Spontaneous remission(SR) of acute leukemia is an extremely rare event. The precise incidence of SR in acute myeloid leukemia(AML) could not be assessed accurately because the majority of patients usually received induction chemotherapy within a few days after diagnosis. The mechanisms of SR are still not completely understood; therefore, the study of them is expected to contribute to the treatment of acute leukemia. We report a case of AML with SR, observed in a 23-year-old male who experienced severe infection and transfusions, with a brief review of the literature.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Leukemia ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* ; Male ; Remission, Spontaneous* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: It is suggested that frequency of low turnover bone disease is much higher in diabetic renal osteodystrophy. We tried to find out whether bone scan images show less 99mTc-MDP uptake in diabetic renal ostwdystrophy. METHODS: We compared bone scan images of renal failure patients with and without diabetes. The number of patients studied was 134 (43 patients had diabetes and 91 patients did not). Two experienced nuclear physicians read Tc-99m-MDP bone scan twice separately and gave the score either 1 or 0 on 6 areas; axial skeleton, long bone, skull and mandible, periarticular areas, costochondral junction and sternum. The means of summed scores were compared using Students t-test. To exclude the effects of sex, age and serum creatinine concentration, we analysed these factors together with the effect of diabetes using analysis of covariance. We also interpreted on bone scan images, as classical renal osteodystrophy, renal failure and normal. RESULTS: The intra- and interobserver variations were very low. Patients of diabetes group showed significantly lower mean of summed score(2.0+/-0.95) compared to patients of non-DM group(3.3+/-1.2). Analysis of covariance revealed that lower score of diabetes group was independent of sex, age and serum creatinine level. of diabetes group, 2 nuclear physicians interpreted bone scans as classical renal osteodystrophy in 60% and 56%, However, they interpreted bone scans of non-DM group in 80%, 88%(between-observer k: 0.74). Chi-square test showed that this difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Bone scan image of diabetic renal osteodystrophy showed less 99mTc-MDP uptake, which meant low osteoblastic activity. This influence of diabetes upon bone uptake was significant after considering other confounding factors.
Bone Diseases ; Creatinine ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Mandible ; Observer Variation ; Osteoblasts ; Renal Insufficiency ; Renal Osteodystrophy* ; Skeleton ; Skull ; Sternum ; Technetium Tc 99m Medronate

An epiglottic cyst is a common form of laryngeal cysts which are rare causes of upper airway obstruction. A congenital laryngeal cyst always causes neonatal respiratory distress, but an acquired cyst shows very wide spectrum of symptoms such as no specific complaints, dysphagia, respiratory difficulty, or even death according to its size, location, or age. From anesthesiologists' point of view, an asymptomatic undiagnosed laryngeal cyst is a major concern. Unexpectedly, it can cause difficult airway such as 'cannnot intubate' or 'cannot intubate and cannot ventilate' situation during anesthesia. Recently we discovered an undiagnosed epiglottic cyst obscuring laryngeal inlet, leading to difficult intubation during general anesthesia for decompression and fusion of lumbar vertebrae. Fortunately, mask ventilation was possible, and after failed attempts of direct laryngoscopy, we could perform oral fiberoptic bronchoscope-aided intubation. He was discharged 10 days later with no harmful events.
Airway Obstruction ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Bays ; Bronchoscopes ; Decompression ; Deglutition Disorders ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Laryngoscopy ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Masks ; Ventilation

No abstract available.
Liver Cirrhosis* ; Liver* ; Polycythemia Vera* ; Polycythemia*

We describe a 27-year-old man who developed gait disturbance and dysarthria 2 years after the onset of cardinal symptoms of Behcet's disease. Positron emission tomography with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose revealed severe hypometabolism in the cerebellum, in accordance wih cerebellar symptoms and sign of the patient. However, single-photon emission tomography with Tc-99m-HMPAO and Tc-99m-ECD did not disclose significant perfusion abnormalities in the brain. Routine brain magnetic resonance imaging did not show signal abnormalities. The findings of imaging studies compared with neurological manifestations of the patient are discussed.
Adult ; Brain ; Cerebellum ; Dysarthria ; Gait ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Perfusion ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

