CD44, also known as the Hermes antigen, H-CAM, pgp-1 antigen, and extracellular matrix receptor ECM-III, is a widely distributed integral membrane protein that exists in a variety of forms with different molecular sizes ranging from 85kd to 160kd. A number of evidence implicates CD44 as a cell adhesion molecule with a possible role in tumor progression. To evaluate the possible roles of CD44 in the metastatic process of gastric carcinoma to the regional lymph nodes, we applicated immunohistochemical stains with the CD44H and CD44v6 primary antibodies onto the 2 groups of gastric adenocarcinomas. Each group was comprised of 22 primary tumors extending to the subserosa, and one group showed nodal metastasis, while the other group did not. Seventeen primary tumors (77%) out of the 22 cases with the nodal metastasis demonstrated positivity to the CD44v6, while only 9 primary tumors (41%) out of the 22 cases without nodal metastasis did. However CD44H immunoreactivity was demonstrated in tumor cells of all cases (100%) of both groups as well as in the normal cell components. These results suggest that CD44H form is not related to the metastasis to the regional lymph nodes of gastric carcinoma. However, the expression of CD44v6 seems to play a certain role in the metastatic process of the gastric carcinoma.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Antibodies ; Cell Adhesion ; Cellular Structures ; Coloring Agents ; Extracellular Matrix ; Lymph Nodes ; Membrane Proteins ; Neoplasm Metastasis

PURPOSE: To determine the usefulness of microbubble contrast enhanced power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS)for the detection of residual tumor in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) treated by transcatheter arterialchemoembolization (TACE). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen nodular HCCs (size range: 1 - 7.3 cm, mean: 3.5) intwelve patients treated by TACE, and on the basis of follow-up liver CT, thought to have a residual tumor, wereincluded in this study. Between July 1997 and April 1998, PDUS examinations were performed with a 2-4 MHz convextransducer before and after intravenous injection of a microbubble contrast agent (Levovist(, Schering AG, Berlin,Germany). Real-time power Doppler ultrasonographic images were recorded on videotape and representative imageswere color-printed. Tumor vascularity was analyzed on real-time images with regard to its presence or absence, andchanges, and two observers reached a consensus. The results were compared with those of other diagnostic tests(three-phase helical CT, conventional angiography, percutaneous biopsy, and/or surgical pathology). RESULTS: Contrast-enhanced PDUS revealed intratumoral vascularity in ten of 14 tumors, none of which showed vascularity onunenhanced PDUS. In the remaining four tumors, both unenhanced and enhanced PDUS showed intratumoral tumorvascularity, which in all cases was more pronounced on enhanced than on unenhanced PDUS. Other diagnostic testsrevealed residual tumors in eleven lesions. CONCLUSION: Microbubble contrast-enhanced PDUS was more sensitivethan non-enhanced PDUS in depicting vascularity within a residual tumor and could be a useful method for thedetection of residual tumor in HCCs treated by TACE.
Angiography ; Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Consensus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous ; Liver ; Microbubbles ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Tomography, Spiral Computed ; Ultrasonography, Doppler* ; Videotape Recording

No abstract available.
Bacteremia* ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnant Women*

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to describe portal stenting for postoperative portal occlusion with delayed (≥ 3 months) variceal bleeding in the afferent jejunal loop. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven consecutive patients (age range, 2–79 years; eight men and three women) who underwent portal stenting between April 2009 and December 2015 were included in the study. Preoperative medical history and the postoperative clinical course were reviewed. Characteristics of portal occlusion and details of procedures were also investigated. Technical success, treatment efficacy (defined as disappearance of jejunal varix on follow-up CT), and clinical success were analyzed. Primary stent patency rate was plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: All patients underwent hepatobiliary-pancreatic cancer surgery except two children with liver transplantation for biliary atresia. Portal occlusion was caused by benign postoperative change (n = 6) and local tumor recurrence (n = 5). Variceal bleeding occurred at 27 months (4 to 72 months) and portal stenting was performed at 37 months (4 to 121 months), on average, postoperatively. Technical success, treatment efficacy, and clinical success rates were 90.9, 100, and 81.8%, respectively. The primary patency rate of portal stent was 88.9% during the mean follow-up period of 9 months. Neither procedure-related complication nor mortality occurred. CONCLUSION: Interventional portal stenting is an effective treatment for delayed jejunal variceal bleeding due to portal occlusion after hepatobiliary-pancreatic surgery.
Biliary Atresia ; Child ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Methods ; Mortality ; Portal Vein* ; Recurrence ; Stents* ; Treatment Outcome ; Varicose Veins*

PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of subsegmental transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TAE) forhepatocellular carcinomas(HCCs) on the basis of tumor necrosis rate. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between May 1996 andMarch 1998, ten patients with single HCC after subsegmental TAE underwent surgical resection. Subsegmental TAE wasperformed by injecting a mixture of lipiodol and adriamycin followed by gelatin sponge particles into the distalbranches of the subsegmental arteries. Tumor size and the extent of necrosis were analyzed in ten resectedlesions, and in all patients, complications after subsegmental TAE were assessed. RESULTS: The size of resectedtumors ranged from 1 to 5,5cm. On histological examination, complete necrosis was seen in 6 to 10 resected lesionsand 95% necrosis in three. In the remaining lesion, 85% necrosis had occured. Complete necrosis was noted in 4 of6 small HCCs(less than 3cm in diameter), while in the remaining two the extent of necrosis was 95%. Nocomplications were observed. CONCLUSION: For the treatment of HCC, subsegmental TAE is safe and effective.Curative therapy must, however, involve follow-up and repeated TAE.
Arteries ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Doxorubicin ; Ethiodized Oil ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gelatin ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; Necrosis ; Porifera

Previous reports raised question as to whether 8-chloro-cyclic adenosine 3,5-monophosphate (8-Cl-cAMP) is a prodrug for its metabolite, 8-Cl-adenosine which exerts growth inhibition in a broad spectrum of cancer cells. The present study was carried out to clarify overall cellular affects of 8-Cl-cAMP and 8-Cl-adenosine on SK-N-DZ human neuroblastoma cells by ystematically characterizing gene expression using radioactive human cDNA microarray. Microarray was prepared with PCR-amplified cDNA of 2,304 known genes spotted on nylon membranes, employing (1)P-labeled cDNAs of SK-N-DZ cells as a probe. the expression levels of approximately 100 cDNAs, representing about 8% of the total DNA elements on the array, were altered in 8-Cl-adenosine- or 8-Cl-cAMP-treated cells, respectively. The genome-wide expression of the two samples exhibited partial overlaps; different sets of up-regulated genes but the same set of down-regulated genes. 8-Cl-adenosine treatment up- egulated genes involved in differentiation and development (LIM protein, connexin 26, neogenin, neurofilament triplet L protein and p21( WAF1/CIP1)) and immune response such as natural killer cells protein 4, and down-regulated ones involved in proliferation and transformation (transforming growth factor-beta, DYRK2, urokinase-type plasminogen activator and proteins involved in transcription and translation) which were in close parallel with those by 8-Cl-cAMP. Our results indicated that the two drugs shared common genomic pathways for the down-regulation of certain genes, but used distinct pathways for the up-regulation of different gene clusters. Based on the findings, we suggest that the anti-cancer activity of 8-Cl-cAMP results at least in part through 8-Cl-adenosine. Thus, the systematic use of DNA arrays can provide insight into the dynamic cellular pathways involved in anticancer activities of chemotherapeutics.
2-Chloroadenosine/*analogs & derivatives/chemistry/*pharmacology ; 8-Bromo Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate/*analogs & derivatives/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Blotting, Western ; *Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/*drug effects ; Genome, Human ; Human ; Neuroblastoma/*genetics ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Reproducibility of Results ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Up-Regulation/drug effects

Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome (FHCS)-inflammation of the liver capsule (Perihepatitis) associated with genital tract infection-occurs in 4~14% of patients with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Generally presenting as sharp, pleuritic right upper quadrant pain, usually but not always accompanied by signs of salpingitis. It needs differential diagnosis such as cholecystitis, pyelonephritis. The pathogenesis of FHCS is incompletely understood. But Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis are thought to be the primary causative germs of FHCS. We make a report about FHCS in 19-year-old woman who had been sexual history recently.
Chlamydia ; Chlamydia Infections ; Chlamydia trachomatis ; Cholecystitis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Liver ; Neisseria gonorrhoeae ; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease ; Peritonitis ; Pyelonephritis ; Salpingitis ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate factors related to an immediate urinary retention, following the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure, which are embarrassing to both the patient and surgeon. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The records of 375 women, with a follow-up of at least 6 months, among patients that underwent the TVT procedure, between May 1999 and May 2002, were retrospectively reviewed. Of the 375 patients, 32 (8.5%) developed a urinary retention (retention group) that required at least 3 days of intermittent catheterization following the procedure. Multiple parameters, with regard to the patients characteristics, symptoms, and urodynamic studies, were analyzed using univariate and multivariate regression analyses between the non-retention (n=343) and the retention (n=32) groups. All the patients, in both groups, answered the global satisfaction question. RESULTS: Ninety percents of the patients (338/375) answered favorably toward the procedure on the global satisfaction question. The univariate analysis demonstrated that the patient's mean age, peak urinary flow rate, and parity, could predict the immediate urinary retention. However, in the multivariate analysis, the peak urinary flow rate was the only significant independent predictive factor (p=0.007). While 28 (87.5%) of the retention group regained normal voiding, with no specific procedure, 4 had to undergone releasing or cutting of the tape within 3 month of the surgery. The global satisfaction question showed a significant difference between the non-retention and retention groups (91.5% satisfaction versus 75% satisfaction, p=0.030). CONCLUSIONS: An accurate measurement of the peak urinary flow rate could predict the women at risk of postoperative urinary retention and compromise the patient's global satisfaction after a highly curative TVT procedure.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Parity ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Suburethral Slings* ; Urinary Incontinence ; Urinary Retention* ; Urodynamics

There are several surgical or non-surgical methods for osmidrosis, which have their own merits and drawbacks. Especially, recurrence and scarring of operation site are cumbersome problems. One of the limitations of each method is recurrence of osmidrosis. The authors evaluated surgical treatments of recurrent cases. The authors experienced 14 recurrent osmidrosis cases from January 1998 to December 2003. Previous methods in recurrent cases are as follows; dermal shaving with Inaba dermal shaver(3 cases), liposuction method(10 cases), non-surgical hair removal method(4 cases). The authors managed recurrent cases with radical excision in 4 recurrent cases which had severe scar with large fibrotic tissue due to previous operations, and dermal manual resection in 10 cases. We had no recurrence in our series and no complications like hematoma, seroma, infection, wound disruption or dehiscence and brachial plexus compression. In conclusion, dermal manual resection can be applied to recurrent osmidrosis cases, and radical resection is also applicable to managing recurrent cases with severe scar with large fibrotic tissue.
Brachial Plexus ; Cicatrix ; Hair Removal ; Hematoma ; Lipectomy ; Recurrence ; Seroma ; Wound Infection

Most common signs of human aging often include skin fold and wrinkles in the lateral canthal area. It is called "crow's feet". The accordion-like activity of the orbicularis oculi muscle during movements of facial expression accentuates this phenomenon because the muscle shortens but the skin does not. The purpose of this study is to present the classification of the crow's feet and to look for it's clinical characteristics in Koreans. The pictures of lateral view of the crows feet in 105 patients taken with digital camera are classified by their age, sex, types and degree of direction. Results show that there are three types of crows feet such as upper, lower and bidirectional types. Bidirectional type is the most common type(85%), lower directional type is 15% and upper directional type is 5%. In thirties, bidirectional type is 50% but the rate of this type increases in older groups. So in over sixties, bidirectional type is almost 100%. There are no differences between the two sexes. The degree of the direction of wrinkles increases in thirties and forties, but in fifties or over no difference was seen. In summary, this study could be helpful to decide the procedure in correction of the crow's feet.
Aging ; Classification* ; Crows ; Facial Expression ; Foot* ; Humans ; Skin