Since the introduction of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy(ESWL), percutaneous nephrolithotomy(PNL) has been performed in limited cases of the patients requiring a stone procedure. The roles of PNL in the era of ESWL were reviewed through analysis of 86 patients treated with PNL. From July 1987 to December 1994, 86 patients(89 renal units) underwent percutaneous extraction of renal or upper ureteral stone. From July 1987 to January 1990, PNL was performed as the first choice for the treatment of 69 cases out of 119 renal or upper ureteral stone, and PNL was done in 58.0% (69/119) of the cases. From February 1990 to December 1994 when ESWL was available at our hospital, PNL was done in 20 cases of ESWL resistant stone or large volume stone, and PNL was done in 1.5%(20/1,362) of renal or upper ureteral stone. In the era of ESWL in our hospital, ESWL were performed in 94.5% of renal or upper ureteral stone, open surgery in 3.0%, PNL in 1.5% and conservative treatment in 1.0%. Initial success rate of PNL was 86.9%(60/69 cases) and subsequently when ESWL was available at our hospital, it became 95.0%(19/20 cases), probably due to accumulated experiences. Subsequently decreased complications of PNL such as persistent urinary leakage, prolonged hematuria, ureteral perforation and paralytic ileus. Though the introduction of ESWL in our hospital also brought about dramatic ally decreased use of PNL, PNL continues to have a primary role in the management of renal or upper ureteral stone in limited cases such as patients refusing ESWL, ESWL resistant stone or large volume stone.
Hematuria ; Humans ; Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction ; Lithotripsy* ; Nephrostomy, Percutaneous* ; Shock* ; Ureter

Hemobilia is a disease caused by injury or conditions that cause the abnormal communication between intrahepatic blood vessels and biliary tract, resulting in leakage of blood into the biliary tract. In the past, trauma had been the most common cause of hemobilia. However, with the increasing invasive procedures in the hepatobiliary tract, iatrogenic origin has become the major cause of hemobilia. Also, non-traumatic etiologies of hemobilia include vascular malformation such as aneurysm, gallstone, inflammation, biliary tumor, hepatocellular carcinoma and coagulopathy. Among these non-traumatic etiologies, choledocholithiasis is a rare cause of hemobilia. The authors have experienced two cases of hemobilia caused by choledocholithiasis, which was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasonography, abdominal CT and duodenoscopy. Both patients were treated by the endoscopic sphincterotomy and stone removal with basket.
Aneurysm ; Biliary Tract ; Blood Vessels ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Choledocholithiasis ; Common Bile Duct* ; Duodenoscopy ; Gallstones ; Hemobilia* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Sphincterotomy, Endoscopic ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography ; Vascular Malformations

Excessive proliferation of peripelvic fat of the kidney simulating a peripelvic tumor is a rare condition. Excessive proliferation of peripelvic fat of the kidney is a benign process with an innocuous effect on the patient but this condition may produce pyelocalyceal deformities that may be mistaken for pelvic or peripelvic neoplasm. We report a case of excessive proliferation of peripelvic fat of the kidney simulating a peripelvic liposarcoma in 63-year-old-man, who was treated by radical nephrectomy. Pathologic findings revealed excessive proliferation of peripelvic fat in the resected kidney postoperatively.
Congenital Abnormalities ; Humans ; Kidney* ; Liposarcoma* ; Nephrectomy

Most spinal meningiomas have an intradural or partly extradural location. The meningothelial origin is the most common pathologic type of spinal meningioma. Pure extradural spinal meningiomas are not common, and lymphoplasmacyte-rich meningioma (LPRM) is very rare. We report a case of isolated extradural spinal meningioma in the thoracic spine that was pathologically confirmed as LPRM.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study was conducted to determine the effect of novel long-term maintenance treatment with lamivudine by gradual lengthening of the medication interval in patients with chronic active viral hepatitis B. METHOD: All patients were non-responder, relapsed or intolerable patients to previous interferon therapy. Patients were divided into a drug-interval changing study and a daily continual medication control group. Drug-interval changing protocol with gradual lengthening of the medication interval after conversion to undetectable HBV-DNA in serum and reduction of serum aminotransferase to normal level was monitored monthly. RESULTS: Before treatment, 15 patients of the drug-interval change group and 11 patients of the daily medication group were similar in laboratory and pathologic findings. Mean follow-up periods were 12.8 moths and 11.4 months respectively. HBeAg seroconversion rate was higher in patients in the daily medication group (86.7% vs. 40.0%, p<0.05). The odds of loss of HBeAg, development of anti-HBe, and suppression of HBV-DNA are about 11 times, 7 times, and 8 times higher in the drug-interval change group compared with the daily medication group, respectively (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Drug-interval lengthening method was effective in long-term suppression of viral replication with low cost.
Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Interferons ; Lamivudine* ; Moths

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Various techniques of hepatocyte transplantation were actively studied as an alternative to liver transplantation, because of the difficulty of obtaining donor organ, technical difficulties, and high cost. Isolated hepatocytes could be appropriately banked and distributed on demand. We tried to investigate the effect of intrasplenic transplantation of allogenic cryopreserved hepatocytes, into spleen prior to 90% partial hepatectomy in rats, on the survival rate. METHODS: Cryopreserved hepatocytes, isolated by collagenase perfusion of the liver via the portal vein, were thawed and transplanted into the spleen of rats prior to induction of acute hepatic failure by resection of all lobes except caudate lobe (2.0x107 hepatocytes/rat). RESULTS: 1. The viability of freshly isolated hepatocyte was 70-5%, but cell viability after cryopreservation 30-0%. 2. Difference of survival in control and transplant group is not statistically significant. but the survival rate, 48 hours after 90% partial hepatectomy, for control (7) and transplanted group (11) were 0% and 18%, respectively. 3. Although the glucose reduction gradient was not significantly different between two groups, it was more prominent in the control group than in the transplanted group. 4. Engraftment and survival of transplanted hepatocytes were noted in the spleen 2 days after transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: We could not observe statistically significant improvement of survival with intrasplenic transplantation of cryopreserved hepatocytes in rats with 90% partial hepatectomy-nduced acute liver failure. However, 18% survival after 90% partial hepatectomy was noted in the transplanted group, compared to no survival in the control group. This suggests that intrasplenic transplantation of cryopreserved hepatocytes might be effective in the treatment of acute liver failure.
Animals ; Cell Survival ; Collagenases ; Cryopreservation ; Glucose ; Hepatectomy ; Hepatocytes* ; Humans ; Liver ; Liver Failure, Acute ; Liver Transplantation ; Perfusion ; Portal Vein ; Rats* ; Spleen ; Survival Rate ; Tissue Donors

We report a rare case of a massive fatal embolism that occurred in the middle of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and retrospectively examine the significant causes of the event. The patient was a 50-year old female with an uncertain history of previous abdominal surgery for multiple biliary stones 20 years prior. The patient presented with acute right upper quadrant pain. An abdominal computed tomographic (CT) scan revealed the presence of multiple stones in the common bile duct (CBD) and intra-hepatic duct (IHD) with biliary obstruction, multifocal liver abscesses, and air-biliarygram. Emergency ERCP showed a wide and straight opening of choledochoduodenostomy, which may have been created during a previous surgery, and multiple filling defects in the CBD. With the use of a forward endoscope, mud stones were extracted through the opening of the choledochoduodenostomy. Cardiac arrest suddenly developed during the procedure, and despite immediate resuscitation, the patient died due to a massive systemic air embolism. We reviewed previously reported fatal cases and accessed factors facilitating air embolisms in this case.
Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde/*methods ; Choledochostomy/*methods ; Common Bile Duct/radiography ; Embolism, Air/*complications ; Fatal Outcome ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Abscess/pathology ; Middle Aged ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: Hepatitis A virus (HAV) has been a leading cause of acute hepatitis in Korea. The reported genotypes of acute hepatitis A in Korea are the subgenotype IA and IB. The aim of the present study is to investigate HAV genotypes in the south-east area of Gyeonggi-do in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From June 2004 to June 2006, 46 acute hepatitis A patients were enrolled prospectively. All had sporadic acute hepatitis A patients. All suspected cases of acute hepatitis A were tested for IgM anti-HAV antibodies. We sequenced 168 bp of nucleotides of the putative VP1/P2A junction and determined the HAV genotype with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. The clinical and laboratory results of all patients were recorded. RESULTS: HAV-ribonucleic acid (RNA) was detected in 41 samples out of 46 samples. Among the 41 samples, 25 (60%) were shown to have subgenotype IIIA and the other 16 (40%) were subgenotype IA. Several amino acid substitutions were found. CONCLUSION: In these HAV sporadic cases, IIIA and IA were identified, and this may reflect co-circulation of various genotypes in Korea. This study provides valuable new data on the genetic distribution of HAV and important information to help design appropriate public health measures.
Adult ; Female ; Genotype ; Hepatitis A/*epidemiology/virology ; Hepatitis A Virus, Human/classification/genetics/*physiology ; Humans ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; *Molecular Epidemiology ; Phylogeny ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND/AIMS: During cryopreservation of hepatocytes, a dramatic loss in cell number, viability and differentiated cell function is usually inevitable because hepatocytes are very sensitive to stress during freezing and thawing. We tried to investigate the optimal cryopreservation conditions of hepatocytes including the constituents of the freezing medium and freezing rate. METHODS: Isolated hepatocytes were cryopreserved in media containing 10% glycerol or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) of variable concentration. Different freezing procedures (stepwise, rapid, and programmed with or without shock cooling) were used and they were stored in a liquid nitrogen tank. After rapid thawing at 39degrees C, followed by dilution and removal of the cryopreservative, the ability of the hepatocytes to exclude trypan blue dye (TB) was evaluated. Hepatocytes were fractionated through a Nycodenz density gradient centrifugation (DGC) to eliminate dead cells. Cells were plated on dishes coated with type I collagen. RESULTS: Cell viability of hepatocytes recovered from cryopreservation was maintained better using 10, 15, and 20% DMSO as a cryopreservative and programmed cell freezer with shock cooling. After Nycodenz DGC a hepatocyte fraction highly enriched in viable cells could be taken between 11% and 30%. In culture, cryopreserved hepatocytes exhibited a morphology with epithelial characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that rate-adjusted programmed freezing with shock cooling and 10, 15 and 20% DMSO increased the viability of cryopreserved hepatocytes. The hepatocyte fraction highly enriched in viable cells could be taken using Nycodenz DGC. In order to establish a bank of hepatocytes for hepatocyte transplantations and artificial livers a more improved method is nevertheless necessary to increase the viability of hepatocytes after cryopreservation.
Animals ; Cell Count ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Survival ; Centrifugation, Density Gradient ; Collagen Type I ; Cryopreservation ; Dimethyl Sulfoxide ; Freezing* ; Glycerol ; Hepatocytes* ; Iohexol ; Liver, Artificial ; Nitrogen ; Rats* ; Shock ; Trypan Blue