The complications of bile duct stone are cholangitis, pancreatitis, obstructive jaundice, liver abscess, and secondary biliary cirrhosis. Liver abscess may produce pyothorax, peritonitis, subphrenic abscess, and pyogenic pericarditis. The case studies of pyogenic pericarditis secondary to pyogenic liver abscess are rarely reported. Stones greater than 20mm in diameter are difficult or impossible to remove with a standard basket or balloon after sphincterotomy. There are several nonsurgical treatment options for large bile duct stone: mechanical lithotripsy, endoprosthesis, extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL), electrohydraulic lithotripsy, contact dissolution therapy, and laser lithotripsy. We experienced a case of large bile duct stone which complicated by pyogenic pericarditis, liver abscess, and pyothorax. He treated with antibiotics, closed thoracostomy, partial pericardiectomy, and removal of bile duct stones by extracorporeal shock-wave and mechanical lithotripsy after endoscopic sphincterotomy and nasobiliary drainage.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bile Ducts* ; Bile* ; Cholangitis ; Drainage ; Empyema ; Empyema, Pleural* ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Lithotripsy ; Lithotripsy, Laser ; Liver Abscess* ; Liver Abscess, Pyogenic ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary ; Liver* ; Pancreatitis ; Pericardiectomy ; Pericarditis* ; Peritonitis ; Sphincterotomy, Endoscopic ; Subphrenic Abscess ; Thoracostomy

Dieulafoy lesion is very small and easily overlooked as a course of massive, often recurrent hemorrhage that results from the crosion of a submucosal artery, typically in the gastric cardia or fundus. The clinical picture of Dieulafoy lesion is quite uniform: patients commonly present with massive hemorrhage and melena without any relevant history. The diagnostic procedure of choice in patients with severe gastrointestinal bleeding is emergency endoscopy. The lesion is rare but potentially life threatening source of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Before the endoscopic era, the prognosis for patients with these lesions was quite poor. However, recent reports have described the success of endoscopic therapy in the management of Dieulafoy lesion. We performed emergency endoscopy in 3 patients who had massive or recurrent episode of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, identified to the Dieulafoy lesion. We tried to Endoscopic "0" band ligation, successfully in hemostasis and prevention of recurrence.
Arteries ; Cardia ; Emergencies ; Endoscopy ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhage ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Ligation* ; Melena ; Prognosis ; Recurrence

Endoscopic injection sclerotherapy(EIS) has been shown to be the most effective simple method for control of bleeding and eradication of varices. This method has been aceepted widely as a standard treatment of bleeding esophageal varices. However, EIS may be associated with undesirable local and systemic complications. (continue...)
Esophageal and Gastric Varices* ; Hemorrhage* ; Ligation* ; Varicose Veins

No abstract available.
Cytokines* ; Mast Cells*

BACKGROUND: High-resolution carotid ultrasonography is considered a fundamental technique for the investigation of the vascular system. However, it is still very unclear whether ultrasonographic studies of carotid arteries are useful for the prediction of cardiovascular events in patients with coronary heart disease. We have tried to assess the usefulness of carotid ultrasonography to predict the severity of coronary artery stenosis in the patients with ischemic heart disease. METHODS: We studied in 80 patients(53 men, 27 women) with acute chest pain, mean ages 63.1 10.8 yr(35 to 84 yrs), who underwent both coronary angiography and carotid ultrasonography with 10 MHz transducer. The patients who had received revascularization procedure were excluded. We classified the patients into two groups, the control group without significant coronary stenosis(23 patients) and the coronary artery disease(CAD) group(57 patients) with significant stenosis(>50%). The intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured in the far wall of CCA at 10 mm proximal to carotid bulb and the abnormal IMT was defined when the measurement was greater than mean IMT+2 SD of control group(>0.99 mm). Serum total cholesterolQlC), low density lipoprotein(LDL), high density lipoprotein(HDL), triglyceride(TG) and lipoprotein (a) (LP(a)) were measured and history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking were investigated. RESULTS: A significant difference in IMT of the CCA was found between control and CAD group(0.75+/-0.12mm vs. 1.02+/-0.34 mm; p<0.001). Also a significant difference in the existence of plaque(control; 26.1% vs. CAD; 73.7%, p<0.00l) and the number of plaque(control; 0.39+/-0.94 vs. CAD; 2.20+/-1.87 p<0.001) was found. The existence and number of carotid plaque were more conelated with coronary artery stenosis severity than carotid IMT. The sensitivity of IMT for prediction of significant CAD was 42.1%, the specificity 95.7%, the positive predictive value 96%, and the negative predictive value 40%. The sensitivity of plaque presence on the carotid artery for prediction of CAD was 73.7%, the specificity 73.9%, the positive predictive value 87.5% and the negative predictive value 53.1%. Among the risk factors, age and LP(a) were correlated with IMT of CCA, and diabetes, hypertension, age were correlated with the presence of plaque. Smoking and hypertension were correlated with coronary artery disease. CONCLUSION: Carotid atherosclerosis was significantly correlated with severity of coronary atherosclerosis. We therefore suggest that carotid ultrasonography is useful to predict the severity of coronary artery stenosis and that the best index of coronary artery stenosis severity may be carotid plaque rather than carotid intima-media thickness.
Carotid Arteries ; Carotid Artery Diseases ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Disease ; Coronary Stenosis* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Lipoprotein(a) ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Transducers ; Ultrasonography*