BACKGROUND: We have studied the 67Ga SPECT to determine the activity of pulmonary tuberculosis, especially in patients with minimal extent of the disease on chest radiographs. Because active minimal pulmonary tuberculosis is sometimes difficult to diagnose by means of initial chest X-ray, sputum examination and 67Ga planar imaging, we compared 67Ga planar imaging with SPECT to evaluate minimal pulmonary tuberculosis activity. METHODS: 67Ga planar imagings and SPECTs of 69 patients suspected of minimal pulmonary tuberculosis by the initial chest X-ray were performed and compared to each other. Active pulmonary tuberculosis was defined by a positive AFB smear and/or culture in the sputum and changes shown on the serial chest X-ray findings. RESULTS: 1)67Ga planar imaging imagings showed positive uptakes in 24 patients and no uptakes in 13 patients, which confirms active pulmonary tuberculosis. But SPECT imagings showed positive uptakes in 25 patients and no uptakes in 12 patients. 2) Patients confirmed with inactive pulmonary tuberculosis showed no up-take on 67Ga planar imaging. Only one of the 32 patients confirmed as having inactive pulmonary tuberculosis showed positive uptake on 67Ga SPECT imaging. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of our study, 67Ga planar imaging and SPECT are both sensitive in detecting the activity of minimal pulmonary tuberculosis. The difference between the two methods is not statistically significant, and the negative predictive value of the 67Ga SPECT is not higher than that of 67Ga planar imaging.
Humans ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

BACKGROUND: To determine if positive pressure pneumoperitoneum has adverse effects on autonomic nervous system function, we examined baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) during carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. METHODS: Twenty adult patients scheduled for laparoscopic gynecologic surgery were selected for the study. After general anesthesia was induced with sevoflurane, continuous electrocardiography and blood pressure were monitored. Spontaneous BRS was achieved using sequence method immediately before, and 5 minutes after, pneumoperitoneum. Heart rate variability (HRV) was also determined. RESULTS: After pneumoperitoneum, BRS decreased from 12.9 +/- 1.8 ms/mmHg to 8.1 +/- 1.1 ms/mmHg (P < 0.05), and the power of the high frequency band decreased from 237.8 ms2/Hz to 49.6 ms2/Hz (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared to recordings obtained before pneumoperitoneum, BRS was decreased during pneumoperitoneum. This may predispose patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery to hemodynamic instability in addition to pneumoperitoneum itself.
Adult ; Anesthesia, General ; Autonomic Nervous System ; Baroreflex ; Blood Pressure ; Carbon ; Carbon Dioxide ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Gynecologic Surgical Procedures ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Methyl Ethers ; Pneumoperitoneum

PURPOSE: We compared the reproducibility of 201Tl and 99mTc-sestamibi (MIBI) gated SPECT measurement of myocardial function using the Germano algorithm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gated SPECT acquisition was repeated in the same position in 30 patients who received 201Tl and in 26 who received 99mTc-MIBI. The quantification of end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), and ejection fraction (EF) on 201Tl and 99mTc-MIBI gated SPECT was processed independently using Cedars quantitative gated SPECT software. The reproducibility of the assessment of myocardial function on 201Tl gated SPECT was compared with that of 99mTc-MIBI gated SPECT. RESULTS: Correlation between the two measurements for volumes and EF was excellent by the repeated gated SPECT studies of 201Tl (r=0.928 to 0.986; p<0.05) and 99mTc-MIBI (r=0.979 to 0.997; p<0.05). However, Bland Altman analysis revealed the 95% limits of agreement (2 SD) for volumes and EF were tighter by repeated 99mTc-MIBI gated SPECT (EDV: 14.1 ml, ESV: 9.4 ml and EF: 5.5%) than by repeated 201Tl gated SPECT (EDV: 24.1 ml, ESV: 18.6 ml and EF: 10.3%). The root mean square (RMS) values of the coefficient of variation (CV) for volumes and EFs were smaller by repeated 99mTc-MIBI gated SPECT (EDV: 2.1 ml, ESV: 2.7 ml and EF: 2.3%) than by repeated 201Tl gated SPECT (EDV: 3.2 ml, ESV: 3.5 ml and EF: 5.2%). CONCLUSION: 99mTc-MIBI provides more reproducible volumes and EF than 201Tl on repeated acquisition gated SPECT. 99mTc-MIBI gated SPECT is the preferable method for the clinical monitoring of myocardial function.
Humans ; Perfusion* ; Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

