A twenty nine-year-old woman has suffered for ten years from progressive proptosis and loss of vision in the right eye. Her right eye had deviated out-and-upwards, and its visual acuity was tested by hand motions. With the help of a brain and orbit CT, the tumor was found around the optic nerve and in the parasellar area. This tumor was surgically removed twice by Kroenlein operation and craniotomy, and was treated with irradiation(total dose: 5400 RAD). It was histopathologically diagnosed as astracytoma grade I. In the consecutive study, no evidence of recurrence of the tumor in either the orbit or brain was found.
Brain ; Craniotomy ; Exophthalmos ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Optic Chiasm* ; Optic Nerve Glioma* ; Optic Nerve* ; Orbit ; Recurrence ; Visual Acuity

The causes of blindness may be related to a person's life style, social status, age, sex, place of residence and era. To investigate the general aspects of the causes of blindness, authors reviewed clinical records of 16,671 patients who visited the Ophthal mology Department of Chonnam University Hospital in the years 1977, 1980, 1985, and 1989. After reviewing records of patients who had corrected vision below 0.1, we have obtained following results. 1. In the studied sample, 1,696 patients were identified as blind. The blind males(11.0%) were more prevalent than the blind females(9.3%) with a significant difference(p<0.05) and the blininess occurred most frequently in the sixtieth age group. 2. The leading etiologic factors of the blindness were cataract(43.0%) followed by trauma(19.4%), general eyeball dise~ses etc. In 1977 the main cause of blindness was general eyeball diseases. Thereafter, cataract was the leading cause of the blindness. 3. Visual acuities of studied samples were in the order of hand motions, 0.02-0.06, counting fingers, and light perception. The most common causes of absolute blindness were trauma and general eyeball diseases. In the case of visual acuity of better than hand motions, cataract was the leading cause. Cataracts were more prevalent in the age group above fiftieth, while trauma was the chief cause in those under thirtieth. 4. Suggested etiology of disease which directly cause blindness included unknown etiology(54.8%), trauma, undetermined and systemic diseases. In the unknown etiology group, cataract and glaucoma were distributed in high proportion while in the trauma group corneal diseases were the chief cause.
Blindness* ; Cataract ; Corneal Diseases ; Fingers ; Glaucoma ; Hand ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do ; Life Style ; Visual Acuity

The endoscopic diagnosis of gastric carcinoid has been considered difficult. Reported cases of this tumor diagnosed by endoscopic examination are rare. And the gastric carcinoid with massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a rare disease entity. We experienced a case of gastric carcinoid admitted to the hospital because of hematemesis, melena and syncope. And it was diagnosed by endoscopic biopsy, although it resembled type IIa+IIc early gastric cancer at endoscopic examination. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of gastric carcinoid tumor mimicking early gastric cancer. So we report this case with a review of relevant literatures.
Biopsy ; Carcinoid Tumor* ; Diagnosis ; Hematemesis ; Hemorrhage ; Melena ; Rare Diseases ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Syncope

Thymic carcinomas are uncommon malignant tumors, and thymic adenocarcinomas are extremely rare. Here, we describe a case of primary thymic adenocarcinoma in a 59-year-old woman. Histological examination of the tumor revealed tubular morphology with expression of cytokeratin 20 and caudal-type homeobox 2 according to immunohistochemistry, suggesting enteric features. Extensive clinical and radiological studies excluded the possibility of an extrathymic primary tumor. A review of the literature revealed only two global cases of primary tubular adenocarcinomas of the thymus with enteric immunophenotype.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Female ; Genes, Homeobox ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Keratin-20 ; Middle Aged ; Thymoma ; Thymus Gland*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical and radiological results of distal transfer of the greater trochanter in patients with a high-standing greater trochanter as a sequela of LCP disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1994 and 2005, ten cases (nine patients) underwent distal transfer of a highstanding greater trochanter and were followed up for more than 2 years after surgery. The clinical findings, such as the abduction of the hip, VAS score, and Trendelenburg sign, were evaluated. In addition, the centrotrochanteric distance (CTD) and Lever arm ratio (LAR) were used for the radiographic assessment. RESULTS: The mean range of abduction improved from 27.5degrees to 40degrees , and the VAS score improved from 4.1 to 1.2. Seven cases with positive Trendelenburg sign before surgery showed negative Trendelenburg sign after the surgery. At the last follow-up, the CTD improved from -1.52 cm to -0.2 cm and the LAR decreased from 2.2 to 1.8. CONCLUSION: The distal transfer of the greater trochanter in patients with a high standing greater trochanter as a consequence of LCP is an effective procedure that can reduce the level of hip pain and improve the hip abduction if careful patient selection is performed.
Arm ; Femur* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; Humans ; Patient Selection

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a widely accepted treatment for early gastric and esophageal cancer. Compared to endoscopic mucosal resection, ESD has the advantage of enabling en bloc removal of tumors regardless of their size. However, ESD can result in a large artificial ulcer, which may lead to a considerable deformity. Circumferential mucosal defects of more than three-fourths the esophageal circumference, long longitudinal mucosal defects (>30 mm), and lesions in the upper esophagus are significant risk factors for the development of post-ESD strictures of the esophagus. In the stomach, a circumferential mucosal defects more than three-fourths in extent and longitudinal mucosal defects >5 cm are risk factors of post-ESD stricture. If scheduled early, regular endoscopic balloon dilation is effective in controlling and preventing post-ESD stricture. Moreover, intralesional steroid injections or oral steroids can achieve remission of dysphagia or reduce the need for repeated endoscopic balloon dilation. However, further study is needed to improve the prevention of stricture formation.
Congenital Abnormalities ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Deglutition Disorders ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagus ; Risk Factors ; Steroids ; Stomach ; Ulcer

Eosinophilic colitis is a relatively rare complication of hypereosinophilic syndrome which is characterized by abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea and is usually treated with steroids and hydroxyurea. However, no standard regimen exists in cases of intractable disease despite several treatment attempts with Interferon- alpha, cyclosporin, etoposide, and vincristine, etc. We here report a case of a 43-year-old woman with recurrent eosinophilic colitis as a complication of hypereosinophilic syndrome who was successfully treated with cyclophosphamide.
Adult ; Case Report ; Colitis/*complications/*drug therapy/pathology ; Cyclophosphamide/*therapeutic use ; Eosinophilia/*complications/*drug therapy/pathology ; Female ; Human ; Hypereosinophilic Syndrome/*complications ; Recurrence

One of the most important prognostic factors in esophageal carcinoma is lymph node metastasis, and in particular, the number of affected lymph nodes, which influences long-term outcomes. The esophageal lymphatic system is connected longitudinally and transversally; thus, the pattern of lymph node metastases is very complex. Early esophageal cancer frequently exhibits skipped metastasis, and minimal surgery using sentinel node navigation cannot be performed. In Korea, most esophageal cancer cases are squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), although the incidence of adenocarcinoma has started to increase recently. Most previous reports have failed to differentiate between SCC and adenocarcinoma, despite the fact that the Union for International Cancer Control (7th edition) and American Joint Committee on Cancer staging systems both consider these separately because they differ in cause, biology, lymph node metastasis, and outcome. Endoscopic tumor resection is an effective and safe treatment for lesions with no associated lymph node metastasis. Esophageal mucosal cancer confined to the lamina propria is an absolute indication for endoscopic resection, and a lesion that has invaded the muscularis mucosae can be cured by local resection if invasion to the lymphatic system has not occurred.
Adenocarcinoma ; Biology ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Incidence ; Joints ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes* ; Lymphatic System ; Mucous Membrane ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neoplasm Staging

An abrupt increase of intracellular Ca2+ is observed in cells under hypoxic or oxidatively stressed conditions. The dysregulated increase of cytosolic Ca2+ triggers apoptotic cell death through mitochondrial swelling and activation of Ca2+-dependent enzymes. Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is a Ca2+-dependent enzyme that catalyzes transamidation reaction producing cross-linked and polyaminated proteins. TG2 activity is known to be involved in the apoptotic process. However, the pro-apoptotic role of TG2 is still controversial. In this study, we investigate the role of TG2 in apoptosis induced by Ca2+-overload. Overexpression of TG2 inhibited the A23187-induced apoptosis through suppression of caspase-3 and -9 activities, cytochrome c release into cytosol, and mitochondria membrane depolarization. Conversely, down-regulation of TG2 caused the increases of cell death, caspase-3 activity and cytochrome c in cytosol in response to Ca2+-overload. Western blot analysis of Bcl-2 family proteins showed that TG2 reduced the expression level of Bax protein. Moreover, overexpression of Bax abrogated the anti-apoptotic effect of TG2, indicating that TG2-mediated suppression of Bax is responsible for inhibiting cell death under Ca2+-overloaded conditions. Our findings revealed a novel anti-apoptotic pathway involving TG2, and suggested the induction of TG2 as a novel strategy for promoting cell survival in diseases such as ischemia and neurodegeneration.
*Apoptosis ; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins/metabolism ; Calcimycin/pharmacology ; Calcium/*metabolism ; Caspases/metabolism ; Cell Death ; Cell Survival ; Cytochromes c/metabolism ; Down-Regulation ; GTP-Binding Proteins/*metabolism ; HEK293 Cells ; Hela Cells ; Humans ; Ionophores/pharmacology ; Mitochondria/metabolism ; Transglutaminases/*metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein/genetics/*metabolism