Emphysematous pyelonephritis is a life-threatening, severe renal infection characterized by the presence of gas in the renal parenchyma or perirenal space. Bilateral involvement is rarely seen, with only 17 cases reported in the iterature. We herein report two cases of bilateral emphysematous pyelonephritis. One is occurred subsequently in a patient with diabetic cystopathy, the other is developed simultaneously and shows bilaterally-communicated gas pattern on computerized tomography. The theories on pathogenesis of the disease are reviewed and the modes of disease progression in our patients are discussed.
Disease Progression ; Humans ; Pyelonephritis*

Routine urinalysis is a simple, economical, and useful test that facilitates the detection of urinary system diseases and monitoring of renal disease progression. It consists of 4 parts of specimen evaluation, gross examination, a dipstick urinalysis, and a sediment microscopic urinalysis. Urine specimens should first be evaluated in terms of acceptability, and thereafter, the gross appearance is examined for color, turbidity, and odor. In particular, a dipstick urinalysis is an easy and rapid test that provides information on the multiple physicochemical properties of the urine sample. Moreover, although a sediment microscopic urinalysis is time-consuming, it provides information on the cells, microorganisms, casts, and crystals. In the present report, the clinical significance of the routine urinalysis and the problems concerning interpretation are summarized.
Disease Progression ; Odors ; Urinalysis*

PURPOSE: As increased level of prostaglandin has been identified in the bony lesions of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), we speculated that indomethacin, a potent prostaglandin inhibitor, may be effective for patients with LCH. METHODS: Retrospective review of 8 children with LCH (male 7, female 1) treated with indomethacin at Seoul National University Children's Hospital from September 1999 to February 2001 was done. The dose of indomethacin ranged from 1.8 to 2.8 mg/kg/day in two divided doses. RESULTS: Four patients with single bony lesion had a complete response to treatment. Among them one patient was treated with indomethacin after fourth relapse. Two patients with multiple bony lesions seemed to have partial response to treatment with indomethacin initially but showed disease progression later. Two patients with extraosseous lesion did not respond, but skull lesions were resolved after treatment. No serious toxicities of indomethacin treatment were observed. CONCLUSION: Indomethacin seems to be a very convenient and useful therapy for LCH involving single bony lesion. The mechanism how the LCH imporves in response to indomethacin has to be elucidated. Whether it has a specific role in slowing disease progression or we are seeing merely a spontaneous remission has to be studied in large scale.
Child ; Disease Progression ; Female ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell* ; Humans ; Indomethacin* ; Prostaglandin Antagonists ; Recurrence ; Remission, Spontaneous ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul ; Skull

Postoperative surveillance in patients with thyroid cancer is very important for radiologist to help the clinician manage the patient. The role of ultrasound is important but small volume tumor recurrence may not affect survival as well as its treatment may, at times, cause more morbid than its natural disease progression. In this review, I discuss postoperative surveillance in patients with thyroid cancer in the view of a radiologist.
Disease Progression ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: Bevacizumab±irinotecan is effective for treatment of recurrent malignant gliomas. However, the optimal duration of treatment has not been established. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-four consecutive patients with recurrent malignant glioma who were treated with bevacizumab at our institutions were identified. Patients who continued bevacizumab until tumor progression were enrolled in a late discontinuation (LD) group, while those who stopped bevacizumab before tumor progression were enrolled in an early discontinuation (ED) group. Landmark analyses were performed at weeks 9, 18, and 26 for comparison of patient survival between the two groups. RESULTS: Among 89 assessable patients, 62 (69.7%) and 27 (30.3%) patients were categorized as the LD and ED groups, respectively. According to landmark analysis, survival times from weeks 9, 18, and 26 were not significantly different between the two groups in the overall population. However, the LD group showed a trend toward increased survival compared to the ED group among responders. In the ED group, the median time from discontinuation to disease progression was 11.4 weeks, and none of the patients showed a definite rebound phenomenon. Similar median survival times after disease progression were observed between groups (14.4 weeks vs. 15.7 weeks, p=0.251). Of 83 patients, 38 (45.8%) received further therapy at progression, and those who received further therapy showed longer survival in both the LD and ED groups. CONCLUSION: In recurrent malignant glioma, duration of bevacizumab was not associated with survival time in the overall population. However, ED of bevacizumab in responding patients might be associated with decreased survival.
Bevacizumab* ; Disease Progression ; Glioblastoma ; Glioma* ; Humans

Disease Progression ; Humans ; Vascular Calcification ; metabolism

China ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Pneumoconiosis ; epidemiology

Disease Progression ; Facial Hemiatrophy ; surgery ; Humans

Adult ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Male ; Tabes Dorsalis

BACKGROUND: There were many studies about the changes of cognitive or non-cognitive domain and behavioral and psychological symptoms with the progression of Alzheimer's disease. But they assessed the changes individually so could not explain comprehensively the global change of disease progression. Also they studied by clinical dementia rating scale(CDR) which could not successfully explain the latest stage. So we have evaluated the cognitive, non-cognitive domain and behavioral and psychological symptoms at the same time and evaluated the changes with the expanded clinical dementia rating scale. Also we evaluated the relationship of each scale and assessed sensitivity change at the different stage of disease. METHODS: Twenty-three mild cognitive impairment(MCI) subjects and eighty-seven patients with Alzheimer's disease were recruited. The Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination(K-MMSE), the Korean version of the neuropsychiatric inventory(NPI), the Extended version of the Korean Clinical Dementia Rating Scale(CDR), the Activity of Daily Living(ADL), the Severe Dementia Scale(SDS) and the Short form of Samsung Dementia Questionnaire(S-SDQ) were performed. RESULTS: It was found that all of them were well correlated each other(r>-0.73 and p<0.05) except NPI. Physical activity of daily living(P-ADL) was most related to Korean version of instrumental activity of daily living(K-IADL) (r=0.86 and p<0.01), SDS to K-MMSE(r=0.93 and p<0.01) and S-SDQ to K-IADL(r=0.86 and p<0.01). P-ADL and S-SDQ revealed the ceiling effect at CDR 4 and K-IADL at CDR 3. CONCLUSION: The cognitive and non-cognitive function were declined according to disease progression. The changes of behavioral and psychological symptoms were relatively independent of cognitive function. SDS, P-ADL and CDR were proved to be more sensitive in advanced stage of dementia and K-IADL, S-SDQ were more adequate in milder stage of dementia or MCI.
Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Motor Activity