No abstract available.
Sturge-Weber Syndrome*

BACKGROUND: Urticaria pigmentosa(UP) is primarily a disease of children. There have been no clinical studies of UP in Korea. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to find the clinical characteristics of UP in Korean child-hood patients. METHOD: Twenty-nine cases of urticaria pigmentosa confirmed clinically and histopathologically were analyzed. RESULTS: The maculopapular type was the most common with the usual age of onset before the age of 6 months, and the lesions tended to be distributed in the central portion of the body. Darier sign was positive in 92% of the patients(24/26). No systemic involvements were detected in any of the patients with minimal associated symptoms. Seven patients of the maculopapular type and one patient of the multiple nodular type followed up for more than 2 years showed a tendency to improve or clear by the age of 6 years. CONCLUSION: Neonatal or infantile-onset patients of UP in Korean pediatric population were considered to have a benign clinical course and to require no aggressive therapy.
Age of Onset ; Child* ; Clinical Study* ; Humans ; Korea ; Methods ; Urticaria Pigmentosa* ; Urticaria*

PURPOSE: Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is rare and has a poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinicopathologic characteristics of patients diagnosed with ATC expected to undergo curative thyroidectomy, with the goal of finding differences between patients surviving > or =6 months and <6 months. METHODS: From 1981 to 2010, 24 patients underwent thyroidectomy due to ATC. Among those patients, 12 suspected of distant metastasis preoperatively were excluded. The remaining 12 patients were analyzed by retrospective review of electronic medical records. RESULTS: Median age was 55 years, and the male to female ratio was 1:5. All patients presented with neck mass at initial diagnosis. Five patients lived <6 months and seven patients lived > or =6 months after operation. In patients surviving > or =6 months, all lesions were <5 cm and all patients underwent total thyroidectomy. In patients surviving <6 months, two of the four lesions were >5 cm, and two of the five patients underwent less than total thyroidectomy (P = 0.287 and 0.152, respectively). All patients with lesion size <5 cm underwent total thyroidectomy and showed a shorter median operation time (P = 0.182 and 0.033, respectively). CONCLUSION: ATC showed female predominance. Patients initially presented with neck mass, and median age was 55 years. In patients with ATC who are expected to undergo curative thyroidectomy, surgery should actively be considered as primary therapy for patient survival when the size is <5 cm.
Electronics ; Electrons ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neck ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroidectomy

No abstract available.
Animals ; Histamine* ; Hydroxyzine* ; Rats* ; Urinary Bladder*

No abstract available.
Reference Values*

BACKGROUND: One of the problem in emergency room(ER) of university hospital is over-crowdedness that causes exhaustion of medical resources (personnel, device, space) and disturbes optimal treatment. METHODS: This is an evaluative research for the purpose of promoting efficient operation system in ER of university hospital. RESULTS: 1) In 387 visitors, mean age was 47.5 years, and male to female ratio 1.21:1. As the specialty in charge, 28.9%f them were internal medicine, 26.6%mergency medicine, 9.9%eurology, and 8.5%eurosurgery. 24%f visitors have come by ambulances. The patients stayed for average 16.1 hours. The admission rate of ER visitors was 33.4 %60.3 %returned home after some management. 2) The visitors had various causes without correlation between the severity of conditions and the choice of high level hospital ER. They perceived their situations emergent in 78.4% but after triage only 25.6%were classified emergent. 48.6%of the visitors were the patients of out-patient department of this hospital due to chronic diseases. 3) The patients were assessed within 9.5 minutes after arrival at ER by nurse and within 34 minutes by doctor. If they were in need of consultation to second/third department, they waited for 141.5/460 minutes respectively to see the doctor. They waited for 59.9/52.7 minutes to get routine laboratory sampling/radiologic examination respectively. 4) Every 2.3 new patients visited this ER per hour. Average 63.2 patients were taken over to next shirt of nurse duty, and 60%of them had chronic degenerative diseases. CONCLUSION: The causes of overcrowding in ER of the university hospital were (1) huge number of patients at out-patient department of the hospital, (2) shortage of beds compared to the number of patients waiting admission, (3) too many kinds of procedures performed in ER, (4) cooperation failure among doctors of different specialty, and (5) no definite criteria of admission/discharge into/from ER. To solve these problems, conversion of ER management policy from complete examination and treatment to more simple and rapid one is necessary.
Ambulances ; Chronic Disease ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Female ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Male ; Outpatients ; Triage

Lipoma is a common tumor throughout the body, but occurrence in the deep neck space is very rare, and only some cases have been reported by otolaryngologist and pathologist for the last century. In head and neck area, as elsewhere, the lipoma is mainly originated from the subcutaneum. But in deeper tissues, its characteristics are different from those of other sites of lipoma. Submucosal lipoma in the head and neck area usually occur in oral cavity and hypopharynx. Recently we hae experienced 3 cases of deep neck space lipoma, so we report our clinical experiences with brief review of literature.
Head ; Hypopharynx ; Lipoma* ; Mouth ; Neck*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of monitoring external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve (EBSLN) during robotic thyroid surgery. METHODS: A total of 10 patients undergoing bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) robotic thyroid surgery were enrolled. The nerve integrity monitor (NIM Response 2.0 System) was used for EBSLN monitoring. We performed voice assessments preoperatively and at 1 and 3 months postoperatively using Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), maximal phonation time (MPT), phonation efficient index (PEI), and laryngeal electromyography (EMG). RESULTS: A total of 19 EBSLNs were at risk and 14 EBSLNs (73.7%) were identified using neuromonitoring. VHI-10 showed a change of voice over time (0.1 vs. 3.6 vs. 1.3); however, this was not statistically significant. VHI-10 scores normalized at 3 months postoperatively compared to the preoperative scores. MPT (a) (16.0 vs. 15.6 vs. 15.4), and MPT (e) (20.1 vs. 15.4 vs. 18.5) showed no significant differences preoperatively compared to the values obtained 1 and 3 months postoperatively. There was a significant change of PEI over time (4.8 vs. 1.1 vs. 4.6) (P = 0.036); however, the values normalized at 3 months postoperatively. Laryngeal EMG results showed 4 cases (21.2%) of neuropathy of EBSLNs at 1 month postoperatively, and electrodiagnostic studies revealed nearly complete recovery of the function of EBSLNs in 4 patients at 3 months postoperatively CONCLUSION: It is suggested that neuromonitoring of EBSLNs during BABA robotic thyroid surgery is feasible and might be helpful to preserve voice quality.
Electromyography ; Humans ; Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring ; Laryngeal Nerves* ; Phonation ; Prospective Studies* ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroidectomy ; Voice ; Voice Quality

PURPOSE: This study was designed to explore and compare the prostatic hypertrophoc symptoms, activities of daily living, satisfaction of sexual activities and well-being among subjects with prostatic hypertrophic symptoms and the general population. METHOD: One hundred subjects with prostatic hypertrophic symptoms and one hundred general persons were recruited in K medical center. The data were collected from October 20, 2001 to March 30, 2002 by structured questionnaire. RESULT: The results were the following; 1. The percentage of mild(0~7), moderate(8~19) and severe(20~35)symptoms between subjects with prostatic hypertrophic symptoms and general persons were 6% : 60%, 54% : 39%, 40% : 1%. 2. There was a significant difference in prostatic hypertrophic symptoms(t=12.82, p<.001), in activities of daily living(t=-7.77, p<.0001), in satisfaction of sexual activities (t=-4.80, p<.0001), in well-being(t=-4.80, p<.0001) between subjects with prostatic hypertrophic symptoms and general persons 3. There was a significant difference in activities of daily living(F=16.28, p<.0001), satisfaction of sexual activities(F=3.98, p<.05) according to prostatic hypertrophic symptoms in subjects with prostatic hypertrophic symptoms. CONCLUSION: According to the above findings, prostatic hypertrophic symptoms influence activities of daily living, satisfaction of sexual activities, well-being of subjects with prostatic hypertrophic symptoms negatively.
Activities of Daily Living* ; Humans ; Sexual Behavior*

Nowadays, patients have high expectations when it comes to minimization of postoperative scarring after dermatologic surgical procedures. When an annular lesion is being excised, normal skin should be excised, as well, to prevent a dog ears resulting in a long scar. We introduce a new flap reducing the scar length in annular defects. In order to avoid a long scar, we designed a quadruple fan flap (O-X flap) that is a variation of the rotation flap. It consists of four rotation flaps arranged like fans, with open and closed configuration. We suggest that the quadruple fan flap (O-X flap) is a viable option for treating annular skin defects, because it shortens the scar line, preserves normal tissue, and provides a cosmetically favorable outcome.
Animals ; Cicatrix ; Dermatologic Surgical Procedures ; Dogs ; Ear ; Humans ; Skin