One of the most common symptoms of multiple sclerosis is visual loss. But the most previous reported cases are unilaterai visual loss due to optic neuritis or retrobulbar optic neuritis or visual field defect due to chiasmal or optic tract lesion. We report a 34 year old female patient who had developed sudden onset of blindenss because of optic chiasm and optic tract lesion. She also complained of involuntary right hand movement and mild left hemiparesis. On T2-weighted image of MRI we found abnormal high sigmal intensities on the optic chiasm, bilateral optic tract, internal capsule and periventricular white matter. Her total blindness has not recovered until the last follow nine months after the initial event.
Adult ; Blindness ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Internal Capsule ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Multiple Sclerosis* ; Optic Chiasm* ; Optic Neuritis ; Paresis ; Visual Fields ; Visual Pathways*

Wegener's granulomatosis was first described by Wegener in 1936 as a vasculitis and necrotizing granuloma of the upper or lower respiratory tract. It is largely classified into a generalized necrotizing granuloma and a focal necrotizing granuloma. As a localized form of the disease, the respiratory tract is known to be involved frequently; however, the paranasal sinus is a less frequent site of involvement than other organs. In Korea, there has been no reports of Wegener's granulomatosis in the last ten years, and reports of localized form is extremely rare. We are reporting here a case of Wegener's granulomatosis in the maxillary sinus with literature review.
Granuloma ; Korea ; Maxillary Sinus* ; Respiratory System ; Vasculitis ; Wegener Granulomatosis*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tumor angiogenesis is an essential process required for growth and metastasis of cancer. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is one of angiogenetic factors, and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (CD-31) is the commonly used marker to identify the vessel. It is unclear that the degree of angiogenesis and expression of bFGF are related to the growth and metastasis in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. We examined the expression of bFGF and degree of angiogenesis in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and compared them to normal larynx. Relationship between bFGF and angiogenesis to growth and nodal metastasis in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma was also evaluated. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Immunohistochemical study for bFGF and CD-31 were performed to detect the angiogenetic factor and degree of angiogenesis in 24 squamous cell carcinoma of larynx and 6 normal laryngeal tissue. Relationship of bFGF expression and degree of angiogenesis in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were compared to that in normal larynx. We evaluated relationship of expression of bFGF and degree of angiogenesis to primary stage and nodal stage in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. RESULTS: These expression of bFGF and degree of angiogenesis in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were significantly higher than in the normal control (p<0.05). The degree of angiogensis were significantly correlated with bFGF expression (p<0.05): the bFGF expression and degree of angiogenesis were not correlated to the nodal stage, but to the primary stage in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that bFGF and angiogenesis may play an important role in the growth of larygeal squamous cell carcinoma.
Blood Platelets ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Endothelial Cells ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; Larynx ; Neoplasm Metastasis