A 68-year-old man developed mild quadriparesis 1 month prior to presentation. At 4 days before presentation, he developed dysarthria and more severe quadriparesis, predominantly on the left side of the body. MRI revealed edematous lesions in the medulla and throughout the spinal cord. Angiography showed a right tentorial dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF). Despite successful treatment achieved by endovascular embolization, there was no improvement in the weakness of either leg. Early diagnosis of tentorial DAVF is important to prevent neurological complications such as encephalomyelopathy and hemorrhage.
Aged ; Angiography ; Central Nervous System Vascular Malformations* ; Dysarthria ; Early Diagnosis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Leg ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Quadriplegia ; Spinal Cord

Retrorectal tumors are particularly rare among the adult population, occurring in 1 of 40,000 hospital admissions. Clinical diagnosis is difficult and is often delayed because of vague symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the clinicopathological features of retrorectal tumors. Between January 1999 and March 2005, 10 patients were diagnosed with retrorectal tumors at the Department of Surgery, Yonsei University Medical Center, and their medical records were reviewed. We analyzed chief complaints, imaging studies, surgical approaches and pathologic examinations. Out of 10 patients, 8 were female and 2 were male. The mean age was 42.8 years. Four patients had no symptoms. Perianal and abdominal pain were the most common presentations. CT and MRI were the most frequently performed imaging studies. Surgery was performed in 9 patients. Postoperative pathologic diagnosis was possible in 9 patients. An epidermal cyst was the most common tumor (4 patients); others included a mature teratoma, an adenocarcinoma from a tail gut cyst, a duplication cyst, a neurogenic tumor, and a smooth muscle cell tumor. Imaging techniques like CT scans, MRI and TRUS are helpful to determine the size and the extent of a tumor and its relationship to the surrounding anatomical structures for the operative approach. A surgical resection is the standard of treatment and demonstrates good results and a good prognosis.
Abdominal Pain ; Academic Medical Centers ; Adenocarcinoma ; Adult ; Epidermal Cyst ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Medical Records ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Prognosis ; Teratoma

PURPOSE: Although advances in technology have reduced the risk of ceramic implant fractures in total hip arthroplasty, these injuries do occur and their treatment remains challenging. There is a lack of studies reporting on the effectiveness of ceramic components in revision hip arthroplasty after ceramic bearing fracture. The aim of this study is to evaluate clinical and radiologic outcomes of revision surgery with ceramic-on-ceramic components after ceramic bearing fractures in young (i.e., under 60 years old) and active patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight patients who, from May 2004 to November 2011, underwent ceramic-on-ceramic revision surgery following a ceramic component fracture and had more than 6 years follow up were enrolled in this study. All eight patients were male with mean ages at first and revision surgeries of 39 years (range, 31–50 years) and 43.8 years (range, 33–60 years), respectively. There were 6 and 2 cases of ceramic liner and ceramic head fractures, respectively. The average time from the first operation to revision surgery was 54.3 months (range, 9–120 months), and the average follow up period was 9.7 years (range, 6–13.3 years). RESULTS: At the last follow up, all patients showed improvement in Harris hip score and pain relief and there were no cases of loosening or osteolysis. CONCLUSION: Revision total hip arthroplasty using ceramic-on-ceramic components after ceramic component fracture is a feasible and appropriate surgical option in young and active patients.
Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Ceramics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Hip ; Hip Prosthesis ; Humans ; Male ; Osteolysis

PURPOSE: Circumferential resection margin (CRM) involvement is a well-known predictor for poor prognosis in rectal cancer. However, the significance is controversial in some studies. Accordingly, this study attempted to examine the prognostic impact of CRM involvement in stage III rectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 1990 and December 2007, a total of 449 patients who underwent curative resection followed by complete adjuvant chemoradiotherapy for stage III rectal cancer located within 12 cm from the anal verge were selected. Patients were divided into a CRM-positive group (n=79, 17.6%) and a CRM-negative group (n=370, 82.4%). RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 56.6 months, recurrent disease was seen in 53.2 and 43.5% of the CRM-positive and CRM-negative group, respectively. CRM involvement was an independent prognostic factor for 5-year systemic recurrence-free survival (HR: 1.5, CI: 1.0-2.2, p=0.017). However, no significant difference was observed for local recurrence rate between the two groups (13.0 and 13.5%, respectively, p=0.677). CONCLUSION: In this study, local recurrence rate did not differ according to CRM involvement status in stage III rectal cancer patients, although CRM involvement was shown to be an independent poor prognostic factor. Accordingly, validation of the results of this study by further large prospective randomized trials is warranted.
Aged ; Biological Markers ; Chemoradiotherapy/*methods ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18/pharmacology ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Neoplasm Staging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Prognosis ; Rectal Neoplasms/diagnosis/*surgery/*therapy ; Recurrence ; Surgical Procedures, Operative ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: This study was performed to estimate the response rate and toxicity of a combination chemotherapy, which included infusional 5-Fluorouracil, Leucovorin and Docetaxel in the treatment of patients with an advanced gastric carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty two advanced gastric cancer patients, with a bidimensionally measurable or an evaluable disease, were enrolled in this study. The patients received a 5-fluorouracil 1, 000 mg/m2 intravenous (IV) 24 hour infusion (Day 1~3), leucovorin 20 mg/m2 (Day 1~3) and docetaxel 75 mg/m2 intravenously (Day 2) every 3 weeks. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 45.0%. The median duration of response was 10.0 weeks (range: 4~24), the median time to response was 8 weeks (range: 8~20) the median time to progression was 30.0 weeks (95% CI: 16.3~43.2) and the median overall survival duration was 36.0 weeks (95% CI: 1.7~70.2). The median cumulative dose of 5-fluorouracil were 316.2 mg/m2/week and docetaxel was 23.9 mg/m2/week. WHO grade III, IV neutropenia, thromocytopenia and anemia occurred in 50.0%, 4.5% and 4.5% of patients, respectively. There were no occurrence of WHO grade III and IV nausea, vomiting, mucositis, conspitation, diarrhea, or neurotoxicity. CONCLUSION: This chemotherapy regimen, including infusional 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin and docetaxel was an active agent against advanced gastric cancer patients, especially for previous chemotherapy naive patients.
Anemia ; Diarrhea ; Drug Therapy ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Fluorouracil* ; Humans ; Leucovorin* ; Mucositis ; Nausea ; Neutropenia ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: We retrospectively investigated the changes of prostate cancer detection rate according to patients prostate volume, age with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels of above 4.0ng/ml. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data were collected from 663 patients who underwent 10 core prostate biopsy for elevated PSA above 4.0ng/ml. The biopsy-proven cancer patient group was compared to the non-cancer patient group according to age, PSA, prostate volume and PSAD. Prostate cancer detection rate was calculated according to prostate volume (less than 40 vs 40 or more 40ml) and age (less than 60, 60-69, 70-79, 80 or more years old). Also we compared prostate cancer detection rate according to PSA levels (4-10 vs 10-20ng/ml). RESULTS: Among the 663 patients who underwent prostate biopsy, prostate cancer was detected in 134 patients (20.2%). There were no stastically difference in mean age, mean prostate volume, and mean PSAD except mean PSA (13.9 vs 11.9ng/ml) between cancer and non-cancer groups. The cancer detection rate in small prostate was significantly higher than large prostate (23.5% vs 16.0%). The cancer detection rate was significantly increased with age: from 14.5% for below 60 year-old patients to 30.3% for the 80 or more year-old patients. There was no significant difference in cancer detection rate between the two PSA groups (19.0 vs 20.5%). CONCLUSION: Prostate cancer detection rate was higher in old patients and patients with small prostate volume. The older age group and the patients with small prostate volume was considered as the important factors to decide whether biopsy of prostate is needed.
Biopsy ; Humans ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: Many centers rely on radiologists to detect prostate cancer by transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy. In this study we evaluated transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy by radiologist or urologist, and compared prostate cancer detection rate, pathologic results and pain scrore. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In all, 259 consecutive patients had transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy by one radiologist (group 1) and one urologist (group 2). The indication for prostate biopsies were a raised or rising prostate specific antigen (PSA) level or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE). All data were collected prospectively. RESULTS: Both group showed comparable demographic data in age, PSA, prostate volume. But pain score showed higher in urologist group (p<0.05). Prostate cancer was detected in 73 patients (28.1%). Radiologist detected prostate cancer in 38 patients (29.2%) and urologist detected prostate cancer in 35 patients (27.1%) (p=0.70). Both groups showed comparable cancer detection rates in PSA of <4, 4-10 and >10 ng/ml. Both groups had similar Gleason score (6.8+/-0.7 vs 6.7+/-0.8) and number of cancer cores (3.0+/-1.7 vs 3.9+/-2.3). Group 1 showed significantly low visual analogue pain scale compared with Group 2 (2.9+/-1.9 vs 4.0+/-2.1)(p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy showed equally reliable datas whether performed by radiologist or urologist. The urologist can effectively perform transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy like radiologist in detecting prostate cancer. Also we recommend to perform anesthesia to relieve pain before prostate biopsy and furthermore future studies with more patients with more datas are needed.
Anesthesia ; Biopsy ; Digital Rectal Examination ; Humans ; Neoplasm Grading ; Pain Measurement ; Prospective Studies ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Urology

PURPOSE: Clinical anastomotic leakage remains a major problem after a low anterior resection for rectal cancer, so indentifing risk factors influencing anastomotic leakage is important. The aim of this study was to assess the association between risk factors and anastomotic leakage. RESULTS: One thousand two hundred eight patients underwent a primary resection for rectal cancer from June 1993 to March 2007. We used hospital records and the colorectal cancer registry to analyze retrospectively the case histories of those patients. The operations were performed using a low anterior resection with the double stapling method. All patients underwent a tumor-specific mesorectal excision. Of the total, thirty-eight patients showed anastomotic leakage. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the risk factors affecting to the anastomotic leakage. RESULTS: The rate of anastomotic leakage was 3.2% (38 of 1,208 patients) with a mortality rate of 7.9% (3 of 38 patients). The overall mortality rate was 0.3% (3 of 1,208 patients). Males accounted for 28 of the 38 patients with leakage, and female accounted for the the account for the remnant 10. The mean age was 53.7 years (33~74 years). The mean leakage day was 11.8th day (3~37th day) after the operation, and the mean hospital day was 39.2 days (7~131 days). The mean body mass index (BMI) was 22.7 kg/m2 (15.7~30.8 kg/m2). The mean operation time was 230.5 minutes (90~425 minutes), and the mean bleeding loss was 519.5 cc (0~3,500 cc). CONCLUSIONS: Significant risk factors for anastomotic leakage after primary resection for rectal cancer were the transfusion amount during surgery, a preliminary colostomy, and nodal stage.
Anastomotic Leak* ; Body Mass Index ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Colostomy ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Hospital Records ; Humans ; Male ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Rectal Neoplasms* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors*

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate whether age was a factor associated with oncological outcome for colon cancer patients who underwent a curative surgical resection. METHODS: A retrospective study of 2,125 colon cancer patients who underwent surgery between January 1989 to December 2004 was conducted. RESULTS: Of the 2,125 patients, 1,724 patients underwent a curative resection (R0). The patients with R0 were classified into three groups: group I (n=142) under 40 yr of age, group II (n=1,462) between 40 and 75 yr of age, and group III (n=120) over 75 yr of age. There were no significant differences in gender, tumor diameter, or postoperative complications among the groups. A history of hereditary colon cancer, advanced TNM stage (III, IV), and poorly- differentiated histology were more commonly found in group I. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered less frequently in group III. In the survival analysis, the cancer-specific survival (CSS) and the disease-free survival (DFS) rates were not different between groups I and II. The CSS and the DFS rates of group III were significantly unfavorable compared with those of groups I and II. On the multivariate analysis, old age (group III), TNM stage, and preoperative CEA level were independent risk factors for CSS and DFS. CONCLUSION: In colon cancer patients, tailored approaches according to age, such as early screening in young adults with family history and proper patients selection for adjuvant treatment in old patients, could be needed.
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Colon ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Multivariate Analysis ; Postoperative Complications ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The proportion of sphincter-saving operations for lower rectal cancer is increasing with improved surgical techniques and additional concurrent preoperative chemo-radiation therapy. A defunctioning ileostomy or colostomy is performed after a sphincter-saving operation in the belief that diverting the fecal stream will prevent anastomotic leakage. This study was undertaken to assess all morbidity and combined problems associated with a temporary loop ileostomy. METHODS: A total of 167 patients who had undergone an ileostomy after a proctectomy between July 1997 and May 2007 were enrolled in this study. All patients were analyzed retrospectively, and the enrolled patients were registered in the Colorectal Cancer Database and were followed prospectively. Three patients did not receive an ileostomy take-down operation because of tumor recurrence. RESULTS: Complications of ileostomy formation developed in 20 (11.9%) cases. There were no significant relevant factors influencing the complications of ileostomy formation. Complications related with ileostomy take-down developed in 33 (17.9%) cases. Longer operation time, perioperative transfusion, and postoperative radiotherapy were statistically significant factors related to the complications of ileostomy take-down (P=0.047, P=0.019, P=0.042). After ileostomy take-down, six patients were identified with complications, such as a rectovaginal fistula or an anastomotic stenosis, related with rectal cancer surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The useful ileostomy sometimes carries certain morbidity; therefore, an ileostomy should be performed selectively, and the decision should be made with care. Also, a careful evaluation of the distal part of an ileostomy is necessary before and after an ileostomy take-down.
Anastomotic Leak ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Colostomy ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Humans ; Ileostomy ; Prospective Studies ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Rectovaginal Fistula ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Rivers