No abstract available.
Bupivacaine* ; Morphine* ; Prospective Studies*

Fracture of the occipital condyle is rare. We report the case of a patient with this fracture who presented with negative plain films and delayed hypoglossal nerve palsy. Diagnosis was estabilished with high resolution computed tomography. In a trauma patient with neck or occipital pain, with or without cranial nerve palsy, this fracture should be considered, even if a plain radiograph is negative.
Cranial Nerve Diseases ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypoglossal Nerve Diseases* ; Hypoglossal Nerve* ; Neck

No abstract available.
Aneurysm*

We present a case of Brown-Sequard syndrome due to a massive cervical disc herniation at C5/6 level, presenting sings of sudden and severe spinal cord compression. The lesion was diagnosed by MRI and herniated cervical disc was removed under the surgical microscope via anterior route. The result of operation was good. A brief review of the literature is given.
Brown-Sequard Syndrome* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Spinal Cord Compression

No abstract available.
Kidney Transplantation*

BACKGROUND: Adhesion molecules are related to cell-to-cell interaction and inflammatory interaction. In addition, adhesive interactions between tumor cells and adjacent cells and/or extracellular matrix play important roles in the complex process of tumor growth and development. Among these adhesion molecules, expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) has been identified in colon cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, pancreatic cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. In the current study, we analyzed serum ICAM-1 concentrations to investigate the relationship between the serum ICAM-1 level and prognosis in patients with lung cancer METHODS: Serum ICAM-1 was measured in 84 patients with lung cancer according to the pathologic type and clinical stage using the ICAM-1 ELISA kit. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyse survival time. RESULTS: There was no difference in serum ICAM-1 concentration among the different stages of lung cancer. Furthermore, there was no difference observed between histologic tumor type with regard to serum ICAM-1 concentration. Although the difference was not significant, the overall survival times of patients with a low serum ICAM-1 concentration (< 306 ng/mL) was longer than that of patients with a high concentration (> or=306 ng/mL) in non-small cell lung cancer patients. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that high levels of serum ICAM-1 reflect poor prognosis for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/*blood/mortality/pathology ; Carcinoma, Small Cell/*blood/mortality/pathology ; Female ; Human ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1/*blood ; Lung Neoplasms/*blood/mortality/pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis ; Survival Analysis

BACKGROUND: The bispectral index (BIS) has been used as an indicator of a sedative state and has been considered to be related to anesthetic agents and noxious stimulus. In this study, we measured the BIS, blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) during induction of anesthesia after premedication with or without midazolam or morphine and evaluated the bispectral index as an indicator of an objective evaluation of midazolam premedication and relation to the cardiovascular response to the anesthetic induction. METHODS: Seventy five patients scheduled to undergo elective surgery under general anesthesia were divided into 3 groups. Each group received midazolam and glycopyrrolate (midazolam group, n = 25), or morphine and glycopyrrolate (morphine group, n = 25), or glycopyrrolate only (control group, n = 25) as premedication (midazolam 0.08 mg/kg IM, morphine 0.05 mg/kg IM, glycopyrrorate 0.2 mg IM). Then, anesthetic induction (propofol 2 mg/kg, succynylcholine 1 mg/kg) was done. The bispectral index, blood pressure, and heart rate were measured at before induction, after propofol injection, and intubation. RESULTS: The Bispectral index was significantly lower in the midazolam group and the morphine group compared with the control group before anesthetic induction. Blood pressure was not significantly different among the three groups. Heart rate was significantly lower in the midazolam group compared with the control group before anesthetic induction. CONCLSIONS: Midazolam or morphine premedicated patients appear to maintain a stable heart rate and have a low BIS at before induction. The Bispectral index could be objectively used in midazolam-premedicated patients when evaluating the degree of sedation and predicting hemodynamic changes, and probably in morphine-premedicated patients also.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthetics ; Blood Pressure ; Glycopyrrolate ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Intubation ; Midazolam* ; Morphine* ; Premedication* ; Propofol

