Two hundred and thirteen cases of acute poisoning who were admitted in pediatric wards of Severance Hospital and Won ju Christian Hospital from April, 1966 to March, 1976 (10 years) were statistically analyzed and compared it with the statistical study of same hospitals from April, 1956 to March, 1966 (10 years). 1. Incidence of poisoning was 1.2% of all admitted cases. Severance Hospital and Won ju Christian Hospital were corresponding to 0.9% and 2.0% of all pediatric admitted patients respectively 2. Sex incidence was more higher in boys than girls, The highest incidence (39%) was noted in the 1 to 4 year age group. 3. Seasonal incidence was more prevalent in summer months. (form June to August) 4. Fortyseven kinds of various poisonous substances were observed to be causative. The most common causative was insecticide (made for aggricultual use) which was 52% of all cases. (Severance Hospital: 37%, Won ju Christian Hospital: 76%). Drug (23%), CO gas (8.5%) and rodenticide (5%) were the next common causative agnts. 5. Poisoning of accidental cause was frequent (69%) than therapeutic and suicidal purpose, which were 26% and 6% respectively. 6. Mortality rate was 8% and insecticide was the most common cause of death. 7. There was no statistically significant difference between the past study and this study which were performed from two same hospitals in sex incidence, age incidence, seasonal distribution, motivations of poisoning, duration from poisoning to arrival to emergency room and mortality rate. In the past study the most common causative substance was CO gas in Severance Hospital and insecticide in Won ju Christian Hospital. In this study insecticide become the most common causative substance in both hospitals and the incidence was significantly increased than the past. Drug was second common causative agent. Lye was markedly decreased poisoning to compare with past study. Incidence of patients who were treated at the other clinic was increased from 14% to 33%.
Cause of Death ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant* ; Lye ; Mortality ; Poisoning ; Seasons ; Statistics as Topic

There is a broad range of lumbar pedicular and neural arch anomalies, with spina bifida occulta and spondylolysis being especially common. It is very rare for a pedicular cleft to be associated with contralateral spondylolysis in the same vertebral segment. We observed L4 spondylolisthesis, clefting of the left L4 hypertrophied pedicle associated with contralateral spondylolysis, and spinal stenosis on a radiographic study of the lumbar spine. Operative treatment was performed, with posterior decompression, partial removal of the hypertrophied pedicle, posterior lumbar interbody fusion using a cage, and posterior instrumentation. The patient's neurologic symptoms resolved after operative treatment. Fusion of the left pedicle cleft was observed on 6-month follow-up CT. We report one case of pedicular cleft fusion using pedicle screw fixation and present a review of the relevant literature.
Decompression ; Follow-Up Studies ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Spina Bifida Occulta ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spine ; Spondylolisthesis ; Spondylolysis

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Humans* ; Ligamentum Flavum*

Intermittent administrations of dopaminergic agents in hemiparkinsonian rat enhances the behavioral response to subsequent administration of the drugs. This phenomenon is known as "priming" and thought as comparable to drug-induced dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson's disease. We investigated the behavioral and electrophysiological changes in 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned hemiparkinsonian rats after repeated administrations of apomorphine. Administration of apomorphine (0.32 mg/kg, intraperitoneal, i.p.) twice daily for 6 days enhanced the rotation induced by apomorphine from 341 turns/hour at the beginning to 755 turns/hr at the end. At the same time, the response to selective D2 agonist quinpirole (0.26 mg/kg, i.p.) was also enhanced from 203 to 555 turns/hr. Extracellular single unit recording revealed no significant difference in the basal firing rates of substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) neurons between the ipsilateral and contralateral side of the 6-OHDA lesion regardless of the repeated administrations of apomorphine. In SNr of the lesion side, the units with burst firing pattern were found more frequently after repeated administrations of apomorphine and the suppressive effect of quinpirole on the firing rate was enhanced. These findings suggest that the increased percentage of the burst units is the important electrophysiological change in the development of enhanced response to selective D2 agonist.
Animal ; Apomorphine/*pharmacology ; Dopamine Agonists/*pharmacology ; MPTP Poisoning/physiopathology ; Male ; Oxidopamine/toxicity ; Parkinsonian Disorders/*physiopathology ; Quinpirole/pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Dopamine D2/*drug effects ; Substantia Nigra/*drug effects/physiology

No abstract available.
Cerebellopontine Angle* ; Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring* ; Neuroma, Acoustic*

For the primary fusion of adult's lumbar spondylolisthesis the authors performed either posterolateral fusion(PLF) with transpedicular screw fixation, or posterior lumbar interbody fusion(PLIF) with cages and transpedicular screw fixation, on 75 patients during five years between Jan. 1993 and Dec. 1997. The outcomes were retrospectively reviewed with emphasis on comparison of the results of these two surgical methods. Between patients treated with PLF(PLF group) and PLIF(PLIF group) there were no differences in distribution of preoperative variables such as patients' age and gender, type, level, grade of spondylolisthesis, and symptom durations. Mean follow-up period was 22.3 months in PLF group(n=44) and 17.4 months in PLIF group(n=31) (p<0.001). The rate of fusion was 85% in PLF group, and 94% in PLIF group(p=0.292). The postoperative outcome, expressed as mean follow-up score of Prolo scale, was 6.86 in PLF group and 7.42 in PLIF group(p=0.007). The variables that were associated with the outcomes were the level of spondylolisthesis(p=0.001) and the type of fusion (p=0.023). Variables such as age, gender, type and grade of spondylolisthesis, preoperative symptom duration, radiological findings of fusion status, change in disc height, and change in sagittal angle were not associated with the outcomes. The complication rate was 11% in PLF group and 19% in PLIF group. Overall successful results, defined by 7 or more in follow-up score of Prolo scale, were seen in 68% of PLF group and 87% of PLIF group(p=0.098). It is concluded that better surgical outcomes were obtained by PLIF methods in adults with lumbar spondylolisthesis, but with regards to the incidence of complications, although mostly minor and reversible, was more frequent in PLIF group.
Adult* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Retrospective Studies ; Spondylolisthesis*

OBJECTIVES: Aspergillosis of central nervous system(CNS) is a rare pathologic condition and it has been known to be difficult to diagnose and treat. We analyzed seven cases of central nervous system aspergillosis. The clinical characteristics, and the problems in diagnosis and treatment are discussed with review of previous literatures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the clinical records, radiological findings, and pathologic reports of 7 patients with aspergillosis which involved CNS. RESULTS: Five patients were immunocompetent, and infection was related with previous operation in 4 of them. Two patients were immunocompromised and had no history of operation. Five patients had intracranial lesions and two had spinal lesions. Mean duration from the onset of initial symptom to pathologic diagnosis was 2.4 months. Mean duration from the previous operation to the onset of symptom was 9.3 months, and from the onset of symptom to diagnosis was 2.9 months in the patients who had histories of operation. All of them were treated with surgical procedures and intravenous and oral antifungal agents, resulting in cure in 6 cases. Mean duration of the treatment was 4.9 months. CONCLUSION: Because aspergillosis of CNS is a rare disease and is difficult to be differentiated from the pyogenic abscess or recurrent tumor, the pathologic diagnosis is very important for adequate treatment. Although the prognosis of aspergillosis of CNS has been known to be poor, adequate surgery for both diagnosis and treatment and antifungal chemotherapy resulted in good outcome.
Abscess ; Antifungal Agents ; Aspergillosis* ; Central Nervous System* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Rare Diseases

Acute or subacute myelopathy with spontaneous thrombosis of the veins in a patient with a spinal arteriovenous malformation(AVM) has been referred to as "Foix-Alajouanine syndrome(FAS)". A previously healthy 15-year-old girl developed neurological illness with progressive lower extremity weakness and low back pain. The MRI demonstrated the diffuse swelling of the spinal cord around the 10th thoracic level, suggesting myelopathy. Her neurological symptoms deteriorated to paraplegia, voiding difficulty and areflexia. Spinal arteriography did not demonstrate a vascular lesions such as arteriovenous malformation(AVM) or arteriovenous fistula(AVF). Operation revealed diffuse necrosis of the spinal cord and one abnormal thrombosed drainage vein. Progressive clinical illness, the histopathology of the patchy necrosis of spinal cord tissue and many thickened blood vessels are compatible with Foix-Alajouanine syndrome. We report a case of Foix-Alajouanine syndrome with a review of the literature.
Adolescent ; Angiography ; Arteriovenous Fistula ; Arteriovenous Malformations ; Blood Vessels ; Drainage ; Female ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; Lower Extremity ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Necrosis ; Paraplegia ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; Thrombosis ; Veins

This study was designed for the investigation of the effectiveness and limitation of the endovascular coil embolization of intracranial aneurysms. From July 1995 to October 1997, the authors treated 25 patients of intracranial aneurysm with endovascular coil embolization. There were 15 cases of ruptured aneurysms and 10 cases of unruptured aneurysms. The main reasons for the coil embolization were difficult anatomical location and poor neurological condition. Total 28 aneurysms were tried to embolize with coil. Among these, 12 aneurysms were occluded completely, 12 aneurysms partially, and 1 vertebral artery fusiform aneurysm was treated by coil occlusion of the proximal vertebral artery. The complete occlusion was possible in 10 cases of 15 small aneurysms(66.7%), and in 2 cases of 6 large aneurysms(33.3%). Only partial occlusion was achieved in all 3 giant aneurysms. Of 18 small neck aneurysms(4mm) could be occluded completely. There were 3 cases of failure, 2 cases being catherizatioin failure because of the tortuous vessel and 1 case due to local vasospasm. The complications related to the coil embolization were the perforation of the aneurysm caused by the catheterization in 2 cases, rebleeding after partial embolization of the aneurysm in 2 patients of Hunt-Hess grade 4 and 5, and infarction caused by parent vessel occlusion by coil protrusion in 2 cases. In conclusion, the coil embolization can be an alternative modality in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. But the complete occlusion is not always possible in all cases, and the risk of the rebleeding is still remained in the partially occluded aneurysms. The long-term study is needed to confirm the definite effectiveness of the coil embolization in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms.
Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, Ruptured ; Catheterization ; Catheters ; Embolization, Therapeutic* ; Humans ; Infarction ; Intracranial Aneurysm* ; Neck ; Parents ; Vertebral Artery