The efficacy of beta and gamma emitters in reducing clinical and angiographic restenosis in patients with in-stent restenosis has been confirmed by a number of studies. This review is intended to give an overview of the individual trials, summarize pertinent lessons that have been learned and give insight into the future of intracoronary radiation. The encouraging results from the clinical trials have established vascular brachytherapy as a standard of care for patients with in-stent restenosis.
Brachytherapy ; Coronary Restenosis ; Humans ; Standard of Care ; Stents

No abstract available.
Burns* ; Hand* ; Humans ; Infant*

No Abstract Available.
Cytokines* ; Perforin* ; Shwartzman Phenomenon* ; Vibrio vulnificus* ; Vibrio*

BACKGROUND: Cutting Balloon angioplasty (CBA) may be a useful treatment modality for in-stent restenosis (ISR) as it maintains a stable position during dilatation and results in potentially less injury than plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA). The purpose of this study was to compare CBA and POBA with intracoronary radiation therapy (IRT) for in-stent restenosis (ISR). METHODS: We selected 157 consecutive patients from the WRIST (Washington Radiation for In-stent restenosis Trial) series of gamma radiation trials using both gamma and beta emitters for ISR of native coronaries or saphenous vein grafts, who were treated with CBA or POBA as the only treatment strategy before intracoronary radiation therapy. Patients in the CBA (N=64) and POBA (N=93) groups were matched for baseline demographic and procedural characteristics. Radiation was delivered successfully in all cases. RESULTS: At angiographic follow up, acute gain was higher in the CBA group than the POBA group (1.7+/-.7 mm vs. 1.4+/-.9 mm, p=0.03). The angiographic restenosis rate (17.1% vs. 23.5%, p=NS) and edge restenosis rate (6.3% vs. 12.2%, p=NS) were not significantly lower in the cutting balloon cohort. At a 6 month clinical follow up, the CBA group showed a statistically decreased rate of clinically driven target vessel revascularization compared to the POBA group (5.7% vs.18.3%, p=0.038). CONCLUSION: Cutting balloon angioplasty is a reasonable treatment strategy for in-stent restenosis prior to intracoronary radiation therapy.
Angioplasty, Balloon* ; Brachytherapy ; Cohort Studies ; Coronary Restenosis ; Dilatation ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gamma Rays ; Humans ; Saphenous Vein ; Stents ; Transplants ; Wrist

PURPOSE: We performed dynamic MR imaging using GdDTPA to find characteristic enhancement pattern of hepatic hemangioma distinguishing from hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS AND MATERIALS: 28 hepatic hemangiomas and 10 hepatocellular carcinomas were evaluated. Serial dynamic scans after Gd-DTPA(0.1mmol/kg) intravenous injection were obtained by using 0.5T machine and analyzed contrast-to-noise ratio(CNR) of the lesion and enhancement pattern on each scan. RESULTS: Hepatic hemangiomas had positive CNR from 1-2 minute images, and revealed typical "fill-in phenomenon" on early phase with prolonged enhancement in 26 cases(92.8%), and early homogeneous enhancement with isointensity on delayed phase in 2 cases(7.2%) of small hemangiome~ Hepatocellular carcinomas revealed inhomogeneous enhancement with hypointensity on delayed phase in 10 cases(100%) and 3 cases (30%) of capsular enhancement. CONCLUSION: Hepatic hemangioma can be easily distinguished from hepatocellular carcinoma by using Gd DTPA enhanced dynamic MR imaging according to its typical enhancement pattern of "fill-in phenomenon" and prolonged enhancement.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Diagnosis, Differential* ; Gadolinium DTPA ; Hemangioma* ; Injections, Intravenous ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging*

In order to evaluate the efficiency of serological typing of A. baumannii in practical application, a total of 63 strains of A. baumannii and 234 strains of Gram-negative, lactose non-fermenting bacteria were tested with polyclonal rabbit immunized sera (RIS) against heat-killed A. baumannii strains by slide agglutination tests. Six typing sera of RIS were finally obtained after the checkerboard agglutination test and reciprocal cross-absorption. Species identification of sixty-three strains of A. baumannii were confirmed by ribotyping. Forty-seven (74.6%) of the 63 strains of A. baumannii showed strong positive reaction by slide agglutination tests. Thirty-nine strains could be serotypable and thus classified into 6 distinct serovars of A. baumannii, but 8 strains were unable to classify into specific serovar. Serovar 4 was the most frequent arbitrary serovar and included 17 strains among the 39. When slide agglutination tests were performed with 50-fold diluted pooled polyclonal RIS, there was no cross-reactions except one of E. coli strain among 234 strains of various Gram-negative lactose non-fermenting. Although each profile of LPS-gel electrophoresis of A. baumannii appeared to be unrelated with serovar, the patterns of western-blot of LPS after immunostaining with homologous RIS showed serovar-specificity. Several fractions of low molecular weight LPS showed cross-reaction with antisera of other serovars. In conclusion, the sensitivity and specificity of serological identification of A. baumannii strains were 74.6% and 99.6%, respectively. This result suggests that serotyping is a useful method for the identification of A. baumannii strains as well as is the epidemiological tool to trace back the source of the nosocomial outbreaks.
Acinetobacter baumannii* ; Acinetobacter* ; Agglutination Tests ; Bacteria ; Disease Outbreaks ; Electrophoresis ; Immune Sera ; Lactose ; Molecular Weight ; Ribotyping ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Serotyping

