No abstract available.
Frontal Sinus*

No abstract available.
Epinephrine* ; Skin* ; Transplants*

PURPOSE:To describe the features of displaced bucket-handle tears of the menisci on magnetic resonance (MR) images and to assess associated knee injuries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed coronal and sagittal MR images in 21 bucket-handle tears. The subjects were patients who had underwent preoperative MR evaluations of the knee and were identified from the arthroscopic surgical records as bucket-handle tear. We also described patterns of associated injuries. RESULTS:On coronal MR images, (a) in all cases, peripheral portion of the meniscus(bucket) had the appearance of a truncated or altered wedge;(b) central fragments(handle) were observed to be sitting in the intercondylar notch(16 cases) or located between the fernoral condyle and tibial plateau (5 cases). On sequential sagittal MR images, (c) the bow-tie appearance of the body of the meniscus was not seen (13 cases);(d) the bow-tie appearance of the displaced inner fragment was seen at the intercondylar notch level (9 cases);(e) "double posterior cruciate ligament" sign was presented (7 cases). Associated joint abnormalities included anterior cruciate ligament tears(l 1), contralateral meniscal tears(l 1), posterior cruciate ligament tears(3), medial collateral ligament tears(3), osteoarthritis(1), and Baker's cyst(l). CONCLUSION:Awareness of these characteristic MR findings(a-e) may increase the sensitivity of MR imaging in the diagnosis of displaced bucket-handle tears, and the MRI may be helpful to correctly characterize the displaced fragment and patterns of associated injury, providing arthroscopists a guide to appropriate surgical plans.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament ; Collateral Ligaments ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Joints ; Knee ; Knee Injuries ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Posterior Cruciate Ligament ; Retrospective Studies

The purpose of this study is to estimate the minimum optimal scale(MOS) of the self-employed health insurance associations. Considering the high proportion of operating expenses, the author have selected 254 regional health insurance associations from the 1990 Finance Report of the self-employed health insurance programs. both a quadratic function and a hyperbolic function were chosen for the analysis. The dependent variables are the average maintenance cost per insured person and per household, and the independent variables are the number of insured members and of household. The minimum optimal scale was obtained from the differentiation of the quadratic function. Major findings are summarized as follows: 1. The M.O.S. was calculated as 166,174 members (27,442 households) for the rural self-employed health insurance associations and 258,462 members (75,446 households) for the urban. Providing that both the rural and urban health insurance associations would e integrated, the M.O.S. be found to become 231,687 members (68,101 households) 2. Compared with the optimal minimum scale, the magnitude of the current health insurance association found to be much smaller, less than half of the optimal scale. 3. In order to reduce the operating cost, it is necessary to enlarge the operational scale of self-employed health insurance associations.
Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Insurance ; Insurance, Health* ; Korea* ; Urban Health

Tarsal tunnel syndrome is relatively an uncommon and usually under-recognized or misdiagnosed condition. We report a case of posterior tarsal tunnel syndrome caused by a ganglion . A 58-year-old woman complained of burning and tingling sensation along the left sole and presented weakness, muscle atrophy, and Tinel's sign in the left foot. Electrodiagnostic study revealed prolonged terminal latency, reduced compound muscle action potential, absent sensory nelve potential, and denervation potentials. After removal of the ganglion, patient's symptoms improved and the electrodiagnostic study performed after two months showed significant improvement.
Action Potentials ; Atrophy ; Burns ; Denervation ; Female ; Foot ; Ganglion Cysts* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Muscle Weakness ; Sensation ; Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome*

Protothecosis is a rare cutaneous soft tissue infection caused by the genus prototheca, most commonly Prototheca wickerhatmii. An 80-year-old woman has had a painful or tender, non-healing, eczematous plaque on the extensor surface of the left forearm for 4 years. A biopsy specimen revealed the characteristic thick-walled morulalike sporangia in the dermis. P. wickerha mili was isolated in the culture and the biochemical studies. Electron microscopic examination showed the thick-walled spores containing dark dense bodies and amyloplasts. Oral itraconazole therapy for 4 weeks resulted-in a marked improvement of the skin lesion.
Aged, 80 and over ; Biopsy ; Dermis ; Female ; Forearm ; Humans ; Itraconazole ; Plastids ; Prototheca ; Skin ; Soft Tissue Infections ; Sporangia ; Spores

PURPOSE: Rapid diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF) is important for prompt and appropriate treatment, but is often difficult. The B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been described as a powerful diagnostic test for heart failure. The goal of this study was to determine the diagnostic cutoff values of BNP, to evaluate useful factors for the diagnosis of CHF, and to develope a diagnostic algorithm for CHF with acute dyspnea patients. METHODS: BNP levels were obtained in 721 patients presenting to the emergency medical center with acute dyspnea from January 2001 to December 2002. With the use of inclusion criteria, 305 patients were excluded. Blood samples were collected by venipuncture and were analyzed by using Triage BNP assay. Included patients underwent echocardiography to evaluate the left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. RESULTS: The mean BNP concentration was higher in patients with CHF (n=214) than in those with other diagnose (517.31+/-37.70 pg/mL vs 75.53+/-11.25 pg/mL, p<0.001). At a blood concentration of 100 pg/mL, BNP showed a sensitivity of 79 %, a specificity of 83 %, a positive predictive value of 83%, and a negative predictive value of 79%. CONCLUSION: The BNP measurement is a useful tool in the diagnosis of CHF in patients presenting with dyspnea. We propose a diagnostic algorithm for CHF based on the BNP assay.
Diagnosis* ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Dyspnea ; Echocardiography ; Emergencies ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP)* ; Heart Failure* ; Humans ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; Phlebotomy ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Triage

The authors had analysed retrospectively a series of 286 consecutive patients with head injury who were admitted to the department of neurosurgery. Dong Gang Hospital between March and July, 1992. 59 cases underwent craniotomy for evacuation of intracranial hematoma and/or placement of subarachnoid bolt for intracranial pressure monitoring under general anesthesia. Patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS) Score of 8 or less had significantly higher serum glucose levels postoperatively than patients with GCS score of 12 to 15(p<0.05). Patients who subsequently remained in a vegetative state or died had significantly higher glucose levels postoperatively than patients who had good outcome or moderate disability(p<0.05). Among the more severely injured patients(GCS Score< or =8), a serum glucose level greater than 200mg/dl on admission is associated with a significantly worse outcome(p<0.05). The results suggest that severely head-injured patients frequently showed hyperglycemia and the elevted serum glucose level may worsen the neurological outcome in such patients.
Anesthesia, General ; Blood Glucose* ; Coma ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Craniotomy ; Glucose ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Intracranial Pressure ; Neurosurgery ; Persistent Vegetative State ; Retrospective Studies

Primary intracranial choriocarcinoma is a extremely rare neoplasm since the case was reported by Askanasy, in 1906, there have been 35 reported, even if germinal neoplasms containing chorocarcinoma-like tissue are added. But pure choriocarcinoma was rarely reported. The purpose of this paper is to report a case of 18-year-old boy with tumor in subependymal region around left frontal horn, which was present with high level of serum beta chain of chorionic gonadotropin(B-HCG) and was verified as germine choriocarcinoma by biopay.
Adolescent ; Animals ; Choriocarcinoma* ; Chorion ; Female ; Horns ; Humans ; Male ; Pregnancy

The first case of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis(ABPA) was reported by Hinson, et al. in 1952. This was followed by a number of significant description of the disorder. Although typical ABPA initially presents with asthma, fleeting pulmonary infiltrates, and marked eosinophilia, there are many other ways in which the disease may be first manifested. Common radiologic findings in ABPA include pulmonary infiltrates, atelectasis, emphysema, fibrosis, lobar shrinkage with hilar elevation, cavitation, pneumothorax, aspergilloma and central bronchiectasis. We experienced a case of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis presenting rare radiologic finding of bilateral pulmonary masses in chest radiography. With oral corticosteroid treatment, the size of both pulmonary masses was decreased significantly and his asthmatic symptoms were improved.
Aspergillosis, Allergic Bronchopulmonary* ; Asthma ; Bronchiectasis ; Emphysema ; Eosinophilia ; Fibrosis ; Pneumothorax ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Radiography ; Thorax