No abstract available.
Constriction, Pathologic* ; Diagnosis*

No abstract available.
Constriction, Pathologic* ; Diagnosis*

PURPOSE: To help in the early diagnosis of postoperative infections in lumbar stenosis, attempts were made to evaluate a large number of patients having levels of ESR, CSR and CRP at fixed intervals, following an uncomplicated instrumented posterolateral fusion with wide decompression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 101 lumbar stenosis patients were included in this study. The levels of ESR, CSR and CRP were checked on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th and 14th postoperative days. These data were plotted in relation to time in order to follow their changes. The relationships between these and the perioperative factors (operation time, fusion levels, estimated bleeding amount and transfusion amount) were evaluated statistically. RESULTS: The ESR and CSR had peak levels by the 3rd postoperative day, which then became highly variable until 14 days. The CRP level was highest on the 2nd postoperative day, which decreased rapidly, was and reached nearly normalized levels by 14th day. The ESR and CSR values on the 7th postoperative day showed a tendency to correlate with the perioperative factors, but the CRP value showed no significant correlations. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed the effectiveness of CRP, and ineffectiveness of ESR and CSR, in the early detection of deep infections following surgery for wide lumbar stenosis.
Constriction, Pathologic* ; Decompression* ; Early Diagnosis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans

Punctal stenosis may be caused by several etiologies and easily treated by punctoplasty with accompanying procedures. History taking, external and slit-Iamp examinations, and diagnostic tests and imaging techniques of lacrimal system identified lacrimal system abnormalities. Occasionally satisfactory result was not gained after punctoplasty, so author introduce the simple test to aid diagnosis of punctal stenosis and to predict surgical result of punctoplasty. If the fluorescein dye disappearance test documents a dilation, additional fluorescein dye disappearance test was performed to evaluate the efficacy of punctal dilation to relieve the epiphora. This procedure will be helpful in the case of subtle punctal stenosis and evaluation of surgical result.
Constriction, Pathologic* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Fluorescein ; Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the performance of three-dimensional (3D) isotropic T2-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) sampling perfection with application optimized contrasts using different flip angle evolution (SPACE) sequence on a 3T system, for the evaluation of nerve root compromise by disc herniation or stenosis from central to extraforaminal location of the lumbar spine, when used alone or in combination with conventional two-dimensional (2D) TSE sequence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-seven patients who had undergone 3T spine MRI including 2D and 3D sequences, and had subsequent spine surgery for nerve root compromise at a total of 39 nerve levels, were analyzed. A total of 78 nerve roots (48 symptomatic and 30 asymptomatic sites) were graded (0 to 3) using different MRI sets of 2D, 3D (axial plus sagittal), 3D (all planes), and combination of 2D and 3D sequences, with respect to the nerve root compromise caused by posterior disc herniations, lateral recess stenoses, neural foraminal stenoses, or extraforaminal disc herniations; grading was done independently by two readers. Diagnostic performance was compared between different imaging sets using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences (p = 0.203 to > 0.999) in the ROC curve area between the imaging sets for both readers 1 and 2, except for combined 2D and 3D (0.843) vs. 2D (0.802) for reader 1 (p = 0.035), and combined 2D and 3D (0.820) vs. 3D including all planes (0.765) for reader 2 (p = 0.049). CONCLUSION: The performance of 3D isotropic T2-weighted TSE sequence of the lumbar spine, whether axial plus sagittal images, or all planes of images, was not significantly different from that of 2D TSE sequences, for the evaluation of nerve root compromise of the lumbar spine. Combining 2D and 3D might possibly improve the diagnostic accuracy compared with either one.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; ROC Curve ; Spine*

Gastric stricture is caused by the ingestion of caustic materials, or by the involvement of a gastric infiltrating carcinoma. Corrosive injury-induced stricture is uncommon and the gastric injury caused by calcium fertilizer has not been reported in Korea. Once the diagnosis of gastric stricture is confirmed, an early definitive surgical intervention should be performed. Sometimes balloon dilatation on stricture may be attempted in suitable cases. We report a case of gastric stricture caused by ingestion of chemical fertilizer containing calcium and managed with radiologic balloon dilatation in a 73-year-old man.
Aged ; Calcium ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Diagnosis ; Dilatation ; Eating ; Humans ; Korea

Flow-volume loop is known to be useful in the diagnosis of upper airway obstruction. In cases of tracheal obstruction, characteristic features such as fixed or variable upper airway obstruction patterns give clue to the diagnosis. But the flow-volume loop of unilateral mainstem bronchial stenosis is not known well. There is controversy in patterns of flow-volume loop in unilateral mainstem bronchial stenosis (restrictive pattern or biphasic pattern). We report a case of biphasic flow-volume loop in left mainstem bronchial stenosis(4-5 mm in diameter) as a sequela of endobronchial tuberculosis, which recovered normal flow-volume loop after metallic stent insertion and 2 months later showed reappearance of biphasic pattern because of restenosis of left mainstem bronchus due to growth of granulation tissue at the stent site.
Airway Obstruction ; Bronchi ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Diagnosis ; Granulation Tissue ; Stents ; Tuberculosis

PURPOSE: To determine the reliability of sonourethrog raphy (SUG) in the evaluation of male anterior urethral strictures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both SUG with retrograde saline infusion and retrograde urethrography (RUG) were performed in 5 young normal volunteers and 20 patients with symptoms of impaired urine flow. Those findings were compared with urethroscopic and operative findings in all patients. RESULTS: SUG was more accurate in the evaluation of the stricture length and degree than RUG in 7 patients with anterior urethral strictures, when compared with their subsequent open urethroplasty findings. Only SUG could classify the degree of spongiofibrosis surrounding the strictures in 15 patients. So, SUG was diagnostically as efficacious as or, superior to, RUG in all 20 patients. CONCLUSION: SUG can be used as one of complementary and reliable tools for diagnosis, evaluation and follow-up of anterior urethral strictures.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Male ; Urethral Stricture*

We evaluated MR imaging of spondylolytic spondylolisthesis degenerative spondylolisthesis and retrolisthesis in 14, 9 and 20 patients respectively. Sagittal and axial spin echo and gradient echo images were obtained with 25-30cm FOV and 5mm/0.5mm thickness/gap by using spine surface coil. Sagittal images showed defects of pars interarticularis just inside of the pedicles of spines in all the cases of spondylolytic spondylolisthesis with relatively variable signal intensity. Displaced vertebrae were commonly observed at L5 (8/14) in spondylolytic spondylolisthesis, at L4 (5/9) in degenerative spondylolisthesis and at variable locations in retrolisthesis. The mean length of displacement of vertebrae in spondylolytic spondylolisthesis was about 7mm and less displacement was onserved in degenerative spondylolisthesis and retrolisthesis. Seven, four and six cases of pseudobulging of disk at displaced level were observed in cases of spondylolytic spondylolisthesis, degenerative spondylolisthesis and retrolisthesis respectively. Seven, five and 14 cases of true disk lesions were onserved in cases of spondylolytic spondylolisthesis, degenertive spondylolisthesis and retrolisthesis respectively. Grade II neural foraminal stenoses (obliteration of one half epidural fat of neural foramen) were commonly (8/14) seen in spondylolytic spondylolisthesis, however the other two types showed less severe neural foraminal stenosis. In conclusion, MR imaging is a highly accurate method for the diagnosis and evaluation of spondylolisthesis and associated lesions of spine and disks.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Methods ; Spine ; Spondylolisthesis*

Biliary decompression by T-tube in liver transplantation can reduce the stenosis of biliary anastomosis site, but increase the biliary leakage. Therefore, policy of T-tube insertion is different in each transplantation center. Recently the overseas liver transplantations, especially from China, are increasing, and most of these recipients are transferred with T-tube insertion status. Due to limited operative information, T-tube related complications are frequently occurred. We report four cases of T-tube related biliary complication according to the diagnosis timing after T-tube removal, who underwent liver transplantation in China. The symptoms and treatment was variable from conservative management to open laparotomy. The 3 of 4 cases was the bile leakage after T-tube removal. In early diagnosed case after T-tube removal, the bile leakage was easily controlled by non invasive procedures. If the diagnosis was delayed, not only invasive procedures but also open laparotomy was required for control of bile leakage.
Bile ; China ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Decompression ; Diagnosis ; Laparotomy ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver*