For the rapid endotracheal intubation, the ideal neuromuscular blocking drug with short onset time, short duration and few side effects has so far not been found. Succinylcholine is still, inspite of its side-effects and contraindications, the standard drug of choice for rapid intubation. But, high-dose vecuronium as an alternative to succinylcholine for rapid intubation may be recommended. To compare the intubating conditions with that in succinylcholine, the onset and cardiovascular effects of high-dose vecuronium(0.3 mg/kg) were evaluated clinically with a scoring system. The results are as follows ; 1) High-dose vecuronium may provide an alternative means of achieving a rapid onset of neuromuscular blockade. 2) High-dose vecuronium shows minimal effects on cardiovascular system. In concluson, high-dose vecuronium as an alternative method for rapid endotracheal intubation may be recommended without any significant cardiovascular change if succinylcholine is contraindicated.
Cardiovascular System ; Intubation* ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Neuromuscular Blockade ; Succinylcholine ; Vecuronium Bromide*

PURPOSE:To compare the repeatability and agreement of macular thickness measurements using time domain (TD) optical coherence tomography (OCT) and spectral domain (SD) OCT in normal subjects. METHODS: Thirty-four normal subjects were included. Three consecutive macular measurements were taken with TD OCT and SD OCT. Total and regional macular thickness and total macular volume obtained by the two OCTs were compared. Within-subject standard deviation (Sw), coefficient of variation (CVw), and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated to evaluate repeatability. The agreement was examined with Bland Altman plots. The correlation was also evaluated with Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Sw for foveal thickness, total macular thickness, and total macular volume were 11.53 microm, 7.58 microm, and 0.48 mm3 for TD OCT and 6.69 microm, 2.55 microm, and 0.09 mm3 for SD OCT, respectively. The values for SD OCT were consistently lower, and this result was statistically significant. The range of the respective CVw and ICC values were 1.10~2.78% and 0.78~0.96% for TD OCT, and 0.29~0.94% and 0.92~0.99% for SD OCT, respectively. The SD OCT showed better repeatability for macular thickness measurements(all with p< or =0.001). The spans of 95% limits of agreement for foveal thickness, total macular thickness, and total macular volume were 67.94 microm, 29.01 microm, and 0.98 mm3, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient of foveal thickness, total macular thickness, and total macular volume between the two OCT's was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although both OCTs are reliable for macular thickness measurements, SD OCT shows better repeatability compared with TD OCT. Although macular thickness measurements obtained from the two OCTs can not be used interchangeably due to low agreement by different standards of measurement, there was a statistically significant correlation between the two OCT's.
Tomography, Optical Coherence

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects and prognostic factors related to intravitreal injection of bevacizumab on patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration. METHODS: The medical records of patients who received 3 consecutive intravitreal injections of bevacizumab (1.25 mg/0.05 ml, 6 weeks interval) for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration and followed up for more than 12 months were reviewed (a total of 31 eyes; male, 20; mean age, 72.3+/-7.5 years). Baseline best corrected visual acuity, foveal thickness, and total macular volume were compared with those after 1, 4, and 12 months. The therapeutic effects were investigated with regard to factors such as age, sex, initial visual acuity, lesion size, subtypes of choroidal neovascularization, pigment epithelial detachment, submacular hemorrhage, and previous history of photodynamic therapy. RESULTS: Initial visual acuity (logMAR), foveal thickness, and total macular volume were 0.74+/-0.49, 320+/-88 microm and 9.50+/-2.99 mm3, respectively. Visual acuity improved to 0.68+/-0.61 (p=0.012), and foveal thickness and total macular volume decreased to 218+/-69 microm and 6.32+/-0.71 mm3 (p<0.001), respectively, at 12 months. Visual improvement was achieved less often in patients who were 75 years or older and who had lesions 3 disc areas or greater and relatively good initial vision at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal bevacizumab injection has beneficial effects for patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration with regard to function and anatomy. However, it should be noted that visual improvement may be limited in older patients with larger lesions and good initial vision.
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ; Choroid ; Choroidal Neovascularization ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intravitreal Injections ; Macular Degeneration ; Male ; Medical Records ; Photochemotherapy ; Vision, Ocular ; Visual Acuity ; Bevacizumab

This paper contains the results of cl inical studies with 0.1 and 0.15 Tesla KAIS NMR Tomograph which was developed by Korea Advanced 1 nstitute of 5cience. A variety of imaging modes such as saturation recovery(SR), spin echo(SE), and inversion recovery(SR) as well as echo and repetition times were applied. Clinical imagings were performed on 22 patients with dlseases of brain (15 cases), cervical spine(2 cases}, chest (2 cases), pancreas (2 cases), and kidney (1 case). In SR imaglng, we have obtained images strongly dependent on the hydrogen nuclei density. SE with long echo time and IR are effective for T2 and T1 dependent images, respectively. Results of clinical NMR imaging are presented and compared with X-CT and the other radiological examinations. Obtained results appear promising and with further examinations along with parameter adjustment, it is expected that the NMR imaging will not only substitute many conventional diagnostic methods such as X.ray CT but also be useful for the early detection of tumor and other lesions not obtainable with other modalities.
Brain ; Humans ; Hydrogen ; Kidney ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pancreas ; Thorax

PURPOSE: Biliary cancer is a highly malignant neoplasm with poor prognosis and most patients need to undergo palliative chemotherapy, however major clinical problem associated with the use of chemotherapy is chemoresistance. So far, we aimed at investigating clinical implications of apurinic/apyrimidinic endodeoxyribonuclease 1 (APEX1) and Jagged1 as chemoresistance factors in biliary tract cancer. METHODS: We used 5 human biliary tract cancer cell lines (SNU-245, SNU-308, SNU-478, SNU-1079, and SNU-1196), and investigated the chemosensitivity of APEX1 and Jagged1 through 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and Western blot. Alternately, the 10 patients of advanced biliary cancer consist of 2 group according to the chemotherapy response examined by immunohistochemistry using APEX1 and Jagged1 antibody, and protein expression level was scored for staining intensity and percent positive cell. RESULTS: The result of MTT assay after APEX1 knockdown showed that strong coexpression of APEX1 and Jagged1 cell line (SNU-245, SNU-1079, and SNU-1196) showed a greater decrease in IC₅₀ of chemotherapeutic agent (5-fluorouracil, gemcitabine and cisplatin). The Western blot analysis of APEX1 and Jagged1 expression in biliary cancer cell lines after APEX1 knockdown definitively demonstrated decreased Jagged1 expression. The APEX1 and Jagged1expression level of immunohistochemistry represented that chemorefractory patients had higher than chemoresponsive patients. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that simultaneous high expression of APEX1 and Jagged1 is associated with chemoresistance in biliary cancer and suggest that is a potential therapeutic target for chemoresistance in advanced biliary cancer.
Biliary Tract Neoplasms* ; Biliary Tract* ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line ; Cisplatin ; Drug Therapy ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Prognosis

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available for the clinical utility of serial interferon-gamma producing T-cell response after initiation of treatment in patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB). We studied the serial TB-specific antigen T-cell responses measured using the T-SPOT.TB assay during the course of therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively enrolled adult patients who were newly diagnosed with active extrapulmonary TB over a 24-month period. All patients were given standard anti-TB treatment. Blood samples were obtained for T-SPOT.TB at diagnosis, as well as 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-months after initiating anti-TB therapy. RESULTS: A total of 52 patients with extrapulmonary TB (38 confirmed and 14 probable TB) were included in the final analysis. All patients had clinical and radiologic improvement after treatment and cured. T-SPOT.TB was positive for 90% at diagnosis, 100% at 1-, 3-, and 6-months, and 93% at 12-months after initiation of anti-TB therapy. There was no significant difference in median T-cell response between early secreting antigenic target-6 (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein-10 (CFP-10) at all time points. Median T-cell response steadily increased up to 6 months and then decreased. CONCLUSIONS: T-SPOT.TB assay remained positive after successful anti-TB treatment in most patients with extrapulmonary TB. Our data suggests that serial T-SPOT.TB has limited clinical utility as a surrogate marker of treatment response in patients with extrapulmonary TB.
Adult ; Biomarkers ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; Prospective Studies ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tuberculosis