PURPOSE: To evaluate the radiologic findings of alimentary anthrax. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 19 patients with alimentary anthrax, which was caused by ingestion of contaminated beef, were included in this study. The diagnosis was made .b.y demonstration of Bacillus anthracis in smear and culture of the contaminated meat. We evaluated the clinical manifestations and the findings of thoracic, abdominal radiographs, cervical, abdominal ultrasonograms and abdominal CT scans. RESULTS: Out of the 19 patients with the alimentary infection, 9 had oropharyngeal form, 18 had abdominal form and 8 had combination of oropharyngeal and abdominal form. The patients had general symptoms and signs such as fever, chill, myalgia. Clinical symptoms and signs were sore throat, throat injection, throat ulcer and patch in oropharyngeal form, and nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and gross GI bleeding in abdominal form. Radiologic findings included enlarged cervical lymph nodes(36%) in oropharyngeal form, and paralytic ileus(26%), ascites(26%), hepatomegaly(21%), enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes(26%), small bowel wall thickening(5%) in abdominal form. In two patients, late complications occurred as intestinal obstruction due to ileal stricture with perforation, and inflammatory changes of pelvic cavity due to ileovesical fistula. CONCLUSION: Radiologic findings of alimentary anthrax are difficult in differentiation from those of other inflammatory bowel disease, but those radiologic findings with clinical manifestations may be helpful in diagnosis and evaluation of disease process in patients with alimentary anthrax.
Abdominal Pain ; Anthrax* ; Bacillus anthracis ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diagnosis ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Fever ; Fistula ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Intestinal Obstruction ; Meat ; Myalgia ; Nausea ; Pharyngitis ; Pharynx ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ulcer ; Ultrasonography ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: To evaluate CT findings of internal hernia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three patients with internal hernia had abdominal CT scans and two of them had small bowel follow through examinations. The CT features of two patients with retroanastomotic and one patient with left paraduodenal hernia were evaluated and correlated with small bowel follow through examinations, and surgical findings. Two patients with retroanastomotic hernia had a history of subtotal gastrectomy with antecolic gastrojejunostomy. The diagnosis of internal hernia was made on the basis of surgical find ings in two patients of retroanastomotic hernia, and characteristic barium study findings in one patient of left paraduodenal hernia. RESULTS: The small bowel follow through examination showed small bowel loops gathered in a circumscribed mass in the left mid abdomen, and delay in passage through these loops. In case of left paraduodenal hernia, abrupt narrowing of the distal duodenum could be identified. The characteristic CT findings of all three patients were whorling of the mesentery and mesenteric vessels in the left mid-abdomen. In the patient with left paraduodenal hernia, after resolution of the gastrointestinal symptoms, a follow-up CT scan showed spontaneous disappearance of whorling of the mesentery and mesenteric vessels suggesting spontaneous resolution of the hernia. In the other two cases, upon exploration of the abdomen, dilatation of afferent duodenum caused by adhesion between ligament of Treitz and adjacent bowel walls, and retro- anastomotic herniation of the efferent loops were found. CONCLUSION: The usual diagnosis of internal hernia is based on the appearance of the small bowel follow through examination. However, we consider that the whorling appearance(we call it whorling sign) of the mesentery and mesenteric vessels on CT scan is also suggestive of internal hernia in patients under clinical suspicion.
Abdomen ; Barium ; Diagnosis ; Dilatation ; Duodenum ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrectomy ; Gastric Bypass ; Hernia ; Humans ; Ligaments ; Mesentery* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patency, procedure related complications and effectiveness of Wallstent application to the malignant biliary obstruction as a palliative treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical results, duration of survival, patency rate and complication of the Wallstent application on 33 patients who had had obstructive jaundice by the malignant lesion in recent 3 years. One or two step procedures. were mainly taken with 10mm diameter Wallstents. Grouping according to place the stent at the hilum or not, and grouping according to place the stent through the ampulla or not were done to evaluate the difference of the patency and survival rate between the groups. RESULTS: Biliary endoprosthesis with Wallstent were successfully placed in all patients without difficulty. Procedure related short-term complication rate was about 18.1% (n=6/33). Complications were fever(n=4), cholecystitis(n=1) and sepsis(n=l). Long-term complications were mainly obstruction(n=9/31) of the Wallstent during the follow-up period. Also cholecystitis occurred in one patient 3 months later. Mean survival duration was 139.72 (46-237)days ormong those who expired. Mean patency duration of stents was 139.67 (26-310) days. Survival rates were 93.5% at the second month, 68.8% at the third month, 61.2% at the 4th month, 53.5% at the 5th month, 49.1% at the 7th month and 35.7% at the 9th month. Patency rates were 93.7% at the second month, 84.2% at the 4th month, 66.9% at the 5th month, 59.5% at the 7th month and 39.6% at the 10th month. The application was repeated in the 6 patients with stent occlusion. Significant statistical difference could not be found between the groups according to placing the stent at the hilum and according to placing the stent through the ampulla. Patency rates were higher than survival rates in the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Wallstent application provides good palliation with little discomfort and few complications in the patients with malignant obstructive jaundice.
Cholecystitis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Palliative Care ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents ; Survival Rate

No abstract available.
Heart Diseases* ; Heart*

In North East Asians, they have many anatomical characteristics different from Caucasians: thick skin, heavy subcutaneous tissue, relatively weak SMAS and platysma muscle, prominent zygoma and mandible. In addition, Caucasians have lean and narrow face, so facial flap can easily be lifted superiorly and posteriorly, but North East Asians have short and wide face, so facial flap cannot be lifted easily in a three dimensional direction especially superiorly and posteriorly. Recent facial rejuvenation has been improved to solve these problems through various combined adjuvant surgery. We performed facial rejuvenation with following surgical emphases:1. Shaving and infracture of zygomatic prominence and multistaged curved osteotomy of the prominent mandibular angle, body and symphysis 2. Earlier Skin resection before flap dissection protects the skin incision margin 3. Sufficient fat removal by facial liposuction4. Plane of dissection; suborbicularis and submalar fat pad in midface: preplatysmal layer in lower face and neck 5. Excision of lateral part of orbicularis oculi muscle for correction of crow's feet. 6. SMAS plication and platysmal sling. Based on our experiences, we offer these personal techniques for facial rejuvenation of North East Asians.
Adipose Tissue ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Foot ; Humans ; Mandible ; Neck ; Osteotomy ; Rejuvenation ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Zygoma

No abstract available.
Lymphohistiocytosis, Hemophagocytic*

We report a severe case of hyponatremic encephalopathy in a 38 year old schizophrenic patient with polydipsia that was very likely precipitated by hydrochlorothiazide given for the accompanied hypertension in this patient. On admission via emergency room, this patient's electrolyte imbalances include not only hyponatremia but also hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia and metabolic alkalosis, which have been well known as the complications of thiazide diuretics. Fortunately, this patient recovered from comatose condition with the treatment of hyponatremia at the correction rate of about 0.5mEq/L/hr in addition to potassium and volume replacements. However, this case gives us the warning that the presence of hyponatremic condition such as polydipsia should be ruled out before thiazide diuretics prescribed for patients with schizophrenia, and other electrolytes imbalance in addition to hyponatremia as the complications of thiazide diuretics should be looked for the simultaneous treatment for them.
Adult ; Alkalosis ; Coma ; Electrolytes ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Hydrochlorothiazide ; Hypertension ; Hypokalemia ; Hyponatremia ; Polydipsia ; Potassium ; Schizophrenia ; Sodium Chloride Symporter Inhibitors

