Rectovagianl fistula(RVF) is a congenital or acquired communication between the two epithelial-lined surface of the rectum and the vagina. We present our experience with 62 patients with RVF. There were various etiologies and repair methods of rectovaginal fistula. The purpose of this study was to retospectively review the clinical course of the patients we treated and to evaluate the efficacy of various treatment options. The mean age was 40.5 yr, The type of RVF was classified to one of two(simple and complex), according to their location, size and etiology. RVF was developed most commonly after radiotherapy due to cervical cancer(n=17), then after pelvic surgery due to malignancy(n=16), obstetric trauma after episiotomy at delivery(n=7), congenital malformation(n=4), inflammatory bowel disease(n=1), Bechet's disease(n=1), infections such as perianal fistula or abscess(n=2), direct invasion of carcinoma(n=3), after chemotherapy(n=1), and idiopathic(n=6). Three cases of them associated with rectovesicovaginal fistula. Surgical therapeutic option was divided to local repair, abdominal approach and tissue transposition by the type of RVF. Most simple RVFs were repaired with local approach through the vagina or rectum. Most complex RVFs were repaired through abdominal approach or tissue transposition. With an average follow up of 20 months, the treatment results were as follows: completely healed(n=36, 58.1%), persistent symptom(n=6, 9.7%), recurrence after repair(n=5, 8.1%), loss of search or death(n=15, 24.1%). Therefore we assist that the management of RVF depends on size, location, and cause. anal sphincter function and overall health status of the patient. Careful preoperative assessment of the fistula, surrounding tissues, and anal sphincter and exclusion of associated disease are essential. With through evaluation, thoughtful consideration of treatment options, and meticulous operative technique, patient can be assured of an optimal outcome.
Anal Canal ; Episiotomy ; Female ; Fistula ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Radiotherapy ; Rectovaginal Fistula* ; Rectum ; Recurrence ; Vagina

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an hereditary autosomal dominant disease characterized by development of hundreds to thousands of adenomatous polyps in the colon and rectum. The common symptoms are bloody stool, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. The average age at onset of symptoms is 33 years. Because of inevitable progression to malignancy, it is necessary to remove the entire colonic and rectal mucosa. Current surgical options are total proctocolectomy with permanent ileostomy, trans-abdominal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis (IRA), and restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). Recently IPAA can give optimum control of colorectal polyposis in FAP patients with an acceptable incidence of postoperative complications and satisfactory functional results. We experienced one case of FAP who had malignacy in the remained rectum after subtotal colectomy. IPAA was done and the result was satisfactory.
Abdominal Pain ; Adenomatous Polyposis Coli* ; Adenomatous Polyps ; Colectomy* ; Colon ; Diarrhea ; Humans ; Ileostomy ; Incidence ; Mucous Membrane ; Postoperative Complications ; Proctocolectomy, Restorative ; Rectum*

PURPOSE: The conventional surgical treatment for patients with potentially curable low rectal cancer is abdominoperineal resection. Recently there has been increasing interest in the use of preoperative radiation therapy and sphincter-saving procedure as primary therapy for selected low rectal cancers. We report our institutional experience with this approach. METHODS: From 1995 to 1997, Twelve patients with resectable distal rectal cancer were offered sphincter-saving procedure, excluding the patients whose pretreatment tumor presentation demonstrated fixation to anal sphincter or puborectalis muscle. The distance from the anal verge to the distal tumor margin at initial diagnosis ranged from 1 to 5 cm. Patients received a median 50.4 Gy and chemotherapy Surgery was carried out 4 to 8 weeks after radiation. RESULTS: No patient had toxic reaction that required interruption of chemoradiation. Four patients (33%) had complete pathologic response, but one patient with complete clinical response had residual cancer. Seven patients underwent hand-sewn coloanal anastomosis and five patients transanal excision en bloc. All patients were able to successfully undergo a sphincter-saving procedure. With a mean follow-up of 23 months (range, 6~32), the authors noted no recurrence or complication. Sphincter function was good in 92%. Daily bowel movements was two (range, 1~10). CONCLUSION: Preoperative chemoradiation appears promising in terms of better patient compliance, lesser toxicity, and downstaging tumor, making the sphincter-saving procedure feasible in carefully selected cases. Surgical resection remains essential to confirm and to achieve complete clinical remission. The results of preoperative chemoradiation and sphinctersaving procedure are encouraging, but more experience is needed to determine whether this approach ultimately has similar local control and survival rate compared to standard surgery.
Anal Canal ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Patient Compliance ; Rectal Neoplasms* ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate

Trichilemmal horn(trichilemmal keratosis) is a rare keratinizing tumor that resembles a cutaneous horn. Histologically, it is characterized by an abrupt maturation of keratinocytes into lamellar keratin without the formation of a granular layer. We describe a case of a trichilemmal horn on the right cheek of a 78-year-old woman.
Aged ; Animals ; Cheek ; Female ; Horns* ; Humans ; Keratinocytes

188Re (beta=22 MeV; gamma=155 keV; T1/2=16.9 hours) is an attractive therapeutic radioisotope which is produced from decay of reactor-produced tungsten-188 parent (T1/2=69 days). 188W has been produced from the double neutron capture reaction of 186W. 188Re can be easily obtained by elution of saline on alumina based 186W/188Re generator, which is commercially available. Complexes labelled with 188Re have been developed for the radiotherapy treatment of diseases because of the desirable nuclear properties of the radioisotope and it's chemical properties similar to those of technetium, a well established diagnostic agent.
Aluminum Oxide ; Humans ; Neutrons ; Parents ; Radiotherapy ; Technetium

A 38-year-old man presented with a black pigmented patch overlying his upper lip, a part of the gingiva and the hard palate. An intradermal tumor mass was palpated at the central portion of the pigmented patch of the upper lip. Diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) is a potent contact sensitizer that could stimulate non-specific immunity. We report a case of desmoplastic malignant melanoma (DMM) in which an atypical lentiginous pigmentation disappeared with topical DPCP immunotherapy and the dermal tumor mass was removed by a surgical wedge-shaped excision. Though an atypical lentiginous pigmentation of DMM sometimes undergoes extensive spontaneous regression, in our case it could be attributed to the therapeutic effect of topical DPCP immunotherapy rather than a spontaneous regression.
Adult ; Gingiva ; Humans ; Immunity, Innate ; Immunotherapy ; Lip ; Melanoma* ; Palate, Hard ; Pigmentation*

Three patients with complex partial seizures had dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET) in temporal lobe. In all cases, longterm video-EEG monitoring showed epileptogenic focus in left temporal lobe where small mass lesion was located. For further seizure localization and functional mapping, subdural grids were placed on left temporal lobe including lesions. Lateral temporal lobectomy with lesionectomy was performed in two cases. Lateral temporal lobe resection and amygdalohippocampectomy was done in one case. The pathological findings of all lesions were characterized by intracortical location, multiple nodular architecture, foci of dysplastic cortical disorganization and the presence of a specific glioneuronal element. All patients have been seizure free.
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe* ; Humans ; Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial* ; Seizures ; Temporal Lobe*

A 67-year-old woman with severe congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association, NYHA class IV) was set to receive general anesthesia for cardiac surgery. For several months, she had been in a constant sitting position from which the slightest change evoked dyspnea. A patient in such a condition is rarely considered a candidate for general anesthesia, because such patients are never eligible for any type of surgery other than that used to fix the heart problem itself. We report this case to explain how anesthesia was induced with the patient sitting in a crouching position and discuss other methods of induction that can probably be used in similar situations.
Aged ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Dyspnea ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Female ; Heart ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Thoracic Surgery

BACKGROUNDS: The Rh antigens are important m clinical practice. The classification of Rh phenotype is usually based on the antigen detection done by conventional serologic method, but it has many limitation such as delicate grading of antigen expression. Recently, Flowcytometry has been introduced in immunohematology to detect and quantitate cell bound immunoglobulins to assess blood cell antigens and related antibodies. So, we tried these method to detect Rh(D) antigen and measure its density and evaluated the possibility of clinical usage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a flowcytometric analysis for the expression of D antigen in D-positive, negative and weak D group in indirect immune fluorescence assay by using polyclonal antibodies. We measured the intensity of immunofluorescence as a degree of antigen density and analysed the difference of mean channel fluorescence value(MCF) among these groups. RESULTS: Weak D groups had the lower fluorescence than D-positive group, while D-negative sample showed the same fluorecence as negative ntrol. The difference of fluorescence intensity of D antigen between that of C antigen were not observed and were statistically insignificant. CONCLUSION: Flowcytometry appear to be a good tool for antigen density measurement in immunohematologic areas and shows the possibility of application to other aspect.
Antibodies ; Blood Cells ; Classification ; Fluorescence ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Immunoglobulins ; Phenotype

The complications following the use of laryngeal mask(LM) are usually mild and cause clinical problems rarely. However, as the use of LM increases, it seems important to know the common injuries, symptoms, and factors relevant to complications from its use. We investigated prospectively the influence of age, sex, height, weight, duration of LM placement, presence of blood tinged on LM and coughing on LM placement, use of anticholinergics, anticholinesterase, and opioid on the mucosal injuries and patient symptoms in 97 healthy adult patients undergoing elective surgery by the indirect laryngoscopy and questionnaire 8~24 hours after surgery. The upper airway symptoms were throat discomfort(22.7%), and sore throat(10.3%). The findings of mucosal injuries were erythema(27%), edema(5%), and petechial hematoma(2%). The mucosal injuries were centered around the pharynx and the epiglottis(63.6% of total mucosal injuries), and 17 of 21 patients who were observed to have mucosal injuries complained upper airway symptoms. These resuts suggest that the pharynx and epiglottis are most vulnerable to injuries and most common sites causing upper airway symptoms from the LM placement. Vocal cord erythema was found in 8.2% of patients, which was seemed to be due to the grates of the LM aperture. The severity of the mucosal injuries was correlated to the severity of upper airway symptoms(P < 0.05, r=0.464). Male sex, presence of blood on LM, and the longer duration of LM placement were associated with a relatively high incidence of mucosal injuries, and the longer duration of LM placement with that of upper airway symptoms(P < 0.05). After above variables were controlled for, presence of blood on LM was a precipitating factor in mucosal injuries and the longer duration of LM placement was precipitating factor in symptoms(P < 0.05). We failed to find a significant correlation of duration of LM placement with the severity of mucosal injuries or symptoms.
Adult ; Cholinergic Antagonists ; Cough ; Epiglottis ; Erythema ; Humans ; Incidence ; Laryngeal Masks* ; Laryngoscopy ; Male ; Pharynx ; Precipitating Factors ; Prospective Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tolnaftate ; Vocal Cords