Malignant melanoma of the lacrimal sac is extremely rare. To our knowledge, there have been 17 cases of malignant melanoma of the lacrimal sacreported in the literature and no case has been reported in Korea. The authors have experienced a 56 year-old male patient complaining of epiphora and mass in the medial canthal and neck areas for two month duration in the left eye. Excisional biopsy showed typical malignant melanoma which was treated with radiation therapy. Metastasis occurred in spinal cord during follow-up period. Although malignant melanoma of lacrimal sac is very rare, it should be considered in differential diagnosis of a growing tumor in the lacrimal sac.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases ; Male ; Melanoma* ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Spinal Cord

No abstract available.
Hypersensitivity* ; Meperidine* ; Skin*

Antiestrogen tamoxifen (TMX) is thought to elicit its therapeutic effect by competing with endogenous estrogens for the estrogen receptor. Several more recent studies asserted that the antitumor effect of TMX is not due solely to the inhibition of estrogen receptor-mediated action, but due partly to its capacity to inhibit angiogenesis and impair neovascularization. Despite extensive research and clinical experience with this drug, its exact mode of action in inducing tumor regression is still not clear. The present study is aimed toward the investigation of the effects of TMX on dimethylbenzanthracene- induced rat mammary carcinomas with respect to the tumor response to the drugs, histological changes, cell proliferative acitivity and angiogenesis inhibition, and if TMX has antiangiogenic action, to compare it with that of pentosan polysulfate (PPS), an already known antiangiogenic substance. Female Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 50 days, were divided into normal control, test control (tumor induction by dimethylbenzanthracene), TMX (TMX administration after tumor induction), and PPS (PPS administration after tumor induction) groups. Tumor response to the drug administration was classified according to changes of tumor volume as follows; complete response (CR), partial response (PR), no response (NR), and progressive disease (PD). The response rate of rat mammary carcinomas to the drug administration was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the TMX and PPS groups as compared with the test control group. There was, however, no statistical significance between the TMX and PPS groups. Necrosis was considerably frequent in tumors of the TMX and PPS groups. Hyaline change of the stroma was strikingly more common and marked in the TMX group and it was associated with atrophy of epithelial cells of the tumor glands. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)- labeling index of the tumors was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the tumors with NR and PD of the TMX group when compared with those with PR of the same group, which suggested a higher cell proliferative activity in these response groups. In the PPS group, however, there was no significant difference in PCNA index according to response. Microvessel density of the tumors was significantly lower (p<0.05) in the PPS group as compared with the test control and TMX groups and it was not related with response. The TMX group, however, did not show any significant difference in microvessel density when compared with the test control group. Microvessel density was significantly higher (p<0.05) in tumors with PD than those with PR in all 3 groups, which suggested a positive relation of increase in tumor size and angiogenesis. Based on these results it is thought that TMX and PPS inhibit growth of chemically-induced rat mammary carcinomas. It seems that the antitumor action of PPS is related with its antiangiogenic capability, but that of TMX does not have a relationship with angiogenenesis inhibition.
Female ; Humans ; Rats ; Animals ; Breast Neoplasms

No abstract available.
Female ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic*

No abstract available.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Cytomegalovirus ; Cytomegalovirus Infections ; Humans

In glaucoma patients, optic nerve head analysis is very useful in early detection and progression during follow-up. Among optic nerve head analysis methods, the confocal laser tomographic scanner(Heidelberg Retina Tomograph: HRT) is actively studied for accurate and highly reproducible analysis.We analyzed the optic nerve head of 62 normal eyes(male 40 eyes, female 22 eyes) in third decade of Korean with HRT, and calculated the mean value of each parameters in HRT and evaluated the difference between men and women. We also studied the distribution fo the value of each parameter in normal third decade of Korean. In addition, for the parameters of Rim/Disc area ratio, we calculated the mean value in 6 divisions of optic nerve head.The mean value of Disc area was 2.039mm3, Cup area 0.593mm3, rim area 1.716mm3 and Cup/Disc area ratio 0.237. Rim volume, Maximal cup depth, Height variation contour, Mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, and Retinal nerve fiber layer cross sectional area were statistically different between men and women. For Rim/Disc area ratio, the maximal value was noted in nasal inferior(0.873) region, and the minimal value was in temporal(0.579) region. There was no statistically difference between men and women in Rim/Disc area ratio.
Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glaucoma ; Humans ; Male ; Nerve Fibers ; Optic Disk* ; Optic Nerve* ; Retina ; Retinaldehyde

The authors studied retrospectively on the surgical results of modified Fasanella-Servat operation for blepharoptosis. The 58 patients underwent modified Fasanella-Servat operation for blepharoptosis and were followed for at least 6 months. We obtained 74.1% primary success rate in the 58 cases of blepharoptosis. The undercorrection, the most common complication, could be correctable by any other ptosis procedures such as levator resction. However, severe complications such as overcorrection and eyelid contour abnormalities were very rare. We also obtained good surgical results even in groups of moderate degree of ptosis and fair levator function which had not been indicated for Fasanella-Servat operation in general.
Blepharoptosis ; Eyelids ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies

Congenital arteriovenous(AV) communications of retinal circulation are rare developmental anomalies, exsisting alone or in association with ipsilateral vascular anomalies of the mid brain, cranial sinuses and skin. These are usually unilateral. We report a case of bilateral congenital arteriovenous communication. The right eye showed group III arteriovenous communication of retina with vitreous hemorrhage. The left eye showed group II arteriovenous communication combined with group I.
Brain ; Cranial Sinuses ; Retina ; Retinaldehyde ; Skin ; Vitreous Hemorrhage

It is the purpose of this study to compare the postoperative results of 168 patients with exotropia of basic and simulated divergence excess type over 40 prism diopters; 86 patients had bilateral rectus muscle recessions and 82 patients underwent lateral rectus muscle recession and medial rectus muscle resection. The patients in the former group had averaged 13.7 years of age and 8.2 months of postoperative follow-up period. Those in the latter group averaged 22.9 years and had been followed up for 7.1 months. The postoperative success rates are as follows: 66.7%(57/86) in the bilateral rectus muscle recession group and 68.1%(58/82) in the lateral rectus muscle recession and medial rectus muscle resection group(P>0.05). And the success rates of those older than 16 years without amblyopia are 60.0%(18/30) in the former group and 75.0%(24/32) in the latter group(P>0.05). The lateral rectus muscle recession and medial rectus muscle resection group showed somewhat higher rates of success even though it proved statistically insignificant.
Amblyopia ; Exotropia* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans

Rehabilitation of young children with hearing impairment can be defined as a teaching/learning process where the role of the clinician is to facilitate the acquisition of listening, speech and language in a normal developmental order. The young children with hearing impairment are helped by hearing aids and cochlear implants to learn language. Auditory (re)habilitation in young children with hearing impairment is to acquire auditory skills at four stages : sound detection, sound identification through imitation, sound discrimination, and comprehension. Without appropriate auditory training and early intervention, children with hearing impairment cannot develop spoken language. Speech acquisition is a perceptual as well as an oral process. To maximize the speech acquisition in children with hearing impairment, indepth understanding of the characteristics of the children, the parents' motivation and cooperation, a well-designed educational program, and the high competence of the health care professionals are important. Therefore, listening is not an isolated skill, and the auditory development in children with hearing impairment should be achieved in a comprehensive approach. Young children with hearing impairment need supports and guidance from health care professionals whose holistic approach balances auditory learning with the parallel development of the children's other learning processes.
Child* ; Cochlear Implants ; Comprehension ; Correction of Hearing Impairment* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Early Intervention (Education) ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss* ; Humans ; Learning ; Mental Competency ; Motivation ; Rehabilitation ; Speech Perception*