The authors treated 32 patients with Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament(OPLL). Seventeen of these patient had surgery during the past 1 year between 1987 and 1988. In this study we present a radiological and clinical analysis of these cases with a literature review. We also discuss a clinical system of grading, different types of radiological patterns, the indication of surgical treatment and the choice of operative methods. 1) The incidence of the cervical OPLL was about 5.4% in our annual study, which was based on the cervical CT and CTM. 2) The highest incidence was in patients 50-60 years of age and male: female ratio was about 3:1. 3) The highest incidence was in C5, C6 and C4 levels of cervical spine and two and three level involvement was prominent. 4) The pattern of OPLL was devided into a continuous type (21%), a multiple segmented type(48%), a mixed type(25%), a localized type(6%). 5) Absolute diameter did not always parallel the extent of spinal cord signs as did the percentage of spinal canal narrowing. 6) In cases of a clinical grading of more than III, surgery must be considered. In grade II, surgery is indicative if conservative management failed to improve the clinical symptoms. 7) For the evaluation of the cervical OPLL, the CT-Scan of CT metrizamide myelography was more useful method. 8) Cervical Corpectomy and fusion with or without bone cement were found to be advisable in Cases of cervical OPLL.
Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Longitudinal Ligaments* ; Male ; Metrizamide ; Myelography ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Cord ; Spine

The authors experience a case of juvenile type thoracic arteriovenous malformation. It is acute onset and represent spastic paraparesis, sensory Impairment and voiding difficult. Intradural spinal arteriovenous malformation is relatively rare lesion. The authors treated with total excision of A-V malformed vessel with good results.
Arteriovenous Malformations* ; Paraparesis, Spastic

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Congestive heart failure is one of the most frequent problems in cardiovascular patients. However, very little data concerning this syndrome in Korea was available. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics of hospitalized Korean patients with congestive heart failure. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Six university hospitals that fulfilled the protocol for clinical information of the patients with heart failure, were prospectively engaged in this study. Six hundred and ninety patients, admitted between Jan. 1. 1998 and Dec. 31. 1999, were enrolled. RESULTS: Ischemic heart disease was the most frequent underlying disease (33.2%), with the other causes of heart failure being cardiomyopathy (23%), hypertensive heart disease (22%) and valvular heart disease (12.7%). Compared with ischemic cardiomyopathy, the patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy were younger (61.1+/-16.6 vs. 66.9+/-10.3, p<0.05), had less incidence of diabetes (16.8% vs. 32.2%) and smoked less (13.5+/-21.5 vs. 20.4+/-26.0 pack-year). The common aggravating factors were arrhythmia (22%), myocardial ischemia (21.7%) and infection (18.7%). Thirty nine (5.7%) patients died during the one year follow up period. Ischemic heart disease was the main underlying disease in the fatal cases (46.2%). CONCLUSION: Ischemic heart disease was the major cause of heart failure, and the leading cause of death in Korean patients with congestive heart failure.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Cardiomyopathies ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Cause of Death ; Coronary Disease ; Epidemiology ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP)* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Failure* ; Heart Valve Diseases ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Prospective Studies ; Smoke

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Congestive heart failure is one of the most frequent problems in cardiovascular patients. However, very little data concerning this syndrome in Korea was available. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics, and the prognostic factors of patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure in Korea. SUBJECTS AND MEHTODS: Six university hospitals, fulfilling the protocol for clinical information of patients with heart failure, were prospectively engaged in this study. One thousand and forty seven patients, admitted between Jan.1. 1998 and Dec. 31. 2000 were enrolled. RESULTS: The cumulative survival rates at 3 and 6 month, and 1 and 2 years were 90.5, 87.5, 82 and 75.9%, respectively. Ischemic heart disease was the most frequent underlying disease (36.7%). Diabetes mellitus (OR : 1.626, 95% CI : 1.156-2.289, p=0.005), previous history of myocardial infarction (OR : 2.044, 95% CI : 1.488-2.808, p<0.0001), atrial fibrillation (OR : 1.516, 95% CI : 1.042-2.206, p=0.02), and cerebrovascular accident (OR : 2.187, 95% CI : 1.366-3.501, p=0.001) were the worse prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: Ischemic heart disease was the major cause of heart failure. The cumulative 1 year survival rate, of the patients of congestive heart failure was 82%. The poor prognostic factors were diabetes, old myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation and cerebrovascular accident.
Atrial Fibrillation ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Epidemiology ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP)* ; Heart Failure* ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Korea* ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Prognosis ; Prospective Studies ; Stroke ; Survival Rate

