PURPOSE: To compare clinical outcomes of the tumor prosthetic replacement and osteosynthetic fixation for pathologic fracture of skeletal metastatic lesion of the proximal femur. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1994 May to 2009 May, medical records of 22 patients who underwent tumor prosthetic replacement with tumor resection (group 1) and 15 others (16 hips) who underwent osteosynthetic fixation without tumor resection (group 2) were reviewed. The mean age of overall patients were 59 (group 1) and 60 (group 2). Mean follow up periods were 23 and 11 months. The oncological and functional results were evaluated with Kaplan-Meier methods and Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) scoring system, 1993. The statistical evaluation was assessed with Log rank test and t-test. RESULTS: The mean survival periods were 24 months in group 1 and 11months in group 2. The 1 year survival rates were 86% in group 1 and 50 % in group 2, and 2 year survival rates were 29.7% in group 1 and 9.4% in group 2. The mean MSTS functional score were 26.4 (19-30), 87.9% in group 1 and 15.3 (10-23), 51.0% in group 2. CONCLUSION: The results of tumor resection and prosthetic replacement in selected cases was better than osteosynthetic fixation without tumor resection for metastatic bone tumors around proximal femur in oncological and functional aspects.
Femur ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Humans ; Joints ; Medical Records ; Survival Rate

No abstract available.
Otitis Media* ; Otitis*

Primary aldosteronism is present in approximately 1% of unselectd hypertensive patients. Adrenal adenoma is a known as one of the surgically curable form of the hypertension. Hypertension is one of the contributing factors for the development of aortic dissection. Cincurrence of aortic dissection in patient with primary aldosteronism is extemely rare. Only one case wasconfirmed by autopsy and reported in the world literature. We report a case of DeBakey type 3 anortic aneursm in a 49-year old hypertensive female patient with primary aldosteronism due to left adrenal adenoma. She underwent left adrenalectomy uneventfully after stabilization of her blood pressure with maximal medical management including nitroprusside, aldactone, enalapril and inderal.
Adenoma ; Adrenalectomy ; Autopsy ; Blood Pressure ; Enalapril ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism ; Hypertension ; Middle Aged ; Nitroprusside ; Propranolol ; Spironolactone

The two most common causes of acute arterial occlusion are embolism and thrombosis in sity. They are mainly originated from the cardiovascular sources. About 70-80 per cent of occlusions occur in the axial limb vessels. Therapeutic options include supportive measures, pharmacologic treatment, surgery, and non-operative interventions. There have been several successful case reports using percutaneous aspiration thromboembolectomy with the advent of new instruments and technical imprevement. We report a case of 70-year-old male with acute anterior wall myocardial infaction who experienced acute embolic arterial occlusion of the left popliteal artery from mural thrombus in the left ventricular apex. It wan managed successfully by percutaneous aspiration thromboembolectomy.
Aged ; Embolism ; Embolism and Thrombosis ; Extremities ; Humans ; Male ; Popliteal Artery ; Thrombosis

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the results between early and delayed reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in patients with combined medial collateral ligament (MCL) injuries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From February 2001 to January 2007, fifty-five patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction for combined ACL and MCL injuries and who were followed for more than 18 months were included in this study. The Tegner Activity Score, the Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale, the interval to recover 90degrees of motion, the Lachman test, the anterior and valgus laxity noted on stress radiograph, and the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC, 1993) documentation were recorded and compared between the early reconstruction group, which underwent ACL reconstruction within 3 weeks, and the delayed reconstruction group, which underwent ACL reconstruction after 3 weeks. RESULTS: At the final follow up, the Tegner score was 7.4 in the early reconstruction group and 7.6 in the delayed reconstruction group. The Lysholom score was 90.5 and 91.3, respectively (p>0.05). All the cases were rated near normal or normal on the IKDC subjective assessment. The early reconstruction group needed a longer time to recover motion and especially in the female patients. However, there was no statistical difference between the groups for the final range of motion, in addition to the Lachman test and the anterior or valgus laxity. CONCLUSION: In this study, satisfactory clinical and radiological results were obtained in both the early and delayed reconstruction groups. The early reconstruction of the ACL seems to be one of the surgical options for reconstruction of acute ACL injury combined with torn MCL.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament ; Collateral Ligaments ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Knee ; Range of Motion, Articular

Background: and Purpose: Verbal and nonverbal fluency tests are the conventional methods for examining executive function in the elderly population. However, differences in impairments result in fluency tests in patients with mild cognitive impairments (MCIs) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and in neural correlates underlying the tests still necessitate concrete evidence. Methods: We compared the test performances in 27 normal controls, 28 patients with MCI, and 20 with AD, and investigated morphological changes in association with the test performances using structural magnetic imaging. Results: Patients with AD performed poorly across all the fluency tests, and a receiver operating characteristics curve analysis revealed that only category fluency test discriminated all the 3 groups. Association, category, and design fluency tests involved temporal and frontal regions, while letter fluency involved the cerebellum and caudate. Conclusions Category fluency is a reliable measure for screening patients with AD and MCI, and this efficacy might be related to morphological correlates that underlie semantic and executive processing.

OBJECTIVES: The stress response involves the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal(HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system. Corticosteroids have been clearly demonstrated to cause anti-inflammatory and/or immnosuppressive effects in man including granulocytosis in part by decreasing migration into tissue, especially damaged tissues(myocardium), and circulating relative lymphocytopenia. To test whether automated measurements of the the increased serum cortisol-induced hematologic changes in the leukocyte differential significance or not in the initial differential diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction in acute chest pain syndromes. METHODS: 101 consecutive patients with myocardial infarction or myocardial ischemia presenting to the emergency room of Seoul Adventist Hospital with acute chest pain from January 1993 to August 1995(Retrospective group) and from December 1995 to March patients compatible with exclusion criteria in myocardial infarction were excluded. We measured automated leukocyte differential and serial CK-MB level in both groups, and the intial serum cortisol levels in prospective infarction group. RESULTS: 1) Total leukocyte and granulocyte counts were increased in acute myocardial infarction(p<0.01). 2) In acute myocardial infarction group, lymphocyte counts were slightly increased(p<0.05), but relative lymphocytes percentage more significantly decreased(p<0.01). 3) Serum cortisol levels are significantly raised early in the course of the acute myocardial infarction and prior to the elevation of the specific cardiac enzymes on the basis of analytic results of prospective infarction group. 4) Cortisol-induced changes in leukocyte differential were noted with time passes into reverse approximately 4 days later in our study. 5) The leukocyte differential does not shows significant changes in the retrospective myocardial ischemia group, so we arrive in careful conclusion that serum cortisol level seems does not increase. 6) No sexual differences were noted in leukocyte differential. CONCLUSIONS: The serum cortisol level and cortisol-induced leukocyte differential are helpful for initial differential diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction in acute chest pain sysdrome.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Chest Pain* ; Diagnosis, Differential* ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Granulocytes ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone* ; Infarction ; Leukocytes* ; Lymphocyte Count ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphopenia ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul ; Sympathetic Nervous System ; Thorax*

OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out to investigate the correlations of the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) with semen parameters and apoptosis, and to investigate the effects of density-gradient centrifugation (DGC) and magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) on reducing the proportion of sperm with DNA fragmentation and protamine deficiency. METHODS: Semen analysis and a sperm DNA fragmentation assay were performed to assess the correlations between semen parameters and the DFI in 458 semen samples. Sperm with progressive motility or non-apoptosis were isolated by DGC or MACS, respectively, in 29 normozoospermic semen samples. The effects of DGC or MACS alone and of DGC and MACS combined on reducing the amount of sperm in the sample with DNA fragmentation and protamine deficiency were investigated. RESULTS: The sperm DFI showed a significant correlation (r=–0.347, p<0.001) with sperm motility and morphology (r=–0.114, p<0.05) but not with other semen parameters. The DFI (11.5%±2.0%) of semen samples was significantly reduced by DGC (8.1%±4.1%) or MACS alone (7.4%±3.9%) (p<0.05). The DFI was significantly further reduced by a combination of DGC and MACS (4.1%±1.3%, p<0.05). Moreover, the combination of DGC and MACS (1.6%±1.1%, p<0.05) significantly reduced the protamine deficiency rate of semen samples compared to DGC (4.4%±3.2%) or MACS alone (3.4%±2.2%). CONCLUSION: The combination of DGC and MACS may be an effective method to isolate high-quality sperm with progressive motility, non-apoptosis, high DNA integrity, and low protamine deficiency in clinical use.
Apoptosis ; Centrifugation* ; Centrifugation, Density Gradient ; Chromatin* ; DNA Fragmentation ; DNA* ; Methods ; Product Packaging* ; Semen ; Semen Analysis ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa*

PURPOSE: The high mortality and morbidity rates associated with traumatic rupture of the small bowel have been attributed to the clinical difficulty of establishing an early diagnosis. CT scan is the most widely used tool for the diagnosis of blunt abdominal trauma, but its accuracy in diagnosing small bowel perforation is still controversial. This study was conducted to determine the overall and time-dependent diagnostic value of abdominal CT and the clinical findings of small bowel perforation. METHODS: The clinical data and CT images of 21 patients with small bowel perforation after blunt trauma were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the early and late elapsed time groups based on the elapsed time of 8 hours from the initial trauma to the time of evaluation. RESULTS: Any changes of the vital signs, including hypotension, tachycardia or fever, were observed in only half of the patients. Signs of peritonitis were evident in 7/11 of the early lapse group and in 10/10 of the late lapse group. The most common CT finding of small bowel perforation was free peritoneal air (17 of 21 patients), followed by segmental bowel wall thickening (15/21), high density ascites (14/21), an intermesentric fluid collection (13/21) and mesentic fat obliteration (11/21). Extraluminal air and segmental bowel wall thickening were detected more frequently in the late lapse group (P=0.03 and 0.01, respectively). In the one patient, bowel perforation was not evident at the initial evaluation according to the clinical findings and CT, but the follow-up CT exam showed specific findings for bowel perforation. CONCLUSION: CT scanning is a sensitive and effective modality for the evaluation of small bowel perforation, but this is less sensitive during the earlier post traumatic period. Therefore, careful clinical and radiological follow up is necessary for suspected cases, and even when an initial evaluation shows negative findings for bowel injury.
Ascites ; Early Diagnosis ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Peritonitis ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Tachycardia ; Vital Signs