Primary gout is an as yet undefined inborn error of metabolism characterized by hyperuricemia, recurrent attacks of acute arthritis ordinarily responsive to colchicine, and in many instances eventually by tophaus deposit of urate. Also secondary gouty symptom complexes can be induced by various causes. The kidney is involved about 15 ~ 20% of gout and represented clinically as albuminuria, which may persist for several decades before nitrogen retention ensues, and progressively reveal the impairment of concentrating ability and delayed excretion of PSP. This patient has been chronically suffered from the right flank pain and intermittent oliguria due to bilateral ureteral obstruction by uric acid stone and crystals for five years and exploratory operation for stone turned out as gouty kidney complicated in the polycystic kidney. The authors report this case with review of the literature.
Albuminuria ; Arthritis ; Colchicine ; Flank Pain ; Gout ; Humans ; Hyperuricemia ; Kidney* ; Metabolism ; Nitrogen ; Oliguria ; Polycystic Kidney Diseases ; Ureteral Obstruction ; Uric Acid

PURPOSE: Recently, a percutaneous aspiration with sclerotherapy has become the treatment of choice for the symptomatic, large, and simple renal cyst because of its minimal invasiveness and high effectiveness. The recurrence rate of a percutaneous aspiration only, was reported to range from 30 to 70%. This study was performed to evaluate the effects of percutaneous aspiration with sclerotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The results of the treatment in 36 cases of simple renal cysts from October 1993 to December 1999 were evaluated. The symptoms associated with simple renal cysts were: flank pain or discomfort (50%), none (47.2%) and a palpable mass (2.8%). The simple renal cysts were treated with a percutaneous aspiration only in 6 cases, a percutaneous aspiration with sclerotherapy using 99% ethanol in 21 cases or a 10% minocycline solution in 9 cases. All patients were followed up by ultrasound for 6 to 56 months (mean 18 months). RESULTS: Complete collapse, and partial collapse rate of the renal cysts were 1/6 (16.7%), 2/6 (33.3%) in the aspiration only group, 6/21 (28.6%), 14/21 (66.7%) in the 99% ethanol group and 3/9 (33.3%), 4/9 (44.4%) in the 10% minocycline solution group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, a percutaneous aspiration with sclerotherapy using either 99% ethanol or 10% minocycline solution appears to be an effective way to the prevent re-accumulation of cystic fluid. However, the success rates in the percutaneous aspiration with sclerotherapy using 99% ethanol and 10% minocycline solution were not significantly different.
Ethanol ; Flank Pain ; Humans ; Minocycline ; Recurrence ; Sclerotherapy* ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether Disability Evaluation (DE) situations influence patients' neuropsychological test performances and psychopathological characteristics and which variable play a role to establish an explanation model using statistical analysis. METHODS: Patients were 536 (56.6%) brain-injured persons who met inclusion and exclusion criteria, classified into the DE group (DE; n = 300, 56.0%) and the non-DE group (NDE; n = 236, 44.0%) according to the neuropsychological testing's purpose. Next, we classified DE subjects into DE cluster 1 (DEC1; 91, 17.0%), DE cluster 2 (DEC2; 125; 23.3%), and DE cluster 3 (DEC3; 84, 15.7%) via two-step cluster analysis, to specify DE characteristics. All patients completed the K-WAIS, K-MAS, K-BNT, SCL-90-R, and MMPI. RESULTS: In comparisons between DE and NDE, the DE group showed lower intelligence quotients and more severe psychopathologic symptoms, as evaluated by the SCL-90-R and MMPI, than the NDE group did. When comparing the intelligence among the DE groups and NDE group, DEC1 group performed worst on intelligence and memory and had most severe psychopathologic symptoms than the NDE group did. The DEC2 group showed modest performance increase over the DEC1 and DEC3, similar to the NDE group. Paradoxically, the DEC3 group performed better than the NDE group did on all variables. CONCLUSION: The DE group showed minimal "faking bad" patterns. When we divided the DE group into three groups, the DEC1 group showed typical malingering patterns, the DEC2 group showed passive malingering patterns, and the DEC3 group suggested denial of symptoms and resistance to treatment.
Brain ; Brain Injuries ; Denial (Psychology) ; Disability Evaluation ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Malingering ; Memory ; MMPI ; Neuropsychological Tests

