Sclerosing lymphangitis of the penis occurs as a skin-colored or dusty red, cord-like thickening of tissue at the corona or within the coronal sulcus. The thickened, elongated lesion is firm and relatively nontender. The cause is unknown: because it occurs primarily in those who are sexually very active, however, it is likely that chronic trauma plays an important etiologic role. We experienced a case of pathologically proven sclerosing lymphangitis in a 31 year-old man. Ultrasonographic finding showed circumferential cord like hypoechoic band with irregular, but well demarcated margin.
Lymphangitis* ; Male ; Penis*

Although lymphoma may involve any part of gastrointestinal tract either primary or secondary, esophageal involvement is rare. Secondary esopahgeal involvement of lymphoma is showing an incidence between 0% and 6% with autopsy series and lesser then 1% in living patients. The occurrence of a tracheoesophageal fistula(TEF) in patient with lymphoma is even more rare. We describe one case of TEF due to secondary esophageal invasion of T-cell lympboma and review the literature, with particular attention to chest CT and esophagoscopic finding, and endoscopic biopsy result.
Autopsy ; Biopsy ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, T-Cell* ; T-Lymphocytes* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tracheoesophageal Fistula*

Sarcoidosis is a chronic multisystemic disorder of unknown cause characterized by presence of noncaseating epithelioid granuloma in affected organ It is relatively common In western countries, but it is uncommon in East Asia including Korea. The lung is the most frequently affected organ. Usual radiologic manifestation of thoracic sarcoidosis art readily recognized, but there are extremely diverse manifestation Sarcoidosis rarely causes large pulmonary nodules, and cavitation in such lesion is very rare. We experienced one case of Sarcoidosis with Cavitary nodule of the lung and report it with brief review of the literature.
Far East ; Granuloma ; Korea ; Lung* ; Sarcoidosis*

PURPOSE: There is no established formula for estimating renal depths in Korean. As a result, we undertook this study to develop a new formula, and to apply this formula in the calculation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We measured the renal depth (RD) on the abdominal CT obtained in 300 adults (M:F=167:133, mean age 50.9 years) without known renal diseases. The RDs measured by CT were compared with the estimated RDs based on the Tonnesen and Taylor equations. New formulas were derived from the measured RDs in 200 out of 300 patients based on several variables such as sex, age, weight, and height by multiple regression analysis. The RDs estimated from the new formulas were compared with the measured RDs in the remaining 100 patients as a control. In 48 patients who underwent Tc-99m DTPA renal scintigraphy, GFR was measured with three equations (new formula, Tonnesen and Taylor equations), respectively, and compared with each other. RESULTS: The mean values of the RDs measured from CT were 6.9 cm for right kidney of the men (MRK), 6.7 cm for left kidney of the men (MLK), 6.7 cm for right kidney of the women (WRK), and 6.6 cm for left kidney of the women (WLK). The RDs estimated from Tonnesen equation were shorter than the ones measured from CT significantly. The newly derived formulas were 12.813 (weight/height)+0.002 (age)+ 2.264 for MRK, 15.344 (weight/height)+0.011 (age)+0.557 for MLK, 12.936 (weight/height)+ 0.014 (age)+1.462 for WRK and 13.488 (weight/height)+0.019 (age)+0.762 for WLK. The correlation coefficients of the RD measured from CT and estimated from the new formula were 0.529 in MRK, 0.729 in MLK, 0.601 in WRK, and 0.724 in WLK, respectively. The GFRs from the new formula were significantly higher than those from the Tonnesen equation significantly, which was the most similar to normal GFR values. CONCLUSION: We generated new formulas for estimating RD in Korean from the data by CT. By adopting these formulas, we expect that GFR can be measured by the Gates method accurately in Korean.
Adult ; Female ; Glomerular Filtration Rate* ; Humans ; Kidney ; Male ; Pentetic Acid ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

We report a case of vertebral osteomyelitis with epidural abscess caused by Streptococcus constellatus. The patient was present with fever, back pain, and dyspnea for 1 week. The patient was previously healthy and did not have any predisposing factor. After evaluation, the patient was diagnosed as Streptococcus constellatus vertebral osteomyelitis. He was successfully treated with surgical debridement and antibiotic therapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of S. constellatus vertebral osteomyeltis with epidural abscess to be reported in Korea.
Back Pain ; Debridement ; Dyspnea ; Epidural Abscess ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Osteomyelitis ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus constellatus

We report a case of vertebral osteomyelitis with epidural abscess caused by Streptococcus constellatus. The patient was present with fever, back pain, and dyspnea for 1 week. The patient was previously healthy and did not have any predisposing factor. After evaluation, the patient was diagnosed as Streptococcus constellatus vertebral osteomyelitis. He was successfully treated with surgical debridement and antibiotic therapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of S. constellatus vertebral osteomyeltis with epidural abscess to be reported in Korea.
Back Pain ; Debridement ; Dyspnea ; Epidural Abscess ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Osteomyelitis ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus constellatus

PURPOSE: With recent developments in endoscopic surgery for thyroid tumors, several approaches have been applied to endoscopic neck surgery. Gasless endoscopic thyroidectomy has some advantages over gas insufflating surgery. We evaluated the role of gasless endoscopic thyroidectomies on various thyroid tumors including malignant thyroid tumors. METHODS: We performed thyroidectomies for a total of 195 patients who were admitted to Uijongbu St. Mary's Hospital from November 1999 to February 2002. We compared the clinical data of 100 patients who received gasless endoscopic thyroidectomies with the data of 95 patients who underwent conventional thyroidectomies. Furthermore, we subclassified the 100 patients who received a gasless endoscopic thyroidectomy into two groups, before and after the start of 2001. RESULTS: The analysis of the clinical data showed that an endoscopic thyroidectomy gave superior results with respect to the time of postoperative recovery and cosmetic results. Also, the patients in the second half group showed significantly shorter operation times reduced from 153.4 min. to 128.6 min. and length of hospital stay similarly reduced(3.55 days vs. 5.35 days). CONCLUSION: A gasless endoscopic thyroidectomy is a safe and technically feasible alternative to a conventional thyroi-dectomy in benign and early malignant tumors, and provides good cosmetic results.
Humans ; Length of Stay ; Neck ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroidectomy*

BACKGROUND: The differences in clinical features are important when differentiating between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD). There have been many studies comparing the severity of progression in both diseases. They have assessed individual symptoms but have not explained the differences and global change of progression comprehensively. We have evaluated the cognitive and non-cognitive functions at the same time and evaluated the differences between AD and VD. METHODS: One hundred and thirty-eight dementia patients from Busan?Gyeongnam Dementia Association outpatient clinics were analyzed. All of the patients underwent the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), the expanded version of the Korean Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR), the Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI), the scales for activity of daily living, and the Short form of the Samsung Dementia Questionnaire (S-SDQ). RESULTS: There were 93 patients with AD and 45 with VD. VD patients revealed more severe Barthel Index of Activity of Daily Living (B-ADL) deficits. AD patients had more severe memory and orientation deficiency in CDR 1 and CDR 2. VD patients revealed much faster decline of K-MMSE score between CDR 2 and CDR 3. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that VD patients display more severe B-ADL difficulty, while AD patients display more severe memory difficulty and disorientation. B-ADL progresses in the earlier stages in VD and in the later stages in AD. Global cognitive dysfunction progression is the opposite: in the earlier stages in AD and in the later stages in VD.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Dementia ; Dementia, Vascular* ; Humans ; Memory ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND: Behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) are common in dementia. These may be helpful for clinical differentiation between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD). Most previous studies have reported the prevalence and severity of BPSD regardless of severity of progression. However, we evaluated the differences of BPSD by grading dementia progression and including severe cases only. METHODS: 141 dementia outpatients from clinics of Busan-Gyeongnam Dementia Association in Korea were analyzed. All patients were administered the Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI), the expanded version of Korean Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR), and the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE). RESULTS: There were 95 patients with AD and 46 patients with VD. AD patients revealed higher frequency of manifested BPSD symptoms and most of subscales showed higher composite scores also. But apathy was more severely and frequently manifested in VD. AD patients had more frequent night-time behavior and aberrant motor symptoms above 3 point in CDR 0.5 and VD patients had more frequent apathy symptom above 3 point in CDR 1. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that generally AD patients revealed more frequent and severe BPSDs than VD patients. Apathy was a more dominant symptom in VD. It seemed that some of the symptoms were valuable clues for the differential diagnosis even though a better designed study was required.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Apathy ; Behavioral Symptoms ; Dementia ; Dementia, Vascular* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Korea ; Outpatients ; Prevalence

BACKGROUND: The purposes of this study were to examine the state of depression and life satisfaction of family caregivers and to find out which factors would be significant in determining depression and life satisfaction of caregivers for the elderly with dementia. METHODS: Caregivers of patients with dementia who were registered at nine medical centers in Busan Metropolitan City and Gyeongnam Province were the major subjects of this study. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews. The final sample consisted of 144 cases after eliminating several incomplete questionnaires. Based on the collected data, the authors evaluated demographic findings, general characteristics, and factors influencing depression and life satisfaction of the caregivers using statistical analyses. RESULTS: The severity of depression and the degree of life satisfaction in family caregivers were low. We found that caregiver's anxiety, monthly income, caregiver burden, non-relative network, self-confidence of caregiving, and the degree of the Barthel index of activity of daily living (B-ADL) were significant factors in determining depression of the caregivers (p<0.05). The following two variables were significant factors in determining the caregiver's level of life satisfaction: burden of caregiving costs and patient's Korean mini-mental state examination (K-MMSE) score (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that the level of anxiety, caregiver burden and social support, rather than the conditions of dementia patients, influenced depression and life satisfaction for the caregivers of patients with dementia. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of life for caregivers, we should consider psychosocial factors as well as patient's medical factors in influencing depression and life satisfaction.
Aged ; Anxiety ; Busan ; Caregivers* ; Dementia* ; Depression* ; Humans ; Psychology ; Quality of Life ; Questionnaires