A 53-year-old man had skin-colored linear serpiginous plaque within brownish patch on his left thigh for one year. He habitually drank natural spring water for 3 years. We diagnosed this case as sparganosis infiltrated within dermis by histologic and parasitologic diagnosis. The skin lesion mimicked the cutaneous larva migrans by showing dermal migration of sparganum to pro-duce itchy linear serpiginous plaque. We report an interesting case of sparganosis mimicking cutaneous larva migrans.
Dermis ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Larva Migrans* ; Middle Aged ; Natural Springs ; Skin ; Sparganosis* ; Sparganum ; Thigh ; Water

No abstract available.
Urinary Incontinence*

OBJECTIVE: The authors present the results of management outcomes for upper basilar artery aneurysms via transclinoidal approach. METHODS: Clinical and angiographic evaluations were performed in twenty two consecutive patients with upper basilar artery aneurysms(three of them had superior cerebellar artery aneurysms) treated by surgery via transclinoidal approach between January, 1990 and April, 2000. RESULTS: Of the 22 patients, fifteen patients had multiple aneurysms including basilar bifurcation aneurysms and basilar-superior cerebellar aneurysms. Seventy seven percent were in good preoperative neurological status(H-H grade I-III), 23% were in poor grade(H-H grade IV). The management outcome was:Glasgow outcome scale(GOS) I 54.5%, GOS II 18%, GOS III 13.6%, GOS IV 4.5% and GOS V(death) 9%. The major causes of morbidity were direct brain damage, perforator occlusion, vasospasm and meningitis. CONCLUSION: The management outcome of upper basilar artery aneurysms treated via clinoidectomy was good(72.5%). Transclinoidal approach is an acceptable alternative for upper basilar artery aneurysms.
Aneurysm ; Arteries ; Basilar Artery* ; Brain ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm* ; Meningitis

PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study is to determine the relation between in vitro resistance to 9 drugs, measured with colorimetric methylthiazol tetrazolium(MTT) assay and prognostic factors. METHODS: Thirty children with leukemia were evaluated at the pediatric department of Dongsan Medical Center. All samples tested with the MTT assay contained 80% or more leukemic cells, which were isolated by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation, and were incubated with 9 drugs for 4 days. The optical density(OD) of the wells was measured with microplate spectrophotometer. Leukemic cell survival(LCS) was calculated by OD treated well/OD control wellsx100(%). LD50 was calculated from the dose-response curve and used as a measure of resistance. RESULTS: Among the 30 children with leukemia, 16 were ALL, 14 were AML. Seventeen boys and thirteen girls ranged in age from 9 months to 16 years. Comparing LD50 values according to leukemic type, AML revealed relatively high LD50 values for all drugs, except VCR. But there were no significant differences between ALL and AML(P>0.05). Male showed high LD50 values for ASP, DET, ARA-C, VP16, ADR and 6TG. Age<2 and >10 years children showed high LD50 values for all drugs, except 6TG. Patients with a leukocyte count>100,000/mm3 at diagnosis showed high LD50 values for VCR, ASP, DET, MTX, ARA-C, ADR, and 6TG. Patients with normal chromosome showed higher LD50 values. CONCLUSION: Our study showed higher LD50 values at AML, male, age<2 and 10>years old, leukocyte count>100,000/mm3, and normal karyotype. The MTT test may contribute to the selection of effective chemotherapeutic agent for children with acute leukemia.
Centrifugation, Density Gradient ; Child ; Cytarabine ; DEET ; Diagnosis ; Etoposide ; Female ; Ficoll ; Humans ; Karyotype ; Lethal Dose 50 ; Leukemia ; Leukocytes ; Male ; Viperidae

A 16-year old male patient visited the hospital complaining of inguinal pain and internal snapping of right hip joint. In physical examination, the patient was presumed to be diagnosed femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and acetabular labral tear. In radiologic evaluation, FAI and acetabular labral tear were identified and bony tumor associated with internal snapping was found on the posteromedial portion of the femoral neck. Despite of conservative treatment, there was no symptomatic improvement. So arthroscopic labral repair, osteoplasty and resection of bony tumor were performed. The tumor was pathologically diagnosed as osteochondroma through biopsy and all symptoms improved after surgery. There was no recurrence, complication or abnormal finding during 1 year follow up. Osteochondroma located at posteromedial portion of femoral neck can be a cause of internal snapping hip and although technical demands are challenging, arthroscopic resection can be a good treatment option.
Acetabulum ; Arthroscopy ; Biopsy ; Femoracetabular Impingement ; Femur Neck ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; Hip Joint* ; Humans ; Male ; Osteochondroma* ; Physical Examination ; Recurrence