BACKGROUND: The p53 and retinoblastoma(Rb) tumor suppressor genes are associated with the pathogenesis of several types of human cancer. Substantial. proportion of the primary lung cancers or cell lines have been reported to have the p53 and/or the Rb gene mutations. But so far there is no report on the analysis of the Rb gene polymorphism as one of the genetic susceptibility marker. This study was undertaken to establish the gene frequencies of the polymorphic genotypes of the p53 and Rb genes in Koreans to evaluate the possible involvement of these genotypes as a risk factor of lung cancer. METHODS: In this study 145 controls without previous and present tumor history and 128 lung cancer patients were subjected to analysis The two intragenic polymorphisms of the p53 gene(exon 4/AccII, intron 6/MspI) and one intron 17/XbaI polymorphism of the Rb gene were analysed by the method of polymersae chain react lion-restriction fragment length polymorphisms(PCR-RFLPS). The genotype of the intron 3/16 bp repeat polymorphism of p53 was determined by PCR and direct gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the genotype distributions of the p53 gene between lung cart cert patients and controls. But heterozygotes(Arg/Pro) of the exon 4/AcclII polymorphisms were slightly over-represented than controls, especially in the Kreyberg type I cancer, which was known 13 be associated with smoking. The intron 3/16 bp duplication and the intron 6/MspI polymorphisms were in complete linkage disequilibrium. About 95% of the individuals were homozygotes of the common alleles both in the 16 duplication and MspI polymorphisms, and no differences were deteced in the genotype distributions between lung cancer patients and controls. Overall genotype distributions of the Rb gene polymorphisms between lung cancer patients and controls were not significantly different However, the genotype distributions in the Kreyberg type I cancer were significantly different from those of controls(p=0.0297) or adenocarcinomas(p=0.0008). It was noticeable that 73.4% of the patients with adenocarcinomas were heterozygotes(r1/r2) whereas 39.2% of the Kreyberg type I cancer were heterozygous at this polymorphisms. In the lung cancer patients, significant differences were a]so noted between the high dose smokers and low dose smokers including non-smokers(p=0.0258). The relative risk to Kreyberg type I cancer was significantly reduced in the individuals with the genotype of r1/r2(odds ratio=0.46, 95%C.I.=0.25-0.86, p=0.0124). The combined genotype distribution of the exon 4/AccII of the p53 and the intron 17 Rb gene polymorphisms in Kreyberg type I cancers were significantly different from dose of controls or adenocarcinomas. The highest odds ratio were observed in the individuals with the genotypes of Arg/pro and r2/r2(odds ratio=1.97, 95%C.I.=0.84-4.59) and lowest one was in the patients with Arg/Arg, r1/r2 genotype(odds ratio=0.54, 95%C.I.=0.25-1.14). CONCLUSION: The p53 and the Rb gene polymorphisms modulate the risk of smoking induced lung cancer development in Koreans. However, the exact mechanism of risk modulation by these polymorphism remains to be determined. For more discrete clarification of associations between specific genotypes and lung cancer risk, the evaluations of these polymorphisms in other ethnics and more number of patients will be needed.
Adenocarcinoma ; Alleles ; Cell Line ; Electrophoresis ; Exons ; Gene Frequency ; Genes, p53 ; Genes, Retinoblastoma ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Introns ; Linkage Disequilibrium ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Odds Ratio ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hypercholesterolemia is a key factor in the development of atherosclerosis. We sought to evaluate the relation between hypercholesterolemia and plaque composition in patients with coronary artery disease. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Study subjects consisted of 323 patients (mean 61.5 years, 226 males) who underwent coronary angiography and virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound examination. Patients were divided into two groups according to total cholesterol level: hypercholesterolemic group (> or =200 mg/dL, n=114) and normocholesterolemic group (<200 mg/dL, n=209). RESULTS: Hypercholesterolemic patients were younger (59.7+/-13.3 years vs. 62.6+/-11.5 years, p=0.036), than normocholesterolemic patients, whereas there were no significant differences in other demographics. Hypercholesterolemic patients had higher corrected necrotic core volume (1.23+/-0.85 mm3/mm vs. 1.02+/-0.80 mm3/mm, p=0.029) as well as percent necrotic core volume (20.5+/-8.5% vs. 18.0+/-9.2%, p=0.016) than normocholesterolemic patients. At the minimal lumen area site, percent necrotic core area (21.4+/-10.5% vs. 18.4+/-11.3%, p=0.019) and necrotic core area (1.63+/-1.09 mm2 vs. 1.40+/-1.20 mm2, p=0.088) were also higher than normocholesterolemic patients. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that total cholesterol level was an independent factor of percent necrotic core volume in the culprit lesion after being adjusted with age, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol , hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking and acute coronary syndrome (beta 0.027, 95% confidence interval 0.02-0.053, p=0.037). CONCLUSION: Hypercholesterolemia was associated with increased necrotic core volume in coronary artery plaque. This study suggests that hypercholesterolemia plays a role in making plaque more complex, which is characterized by a large necrotic core, in coronary artery disease.
Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Atherosclerosis ; Cholesterol ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Demography ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Linear Models ; Smoking

The term myotubular myopathy (MTM) implies a maturational arrest of fetal muscle during the myotubular stage of development at 8-15 weeks of gestation. Characteristic muscle histopathology consists of small hypotrophic muscle fibers with centrally placed nuclei and a surrounding clear area devoid of myofibrils. X-linked recessive inheritance is the most common trait. Autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant forms are less frequently reported. The clinical diagnostic criterion for X-linked MTM has relied on a positive family history and the demonstration of the presence of characteristic biopsy findings from affected male subjects. Additional features may include perinatal onset, severe hypotonia, respiratory failure, dysphagia, thin ribs, contractures of the hips or knees, puffy eyelids and ophthalmoplegia. The prognosis is often fatal, and most patients die within the first year of life from respiratory failure. The authors report a case of presumed X-linked MTM with severe hypotonia, muscle weakness and respiratory failure at birth.
Biopsy ; Contracture ; Deglutition Disorders ; Eyelids ; Hip ; Humans ; Knee ; Male ; Muscle Hypotonia ; Myofibrils ; Myopathies, Structural, Congenital* ; Ophthalmoplegia ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Prognosis ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Ribs ; Wills