BACKGROUND: In recent years, estrogen has also been shown to modulate the development and function of the brain, bur not exclusively in areas involved with sexual behavior. Among the most novel and fascinating effects of estrogen are those on cognitive function and memory process and their alterations during aging and neurodegenarative disease like Alzheimer. Estrogen receptors distributed not only in the hypothalamus but many different areas, like cerebral cortex, hippocampus, basal forebrain, midbrain, spinal cord, and the diverse action of estrogen is supported by this fact. Numerous studies suggest thai estrogen may be beneficial in preserving cognitive function, but it is not clear yet. PURPOSE: In this study, we perform the immunohistochemical staining in the hippocampus of normal aged rat, and show the distribution of estrogen receptor compared with the neonatal rat. METHODS: we have used antibodies against a estrogen receptor(ER)-alpha to determine their distribution in neonatal and aged SD rat hippocampus. RESULTS: In neonatal rat hippocampus, ER-alpha immunoreactivity was observed in the nucleus of Purkinje cells, whereas in aged rat hippocampus, ER-a immunoreactivity was found mainly in the cytoplasm of Purkinje cells. CONCLUSION: We showed the age related intracellular differential distribution of ER-alpha immunoreactivity in the rat hippocampus. But, further investigations are required to establish whether functional relations like cognitive ability exist with this different intracellular expression of ER-alpha immunoreactivity.
Aging ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain ; Cerebral Cortex ; Cytoplasm ; Estrogens* ; Hippocampus* ; Humans ; Hypothalamus ; Memory ; Mesencephalon ; Prosencephalon ; Purkinje Cells ; Rats* ; Receptors, Estrogen ; Sexual Behavior ; Spinal Cord

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of suction drains following total hip arthroplasties, by comparing the post-operative results between the group with suction drains and the group without suction drains. Materials and Methods: Eighty-six patients, who underwent primary total hip arthroplasties from June 2001 to June 2004, were divided into two groups: group 1 (48 patients), with suction drains; and group 2 (38 patients), without suction drains. We assessed the perioperative hemoglobin and platelet levels, the amount of total blood loss, the amount of post-operative blood transfusions, post-operative ranges of motion (ROMs, at 6 weeks), wound problems, and general conditions. Results: Although the postoperative hemoglobin level was greater in group 2 than in group 1, there was no statistically significant difference. The amount of total blood loss and blood transfusions in group 1 were statistically greater than in group 2 (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the post-operative ROMs and wound complications between groups 1 and 2. Conclusion: There were no limitations of hip motion and no wound complications in the patients without suction drains after total hip arthroplasties. However, they required fewer post-operative blood transfusions than did the patients with suction drains, due to less post-operative blood loss; and the absence of a suction drain might prevent retrograde tube infections. In addition, patients without suction drains after total hip arthroplasties seemed to recover better did than those with suction drains. Therefore, suction drains might provide no benefit in total hip arthroplasties.
Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip* ; Blood Platelets ; Blood Transfusion ; Hip ; Humans ; Suction* ; Wounds and Injuries

Tibialis anterior muscle hernia is the most common hernia among lower extremity muscles. This condition can be diagnosed by physical examination and radiologic findings, especially by dynamic ultrasonography. There are surgical methods of treatment for muscle hernia, including direct repair, fasciotomy, fascial patch grafting using autologous fascia lata or synthetic mesh. We report a case of tibialis anterior muscle hernia treated with local periosteal rotational flap. Because there are several advantages to the local periosteal rotational flap, such as lack of donor site morbidity, lack of skin irritation, low cost, simplicity, and an easy approach, this technique could be an option for tibialis anterior muscle hernia.
Fascia Lata ; Hernia ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Muscles ; Physical Examination ; Skin ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the shortening and rotational deformity after closed intramedullary nailing of femur shaft fracture according to Winquist-Hansen classification type. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was based on 98 cases who received cloased intramedullary fixation about their femur shaft fractures between January 2000 and October 2005 with minimum 12 months follow up. The rotational deformity was analysed by Yang's method (45 cases) preoperatively and postoperatively, and the shortening by orthoradiogram (55 cases). Furthermore we analysed other complications, for example nonunion, infection, and metal failure. RESULTS: We found more than 15 degrees anteversion difference of both femurs in 10 cases. Among them, 9 cases were classified to type 3, 4. According to Winquist-Hansen classification, rotational deformity ranged from 3.7° (Type 1) to 8.9° (Type 4). More than 2 cm leg length discrepancy (LLD) was found in 9 cases, all of them were classified as Winquist-Hansen classification type 3, 4. In the type 1, LLD was checked as 3.2 mm and type 4, 14.2 mm. CONCLUSION: To prevent the shortening and rotational deformity after intramedullary fixation of Winquist-Hansen classification type 3, 4 femur shaft fracture, intraoperatively the exact contralateral femoral anteversion and length should be checked.
Classification* ; Congenital Abnormalities* ; Femur* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary* ; Leg ; Methods