BACKGROUND: Adhesion molecule is related to cell-cell interaction and inflammatory interaction. In addition, adhesive interactions between tumor cells and adjacent cells and/or extracellular matrix are important role in the complex process of tumor growth and develpment. Of these adhesion molecules, expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) have been identified in colon cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma. In the current study, we analyzed serum ICAM-1 concentrations to investigate the relationship between the sICAM-1 level and the prognosis of the disease in patients with lung cancer METHODS: Serum sICAM-1 was measured in 84 patients with lung cancer according to the pathologic types and clinical staging using ICAM-1 ELISA kit. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyse survival time. RESULTS: There was no difference in sICAM-1 concentration among the stage of lung cancer. And no difference was observed among histologic tumor types with regard to sICAM-1 concentration. The overall survival of patients with low sICAM-1 concentration (<306 ng/mL) were longer than that of patients with high concentration (>or=306 ng/mL) in non-small cell lung cancer patients, but no difference was observed in small cell lung cancer patients. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that high levels of sICAM-1 reflect the poor prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
Adhesives ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Extracellular Matrix ; Humans ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1* ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Melanoma ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Prognosis* ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Priming significantly shortened the onset of neuromuscular blockade(NMB), but also results in a high incidence of side effects. This study was designed to determine the effect of infusion priming method on the side effects, intubation condition, and onset of NMB compared with divided priming method. METHOD: The effects of different priming method of vecuronium on onset time and endotracheal intubation condition were investigated. 40 patients were studied in two parts. In control part, 20 patients were allocated into two groups(n=10 in each group) receving 10, 20 g/kg vecuronium as a priming dose, followed by a intubating dose(0.1 mg/kg-priming dose) 3 min later; the other part, 20 patients were allocated into two groups(n=10 in each group) receving 0.2 mg/kg/hr vecuronium continuous intravenous infusion, followed by a intubating dose(0.1 mg/kg-total infusion dose) 3, 5 min later. Onset time is calculated by single twitch stimulation test from injection of the intubating dose to maximum depression of the single twitch. Intubatin condition was appreciated based on vocal cord reflex, coughing, and jaw relaxation and scored. RESULTS: The times to fade out on the single twitch of the intravenous infusion priming group were shorter than control priming group. There was no difference between control priming group and infusion priming group to evaluate the intubation conditions. Side effects in the continuous infusion group were lesser than control priming group. CONCLUSION: This results suggest that the use of continuous infusion method is one of the promising methods to shorten the neuromuscular blockade and to provide more comfort to the patients.
Cough ; Depression ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infusions, Intravenous* ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal* ; Jaw ; Neuromuscular Blockade ; Reflex ; Relaxation ; Vecuronium Bromide* ; Vocal Cords

PURPOSE: Receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL), osteoprotegerin (OPG) have been shown to be important regulators of osteoclastogenesis during bone remodeling, and their expressions were examined during fracture healing in a mouse model of tibial fracture. However, studies linking RANKL and OPG in patients with head injury and fracture are lacking. We evaluated the changes in serum levels of RANKL and OPG in patients with head injury and fracture (head injury group) and in patients with fracture (fracture group) and compared these with levels found in healthy control subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 18 male patients of head injury and fracture and 20 male patients of fracture alone were enrolled. 20 healthy men were recruited to serve as controls. Within the first few hours of admission to hospital, at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after injury 20 ml of blood were obtained from 18 patients with head injury and fracture and 20 patients with fracture only. RESULTS: RANKL levels were significantly lower in the head injury group than in the fracture group at 8 and 12 weeks after injury. OPG levels were significantly higher in the head injury group than in the fracture group at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after injury. RANKL/OPG ratios were significantly lower in the head injury group than in the controls immediately after and 4, 8 and 12 weeks after injury, and were significantly lower in the head injury group than in the fracture group at 8 and 12 weeks after injury. CONCLUSION: We have shown changes in the profiles of RANKL, OPG and RANKL to OPG ratio. The altered RANKL, OPG and RANKL/OPG ratio in the head injury group lasted longer than in those of the fracture group.
Animals ; Bone Remodeling ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Fracture Healing ; Head ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Osteoprotegerin ; RANK Ligand ; Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor-kappa B ; Tibial Fractures