Malignant transformation develops in a little less than 2% of mature cystic teratomas. A wide variety of malignant tumors may arise within benign mature cystic teratomas, and the most common of these is squamous cell carcinoma, which account for 75~85%. In general, the tumors are in an advanced stage and the prognosis is poor as most patients die within a year. However, when the tumor is confined to the ovary, they have a good prognosis and the 5-year survival rate is 63~83%. We experienced three cases of squamous cell carcinoma arising in mature cystic teratoma. Two of the carcinomas occurred in postmenopausal women: 58-(case 1) and 66-(case 2) year-old, and were confined to the ovaries. They were alive 37 months and 18 months after the operation, respectively. The third case was a 45-year-old premenopausal woman who had an extraovarian extension of the tumor and early recurrence within two months. Histologically, cases 1 and 3 were conventional well to moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinomas and case 2 showed a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma with exuberant proliferating trichilemmal tumor-like areas.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Ovary* ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate ; Teratoma*

BACKGROUND: RUNX3 is expressed throughout the luminal gastrointestinal tract. RUNX3 is on chromosome 1p36, a location considered to carry an important tumor suppressor for many types of cancers. Epigenetic silencing of RUNX3 is causally related to human gastric cancer. METHODS: Colorectal cancers, adenoma, and the corresponding normal mucosa were obtained from 26 individual patients. To identify methylation of RUNX3 in colonic carcinogenesis, methylation-specific PCR was performed. RESULTS: RUNX3 methylation was found in one case of colonic carcinoma. The normal mucosa and tubular adenoma of this case had no methylation. No other cases were found to have methylations. CONCLUSIONS: These results are very different from the findings of gastric carcinomas, where frequent DNA methylation in the vicinity of the RUNX3 promoter is found. Although, the possibility of a role of RUNX3 methylation in the colon can not be completely ruled out, these results suggest that methylation of the RUNX3 promoter region might not contribute to the adenoma-carcinoma sequence of the colon.
Adenoma* ; Carcinogenesis ; Colon* ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; DNA Methylation ; Epigenomics ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Methylation* ; Mucous Membrane ; Phenobarbital ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Stomach Neoplasms

Taxol is an active chemotherapeutic agent against a variety of solid tumors and a potentially useful drug for augmenting the cytotoxic action of radiotherapy against certain cancers. Taxol blocks cells in the mitotic phase of cell cycle. The aim of this study was to define the in vivo response of rapidly dividing cells of the small intestinal mucosa to taxol. We studied the numbers of apoptotic and mitotic cells and the expression of bcl-2 and p53 in rat jejunal crypt cells at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 24 hours and 3 and 5 days after intraperitoneal injection of taxol. Mitosis peaked at 2 and 4 hours and 12 and 16 hours. Apoptosis peaked at 16 hours and returned to normal after five days. The glands in crypts showed marked distortion with atypical lining cells after three days, which returned to normal at 5 days. bcl-2 expression was markedly decreased at 8 to 24 hours and subnormally recovered after three to five days. p53 showed no significant changes throughout. The histopathological changes in small intestine due to taxol were transient with complete recovery. bcl-2 expression was inversely corresponded to numbers of apoptosis. The changes were p53 independent. Further studies to understand the conditions that maximize the cell-cycle modulating effects of taxol cl-may greatly enhance its anti-tumor effectiveness.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Cycle ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Intestinal Mucosa ; Intestine, Small* ; Mitosis ; Paclitaxel ; Radiotherapy ; Rats*

We report clinical, cytogenetic, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies of a patient with ring chromosome 9. She presented with failure to thrive, facial dysmorphysm and mild psychomotor development delay in the absence of major malformations. Peripheral blood karyotype of the patient was 46,XX,r(9)(p24q34). G-band analysis suggested no loss of material in the ring chromosomes. FISH analysis using the subtelomere-specific sequences on chromosome 9p and 9q, revealed 46,XX,r(9)(p24q34),ish r(9)(D9S913-,D9S325+). Failure to detect any hybridization of a probe for the subtelomeric sequences in the ring 9p terminal suggested that this ring arose from breakage in the distal short arm. The cytogenetic and FISH data in our case provided further evidence for the existence of a "complete ring" phenotype with incomplete subtelomeric sequences.
Arm ; Chimera ; Cytogenetics ; Failure to Thrive ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization ; Karyotype ; Phenotype ; Ring Chromosomes

BACKGROUND: TB-PCR is a faster and more sensitive method to detect mycobacterium than acid-fast bacilli (AFB) stain, which is laborious and time consuming. We compared the sensitivity and specificity of AFB stain and TB-PCR and examined the possibility of TB-PCR as a confirmative test without AFB stain in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. METHODS: We performed Ziehl-Neelsen stain and nested PCR using a commercially available TB-PCR kit amplifying IS6110 sequence in 81 cases of paraffin-embedded tissues diagnosed as chronic granulomatous inflammation. In addition, we evaluated the morphology of granuloma and the presence of caseation necrosis. RESULTS: Of the 81 cases studied, 22 (27.2%) and 40 (49.4%) were positive for AFB stain and TB-PCR, respectively. Of 49 cases accompanying caseation necrosis, 19 (38.8%) were AFB stain positive and 37 (75.5%) were TB-PCR positive; a result that is comparable with that of other reports. Of the 22 AFB-positive cases, 2 were TB-PCR negative. CONCLUSION: TB-PCR is very helpful for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in routinely processed, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples. Nevertheless, AFB stain should continue to be performed at the same time.
Coloring Agents ; Diagnosis ; Granuloma ; Granulomatous Disease, Chronic ; Inflammation* ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Mycobacterium* ; Necrosis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tuberculosis