Eleven hantavirus isolates were obtained by innoculation of viremic blood, urine, or autopsy tissue specimens from ten HFRS patients, and sera were obtained from five patients with HFRS. The disease was diagnosed by clinical manifestations and indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique. We obtained 6 hantaviruses from gene bank. So, we analyzed 22 hantavirus samples to elucidate the genetic diversity. The hantaviral RNAs were extracted and 365 base-pair complementary DNAs of M segment were obtained by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and 326 base-pair by nested PCR. The nucleotide sequences of amplified cDNA fragments were determined by the direct sequencing method using automatic DNA sequence analyzer. We got full M segment sequences of 28 reported hantaviruses with medline searching, and aligned them with our 22 samples, and the phylogenetic analysis for nucleotide and amino acid sequences were done by the Clustal method. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of Hantaan virus 17 samples showed high (above 90%) homology with 76-118 strain, but 2 samples showed significant differences with 76-118 strain and with other 17 samples. The 3 Seoul virus samples showed high intraspecies differences in 1 sample, and showed singnificant differences with SR-11 strain. In phyogenetic tree analysis, Puumala virus and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome viruses showed high homology, but Hantaan and Seoul viruses showed significant genetic diversity among strains. In conclusion, hantaviruses isolated from HFRS patients showed genetic diversity compared with those isolated from rodent hosts.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Autopsy ; Base Sequence* ; DNA, Complementary ; Genetic Variation ; Hantaan virus ; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome ; Hantavirus* ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Puumala virus ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA ; Rodentia ; Seoul virus

Between January, 1990, and December, 1994, 105 elderly patients(over the age of sixty) were referred to the Division of Nephrology at the Seoul National University Hospital as acute renal failure(ARF) (serum creatinine >1.7mg/dL, patients who had been diagnosed to have acute on chronic renal failure were excluded). To find out the characteristics of ARF in the elderly, we made a retrospective study of our data. Sufficient data for analysis were available in 101 of these. Among these patients, prerenal failure occured in 5% of the cases, ischemic ATN 34%, toxic ATN 11%, renovascular obstruction 5%, glomerular disease 5%, postrenal failure 15%. Dialysis was required in 31 patients(31%). Twenty four patients were treated by hemodialysis, it was carried out in 1 patient by the peritoneal route, and the other 6 patients were treated by CAVH. The most common indication was hypervolemia(77%). Twenty seven patients died during the period of acute renal failure. The most common cause of death was infection(15 patients), and the others were underlying diseases, pulmonary complications and cardiovascular complications. Oliguria, and chronic underlying disease were poor prognostic factors. There were significant differences between living and died group in APACHE II score(P<0.05). We conclude that ischemic ATN is a more common cause of ARF in the elderly than in the younger, and presence of oliguria and chronic underlying disease are poor prognostic factors.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Aged* ; APACHE ; Cause of Death ; Creatinine ; Dialysis ; Hemofiltration ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Lung Diseases ; Mortality ; Nephrology ; Oliguria ; Renal Dialysis ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul