Chang Gung medical journal
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Review Case Reports
Long-term anterior thalamus stimulation for intractable epilepsy.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has re-emerged as an alternative therapy for intractable epilepsy. In this study, we investigated the feasibility, efficacy and safety of long-term anterior thalamic nucleus (ATN) stimulation for intractable epilepsy. ⋯ Based on our study results and literature review, it appears reasonable to conclude that long-term ATN stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for seizure reduction in patients with intractable epilepsy.
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Obstructive sleep apnea is characterized by repetitive pharyngeal collapse, which increases inspiratory resistive load, and causes intermittent oxygen desaturation and frequent arousals during sleep. This could be damaging to respiratory muscles and result in their weakness. Therefore, we investigated respiratory muscle strength before and after nocturnal sleep in patients with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). ⋯ The respiratory muscle strength of patients with SDB was greater in the morning than at night, which may be contributed to by the restorative effect of nocturnal sleep. This diurnal difference was not correlated to the severity of SDB, which may suggest that respiratory muscles are less impaired by SDB.
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Variations in body weight and length (height) in children in the same age group have increased. Traditional age-based formulas often fail to predict the correct endotracheal tube (ETT) size. In our previous study, we devised a new length-based formula as follows: ETT internal diameter (ID) (mm) = 2 + (body length in cm/30). The current study was undertaken to assess the accuracy of this formula in Chinese children. ⋯ The length-based formula ID (mm) = 2 + body length in cm/30 has high accuracy in predicting the appropriate ETT size in Chinese children.