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Biomedical subjects

K Kuramoto

Publications and source records attributed to K Kuramoto.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Anticoagulant therapy in recurrent cerebral embolism: a retrospective study in non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

For the prevention of recurrent embolic stroke, 23 elderly patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) were treated with oral anticoagulants (warfarin) during a mean period of 3.8 years. Only one patient suffered recurrent embolism, and another had acute myocardial infarction. There was no cerebral haemorrhage during the treatment. In an untreated control group (from an autopsy series), recurrent embolic strokes occurred in 18 of 70 NVAF patients (26%) during a mean period of 1.3 years. Long-term anticoagulant therapy appears to be effective in the prevention of recurrent embolic stroke in elderly patients with NVAF.

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PubMed1988

Clinical evaluation of the plasma levels of immunoreactive atrial natriuretic peptide in elderly patients with heart diseases.

Plasma levels of immunoreactive atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) were estimated in 69 elderly patients over 60 years of age (mean 76.4 years) with or without heart diseases and in ten young, healthy volunteers (mean 33.0 years) to evaluate the clinical significance of ANP in the elderly. Plasma ANP levels in nine patients without heart diseases were significantly (P less than .01) higher than in the ten young, healthy subjects (mean +/- SD, 46.0 +/- 22.0 vs 22.1 +/- 6.3 pg/mL) and a significant positive correlation was observed between ANP level and age in these subjects (r = 0.60, P less than 0.01). Plasma ANP levels in 60 patients with heart diseases (158.4 +/- 158.5 pg/mL) were significantly (P less than 0.05) greater than in nine patients without heart diseases. Plasma ANP levels in patients with congestive heart failure or atrial fibrillation were 285.8 +/- 185.2 or 223.0 +/- 185.9 pg/mL, respectively; each of these values was significantly (P less than 0.01) higher than in patients without heart diseases. In three patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, plasma ANP levels during atrial fibrillation were three times greater than when atrial fibrillation returned to normal sinus rhythm (377.3 +/- 78.5 vs 101.1 +/- 68.5 pg/mL). These results indicate that plasma ANP levels increase with advancing age, and that increased ANP levels are associated with various heart diseases in elderly subjects, possibly through stretch of the atrial wall.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Effects of hypertension and antihypertensive drugs on cardiovascular complications in the elderly.

The role of hypertension and antihypertensive drugs in cardiovascular complications was evaluated in 380 elderly people living in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gerontology Center. The subjects were classified into four groups according to the presence or absence of hypertension and their antihypertensive treatment, and followed up prospectively for 5 years from 1979 to 1984. The average age of each group was 74 to 76 years. Cerebrovascular disease was observed in 19.3% of male hypertensives and 10.1% of male normotensives (p = 0.078). The drug treated group revealed no cerebral hemorrhage and less cerebral infarction. This tendency was not observed in females. Ischemic heart disease was prevalent in the drug treated group (10.9% vs 4.5%, p = 0.023) irrespective of blood pressure level. Risk factors such as body mass index, skinfold thickness, serum cholesterol, albumin, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen and uric acid at entry were elevated in the drug treated group. Diuretics were used in 92% of the drug treated group; in 53% as monotherapy and in 39% as combination therapy with other antihypertensive agents. The metabolic effect of diuretics may increase the incidence of ischemic heart disease in the elderly. We might conclude that hypertension in the aged accelerates cerebrovascular complications, and that antihypertensive treatment is effective even in this group. However, the wide use of diuretics could increase the incidence of ischemic heart disease. Careful selection of antihypertensive drugs as well as dose adjustment are needed in the treatment of elderly hypertensives.

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PubMed1988

Cardiovascular disease in the aged: overview of an autopsy series.

