Volvulus of the colon is a twisting of a redundant segment of the colon about it's narrow mesentery and sigmoid volvulus is the most common type. In many developing counteries this disorder is a common cause of obstruction of the intestine and in the western hemisphere it occurs in elderly patients who often have significant coexisting disease. This disorder may spontaneously reduce and recur as a chronic problem, but more frequently it becomes acute by obstruction, which may lead to strangulation and gangrene with high mortality if not treated promptly. Recently We have experienced 5 cases of signmoid volvulus, which were all in their twenties and had surgical operation. They had the triad of abdominal pain, distention, and absolute constipation. Plain abdominal roentgenogram was diagnostic in all cases The first line of treatment was nonoperative decompression with rigid sigmoidoscopy and successful in four of five. One Patient had emergency Hartman operation and other four had elective sigmoid resection with primary anastomosis.
Abdominal Pain ; Aged ; Colon ; Colon, Sigmoid* ; Constipation ; Decompression ; Emergencies ; Gangrene ; Humans ; Intestinal Volvulus* ; Intestines ; Male* ; Mesentery ; Mortality ; Sigmoidoscopy

Among the patients visting Department of Dermatology, Chungman National University, 58 cases had various side effects due to the malpractice of skin disorders. We analysed these 58 cases and the results can be summerized as follows ; 1. 37 cases(64%) were in the second and third decades and 11 cases(19%) were under 19 years-old. 2. Drug medication from pharmacy was the most common(79%), and then local clinics(12%), herb clinics(9%) in decreasing orders. 3. In the route of administration, oral ingestion(38%) was the most common, and 47 cases (81%) were medicated with adrenocorticoids. 4. In motivation to the visit, 31 cases(53%)were by advice, 15 cases by advertizement and 12 cases (21%) by themselves. 5. Acne and psoriasis were about a half of pre-existing skin diseases. 6. Side effects due to malpractice may be divided into 5 items : systemic side effects due to adrenocorticoids (59%), aggravation of pre-existing skin diseases (22%), topical side effects due to adrenocorticoids (10%), chemical irritation and burn (7%), and mercury intoxication (2%) in decreasing orders.
Acne Vulgaris ; Administration, Oral ; Burns ; Dermatology ; Humans ; Malpractice* ; Motivation ; Pharmacy ; Psoriasis ; Skin Diseases* ; Skin* ; Young Adult

Fat containing masses, except mediastinal lipomatosis, of the thorax are uncommon. In spite of uncommonoccurences, as CT can detect not only the fat content but also the presence and character of the non-fattycomponent of the mass, accurate preoperative diagnosis can usually be made in most cases of fat containingmediastinal masses. Authors report 6 cases of fat containing mediastinal masses, that were diagnosedpreoperatively by CT scan, comprising 2 cases of limpoma(combined with plexiform neurofibroma in a case), 1liposarcoma, 1 thymolipoma, and 2 cases of omental hernia through Morgagni foramen.
Diagnosis ; Hernia ; Lipomatosis ; Neurofibroma, Plexiform ; Thorax ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

No abstract available.
Chondrocytes* ; Ear* ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The incidence and prevalence of hyperthyroidism has been reported to be 0.2-0.9/1000 population/year and 5-10/1000 population in foreign countries, respectively. However, there has been no nationwide survey to evaluate them in Korea. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the incidence and prevalence of hyperthyroidism in Korea using medicare claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. Preference for its therapeutic modalities and its change were also analyzed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was performed in 308,584 (men 86,460, women 222,124) Korean patients with hyperthyroidism treated from January 2006 to June 2012. Patients with past history of hyperthyroidism were not included. RESULTS: The incidence of hyperthyroidism was 0.72/1000 population/year (men 0.40, women 1.03), and its prevalence was 3.40/1000 population (men 2.09, women 4.70) in Korea. Its peak prevalence was detected between 45 and 49 years of age. Among 177,487 patients with hyperthyroidism treated from 2007 to 2011, anti-thyroid drugs were prescribed in 97.9%, and radioiodine therapy and surgery were finally performed in 8.2% and 0.9%, respectively. The prescription of propylthiouracil (PTU) has been reduced from 63.3% in 2007 to 42.9% in 2011, but the use of methimazole (MMI) increased from 33.9% in 2007 to 54.8% in 2011. Primary physicians preferred PTU to MMI, but physicians in general hospitals preferred MMI to PTU. CONCLUSION: This is the first nationwide report to investigate the incidence and prevalence of hyperthyroidism in Korea.
Female ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; Incidence ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Medicare ; Methimazole ; Prescriptions ; Prevalence ; Propylthiouracil

