The authors recently reported that over the years, the outcome of aneurysm surgery improved, and that surgical complications importantly affected this change. The present study was conducted to determine whether the incidence of symptomatic vasospasm in fact changed during the period under review, and the factors contributing to any changes. Between 1990 and 1995, 219 Hunt-Hess grade I to III patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysm underwent surgery within 3 days of subarachnoid hemorrhage ; all operations were performed by the same surgeon. Age, Hunt-Hess grade on admission, Fisher grade, hypertension, and hydrocephalus were analyzed to determine which factors were significant for syptomatic vasospasm, and for the periods 1990 to 1993, and 1994 to 1995, the distribution of each significant factor was then examined. Syptomatic vasospasm decreased significantly (p<0.05), but was seen in 28 of 124 patients(22.6%) treated beween 1990 and 1993 and 11 of 95(11.6%) treated between 1994 and 1995 ; no significant reduction of syptomatic vasospasm as a cause of mortality and morbidity (irreversible vasospasm) was seen, however, Fisher grade(p<0.05) and Hunt-Hess grade(p<0.05) significantly contributed to the development of symptomatic vasospasm, though the distribution of these two biologically significant factors was not statistically different. The question of whether or not surgery aggravates symptomatic vasospasm is controversial, and symptomatic vasospasm is, in addition, still an ill-defined disease entity. Except for the occurrence of fewer surgical complication and the fact that the incidence of reversible symptomatic vasospasm was less during the second period of treatment, no differences were found in the distribution of factors which significantly influenced symptomatic vasospasm, and this suggests that surgery affects the development of reversible symptomatic vasospasm. On the basis of increased risk of cerebral ischemia associated with surgery in vulnerable ischemic brain resulting from subarachnoid hemorrhage, the use of the term 'delayed ischemic neurologic deficit' after such hemorrhage appears to be more suitable than 'symptomatic vasospasm'.
Aneurysm* ; Brain ; Brain Ischemia ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; Mortality ; Neurologic Manifestations* ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

No abstract available.
Knee Injuries* ; Knee*

PURPOSE: To assess the accuracy of MR cholangiography(MRC) in the diagnosis of cholelithiasis, and to determine interobserver agreement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between March and September 1999, 43 consecutive patients with biliary obstruction [24 men and 19 women aged 25 -85 (mean, 58) years] underwent MRC using the single-shot fast spin-echo technique. Heavily T2-weighted source images(axial and coronal) 3 -5 mm thick and 12 projection images with 15- degree rotation and 5-cm thickness were obtained. All images were reviewed blindly and indepen-dently by two radiologists specialized in the interpretation of abdominal imaging information. Choledocholithiasis was evaluated in eight segments of the intrahepatic duct(IHD), extrahepatic duct(EHD) and gall bladder lumen. Final diagnosis was established on the basis of operative (n=31) and other radiological (n=12) findings. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the MRC findings were assessed, and using kappa measurement (cross-table analysis,SPSS Windows for 8.0), interobserver agreement was determined. RESULTS: Thirty of the 43 patients, had choledocholithiasis (IHD stones in 7 cases, EHD stones in 15, and GB stones in 18). For radiologist 1, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 86%, 100% and 98%, respectively, in the diagnosis of IHD stones; 100%, 89% and 93%, respectively, in the diagnosis of EHD stones; and 81%, 96% and 91%, respectively, in the diagnosis of GB stones. For radiologist 2, the corresponding figures were 86%, 94% and 93% (1HD stones); 87%, 89% and 88% (EHD stones); and 81%, 86% and 84% (GB stones). Interobserver agreement for the diagnosis of choledocholithiasis was excellent in all cases. The kappa mesurement was 0.91 for 1HD stones, 0.77 for EHD stones, and 0.70 for GB stones. CONCLUSION: MRC is an excellent imaging modality for the diagnosis of choledocholithiasis, and interobserver agreement was also excellent.
Cholangiography* ; Choledocholithiasis ; Cholelithiasis* ; Diagnosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Urinary Bladder

