최자연 교수

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux diseases (GERD) in noncardiac chest pain (NCCP) patients, risk factors for GERD, and status of prescriptions for GERD in Korean population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective non-interventional observational nation-wide 45-center study. Patients with a normal coronary angiogram (CAG) and upper gastroendoscopy within 2 years after CAG were enrolled. The prevalence of GERD was examined. Other gastrointest

Purpose: Many recent studies have reported that successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents(DESs) for chronic total occlusion (CTO) has more beneficial effects than failed CTO-PCI; however, there are only limited dataavailable from comparisons of successful CTO-PCI with medical therapy (MT) in the Korean population. Materials and Methods: A total of 840 consecutive CTO patients who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography, receiving eitherPCI with DESs or MT, we

Purpose: Prediabetes is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, data on the long term adverse clinicaloutcomes of prediabetic patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DESs) arescarce. Materials and Methods: The study population comprised 674 consecutive non-diabetic patients who underwent elective PCI betweenApril 2007 and November 2010. Prediabetes was defined as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of 5.7% to 6.4%. Two-year cumulativeclin

Purpose: Calcium channel blockers diltiazem and nitrate have been used as selective coronary vasodilators for patients with significantcoronary artery spasm (CAS). However, no study has compared the efficacy of diltiazem alone versus diltiazem with nitrate forlong-term clinical outcomes in patients with CAS. Materials and Methods: A total of 2741 consecutive patients without significant coronary artery disease with positive CAS by acetylcholine(Ach) provocation test between November 2004 and May

Purpose: Differences in the utility of routine angiographic follow-up (RAF) and clinical follow-up (CF) after percutaneous coronaryintervention (PCI) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are not well understood. The present study aimed to compare the 3-year clinical outcomes of RAF and CF in AMI patients who underwent PCI with drug-eluting stents (DES). Materials and Methods: A total of 774 consecutive AMI patients who underwent PCI with DES were enrolled. RAF was performedat 6 to 9 months after

The great auricular nerve (GAN) is a sensory branch of the cervical plexus originating from the C2 and C3 nerve roots that innervates the external ear, mandibular angle, and parotid gland. Since idiopathic GAN neuralgia is a rare condition and branches of the GAN overlap with other cervical and cranial nerves, its diagnosis is challenging and can be confused with other facial neuralgias. This article describes the case of a 55-year-old woman with intractable unilateral periauricular and lateral

A 43-year-old male was transferred to our hospital with complaints of dizziness, dyspnea-on-exertion, and mild chest pain for 2 weeks. He had been diagnosed hypertension two years ago, but he did not take antihypertensives for two months. Otherwise he had no medical or surgical history. He smoked 2 packs per day for 20 years. He denied any previous history of syncope, palpitation and peripheral edema except dyspnea-onexertion for 2 weeks. He also complained intermittent dizziness which was not r

Arterial hypertension is the most common cardiovascular disease in older than middle-agedpatients. Reported incidence of secondary hypertension in this age group is around 10%. Toevaluate secondary hypertension, history taking and physical examination should be precise,which are usually not routinely performed in busy outpatient clinic. Here, we report threecases of elderly women who are taking antihypertensive and visited outpatient clinic foruncontrolled hypertension. Their diagnosis of aortic

We report the case of a 64-year-old male with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) terminated by ethanol infusion into vein of Marshall as add-on therapy. Three-dimensional automated complex fractionated atrial electrogram (CFAE) during AF revealed clustering of CFAE at perimitral isthmus (PMI) and its unipolar mapping showed rotor-like activation, which was suggested to be critical in the perpetuation of AF. AF was organized to atrial tachycardia (AT) by 100% ethanol infusion in the vein of Mars

Background: Diabetics with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), mainly below-the knee (BTK) lesions, are known to have higher risk for mortality and cardiovascular events, but long-term clinical outc...

Dyslipidemia, highly elevated, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, is a major cardiovascular risk factor. Statins have been proven to effectively reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and are recommended as a first-line therapy for the primary and secondary prevention of ASCVD. However, statins may not be sufficient in decreasing LDL cholesterol levels and pose a significant on-treatment residual risk of major cardiovascular events (i.e., residual cholesterol r

Although stress-induced cardiomyopathy (SCMP) is a reversible disease and the prognosis is usually excellent, severalcomplications can occur and can result in fatal adverse events. The formation of left ventricular (LV) thrombus is one of thesecritical complications of SCMP. This report describes a case of SCMP complicated by formation of a LV thrombus that becameincreasingly mobile as LV contractility recovered, and for which surgical removal was performed. Here, we report a case of SCMPcomplic