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty(PTCA) has been widely applied in patients with coronary artery disease since 1977. Although coronary angioplasty has beeb shown to be safe and effective treatment strategy, acute closure & restenosis remain as major limitations of PTCA. Acute occlusion due to intracoronary thrombus accumulation during or immediately after coronary angioplasty is serious complication of PTCA, also, Intracoronary urokinase has been used to treat acute occlusion by intracoronary thrombus that complicated in PTCA and proved to be effective in restoring vessel preventing acute myocardial infarction. We report a case in which embolism of left anterior descending artery was complicated during angioplasty of left circumflex artery and managed with intracoronary infusion of urokinas.
Angioplasty* ; Arteries* ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Embolism ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Thrombocytosis ; Thromboembolism* ; Thrombosis ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator

BACKGROUNG AND OBJECTIVES: There were numerous reports for clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with variant angina (VA) but little information is available for patients with VA who presented as acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The purpose of this study is to determine the clinical and angiographic predictors for initial development of AMI in patients with VA and prognosis of patients with VA who presented as AMI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group comprised 166 patients with VA:forty one (25%) of whom presented as AMI (Group A;Male 32, mean age 50 years) and 125 presented as typical VA or unstable angina (Group B;Male 73, mean age 54 years). The diagnosis of VA was made by spontaneous spasm and ergonovine or acetylcholine (only Group B) provocation. RESULTS: 1)Male gender (78% vs. 58%, p<0.05), smoking (74% vs. 53%, p<0.05), and disease duration (18+/-5 vs. 7+/-1 month, p<0.0001), and ST-segment elevation during chest pain (71% vs. 23%, p<0.05) were significantly higher in group A than in Group B. 2)Prevalence of fixed stenosis of 50% or greater was higher in Group A than in group B (12% vs. 2%, p<0.05) and the percent stenosis after nitroglycerin injection was also greater in group A than in group B (43+/-5% vs. 28+/-2, p<0.01), but the disease activity such as frequency of resting angina, spontaneous spasm, and multivessel spasm were not different between two groups. 3)During clinical follow-up at a mean duration of 2.7 years, three patient (2%) in group B died of a cardiac cause. Non-fatal MI occurred 1 (2%) and 3 patients (2%) in group A and B, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that male gender, smoking, duration of disease, ST-segment elevation during chest pain, and a fixed stenosis of 50% or greater are predictors for initial development of AMI in patients with VA. The prognosis in group A is excellent and this may be associated with less severe atherosclerotic disease and a high rate of medication with calcium channel blocker or nitrate compared with those in previous studies.
Acetylcholine ; Angina, Unstable ; Calcium Channels ; Chest Pain ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Ergonovine ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Nitroglycerin ; Prognosis ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Spasm

Pancreatic metastasis from papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is extremely rare; only 18 cases have been reported in the literature. However, several reviews have highlighted similar characteristics between metastatic and primary pancreatic tumors. The patient was a 51-year-old male with a history of total thyroidectomy, modified radical neck dissection, and radioactive iodine ablation for PTC in 2014. Nodules suspected of metastasis were found in both lungs on chest computed tomography (CT). However, after 6 months, a follow-up chest CT showed no increase in size; thus, a follow-up observation was planned. Six years after his initial diagnosis, abdominal CT and pancreas magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 4.7 cm cystic mass with a 2.5 cm enhancing mural nodule in the pancreas tail. We diagnosed the pancreatic lesion as either metastatic cancer or primary pancreas cancer. The patient underwent distal pancreato-splenectomy. After surgery, the pathological report revealed that the mass was metastatic PTC. Pancreatic metastasis from PTC indicates an advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis. However, pancreatectomy can increase the survival rate when the lesion is completely resectable. Therefore, surgical resection should be considered as a treatment for pancreatic metastasis from PTC.