A 38-year-old Korean man was diagnosed with hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy (HSAN) type 2 because of his chronic sensory neuropathy and progressive acro-mutilation. Genetic analysis revealed that he was a compound heterozygous for two novel mutations in the HSN2 gene including a nonsense mutation (Gln73X) and a 1-bp insertion mutation (Asp379fsX1). To our knowledge, this is the first report of a genetically confirmed case of HSAN type 2 in the Asian population and supports the genetic homogeneity of this rare disease.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Codon, Nonsense ; Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathies ; Humans ; Mutagenesis, Insertional ; Rare Diseases

Objective: To identify the clinical characteristics of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) according to age at onset. Methods: We retrospectively recruited 227 non-thymomatous MG patients with adult onset who had been followed up for more than one year. The patients were classified based on the age of symptom onset as “early-onset MG” (EOMG,18–50 years; N=135), “late-onset MG” (LOMG, 50–64 years; N=53), and “very late-onset MG” (VLOMG, 65 years; N=39). Clinical features and serological findings were compared between these groups. Results: LOMG patients showed more frequent ocular MG (55%) and less frequent thymic hyperplasia (9%) compared to EOMG patients (31% and 38%; p=0.006 and p<0.001, respectively), and no female preponderance compared to VLOMG patients (female, 49% vs.77%; p=0.014). However, there were no significant differences between VLOMG and EOMG patients, except for more frequent thymic hyperplasia (p<0.001) in EOMG patients. When analyzing female patients only, less frequent secondary generalization (10%) were additionally found in LOMG patients, compared to EOMG (47%, p= 0.008) and VLOMG (59%, p=0.004) patients. Anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody (HR, 5.48; 95% CI, 1.73–17.37; p=0.004) was independently associated with secondary generalization in female EOMG patients. Conclusion: Our study suggests that LOMG patients, especially female, were characterized by frequent ocular MG and less frequent secondary generalization, distinguished from EOMG and VLOMG patients. Further large epidemiologic studies in Korea are needed to determine the characteristics of MG patients according to the age at onset and gender.

A squamous odontogenic tumor (SOT) is rare disease and it is believed to originate from epithelial rests of Malassez of the periodontal membrane. Neither sex nor site predilection in either jaw has been established. Some lesion can be shown in juxtaposition in tooth roots. Although most lesions remain smaller than 2 cm, our cases involved a half of left mandibular ramus. The exact pathogenesis is still unknown. We report a case of SOT including the results of immunohistochemical study of pancytokeratin and p53.
Jaw ; Mandible* ; Membranes ; Odontogenic Cysts* ; Odontogenic Tumor, Squamous* ; Rare Diseases ; Tooth Root

BACKGROUND: Laryngeal mask airway (LMA) partly can be replaced for a role of endotracheal tube intraoperatively. Even with selecting one from various insertion techniques of LMA, one cannot achieve its perfect hypopharyngeal position. Furthermore, which is chosen by most anesthesiologists in this country, use of muscle relaxant for LMA insertion appears to have a harmful effect on its position. We tried to confirm whether we can improve the hypopharyngeal position of LMA with additional elevation of epiglottis using direct laryngoscope during LMA insertion. METHODS: Forty healthy patients scheduled for surgical procedure under general anesthesia were randomly divided to two groups; Laryngoscope group (n=20) and Jaw thrust group (n=20). No premedicant was administered. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental, vecuronium plus 2~3 vol% enflurane in oxygen. Full muscular relaxation was judged by no adductor response of thumb to train-of-four stimuation. In Jaw thrust group, using Brain's standard technique with additional jaw thrust, LMA was inserted, while in Laryngoscope group, LMA was introduced into oral cavity and advanced farther with additional elevation of epiglottis with direct laryngoscope. Bronchoscopic grading of hypopharyngeal position of LMA was performed. Blood pressure and heart rate were recorded at arrival (control), preintubation and until postintubation 5 minutes at 1 minute interval. Each measured values were compared between groups. RESULTS: Bronchoscopic grade of Laryngoscope group was significantly better than that of Jaw thrust group (p<0.001). Mean arterial pressure and heart rate changes were not different between groups. Conclusion: In the case of LMA insertion using muscle relaxant, we can markedly improve the hypopharyngeal placement of LMA with help of direct laryngoscope.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Arterial Pressure ; Blood Pressure ; Enflurane ; Epiglottis ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Jaw ; Laryngeal Masks* ; Laryngoscopes* ; Mouth ; Oxygen ; Relaxation ; Thiopental ; Thumb ; Vecuronium Bromide

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), in general, can be diagnosed by detecting blasts in peripheral blood or bone marrow. Some of the cases of ALL do not show typical leukemic features, and only manifest as refractory anemia, thrombocytopenia, myelofibrosis and lymphocytic infiltration into bone marrow. Several months after presentation, they may reveal typical leukemic features and are diagnosed as ALL. This kind of leukemia is called ALL with aleukemic prodrome. Although the incidence of ALL with aleukemic prodrome is 1.5~2.2% of childhood ALL cases, it is rarely reported in Korea. We experienced a 6 month-old female infant who presented with refactory anemia and thrombocytopenia, and two serial of bone marrow examination revealed only myelofibrosis. She subsequently developed ALL 3 months later. We report this case with a brief review of related literatures.
Anemia ; Anemia, Refractory ; Bone Marrow ; Bone Marrow Examination ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Korea ; Leukemia ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Primary Myelofibrosis ; Thrombocytopenia