Congenital sinuses of the upper lip are extremely rare anomaly. Only 17 cases have been reported in English literature. They were described as a pit which was the opening of a blind sinus, sometimes penetrated the orbicularis oris muscle, but had no connection with the oral cavity. The pit was reportedly located in a lateral or midline area. There are a few theories regarding the etiology of this rare anomaly, but the exact cause still remains obscure. We report a 4-year-old boy with congenital midline sinus of the upper lip. The sinus had a pit-like opening in the midline philtral area with a duct extending into 14 mm posteroinferiorly. It was excised by extraoral elliptical excision. Histopathological examination showed that duct was covered with stratified squamous epithelium.
Child, Preschool ; Epithelium ; Humans ; Lip* ; Male ; Mouth

Congenital agenesis, aplasia or hypoplasia of the internal carotid artery is rare vascular disease and usually combine with intracranial aneurysm, subarachnoid hemorrhage, or intracerebral hemorrhage. We report a case of bilateral congenital hypoplasia of internal carotid artery in a 36 year-old woman presented with semicomatose mentality. The brain computed tomography(CT) revealed intracerebral hemorrhage with intraventricular hemorrhage, and cerebral angiography showed hypoplasia of bilateral internal carotid artery without narrowing of the bony carotid canal on the temporal bone CT.
Adult ; Brain ; Carotid Artery, Internal* ; Cerebral Angiography ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Temporal Bone ; Vascular Diseases

BACKGROUND: Adult patients with cerebral palsy (CP), who have advanced degenerative arthritis of the hip, have been treated with resection arthroplasty and arthrodesis. Although total hip arthroplasty (THA) has also been used as one of the alternative options, there are few studies on contemporary bearings used in THA. Therefore, we evaluated the results of the contemporary ceramic-on-ceramic THA in adult patients with CP. METHODS: From January 2005 to December 2007, five adult CP patients (5 hips) underwent THA using contemporary ceramic-on-ceramic bearings. All patients were able to stand or ambulate with intermittent use of assistive devices at home. We retrospectively reviewed the series to determine the results of THA in terms of pain relief, improved function, and durability of prosthesis. RESULTS: There were 3 men and 2 women with a mean age of 35.9 years. All patients had pain relief without decline in mobility postoperatively. One hip was dislocated, which was treated successfully with closed reduction and an abduction brace for 2 months. There was no ceramic fracture, loosening, or osteolysis during the mean follow-up of 6.8 years (range, 5.8 to 8.3 years). CONCLUSIONS: Cementless THA using contemporary ceramic-on-ceramic bearings is a useful option for the treatment of advanced degenerative arthritis of the hip in ambulatory adults with CP.
Adult ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip/*methods ; Biocompatible Materials ; Ceramics ; Cerebral Palsy/*complications ; Female ; Hip Joint/*surgery ; Hip Prosthesis ; Humans ; Male ; Osteoarthritis, Hip/etiology/radiography/*surgery ; Prosthesis Design ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

This study was conducted on 367 male workers to evaluate the change of vibration perception threshold (VPT) according to exposure degree to carbon disulfide. VPT was measured on both metacarpal bones of index and little fingers and on fibular malleoli by Vibrometer (Rion, on 125Hz). The exposure degree was classified by the name of department. Workers in department 1 had been exposed to high concentration of carbon disulfide, those in. department 2 had been exposed to carbon disulfide moderately or intermittently, and those in department 3 had been exposed to undetectable concentration of carbon disulfide. The results were as follows: 1. The mean values of VPT of metacarpal(MC) bones showed dose-response pattern, i.e., the mean values of VPT at department 1 were highest, and those of VPT at department 3 were lowest with similar work duration or age. But the mean values of VPT of fibular malleoli (FM) showed dose-response pattern only in workers having above 5 years of work duration or whose age were above 30. 2. The mean values of VPT of MC bone of workers increased by age. 3. There were statistically significant difference in mean values of VPT of MC bone only in workers having 5-10 year work duration. And there were statistically significant difference of mean values of VPT of left 2nd and 5th MC bone in workers whose age was 30's, of right 2nd MC bone in those whose age was 40's, and of left 2nd MC bone in those whose age was 50's. 4. The variables affecting VPT significantly were department and age (or age group) both in multiple regression and general linear model. The department showed to have more effect to VPT than age in multiple regression, but age group showed to have more effect to VPT than department in general linear model. 5. The variables were transformed to indicator variable to do logistic regression analysis. Department 1, 2, 3 were classified into high exposure (spinning department) and low exposure (other department), age was classified into old (above 30) and young, and work duration was classified into long(above 10 years) and short. The exposure and age were significant variables by logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios of department and VPT on metacarpal bones or malleoli were 2.7-3.2 and those of age and VPT were 2.6 or 2.7. Odds ratio of age and abnormality of VPT on'any point was 3.3(1.59-6.;8), and that of department and VPT was 2.8(1.5-5.5). We concluded that exposure of carbon disulfied was significantly associated with reduction of VPT regardless of age; and that the test of VPT would be useful tool for screening and early detection in neuropathy by carbon disulfide or other neurotoxic chemicals,even though it is simple and cheap.
Carbon Disulfide* ; Carbon* ; Fingers ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Logistic Models ; Male* ; Mass Screening ; Metacarpal Bones ; Odds Ratio ; Vibration*

Intramedullary nailing has been reported to have better outcome compared with traditional plate fixation in surgical treatment of intertrochanteric fractures. We evaluated the trends of surgical treatment of intertrochanteric fracture in Korea. Data of patients with intertrochanteric fractures, who were operated between the years of 2006 and 2011, was obtained from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The ratio of intramedullary nailing increased from 27.9% in 2006 to 64.3% in 2011 (P < 0.001), while the ratio of plate fixation decreased. During recent 5 yr, the utilization of intramedullary nailing doubled in clinical practice of intertrochanteric fractures in Korea.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cohort Studies ; Databases, Factual ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary/*trends ; Hip Fractures/*surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Republic of Korea

Although many studies have assessed mortality and morbidity of conservative treatment after hip fracture in elderly patients, the mortality of conservative treatment done because of economic burden is unclear. Among 451 patients diagnosed with displaced hip fracture during 3 yr, 28 patients (Group I) were enrolled as conservative treatment. Fifty-six patients matched in age, gender, ASA score, and diagnosis (Group II) who had undergone surgical treatment were used as the control group. The causal factors of non-operative treatment and mortality rate and functional recovery were evaluated according to the causal factors of patients with surgical procedure. Ten patients (36%) in Group I involved medical problems and 18 (64%) by economic burdens. The cumulative mortality rate over 3, 6, 12, and 24 months was 54%, 61%, 64%, and 82% in Group I and 9%, 11%, 14%, and 21% in Group II, respectively. At the latest follow-up, all five patients in Group I displayed a nonfunctional ambulatory state, whereas only seven of 44 patients in Group II were in a nonfunctional ambulatory state. Non-surgical treatment following hip fracture that is done because of the economic burden is associated with substantially high mortality and serious functional loss.
Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip Fractures/diagnosis/mortality/*surgery ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Prognosis ; Recovery of Function ; Severity of Illness Index ; Sex Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors

Several epidemiologic studies suggested that osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures are not uncommon in South Korea. However, these previous cohort studies had limitations that may have influenced their results and the generalizability of the study conclusions, including small sample sizes, inclusion of only women, enrollment of participants from specific areas, and nonrandom selection of participants. Recently, epidemiologic studies using a nationwide claim register have been performed to overcome these limitations through collaboration between the Korean Society of Bone and Mineral Research and Health Insurance Review Assessments. Our review of the Korean Nationwide-database Osteoporosis Study could be helpful to obtain accurate incidence and prevalence estimations of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures in Korea.
Cohort Studies ; Cooperative Behavior ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Osteoporosis ; Osteoporotic Fractures ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea ; Sample Size

Hip arthroscopy has been reported to be useful and promising for the treatment of hip pathologies. However, it is not known whether the utilization of hip arthroscopy has increased in Korea. The purpose of this study was to evaluate national trends regarding the utilization of hip arthroscopy in Korea. We retrospectively reviewed nationwide data obtained from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA). All new admissions for hip arthroscopy are recorded nationwide by HIRA using the ICD-10 code and the code for arthroscopic devices. Using archived data, we determined the trends in utilization of hip arthroscopy between 2007 and 2010. The number of hip arthroscopies increased more than twofold over the study period, from 596 to 1,262. A third of cases were performed in hospitals. Furthermore, a bimodal distribution was observed for men (20 to 24 yr and 45 to 49 yr) and an unimodal distribution for women (50 to 54 yr). Our results show an increasing trends in the utilization of hip arthroscopy from 2007 to 2010, which is in-line with recent findings of increased utilization with the rest of the world.
Adult ; Arthroscopy/*trends ; Databases, Factual ; Female ; Hip Injuries/*surgery ; Hip Joint ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVES: Coding Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine, Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) with complex and polysemy clinical terms may ask coder to have a high level of knowledge of clinical domains, but with simpler clinical terms, coding may require only simpler knowledge. However, there are few studies quantitatively showing the relation between domain knowledge and coding ability. So, we tried to show the relationship between those two areas. METHODS: We extracted diagnosis and operation names from electronic medical records of a university hospital for 500 ophthalmology and 500 neurosurgery patients. The coding process involved one ophthalmologist, one neurosurgeon, and one medical record technician who had no experience of SNOMED coding, without limitation to accessing of data for coding. The coding results and domain knowledge were compared. RESULTS: 705 and 576 diagnoses, and 500 and 629 operation names from ophthalmology and neurosurgery, were enrolled, respectively. The physicians showed higher performance in coding than in MRT for all domains; all specialist physicians showed the highest performance in domains of their own departments. All three coders showed statistically better coding rates in diagnosis than in operation names (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Performance of SNOMED coding with clinical terms is strongly related to the knowledge level of the domain and the complexity of the clinical terms. Physicians who generate clinical data can be the best potential candidates as excellent coders from the aspect of coding performance.
Clinical Coding ; Electronic Health Records ; Humans ; Medical Record Administrators ; Neurosurgery ; Ophthalmology ; Specialization ; Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine

We report on the usefulness of the ImmuKnow assay in a case of suspected acute cellular rejection after liver transplantation. A 58-year-old male with hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis caused by chronic hepatitis C had undergone tumorectomy 2 months previously. Following surgery, the underlying cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy were aggravated. The patient had been listed for liver transplantation and underwent cadaveric donor liver transplantation. Approximately 11 days after discharge, the patient developed mild fever and diarrhea and was rehospitalized. A liver biopsy showed histologic features associated with cellular rejection. According to the histopathologic diagnosis, the dosage of tacrolimus was increased from 5 to 7 mg twice daily. After changing the dose, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were elevated, findings not corresponding to the former diagnosis. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) quantitative assay and ImmuKnow assay were performed for further evaluation. High HCV viral load and a very low ATP level detected using the ImmuKnow assay were suggestive of recurrent HCV rather than acute cellular rejection. Two weeks after reducing the immunosuppressant dosage and treating with antiviral therapy using ribavirin, the patient showed clinical improvement with a decrease in HCV viral load and a normal ATP level. Due to overlapping histologic features, acute cellular rejection can be difficult to distinguish from recurrent HCV. As in this case, the ATP level detected using the ImmuKnow assay is considered a reliable marker of cellular immune status. Immune monitoring of transplant patients may assist in making a differential diagnosis and in minimizing the adverse events of immunosuppression.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Alanine Transaminase ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Biopsy ; Cadaver ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diarrhea ; Fever ; Fibrosis ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatic Encephalopathy ; Hepatitis C ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Monitoring, Immunologic ; Ribavirin ; Tacrolimus ; Tissue Donors ; Viral Load