No abstract available.
Laryngectomy* ; Lung*

PURPOSE: In order to determine the amount of wound healing, objective sequential assessments of changes in wound size and depth are essential. Although a variety of measurements for wound healing have been proposed, a gold standard for quantifying day-to-day changes in healing has not been established. We present here a simple and non-invasive wound measurement method that quantitatively and accurately documents changes of the size of a raw surface and the volume of a soft tissue defect using a stereoimage optical topometer(SOT) system. METHODS: Using a 5mm diameter biopsy punch, four circular wounds were created on abdominal area of a diabetic mouse. Photographs were taken using SOT system at baseline, 5th day and 10th postoperative day. The wound margin was traced on a digitalized photo and evaluated the area and the volume of the wound by SOT system. RESULTS: The SOT system calculated a mean wound surface of 15.93+/-0.29mm2 and volume of 827.50+/-88.86 intensity/pixel x area(I/PA) immediately after wounding. On the 5th day after the operation wound surface declined by 10.73mm2 and on the 10th day declined by 5.95mm2. The wound volume also declined from 827.50 I/PA to 161.75 I/PA and 30.50 I/PA on 0, 5th and 10th day, respectively. CONCLUSION: The SOT system described in this study represents a reliable, simple, practical, and non-invasive technique to accurately monitor and evaluate wound healing.
Animals ; Biopsy ; Mice ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Wound Healing

BACKGROUND: Total anomalous pulmonary venous return is a relatively rare disease which has a very high mortality(80% within a year) if not properly corrected surgically. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Twenty-six infants with total anomalous pulmonary venous return underwent repair between May, 1991 and February, 1996. RESULT: There were 19 boys and 7 girls. The mean age at operation was 2.6 months(range: 5 day to 11 month) and the mean body weight was 4.3kg(range:2.8 to 6.7 kg). Preoperative stabilization included ventilator for 5 patients and inotropic support for 6 patients. There were 6 hospital mortalities. Significant risk factors of operative mortality were preoperative ventilator care(p<0.03) and preoperative inotropic support(p<0.05). Age, body weight at operation, pulmonary venous obstruction, high pulmonary arterial pressure, spurasystemic right ventricular pressure or emergency operation did not affected the operative outcome. Postperative pulmonary venous obstruction occurred in three patients 2 or 3 months later, among them one patient was reoperated. The actuarial survival was 76% at 40 months. CONCLUSION: Although early mortality was high, repair of total anomalous pulmonary venous return should be attempted in early life, but the patients receiving ventilator care or inotropic support need special attention.
Arterial Pressure ; Body Weight ; Emergencies ; Female ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Infant* ; Mortality ; Rare Diseases ; Risk Factors ; Scimitar Syndrome* ; Ventilators, Mechanical ; Ventricular Pressure

Between January, 1991 and May 1995, mitral valve repair was undertaken on 32 patients under 15 years for congenital mitral regurgitation. Mean age was 24.0+/-26.1 months(range 3 months to 15 years), 16 patients were male and 16 patients were female associated cardiac anomalies were found in 26 patients (81%), and ventricular septal defects were noted in 18 patients(56%). In regards to pathologic findings, there were annular dilatation(n:7), leaflet prolapse(n=18), cleft leaflet(n=5) and restricted valve motion (n=2). The method of repair consisted of annuloplasty(Modif ed Devega type) in 14, repair of redundunt leaflet in 6, closure of cleft in 5, triangular resection in 2 and splitting of papillary muscle in one. There was no operative mortality and two late deaths occurred as a result of heart failure and sepsis. Tro patients required replacement of the mitral valve after 3 months and 7 months respectivehy because of recurrent mitral regurgitation. Actuarial survival was 92.5% at 46 months and actuarial freedom from reoperation was 95% at 12 months and 92.5% at 46 months. Actuarial freedom from valve repair failure was 68% at 12 months and 61.8% at 46 months. Although valve repair failure rate was high, we believe that mitral valve repair should be of rcrred to children because of low mortality and low reoperation rate.
Child* ; Female ; Freedom ; Heart Failure ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Male ; Mitral Valve ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency* ; Mortality ; Papillary Muscles ; Reoperation ; Sepsis

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the loss of heterozygosities (LOH) of chromosomes 3p14 (FHIT gene), 9p21 (p16), 13q21 (pRb), 6q22 (E-cadherin) and 17p13 (p53) in various thyroid tumors. METHODS: Eighty thyroid tumor cases (20 follicular adenomas, 10 follicular carcinomas, and 50 papillary carcinomas) have been analyzed for the presence of LOH in chromosomes 3p14, 9p21, 13q21, 6q22, and 17p13 allelic loss, using microsatellite markers and DNA obtained from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded archival tissues. RESULTS: LOH on 3p14 was found in 10.5%, 33.3%, and 30.4% of follicular adenomas, follicular carcinomas, and papillary carcinomas, respectively. LOH on 9p21 was detected in 6%, 44.4%, and 47.8%, respectively. LOH on pRb gene was found in 5.3%, 20.0%, and 35.4%, respectively. LOH on E-cadherin gene was found in 5.3%, 22.2%, and 43.8%, respectively. LOH on 17p13 was detected in 0%, 40%, and 45.8%, respectively. LOH in FHIT gene, p16, pRb, E-cadherin, and p53 genes were more frequently identified in follicular carcinoma and papillary carcinoma than in follicular adenoma. CONCLUSION: LOH results of the five tumor suppressor genes (FHIT gene, p16, pRb, E-cadherin, and p53) showed statistical differences between benign tumor and malignant tumor. Among papillary carcinoma, LOH in p16, E-cadherin and p53 genes well correlated with poorly differentiated grade, and LOH of E-cadherin was associated with lymph node metastasis.
Adenoma ; Cadherins* ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; DNA ; Genes, p53 ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor* ; Loss of Heterozygosity ; Lymph Nodes ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Thyroid Gland*

The bone graft materials are grossly divided into autogenous bone, allogenic bone, xenogenic bone, and alloplastic material. Among the various allogenic graft materials, hydroxyapatite(Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, HA), the main inorganic phase of human hard tissue, is widely used as a repair material for bones. When HA applied to bony defect, however, it may be encapsulated with fibrous tissue and floated in the implanted area by the lack of consolidation. Fluoridated hydroxyapatite(Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, FHA), where F- partially replaces the OH- in the hydroxyapatite, is considered as an alternative material for bone repair due to its solubility and biocompatibility. This study was designed to find out the bone healing capacity of FHA newly produced as a nanoscale fiber in the laboratory. We implanted HA and FHA in the rabbit cranium defect and histologically analysed the specimen. The results were as follows. 1. In the 4 weeks, fibrous connective tissue and little bone formation around materials of the experimental group I implanted HA were observed. In the experimental group II implanted FHA, newly formed bone around materials were observed. 2. In the 8 weeks, the amount of newly formed and matured bone of the experimental group II was more than the experimental group I and control group. From the results obtained, we suggest that FHA, newly synthesized, is relatively favorable bone substitute with bioconpatibility and has better bone healing capacity than pure HA.
Bone Substitutes ; Connective Tissue ; Durapatite* ; Humans ; Osteogenesis ; Skull* ; Solubility ; Transplants

From June 1995 to May 1997, we have implanted 52 Sorin Bicarbon mechanical valves in 41 patients. They were 16 men and 25 women, and their mean age was 47.4+/-14.8 (range; 18~74 y.o.). 35 (27 mm~31 mm) were in mitral position, 15 (19 mm~25 mm) in aortic position, and 2 (31 mm) in tricuspid position. 3 CABGs and a tumor excision were taken concomittantly. 35 patients were primary operation, and 6 were re-do operations. By intraoperative transesophageal doppler echocardiography, transvalvular peak/mean pressure gradient was 6.1+/-2.7/2.4+/-1.4 mmHg in mitral position and 27.6/10.7 mmHg in aortic position. The effective valve opening area in mitral position was 3.2+/-0.6 cm2. Follow-up was total 508.6 patient-months, and mean follw-up was 12.7+/-9.2 months. NYHA class was improved from 2.6+/-0.6 to 1.2+/-0.3 in average postoperatively. During that period, there was no operative death. 2 late non-valve related deaths were occurred. One was died of COPD, and the other was possible acute myocardial infarction. Among 7 postoperative complications, one valve related complication (minimal paravalvular leakage) was noticed. In conclusion, Sorin Bicarbon mechanical valve is believed one of the safe choice in clinical settings. It showed excellent hemodynamic and mechanical functions, and very low postoperative valve related complications in short term clinical experience.
Echocardiography, Doppler ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Valve Diseases ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; Postoperative Complications ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Reoperation

Ventricular tachycardia is an important tachyarrhythmia which is encountered commonly in clinical field. The accompanying manifestations could be variable just from palpitation to sudden cardiac death. The classification of this arrhythmia has not completly settled yet, but in a broad way this arrhythmia is classified according to the prescence or abscence or underlying heart disease, especially coronary artery disease. Recently, therapeutic modalities for this arrhythmia have been changed a lot from classical antiarrhythmic drugs to radiofrequency ablation or ICD implantation although there are still some problems to overcome. We experienced a case of 34-year-old female having an incessant ventricular tacycardia which was abolished after endomyocardial biopsy performed to differentiate underlying myocardial pathology.
Adult ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Biopsy* ; Catheter Ablation ; Classification ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Female ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Pathology ; Tachycardia ; Tachycardia, Ventricular*

No abstract available.

Computerized tomography (CT) is an effective technique in the initial evaluation of the abdomen and head following blunt trauma. To evaluate the efficacy of CT of the thorax, a retrospective study comparing early thoracic CT scanning with initial chest roentgenogram (CXR) was carried out on 134 patients with blunt trauma on the chest. Among 134 patients, 45 patients had normal initial chest roentgenogram and 24 patients showed normal CT findings. Sensitivities of diagnosing pneumothorax and pleural effusion by CXR were low (46.2 and 62.9% respectively), whereas 71.4% (45/63) of patients had thoracostomy only by CXR. Although sometimes abused, CT of the thorax is effective in the initial diagnosis.
Abdomen ; Diagnosis ; Head ; Humans ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumothorax ; Retrospective Studies ; Thoracostomy ; Thorax* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed