Objective To summarize experiences of surgical treatment and long-term results of myasthenia gravis (MG). Methods Two hundred thirty-six patients underwent thymectomy for MG in our department from Jan.1978 to Dec. 2002. The perioperative management, relative factors of postoperative crisis and long-term results were analysed. Results In 236 patients postoperative crisis took place in 44 cases accounted for 18.6%. The occurrence of postoperative crisis was related to preoperative management, modified Osserman clinical classification and combination with thymoma. Three cases died in the postoperative periods. Among them, one died of acute respiratory distress syndrome induced by aspiration and the other died of crisis. The effective rate in 1, 3, 5 years was 84.6%, 91.0% and 89.0% respectively. Conclusions Thymectomy for MG is safe and effective. Delayed extubation could decrease the needs of tracheotomy in patients with high risk factors for postoperative crisis. The partial sternotomy approach is less traumatic but the long-term effects of surgery are identical to those reported by the most authors.
Objective To explore the early diagnostic value of single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT), thoracic computed tomography(CT),and chest X-ray for closed chest trauma. Methods To establish the animal model of unilateral chest impact trauma,to adopt SPECT, thoracic CT, and chest X-ray for early diagnosis of closed chest trauma,and to compare these findings with postmortem examination. Results Thirty minutes after blunt chest trauma, the region of interesting (ROI) between traumatized lung and the heart (ROI2/ROI1) immediately increased to the peak six hours after trauma; on the contralateral lung, the ratio (ROI3/ROI1) increased slowly and reached the peak after six hours, these ratio was still smaller than that of the traumatized lung. These differences were significant (Plt;0.01). Conclusions Chest X-ray is still the most fundamental diagnostic method of chest trauma,but it was thought that the patients of severe chest trauma and multiple injuries should be examined early by thoracic CT. Radionuclide imaging have more diagnostic value than chest X-ray on pulmonary contusion. The diagnostic sensibility to pulmonary contusion of thoracic CT is superior to conventional radiograph,but thoracic CT is inferior to SPECT on exploring exudation and edema of pulmonary contusion. Thoracic CT is superior to conventional radiograph on diagnosis of chest trauma,therefore patients of severe chest trauma and multiple injuries should be adopted to thoracic CT examination at emergency room in order to be diagnosed as soon as possible.
Objective To investigate the effect of lung volume reduction surgery （LVRS） on messenger RNA expression levels of cytoskeletal proteins in diaphragmatic muscle tissues of emphysematous rabbits. Methods A total of 40 rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups （10 rabbits in each group） ：normal control group, emphysema group, sham operation group and LVRS group. Rabbits in control group were intratracheally administered with 0.9% normal sodium, but those in other groups were intratracheally administered with 0.4% papain at the dose of 0.5 ml/kg and inhaled cigarette smoke to induce emphysema model. Then, rabbits in emphysema group were fed routinely, however, after median sternotomy , bilateral LVRS was performed in LVRS group but not in sham operation group. The mRNA expression levels of titin and nebulin in the diaphragmatic muscles of rabbits in each group were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction（RT-PCR）. Results Compared with control group, the mRNA expression levels of titin and nebulin in the rabbit diaphragm of emphysema groups and sham operation group decreased significantly （P〈0.01 ）, so did those in LVRS group （P〈0.05）. But it increased significantly in LVRS group compared with emphysema group and sham operation group （P〈0.05）. Conclusion LVRS can increase the mRNA expression levels of titin and nebulin in diaphragmatic muscle tissues of emphysematous rabbits, which may be the associated mechanisms at the molecular level in restoring the functions of the emphysematous diaphragm by LVRS.