The authors retrospectively reviewed the operative cases of 28 patients with lower cervical spine injury from August 1991 to July 1996. Data from charts were reviewed the following clinical parameters, e.g.) etiologies, neurologic findings, degrees of recovery, managements including operative treatments, and complications. The lower cervical injury was most common in men in the third decade. The most common cause, mechanism and site of lower cervical injury were motor vehicle accidents, flexion type injury and C5-6 respectively. The head trauma was frequently combined. In most cases operation for stabilization was done around two weeks after the trauma, but for decompression purpose it was done before two weeks. Three patients who had complete neural injuries died due to pneumonia, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. A neurological recovery rate was high in incomplete neural injury group. In conclusion, early reduction and decompression of spinal canal in incomplete neural injury group is favorable for good recovery. Careful attention should be paid on the patient with complete injury for the development of serious complications such as upper gastrointestinal bleeding, ARDS and pneumonia.
Craniocerebral Trauma ; Decompression ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Male ; Motor Vehicles ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Pneumonia ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Canal ; Spine*

Pontine hematoma would be diagnosed and made its follow-up readily as the extent of hematoma could be clearly defined since the CT scan was available, especially with MRI in recent. Authors attemped to analyse 20 cases of pontine hematoma clinically, considering factors of influence their prognosis, admitted in Inha hospital from March 1989 to February 1992. Classification of pontine hematoma was made out according to the findings of brain CT scan taken on admission:2 cases of Type T1 to the hematoma localized in the tegmentum unilaterally, 1 case of Type T to those in the tegmentum bilaterally with some extent into the 4th ventricle, 12 in Type T to those in the tegmentum, midbrain and mostly the 4th ventricle, and 5 in Type B to those in the basis pontis mainly with tegmentum and midbrain. Of 219 spontaneous intracerebral hematoma, pontine hematoma was 9.1%. 17 hypertension and 11 previous CVA episodes including 7 cerebral infarction and 4 ICH were endountered. Age distribution was 50% in 6th decade and male to female ratio was 3:2. On admission 14 cases were under 6 in Glasgow coma scale, 6 small reactive pupils and 11 ocular bobbing. Particularly, nuclear facial paralysis was 14 in initial bilateral type, of which 7 dead within 10 days, 5 fixed in left facial paralysis and 1 case into right paralysis later. Four surgical interventions were 1 simple EVD, 1 Urokinase irrigation through EVD, 1 steretactic aspiration and 1 direct hematoma removal. Prognosis was related to various factos:GCS on entry, volume and classification of hematoma, in addition to laterality of nuclear facial paralysis. Clinical course was better in cases over 10 GCS on entry, volume and classification of hematoma, in addition to laterality of nuclear facial paralysis. Clinical course was better in cases over 10 GCS, Type T1 and T2, and unilateral facial paralysis in which the ratio of left to right was 2:1, while it was very poor in patients who were GCS below 6, Type B and bilateral facial paralysis. On the contrary, 7 of 20 cases were dead within 10 days, 13 patients alive for more 3 months after the hemorrhage were observed with fixed facial paralysis in nuclear type, 1 ilateral, 4 right, and 8 left side. It is suggested and requested for further careful follow-up that the hemorrhage may occur from the border zone between paramedian, short and long circumferential arteries supplying transection area of the pons unilaterally, near on around the facial nucleus, more frequent in left side.
Age Distribution ; Arteries ; Brain ; Cerebral Infarction ; Classification ; Facial Paralysis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Hematoma* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Mesencephalon ; Paralysis ; Pons ; Prognosis* ; Pupil ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator

A clinical analysis was carried out with 400 cases of head injuries under 15 years of age admitted at the Department of Neurosurgery, Inha University Hospital during 4 years from 1987 to 1990. The material was classified into three groups according to main lesions, i.e. 1) simple cerebral contusion without skull fractures, 2) various types of skull fractures, 3) intracranial hemorrhagic lesions, representing such lesions as follows;a) epidural hematoma, b) subdural hematoma, c) intracerebral hematoma, intraventricular and subarachnoid hemorrhage. The results were as follows; 1) The age incidence was greatest in 7 years of age, and 188 cases(47%) were included in the age group between seven and ten. The accident occurred mostly from March to May, especially in April. 2) The head injuries were caused by traffic accident(203 cases:51%), fall down(152 cases:38%), etc. In clinical pictures, neck sprain(52.8%), nausea and vomiting(47.5%), and early epilepsy)9%) were developed. 3) The linear skull fracture was higher than other type fractures(74.6%) and the locations of skull fractures were parietal, occipital, temporal and frontal bone in order of frequency. 4) Among the intracranial hemorrhagic lesions, EDH was most common lesion, 73 cases(79%) of the patients with intracranial hemorrhagic lesions were accompanied by skull fractures but of the patients with skull fracture, 51.4% were accompanied by hemorrhagic lesions. Lucid interval was observed in 15 of the cases with intracranial hemorrhagic lesions and contre-coup injury was developed in 19(12%). 5) In the GOS, the high scored cases on the GCS were better than the low scored cases. 4 cases of 23 people scored under 8 on the GCS died. 14 cases of them were included in the age between 6 and 10(61%). 6) Associated injuries were found in about 16% of the total patient, the most common injury was clavicle fracture and most frequent sequala was post traumatic syndrome. The late epilepsy was occurred in about 13% of the early epilepsy cases except the cases had pre-traumatic epilepsy history.
Child* ; Clavicle ; Contrecoup Injury ; Contusions ; Craniocerebral Trauma* ; Epilepsy ; Frontal Bone ; Head* ; Hematoma ; Hematoma, Subdural ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant* ; Nausea ; Neck ; Neurosurgery ; Rabeprazole ; Skull Fractures ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

We evaluated the temporal lobe lesions in 24 patients who had various types of seizure as initial neurologic symptoms between 1987 and 1992. All patients were studied with radiologic and pathologic procedures. The types of seizure were classified with the International League Against Epilepsy classification. The results were as follows:The age of distribution of patients were 3 to 72 years old. The most common seizure type was generalized tonic-clonic and then complex partial, unclassified type, generalized absence and simple partial motor in order. The usual associated diseases were arachnoid cyst, abscess, blioblastoma multiforme, meningioma and temporal sclerosis. The most common location of the lesions was the inferomedial area in the temporal lobe. The maximal diameters of lesions were ranged from 7 to 78 mm(mean 36 mm) .
Abscess ; Aged ; Arachnoid ; Classification ; Epilepsy* ; Humans ; Meningioma ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Sclerosis ; Seizures* ; Temporal Lobe*

Skull metastasis of hepatocelluar carcinoma are rarely reported, even in the Orient and the Africa where this carcinoma is one of the relatively common malignancies. One case with the skull metastasis of the hepatocelluar carcinoma, which no literature was found about the distant metastasis to the skull bone only in Korea, is reported with the histochemical stain and the relevant literatures are reviewed.
Africa ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Korea ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Skull*

The study was undertaken to assess the ventricular system of the brain in normal Korean, using the computed tomography(CT). The CT examination of 1000 normal patients between the ages of 1 to 83 years, performed at Inha hospital, were evaluated. Determination of the ratio between the width of the brain and a dimension representing the distance between the outer borders of the lateral ventricles was made at two levels. The ratio, the cerebroventricular index(CVI), seems to be a reliable, easier indicator of ventricular size. The standards vary with the age of the patients. The results are as follows ; 1) There was no significant difference with sex. 2) The cerebroventricular indexes of the lateral ventricular at the widest bifrontal(CVI) and narrowest bicaudate diameters(CCI) were 0.300+/-0.033, and 0.105+/-0.022. 3) There was correlation between cerebroventricular ratio and age with increase of age, cerebroventricular ratio increased slightly. 4) There was slight correlation between cerebroventricular index(CVI) and cephalic index(CI). 5) The CVI appears to be more sensitive than the CCI in the detection of changes in ventricular size. 6) Our suspected hydrocephalic indexes(HI) are as follows ; CVI < or = 1/3 : within normal range, 1/3 Brain ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Lateral Ventricles ; Reference Values ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Stenosis or occlusion of large arteries after radiation are rare. The authors report a case of internal carotid arterial occlusion after radiation therapy. The patient was 45 year-old female. She received postoperative radiation therapy, a total dose of 4940cGy, to treat the remnant tumor after transsphenoidal surgery for the asymptomatic nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma. She suffered intermittant ischemic symptoms from 18 month after radiation therapy, and died with global infarction due to stenotic occlusion of the internal carotid artery at 30 month after surgery. Endocrine or vascular complications occasionally follow radiation therapy of pituitary tumor. But with improved therapies for pituitary tumors and hypopituitarism, patients are expect to live longer. Yet we must consider another delayed complication of radiation induced carotid arterial disease. As a whole, hemispheric transient ischemic attacks, amaurosis fugax, and seizure are the major presenting symptoms and signs. In such a case, it is important to consider the possibility of radiation induced arterial stenosis, and prompt cerebral angiography and proper management are mandatory.
Amaurosis Fugax ; Arteries ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; Carotid Artery, Internal ; Carotid Stenosis ; Cerebral Angiography ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Female ; Humans ; Hypopituitarism ; Infarction ; Ischemic Attack, Transient ; Middle Aged ; Pituitary Neoplasms* ; Seizures

