The objective of this study was to establish a good methodology to isolate single smooth muscle cells that are alive and respond properly to pharmacological agents. Canine urinary bladders were employed as the source of single cells, and acetylcholine, atropine and imipramine were used as indicators of pharmacological responsiveness. Imipramine, an antidepressant drug exhibited the anticholinergic and calcium antagonizing properties on rat detrusor muscle. To establish a control value for a further experiment to elucidate the mechanism of action of imipramine on detrusor muscle, we measured the concentration-response of single cells to acetylcholine in the presesnce of imipramine by length of the cells and compared the result with the response in the presence of atropine. Tiny chops of smooth muscle taken from anesthetized canine urinary bladder were incubated in collagenase solution at 36℃ for 17-20 minutes. The collagenase solution included collagenase 1.2 mg/ml, soybean tryspin inhibitory 0.08 mg/ml, bovine serum albumin 2% in 10 ml Krebs-Henseleit buffer solution aerated with a consistent breeze of 95/5% O2/CO2 to maintain the pH at 7.4. After washing with plain K-H solution on 450 mesh, cells were dissociated from the digested tissue for 12-15 minutes. Cell suspension was transfered in 5 ml test tubes and acetylcholine was added for the final concentration to be 10⁻¹⁴~10⁻⁹M. To find the optimal time to fix the cells to determine the contractile responses, 1% acrolein was added 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 seconds after the administration of ACh. The length of cells fixed by acrolein were measured by microscaler vis CCTV camers on phaes-contrast microscope. The average length of 50 cells from a slide glass was taken as the value of a sample at the very concentration point. Single cells were isolated from canine detrusor. The length of untreated cells varied from 82 µm to 94 µm. The maximal response to actylcholine 10E-9M was accomplished within 5 seconds of exposure, and the shortening was 19±3%. Atropine reduced the contraction of the cells concentration-dependently. Lmipramine which exerts a cholinergic blocking action on some smooth muscles also reduced the contraction concentration-dependently and by a similar pattern as atropine. These findings document that imipramine may exerts a cholinergic blocking activity in the single smooth muscle cells isolated from canine urinary bladder.
Acetylcholine ; Acrolein ; Animals ; Atropine ; Calcium ; Collagenases ; Glass ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Imipramine* ; Muscle, Smooth ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Rats ; Serum Albumin, Bovine ; Soybeans ; Urinary Bladder

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gastric carcinoma is the most common malignant neoplasm in Korea and is known to be associated with intestinal metaplasia (IM) of gastric epithelium, of which type III IM is suggested to play a special role in the carcinogenesis. This study is to evaluate the subtypes of IM and to measure each subtype in chronic gastritis. Methods: From October 1997 to September 1999, 321 patients with endoscopic chronic gastritis were evaluated the grade of chronic gastritis and IM by histologic and histochemical stain. RESULTS: Chronic inflammation and IM were remarkably severe in men and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) positivity was 69.4% in men and 65.2% in women. The frequency of IM was 50.1%, of which 65.4% was in men and 34.6% in women. The frequency of IM subtypes was 43.2%, 11.7% and 45.1% for type I, II and III respectively. Sixty percent of IM was noted in more than 50 years of age and ninety percent in more than 40 years of age. The frequency of type III IM was 61.6% in men and 38.4% in women. Sixty one percent of type III IM was noted in more than 50 years of age and ninety percent in more than 40 years of age. Interestingly, fifty three percent of type III IM was noted in men more than 40 years of age. The prevalence of H. pylori infection in type III IM was similar to in type I and II. The glandular atrophy in type III IM was remarkably severe than that in type I and II. Conclusions: The results of this study show that the proportion of type III IM in chronic gastiritis is remarkably high in Korean and age and sex distribution is similar to that of gastric carcinoma.
Atrophy ; Carcinogenesis ; Epithelium ; Female ; Gastritis* ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Korea ; Male ; Metaplasia* ; Prevalence ; Sex Distribution

