Nesidioblastosis, also known as persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy(PHHI) or familial hyperinsulinsm, is the most common cause of recurrent severe hypoglycemia in infancy. It is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by irregular insulin secretion leading to inappropriately raised plasma insulin concentration compared to blood glucose levels. Recently, mutations in the sulfonylurea receptor(SUR) have been described in association with PHHI. The mainstay of medical treatment is glucose infusion and diazoxide or long acting somatostatin. If medical treatment fails in preventing hypoglycemia, near total pancreatectomy is recommended. We report one case of nesidioblastosis cured by near total pancreatectomy with brief review of literatures.
Blood Glucose ; Congenital Hyperinsulinism* ; Diazoxide ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Infant, Newborn* ; Insulin ; Nesidioblastosis* ; Pancreatectomy ; Plasma ; Somatostatin

Abdominal actinomycosis is very rare infectious disease and seldom reported as a cause of abdominal mass. This disease is diagnosed by pathologic findings and culture result but it is very difficult to differentiate with other granulomatous illammatory disease, diverticular disease, malignancy, etc. The radiologic findings were non-specific and CT scan revealed the inflammatory mass with multiple small abscesses and fibrous change. The treatment of choice for actinomycosis is medical treatment with penicillin but surgical intervention may be needed when complication such as obstruction, fistula formation, abscess formation develop. We report a patient with abdominal actinomycosis that presented with transverse colonic obstruction and severe abdominal wall inflammation. This patient had no past operative history but got intrauterine contraceptive devices during last 10 years. We treated this patient by surgical resection and antibiotic therapy.
Abdominal Wall ; Abscess ; Actinomycosis* ; Colon* ; Colon, Transverse ; Communicable Diseases ; Fistula ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Intrauterine Devices ; Penicillins ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

The authors present 31 patient with acute epidural hematoma who had been admitted from January, 1987 to June. 1989 managed by consevative treatment. The results were as follows ; 1) The age of patients was distributed evenly, most patients were male (26 cases) and the most common mechanism of injury was traffic accidents(14 cases). 2) Sites of hematoma were mostly the temporal and parietal area and the maximum thickness of hematoma was not different from each site. 3) On admission, all patients presented GCS score above 13 except 2 cases. 4) All patients did not undergo delayed up, due to the enlargement of the hematoma or neurological deterioration. 5) The maximum thickness of hematoma was under 20 mm in all patients. 6) The hematoma was resolved within 30 days in all cases. This was confirmed with brain CT scan.
Brain ; Hematoma* ; Humans ; Male ; Rabeprazole ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: To compare standard laparoscopy-assisted Billroth I gastrectomies including standard lymph node dissection (LABIG) with hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery with the HandPort system (HALS) for the removal of early gastric cancers (EGC). METHODS: A prospective study was performed on 26 patients of EGC at Ewha Womans University Mok-Dong Hospital from July 1999 to August 2001. Seventeen patients (Group L) received LABIG using conventional laparoscopy-assisted methods and 9 patients received LABIG using HALS (Group H). We used staplers for the anastomosis, and a standard D2 lymph node dissection was done with ultrasonic shears or electrocautery. RESULTS: In group L, pathologic reports revealed 14 EGC (stage IA 14 cases), and 3 pm cancers (stage IB 1 case, II 2 cases). In group H, there were 9 early gastric cancers (stage IA 8 cases, IB 1 case). Significant differences (P<0.05) were present between group L and H in regards to the number of harvested lymph nodes (30.8 vs 18.9), estimated blood loss (462.1 vs 286.7 ml) and postoperative transfusion amounts (0.59 vs 0 unit). There were no differences in the mean operating time, distance from the lesion to the resection margin, postoperative leukocyte count, frequencies for pain control, wound size, time to diet, weight loss, serum protein, and postoperative hospital stay. Complications were present in 1 case in group L (enterocutaneous fistula) and 1 case in group H (gastric atony). There was one conversion to open surgery in group H. CONCLUSION: LABIG including standard lymph node dissections with both standard laparoscopic surgery and HALS were performed with equal outcome. The choice of surgical method depends on the characteristics of the lesion and the patient's physical factors.
Conversion to Open Surgery ; Diet, Reducing ; Electrocoagulation ; Female ; Gastrectomy* ; Gastroenterostomy* ; Hand-Assisted Laparoscopy* ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Leukocyte Count ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Prospective Studies* ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Ultrasonics ; Wounds and Injuries

