No abstract available.
Cholesterol* ; Granuloma*

No abstract available.
Rhinoplasty*

Anomalous origin of right coronary artery from left sinus of valsalva is associated with sudden unexpected death, syncope, arrhythmia and myocardial ischemia. The mechanism that explains the restriction of coronary flow in the anomalous coronary artery is unclear but several surgical methods have been proposed, such as coronary artery bypass graft, coronary reimplantation, translocation of pulmonary artery, and unroofing procedure. We reported the surgical correction of the anomalous origin of right coronary artery from left sinus of valsalva between the aorta and pulmonary trunk using the unroofing procedure.
Aorta* ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Vessels* ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Pulmonary Artery ; Replantation ; Sinus of Valsalva* ; Syncope ; Transplants

OBJECTIVES: The causes of benign esophageal stricture were postoperative, corrosive, peptic and after esophageal sclerotheraphy, etc. The patients mainly suffered from dysphagia and insufficient nutrition. Recently, balloon and bougie dilatation were introduced to these patients. This study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of both procedures in different types of strictures METHODS: 32 patients who presented dysphagia enrolled from March 1996 to August 1997 who visited Pusan National University Hospital. Balloon dilatation was performed on 22 patients and bougie on 10 patients. RESULTS: 1) The causes of stricture were postoperative (18 cases), corrosive (10 cases), hypertensive LES (2 cases), peptic (1 case) and web (1 case). 2) Overall cure rate was 59% in bougie dilatation and 40% in balloon dilatation 3) The cure rate of postopertive stricture was 59% which is significantly higher than that of corrosive stricture (27%), and cure rate of hypertensive LES, peptic stricture and web was 100%. 4) The cure rate of corrosive stricture was significantly higher on bougie dilatation than balloon dilatation. 5) The cure rate of postoperative stricture was similiar between balloon and bougie dilatation 6) The length of stricture was inversly affected on cure rate of both dilatation procedures. 7) Overall complication was 5.6% and similiar between balloon and bougie dilatation. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that bougie dilatation was recommended on corrosive stricture and balloon dilatation on postopertive stricture
Busan ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Deglutition Disorders ; Dilatation* ; Esophageal Stenosis* ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire-Treatment version (RCQTV-K). METHODS: The participants were 92 patients who were seeking treatment of alcoholism in two hospitals for alcoholism. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test whether the factor structure of the RCQTV-K was consistent with the English version. Convergent validity was assessed by correlating the scores on the RCQTV-K with those on other scales (Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Korean Version of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). RESULTS: The factor structure of the RCQTV-K was consistent with the three-factor structure established for the original RCQTV. Cronbach's alpha was high, indicating that the reliability of the items for each subscale was satisfactory. Allocated stage of change showed significant differences among the scores on the other scales. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate that the RCQTV-K is an effective and valid scale for evaluating the stage of readiness to change in patients seeking treatment for alcoholism. The findings suggest that the RCQTV-K is a promising assessment tool for use in the treatment and study of alcoholism.
Alcoholism ; Depression ; Humans ; Psychometrics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; Weights and Measures

Bronchogenic cysts (BCs) are relatively common congenital anomalies in the mediastinum. Most of the patients with BC can be managed both safely and effectively by minimally invasive methods. Selected patients with a BC in a favorable location can have the cyst partially or completely excised by mediastinoscopic techniques. Herein we report on a case of a left lower paratracheal bronchogenic cyst that was completely resected by a video-assisted mediastinoscopic technique, and we discuss the technical aspects of this procedure.
Bronchogenic Cyst ; Humans ; Mediastinal Diseases ; Mediastinoscopy ; Mediastinum

OBJECTIVES: The composition of gallstones is very variable depending on many factors such as diet, sex, race, genetic background, and so on. The compositional changes of gallstones have been reported in Korean people. Author studied the compositional characteristics of gallstones in Pusan area to see geographical difference. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Gas chromatography and Mass spectrophotometry was performed on the gallstones obtained from the 34 patients who had been taken cholecystectomy because of acute or chronic cholecystitis. Cholesterol gallstone was defined as the composition of the cholesterol is more than 50%. RESULTS: The cholesterol gallstone was 67.6% (23/34) in the 34 patients. There was sexual difference in the cholesterol gallstone group, which the ratio of male and female was 1:2.3(7/16), while there was no difference in the non-cholesterol stone(5:6). The cholesterol stone consisted with cholesterol, bilirubin, bile acid, and palmitic acid and the propotion of them was 75.6%, 4.6%, 15.0%, and 1.8% respectively. While the proportion of non-cholesterol stone was 30.2%, 26.8%, 37.5%, and 5.5% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The cholesterol stone was major fraction of gallstone of the patients in Pusan area. There was no difference on the compostion of gallstones between those of patients in Pusan area and in the other area of Korea.
Bile ; Bilirubin ; Busan* ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystitis ; Cholesterol ; Chromatography, Gas ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Continental Population Groups ; Diet ; Female ; Gallstones* ; Gyeongsangnam-do* ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Palmitic Acid ; Soil ; Spectrophotometry

OBJECTIVES: Internet addiction or pathologic internet use is one of the major mental health problems in children and adolescents in Korea. Internet addiction is defined as uncontrollable, markedly time-consuming internet use, which lasts for a period of at least six months. Internet addiction results in poor academic performance and negative parent-child relationships. By using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), we investigated the effects of internet addiction on functional changes occurring in the adolescent brain. METHODS: Adolescent patients with an internet addiction (4 boys and 2 girls; 15.6+/-1.2 years) participated in this study. Eight healthy young adults (5 males and 3 females; 18-30 years old) with no previous history of psychiatric illness also participated as normal controls. Brain FDG-PET data was obtained with the participants in the resting condition and with no addictive stimuli. RESULTS: Statistic parametric mapping analysis of the brain FDG-PET data revealed hypometabolic changes in the visual information processing circuits and hypermetabolic changes in the prefrontal areas in the adolescents with internet addiction, as compared with normal controls (p<.001). CONCLUSION: These results suggest a neuronal adaptation to excessive visual stimulation and synaptic plasticity due to internet addiction.
Adolescent ; Automatic Data Processing ; Brain ; Child ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Male ; Mental Health ; Neurons ; Parent-Child Relations ; Photic Stimulation ; Plastics ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Mediastinal neurogenic tumors are generally benign lesions and they are ideal candidates for performing resection via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). However, benign neurogenic tumors at the thoracic apex present technical problems for the surgeon because of the limited exposure of the neurovascular structures, and the optimal way to surgically access these tumors is still a matter of debate. This study aims to clarify the feasibility and safety of the VATS approach for performing surgical resection of benign apical neurogenic tumors (ANT). MATERIAL AND METHOD: From January 1996 to September 2008, 31 patients with benign ANT (15 males/16 females, mean age: 45 years, range: 8~73), were operated on by various surgical methods: 14 VATS, 10 lateral thoracotomies, 6 cervical or cervicothoracic incisions and 1 median sternotomy. 3 patients had associated von Recklinhausen's disease. The perioperative variables and complications were retrospectively reviewed according to the surgical approaches, and the surgical results of VATS were compared with those of the other invasive surgeries. RESULT: In the VATS group, the histologic diagnosis was schwannoma in 9 cases, neurofibroma in 4 cases and ganglioneuroma in 1 case, and the median tumor size was 4.3 cm (range: 1.2~7.0 cm). The operation time, amount of chest tube drainage and the postoperative stay in the VATS group were significantly less than that in the other invasive surgical group (p<0.05). No conversion thoracotomy was required. There were 2 cases of Hornor's syndrome and 2 brachial plexus neuropathies in the VATS group; there was 1 case of Honor's syndrome, 1 brachial plexus neuropathy, 1 vocal cord palsy and 2 non-neurologic complications in the invasive surgical group, and all the complications developed postoperatively. The operative method was an independent predictor for postoperative neuropathies in the VATS group (that is, non-enucleation of the tumor) (p=0.029). CONCLUSION: The VATS approach for treating benign ANT is a less invasive, safe and feasible method. Enucleation of the tumor during the VATS procedure may be an important technique to decrease the postoperative neurological complications.
Ants ; Brachial Plexus Neuropathies ; Chest Tubes ; Drainage ; Female ; Ganglioneuroma ; Humans ; Mediastinum ; Neurilemmoma ; Neurofibroma ; Retrospective Studies ; Sternotomy ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thoracoscopy ; Thoracotomy ; Vocal Cord Paralysis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The clinical outcomes of some patients with pleural infection may be favorable with medical treatment alone, but in others, the disease progresses and requires additional surgical treatment. However, little is known about the factors affecting this difference. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors predictive of failure of medical treatment in patients with pleural infection. METHODS: A cohort of 127 consecutive patients who were admitted to the hospital with pleural infection was studied. Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings in patients in whom medical treatment succeeded or failed were reviewed. RESULTS: In univariate analysis, the significant factors associated with medical treatment outcome were age, smoking history, duration of chief complaint, serum albumin level, and pleural fluid glucose and lactate dehydrogenase levels (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified age and duration of chief complaint as independent predictive factors for failure of medical treatment, with odds ratios of 0.871 (p = 0.013) and 0.797 (p = 0.026), respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis determined cutoff values of 50.5 years for age and 4.5 days for duration of chief complaint. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that a younger age < 50.5 years and shorter duration of chief complaint < 4.5 days were independent predictive factors for the failure of medical treatment in patients with pleural infection. This suggests their role as evaluative criteria in setting indications for the optimal treatment in patients with pleural infection. A larger, prospective study is required to confirm these findings.
Adult ; Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Cohort Studies ; Drainage ; Empyema, Pleural/metabolism/*therapy ; Female ; Glucose/metabolism ; Humans ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase/metabolism ; Male ; Pleural Effusion/metabolism/*therapy ; Serum Albumin/metabolism ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Treatment Failure