BACKGROUND: The pathological significance of adolescent obesity is increasing, as research results indicate that about 80 percent of obese teenager becomes obese as adults. However, most studies on obesity have been mainly centered on the biomolecular aspect of obesity, thereby offering little solution to the clinical application and the promotion of overall health for people. This study investigates into the psychological factors of adolescent obesity, mainly that relating to stress. METHODS: After having chosen 14 third year classes from two middle schools, one from the Kang nam and the other from the Kang puk region of Seoul, I have distributed questionnaires to the total of 501 students. For calculating the degree of stress among the students, I have employed the BEPSI (Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument) K, transforming each 5 positive questions into 1 point, which were summed up and divided by 5 (the BEPSI K score). RESULTS: Controlling the confounding factor, the regression coefficient regarding the Body Mass Index of the BEPSI K score was 0.661, t as 3.122, and R Square as 0.05, indicating the statistical relevance of the two factors. A multiple linear regression analysis of theses data yielded the following equation: Body Mass Index=15.6+0.661 x BEPSI K score(R2=0.05) Although the R Squre, as 0.05, was relatively low, this statistical result proves that the rise in stress contributes to the increase of Body Mass Index, thereby indicating that stress functions as an important factor for adolescent obesity. CONCLUSION: For remedying and preventing adolescent obesity, one must make use of the BEPSI K examination and calculate the degree of stress among the adolescent. This study further implies that the best solution to the problems of obesity among adolescent is for the family members, the educational institutions, and the society as a whole to understand and to help the adolescent overcome frequent mental stress resulting from their daily living.
Adolescent* ; Adult ; Body Mass Index* ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Obesity ; Pediatric Obesity ; Psychology ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Nasotracheal intubation is often the method of choice in oral or maxillofacial operations. During the insertion of endotracheal tube (ETT) through nostril, a considerable damage can be inflicted on the nasal mucosa by forcing ETT into the nasal cavity, and epistaxis may occur as a result of mucosal damage even when vasoconstrictors, a lubricated tube, and careful manipulation are employed. This study was conducted to observe whether balloon dilation technique(BDT) can help to minimize the expected problems during nasotracheal tube insertion and was to tried to get a data for further studies. In 30 patients in whom the nasotracheal tube was placed, smooth passage into the nasal cavity without using BDT occurred in 9 patients(30.0%). Of 21 patients(70.0%) who were come into the use of BDT when resistance to tube insertion due to anatomical structures of the nasal cavity was encountered, epistaxis was not developed. By the above results, The BDT appers to prevent epistaxis during nasotracheal tube insertion and to make an easy and smooth passage of the tube and then it suggest that the BDT should provide a basic data and an alternative to conventional techniques for a safe and atraumatic nasotracheal intubation.
Epistaxis ; Humans ; Intubation ; Nasal Cavity ; Nasal Mucosa ; Vasoconstrictor Agents

Heterotopic partial liver transplantation(HLT) in the rat is relatively simple method to orthotopic liver transplantation. Addition of mesocaval shunt which diverts almost intestinal blood to systemic circulation provides only splenopancreaticoduodenal blood for the graft. The usefulness of our novel model is first, evaluating the pure effect of pancreaticoduodenal blood to liver regeneration, second, evaluating the contribution of splanchnic viscera to liver reperfusion injury. In the first group (conventional HLT, C-HLT), the thirty percent graft liver was transplanted just below the host liver with whole portal blood input. In the second group(mesocaval shunt added HLT, M-HLT), the superior mesenteric vein was diverted to systemic circulation and portal blood from the spleen-pancreas-duodenum supplied the graft. The graft weight at 2 posttransplant weeks was significantly increased in the C-HLT group compared with the M-HLT group, which suggests pancreatic blood alone is not sufficient to regenerate the partial liver grafts. There was no significant difference in the graft survival between two groups, which implies the influence of intestine to postreperfusion injury is negligible.
Animals ; Graft Survival ; Intestines ; Liver Regeneration ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Mesenteric Veins ; Models, Animal* ; Rats* ; Reperfusion Injury ; Transplants ; Viscera