BACKGROUND: Hydrops fetalis is defined as abnormal accumulation of serous fluid in two or more fetal compartments, and this malady is known to be associated with various pathologic conditions. METHODS: We collected 149 cases of hydrops fetalis out of 2,312 autopsies, and we tried to elaborate the underlying causes of hydrops fetalis. The diagnosis was based on the material from either antenatal termination or intrauterine death. RESULTS: The relative incidence of hydrops fetalis was 6.44% of all the pediatric autopsies we performed. The gestational age was evenly distributed from 18 to 33 weeks, except for 30 to 31 weeks. There was no sex difference in the incidence of hydrops fetalis. The main causes were cardiovascular diseases (30.9%), cystic hygroma (13.4%), chromosomal anomaly (8.05%), thoracic conditions (7.38%), followed by urinary tract malformation (4.03%), infection (4.03%) and anemia (3.36%). The most common chromosomal anomaly was Turner syndrome and the second one was Down syndrome. CONCLUSION: Since various conditions can be the cause of hydrops fetalis, pathologists should pay attention to elaborate the underlying causes in every single autopsy.
Anemia ; Autopsy* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Down Syndrome ; Edema* ; Fetus ; Gestational Age ; Hydrops Fetalis* ; Incidence ; Lymphangioma, Cystic ; Sex Characteristics ; Turner Syndrome ; Urinary Tract

No abstract available.
Female ; Mucins* ; Ovary*

Glassy cell carcinoma (GCC) of the uterine cervix is a rare and highly malignant tumor, accounting for only 1%~2% of all cervical carcinomas. It is typically composed of malignant cells having a moderate amount of cytoplasm with "ground glass" appearance, distinct cell membranes that stain with eosin or periodic acid-Schiff, and large nuclei with prominent nucleoli. Since its original description in 1956 by Glucletmann and Cherry, 200 - 250 cases of GCC of the uterine cervix have been listed in the literature. We report here the clinicopathological study of one case of glassy cell carcinoma with brief review of the literature.
Cell Membrane ; Cervix Uteri* ; Cytoplasm ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Female ; Prunus

Alveolar soft-part sarcoma of the female genital tract are extremely rare. Fewer than 30 cases have been described in the literature. We experienced a case of alveolar soft-part sarcoma of the female genital tract which was diagnosed by routine light microscopic study using ultrastructural and immunohistochemical stain. We report this case with a brief review of the literature.
Female* ; Humans ; Sarcoma, Alveolar Soft Part*

Injuries to the pelvic nerve plexus following major pelvic ablative surgery are commonly observed conditions in urologic field and often related to voiding difficulty with flaccid type of neurogenic bladder. The pathophysiological background for voiding difficulty is unknown and also it is difficult to investigate in human. The present study was undertaken to investigate the functional changes on the bladder and urethra in major pelvic ganglion denervated rats (experimental group). Injury to the pelvic nerve plexus was created by selective removal of bilateral major pelvic ganglions of mature Sprague-Dawley rats (male, 250-300 gm). One week after operation, urodynamic evaluation and NADPH diaphorase histochemistry were performed in each rat. The whole bladder wet weight and residual urine of experimental group significantly increased to 1.6 times and 29 times that of control group, respectively. For urodynamic investigations, the bladder and the urethra were completely disconnected by means of ligation between the bladder neck and the proximal urethra, and simultaneous recordings of the intravesical and proximal urethral pressure were performed. During simultaneous urethro-vesical filling in experimental group, vesical contraction and urethral relaxation were not induced. However, an administration of L-arginine (120 mg/kg intravenously), a nitric oxide substrate, resulted in a gradual decrease in urethral pressure when the bladder pressure was reached at submaximal level. On NADPH diaphorase histochemistry in control group, a large number of NADPH positive nerve fibers were found in the proximal urethra, whereas those were found less commonly in the bladder. In experimental group, the number of NOS positive nerve fibers in the bladder was similar to that in control group. But in the proximal urethra, the number of NOS positive nerve fibers (84.7 +/- 12.7) decreased significantly in contrast to that (185.9 +/- 56.3) in control group. These results indicate that failure to empty in neurogenic bladder may be resulted from relaxation impairment of bladder outlet, which can be explained by the reduction of neuronal NOS in the proximal urethra in experimental group.
Animals ; Arginine ; Denervation ; Ganglion Cysts* ; Humans ; Ligation ; NADP ; NADPH Dehydrogenase ; Neck ; Nerve Fibers ; Neurons* ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Relaxation ; Urethra* ; Urinary Bladder* ; Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic ; Urodynamics

We present a patient who developed a pseudolymphoma after ear piercing. A patch test showed gold sensitivity. Therefore, long standing dermal exposure to gold from a pierced-type earring might have produced the patient's disease. This patient did not respond to an intralesional steroid injection and was finally treated with a complete resection of the lesion. It is proposed that every patient with a hyperplastic lesion in the ear lobe should be taken a biopsy in order to rule out the possibility of a pseudolymphoma. When a pseudolymphoma develops in the ear lobe, a complete surgical excision could be the treatment of choice, especially for the prevention of recurrence.
Biopsy ; Body Piercing* ; Ear* ; Humans ; Patch Tests ; Pseudolymphoma* ; Recurrence

OBJECTIVE: Flow cytometric deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content analysis has been shown to be of prognostic importance in some cancers. In this study, DNA patterns obtained by flow cytometry in patients with cervical cancer have been shown to be related to a prognostic importance in cervical carcinoma. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We retrospectively reviewed 59 cervical cancer patients who admitted to the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Samsung Medical Center firom January 1995 to May 1997. RESULTS: A total of 59 archival paraffin-embedded blocks were proc 42.4 percent were found to be DNA content aneuploid (DNA-A) and 57.6 percent DNA content diploid (DNA-D). The S-phase fraction was significantly increased with stage. The incidences of aneuploid and relative DNA index were not significantly increased with the stage(P=0.280) and age of patients(P=0.088). The results had no significant differences between the squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, and no relationship between the groups with keratinizing cell type and nonkeratinizing type(P=0.409). The DNA ploidy patterns were not significantly correlated with metastasis to lymph node(P=0.179), tumor size(P=0.109), invasion depth(P=0.361) and recurrent group(P=0.285). High S-phase fraction had a tendency to correlate with the invasion depth(P=0,011), size(P=0.027), lymph node metastasis(P=0.039) and recurence(P=0.099) of cervical cancer. CONCLUSION: Flow cytometric DNA content analysis is being used more frequently in the management of different malignant tumors. Our study shows that DNA content analysis may not serve as an important biological indicator in determining the prognosis in cervical carcinoma, but High S-phase fraction has been connected with more aggressive tumors.
Adenocarcinoma ; Aneuploidy ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cervix Uteri* ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Obstetrics ; Ploidies ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant*

The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of color Doppler scoring system in characterization of ovarian masses. We performed transabdominal or transvaginal color Doppler sonopaphy on 82 women with ovarian masses and analyzed the sonographic findings. Ovarian lesions were assessed by means of morphological and color Doppler scoring system by Kurjak. Tumors were characterized by ultrasonographic findings as benign or suspected of being malignant. Then the results of each scoring systems were correlated with histopathological findings. The results were as follows; Of 82 ovarian masses, 64 were benign lesions(13 mucinous cystadenomas, 16 endometriomas, 20 teratomas, 8 serous cystadenomas, and 13 other abnormalities), and 18 were malignant(12 cancers and 6 borderline tumors). The color Doppler scoring system was useful in distinguishing malignant from benign masses, with a sensitivity of 88.2%, compared with the morphological scoring system of 86.7%. The specificity of color Doppler and morphological scoring system were 95.4% and 92.5%, respectively. The sensitivity of combination of both scoring systems was 88.9%, with a specificity of 96.9%. In conclusion, color Doppler scoring system is a useful tool in predicting the malignancy of ovarian lesions especially combined with morphological scoring system.
Cystadenoma, Mucinous ; Cystadenoma, Serous ; Diagnosis* ; Endometriosis ; Female ; Humans ; Prospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Teratoma ; Ultrasonography

No abstract available.
Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction*