Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma is a rare entity. Various definitions for spontaneous epidural hematoma have been reported in the literature. The expression of nontraumatic spinal epidural hematoma seems to be less ambiguous and includes idiopathic hematomas and hematomas secondary to coagulopathy, vascular malformations, and tumors. We report three cases of nontraumatic spinal epidural hematomas observed from 1991 to 2000. The causes of the spinal epidural hematomas were not clear in two cases among them, but in the another one case, the cause was determined to be an acquired coagulopathy. We reviewed 24 cases reported in the Korean Journal of Neurosurgery and our three cases with particular emphasis on the various causes such as coagulopathy, vascular malformations and tumors. Among the 27 cases, numerous causes were detected such as three cases of vascular malformation, one case of anticoagulant treatment, five cases of combined lumbar disc herniation, two cases associated with pregnancy and postpartum, one case associated with hypertension, and one case associated with ossification of ligamentum flavum. No causes were detected in the ten cases. The authors reviewed the literature.
Hematoma ; Hematoma, Epidural, Spinal* ; Hypertension ; Ligamentum Flavum ; Neurosurgery ; Postpartum Period ; Pregnancy ; Vascular Malformations

No abstract available.
Dermatitis, Seborrheic* ; Humans

Malignant lymphomas with cental and/or peripheral low densities suggesting internal infarcted necrosis arerare, probably due to the same reason as that of normal lymph nodes in which spontaneous infarction seldom occuresbecause of dual vascular connection and low oxygen consumption of activated lymphocytes. We report eight cases ofhistologically proven non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, that showed necrotic low density within tumor mass in CT scan, priorto any teatment. The locations of necrotic lymphomas were mediastinum in 3 cases, abdomen in 4 cases, and neck in1 case. The histologic types of the cases wre diffuse histiocytic (Rappaport) in 4 cases, porly differentiatedlymphocytic types in 2 cases, lymphoblastic type in 1 case, and mixed type(predominantly poorly differentiatedlymphocytic) in 1 case. It seems that malignant lymphoma can be included in differential diagnosis oflymphadenopathy with cental and/or peripheral necrotic low densities on CT.
Abdomen ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Infarction ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Mediastinum ; Neck ; Necrosis ; Oxygen Consumption ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

A clinical analysis and follow-up study were performed with 35 cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage of unknown etiology among 217 cases of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage who were diagnosed by cerebral pan-angiohraphy and brain C-T scan and treated at department of neurosurgery, Chonju Presbyterian Medical Center from 1977 to 1982. The duration of follow-up study was 6 months to 8 years(mean 4.4years). The author obtained the following results. 1) Subarachnoid hemorrhage of unknown etiology was 16% of 217 cases of spontaneous hemorrhage. 2) The incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage of unknown etiology was high in 5th decade and higher in women. 3) Manifestations of subarachnoid hemorrhage of unknown etiology were similar to those of ruptured aneurysm. 4) When primary cerebral pan-angiography was normal, the secondary cerebral pan-angiography was not so meaningful. 5) The overall prognosis of the cases of unknown etiology was good in 30 among 35 cases(86%) who were able to return to their previous occupation. 6) Age and blood pressure were probably major prognostic factor.
Aneurysm, Ruptured ; Blood Pressure ; Brain ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jeollabuk-do ; Neurosurgery ; Occupations ; Prognosis* ; Protestantism ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage*

No abstract available.
Osteosarcoma* ; Sphenoid Bone*

No abstract available.
Drainage* ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus*

FISH is suggested as a possible method to detect the numerical and structural abnormalities of chromosomes in interphase nucleus. We performed this study to discuss the clinical usefulness of FISH in uncultured amniocytes and to set up the cut-off value for further study. We collected amniotic fluid samples from patients whose chromosome studies were recommended due to screen positive for Down and Edword syndrome in triple marker test using maternal serum. The centromeric probe for chromosome 18 and the locus-specific probe for chromosome 21 were used and the results were compared to their karyotypes. We could find 2 cases of trisony 21 and 2 cases of trisony 18 and the other cases represented normal karyotypes. The accuracies were 91% for disomy 18, 89% for trisomy 18, 92% for disomy 21 and 88% for trisomy 21. Therefore FISH technique is a possible method to detect the chromosomal abnormalities in uncultured amniocytes and the use of locus-specific probe for chromosome 21 would be more useful for detecting the aneuploidy of chromosome 21 than 13/21 centromeric probe.
Amniotic Fluid ; Aneuploidy ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 21 ; Down Syndrome* ; Female ; Fluorescence* ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization* ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Interphase ; Karyotype ; Trisomy

This study was designed to evaluated the effects of opioid receptor agonists on the spontaneous alternation behaviour in an animal model of obsessive-compulsive disorder in rats. According to the theory that dopamine is related to the biological etiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the effect of the nalbuphine(opioid kappa agonist) and the tramadol(opioid mu agonist), which act as manipulating agents on the inhibition or stimulation of dopamine release, in the spontaneous alternation behaviour were evaluated. 24 hours prior to the experiment, rats were food-deprived. These rats were put into the T-maze, in which white and black goal boxes were baited with small amounts of chocolate milk. Each rat was given 2 set of 7 trials during which it was placed in the start box and allowed to choose the one of the goal boxes for each time. After identifying the stable baseline of spontaneous alternation behaviour, nonselective 5-HT agonist 5-MeODMT(1.25mg/kg/IP) disrupted spontaneous alternation. Rats were stratified into fluoxetine(10mg/kg/IP), nalbuphine(10mg/kg/IP), tramadol(46.4mg/kg/IP), and saline(0.5cc/IP) injection group with experimental drug treatment for 21 days. The effects on the 5-M?DMT(1.25mg/kg/IP) induced disruption of spontaneous alternation behaviour were checked at the next day of discontinuation of drug treatment. The results were as follows : 1) At the day after 21 days of the drug treatment, the nalbuphine treated group and the fluoxetine treated group showed significant difference from the tramadol treated group and the saline treated group in the 5-MeODMT(1.25mg/kg/IP) induced suppression of spontaneous alternation behaviour. 2) Within each drug treatment group, the fluoxetine treated group showed significant difference between before and after the treatment of fluoxetine in the 5-MeODMT(1.25mg/kg/IP) induced suppression of spontaneous alternation behaviour. And also, the nalbuphine treated group showed significant difference between before and after the treatment of nalbuphine in the 5-MeODMT(1.25mg/kg/IP) induced suppression of spontaneous alternation behaviour. There was no difference between the baseline and after the treatment of nalbuphine in the 5-MeODMT(1.25mg/kg/IP) induced suppression of spontaneous alternation behaviour. We indentified that the opioid kappa agonist that act as dopamine release inhibitor affect the spontaneous alternation behaviour which is an animal model of obsessive-compulsive disorder in rat.
Animals ; Cacao ; Dopamine ; Fluoxetine ; Milk ; Models, Animal ; Nalbuphine ; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder ; Rats* ; Receptors, Opioid ; Serotonin Receptor Agonists ; Tramadol

PURPOSE: Computer-aided diagnosis system was developed to improve the accuracy and the efficacy of the image interpretation. This article is to provide a possibility of computer- aided diagnosis for detection of masses in mammograms. METHODS: The craniocaudal and mediolateral images of 120 mammograms from 30 patients that were histologically proven to be malignant and 30 patients that were histologically proven to be benign were analysed using the mammography softwere. The contralateral mammograms were used as control images. Correct marks of the lesions were scored as a true positive and marks not at the location of the lesions were scored as a false negative. Any marks of the normal images were scored as a false positive and no mark of normal images were scored as a true negative. RESULTS: It took approximately 2 min to scan and 1 min to process 24 by 18-cm mammograms. There was an average of 1.4, 2.0 and 2.1 marks per image in normal, benign and malignant mammograms respectively. Mass detection rate of malignant lesion was 90.0% (27 of 30) and that of benign lesion was 63.6% (21 of 33). Mass detection rate of dense breasts was 68.8% (22 of 32) and that of fatty breasts was 83.9% (26 of 31). Mass detection rate of BI-RADS category 4, 5 and 0 was 85.7% (42 of 49) and that of category 1, 2 and 3 was 42.9% (6 of 14). The overall sensitivity was 76.2% and specificity was 28.1%. CONCLUSION: In this study, mass detection rate for malignant lesions was higher than that of benign lesions and dense breast has lower detection rate than fatty breast. According to the BI-RADS category, mass detection rate was higher in the more malignant category. Computer-aided diagnosis system for this study had limited specificity but acceptable sensitivity.
Breast* ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Mammography ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVE: To compare the accuracy of three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound-assessed fetal thigh volumetry in predicting birth weight with that of other commonly used formulas composed of biparietal dimeter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length (FL) by two-dimentional (2-D) ultrasonography. METHODS: From May 1999 to February 2000 we performed a prospective study of ultrasonography on 100 pregnant women. We assessed the thigh volume of 100 fetuses using 3-D ultrasonography. Meanwhile their BPD, AC, and FL were measured by 2-D ultrasonography. All infants were delivered within 48 hours after the ultrasound examinations. RESULTS: The thigh volume assessed by 3-D ultrasonography was highly correlated with birth weight (r=0.414, n=100, p<0.0001). The 3-D formula had small mean values of absolute mean error (gm) (64.26), absolute mean error (%) (10.20+/-0.80). As well, the 2-D formulas had similar mean values. However, no significant differences in predicting birth weight were found between 3-D formula and 2-D formulas. CONCLUSION: The 3-D ultrasound method assessed by thigh volume showed better accuracy in predicting birth weight than 2-D methed. Further studies may be needed to confirm our conclusions.
Birth Weight* ; Female ; Femur ; Fetus ; Humans ; Infant ; Parturition* ; Pregnant Women ; Prospective Studies ; Thigh* ; Ultrasonography*