In addition to CAPD, various modalities of peritoneal dialysis such as CCPD and NIPD have been introduced recently. The adequacy in these peritoneal dialysis has been evaluated by clearance of small molecular weight solutes such as creatinine(molecular weight 113 Dalton) and urea(molecular weight 60 Dalton). The middle molecular weight solutes(molecular weight 3,000 to 12,000 Dalton) have been regarded as one of the uremic toxins. Relatively larger clearance of middle molecular weight solutes is one of the advantages of CAPD compared with HD. Although peritoneal transport of middle molecular solutes can be different from that of small molecular weight solutes because of its size, there are a few reports about peritoneal transport characteristics and clearance of middle molecular weight solutes in various modalities of PD. We wanted to analyze peritoneal transport characteristics and clearances of middle molecular weight solute in various modalities of peritoneal dialysis in comparison with small molecular weight solutes. To evaluate the potential differences in peritoneal transport characteristics and clearances of middle and small molecules in CAPD, CCPD and NIPD, we compared transport characteristics and clearance of beta2-MG and creatinine. 35 CAPD patients, 9 CCPD patients, 7 NIPD patients were included in the study, who were clinically stable for at least one month without peritonitis. he beta2-MG concentrations in serum and dialysate as measured by radioimmunoassay. Standard peritoneal equilibration test and a weekly peritoneal clearance for creatinine and beta2-microglobulin were used. The results were as follows: 1)Dialysate to plasma ratio of beta2-MG were 0.11+/-0.03, 0.13+/-0.05, 0.10+/-0.02, 0.08+/-0.03, respectively in high(N=6), high average(N=13), low average(N= 14), low(N=7) group according to PET. There were significant differences between high average and low average, high average and low group(p<0.05). Correlation between D/Pbeta2-MG ratio and D/Pcr ratio was significant(spearman's p=0.453, p<0.05). 2)In 35 CAPD patients, peritoneal creatinine and beta2-MG clearance were 48.9, 8.2L/wk, respectively and there was a weak correlation between them (Spearman's p=0.294, p<0.05). 3)The peritoneal creatinine clearance were 48.9, 41.0, 35.9L/wk and beta2-MG clearance were 8.2, 5.5, 4.1L/wk, respectively in CAPD, CCPD and NIPD. The ratio of peritoneal beta2-MG clearance to creatinine clearance were 0.16, 0.14, 0.11, respectively in CAPD, CCPD and NIPD. Peritoneal beta2-MG clearance in APD such as CCPD and NIPD is lesser than that in CAPD. In conclusion, peritoneal transport characteristics for beta2-MG differ from that for creatinine, although peritoneal clearnce for beta2-MG corrleated with that for creatinine. Perioneal clearance for beta2-MG was better in CAPD than in APD.
Creatinine ; Humans ; Molecular Weight ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Peritonitis ; Plasma ; Radioimmunoassay

A sarcoidosis is a multisystemic granulomatous disorder that has a predilection for pulmonary involvement, and the common radiological findings for the disease are bilateral nodular or reticulonodular patterns. Pseudoalveolar sarcoidosis is a rare presentation of sarcoidosis. The radiological finding is an alveolar pattern that involves or compresses the alveoli by clustered interstitial granuloma. A 58-year-old man was admitted due to incidental findings of a unilateral consolidative lesion as seen on chest radiography. A chest computed tomography (CT) examination showed multiple bronchoalveolar consolidations that were suspicious of a malignancy. However, a percutaneous needle biopsy revealed non-caseating granuloma with an asteroid body that was compatible with sarcoidosis. After one month, the consolidative lesions improved without any treatment.
Biopsy, Needle ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Incidental Findings ; Middle Aged ; Sarcoidosis ; Thorax

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) increases the risk of heart failure (HF). The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of MetS in patients with HF and determine the syndrome's association with HF in clinical and laboratory parameters. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 3200 HF patients (67.6+/-14.5 years) enrolled in a nationwide prospective Korea HF Registry between Jan. 2005 and Oct. 2009. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of MetS at admission: group I (presence, n=1141) and group II (absence, n=2059). RESULTS: The prevalence of MetS was 35.7% across all subjects and was higher in females (56.0%). The levels of white blood cells, platelets, creatinine, glucose, and cholesterol were significantly higher in group I than in group II. Left ventricular dimension and volume was smaller and ejection fraction was higher in group I than in group II. An ischemic cause of HF was more frequent in group I. The rates of valvular and idiopathic cause were lower in group I than in group II. The rate of mortality was lower in group I than in group II (4.9% vs. 8.3%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Despite the increased cardiovascular risks in MetS, MetS was found to be associated with decreased mortality in HF.
Blood Platelets ; Cholesterol ; Creatinine ; Female ; Glucose ; Heart ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Korea ; Leukocytes ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies