The oncological outcomes of laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery were evaluated in recent multicenter randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The MRC-CLASSIC, COLOR II, and COREAN trials found no differences in local recurrence or disease-free survival rate between laparoscopic and open surgery. However, the noninferiority of laparoscopic surgery with respect to open surgery for rectal cancer was not established on statistical analysis in the ACOSOG Z6051 and the ALaCaRT trials. Quality of total mesorectal excision (TME) is one of the most important prognostic factors. Incomplete TME had unfavorable oncologic outcomes compared to complete TME. Although TME quality can be clearly identified on pathologic evaluation, there is controversy regarding the acceptable range of oncologically safe TME for laparoscopic surgery. It is not certain whether near-complete TME has an unfavorable oncologic impact and whether laparoscopic surgery with near-complete TME is an oncological threat. Therefore, the surgical community will be interested in the long-term outcomes and meta-analyses of ongoing large-scale RCTs. Laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery has been steadily improving its safety for oncology surgery, which has been reported consistently in various multicenter RCTs. To improve surgical quality, colorectal surgeons should choose the most appropriate surgical technique, including laparoscopic surgery.
Disease-Free Survival ; Laparoscopy ; Quality Control ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Recurrence ; Surgeons ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical and electro physiologic characteristics of patients with multiple accessory pathways. Recently as endocardial mapping has become more and more accurate, multiple accessory pathways which were considered to be rare in the past, have become more commonly reported in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. METHODS: From February 1993 to June 2000, there were a total of 452 patients, who were confirmed to have accessary pathway mediated-tachyarrhythmias diagnosed by electrophysiologic study. Among those, 19 patients had multiple accessory pathways, and were enrolled in this study. RESULTS: Among the 19 patients, thirteen patients were male and six were female, and their mean age was 36.5+/-16.17 years. All patients had 2 accessory pathways. The distribution of the location of the accessory pathways was at the left free wall (71.1%), right free wall (18.4%) and posteroseptal wall (10.5%). The most common combination pattern was the left free wall and left free wall (57.9%) and the most common anatomical areas were the left lateral wall and left posterior wall (36.8%). The success rate of the catheter ablation was 84.2% (16/19). The recurrence rate after the radiofrequency catheter ablation was 31.3% (5/16) and the most common recurrence site was left free wall (60.0%, 3/5). CONCLUSION: These results indicated that the clinical and electrophysiologic characteristics of the multiple accessory pathway patients with WPW syndrome in our study were similar to those of western countries.
Catheter Ablation ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Recurrence ; Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

The aim of the present study is to verify the functional and anatomical neural pathways which innervate the urinary bladder in the central nervous system of the rat. To identify the functional neural pathway, the urinary bladder was stimulated by infusing formalin for 2 h. Then, brain and spinal cord were dissected out and immunohistochemistry was done by using anti-c-fos antibody. Many c-fos immunoreactive (IR) neurons were identified in the telencephalic cortical areas and in several brainstem nuclei, which are known mostly to be related with urinary bladder. In the spinal cord, a number of c-fos IR neurons were found in the lamina I, IIo, dorsal gray commissure, sacral parasympathetic nucleus. To identify the anatomical neural pathway of the urinary bladder, Pseudorabies virus (PRV) was injected into the wall of urinary bladder and was identified with anti-PRV by using immunohistochemistry. Most PRV labeled neurons were found where c-fos IR neurons were identified and few of them were also in the areas where c-fos IR neurons were not found, e.g., prefrontal cortex, agranular insular cortex, and subfornical organ. In the spinal cord, PRV labeled cells were found all over the gray matter. The present study presents morphological evidence demonstrating the supraspinal areas are related with the neural control of the urinary bladder and most functional neural pathway of the urinary bladder is well consistent with the anatomical neural pathway except in some telencephalic cortical areas.
Animal ; Bladder/innervation* ; Central Nervous System/anatomy & histology* ; Female ; Herpesvirus 1, Suid/isolation & purification* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neural Pathways/anatomy & histology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/analysis* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the genetic effect of DRD2 Taq I polymorphism to the smoking in the Korean schizophrenics. Also this study examined molecular heterosis and gender difference in the genetic effect to smoking in schizophrenics. METHODS: The study subjects were composed of 167 schizophrenic patients, 96 smokers and 71 non-smokers. DRD2 Taq I RFLP genotyping was carried out with DNA extracted from subjects' blood samples. RESULTS: Among the total schizophrenics, the smokers were not significantly different from the non-smokers in respect to the frequency and prevalence of A1 allele, the genotype distribution, or frequency of heterozygotes. In male schizophrenics, genotype distribution of smoking patients differed significantly from non-smoking patients(p=0.010), with a higher prevalence of A1 allele (p=0.020) and frequency of heterozygotes(p=0.005). In male schizophrenics, A1A2 heterozygotes showed significantly higher smoking rate than A1A1 or A2A2 homozygotes and non-smokers were deficient in heterozygotes. The deviation from Hardy-Weinberg expectations was observed in male and female non-smokers with opposite directions. Moreover, highly significant differences were seen between male and female non-smokers in A1 prevalence(p=0.001), genotype distribution(p<0.00011), and frequency of heterozygotes(p<0.00003). CONCLUSION: No significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in the genotype distributions of the total sample could be explained by the gender difference in the genetic effect of DRD2 A1 allele to the smoking with opposite directions. Our findings support molecular heterosis at the DRD2 gene.
Alleles ; DNA ; Dopamine* ; Female ; Genotype ; Heterozygote ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Hybrid Vigor ; Male ; Nicotine ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Prevalence ; Receptors, Dopamine D2* ; Schizophrenia* ; Smoke* ; Smoking*