The mortality of patients with brain abscess has decreased significaltly. This has been attributed to improved diagnostic imaging, the evolution of neurosurgical techniques and understanding of intracranial pressure pathophysiology, greater critical care understanding, and newer antibiotics. However, the mortality associated with intraventricular rupture of brain abscess remained consistently high at or above 80% once identified. A case of intraventicular rupture of thalamic abscess with good quality of survival is presented based on aggressive 4-component therapeutic plan used. The four components are 1) extraventricular drainage for 6 weeks, 2) lavage of the ventricular system using closed irrigation system, 3) intravenous antibiotics, 4) intraventricular gentamicin and vancomycin, twice and once daily, respectively.
Abscess* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Brain Abscess ; Critical Care ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Drainage ; Gentamicins ; Humans ; Intracranial Pressure ; Mortality ; Rupture* ; Thalamus ; Therapeutic Irrigation ; Vancomycin

Spinal angiolipomas are distinct but rare benign lesions composed of mature lipocytes admixed with abnormal blood vessels that vary from capillary to sinusoid or from venular to arterial in size. They account of 0.14% to 1.2% of all spinal axial tumors, 2% to 3% of extradural spinal tumors, and 16% to 35% of spinal lipomas. The tumors are mostly extradural and have a predilection site in the midthoracic region. The symptoms are usually due to cord compression. Magnetic resornance imaging is the diagnostic choice and surgery is universally successful in relieving the symptoms. The authors report a case of spinal angiolipoma in a 35-year-old female which was successfully treated by operation. A review of the literature on this lesion is also presented.
Adipocytes ; Adult ; Angiolipoma* ; Blood Vessels ; Capillaries ; Female ; Humans ; Lipoma ; Spinal Cord

No abstract available.
Drug Therapy, Combination* ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin*

Menopause is the time at which menstruation stops in women. After menopause, women are more susceptible to some diseases, especially osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Vitamin D has a protective effect against osteoporosis by facilitating the absorption of calcium and affecting parathyroid hormone. Vitamin D also affects cardiovascular function by lowering the blood pressure, which affects the renin–angiotensin system and alters the low-density lipoprotein receptor activity. This paper discusses supplemental vitamin D in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
Absorption ; Blood Pressure ; Calcium ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Female ; Humans ; Menopause ; Menstruation ; Osteoporosis ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Receptors, Lipoprotein ; Vitamin D* ; Vitamins*

OBJECTIVE: In an effort to develop a more effective therapeutic strategy for ovarian cancer, we examined whether the restoration of the wild-type p53 gene can enhance the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy. METHODS: In this study, Ov-ca-2774 cells, which are known to have p53 point mutation and cisplatin-resistance, were selected and currently used chemotherapeutic agents including cisplatin, carboplatin, paclitaxel, etoposide, topotecan, and doxorubicin were added concurrently or sequentially with adenovirus-mediated p53 gene transfer (Ad5CMV-p53). RESULTS: Transfer of the wild-type p53 cDNA gene into Ov-ca-2774 cells showed 55% cell killing in vitro at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 40. Although the combination of carboplatin or paclitaxel followed by p53 gene transfer with an interval of 48 h manifested no enhanced cell killing compared with cells infected with Ad5CMV-p53 alone, the other combinations of chemotherapeutic agents and p53 gene transfer resulted in 15% to 37% further cell killing (P<0.05). Furthermore, p53 gene transfer followed by doxorubicin with an interval of 24 h and concurrent combination of etoposide with p53 gene transfer showed significant difference in cell killing in contrast to the other combination strategies in the respective chemotherapeutic agent exposure groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrated that combination of p53 gene transfer and chemotherapeutic agents had higher cell killing than either of these two modality alone.
Carboplatin ; Cisplatin ; DNA, Complementary ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy* ; Etoposide ; Genes, p53 ; Homicide ; Humans* ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Paclitaxel ; Point Mutation ; Topotecan