• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 2017

Peripheral nerve blocks are commonly used for surgical anesthesia, postoperative analgesia, and to reduce opioid requirements. Although these blocks have traditionally been carried out using local anesthetics, single-injection techniques can be short-lived and limited by the relatively brief duration of action of currently available local anesthetics. Increasing the dose or concentration of local anesthetics may prolong the duration of analgesia, but may also increase the risk such as unwanted motor weakness or systemic toxicity of local anesthetics. Numerous adjuvant medications have been added to local anesthetics to prolong the durations of anesthesia and analgesia achieved by peripheral nerve blocks, and currently, a number of different adjuvants are used to improve quality of the block. This article will review the several nerve block adjuvants used in combination with local anesthetics to provide blockade of peripheral nerves in clinical practice, describing the rationale for their use in peripheral nerve blocks, and the evidence for their effectiveness.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.230-232
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• 2012

A 31-year-old man presented with acute onset of paraplegia. The patient's history was significant for thyroid carcinoma that had been treated 2 years earlier by thyroidectomy. A magnetic resonance imaging scan showed an enhancing intramedullary lesion at T7-8. Patient underwent surgical treatment and a tumor with hematoma was resected via posterior midline myelotomy. Postoperatively, the patient's motor weakness was improved to grade 3. The lesion showed typical histologic features consistent with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Early diagnosis and microsurgical resection can result in improvement in neurological deficits and quality of life of patients with an ISCM.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.316-319
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• 2013

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is considered to be a rarer autoimmune disease than multiple sclerosis. It is very difficult to make a diagnosis of MNO for doctors who are not familiar with its clinical features and diagnostic criteria. We report a case of a young female patient who had been suffering motor weakness and radiating pain in both upper extremities. Cervical MRI showed tumorous lesion in spinal cord and performed surgery to remove lesion. We could not find a tumor mass in operation field and final diagnosis was NMO. NMO must be included in the differential diagnosis of lesions to rescue the patient from invasive surgical interventions. More specific diagnostic tools may be necessary for early diagnosis and proper treatment.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.467-469
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• 2010

We report an extremely rare case of traumatic cervical spinal subdural hematoma not related to intracranial injury. There has been no report on traumatic cervical spinal subdrual hematoma not related to intracranial injury. A 27-year-old female patient was admitted to our emergency room due to severe neck pain and right arm motor weakness after car collision. On admission, she presented with complete monoplegia and hypoesthesia of right arm. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed subdural hematoma compressing spinal cord. Lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis revealed 210,000 red blood cells/$mm^3$. She was managed conservatively by administrations of steroid pulse therapy and CSF drainage. Her muscle power of right arm improved to a Grade III 16 days after admission. Follow-up MRI taken 16th days after admission revealed almost complete resolution of the hematoma. Here, the authors report a traumatic cervical spinal SDH not associated with intracranial injury.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.22-25
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• 2015

Spasticity is a common impairment in patients with central nervous system disease. Clinical observation has demonstrated that spasticity can be aggravated by various factors such as emotional state as well as noxious stimuli. A 51-year-old male patient was scheduled for arteriovenous fistula surgery. He had right hemiplegia including motor weakness and spasticity. It was decided that the surgery would be performed under an axillary brachial plexus block (BPB). He appeared nervous when blockade was terminated. The spasticity of the right shoulder increased after ipsilateral BPB. However, when we administered sedative drugs and performed interscalene BPB 2 days later, spasticity did not occur. Exacerbation of spasticity might be evoked by an anxious emotional state. Thus, it seems to be good to consider removing of anxiety and using an appropriate approach when it is tried to perform nerve blocks in individuals with spasticity.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1492-1496
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• 1992

Takayasu`s arteritis is a nonspecific inflammatory vascular disease of unknown origin. It most often cuases stenosis of the aorta or its branch arteries with ischemic changes in the organs supplied, but the vessels inside these organs are not directly involved. From 1983 to 1991, we performed operation on 6 patients with Takayasu`s arteritis. There were 6 female patients ranging in age from 17 years to 36 years. Symptoms included headache, dizzness, visual disturbance, and motor weakness or pain of arm. In 5 cases, bypass graft arised from ascening aorta[ventral aorta] were done, and in one, stenotic segments of left subclavian and vertebral arteries were resected an graft interposition done. Follow-up has been 62.4$\pm$34.8 months[ranging from 11 to 113 months], results of each patient were exellent, except one postoperative death.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.319-322
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• 2013

A 66 year-old woman had cervical spinal cord injury by an automobile. We performed emergency operation for partial quadriplegia. She recovered from motor weakness gradually, but complained of abdominal distension and mild dyspnea. A physical examination of her abdomen did not have tenderness and rebound tenderness. She underwent a decubitus view of chest X-ray due to aggravated dyspnea at postoperative 4 days. We detected free air gas of abdomen and immediately identified a cause of pneumoperitoneum by abdominal computed tomography. We performed an emergent laparotomy and confirmed a jejunal perforation. After an operation, she recovered well and is under rehabilitation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.489-493
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• 1986

Takayasu`s arteritis is an arteritis of unknown etiology involving larger elastic arteries such as aorta and its branches, pulmonary arteries, and rarely coronary arteries. The late pathologic feature is vascular obstructive change and the resulting clinical manifestations are local ischemic symptoms such as syncope, visual disturbance, claudication of extremities, hypertension, and angina. the disease occurs predominantly in females, with the age of onset between 10 and 30 years. Recently we have experienced one case of Takayasu`s arteritis involving aortic arch and all its major branches. The patient was 36 year-old female and she was admitted because of headache, blurred vision, and easy fatigability and motor weakness of upper extremities. Aortogram revealed total obstruction of both carotid arteries at the site of its origin and partial irregular obstructive change in the innominate artery and both subclavian arteries. Bypass graft surgery using Gore-Tex grafts was performed with successful result.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.177-180
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• 1988

Transsacral neurolytic block with 2.5ml of phenol in glycerine or bupivacaine was performed in 6 patients with malignant diseases and a patient with sphincter spasm of bladder due to spinal cord injury. Pain relief was satisfactory in all patints except one patient with very low pain threshold. In one patient, second transsacral neurolytic block alone was not sufficient because of widespread pain along distant metastasis of the malignant disease, although the first block was satisfactory. The complications include transient motor weakness(4), voiding difficulty(1), subarachnoid puncture(1), and epidural venous puncture(1), but they were all spontaneously recovered within a sbort period of time and did not give any limitation to the block.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.235-240
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• 2017

Pulseless electrical activity (PEA) is a clinical condition characterized by unresponsiveness and lack of palpable pulse in the presence of organized cardiac electrical activity and is caused by a profound cardiovascular insult (e.g., severe prolonged hypoxia or acidosis, extreme hypovolemia, or flow-restricting pulmonary embolus). Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that is characterized by progressive degeneration of all levels of the motor nervous system. Damage to the respiratory system and weakness of the muscles may increase the likelihood of an emergency situation occurring in patients with ALS while under general anesthesia. We report a case of PEA during the induction of general anesthesia in a patient with ALS who presented for dental treatment and discuss the causes of PEA and necessary considerations for general anesthesia in patients with ALS.