With increasing number of high-risk, advanced atherosclerotic patients, crossover femoro-femoral bypass (FFB) became commonly chosen extra-anatomic bypass for symptomatic iliac artery occlusive disease. But the causes FFB graft failure have not been clarified yet. PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the natural course of native artery disease, the causes of graft occlusion and recurrent leg ischemia after FFBs. METHOD: Among 162 primary FFBs for atherosclerotic iliac occlusive disease, 45 patients who underwent follow-up arteriography for recurrent ischemic symptom were enrolled. We investigated the interval changes between initial preoperative and follow-up angiograms and categorized them as inflow, outflow and/or graft lesions. The significant changes between 2 angiograms was arbitrarily defined as progression of lesion into stenosis >50% or occlusion. And the patients were divided into 2 groups as patent FFB group and occluded FFB group. We compared interval changes on angiograms between patient and occluded FFB groups to find out any difference and tried to determine the ultimate causes of recurrent leg ischemia considering not only the interval changes but the preexisting, untreated leg arterial lesions. RESULT: The follow-up angiography was most commonly performed within 1 year after FFB with mean interval of 21.2 +/- 21.6 months. Interval changes between 2 angiograms were 24 (53.3%) FFB grafts occlusion, 8 (17.8%) inflow iliac disease progression, and 26 (57.8%) ouflow arterial occlusion. Comparing the interval changes between patent and occluded FFB groups, the significantly higher frequency of outflow occlusion was noted in occluded FFB group (75% vs 38.1%, P=0.012). The most common finding on follow-up angiongram responsible for the recurrent ischemia was also outflow arterial occlusion even in patent FFB group. CONCLUSION: The most common cause of graft occlusion and recurrent leg ischemia was outflow arterial occlusion after FFB.
Angiography ; Arteries ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Disease Progression ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Iliac Artery ; Ischemia* ; Leg* ; Transplants*

PURPOSE: Femoro-infrapopliteal bypass is usually indicated for the patients with critical leg ischemia and when below- knee femoro-popliteal bypass is not available. Considering the technical difficulties and requirement of longer vein graft, inferior surgical outcomes are anticipated after femoro-infrapopliteal bypass compared to below-knee femoro-popliteal bypass. We attempted to compare the early and late outcomes between the patients who underwent below-knee femoro-popliteal and femoro-infrapopliteal bypasses. METHODS: Among 285 autologous reversed vein grafts implanted for the patients with chronic atherosclerotic leg arterial occlusion, the data base of 119 below-knee femoro-popliteal and 97 femoro-infrapopliteal bypasses (4 tibioperoneal trunk, 52 posterior tibial, 10 anterior tibial, 20 peroneal, and 11 inframalleolar arteries) were retrospectively reviewed to compare the patients characterisitics and surgical outcomes. To compare early postoperative outcome, operative mortality (<30 days), ankle-brachial pressure index, early graft failure, wound complication, and major limb amputation were compared and to compare late outcome, primary cumulative patency rates of vein grafts were compared between 2 groups. Cumulative patency rates were determined by Kaplan-Meier method and compared with log-rank test between 2 groups. RESULTS: Demographic features and frequencies of comorbidities including diabetes, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive lung disease and cerebrovascular disease were not different between 2 groups except renal insufficiency which is more frequent in femoro-infrapopliteal bypass group. And femoro-infrapopliteal bypasses were more commonly indicated for the patients with ischemic tissue loss and as repeated bypass and requiring spliced vein graft more commonly. There revealed no significant differences in the frequencies of operative mortality (<30 days), early graft failure, wound complication, and major limb amputation and the amount of ABI increase between 2 groups. Primary cumulative patency rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 88.1 +/-3.5%, 77.3+/-5.1%, and 64.5+/-7.4% after B-K femoro- popliteal bypasses and 87.9+/-4.1%, 72.5+/-6.3%, and 60.4+/-10.1% after femoro-infrapopliteal bypasses, respectively revealing no significant differences between 2 groups. CONCLUSION: In spite of anatomical and technical disadvantages associated with femoro-infrapopliteal bypasses, there revealed no significant difference in early and late outcomes between below-knee femoro-popliteal and femoro- infrapopliteal bypasses with autologous reversed vein graft.
Amputation ; Comorbidity ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Extremities ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Knee ; Leg ; Mortality ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Renal Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies ; Saphenous Vein* ; Transplants* ; Veins ; Wounds and Injuries