Focal segmental glomerular sclerosis (FSGS) accounts for recurrence in 20% to 40% of the renal allografts after transplantation, and it causes graft loss in 13% to 20% of the cases. We report here on successfully treating acute cellular rejection (ACR) combined with FSGS after a kidney transplantation with a combination treatment of plasmapheresis, rituximab and steroid pulse therapy. A 53-year-old female patient whose primary kidney disease was unknown developed massive proteinuria after living donor kidney transplantation. A urine protein/creatinine ratio of 13.42 and an elevated serum creatinine level was detected on postoperative days (POD) 10 and a renal biopsy showed acute cellular rejection (Banff IIb) combined with FSGS. We started steroid pulse therapy on POD 11. She underwent 5 plasmapheresis sessions in the first 3 week after transplantation and she received one dose of rituximab (375 mg/m2) on POD 12. The proteinuria decreased below the nephrotic range at POD 20 and the serum creatinine level was normalized. Three months later, the proteinuria was at 35 mg/day with stable graft function. Rituximab and plasmapheresis is a possible option to treat FSGS combined with a relapse of proteinuria after renal transplantation.
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived ; Biopsy ; Creatinine ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney Diseases ; Kidney Transplantation ; Living Donors ; Middle Aged ; Plasmapheresis ; Proteinuria ; Recurrence ; Rejection (Psychology) ; Rituximab ; Sclerosis ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplants

High flow priapism is a prolonged, non-painful penile erection unrelated to sexual stimulation after penile or perineal trauma. We report a case of high-flow priapism treated successfully with superselective embolization. An 8-year-old boy presented to our hospital 9 days after having been struck in the perineum during a bicycle accident. After the injury, the patient suffered a painless prolonged erection. High flow priapism was diagnosed by cavernosal blood gas analysis and penile duplex doppler ultrasonography. We identified the position of the fistula and pseudoaneurysm with angiography and embolized the lesions super-selectively with an autologous blood clot, gel foam, and a microcoil, bilaterally. After 2 superselective embolizations, the patient had detumescence. This case shows that bilateral arterio-cavernosal fistulas can be successfully treated with superselective arterial embolization.
Aneurysm, False ; Angiography ; Blood Gas Analysis ; Child ; Fistula ; Humans ; Male ; Penile Erection ; Perineum ; Priapism ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex

High flow priapism is a prolonged, non-painful penile erection unrelated to sexual stimulation after penile or perineal trauma. We report a case of high-flow priapism treated successfully with superselective embolization. An 8-year-old boy presented to our hospital 9 days after having been struck in the perineum during a bicycle accident. After the injury, the patient suffered a painless prolonged erection. High flow priapism was diagnosed by cavernosal blood gas analysis and penile duplex doppler ultrasonography. We identified the position of the fistula and pseudoaneurysm with angiography and embolized the lesions super-selectively with an autologous blood clot, gel foam, and a microcoil, bilaterally. After 2 superselective embolizations, the patient had detumescence. This case shows that bilateral arterio-cavernosal fistulas can be successfully treated with superselective arterial embolization.
Aneurysm, False ; Angiography ; Blood Gas Analysis ; Child ; Fistula ; Humans ; Male ; Penile Erection ; Perineum ; Priapism ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex

Colon cancer treatment is on the way to evolution over several decades. The minimally invasive surgery has improved postoperative short-term outcomes. Adjuvant chemotherapy has prolonged the survival of advanced colon cancer patients. Hohenberger proposed the noble concept of complete mesocolic excision (CME) which consists of 3 components: plane surgery, sufficient longitudinal bowel resection, and central vascular ligation (CVL). Mesocolic plane surgery shares the same surgical principle of total mesorectal excision, which is maintaining the intact mesothelial envelope. However, there remain debates about the extent of bowel resection and the level of CVL for maximizing lymph node dissection. There is no solid clinical evidence for the oncological necessity and benefit of extended radical dissection in right hemicolectomy. CME with CVL based on open surgery has been adopted in laparoscopic surgery. So, it is also necessary to look at how the CME could be transformed and successfully implanted in the laparoscopic era. Recent rapid advances in surgical technology and cancer biology are preparing for fundamental changes in cancer surgery. In this study, we reviewed the history, oncological necessity, and compatibility of CME for the right hemicolectomy in the laparoscopic era and outline the new perspectives on the evolution of cancer surgery.