The authors compared the changes of morphology, blood brain barrier alteration, pathology, arterial blood lactate content and cerebrospinal fluid lactate content between an intermittent brain retraction group and a continuous brain retraction group in 56 mongrel cats. The results were as follows ; 1) Microscopically, hemorrhages were punctate in 15 cases among 25 cases in the intermittent retraction group. However, there were multiple or large hemorrhages in 13 cases among the 25 cases in the continuous brain retraction group. 2) All cases of the intermittent retraction group showed 0~25% Evans blue staining of the coronal section crossing the retraction site. However, 8 cases among the 25 cases of the continuous retraction group showed 51~75% Evans blue staining and 4 cases of this group showed 76~100% staining. 3) With photomicroscopy, the authors noted small hemorrhage and cellular swelling in the intermittent retraction group instead of pyknosis, hemorrhagic necrosis, vacuolation in the continuous retraction group. 4) The change of arterial blood lactate content was from 1.22+/-0.24mmol/L at preretraction time to 1.42+/-0.26mmol/L at 90 minutes after release of retractor in the intermittent retraction group(p<0.01). In the continuous retraction group, the authors noted a change in the lactate content from 1.20+/-0.38mmol/L to 3.15+/-0.97mmol/L for the same time as above(p<0.001). 5) The change of CSF lactate content in the intermittent retraction group was from 1.39+/-0.29mmol/L at preretraction time to 1.43+/-0.23mmol/L at 90 minutes after release of retractor(p>0.05). In the continuous retraction group, this author noted change in the lactate content from 1.37+/-0.28mmol/L to 2.11+/-0.52mmol/L for the same time as described above(p<0.01). From the above results, the superiority of the intermittent brain retraction was demonstrated as compared with the continuous brain retraction. Also the possible utilization of this experimental method was discussed for other wxperimental studies on ischemia.
Animals ; Blood-Brain Barrier ; Brain* ; Cats* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Evans Blue ; Hemorrhage ; Ischemia ; Lactic Acid ; Necrosis ; Pathology

No abstract available.
Humans ; Tibial Nerve*

Anomalous development of the odonteid precess is an uncommon clinical occurence that can seriously impair the integrity af the atlantoaxial articulation. Absence of the odontoid process may be either congenital or acquired, but clinically the etiology is of little importance as the clinical signs and symptoms and the treatment are identical in both. We experienced a case of congenital absence of the odontoid process and good result was obtained from the posterior atlantoaxial fusion with hale-cast.
Odontoid Process

No abstract available.
Humans ; Stroke*

In order to assess the biocompatibility of domestic dynamic compression plates and screws manufactured at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technclogy), hematological, serological, histological, and metallurgical studies were carried out on sixty rabbits through thirty-two weeks. The rabbits were divided into two groups, group I: thirty rabbits for KAIST plates and screws, group II: thirty rabbits for Osteo plates and screws. The plate and screws were fixed on the fixed tibial shaft. All the resulg of hematological, serological, histological, and metallurgical study revealed that there were no meaningful differences between the two groups. This, in fact, enco.urages us to use domestic KAIST plates and screws clinically and to develop more complicated designs including total joint replacement system.
Animal Experimentation ; Animals ; Joints ; Rabbits ; Stainless Steel

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative collection of bile and a bile culture are of use in predicting bacterial infection in the biliary system. The aim of this study was to identify chronological changes in the bacteriology of the bile in the age and sex distributions for biliary tract disease of the patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 722 patients who had been operated on for biliary tract disease at the Department of Surgery Ewha Womans University Hospital, from Jan. 1979 to July 1998 and on whom intraoperative bile culture had been performed. We divided the 722 patients into two group based on the time of their treatment, period A being 1979-1988 and period B being 1989-1998. The statistical analysis was done by using the Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square test. RESULTS: The overall bile culture positive rate was 56% (404 cases), and the male-to-female ratio was 1:1.64. There was no significant statistical difference in the sex ratio between the two periods (period A: 1:1.78, period B: 1:1.55) (p>0.05). Overall, the most commonly isolated organism in the bile was Escherichia coli (137 cases, 30%). Comparing the two periods, we found that the Enterococcus species was an organism found increasingly in biliary tract infections (period A: 0%; period B: 17%) whereas infection by Escherichia coli was significantly decreased in the latter period (period A: 43%; period B: 28%) (p<0.05). The sixth decade (29.1%) was the most prevalent age overall. The age distribution for period A showed no statistical difference between the 5th (21.58%) and the 7th decades (21.94%), but there was significant difference between the 7th (29.95%) and the 5th decades (16.89%) in the age distribution for period B (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: According to the above results, we concluded that there were significant chronological changes in the bacteriology of the bile & in the age distributions between the two periods, but no such difference was observed between the sex distribution.
Age Distribution ; Bacterial Infections ; Bacteriology* ; Bile* ; Biliary Tract ; Biliary Tract Diseases ; Enterococcus ; Escherichia coli ; Female ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Distribution ; Sex Ratio