PURPOSE: Flush high ligation of the saphenofemoral or saphenopopliteal junction combined with invaginated stripping of the greater saphenous vein to just below the knee or perforate invaginate stripping of the proximal lesser saphenous vein appears to be the method of choice for good clinical results and low incidence of damage to the saphenous or sural nerve, and is important in the prevention of recurrence. METHOD: From January 2001 to August 2001, we performed 84 operations for 72 patients with varicose veins. Among them, 77 flush high ligations (62 saphenofemoral and 15 saphenopopliteal) and 64 invaginated strippings (55 greater and 9 lesser saphenous veins) were performed. RESULT: Seventy seven flush high ligations were successfully performed in all patients, but 2 invaginated strippings were failed due to their large branches of greater saphenous veins. All of 9 proximal invaginated strippings for lesser saphenous veins were completely performed without any complications. As early postoperative complications related with invaginated strippings for greater saphenous veins, 24 (43.6%) cases of ecchymosis and 5 (9.1%) cases of paresthesia were occurred at thigh. One case of wound infection at popliteal fossa and 3 cases of wound inflammation at inguinal area were occurred. But those complications were recovered within 10 days. CONCLUSION: The results show that the invaginated stripping is very useful for patients with varicose veins, especially in stripping of lesser saphenous veins and the flush high ligation is safe for the treatment of junctional incompetence.
Ecchymosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inflammation ; Knee ; Ligation* ; Paresthesia ; Postoperative Complications ; Recurrence ; Saphenous Vein ; Sural Nerve ; Thigh ; Varicose Veins* ; Wound Infection ; Wounds and Injuries

PURPOSE: Though it has been well known that the autologous vein graft is conduit of choice for infragenicular leg artery bypass, it is still less clear for above-knee femoro-popliteal artery bypass. We attempted to evaluate the outcomes of reversed saphenous vein graft in comparison with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) graft in above-knee femoro-popliteal bypasses for the patients with chronic arterial occlusive disease. METHOD: In a period of 7 years and 9 months, 108 above-knee femoro-popliteal bypasses were performed in 96 patients (91 male, 5 female, mean age 67.3 years). The indications for bypass operation were short distance claudication in 54 (50%), rest pain in 36 (33%), and toe, foot ulcer or gangrene in 18 (17%) limbs. As bypass conduit, autologous reversed saphenous vein was used in 67 limbs, and PTFE graft in 41 limbs. We compared early (<30 days) postoperative complications, primary patency rates of grafts, and late outcomes of the limbs with proven graft occlusion between 2 patients groups (vein graft group vs. PTFE graft group). Primary cumulative graft patency rate were determined by Kaplan Meier method and compared them with log-rank test. RESULT: Early postoperative complications were not significantly different between two groups. During the follow-up period, 20 (18.5%) grafts were lost to follow-up and 14 patients were dead. Primary cumulative patency rates at 1, 3, 5 years were 97.44 +/- 2.53%, 91.11 +/- 4.94%, and 75.92 +/- 14.46% for vein grafts and 81.76 +/- 7.49%, 36.15 +/- 13.42, and 36.15 +/- 13.42% for PTFE grafts respectively. CONCLUSION: In the patients underwent autologous vein graft for above-knee femoro-popliteal bypass, we experienced significantly better long-term patency, less serious surgical complication and less severe recurrent ischemic symptom after graft occlusion than in patients with PTFE graft.
Arterial Occlusive Diseases ; Arteries ; Extremities ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Foot Ulcer ; Gangrene ; Humans ; Leg ; Lost to Follow-Up ; Male ; Polytetrafluoroethylene ; Postoperative Complications ; Saphenous Vein ; Toes ; Transplants* ; Veins*

BACKGROUND: Abbreviated chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy or full cycles of chemotherapy is recommended as a standard treatment for limited-stage (LS) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). After complete resection of tumors, however, Burkitt and childhood B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma show favorable outcomes, even after abbreviated chemotherapy of only 2 or 3 cycles. We investigated the effectiveness of abbreviated chemotherapy in patients with LS DLBCL after complete tumor resection. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 18 patients with LS DLBCL who underwent complete tumor resection followed by either 3 or 4 cycles of chemotherapy between March 2002 and May 2010. RESULTS: With a median follow-up period of 57.9 months (range, 31.8-130.2 months), no patients experienced disease relapse or progression; however, 1 patient experienced secondary acute myeloid leukemia during follow-up. The 5-year progression-free survival rate and overall survival rate were 93.3% and 94.1%, respectively. CONCLUSION: These results warrant further investigation into abbreviated chemotherapy as an alternative treatment for patients who have undergone complete resection of LS DLBCL.
B-Lymphocytes ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Lymphoma, B-Cell* ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: Primary testicular diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a rare but aggressive extranodal lymphoma, and its relapse in the central nervous system (CNS) is a major concern during treatment. Despite this, the role of intrathecal prophylaxis in primary testicular DLBCL remains controversial. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 14 patients with primary testicular DLBCL diagnosed between November 2000 and June 2012, and analyzed the CNS relapse rate in patients treated without intrathecal prophylaxis. Survival curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: The median age at diagnosis was 57 years (range, 41-79 years). Unilateral testicular involvement was observed in 13 patients. Nine patients had stage I, 1 had stage II, and 4 had stage IV disease. The international prognostic index was low or low-intermediate risk in 12 patients and high-intermediate risk in 2 patients. Thirteen patients underwent orchiectomy. All the patients received systemic chemotherapy without intrathecal prophylaxis, and prophylactic radiotherapy was administered to the contralateral testis in 12 patients. The median follow-up period of surviving patients was 39 months (range, 10-139 months). Median overall survival was not reached and the median progression-free survival was 3.8 years. Four patients experienced relapse, but CNS relapse was observed in only one patient (7.1%) with stage IV disease, 27 months after a complete response. CONCLUSION: Even without intrathecal prophylaxis, the rate of relapse in the CNS was lower in the Korean patients with primary testicular DLBCL compared to prior reports.
Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, B-Cell* ; Medical Records ; Orchiectomy ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Testis

Ectopic opening of the common bile duct (CBD) in the duodenal bulb is not an incidental finding, but a pathologic condition that can be associated with clinical entities, such as recurrent duodenal ulcer, choledocholithiasis. or cholangitis. We report a case of ectopic CBD with hematemesis in a 61 year-old male patient. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed several active ulcers with a fresh blood clot at the duodenal bulb, which had a mucosal deformity and a small opening with suspicious drainage of bile, and the second part of the duodenum had no papilla-like structure. MRCP showed a trident-like pancreatobiliary tree. The biliary tree was visualized via a suspicious ectopic opening of the bile duct at the duodenal bulb. The distal CBD looked hook-shaped and had no filling defect. We report a unique case of ectopic opening of the CBD in the duodenal bulb, which presented as hematemesis.
Bile ; Bile Ducts ; Biliary Tract ; Cholangitis ; Choledocholithiasis ; Common Bile Duct ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Drainage ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Duodenum ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Hematemesis ; Humans ; Incidental Findings ; Male ; Ulcer

Here we report a case of a 76-year-old man with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with simultaneous involvement of the right breast and left testicle. The patient underwent complete resection of the involved testis, followed by immunochemotherapy with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (R-CHOP) and prophylactic radiotherapy to the contralateral testis. Following this multimodal therapy, he achieved a complete response. This is a rare case of DLBCL involving both the breast and the testis in a male patient.
Aged ; Breast* ; Cyclophosphamide ; Doxorubicin ; Humans ; Lymphoma, B-Cell* ; Male ; Prednisolone ; Radiotherapy ; Testis* ; Vincristine