PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) in patients who have abdominal abscesses or fluid collections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed PCD for 165 abscesses and fluid collections in 148 patients. The follow-up periods in these patients ranged from 15 days to 42 months (mean, 274 days). The lesion sites were subphrenic space in 46 cases, liver in 33, perihepatic space in 20, pancreas or peirpancreatic space in 14, pelvic cavity in 13, and retroperitoneum in 13. We evaluated the success, failure, and recurrence rates, the causes of failure or recurrence, the mean duration of drainage, and the complications of PCD. RESULTS: Of the 165 cases, one hundred-fifty nine(96.5%) were successfully cured, Although a partial success could be achieved, 2(1.2%) cases were failed and 4(2.4%) were recurred. Multiloculation or fistula formation were the main causes of the unsullessful cases. The duration of drainage rainged from 2 to 605 days (mean, 1 days). Complications occured in 12 cases(7%) during or after procedures, which included fever and chill in 7, transgression of pleura in 2, bowel perforation in 2, and bleeding through catheter in 1. CONCLUSION: PCD is an effective and safe method for various abdominal abscesses or fluid collections.
Abdominal Abscess* ; Abscess ; Catheters* ; Drainage* ; Fever ; Fistula ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Liver ; Pancreas ; Pleura ; Recurrence

PURPOSE: To analyze the characteristies of traumatic brainstem injury by CT and MR MATERIALS AND METHODS: CT and MR studies of 10 patients with traumatic brainstem lesion in MR were retrospectively reviewed, particularly attended to location, signal intensity and associated lesions. RESULTS: CT failed to depict 8 of 10 brainstem lesions. All lesions were detected in MR images with T2-weighted images showing higher detection rate (n=10) (100%) than Tl-weighted images (n=3) (30%) or CT (n=2) (20%). The brainstem lesions located in the dorsolateral aspects of the rostral brainstem(mid brain and upper pons)in 7 (70%) cases, in ventral aspects of rostral brain in 2 (20%) cases and in median portion of pons in 1 (10%) case. Corpus callosal (n=5), Iobar white matter(n=5) diffuse axonal injury, and 2 hemorrhagic lesions in basal ganglia were the associated findings. CONCLUSION: MR imaging is more helpful than CT in the detection of brainstem injury, especially T2 weighted images. Primary brainstem lesions were typically located in the dorsolateral aspect of rostral brainstem(midbrain and upper pons). Corpus callosum and white matter lesions were frequently associated.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Brain Stem* ; Corpus Callosum ; Diffuse Axonal Injury ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pons ; Retrospective Studies

We propose the various Telemedicine applications on the DooRae (Distributed Object Oriented Multimedia Application Crafting Environment for Collaboration) framework(or platform). DooRae-Telemedicine supports the application development of the collaborative multimedia environment connected with the network(LAN, MAN, WAN) in the CBM(Computer based Multimedia) based. Also, it is not restrict on space between a doctor(s) and a patient(s) into cyberspace made by network. The kinds of Telemedicine in this paper have different distinction, and the development of these application system is possible on DooRae environment. DooRae-Telemedicine has a interaction, various communication type, a question and an answer, multi-session, application sharing and whiteboard which resembles chalkboard. Also, various supplementary functions such as video conference and voice conference for DooRae-telemedicine are what makes face-to-face medicine effective. Also it supports real or non-real type. The operating system developed on windows 95 and windows NT This research has been done creating multimedia-based telemedicine system for home PCs in network environment. Most of telemedicine used hardware and exclusive line of high cost as CATV broadcasting technique. But DooRae-telemedicine will contribute to change the Home-PC for better use of collaborations among doctor and patients through various modes o interactions in cyberspace.
Cooperative Behavior ; Humans ; Multimedia* ; Telemedicine* ; Voice

No abstract available.
Renal Insufficiency*

PURPOSE: Angiogenesis related to tumor invasion and metastasis may be accelerated by numerous factors that are released from tumor cells, tumor-associated inflammatory cells, or the extracellular matrix. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) are angiogenesis promoters, and are suspected to be key molecules in cancer progression. In colorectal cancer, tumor VEGF has been shown to be well correlated with relapse- free survival. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between serum VEGF and bFGF levels with the various indices of colorectal cancer. METHODS: Preoperative serum VEGF and bFGF levels were measured prospectively in 76 colorectal cancer patients, and compared with equivalent levels in healthy controls. Patients with a history of radiation therapy or chemotherapy within 6 months were excluded. RESULTS: The cut-off values of VEGF and bFGF were 244 pg/ml and 3.9 pg/ml, respectively. Patients with colorectal cancer showed a significantly higher level of serum VEGF and bFGF. In comparison with the control group, the serum VEGF level was significantly elevated in the advanced T stage group, the high UICC stage patients, and the hematogenous metastasis cases. Serum bFGF was also elevated in the advanced UICC TNM stage patients. The serum levels of VEGF and bFGF were well correlated with each other (P<0.0002). CONCLUSION: In colorectal cancer cases, serum bFGF and VEGF levels may be correlated with stage, except in early cancer stages. Therefore serum VEGF and bFGF levels may be used as predictive factors in advanced colorectal cancer.
Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Drug Therapy ; Extracellular Matrix ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prospective Studies ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

