• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.500-511
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• 1999

Background: Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) using facial or nasal mask have been widely used for several years in stable patients with chronic neuromuscular disease or central alveolar hypoventilation, and recently have been tried in patients with acute respiratory failure. In a few studies, NPPV was also used to rescue the patients with post-extubation respiratory failure. However, yet it has not been adopted as a weaning method in patients on long-term mechanical ventilation. So we performed this prospective clinical study to evaluate the usefulness of NPPV as a weaning method after removing endotracheal tube intentionally in patients on long-term mechanical ventilation. Method: Twelve patients who had been on invasive mechanical ventilation over 10 days were enrolled and 14 trials of NPPV were done. All had failed at least one weaning trial and showed ventilator dependence(pressure support requirement between 8-15cm $H_2O$, and PEEP requirement between 5-10cm $H_2O$), so tracheostomy was being considered. After removing the endotracheal tube, NPPV was applied using facial mask. Respiratory rate, arterial blood gas, pressure support level, and PEEP level were monitored just before intended extubation, at 30 minutes, 1 to 6, 6 to 12, 12 to 24 hours, 2nd day, and 3rd day following initiation of NPPV, and just before weaning from NPPV. The successful weaning was defined as spontaneous breathing off the ventilator for 48 hours or longer without respiratory distress. Results: The weaning through NPPV after intended extubation was successful in 7(50%) of 14 trials, and tracheostomy could be avoided in them. There were no differences in age, sex, APACHE III score, duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, baseline respiratory rate, $PaCO_2$ $PaO_2/FiO_2$, and ventilatory requirement(PS and PEEP) between the success and failure groups. In the success group, respiratory rate, pH, $PaCO_2$, and $PaO_2/FiO_2$ were not different between invasive MV and NPPV period. But in the failure group, pH decreased after 30 minutes of NPPV initiation compared with that of invasive MV($7.40\pm0.08$ vs. $7.34\pm0.06$, p<0.05). The causes of failure were worsening of ABG(n=3), retained tracheal secretion(n=2), mask intolerance(n=1), and flail chest(n=1). Conclusion: NPPV may be worth trying as a bridge method in weaning patients on long-term invasive mechanical ventilation.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.162-165
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• 2016

Barium sulfate is an inert material used as a radiographic contrast medium during upper gastrointestinal contrast studies for evaluation of patients with dysphagia. Oral barium aspiration is an uncommon but well-reported complication of this procedure. While barium aspiration of small amounts may not cause any symptoms, massive barium aspiration can be life-threatening, particularly in elderly patients with multiple comorbidities. In this case report, we describe an elderly patient with multiple comorbidities who presented with thyrotoxicosis and dysphagia, and then died after massive barium aspiration. Despite administration of intensive medical care with ventilator support and therapeutic bronchoalveolar lavage to remove the aspirated barium, the patient died of multiple organ failure 9 days after barium aspiration. Clinicians should pay attention to elderly patients with predisposing factors for aspiration in whom upper gastrointestinal barium contrast studies are indicated, and should consider other diagnostic tools for evaluation of dysphagia in this population.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.289-293
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• 2015

A 38-year-old male was admitted with symptoms of upper respiratory infection. Despite medical treatment, his symptoms of dyspnea and anxiety became aggravated, and bilateral lung infiltration was noted on radiological imaging studies. His hypoxemia failed to improve even after the application of endotracheal intubation with mechanical ventilator care, and we therefore decided to initiate venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO) for additional pulmonary support. On his twentieth day of hospitalization, hypotension and desaturation (arterial saturated oxygen <85%) developed, and right ventricular failure was confirmed by two-dimensional echocardiography. Therefore, we changed from VV ECMO to venoarteriovenous (VAV) ECMO, and the patient ultimately recovered. In this case, right ventricular dysfunction and volume overloading were induced by long-term VV ECMO therapy, and we successfully treated these conditions by changing to VAV ECMO.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.98-101
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• 2015

Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO), which is associated with graft-versus-host disease after allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, is a major obstacle to survival after bone marrow transplantation due to its gradual progress, eventually leading to respiratory failure. Pumpless extracorporeal interventional lung assist (iLA) is effective in treatment of reversible hypercapnic respiratory failure. In this paper, we present a 23-year-old female patient who underwent allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) for acute lymphocytic leukemia. After 6 months, she complained of shortness of breath and was diagnosed with BO. Five months later, she developed an upper respiratory tract infection that worsened her BO and caused life-threatening hypercapnia. Since mechanical ventilation failed to eliminate $CO_2$ effectively, iLA was applied as rescue therapy. Her hypercapnia and respiratory acidosis showed significant improvement within a few hours, and she was successfully weaned off iLA after 12 days. This is the first case report of iLA application for temporarily aggravated hypercapnia of PBSCT-associated BO followed by successful weaning. This rescue therapy should be considered in ventilator-refractory reversible hypercapnia in BO patients.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.420-422
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• 2014

A 44-year-old pregnant female patient gave stillbirth while being treated for pneumonia. She developed acute respiratory failure, which resulted in mechanical ventilator support. Diagnostic lung biopsy revealed a cryptogenic organizing pneumonia. The patient's condition deteriorated and a venous-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was placed. She was listed for lung transplantation. Because of her worsening condition lung transplantation was performed despite positive cross matching result. She was treated with rituximab, intravenous immunoglobulin, and plasmapheresis and recovered without event. There is no sign of rejection at the time of last follow-up.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.847-850
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• 1995