As an overview of cardiovascular disease in the aged, 3657 autopsy cases were analyzed for the frequency and age-wise incidence of cardiovascular disease. The three major categories, ischemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, and aortic aneurysm and dissection were described. 1. The incidence of overall cardiovascular disease increases sharply between the ages of 60 and 75. Prevention and treatment could be effectively directed at this age group. 2. The incidence of organic cardiovascular disease was: myocardial infarction 19.8 percent; valvular disease 10.0 percent; arteriosclerosis obliterans 3.5 percent; aortic aneurysm and dissection 3.3 percent; pericarditis 2.1 percent; cardiomyopathy 1.6 percent; cor pulmonale 1.4 percent; congenital heart disease 0.7 percent; and others 0.8 percent. 3. As coronary sclerosis progresses, death from ischemic heart disease increases; however, 7 out of 10 patients with 3 vessel disease still die of causes other than ischemic heart disease (pneumonia, malignancy etc.). The general management of infection and malignant neoplasms is important in addition to treatment of cardiovascular disease. 4. Except for mitral stenosis, valvular heart disease, the etiology of which is mostly non-rheumatic, increases with advancing age. 5. In aortic aneurysm, the rupture rate is relatively high in the thoracic aorta; however, this may be caused by the successful surgical repair of abdominal aneurysms. An aneurysm below 6 cm in diameter is not absolutely safe from rupture. 6. In aortic dissection, the interval from onset to the death of the patient is often too short to consider surgery.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

Antihypertensive efficacy and safety of urapidil, alone or in combination with beta-blockers, in patients with phaeochromocytoma.

The clinical efficacy and safety of urapidil, used alone or in conjunction with beta-blockers, were evaluated in 14 patients with phaeochromocytoma. Following a 1-week placebo run-in period, the patients were treated with sustained-release capsules of urapidil, initially 30 mg twice a day, followed by dose adjustment within 30-270 mg (mean +/- s.d. 144 +/- 73) per day for 7-29 days (21 +/- 8 days). In six patients, beta-blockers were added to control associated tachycardia. Blood pressure and pulse rate were successfully controlled in 11/14 patients (78.6%) during the therapy. Both the frequency and the severity of hypertensive paroxysms were clearly reduced in 7/8 patients, who showed frequent paroxysms of hypertension during placebo treatment. A variety of subjective symptoms observed in 13 patients during placebo treatment improved during drug therapy in nine patients (69.2%). Side effects occurred in five patients but were minor and well tolerated except in one patient, who was withdrawn from urapidil monotherapy due to facial oedema and finger stiffness which persisted even after reducing the daily dose from 306 to 270 mg. Overall, in terms of antihypertensive effectiveness, improvement in subjective symptoms and the safety profile, urapidil was considered very useful in four patients (28.6%), useful in six (42.9%), slightly useful in three and useless in one. Urapidil therefore appears to be a worthwhile agent in the treatment of patients with phaeochromocytoma.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗
PubMed1988

[A staged surgical treatment of an abdominal and iliac aneurysm associated with hydronephrosis and urinoma: report of a case].

Hydronephrosis and urinoma are extremely rare complication of the abdominal aneurysm. A case of the aorto-iliac aneurysm associated with right hydronephrosis and urinoma is reported. The patient is 71 year-old female. She was admitted because of right lower abdominal pain. A diagnosis of the infrarenal abdominal aneurysm with involvement of the common iliac artery and right hydronephrosis due to ureter obstruction was made. A leakage of urine from right renal pelvis (urinoma) was also confirmed. A staged treatment for hydronephrosis was selected. At first, percutaneous nephrostomy was made under ultrasonographic guidance. Urinoma was completely disappeared thereafter. Two weeks later, the aneurysm was replaced with a Y-shaped Dacron graft and the right ureter was mobilized from the perianeurysmal fibrous tissue. On the 35th postoperative day, balloon ureteroplasty was performed through the nephrostomy catheter. Three months after operation, nephrostomy catheter was successfully withdrawn because of improved urinary passage through the right ureter. We emphasize the efficacy of staged surgical treatment combined with percutaneous nephrostomy for the abdominal aneurysm associated with hydronephrosis.

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PubMed1987

Evaluation of electrocardiographic criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy based on anatomical comparison.

The reliability of precordial electrocardiographic criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was evaluated by comparing it with the anatomical findings of 421 postmortem hearts examined by the chamber dissection technique. Of these 421 postmortem hearts, 136 without cardiovascular disease served as normal controls. The weights of the left ventricular free wall with interventricular septum (LV + S) and of the whole heart in normal controls were 153 +/- 36 grams (mean +/- SD) and 289 +/- 67 grams, respectively. Correlation coefficients between LV + S and whole heart were 0.89 for men and 0.90 for women. Anatomical LVH was defined as the weight of LV + S exceeding the average plus one standard deviation of that of a normal control heart. Anatomically established LVH was found in 99 (28%) of 353 cases having precordial electrocardiograms available for evaluation. The sensitivity, specificity, and predictive accuracy of electrocardiographic criteria for LVH were as follows: SV1 + RV5 greater than 3.5 mV, 56.6%, 76.0% and 47.9%; SV1 + RV5 greater than 4.0 mV, 45.5%, 87.4% and 58.4%; SV1 + RV5 greater than 5.0 mV, 21.2%, 94.5% and 60.0%; SV1 + RV5 greater than 3.5 mV with strain type ST-T, 35.4%, 93.3% and 67.3%; SV1 + RV5 greater than 4.0 mV with strain type ST-T, 29.3%, 94.9% and 69.0%; SV1 + RV5 greater than 5.0 mV with strain type ST-T, 14.1%, 98.0% and 73.7%; strain type ST-T, 36.4%, 92.5% and 65.5%; nonspecific ST-T, 26.3%, 76.4% and 30.2%; SV1 + RV5 greater than 3.5 mV with nonspecific ST-T, 12.1%, 93.3% and 41.4%; and right anteriorly directed T vector, 39.4%, 89.4% and 59.1%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Age Factors↗
PubMed1987

Comparison of enzymatic, anatomic and electrocardiographic estimates of myocardial infarct size in man.

Myocardial infarct size is definitely related to cardiac function and prognosis. For a critical evaluation of infarct size estimation methods, we weighed infarcted myocardium from 44 autopsy cases (24 men and 20 women, mean age of 76.8 yr.), and compared the weight with the peak value of serum CPK activity (peak-CPK), the peak value of serum CPKMB isoenzyme activity (peak-CPKMB), the total CPK release (sigma CPK), and the QRS scoring system in the standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) modified by Wagner et al.. The mean infarcted myocardial weight (MI weight) of the 44 cases was 38.4 g. The mean value of the peak-CPK, peak-CPKMB, and sigma CPK were 2487, 221, and 4597 IU/ml, respectively, and the mean QRS point score was 7.2. The interval between serial CPK determination and ECG recording or autopsy averaged 130.1 or 52.4 days, respectively. There were significant (p less than 0.01) correlations between the MI weight and peak-CPK (r = 0.63, n = 17), peak-CPKMB (r = 0.79, n = 17), sigma CPK (r = 0.72, n = 11), and the QRS scoring system (r = 0.64, n = 39), respectively. Especially in cases of non-transmural myocardial infarction, the QRS scoring system showed a high correlation with MI weight (r = 0.82, n = 11, p less than 0.01). We conclude that the peak-CPK, peak-CPKMB, sigma CPK, and the QRS scoring system are useful for the estimation of myocardial infarct size.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Clinicopathological study on left ventricular hypertrophy in elderly hypertensive patients.

The correlations between blood pressure, left ventricular hypertrophy and left atrial enlargement were examined in 2,010 autopsied cases. The cases were classified into 3 groups: 972 (48.2%) normotension cases, 313 cases (15.5%) of systolic hypertension and 725 cases (36.1%) of diastolic hypertension. The incidence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was significantly higher in systolic and diastolic hypertensive cases than in normotensives (p less than 0.05), but no significant difference in LVH incidence was found between the 2 hypertensive groups. The incidence of an enlarged left atrium was also significantly higher in both hypertensive groups than in the normotensive group (p less than 0.05). The incidence of congestive heart failure and a large CTR were also higher in both hypertensive groups. However, there were no intergroup differences in atrial fibrillation incidence, despite significant differences in atrial size. Finally, the incidence of moderate to severe coronary artery stenosis was significantly higher in both hypertensive groups, but no difference was found between the 2 types of hypertension. We concluded that both systolic and diastolic hypertension contributed to the genesis of left ventricular hypertrophy, left atrial dilatation, coronary sclerosis and congestive heart failure.

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PubMed1987

[Tricuspid regurgitation induced by transvenous right ventricular pacing: echocardiographic and pathological observations].

To assess tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in patients with permanent transvenous right ventricular (RV) pacing, we performed phonocardiographic, contrast and pulsed Doppler echocardiographic studies in 18 patients with transvenous leads for RV pacing. In addition, a pathological study was performed on 26 autopsy cases with transvenous leads for RV pacing. None of the patients had right-sided heart failure. The previous phonocardiograms revealed regurgitant murmurs of TR in one clinical case and five autopsy cases. In the clinical study, definite TR was diagnosed both by contrast and pulsed Doppler echocardiography in five cases (28%). Probable TR was diagnosed only by one technique in three cases (17%), and the absence of TR was confirmed by both techniques in 10 cases (55%) (non-TR group). The average right atrial dimension was 59 +/- 5.3 mm in the definite TR group and 39 +/- 2.4 mm in the non-TR group (p less than 0.01). The average inferior vena cava dimension was 19 +/- 1.7 mm in the definite TR group and 15 +/- 0.8 mm in the non-TR group (p less than 0.05). Right atrial and inferior vena cava dimensions showed a significantly positive correlation (r = 0.58, p less than 0.05). In the pathological study, the presence of TR, which was explained by the position of the pacemaker lead in relation to the valve structure, was confirmed in 11 cases (42%). Valve motion interference was classified as type I (two cases), in which the lead was suppressed and the leaflet immobilized, type II (4 cases), in which chordae tendineae were involved by a pacemaker lead, and type III (five cases), in which both mechanisms contributed to valvular regurgitation. In conclusion, TR may follow transvenous RV pacing in approximately half of the cases with RV pacing. Contrast and pulsed Doppler echocardiography are sensitive noninvasive techniques for detecting this valvular abnormality and they should be used in the follow-up of such pacemaker recipients.

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PubMed1987

[Mitral regurgitation due to ruptured chordae tendineae in the aged: a clinicopathologic study].

We observed 13 cases of mitral regurgitation (MR) due to ruptured chordae tendineae (RCT) among 4,000 consecutive autopsies of patients over 60 years of age (0.33%). There were four men and nine women whose average age was 79.8 yrs. Five cases had a single RCT (Group I) and eight had multiple RCT (from two to eight chordae) (Group II). The sites of RCT were in the posterior mitral leaflet (PML) in nine, the anterior leaflet in one, and both in three. All in Group I showed RCT in the PML; the posterior scallop in two and the middle scallop in three. The average heart weight was 340 g in Group I and 431 g in Group II. Sclerosis of the coronary arteries, the circumference of the mitral valve ring, and thickness of the leaflets did not differ significantly. Estimated volume of the left atrium was significantly greater in Group II than in Group I (185 ml vs 57 ml, p less than 0.05). Jet lesions were observed in 10 of the 13 cases. The etiologies of RCT were previous endocarditis in two, mitral valve prolapse in three, and spontaneous rupture in eight. Congestive heart failure was observed in three (60%) in Group I and eight (100%) in Group II (p less than 0.01). Cardiothoracic ratio more than 60% was observed in three (60%) of Group I and six (75%) of Group II. Atrial fibrillation was demonstrated in one in Group I (20%) and six (75%) in Group II (p less than 0.05), and cardiac death in one (20%) in Group I and six (75%) in Group II (p less than 0.05). Phonocardiograms showed pansystolic murmur in all cases, third heart sound in nine (69%), and fourth heart sound in four (57%). Echocardiographically, RCT was diagnosed in six of nine cases (67%). In conclusion, patients with RCT involving more than two chordae tendineae can show more severe clinical course than cases with a single RCT.

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