OBJECTIVE: To report the prevalence of lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion and infertility. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies were analyzed by Diluted Russell's Viper Venom Test (DRVVT) and solid phase enzyme immunoassay, respectively. RESULTS: In 200 patients with infertility, there were 6 cases (3%) with positive lupus anticoagulants or anticardiolipin antibodies. Of these, 3 patients (1.5%) showed positive lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies, respectively. In 120 patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion, there were 13 cases (10.8%) of positive lupus anticoagulants or anticardiolipin antibodies. Of these, one patient (1%) showed lupus anticoagulants and 12 patients (10%) showed anticardiolipin antibodies. But in two groups, there was no cases with positive lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies. CONCLUSION: Lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies are definite cause of recurrent spontaneous abortion. There has been a speculation that they might be associated with infertility and repeated IVF failures. But it was found that the role of lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies in these cases are not clear.
Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Anticoagulants* ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Infertility* ; Pregnancy ; Prevalence ; Russell's Viper ; Venoms

To identify the central innervating the mammary nerve, viral retrograde transneuronal labelling methods were employed. Pseudorabies virus 6 microliter was injected into the mammary nerve of adult female Sprague-Dawley rats. After 4 days of survival, the animals were perfused with 4% paraformaldehyde-lysine periodate and their brains were processed for immunohistochemistry and double immunofluorescent staining of Pseudorabies virus or oxytocin using polyclonal antibodies. Several nuclei in brain were retrogradely labelled with Pesudorabies virus.Only a few magnocellular neurons of the paraventricular nucleus throughout whole brain showed double immunoreactivity to Pseudorabies virus and oxytocin. Approximately 11 percent of the oxytocinergic cells of the paraventricular nucleus,especially in three subnuclei[dorsomedial cap, lateral magnocelluar part and ventral part] showed double positive reaction to both Pseudorabies virus and oxytocin. These data demonstrate that some CNS cells projecting to the mammary nerve contained oxytocin and it may acts as a neurotransmitter in this pathway and a hormone targeting milk production and secretion.
Adult ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Brain ; Female ; Herpesvirus 1, Suid ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Milk ; Neurons ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Oxytocin ; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus ; Pseudorabies ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Spontaneous cervical epidural hematoma (SCEH) is a rare condition that causes paraparesis or quadriparesis. As spontaneous resolution is seldom expected, it usually requires surgical treatment for relieve symptoms. Even if spontaneous resolution occurs, relief from symptoms usually requires several hours to days. In contrast, hemiparesis is the most common symptom of a transient ischemic attack (TIA), and usually resolves over minutes to hours. We report here two patients with SCEH who presented with hemiparesis with severe neck pain. Both patients were taking antiplatelet drugs. Their neurological symptoms recovered spontaneously over a very short time. They were initially misdiagnosed as TIA. These cases show that patients with transient hemiparesis may have SCEH if there is severe neck pain and no cranial nerve involvement.

Teratoma is one of germ cell tumor, common neoplasm in women of reproductive age, but it can arise at any age. Its malignant transformation is rare, less than 2%, frequently at older age. Nearly all the cases are squamous, sarcomatous and adenomatous transformation. Here we present a case of mixed transformation, adeno-squamous cell carcinoma with brief review of the concerned literature.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Female ; Humans ; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal ; Teratoma*

No abstract available.
Korea* ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Radon*

Acknowledgements section was missing. The publisher apologises for these errors.

Echovirus 6 (ECV6) is the prevalent serotype detected in aseptic meningitis cases in Korea. To analyze the genetic variation of ECV6 isolates recently circulating in Korea, we determined the partial sequence of the VP1 capsid gene from 22 Korean ECV6 isolates and performed pairwise analysis against 42 reference strains from the GenBank database using MegAlign. The 22 Korean ECV6 isolates formed 3 distinct genetic clusters: Kor-lineage I, II, and III. The Korean ECV6 strains showed significant genetic diversity with 14.8~22.8% nucleotide divergence among the 3 different lineages. These ECV6 Kor-lineages were demonstrated to belong to different genetic clusters using VP1 sequence-based phylogenetic analysis, implying that the recently circulating Korean ECV6 strains have potential antigenic variation.
Antigenic Variation ; Capsid ; Databases, Nucleic Acid ; Echovirus 6, Human ; Enterovirus B, Human ; Genetic Variation ; Korea ; Meningitis, Aseptic