart failure, impending irreversible pulmonary vascular bed change or failure to thrive.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.167-172
• /
• 2003

Purpose : Pulmonary vascular hypertension is a common problem in congenital heart disease, the most common cardiac condition in childhood. However, the mechanisms responsible for this pathologic change, treatment, and prevention are poorly understood. Therefore, we studied the gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) by using a hypoxic model of the pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. Methods : The main pulmonary artery and its proximal branches of a 6 wk old Fischer rat were excised. They were cut into multiple small pieces and suspended in DMEM medium supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum and incubated in 5% $CO_2$-95% air atmosphere. The smooth muscle cells were confirmed by immunostaining with smooth muscle myosin and ${\alpha}$-smooth muscle actin antibodies. The VEGF gene expression in the hypoxic group was compared with the one in control the group as well as the one in the starved group by RT-PCR and Northern blot hybridization. Results : There was no statistically significant difference among the control, hypoxic and starved groups. Conclusion : There are few studies of pulmonary vascular hypertension at the molecular level in Korea. Therefore, we studied the expression of VEGF gene in hypoxic pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells. Further studies will be needed to find the difference between newly born and adult rats, or human and rat pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells in gene expression. We hope that the study will lead to a better understanding of pulmonary vascular hypertension.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.688-694
• /
• 1987

At the Dept. of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of Pusan National University Hospital, postoperative cardiac catheterizations were performed in 12 patients of ventricular septal defect with severe pulmonary hypertension [Pp/Ps>0.75], who were operated during the period from July 1981 to Dec. 1986. The mean age of the patients preoperatively was 12.4 [range: 4-18] year-old and the mean follow-up duration was 25.8 [range: 8-53] month per patient. In comparison with the preoperative data, the systolic pulmonary artery pressure [SPAP] was decreased from 103.6*18.4 to 70.4*35.9 mmHg [p<0.01] and the Pp/Ps was decreased from 0.89*0.10 to 0.58*0.27 [p<0.01]. But the Rp/Rs and Rp were not meaningfully changed, from 0.31*0.16 and 7.6*0.4 unit to 0.41*0.32 and 8.0*6.6 unit, respectively. The preoperative Qp/Qs was bellow 2.0[mean: 1.6] in 3 out of 4 cases whose postoperative Rp/Rs and Rp were above 0.75 and 15 unit, respectively. On the contrary, the preoperative Qp/Qs was above 2.0 [mean: 3.5] in all of the 8 cases, whose postoperative Rp/Rs and Rp were below 0.50 and 10 unit, respectively.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.90-93
• /
• 2017

A nine-month-old intact female Maltese dog (body weight: 1.5 kg) presented with frequent syncopal episodes (1-2/day), exercise intolerance, and dyspnea. Cardiomegaly with marked dilation of right and left atria along with ascites was indicated on radiography. Tricuspid regurgitant jets (4.36 m/s), pulmonary regurgitant jets (3.4 m/s), left-to-right shunting flow at the ductus arteriosus, and an atrial septal defect were observed on echocardiography. A bubble study with agitated saline found right-to-left shunting at the interatrial septum. Based on diagnostic studies, the dog was diagnosed with right-to-left atrial septum defect (ASD) compounded with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). The treatment was directed to reduce the pulmonary hypertension, improve cardiac performance, and lower fluid retention. Despite medical treatment for 2 months, the dog died of sudden cardiac arrest. Herein, we describe a very rare case of right-to-left ASD compounded with PDA.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.5-17
• /
• 2000

• Journal of the korean veterinary medical association
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.359-363
• /
• 2006

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.291-297
• /
• 2000

• Korean Circulation Journal
• /
• v.48 no.12
• /
• pp.1145-1147
• /
• 2018