No abstract available.
Intestinal Atresia*

PURPOSE: Brain metastasis is estimated to occur in 20~40% of solid tumor patients and the most common primary tumor is lung cancer. Even though the prognosis of brain metastasis is grave and the 1-year survival rate is only 15%, symptom palliations are made with whole brain radiation therapy. We retrospectively evaluated the clinical features and prognostic factors of lung cancer with brain metastasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 1987 to October 1999, 50 lung cancer patients with brain metastasis underwent whole brain radiation therapy. We reviewed the improvement in neurologic symptoms and survival according to the following parameters; performance status, histological type, presence of brain metastasis at the initial diagnosis of lung cancer, presence of extracranial metastasis, multiplicity of brain lesion, presence of primary lung symptom and treatment modalities. RESULTS: The most frequent symptom with brain metastasis was a headache (50%). Palliation of the headache and other symptoms was achieved in 81% of the patients. Median overall survival after brain metastasis was 21 weeks and the 1 year survival rate was 15%. Patients without extracranial metastasis had a longer median survival than those with, 38 weeks versus 15 weeks, respectively (p=0.01). CONCLUSION: In lung cancer with brain metastasis, neurologic symptoms can be palliated with whole brain radiation therapy, and in this study among such patients, absence of extracranial metastasis can be a good prognostic factor.
Brain* ; Diagnosis ; Headache ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Prognosis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

Carcinomas are malignant neoplasms composed of epithelial cells and epithelial cancers are rare in the young. When it comes to colorectal carcinoma, the incidence of the large bowel has been noted with increasing frequency in the younger population, but this disease has remained very rare in children. Only 1% of all malignant growths of the large intestine arise in persons under 20 years of age. Inspite of these facts, the colon is the most common site of gastrointestinal carcinoma in children. While the prognosis is relatively acceptable in adults, it is very gloomy in children. Of all the histologic categories of colorectal cancer, the mucinous variety, which accounts for approximately 15% of adult colorectal carcinoma, is the predominant histologic variety in patients younger than 20 years of age at the time of diagnosis. Now, only two cases of carcinoma of the colon in children under 15 years of age have been reported in Korea. We report a case of mucinous adenocarcinoma of the colon in a 14-year-old boy with a brief review of the cases on record.
Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous* ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Child* ; Colon* ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Diagnosis ; Epithelial Cells ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intestine, Large ; Korea ; Male ; Mucins* ; Prognosis

PURPOSE: To assess the usefulness of the Hounsfield number, measured by a non-contrast enhanced pelvic CT, after a uterine artery embolization as an index of the successful outcome of a uterine fibroid embolization (UFE). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study subjects included 15 women (age range: 28-49 years, mean age: 36.4 years) diagnosed with symptomatic uterine myomas and seen from March 2003 to August 2005. A non-contrast enhanced pelvic CT scan was performed six hours after a uterine artery embolization. The global and maximal CT numbers were measured for each myoma. In addition, a pelvic MRI was performed to measure the volume of each myoma prior to and 6 months after the UFE. The relationship between fibroid volume reduction and the global CT number were prospectively analysed. RESULTS: The mean global CT number was 91.25 HU in Group I and 40.8 HU in Group II. Further, the mean fibroid volume reduction rate was 73% in Group I and 10% in Group II (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The global CT number measured by a non-contrast enhanced pelvic CT is a useful predictive factor of a successful uterine fibroid embolization.
Embolization, Therapeutic ; Female ; Humans ; Leiomyoma ; Myoma ; Prospective Studies ; Radiology, Interventional ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Uterine Artery Embolization ; Uterine Neoplasms

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Although several recent studies have reported the anti-cancer effects of extracts or components of Citrus unshiu peel, which has been used for various purposes in traditional medicine, the molecular mechanisms for their effects remain unclear. In the present study, the anti-cancer activity of a water-soluble extract of C. unshiu peel (WECU) in MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells at the level of apoptosis induction was investigated. MATERIALS/METHODS: Cytotoxicity was evaluated using the MTT assay. Apoptosis was detected using DAPI staining and flow cytometry analyses. Mitochondrial membrane potential, reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay, caspase activity and Western blotting were used to confirm the basis of apoptosis. RESULTS: The results indicated that WECU-induced apoptosis was related to the activation of caspase-8, and -9, representative initiator caspases of extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways, respectively, and caspase-3 accompanied by proteolytic degradation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and down-regulation of the inhibitors of apoptosis protein family members. WECU also increased the pro-apoptotic BAX to anti-apoptotic BCL-2 ratio, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release from mitochondria to cytoplasm. Furthermore, WECU provoked the generation of ROS, but the reduction of cell viability and induction of apoptosis by WECU were prevented when ROS production was blocked by antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that WECU suppressed proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells by activating extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways in a ROS-dependent manner.
Apoptosis* ; Blotting, Western ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Caspase 3 ; Caspase 8 ; Caspases, Initiator ; Cell Survival ; Citrus* ; Cysteine ; Cytochromes c ; Cytoplasm ; Down-Regulation ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans* ; Medicine, Traditional ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Mitochondria ; Oxygen* ; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Water*

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) is a major cause of abnormal overgrowth of the prostate mainly in the elderly. Corni Fructus has been reported to be effective in the prevention and treatment of various diseases because of its strong antioxidant effect, but its efficacy against BPH is not yet known. This study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of Corni Fructus water extract (CF) in testosterone-induced BPH rats. MATERIALS/METHODS: To induce BPH, rats were intraperitoneal injected with testosterone propionate (TP). Rats in the treatment group were orally administered with CF with TP injection, and finasteride, which is a selective inhibitor of 5α-reductase type 2, was used as a positive control. RESULTS: Our results showed that the increased prostate weight and histopathological changes in BPH model rats were suppressed by CF treatment. CF, similar to the finasteride-treated group, decreased the levels of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone by TP treatment in the serum, and it also reduced 5α-reductase expression and concentration in prostate tissue and serum, respectively. In addition, CF significantly blocked the expression of the androgen receptor (AR), AR co-activators, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in BPH rats, and this blocking was associated with a decrease in prostate-specific antigen levels in serum and prostate tissue. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that CF may weaken the BPH status through the inactivation of at least 5α-reductase and AR activity and may be useful for the clinical treatment of BPH.
Aged ; Animals ; Antioxidants ; Cornus* ; Dihydrotestosterone ; Finasteride ; Humans ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Hyperplasia* ; Rats* ; Receptors, Androgen* ; Testosterone ; Testosterone Propionate ; Water