Spinal epidural abscesses are uncommon, but potentially devastating and often fatal. They can be found in normal patients, but they are more prevalent in immunocompromised patients, such as intravenous drug users, diabetics, chronic renal failure patients, pregnant women, and others. Timely diagnosis and treatment are the keys to optimizing outcome. Traditionally, treatment has comprised parenteral antibiotics and possible surgical intervention, such as decompression by pus drainage. We treated a long level (T4-L1) epidural abscess in a diabetic patient who had to undergo emergent long level decompression and drainage due to complete paralysis of the lower extremities and progression of neurologic deficit toward the upper thoracic level. Although lower extremity paralysis has not improved, the patient has completely recovered from lower extremity anesthesia. Further follow-up was not done because the patient expired due to sepsis eight month after surgery.
Anesthesia ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Decompression ; Drainage ; Drug Users ; Epidural Abscess ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Lower Extremity ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Paralysis ; Pregnant Women ; Sepsis ; Suppuration

Intussusception is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in early childhood and characterized by periodic colicky abdominal pain or irritability, vomiting, current jelly stool, and sausage-like abdominal mass. Meckel's diverticulum is common intestinal anomaly presenting with painless rectal bleeding during first 2 year of age. It is recognized as a common leading point of intussusception in childhood. Hematemesis is the rare clinical manifestation of both intussusception and Meckel's diverticulum. A 7-year-old girl presented with hematemesis was diagnosed as having intussusception by abdominal ultrasonography. Meckel's diverticulum was the leading point of intussusception in this case.
Abdominal Pain ; Child ; Female ; Hematemesis* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intestinal Obstruction ; Intussusception* ; Meckel Diverticulum* ; Ultrasonography ; Vomiting

Cerebral dural sinus thrombosis(CDST) has been described as a rare disease with a variety of patho-etiological factors. The diagnosis of CDST is difficult due to various symptoms and signs, none of which is specific to CDST. But timely diagosis is critical for effective management. The introduction and widespread use of computed tomography(CT), magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) and cerebral angiography made early diagnosis of CDST possible. In particular, MR venography is the most useful tool for establishing a correct diagnosis quickly. In early literature, mortality ranked between 30% and 50% but in more recent series it is between 5.5% and 30%. With the advent of diagnostic and therapeutic tools, early diagnosis and proper management has made the prognosis better. The appropriate therapy for CDST, however, has been the subject of much cortroversy. Individual variations of the venous system and collateral vessels are key factors to decide the proper treatment. In this report, we present two cases with symptomatic CDST treated without open surgical or direct endovascular interventions with good outcome.
Cerebral Angiography ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Mortality ; Phlebography ; Prognosis ; Rare Diseases ; Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial*

PURPOSE: A cDNA microarray is a systematic method to identify key molecules for prognosis and for treatment response by profiling thousands of genes expressed in a single cancer. The clinical value of cDNA microarray is still being investigated in various fields. This technique could be used in detecting molecules important for cancer to develop, to monitor the effect of new cancer therapeutics, and to give a prognosis for cancer patients. We now report the results of our initial cDNA microarray data to analyze the genome pattern of colorectal cancer tissues and to evaluate the possibility of using cDNA microarrays in a clinical setting for cancer patients. METHODS: We used the general cDNA microarray technique with a 2.4 K cDNA chip provided by Macrogene company. RNA extracted from seven colorectal cancer tissues was amplified by using RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction), and applied to a cDNA chip to produce an antigen-antibody reaction. The results were analyzed individually and hierarchically. RESULTS: All seven tested cancer tissues were harvested from operative specimens at the Korea Cancer Center Hospital. The male-to-female ratio was 4 to 3. Five patients were TNM stage II, and two patients were stage III. Eighteen genes were upregulated in stage II patients, and 51 in stage III patients. The number of genes discriminating stage was 69, including 8 control genes, 4 ribosomal genes, 5 EST genes, 10 known non-functional genes, 23 genesof unknown function, and 19 possible cancer-related genes. A hierarchial graph showed similar patterns within a stage, which suggests that genetic patterns might affect clinical characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Seven colorectal cancer tissues were analyzed with the cDNA microarray technique using 2.4 K cDNA chip. Authors could identify 69 genes that showed the significant change of expression. Although our reports presented the preliminary results, we think that the cDNA microarray will be able to offer an informative results to predict cancer development and progression in colorectal cancer.
Antigen-Antibody Reactions ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; DNA, Complementary* ; Genome ; Humans ; Korea ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis* ; Prognosis ; RNA

Primary thyroid lymphoma is a rare tumor which patients usually present an enlarging neck mass, often causing local obstructive symptoms. Hypothyroidism is seen in 30-40% of the patients with primary thyroid lymphoma. We report a 77-year-old man with history of hypothyroidism, presenting enlarging anterior neck mass which pathologically confirmed as thyroid lymphoma with literature review.
Aged ; Dyspnea* ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; Lymphoma* ; Neck ; Thyroid Gland*