The authors experienced a case of falciform retinal fold which occurred congenitally in the right eye of a 13 years old Korean female. This was situated in the inferior nasal quadrant in the extreme periphery of the retina and was associated with abnormal shape and position of disc and macula without foveal reflex. Visual acuity of right eye was 20/50 and refractive error was not present. We described the characteristic fundus findings of this case with brief review of relating literature.
Adolescent ; Female ; Humans ; Reflex ; Refractive Errors ; Retina ; Retinaldehyde* ; Visual Acuity

Paragangliomas are rare among intradural spinal tumors. Most of them are benign, but aggressive behavior and local recurrence can occur. Cases of paraganglioma are, difficult to diagnose radiologically; hence, diagnosis is confirmed histopathologically. Radiologically, paragangliomas are similar to ependymomas, and, histopathologically, they are similar to neuroendocrine tumors. We evaluated the case of a 76-year-old woman with a spinal paraganglioma that was associated with back pain and radiating pain in both the lower extremities. She underwent an operation, and her symptoms were relieved. Here, we describe a rare case of paraganglioma that was adherent to the cauda equina.
Aged ; Back Pain ; Cauda Equina* ; Diagnosis ; Ependymoma ; Female ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Paraganglioma* ; Recurrence

Intravenous leiomyomatosis is a rare neoplasm characterized by intravenous growth of histologically benign smooth muscle cell tumor. We report a case of intravenous leiomyomatosis with right atrial extension in a 19-year-old woman. Various surgical techniques and approaches have been previously reported. In this case, the tumor was removed with a single-stage approach via laparotomy without cardiopulmonary bypass.
Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Female ; Heart Atria* ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Leiomyomatosis* ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Vascular Neoplasms ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical manifestations, radiological findings, treatment results, and clinical significance of post-traumatic syringomyelia (PTS). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of nine surgical patients with symptomatic PTS between 1992 and 2012. RESULTS: The most common clinical manifestation was development of new motor weakness. The mean interval between the initial injury and the onset of new symptoms 21.9 years. The mean length of the syringes observed on preoperative magnetic resonance images was 7.8 spinal levels. Shunting procedures were performed in five patients. Four patients underwent arachnoidolysis and duraplasty. Patients developed mechanical shunt failure. Postoperatively, one patient showed clinical improvement, four patients were stable, and four patients showed deterioration. CONCLUSION: PTS is a disabling sequelae of spinal cord injury, which develops months to years after spinal injury. We have to consider that patients with PTS may have poor long-term outcome.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Spinal Injuries ; Syringes ; Syringomyelia*

BACKGROUND: Diabetic neuropathy is one of the most common neuropathies. Although pathologic studies show both segmental demyelination and axonal loss in diabetic neuropathy, the relative importance of segmental demyelination is debated. Conduction block (CB) is a physiologic hallmark of segmental demyelination. If segmental demyelination were a main pathology of diabetic neuropathy, CB should be common. We undertook this study to determine the prevalence of CB in diabetic patients. METHODS: Fifty-two consecutive diabetic patients (M=30, F=22) were referred to EMG laboratory and underwent routine nerve conduction studies (NCS). CB was defined by two methods. One was > 20% drop in peak-to-peak amplitude and < 15% change in negative-peak duration between proximal and distal stimulation sites. The other was > 50% drop in the amplitude and area. Clinical findings, electrophysiological data, and effectiveness of immunomodulating therapy for some patients with CB were reviewed. RESULTS: A total 326 nerves were studied. The criteria for 20% and 50% CB were met in 35 nerves in 19 patients and 7 nerves in 6 patients, respectively (prevalence=10.7%, 2.1%, respectively). Some patients with CB were treated with IVIG or steroid and had a good response. CONCLUSIONS: CB in diabetic neuropathy is not a common finding. The rarity of CB in diabetic neuropathy suggests that segmental demyelination is not a prominent part of the underlying pathology. The presence of CB and good responsiveness to immunomodulating therapy in diabetic neuropathy also suggest alternative or additional causes for neuropathy, such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.
Axons ; Demyelinating Diseases* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetic Neuropathies* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous ; Neural Conduction ; Pathology ; Polyneuropathies ; Prevalence

Alveolar soft-part sarcoma(ASPS) is a rare, aggressive malignancy of uncertain histologic origin with a propensity for vascular invasion and distant metastasis. ASPS may mimic benign vascular neoplams of malformation but careful evaluation of the unique imaging features on CT scans, MR images, and angiograms lead to the correct diagnosis. ASPS of the tongue is slow-growing, painless mass, especially ASPS of the base the tongue is difficult to be noticed by patient, dentists or oral and maxillofacial surgeons on oral examintion because of its location and clinical resemblance to a benign lesion. And it leads to delayed or inadequate diagnosis. We report radiologic and clinical features of an ASPS of the basal portion of the tongue in a 17-year-old boy, showing normal appearance, but palpation of the tongue and floor of the mouth reveals the tumor. Among the 23 cases of a primary ASPS of tongue reported, 7 cases occured on the basal region of the tongue, inculding the present one. There has been no recurrence or metastasis as of 3 years postoperatively.
Adolescent ; Dentists ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Mouth ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Palpation ; Recurrence ; Sarcoma, Alveolar Soft Part* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tongue* ; Viperidae

OBJECTIVE: Vertebroplasty is an effective treatment for vertebral compression fracture, but may progress gradual vertebral height decrease in spite of vertebroplasty. Gradual vertebral height decrease also may induce aggravation of kyphotic change without severe pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors for gradual vertebral height decrease in the absence of recurrent severe back pain. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 44 patients who were diagnosed with a first osteoporotic compression fracture at a single level at the thoracolumbar junction. All patients were taken vertebroplasty. Possible risk factors for gradual vertebral height decrease, such as sex, age, bone mineral density, body mass index, level of compression fracture, volume of injected cement, cement leakage into disc space, and air clefts within fractured vertebrae, were analyzed. RESULTS: Gradual vertebral height decrease of augmented vertebrae occurred commonly when more than 4 cc of injected cement was used, and when air clefts within fractured vertebrae were seen on admission. In addition, the sagittal Cobb angle more commonly increased during the follow-up period in such cases. CONCLUSION: Injection of more than 4 cc of cement during vertebroplasty and air cleft within fractured vertebrae on admission induced gradual vertebral height decrease in augmented vertebrae. Thus, longer follow-up will be needed in such cases, even when patients do not complain of recurrent severe back pain.
Back Pain ; Body Mass Index ; Bone Density ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Compression ; Humans ; Kyphosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Spine* ; Vertebroplasty*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prognostic factors to determine the uncorrected near visual acuity of patients who undergone routine cataract surgery and WIOL-CF(R) (Gelmed international, Kamenne Zehrovice, Czech Republic) accommodative intraocular lens implantation. METHODS: This study evaluated 46 eyes of 27 patients who had undergone routine cataract surgery and WIOL-CF(R) accommodative IOL implantation. We checked visual acuities at near and distant before surgery. And we also checked age and gender of patients and manifest refraction, corneal astigmatism and axial length of eyes at that time. We analyzed association between these factors and uncorrected near visual acuity at postoperative 6 and 12 month. RESULTS: Univariate linear regression analyses between uncorrected near visual acuity and preoperative patients characteristics suggested that the age of patients was the only statistically significant independent variable on uncorrected near visual acuity at postoperative 6 (p < 0.001) and 12 (p < 0.001) month. Multiple regression analyses also revealed the same results (p = 0.021 at postoperative 6 month and p = 0.042 at postoperative 12 month). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggest that the age is the one of the most important prognostic factors of postoperative uncorrected near visual acuity after WIOL-CF(R) accommodative intraocular lens implantation.
Astigmatism ; Cataract ; Eye ; Humans ; Lens Implantation, Intraocular ; Lenses, Intraocular ; Linear Models ; Vision, Ocular ; Visual Acuity

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to construct a Korean normal elderly brain template (KNE96) using Korean elderly individuals for use in brain MRI studies and to validate it. METHODS: We used high-resolution 3.0T T1 structural MR images from 96 Korean normal elderly individuals (M/F=48/48), aged 60 years or older (M=69.5+/-6.2 years, F=70.1+/-7.0 years), for constructing the KNE96 template. The KNE96 template was validated by comparing the registration-induced deformations between the KNE96 and ICBM152 templates using different MR images from 48 Korean normal elderly individuals (M/F=24/24), aged 60 years or older (M=71.5+/-5.9 years, F=72.8+/-5.1 years). We used the magnitude of displacement vectors (mag-displacement) and log of Jacobian determinants (log-Jacobian) to quantify the deformation produced during registration process to templates. RESULTS: The mag-displacement and log-Jacobian of the registration were much smaller using the KNE96 template than with the ICBM152 template in most brain regions. There was a prominent difference in the significant averaged differences (SADs) of the mag-displacement and log-Jacobian between the KNE96 and ICBM152 at the superior, medial, and middle frontal gyrus, the lingual, inferior, middle, and superior occipital gyrus, and the caudate and thalamus. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that templates constructed from Asian populations, such as the KNE96, may be more desirable than those from Caucasian populations, like the ICBM152, in computational neuroimaging studies that measure and compare anatomical features of the frontal and occipital lobe, thalamus and caudate.
Aged* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Neuroimaging ; Occipital Lobe ; Thalamus