STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the significance of the intraoperative postural reduction for kyphotic deformity in unstable burst fracture and confirm the relations of postural reduction and the final correction after loss of correction by posterior instrumentation. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: The loss of kyphotic correction after instrumentation in unstable burst fracture is found. Some methods have been developed to reduce the loss of correction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 24 short-segment pedicle screw instrumentations in the patients with a unstable burst fracture were performed. We measured sagittal index, wedge angle of vertebral body and anterior vertebral height preoperatively, intraoperatively, postoperatively and at final follow-up. RESULTS: Sagittal index was 20.2 degrees preoperatively, 7.5 degrees intraoperatively, 0.9 degrees postoperatively and 7.2 degrees at final follow-up, so the loss of correction was 32.6%. Wedge angle of vertebral body was 20.3 degrees preoperatively, 10.1 degrees intraoperatively, 6.8 degrees postopera-tively and 9.4 degrees at final follow-up, so the loss of correction was 19.3%. Anterior vertebral height was 57.0%, 79.3%, 85.0%, and 78.8% respectively, so the loss of correction was 22.1%. The loss of correction occurred more in the disc space and less in the vertebral body itself. Postural reduction corrected 63% of sagittal index, 50% of wedge angle of vertebral body and 52% of anterior vertebral height. CONCLUSIONS: Postural reduction corrected kyphotic deformity appropriately. The correction by posterior instrumentation in unstable burst fracture was lost in some amount. The final correction was similar to the one by postural reduction. It is important to obtain the maximum postural reduction intraoperatively to prevent kyphotic deformity caused by loss of correction after surgery.
Congenital Abnormalities* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies

Owing to the low incidence of peptic ulcers in children, the early symptoms of the disease are sometimes overlooked, which result in grave complications such as a perforation or hemorrhagic shock. Recently, as a result of the increasing use of endoscopy, the incidence of peptic ulcers in children has increased. This means that the disease might have been underdiagnosed in the past. Although some cases of peptic ulcer perforation or bleeding in children were reported, a case of a peptic ulcer combined with a perforation and hemorrhage has not been reported. We experienced a 19 months old patient in shock with a perforated duodenal ulcer and hemorrhage.
Child* ; Duodenal Ulcer* ; Endoscopy ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Peptic Ulcer ; Peptic Ulcer Perforation ; Shock ; Shock, Hemorrhagic

A 48-year-old woman who was without any abnormal past medical history underwent colonoscopy as a screening procedure for colorectal disease. The procedure was uneventful and there was no sign of inflammation around the appendicular orifice or the luminal surface of the cecum. The patient did not complain of pain or significant discomfort throughout the procedure. She then developed pain in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen that evening and this persisted for four days. She visited the outpatient department and underwent abdominal ultrasonography, which showed a swollen appendix with a collection of pericecal fluid. Surgical exploration and appendectomy were performed; the final diagnosis was acute suppurative appendicitis. Colonoscopists should be aware of this rare complication and consider it when making the differential diagnosis of post-colonoscopy abdominal pain.
Acute Disease ; Appendicitis/diagnosis/*etiology/surgery ; Colonoscopy/*adverse effects ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged

BACKGROUD/AIMS: Obesity is a rising problem in industrialized countries. Numerous epidemiologic studies have shown a positive association between obesity and colorectal polyps. There are few studies investigating the association between colorectal adenomatous polyps and body fat composition in Korea. We tried to examine the relationship between body fatness and colorectal adenomatous polyps in health check-up subjects in Korea. METHODS: Six thousand seven hundred and six routine health check-up subjects, who visited our hospital between March 2002 and April 2005 and underwent distal colon examimation with sigmoidoscopy, were enrolled in this study. Among them, colonoscopy was done in 860 patients to evaluate the entire colon. We tried to reveal the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and size, location, number and histopathological type of polyps. BMI was used as an indicator of obesity. RESULTS: The mean value of BMI in total polyp-free group (23.8+/-2.9) was not different from that of the polyp group (24.5+/-2.8, p=0.09). The frequency of rectosigmoid polyps in obese patients (20.4%) was higher than that in non-obese patients (16.0%, p<0.05). The frequency of adenomatous polyp was not different between obese and non-obese group. Number of polyps (> or =4) correlated well with obesity. Moreover, age and triglyceride level in patients with colonic adenoma were significantly higher than in patients without colonic adenom. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that obesity is not associated with colonic adenomatous polyp in Korean population. However, we observed that obesity may be associated with rectosigmoid colon polyps. Furthermore, age and triglyceride level might be the risk factors of colonic adenomatous polyps in Korean population.
Adenomatous Polyps/*complications/epidemiology/pathology ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Body Mass Index ; Colonic Neoplasms/*complications/epidemiology/pathology ; Colonic Polyps/complications/epidemiology/pathology ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity/*complications/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Sigmoidoscopy

BACKGROUND: Gastric polyp is a descriptive term referring to mucosal prominence that protrudes beyond the flat lining of the stomach. Almost 90% of gastric polyps are hyperplastic polyps. Adenomatous polyps may contain focal carcinomatous foci or undergo carcinomatous changes. It is known that there is some degree of discordance between the results of endoscopic forceps biopsy and pathology of resected specimens. The aim of this study was to investigate the discordance in pathologic findings between endoscopic forceps biopsy and endoscopic resection specimen of gastric polyps. METHODS: We reviewed endoscopic photographs and medical records of the patients who underwent endoscopic resection from April, 1996 through February, 2003. RESULTS: A total of 85 cases of gastric polyps from 74 patients were reviewed. Male-to-female ratio was 1:1.96. Mean age was 59.9+/-10.8 years. Multiple polyps were observed in 10.8%. Gastric polyps occurred in the antrum most frequently (58.8%). Pathology results on resected specimens were as follows: tubular adenoma 45.9%, hyperplastic polyp 31.8%, inflammatory polyp 9.4%, hamartoma 3.5%, fundic gland polyp 2.4%, tubulovillous adenoma 2.4%, adenocarcinoma 2.4%, dysplasia 1.1%, and mucosal pseudolipomatosis 1.1%. Discordance rate between endoscopic biopsy and pathology of resected specimens was 27.1%. There was no relationship between the size of the polyp and concordance rate. CONCLUSIONS: There was considerable discordance in pathologic findings between endoscopic forceps biopsy and resected specimens. Approaches to review the histology of an entire polyp should be performed, especially when an adenoma is suspected.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adenoma ; Adenomatous Polyps ; Biopsy* ; Hamartoma ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Pathology ; Polyps* ; Stomach ; Surgical Instruments*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The preoperative staging of gastric cancer facilitates the planning of therapy. Preoperative endoscopic ultrasonography is a useful procedure for the staging of gastric cancer, but sometimes there can be problems with overstaging and understaging. METHODS: Endoscopic ultrasonography was performed preoperatively on 171 patients with gastric cancer. The results of endoscopic ultrasonography were compared with the postoperative histological staging. RESULTS: The overall accuracy of endoscopic ultrasonography for the determination of the T stage was 65.5%, the overall accuracy was 74.4%, 51.7% and 38.9% for determining the T1, T2 and T3 staging, respectively. Endoscopic ultrasonography had an accuracy of 67.3% for determining the absence of lymph node metastasis. In univariate analysis, the diagnostic accuracy was lower for infiltrative type and gastric cancer with microinvasion significantly. Multivariate analysis showed overstaging occurred for gastric cancers with concomitant ulcer, inflammation or submucosal fibrosis (p=0.004) and that understaging occurred for gastric cancers with infiltrative type or microinvasion (p=0.029, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic ultrasonography is a valuable diagnostic tool for most gastric cancers with some exceptions due to the overstaging and understaging. Gastric cancers with concomitant ulcer, inflammation or submucosal fibrosis may contribute to overstaging. By contrast, gastric cancers with infiltrative type or microinvasion may result in understaging.
Endosonography* ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Colonic diverticular bleeding cases account for 30-40% of the lower gastrointestinal bleeding, among which, 3-5% appear to be massive bleeding. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for colonic diverticular bleeding diagnosed by colonoscopic examination. METHODS: Among the 1,003 patients, who were identified to have colonic diverticulosis including sleeding by diverticulitis and diverticular bleeding coding search, 216 patients had diverculosis, and they were divided into two groups: one with diverticular bleeding, and the other without bleeding. We evaluated the potential risk factors for diverticular bleeding, based on age, gender, location of diverticulum, comorbidities related to atherosclerosis, smoking, alcohol and medications, and compared them between both groups. RESULTS: Among the 216 patients, we observed colonic diverticular bleeding in 35 patients (16.2%). The mean age of the bleeding group was significantly older than that of non-bleeding group. No difference was observed regarding gender ratio. Right colonic diverticula were common in both groups, but there were higher proportion of patients with bleeding in bilateral diverticuosis. Old age, bilateral diverticulosis, presence of atherosclerosis related diseases (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, obesity), use of aspirin, NSAIDs and calcium channel blocker, increased the risk of bleeding. In a multivariate analysis, use of aspirin and bilateral diverticulosis were identified as independent risk factors for colonic diverticular bleeding. CONCLUSIONS: Since the patients who took aspirin and/or had bilateral colonic diverticulosis increased the risk of bleeding from divertuculi. As such, caution and education of patients are required.
Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/therapeutic use ; Aspirin/therapeutic use ; Calcium Channel Blockers/therapeutic use ; Colonic Diseases/*etiology ; Colonoscopy ; Diabetes Complications ; Diverticulum, Colon/*epidemiology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/epidemiology/*etiology ; Humans ; Hypertension/complications/drug therapy ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Ischemia/complications ; Obesity/complications ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: The proportion of the aged (>60 years old) population is increasing in South Korea and it is expected to reach 30.8% in 2030. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics of peptic ulcer disease in the aged population in South Korea. METHODS: A total of 134 patients (89 men and 45 woman) with peptic ulcers were investigated. The ulcers were diagnosed using esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The main symptom, the duration of the symptoms, the location of the ulcer, the presence of Helicobacter pylori as well as the history of Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal (NSAID) use were analyzed. The parameters between the two age groups: under 60 years (n=73) and over 60 years (n=61), were compared. RESULTS: In the aged, the frequency of a Helicobacter pylori infection was lower. In a gastric ulcer (GU) in aged patients, the rate of Helicobacter pylori infection was less common than in younger GU patients. In aged duodenal ulcer (DU) patients, the rate of a Helicobacter pylori infection was similar to that of younger DU patients. Bleeding peptic ulcers were more common in NSAID-users than in nonusers. DU was less common in the aged group (29.5% vs. 47.9%, p=0.030) and the incidence of typical epigastric pain in the aged and young groups were similar (33.3% vs. 40.0%, p=0.439). The frequency of ulcer bleeding was not different (22.8% vs. 17.1%, p=0.425) between aged and young groups. However in the aged group, the NSAID users experienced more frequent ulcer bleeding than nonusers. The Helicobacter pylori (+) NSAID users are believed to have a higher tendency to bleed than the Helicobacter pylori (-) NSAID users but without statistical significance. Among the aged, 40% of the NSAID-nonusing peptic ulcer patients was Helicobacter pylori (-). The duration of symptoms was shorter in the aged. An atypical location of the aged and younger groups was similar (13.2% vs. 7.0%, p=0.352). CONCLUSION: In the aged gastric ulcer patients, factors other than NSAID and Helicobacter pylori are believed to play roles in the development of gastric uclers. However, in the aged duodenal ulcer patients, the role of Helicobacter pylori in the development of a duodenal ulcer was similar to that in the younger group. NSAID is believed to be an important risk factor in the bleeding of ulcers in aged patients. In addition, the Helicobacter pylori (+) NSAID users had more frequent bleeding than the Helicobacter pylori (-) NSAID users but without statistical significance.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Helicobacter pylori ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Male ; Morinda ; Peptic Ulcer* ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Ulcer ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To minimize injury, less invasive surgery including laparascopic surgery and endoscopic mucosal resection are increasingly used for the treatment of gastric cancer nowadays. Therefore, accurate preoperative staging is important to decide adequate treatment modality. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is reported to be an accurate diagnostic modality to evaluate the depth of tumor invasion. Especially, evaluation of T-2 stage is important to determine operation. We tried to reveal the factors affecting the accuracy of EUS for the evaluation of T-2 stage gastric cancer. METHODS: Among 367 patients who underwent EUS to evaluate preoperative stage, we compared EUS findings and histopathological findings retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 270 patients were diagnosed as early gastric cancer, and 97 patients as advanced gastric cancer. The overall concordance rate was 78.2% (287/367), over-estimation rate 14.2% (52/367), and under-estimation rate 7.6% (28/367). Among T-2 stage cancer, over-estimation rate was 27.0% (20/74), and under-estimation rate 21.6% (16/74). These were relatively high compared with those with over-estimation. Among T1 lesions, 20.6% (22/107) were over-estimated as the invasion into proper muscle layer. Compared with sm1 lesion (17.9%), sm3 lesions showed higher over-estimateion rate (25.7%). In the presence of submucosal fibrosis, sm1 lesions were over-estimated as T-2 lesion. Sm2 and sm3 lesions were not related to submucosal fibrosis. Factors affecting over-estimation as T-2 lesions were the size of tumor, the presence of submucosal fibrosis and connective tissue hyperplasia, and ulcer (p<0.05). Microscopic invasion did not affect the accuracy of EUS findings. CONCLUSIONS: In T-2 gastric cancer, the presence of submucosal fibrosis, tumor size, and ulcer were the affecting factors for the over-estimation of the depth of invasion using EUS in gastric cancer. To improve preoperative diagnostic accuracy in T-2 stage cancer, a new diagnostic improvement in EUS is needed.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; *Endosonography ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology/*ultrasonography

Gastrojejunocolic fistula (GJCF) is mainly thought to be a late complication of inadequate gastric surgery such as insufficient gastric resection or inappropriate vagotomy. The pathogenesis of fistula formation has been accounted to the perforation of a retained jejunal marginal ulcer into the transverse colon. Most patients with GJCF present a common symptom triad of faecal vomiting, chronic diarrhea and weight loss. We recently experienced a patient with GJCF who had been suffering from diarrhea for a long period of time. He had undergone gastric surgery 8 years previously for peptic ulcer disease at another hospital. After detailed preoperative evaluation with duodenoscopy, upper gastrointestinal series, colonofiberscopy, barium enema and abdominal CT, he underwent surgery-resection of the gastric stump and segmental resection of the jejunum and transverse colon with Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy. Recent advances in surgical technique such as vagotomy, and medical therapy have remarkably decreased the incidence of both stomal ulcer and GJCF in peptic ulcer disease. However, gastrojejunocolic fistula should be recognized as one of the late severe complications observed after a gastrectomy with Billroth-II reconstruction, since this disease may occur even 20 years after the first operation. We report the case of a 52-year old man with gastrojejunocolic fistula with review of the literature.
Barium ; Colon, Transverse ; Diarrhea ; Duodenoscopy ; Enema ; Fistula* ; Gastrectomy* ; Gastric Bypass ; Gastric Stump ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jejunum ; Middle Aged ; Peptic Ulcer ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ulcer ; Vagotomy ; Vomiting ; Weight Loss