Movement disorders (chorea, athetosis, ballism) are a rare complication that develops during the course of bacterial meningitis although associations with tuberculous meningitis are established to some extent. Movement disorders are generally believed to reflect injury to the basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum and cerebral cortex. Ischemic infarctions of these areas have been proposed as the cause of dyskinesias in bacterial meningitis. We experienced a case of chorea which developed in the recovery phase of pnemococcal meningitis in a 37-month-old boy. The choreic movement was initially misinterpreted as a seizure, and anticonvulsants were administered. The movement continued during the alert state in spite of anticonvulsant therapy but subsided during sleep. EEG showed severely depressed background activitiy with no epileptiform discharge. When the movement was recognized as a choreic movement, anticonvulsants were withheld and haloperidol was administered orally. The abnormal movement gradually disappeared in 3 months. But like the two other previously reported cases of postmenigitic movement disorders, this patient shows severe impairment in cognitive and motor function in the 10 months of follow up. He can only recognize some close persons and can not control the trunk and extremities well. The movement disorder which develops in the recovery phase and lasts for a long period may be associated with poor neurologic prognosis.
Anticonvulsants ; Athetosis ; Basal Ganglia ; Cerebellum ; Cerebral Cortex ; Child, Preschool ; Chorea* ; Dyskinesias ; Electroencephalography ; Extremities ; Follow-Up Studies ; Haloperidol ; Humans ; Infarction ; Male ; Meningitis ; Meningitis, Bacterial ; Meningitis, Pneumococcal* ; Movement Disorders ; Prognosis ; Seizures ; Thalamus ; Tuberculosis, Meningeal

Mumps virus infections usually involve the parotid glands. It usually spreads from a human reservoir by airborne droplet of infected saliva. Therefore, early proper diagnosis and isolation of patients can help to inhibit dissemination of the disease. Diagnosis of mumps virus infection is mainly dependent on clinical inspection, palpation of the parotid and laboratory tests, because most mumps virus infections involve the parotid gland. Isolated submandibular gland involvement in mumps is rare and presents diagnostic challenge. We report unusual consecutive cases of mumps virus infections in two patients who were brothers, for whom bilateral submandibular glands were found to be involved paring parotid glands. These cases instruct us not to exclude mumps virus infection even in isolated uni/bilateral submandibular gland swelling.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Mumps virus ; Mumps* ; Palpation ; Parotid Gland ; Saliva ; Siblings ; Submandibular Gland*

Objectives: Bisphenol A (BPA) is used in the electrical, mechanical, medical, and food industries. Previous studies have suggested that BPA is an endocrine disruptor. Regulation of BPA has led to increased use of bisphenol F (BPF) and bisphenol S (BPS). However, few studies have investigated the associations of BPF and BPS with thyroid dysfunction in children. Our study investigated the associations of prenatal BPA and early childhood BPA, BPF, and BPS exposure with thyroid function in 6-year-old children. Methods: Prenatal BPA concentrations were measured during the second trimester of pregnancy in an established prospective birth cohort. We measured urinary BPA, BPF, and BPS concentrations and thyroid hormone levels (thyroid-stimulating hormone, total T3, and free T4) in 6-year-old children (n=574). We examined the associations between urinary bisphenol concentrations and percentage change of thyroid hormone concentrations using multivariate linear regression. We also compared thyroid hormone levels by dividing the cohort according to BPA, BPF, and BPS concentrations. Results: The associations between prenatal BPA and total T3 levels were statistically significant in all models, except for girls when using a crude model. The associations between urinary BPA and BPS concentrations and levels of all thyroid hormones were not statistically significant. However, we observed that lower free T4 levels (-1.94%; 95% confidence interval, -3.82 to -0.03) were associated with higher urinary BPF concentrations in girls only. Conclusions Our findings identified significant associations between prenatal BPA exposure and total T3 levels in all children and between BPF exposure and free T4 levels in girls only.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Arteriovenous malformation is a vascular malformation with fast-flow shunt from the artery to the vein. Extracranial arteriovenous malformation in the head and neck (HNAVM) is so rare that there have been no systematical reports related to it in Korea. Authors aimed to suggest the treatment protocols for HNAVM through retrospective analysis. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records of 19 patients with extracranial HNAVM, who had been diagnosed and treated between 1995 and 2001. Mean follow-up duration was 27.3 months. The mean age at detection was 13.2 years old. The cheek was the most frequently suffered site. We used MRI, angiography, and 99mTechnetium (Tc) RBC scintigraphy for the diagnosis and follow-up of HNAVM. For the treatment, ethanol sclerotherapy, excision, and embolization were adopted alone or in variable combination. RESULTS: Angiography was confirmative of the diagnosis and MRI was excellent in evaluating the extent of the disease. Ethanol sclerotherapy was used as the first line of treatment for 11 cases. For others, surgical excision combined with embolization was used as the first line of treatment for 7 patients and the second choice for 6 patients. 99mTc RBC scintigraphy was useful in quantifying the response after treatment. Fifteen out of 19 patients finally achieved 75% or more reduction in their size of lesions. There were 5 permanent complications from the total of 37 procedures. CONCLUSION: For those cases of HNAVM that had the nidus accessible via the percutaneous route, ethanol sclerotherapy worked as the first-line treatment. For other HNAVM cases, surgical excision with embolization might be the best choice of treatment.
Angiography ; Arteries ; Arteriovenous Malformations* ; Cheek ; Clinical Protocols ; Diagnosis* ; Ethanol ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head* ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Medical Records ; Neck* ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Retrospective Studies ; Sclerotherapy ; Vascular Malformations ; Veins

The web of the common bile duct is an extremely rare anomaly and the cause of the obstructive jaundice. We experienced a case of the congenital web of common bile duct in a 42 years old male who complained of jaundice for 10 days prior to admission without choledocholithiasis and cholangitis. An endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography revealed a common bile duct web (transverse, diaphragmatic type) and the diagnosis was confirmed by an endoscopic forcep biopsy. We reported a case of the congenita1 web of the common bile duct which was treated with a stent insertion and balloon dilatation.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Cholangitis ; Choledocholithiasis ; Common Bile Duct* ; Diagnosis ; Dilatation* ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Male ; Stents ; Surgical Instruments

Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a cholestatic liver disease characterized by fibroobliterative inflammation of the entire biliary tree. It is a slowly progressive disease with an undulating course, resulting in biliary cirrhosis. The gold standard for establishing the diagnosis is cholangiographic demonstration of typical diffuse biliary stricturing and beading. We exprienced a case of primary sclerosing cholangitis by Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) demonstration. ERCP findings revealed multiple luminal narrowing, stricture and beaded dilatation of the intrahepatic duct. We report a case of primary sclerosing cholangitis localizing at intrahepatic bile duct, which is confused with cholangiocarcinoma.
Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic* ; Biliary Tract ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Cholangitis, Sclerosing* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Dilatation ; Inflammation ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary ; Liver Diseases ; Phenobarbital

Candidiasis of the gastrointestinal tract typically occurs in a setting of decreased re- sistance to opportunistic infection, but also occurs in apparently normal individuals. Mucosal lesions in the gastrointestinal tract predominantly involve the esophagus, and gastroduodenal and enteric candidial lesions, which are less frequent, have only infrequently been detected antemortem. A case was experienced involving esophageal and gastroduodenal candidiasis in the patient of hepatocellular carcinoma and spinal metastasis treated with emergent radiotherapy and corticosteroid. He complained of anorexia and dyaphagia in the 4th day of radiotherapy. Endoscopy revealed multiple, large raised, white plaques and patches covering the mid- and distal esophageal mucosa, and several superficial aphthous ulcerations covered with white plaques in the entire stomach, and two deep excavating ulcers at the angle and antrum. The duodenal mucosa was covered with multiple small, white plaques, and a huge penetraing ulcer was seen in the duodenal bulb. Endoscopic biopsy showed budding yeast and pseudohyphae infiltrating through the ulcerated mucosa. Cultures of the same material canfirmed the organism to be Candida albicans. The patient was treated with fluconazole for 2 weeks. The case of esophgeal and gastroduodenal candidiasis is reported with reviiew of relevant literature.
Anorexia ; Biopsy ; Candida albicans ; Candidiasis* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Endoscopy ; Esophagus ; Fluconazole ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Opportunistic Infections ; Radiotherapy ; Saccharomycetales ; Stomach ; Stomatitis, Aphthous ; Ulcer

Pancreatic pseudocysts are a well-recognized complication of pancreatitis. Most occur in or adjacent to the pancreas. Occasionally, duodenal involvement may occur due to the nonperitonealized posterior surface of the duodenum is in direct contact with the head of the pancreas. But there is little awareness of the intramural and major extrinsic involvement of the duodenum with also occurs. A case was recently experienced involving an intramural pancreatic pseudocyst of the duodenum.
Duodenum* ; Head ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Pseudocyst* ; Pancreatitis

BACKGROUND: Use of antispasmodic medication prior to colonoscopy is controversial but someone believes antispasmodic may improve visualization of colonic mucosa and ease colonoscope insertion. So, we designed a study to assess the effect of premedication with the antispasmodic, hyoscine-N-butyl bromide(Buscopan(R)) on the performance of colonoscopy. METHODS: This study was prospective, double blinded, randomized, controlled study, One hundred three consecutive patients were randomized to receive intravenous buscopan lml(n=52) or placebo(n=51) combined with our standard initial medication(me-peridine 50 mg and midazolam 2 mg). Insertion of colonoscopy was timed, and 100 mm visual analogue scales (VAS) were used for asscssing difficulty of procedure, colonic motility, frequency of positional change, frequency of external compression, difficulty of assistance and degree of discomfort experienced by the patients. RESULTS: There were no significant differences of intubation time between buscopan group(mean time, 7.23 min., range 2~15) and placebo group(7.07 min., range 3~25), (p=0.83) and withdrawal time between buscopan group (6.46 min., range 2-22) and placebo group(6.76 min., range 2 25), (p=0.69). Also, there was no significant differences in intubation time between males and females(buscopan; males 7.00 min., females 7.60 min., p=0.34, placebo; males 7.0~5 min., females 7.08 min., p 0.44). The VAS scores checked by endoscopist(p=0.29), assistant(p=0.32) and patient (p=0.15) were not significantly different in both groups. There were no significant differences in intubation time, VAS scores nf endoscopist, assistant, and patients. CONCLUSION: Premedication with intravenous bu.opan has no advantage on colonoscopy procedure. Use of antispasmodic medication prior to colonoscopy was not considered as recommendable agent.
Butylscopolammonium Bromide ; Colon ; Colonoscopes ; Colonoscopy* ; Female ; Humans ; Intubation ; Male ; Midazolam ; Mucous Membrane ; Premedication* ; Prospective Studies* ; Weights and Measures

We present herein the case of 31-year-old man with disseminated malignant melanoma in whom a multiple metastasis into jejunum causing multiple intussusceptian. At laparotomy, multiple variable sized metastatic melanoma were noted on proximal and distal jejunum. To our knowledge, there was no report about multiple intussusceptions by malignant melanoma in Korea.
Adult ; Humans ; Intussusception* ; Jejunum ; Korea ; Laparotomy ; Melanoma* ; Neoplasm Metastasis