We report two cases of murine typhus diagnosed by indirect immunofluorescent test. The patients showed cardinal symptoms and signs such as fever and chill, general myalgia, intractable headache and typical rash. Laboratory values and histopathologic findings were compatible with murine typhus. The oral administration of doxycycline improved dramatically the clinical manifestations of the two CCLSPS.
Administration, Oral ; Doxycycline ; Exanthema ; Fever ; Headache Disorders ; Humans ; Myalgia ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne*

BACKGROUND: The incidence and prevalence of overt hypothyroidism have been reported to be 2 to 4/1,000 population/year and 8 to 13/1,000 population, respectively, in foreign countries. As there has been no nationwide survey to obtain data in Korea, the present study investigated the incidence and prevalence of overt hypothyroidism in Korea using claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The proportions of causative diseases for hypothyroidism were also analyzed. METHODS: This study was retrospectively performed with 541,969 Korean patients (92,832 men and 449,137 women), with overt hypothyroidism, treated with thyroid hormone between 2008 and 2012. RESULTS: The incidence of overt hypothyroidism in Korea was 2.26/1,000 population/year (0.78 in men and 3.72 in women), and the prevalence was 14.28/1,000 population (4.40 in men and 24.03 in women). When patients with thyroid cancer were excluded, the incidence was 1.56/1,000 population/year (0.54 in men and 2.57 in women). The incidence increased with age, with peaks in and after the late 60s in men and in the early 50s in women. The prevalence peaked in the early 70s in men and in the late 50s in women. CONCLUSION: This is a report of the first nationwide investigation of the incidence and prevalence of overt hypothyroidism in Korea, although it is limited to patients treated with thyroid hormone.
Female ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism* ; Incidence* ; Insurance, Health* ; Korea* ; Male ; Prevalence* ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms

We report two cases of midline granuloma of the face which occurred in 60-year-old man and 28-year old man. The former who wa.s suffered from nasal stuffness on the right nasal cavity for 10 months had yellow-brownish colored crusted erythema tous plaque on the right naris. The latter had painful erythematous swelling on the left lower eyelid and ulceration on the hard palate. Both shows polyrnorphous infiltration of atypical mononuclear cells with an admixture of normal inflammatory cells histopathologically.
Adult ; Erythema ; Eyelids ; Granuloma* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Nasal Cavity ; Palate, Hard ; Ulcer

Medico-legal investigations in Korea depend mostly on postmortem inspection without autopsy. Both untrained physicians and experienced forensic pathologists may not be able to determine the cause and manner of death only by postmortem inspection. The aim of our study was to show the limitations of postmortem inspection by evaluating the discrepancy between the results of postmortem inspection and autopsy after natural death. The manner of death by postmortem inspection changed to unnatural death in 9.4% of the cases (12 cases/127 cases) after autopsy. The cause of death in most cases was consumption of alcohol, agricultural chemicals, and antipsychotic intoxication. The cause of death by postmortem inspection changed in 24.3% of the cases (26 cases/107 cases) among cases of confirmed natural death after autopsy. The positive predictive value of cause of death by postmortem inspection was higher for cardiovascular disease (79.0%) and lower for chronic alcoholism and/or chronic liver disease (28.6%). This study shows that forensic pathologists could make considerable errors in determining the cause and manner of death without autopsy and emphasizes the necessity to refine medico-legal investigations in Korea by introducing the limited autopsy with toxicologic study and supportive postmortem imaging.
Agrochemicals ; Alcoholism ; Autopsy ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death ; Korea ; Liver Diseases

The lesions of central nervous system in tuberous sclerosis often calcify, especially those present in the perivascular region, allowing the computed tomography to make early and definite diagnosis, even when patients intelligence was normal, seizures were absent, or clinical findings were not specific, We report three cases of tuberous sclerosis, which showed pathognomic subependymal paraventricular calcification in brain CT.
Brain* ; Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Seizures ; Tuberous Sclerosis*