Prepubertal Sertoli cell tumor of testis is very rare and most of them are benign. The choice of treatment is radical orchiectomy but careful follow-up for possible retro peritoneal spread is appropriate. We report a rare case of Sertoli cell tumor of testis in a 8-year-old boy. His chief complaint was a painless left testicular swelling from birth. Serum levels of tumor markers were within normal limits. Radical orchiectomy was performed, and cut surface of testis was yellowish and was completely displaced by lobulated tumor mass. Postoperative CT and chest x-ray showed no evidence of metastasis. The patient is alive without evidence of disease for 8 months postopera tively.
Child* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Orchiectomy ; Parturition ; Sertoli Cell Tumor* ; Testis* ; Thorax ; Biomarkers, Tumor

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a combination drug therapy (tamsulosin plus finasteride) for benign prostatic hyperplasia, with a small prostate volume of less than 40 grams. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty-three patients, with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia of less than 40 grams, were analysed. Group 1 (n=67) had been treated with a combination of finasteride (5mg/day) and tamsulosin (0.2mg/ day), and Group 2 (n=56) with tamsulosin only (0.2mg/day) over a 12 month period. The patients were periodically assessed by IPSS (international prostate symptom score), uroflowmetry and residual urine, during the treatment period. RESULTS: The mean changes in the total symptom score, obstructive and irritative symptom score for group 1 and group 2 at 1 year were -7.21+/-7.44 (39.86%), -4.79+/-5.07 (45.02%) and -2.42+/-3.25 (48.11%), and -7.39+/-9.98 (43.06%), -4.82+/-6.91 (45.21%) and -2.39+/-4.00 (37.82%) points, respectively. The mean changes in the peak urinary-flow rates and postvoid residual urine for group 1 and group 2 at 1 year were 2.07+/-5.42 (16.65%)ml/s and -31.58+/-60.99 (56.47%)ml, and 2.38+/-6.57 (16.53%)ml/s and -34.78+/-86.77 (50.24%)ml, respectively. The effects of the combination of finasteride and tamsulosin were no greater than the tamsulosin monotherapy (p>0.01). CONCLUSIONS: A combination of finasteride and tamsulosin is no more effective than tamsulosin alone, in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, with a prostate volume of less than 40 grams.
Drug Therapy, Combination ; Finasteride* ; Humans ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Hyperplasia*

PURPOSE: Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the gold standard treatment for symptomatic benign prostate hyperplasia, but significant complications are associated with this procedure. The aim of this study was to compare the standard TURP with the high power (80W) potassium-titanyl-phosphate laser (KTP/532; Greenlights PVTM laser system; Laserscope, San Jose, USA) to elucidate the efficacy and safety of laser treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed comparative trials of 40 patients suffering with symptomatic bladder outlet obstruction due to benign prostatic hyperplasia from February 2005 to June 2005. Twenty patients were treated with TURP (Group I) and 20 patients were treated with KTP (Group II). All patients were assessed preoperatively and at an interval of 3 months postoperatively based on the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), the quality of life (QoL) index, changes in maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax), and the postvoid residual urine (ml). The safety parameters we evaluated included the operative time (minutes), the postoperative catheterization time (day) and the blood loss (ml). The Kolmogorov- Smirnov & Shapiro-Wilk test, Student's t-test, Student's t-test (paired), and Fisher's Exact test were performed for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of each group was 68.9+/-9.9 years (group 1) and 63.9+/-9.7 years (group II), and the prostate weight was 49.5+/-15.4cc and 45.0+/-17.3cc, respectively. The mean operation time was shorter for group II (27.7+/-13.6min) than for group I (48.1+/-22.6min) (p<0.05). The mean catheterization time was 5.6+/-1.82 and 1.36+/-1.64 days, respectively, (p<0.001). The blood loss was lower in group II (11.7+/-11.4ml) than in group I (181.9+/-168.17ml, respectively) (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this preliminary short-term study, KTP Laser enucleation of the prostate was shown to be an effective alternative for treating benign prostate hyperplasia as compared with standard TURP.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Laser Therapy* ; Lasers, Solid-State ; Operative Time ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Quality of Life ; Transurethral Resection of Prostate ; Urinary Bladder Neck Obstruction