Pigmented extraadrenal paraganglioma is an unusual neoplasm that has rarely been reported in the literature. Based on histochemical staining or electron microscopy, pigment has been classified as lipofuscin, neuromelanin or true melanin. We report a case of pigmented extraadrenal paraganglioma in the posterior mediastinum of a 70-year-old woman. Histologically, the tumor had a characteristic organoid architecture of "zellballen" pattern with rich delicate microvasculature. Tumor cells contained numerous coarse brown-black pigment granules. Ultrastructurally, the tumor showed abundant large electron-dense pigment granules that vary in size and shape and smaller membrane-bound neurosecretory granules. The larger granules were consistent with neuromelanin or lipofuscin. Histochemically, the pigment is most likely neuromelanin, which is a waste product of catecholamine metabolism.
Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Lipofuscin ; Mediastinum ; Melanins ; Metabolism ; Microscopy, Electron ; Microvessels ; Organoids ; Paraganglioma* ; Waste Products

Pigmented(melanotic) schwannoma is a very rare variant of schwannoma that characteristically has massive cytoplasmic melanin. Since it was described in 1946 by Bjorneboe, about 44 cases have been reported in the English literature. It has a relatively benign clinical course, but the cases arising in the cranial nerve and sympathetic chain show aggressive behavior with malignant potential. We herein report a typical case of pigmented schwannoma with light microscopic findings. The results of immunohistochemical and electronmicroscopic study are also presented. The patient was a 30 year-old Korean male who had a mass in his posterior neck for 10 years that recently.began to induce neurologic manifestations. The tumor, which was mainly in the extramedullary intradural space of the cervical canal extending to the extradural space and soft tissues of the neck, was relatively well defined and composed of black solid tissue. Microscopic, densely pigmented spindle cells forming fascicles, nuclear palisading, whorling and polygonal cells with vacuolated or clear cytoplasm were characteristic. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for vimentin, S-100 protein, and HMB-45. Electron microscopic study revealed that the tumor cells have interdigitating cytoplasmic processes containing varying stages of melanosomes with a very focal basal lamina and Luse body like collagen bundles.
Male ; Humans

Since the renal epidermoid cyst is too rare, the mechanisms of squamous morphogenesis have not well characterized. A 73-year-old female was referred with an incidentally detected renal pelvis mass. Abdominopelvic computed tomography scan revealed a noncalcified soft tissue mass in the renal pelvis. Total nephroureterectomy was performed under the impression of a renal pelvis malignancy. The patient was discharged without postoperative complication. The outer surface of mass lesion was lined with urothelia and squamous epithelia, containing keratinous materials. The urothelia were positively stained against uroplakin II and cytokeratin 7, whereas almost of the squamous epithelia were negative with uroplakin II. The two different epithelia were generally sharply demarcated. Interestingly, some part of squamous epithelia contained uroplakin-positive and many more cytokeratin 7-positive cells. The atypical clinical features in our case can reconsider the diagnostic clues of renal epidermoid cysts that have been reported before, and the unique immunohistochemical results may understand the histogenetic implications of the lesion.
Epidermal Cyst ; Female ; Humans ; Keratin-7 ; Keratins ; Kidney ; Kidney Pelvis ; Morphogenesis ; Postoperative Complications ; Uroplakin II ; Uroplakins

No abstract available.
Colonoscopy* ; Humans ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory* ; Peritonitis*

Leiomyoma of the urethra is a rare condition, which is more common in female than in male subjects. A case of leiomyoma of female urethra in a twenty-two years old female arising from anterior lip of the external urethral meatus is presented. The presenting symptoms were painless mass on the anterior lip of the external urethral meatus and voiding difficulty. The mass was easily removed by surgical resection and confirmed as leiomyoma histologically.
Female* ; Humans ; Leiomyoma* ; Lip ; Male ; Urethra*

BACKGROUND: Osteopontin (OPN) is a glycoprotein and it participates in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. In vitro studies suggest that the OPN expression is associated with tumor metastasis, and especially with the metastasis of osteotropic tumors originating in breast, prostate and lungs. Since no human tissue study has suggested the means by which OPN participates in the tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, progression and metastasis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), we evaluated the expression and prognostic significance of OPN in RCC. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was performed with using the primary antibody for OPN on the archival paraffin-embedded tissue microarray specimens from 51 RCC patients who underwent radical or simple nephrectomy. RESULTS: In the normal kidney specimens, OPN was expressed in a few compressed distal tubules adjacent to the RCCs. In RCCs, the OPN expression was elevated in larger tumors (p<0.05) and in the tumor with low microvessel density (p<0.01). In the present study, univariate analysis indicated that stage, tumor size, lymph node and distant organ metastasis are significant prognostic factors for disease free survival (DFS) in RCC patients (p<0.01), but OPN is not (p=0.0661). Multivariate analysis indicated lymph node metastasis is the independent prognostic indicator of DFS (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Though this study has statistical limitations, these results suggest OPN plays a role in tumor progression and metastasis and it may act as a potential prognostic indicator to predict the prognosis of RCC patients.
Anoxia ; Breast ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Glycoproteins ; Humans* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Kidney ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Microvessels ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nephrectomy ; Osteopontin* ; Prognosis ; Prostate

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to make a model of large group psychodrama suitable for Korean inpatients and easy for psychiatrists trained in the individual psychotherapy and the group psychotherapy to use, to investigate the therapeutic factors after applying this model to inpatients, and then to contribute to the treatment of inpatients. METHODS: The study subjects were all the inpatients and the therapists(the auxiliary ego's) who participated in psychodrama from March 1998 to September 1998. The subjects were composed of 346 inpatients(152 males, 194 females) and 60 therapists. To the inpatients 13-Therapeutic Factors Scale, Scale of General Attitude to Psychodrama, and the Questionnaire describing helpful things in psychodrama were administered. To the therapists 13-Therapeutic Factors Scale and the Questionnaire describing helpful things in psychodrama were administered. The inpatient group were divided into 4 groups(the audience, the auxiliary ego's, the participants in sharing, the protagonists). The therapeutic factors among 4 groups were compared. RESULTS: First, the therapeutic factors described by the inpatient group were as follows: 1) Most inpatients made great account of 'existential factor' and 'the corrective recapitulation of the primary family group' regardless of their roles in psychodrama. 2) The inpatients who participated in psychodrama directly as the protagonists, the auxiliary ego's, or the participants in sharing made much account of 'development of socializing techniques'. The inpatients who participated in psychodrama more directly as the protagonists or the auxiliary ego's made much account of 'catharsis'. 3) All the inpatients except the protagonists made much account of 'instillation of hope'. 4) The audience made much account of 'identification' and 'universality'. Especially, 'identification with members' was much accounted of by the participants in sharing. 'Universality' also was much accounted of by the auxiliary ego's. Next, when we compared the therapeutic factors in the inpatient group with those in the therapist group, the therapist group made much account of 'group cohesiveness' which the inpatient group made little account of. And the therapist group made no account of 'development of socializing techniques' which the inpatient group made much account of. CONCLUSION: By dividing the inpatient group according to their roles, we found the characteristics of the inpatient large group psychodrama and of the therapeutic factors according to the roles of the inpatients. This model could be applied to the treatment for the inpatients easily and was helpful to many inpatients on the whole.
Humans ; Inpatients* ; Male ; Psychiatry ; Psychodrama* ; Psychotherapy ; Psychotherapy, Group ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: To compare the image quality between swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), especially in eyes with media opacity. METHODS: Forty eyes without media opacity and 60 eyes with media opacity (30 eyes with cataract, 20 eyes with vitreous opacity, and 10 eyes with corneal opacity) were included in this study. SD-OCT and SS-OCT 6 x 6 macular scans were taken by a single operator. For image quality analysis, a total of 200 OCT images were subjectively graded by two trained retina specialists and measured quantitatively using the image quality factor (QF) built into the OCT devices. RESULTS: Compared to conventional SD-OCT, SS-OCT had statistically significantly better subjective and objective grades in the normal group, as well as each of the media opacity groups (p-value < 0.001). In both the subjective and objective grades, there was no significant difference according to the types of media opacity (QF: p = 0.188, subject grading scale [SGS]: p = 0.635) and the degree of media opacity (Group I: 20 < or = QF < 50, Group II: 0 < or = QF < 20; QF: p = 0.088, SGS: p = 0.051) in the superiority of image quality of SS-OCT to SD-OCT. CONCLUSIONS: In this media opacity patient population, swept-source OCT is a superior diagnostic tool when compared with SD-OCT in both objective and subjective assessments, even in the ocular media opacity. This result may be useful in diagnosis and progression detection of retinal disease in media opacity eyes.
Cataract ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Retina ; Retinal Diseases ; Specialization ; Tomography, Optical Coherence*

PURPOSE: We performed invasive thermometry to verify the elevation of local temperature in the liver during hyperthermia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three 40-kg pigs were used for the experiments. Under general anesthesia with ultrasonography guidance, two glass fiber-optic sensors were placed in the liver, and one was placed in the peritoneal cavity in front of the liver. Another sensor was placed on the skin surface to assess superficial cooling. Six sessions of hyperthermia were delivered using the Celsius TCS electro-hyperthermia system. The energy delivered was increased from 240 kJ to 507 kJ during the 60-minute sessions. The inter-session cooling periods were at least 30 minutes. The temperature was recorded every 5 minutes by the four sensors during hyperthermia, and the increased temperatures recorded during the consecutive sessions were analyzed. RESULTS: As the animals were anesthetized, the baseline temperature at the start of each session decreased by 1.3degrees C to 2.8degrees C (median, 2.1degrees C). The mean increases in temperature measured by the intrahepatic sensors were 2.42degrees C (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.70-3.13) and 2.67degrees C (95% CI, 2.05-3.28) during the fifth and sixth sessions, respectively. The corresponding values for the intraperitoneal sensor were 2.10degrees C (95% CI, 0.71-3.49) and 2.87degrees C (1.13-4.43), respectively. Conversely, the skin temperature was not increased but rather decreased according to application of the cooling system. CONCLUSION: We observed mean 2.67degrees C and 2.87degrees C increases in temperature at the liver and peritoneal cavity, respectively, during hyperthermia. In vivo real-time thermometry is useful for directly measuring internal temperature during hyperthermia.
Anesthesia, General ; Animals ; Fever* ; Glass ; Liver* ; Peritoneal Cavity ; Skin ; Skin Temperature ; Swine ; Thermometry ; Ultrasonography

Selective termination can be used to preserve normal fetus from the other fetus with chromosomal, structural abnormality in multifetal pregnancy. This case is about twin pregnant patient who had undergone in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. In 18 weeks of gestation, we found that one of the fetus had cranical encephalocele and was in concern for the termination by using ultrasound guided intrcardiac injection of 2.5 ml of potassium chloride solution. After performing this procedure the other healthy female newborn was naturally delivered at 38 weeks gestation with weight of 2.8 kg.
Embryo Transfer* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Encephalocele* ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro* ; Fetus ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Potassium Chloride ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Twins, Dizygotic* ; Ultrasonography