Cardiac tomor

Cardiac tumors are a serious condition regardless of the pathological findings of the tumor, i.e., benign or malignant.

A practical diagnostic approach to cardiac diseases includes history taking, physical examinations, blood analysis, chest radiography, and electrocardiography. However, these techniques may not be useful in make a diagnosis of cardiac tumors. Needless to say, echocardiography is at the top of the list that should be considered among patients with cardiac tumors.

Let me show you an example.

I did not think that the patient would have a cardiac tumor until echocardiography was performed for sinus tachycardia. As the proverb goes, a picture is worth than a thousand words. Once in a while, the same goes with the field of medicine.

Echocardiography says, "Seeing is believing."

No hangover

I was wasted yesterday because I drank a lot, but I have no hangover right now.

Last night, my colleagues and I attended a scientific meeting, which is held twice a year, late fall and early summer. We had six speeches in the conference, with almost good results. Not to mention, we were content with our performance because hard work had been done for it.

After the meeting, we had a big meal at Izakaya or a casual restaurant. Wonderfully, the Izakaya was all we can eat and drink for three hours at a reasonable price, almost $40 per person.

After drinking tons of beer and Japanese sake, we moved to another barbecue restaurant and drank more. Nonetheless, I got up as usual and found myself without hangover.

Do you wanna know the secret?

I ate a rice ball in advance. Eating something small before start drinking is a good way for me to avoid having a hangover next day. It is simple but surely effective, I guess. Give it a try.

The sixth sence

I was tired that night, and went to bed at around 10:30 pm.
All of a sudden, something like a bleeze passed through my ears from the right to the left, when I have almost fallen asleep.

I got up and checked my cell phone, alarm clock, pillow and futon, but found nothing changed from before. Not to mention the windows or door in my bed room were closed. Suddenly, my patient, who has been in a serilusly critical condition and receiving palliative care, came to my mind for no specific reason.

A few minutes later, my phone rang, saying "Sorry to bother you, Doctor, but your patient's heart rate suddenly dropped." The patient died 10 minutes or something after the phone call.

I think that I am a scinentific person, and did not believe the sixth sence.
From now on, I may have to admit that there are many things that are scientifically unexplained.

Way to go!

The Circulation is the most influential journal in the field of cardiology. Publishing an article in Circulation could be a dream, although extremely tough, among cardiologists all over the world.

Today, I have got good news. Guess what? Our manuscript has been accepted for publication in Circulation. You may not believe it, but the first author of the article is a resident doctor, who graduated from medical collage just 5 years before. Congratulations!

The article is not a full-length research paper, but kind of a case report with impressive images. However, the value of the manuscript will not be reduced because the originality of her study is exceptional. Detailed physical examinations by this young, female doctor has made our dream come true. I am really proud of her and her work.

I would like to have a big dinner with her tonight. Of course, I will buy the dinner to her. Not to mention she absolutely deserves it. One sad thing is she is now in India for a vacation, and has not known this good news yet.

I hope that she is enjoying an offline life, sitting close to the Taj Mahal, a well-known white marble mausoleum.

Nuclear cardiology

Let me show you one medical image. What do you think it is?

This beautiful picture is what nuclear cardiology is like. Doctors can assess the presence or absence of myocardial ischemia as well as myocardial infarction if they are an expert in the filed of nuclear cardiology. On top of that, the extent and severity of myocardial damages, if any, can be assessed.

I would say, however, there are many cardiologists who are not good at this filed, although nuclear cardiology is very useful in making a decision among patients with known or suspected ischemic heart disease. Some fuzzy features exist on nuclear cardiology, which seems to make doctors stay away from this category.

Another problem is that it takes a while (e.g., 4 hours) and costs a lot (e.g., $700) to undergo nuclear cardiology.

Futon

I had not known that the word "futon" is an English word until I looked it up on my online dictionary.

The fact that Wikipedia has a page to explain futon in English surprised me.

A futon is a traditional blanket that is used in Japan when we sleep. It makes us feel warm and promises a comfortable night. I love a bedtime with a few layers of futons, especially in winter, because it is freezing cold in Japan. You may recommend that I can use a heater instead of futons, but I do not like using heaters while sleeping. All night heaters sometimes make me feel uncomfortable in the throat when I get up.

I tried wearing a mask with heaters, but no improvement was obtained because I felt I could not breathe well during sleep. Such a kind of problem can occur when I stay at a hotel.

Heart sound and position

Heart sounds vary depending on where a stethoscope is placed.

Let say, if you put a stethoscope on the apex of the heart, the first sound (S1) is louder than the second heart sound (S2). On the other hand, S1 becomes smaller than S2 when the stethoscoep is moved to the basal part of the heart.

Easier to hear than to read. Click musical notes below and get it.

Apical heart sound:  ♪♪♪
Basal heart sound:  ♪♪♪

This rule is simple and easy to master, but surprisingly, many doctors ― even some cardiologists ― know next to nothing about the balance between S1 and S2. To be more precise, they had learned at medical callage, but has forgotten it.

Kujibiki

Kujibiki is a kind of lottery and very popular among kids in Japan.

The rule is very simple. First, you pay a small amount of money, such as one dollar. Second, you pick up one piece of folded paper in a box where there are many pieces of folded paper. Third, you open the paper and check the number written on it. Finally, you can get a gift according to the number that you got.The numbers are usually form one to one hundred; the smaller the number, the better the present.

The left picture is what my daughter got on Kujibiki at a local festival yesterday. Her number was two although her little brother got almost No. 100. What she got, a bag of one of Disney characters, has been attracting her recently. I was very happy to see my daughter excited.

When it comes to Kujibiki, I think that she is always lucky, as is her mother. It seems like good lucks run in the women of my familiy. That means I am lucky as well, because I am always close to them.

Old coins

When I was a kid, what I really loved was to collect old Japanese coins. But I have forgotten it for a long time.

The other day, my younger son found a small, wooden box in the storage. He came to me and asked, "Daddy, what's that? Can I open the box?"

The first glance of the old box reminded me of my old hobby (i.e., coin collection). This box was my treasure. I opened the box, checked many coins, and closed the box － that was my routine at that time.

My son and I opened the box for the first time in decades. What surprised me was I still love old coins. They varied in terms of shapes and materials; a round or square shape: silver, copper, or gold: small or big ones.

Unexpectedly, my son was not interested in these old coins. This may be because he cannot get candies with the old coins.

JS Bach

I cannot get enough of music composed by JS Bach.
Actually, listening to Bach, I am writing this blog right now.

Bach made a wide range of classical music, from piano to violine. Among them, piano works are what I have been attracted most.

Bach is a really great composer as well as an educator. However, Bach may remain you that you had been forced to play his piano music, such as the Inventions and Symphonias, to improve your piano skills as a child. That made some people dislike him, I geuss. It would take a while to understand the value of Bach; I found myself fascinated by Bach after I turned thirty.

The Goldverg vriations are one of my favorite music written by Bach. This wonderful piano piece starts with a lovely small aria, followed by a set of 30 variations, and ends with the peaceful aria again. The exceptional creativity based on mathematical methods is beyond my imaginations.

If you give it a try, I recommend the Gordlberg variations played by Glenn Gould. The eccentric Caniadian pianist recorded this piano piece twice, in 1956 and 1981, and both are excellent.

My dream is that the Goldberg Variations played by me is released during my golden years.