For the purpose of evaluation of clinical characteristics in multiple rib fracture due to accident , 24 cases treated by surgical rib fixation using Judet`s strut for multiple rib fracture and flail chestduring the period from June 1993 to October 1994 were reviewed. There were 17 males and 7 females.They ranged in age from 19 years old to 56 years old. The causes of rib fracture were traffic accident in 18 cases, fall down in 3 cases, compression in 2 cases stab wound in 1 case. The number of rib fracture were five in 7 cases, six in 5 cases, four in 5 cases, three in 3 cases. Associated intrathoracic injuries were hemopneumothorax in 12 cases, hemothorax in 10 cases, lung laceration or hemorrhagic contusion in 7 cases. Associated extrathoracic injuries were abdominal injuries in 21 cases, orthopedic problem in 7 cases, head trauma in 4 cases. The most common fractured site was posterolateral portion of the ribs. The causes for operation were flail chest, severe rib displacement and pain, hemothorax or hemopneumothorax with continuous air leakage and stab wound. There were 6 postoperative complications ; one with hydrothorax, two with fibrothorax, two with wound infection and one case of death due to multiful organ failure. Postoperatively, all patients became comfortable and complained less painful. Twenty patients restored spontaneous breathing without ventilator support, three patients were ventilated during a day and one patient expired after 2 days. There were no morbidity and mortality related to operation.

• Journal of mucopolysaccharidosis and rare diseases
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-26
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• 2016

Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) I is a rare, progressive and multisystemic disease with insidious initial signs and symptoms, and making an early diagnosis can be a challenge for the first-line general medical practitioner. We report a 6-month-old girl who was brought to our well baby clinic for regular immunization with the manifestations of lumbar gibbus, hirsutism, large Mongolian spots over back and buttock, and mild bilateral legs spasticity noticed by the general pediatrician, and then newly diagnosed with MPS I after referral to the geneticist in time. Her surgical history included inguinal hernia repair at 1 month old, $CO_2$ laser supraglottoplasty for laryngomalacia and tracheostomy due to chronic respiratory failure with ventilator dependence at 2 months old. Understanding and identification of the early signs and symptoms of this disease have the potential to early diagnosis and timely appropriate treatment, which could contribute to a better clinical outcome.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.1
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• pp.59-61
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• 2011

Obstructive Fibrinous Tracheal Pseudomenbrane (OFTP) is a rarely known but potentially fatal complication of endotracheal intubation. Sudden respiratory failure shortly after extubation is not infrequent in the ICU. However, these cases are commonly diagnosed as laryngospasm, retention of secretion or laryngeal edema. A 68-year-old woman presented with a 6-day history of progressive dyspnea. She had undergone invasive ventilator care for 24 hours. The patient was discharged from the hospital with improvement after having an extubation. However, after 3 days she revisited the emergency department with progressive dyspnea. The patient was diagnosed with OFTP from the results of chest CT and bronchoscopy. This is the first case studied in detail using CT images, pulmonary function test, and bronchoscopy.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.56-59
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• 2012

Tracheo-innominate artery fistula (TIF) is a rare but catastrophic and almost always fatal complication of tracheostomy. TIF can occur anytime but is commonly present 3 to 24 days after tracheostomy. It can first manifest as massive bleeding around and through the tracheostomy tube, but it can also manifest as a small amount of blood with temporary spontaneous resolution. If TIF is suspicious, airway management and prompt surgical intervention are needed. In an 83-year-old man with CVA history 20 years earlier and who had recurrent aspiration pneumonia, tracheostomy was performed for respiratory management and ventilator support. On day 7 post-tracheostomy, the patient had bleeding from the tracheostoma. Immediate surgical exploration was performed to control the bleeding. A defect was seen at the post wall of the innominate artery. The erosive portion of the artery was sutured, but the patient died three weeks after the surgery due to rebleeding and respiratory failure. We present a patient who developed TIF after tracheostomy, with literature review.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.739-747
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• 1989

Between September 1986, and August 1989, eight infants underwent operation for repair of coarctation of the aorta in the first year of life. The patients included 7 males and 1 female ranging in age 19 days and 9 months. Weights ranged from 3.5 Kg to 7 Kg [mean 5 Kg]. All patients had preductal coarctation of the aorta. Each infant had associated cardiac anomalies, including ventricular septal defect [7 infants] and patent ductus arteriosus [5 infants]. All had intractable congestive heart failure, despite aggressive medical therapy. Pressure gradient across the coarctation ranged from 10 mmHg to 60 mmHg. Operative techniques were subclavian flap aortoplasty in five cases, Gore-Tex patch aortoplasty in three cases. In addition to coarctation repair, six infants had concomitant banding of the pulmonary artery. Four infants required ventilator support for several days. There was no operative death. Complications developed in two. One infant had tracheal stenosis after a tracheostomy. Another infant had restenosis of the aorta revealed by cardiac catheterization 30 months after surgery. The pressure gradient was 30 mmHg, necessitating balloon dilatation aortoplasty. Results were satisfactory. During follow up, we performed total correction procedures [patch closure of the ventricular septal defect, infundibulectomy, pulmonary valvotomy and pulmonary artery angioplasty] in one case. Continuing follow-up finds all patients in good condition.