The finger flexor injuries are very difficult to treat satisfactorily. It is usually said that the earlier the treatment performed, the better result obtained. But the delicasy of the hand anatomy and its function as well as the absence of the hand surgeon in the first aid care make the problem more complex. Even if we made the primary treatment to the flexor tendon injuries, some disabilities are often remained. We have treated fifty eight cases of old flexor tendon injuries in forty eight patients, the results can be summarized as follows. 1. The cause of the tendon damage is due to the laceration injury in the majorities of the cases. T,he tendon injuries are especially common between the late second and the early third decade. 2. In the injury of the Zone II with pulley distortion, the pulley reconstruction using palmaris longus or fascia from other sites will prevent bowstring and help the tendon function. 3. The Zone II can be subdivided into two subspecific areas. The proximal area is from the distal palmar crease to the midoprtion of porximal phalanx and the distal one is from the midportion of the proximal phalanx to the insertion of the sublimis tendon. In the proximal area one can repair the injured tendon directly after removal of the A1 and about proximal half of the A2 pulley without any subsequent bowstring if the tendon and its tunnel is relatively well preserved. Thus one can convert this proximal portion of Zone II to Zone III. So the proximal area of the Zone II should be differentiated from the remaining distal part of the Zone II. 4. At six months after the operation the result of the operation was analyzed by the percentage of the recovery, which was calculated by the postoperative active range of the interphalangeal joints divided by one hundred seventy five degrees that means the available total range of motion of normal interphalangeal joints. Excluding the cases with the tenodesis or arthrodesis, the total result revealed good or excellent in about ninty percentages with this method. 5. There were two fingers that showed a postoperative lumbrical plus state in Zone II, which were recovered spontaneously within three to four months postoperatively. So it is considered that the relative shortening of the lumbrical muscles can be treated and overcome conservatively by the active use of the fingers, and there is no need to perform an lumbrical tenotomy to correct this kind of muscle imbalance.
Arthrodesis ; Fascia ; Fingers ; First Aid ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Lacerations ; Methods ; Muscles ; Patella ; Patellar Ligament ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Tendon Injuries ; Tendons ; Tenodesis ; Tenotomy ; Tibia

Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is a rare cause of pancreatitis. However, the relationship between acute pancreatitis and severe HTG is well recognized. We report a case of necrotizing pancreatitis due to severe HTG (type IV) in a patient with poorly controlled diabetes. It was of particular interest that serum pancreatic enzymes were normal even though the imaging studies indicated the presence of necrotizing pancreatitis. Our case clearly demonstrates the various indices of HTG-induced necrotizing pancreatitis with a normal pancreatic enzyme level despite there being a serum triglyceride level < or=1,000 mg/dL. We present this case with a review of literature for hyperlipidemic pancreatitis in Korea.
Adult ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/complications/diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypertriglyceridemia/complications/*diagnosis ; Male ; Pancreatitis, Acute Necrotizing/*diagnosis/etiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Triglycerides/blood

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine the treatment modalities and the prognosis of a patient with liver cirrhosis, quantitative estimation of liver function is important. We assessed the Child-Pugh score (CPS), the common method as a severity index for the cirrhosis, the Promthombin, gamma GT, and Apolipoprotein A1 (PGA) index and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between these indices in the patients with cirrhosis only and hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC), according to underlying causes (HBV and alcohol). METHODS: We reviewed medical records of 339 cirrhotic patients with/without hepatocellular carcinoma and divided patient groups by disease and underlying cause: cirrhosis caused by alcohol; LC-Al, cirrhosis caused by HBV; LC-B, hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis caused by alcohol; HCC-Al, hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis caused by HBV; HCC-B. We assessed the CPS, PGA index and MELD score and calculated the correlation coefficient between these scores. RESULTS: Among the total of 339 patients, 201 patients were diagnosed on the liver cirrhosis only, and 138 patients on the hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis. In each groups, mean score values were not significantly different in CPS, PGA index and MELD score. The correlation of CPS, PGA index and MELD score in all groups, except for the correlation of PGA index and MELD score in HCC-Al group, was significantly positive (p<0.05). Compared to correlation coefficients between three indices, the patients with cirrhosis only had higher tendencies than the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The patients by HBV had higher tendencies than by alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: The correlations between CPS, PGA index and MELD score showed significantly positive correlations in the patients with liver cirrhosis only and hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis (except in HCC-Al group). The patients with cirrhosis only had higher correlation coefficients than the patients with PHC and the patients by HBV had higher than by alcohol.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*complications ; Female ; Hepatitis B/*complications ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/*complications ; Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic/complications ; Liver Neoplasms/*complications ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; *Severity of Illness Index

The demand for intravenous sedated upper gastrointestianl endoscopy is currently increasing steeply. Despite this trend, patient status complication due to this procedure is largerly neglected by most physicians. Recently, in three patients, mouthpiece fragment were left within the patients' body after intravenous sedated upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. They were transferred to our institution for the removal of the fragment. The patients complained of an uneasy sensation from within their body, around their necks and chests. After conducting therapeutic endoscopy, the fragment could be located around the distal part of their esophagus and within their stomach. The fragment were removed successfully by using snare in two patients, and by using forceps in another patient.
Eating* ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal* ; Esophagus ; Humans ; Neck ; Sensation ; SNARE Proteins ; Stomach ; Surgical Instruments ; Thorax

Hypercalcemia is a rare complication of chronic myelogenous leukemia, especially in the blastic phase. The incidence is below 5%. PTH-rP (parathyroid hormone- related protein) plays various roles in human physiology by binding PTH receptors. The patient was 32-year-old male, admitted with blatic crisis of chronic myelogenous leukemia associated with hypercalcemia, elevated PTH-rP, depressed PTH level. Chemotherapy was instituted with hydroxyurea and two courses of idarubicin and Ara-C. After chemotherapy serum calcium and PTH-rP level, number of blast were depressed to near normal and PTH was elevated to normal range. But when the patient was re-admitted with recurrence of blastic crisis and hypercalcemia, PTH-rP level was elevated and PTH level was depressed below normal range. There was no other evidence of hypercalcemia as like hyperthyroidism or hyperparathyroidism, bone destruction. These suggest that the hypercalcemic event in this patient was induced by PTH-rP produced by blast cells.
Adult ; Calcium ; Cytarabine ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Hydroxyurea ; Hypercalcemia* ; Hyperparathyroidism ; Hyperthyroidism ; Idarubicin ; Incidence ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive* ; Male ; Physiology ; Recurrence ; Reference Values

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is frequent in patients with acute leukemia and results in significant morbidity and mortality among neutropenic patients. Although the lung is a common site of this disease, pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum is rare as initial manifestations of IA. A 22-year-old male was admitted to the hospital due to aggrevated dyspnea, productive cough, fever and nasal bleeding. Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML, M2) was diagnosed. His clinical course was aggrevated despite patient was treated with empirical antibiotics. Chest X-ray and high-resolution computed tomography showed pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum on the left thorax. The clinical course was improved after closed thoracostomy and empirical amphotericin B therapy for the fungal infections was started. IA was pathologically diagnosed by his sputum contained a mucus plug. His symptoms and radiological lesions were completely resolved after amphotericin B therapy alone with a total doses of 2.58g. We report a case of IA complicated by pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum in acute myelogenous leukemia with the review of literatures.
Amphotericin B ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Aspergillosis* ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Epistaxis ; Fever ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* ; Lung ; Male ; Mediastinal Emphysema* ; Mortality ; Mucus ; Pneumothorax* ; Sputum ; Thoracostomy ; Thorax ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The principle of the rapid urease test is the assessment of the color change of the pH indicator, phenol red, by ammonium and bicarbonate ions which were produced by the urease. We modified a conventional rapid urease test, and quantified H. pylori infection by measuring the change of spectrophotometric absorbance. METHODS: 202 patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms were endoscopically examined and three biopsies were performed in each antrum and fundus. Two biopsy specimens were stained with Giemsa and scored from 0 to 4 according to the distribution of bacteria by the Wyatt method. Another specimen was used for the quantitative rapid urease test. The tissue was incubated in a cuvette containing 10% of urea solution and phenol red at 37C. We measured optical densities in 550 nm at 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 30 min, 1 hrs, 2 hrs, 4 hrs and 24 hrs time points.
Ammonium Compounds ; Bacteria ; Bicarbonates ; Biopsy ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Phenolsulfonphthalein ; Urea ; Urease*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is chronic liver disease that can potentially progress to end stage liver disease. Oxidative stress to the vulnerable fatty liver has been reported as a key mechanism in development of NASH. Several antioxidant pathways have been identified, but reports that involved quantitative analysis of each antioxidant systems are rare, and these reports have shown various results. So, we investigated antioxidant status and the degree of oxidative stress by measuring several antioxidant enzymes, the total antioxidant status (TAS), and the metabolites of superoxide in NASH patients. METHODS: Nineteen NASH patients who were confirmed by liver biopsy and fifteen controls were involved in this study. The levels of body mass index (BMI), AST, ALT, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase, TAS, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were compared between both groups. The relationship between the histologic severity and the levels of each antioxidants were analyzed in the NASH group. RESULTS: The activities of SOD and catalase were lower in the NASH group. The concentrations of TAS and H2O2 were higher in NASH group. The level of GPx and MDA showed no significant differences between both groups. There were no significant relationships between the above variables and the pathological severity. CONCLUSIONS: The disturbed metabolism of superoxide due to the decreased activities of SOD and catalase seem to be important in the pathogenesis of NASH. Further investigations about the nonenzymatic secondary antioxidant mechanism are necessary because the TAS was higher for the NASH group. The lack of difference between both groups for the concentration of MDA indicates that mechanisms other than lipid peroxidation also may be important in the pathogenesis of NASH.
Adult ; Antioxidants/*metabolism ; English Abstract ; Fatty Liver/*metabolism/pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Liver/pathology ; Male ; Oxidative Stress

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Apolipoprotein E (Apo E) is important in plasma lipid metabolism and is a component of several plasma lipoprotein-lipid particles. Three major Apo E isoforms are encoded by three common allelic forms, epsilon2, epsilon3, and epsilon4 at the APO E locus. The goal of this study was to examine the association between polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) and fatty liver disease. METHODS: We examined the distribution of APOE alleles from 116 fatty liver patients and 50 controls in Korea. RESULTS: The frequencies of APOE alleles in fatty liver patients were 6.5% in epsilon2, 85.7% in epsilon3 and 7.8% in epsilon4. The corresponding frequencies in control subjects were 4.0% in epsilon2, 91.0% in epsilon3 and 5.0% in epsilon4. There were no significant differences in the distribution of APOE genotypes between fatty liver patients and controls. APOE epsilon2 and epsilon4 allele frequencies in fatty liver patients were more than those in controls. However, there was no significant differences in APOE epsilon2 and epsilon4 allele frequencies. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that APOE alleles seem not to be directly associated with the pathogenesis of fatty liver disease.
Adult ; Aged ; Apolipoproteins E/*genetics ; English Abstract ; Fatty Liver/*genetics ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Human ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Polymorphism (Genetics)

BACKGROUND: Thyroid diseases is common in adult and frequently has significant clinical consequences. But, Prevalence have not been accurately estimated before performance of sensitive TSH and high resolution ultrasound devices on thyroid gland in practice. The objective of the study was to obstain prevalance rate of thyroid dysfunction and structural abnormality by sensitive TSH, Free T4 and high resolution ultrasound. METHODS: The subjects were 10,543(5,638 male and 4,815 female) individuals who visited a health care center of a general hospital in Kangnung city during the period of Jan. 1st, 1997 through May 31st, 2000. For thyroid dysfunction, serum TSH(Thyroid Stimulation Hormone) and Free T4 concentration of those were measured by RIA or IRMA. During the period of Dec. 1st, 1997 through May 25th, 1998, 1,316 individuals were examined by radiology specialists using high resolution ultrasonography with 7.5 MHz linear array. Consequently 21 patients who showed thyroid nodule were performed ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration. Accordingly medical records containing results of physical examination made by 3 specialists in family medicine before thyroid ultrasonography were investigated in association with other diagnostic modalities. RESULTS: The measurements of thyroid function revealed that 10,090(96.5%) were normal, 240(2.3%) low(below 0.39 mU/L) and 123(1.2%) high(above 5.1 mU/L) in TSH. In terms of prevalence rate per 1,000 population, 15.2 cases were with subclinical hyperthyroidism, and 9.0 cases with subclinical hypothyroidism, 7.7 cases with hyperthyroidism and 3.3 cases with hypothyroidism. Among 94 individuals(7.1%) with structural abnormality on thyroid gland by ultrasonography, 60(4.6%) showed solitary solid nodule, 12(0.9%) multiple solid nodules, 18(1.4%) cystic nodules and 3(0.3%) diffuse parenchymal lesions. Physical examination found only 13.3% of 91 nodules found by high-resolution ultrasonography, and nodules as large as above 1.0 cm in size were palpable only in 22.2%. 21 Of 91 thyroid nodules was received ultrasound-guided FNA and 4(19%) were found to have malignant nodules. CONCLUSION: The study results showed the relatively high rate of thyroid diseases among general population, with the prevalence rate of thyroid dysfunction 3.6%, thyroid nodule 6.9%, malignant incidentaloma among thyroid nodules 4.4%. Physical examination was relative ineffective in detection for thyroid nodules in routine health examinations.
Adult* ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Delivery of Health Care ; Gangwon-do* ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; Hypothyroidism ; Male ; Medical Records ; Physical Examination ; Prevalence* ; Specialization ; Thyroid Diseases* ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Nodule ; Ultrasonography