No abstract available.
Hepatitis C* ; Interferons* ; Polymyositis*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Paper patching for the treatment of traumatic tympanic membrane perforation is a safe, simple, and inexpensive method. This study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of proper paper-patch techniques for traumatic tympanic membrane perforation using more objective measurement of perforated area by image analyzer. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: A prospective study of paper-patch techniques was carried out on 55 patients with traumatic perforations of the tympanic membrane. Objective semiquantitative measurement of the perforated area was performed using computerized image analyzer. Immediate eversion of inverted flaps and single to multiple patching techniques were used in all cases. Treatment results were analyzed according to various variables which may affect the healing rate. RESULTS: The closure rate of tympanic membrane with this paper patching method was 98.2% and the mean healing time was 2.9+/-1.9 weeks. Hearing impairment was correlated with the size of perforation which was measured quantitatively by image analyzer and the healing rate was decreased with infectious signs such as otorrhea. There were no side effects or complications. CONCLUSION: Multiple paper patching with proper technique for traumatic tympanic membrane perforation produced an excellent success rate and could be considered as part of initial therapeutic methods for all cases of large perforation with inverted flap.
Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Prospective Studies ; Tympanic Membrane ; Tympanic Membrane Perforation

Background : PTEN, located on chromosome 10q23.31, is a novel tumor suppressor gene. In the sporadic breast cancers, the incidence of the loss of heterozygosity of PTEN is approximately 10% to 40%, but the incidence of intragenic mutation of PTEN is less than 1%. To as- sess the role of the PTEN in the invasive ductal breast cancer, we studied the frequency of the loss of PTEN expression, its correlation with the commonly used prognostic factors of the breast cancer and with PTEN promoter hypermethylation status. Methods : Immunohistochemical staining with an anti-PTEN protein antibody was performed on the paraffin-embedded breast tissues from 129 women with a diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma. Methylation specific PCR was performed to detect hypermethylation in the PTEN gene on the 28 cases with the loss of PTEN expression. Results : Sixty-two (48%) of 129 breast tumors had the loss of PTEN expression. The loss of PTEN expression was correlated with lymph node metastasis and stage, and there was a near-significant correlation with the tumor size. PTEN promoter hypermethylation was found in five (18%) out of 28 patients. Conclusion : These results suggest that the loss of PTEN expression might play a role in the progression of the breast cancer and that the aberrant promoter methylation is one of the silencing mechanisms of PTEN.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Humans ; Incidence ; Loss of Heterozygosity ; Lymph Nodes ; Methylation ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study were to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of canalith repositioning maneuver (CRP) according to accompanying mastoid percussion and to investigate the prognostic factors that may affect successful repositioning maneuver and the recurrence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A total of 70 patients with canalith type BPPV visiting the dizziness clinic of Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital were included in this study. Variables identified for statistical analysis were patient's age, sex, maneuver method, number of involved canal, number of CRP and dizziness handicap inventory. RESULT: Overall success rate of CRP was 90%. The mean number of maneuver was 1.6 and the recurrence rate was 25.7% during the follow up period. Success rate of CRP (94.9%) was higher than maneuver without mastoid percussion (83.9%) though it was not statistically significant. Successful CRP group showed the significant less number of maneuvers at initial treatment session and less number of involved canal than failed CRP group at the time of one week-follow up visit. Patients with recurrence of BPPV had the more number of CRP during the period of previous BPPV. CONCLUSION: Therapeutic efficacy of CRP with mastoid percussion was higher than CRP without mastoid percussion though it was not statistically significant. Suggesting prognostic factors for effective CRP and recurrence were number of CRP and number of involved canal.
Dizziness ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mastoid ; Percussion ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Vertigo*

Emphysematous cholecystitis is an uncommon form of acute cholecystitis characterized by the presence of gas within the wall, lumen of the gall bladder or biliary ducts. Clinically it is very similar to ordinary farm. But since the risk of perforation is five times that expected from ordinary cholecystitis, early diagnosis and appropriate surgical treatment are important. We could diagnose these cases by the simple abdomen, abdominal ultrasound and abdominal CT by the presence of air in the lumen and the wall of the gall bladder. Percutaneous trans hepatic gall bladder drainage (PTGBD) for decompression was used because poor general condition of patients and later, we could successfully perform the cholecystectomy without any complication. We presented two cases of emphysematous cholecystitis with review of the relevant literature on the subject.
Abdomen ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute ; Decompression ; Drainage ; Early Diagnosis ; Emphysematous Cholecystitis* ; Humans ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography ; Urinary Bladder