Chronic subdural hematoma usually occurs as a consequence of minor trauma. But, chronic subdural hematoma of occupational origin has not been reported yet in Korea. We experienced a case of chronic subdural hematoma induced by repeated trauma to the head. The patient was a 45-year-old male. He complained of repeated headache and nausea. By the computed tomogram, he diagnosed as chronic subdural hematoma and took the operation. He was not an alcoholism and had no intracranial disease nor coagulopathy. We studied all possibilities through working environment and personal environment survey. As a result, we decided the case as an example of cumulative trauma disorder to the head by occupational origin. We report a case of chronic subdural hematoma in the worker exposed repeated head trauma of occupational origin.
Alcoholism ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Cumulative Trauma Disorders ; Head* ; Headache ; Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic* ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nausea

No abstract available.
Child* ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Hematuria* ; Humans ; Nephritis* ; Purpura, Schoenlein-Henoch*

Interview survey and dermatological examination have been performed to investigate the health problems of workers continuously exposed to coal-tar pitch. The phototoxicity of coal-tar pitch was confirmed by the photopatch tests for six healthy adults. The main results are followings; 1. There was no special history of allergic diseases in both the exposed and non-exposed group. 2. The frequency of the phototoxic dermatosis and the coal-tar acne in the exposed group was significantly greater(p<0.05) than that of the control group. In the exposed group, the phototoxic dermatosis and the coal-tar acne were observed in nine workers(90%) and seven workers(70%), respectively. However, those disease were not observed in the control group. 3. Five results(83%) were positive to the photopatch test for coal-tar pitch 48 hours after UVA irradiation. But the lesion was subsiding 72 hours after UVA irradiation. 4. Malignant cancers were not reported among workers ever exposed to coal-tar pitch. In conclusion, it appears that workers exposed to coal-tar pitch have high risks of phototoxic dermatosis and coal-tar acne. A health policy should be provided to prevent phototoxic dermatosis among coal-tar pitch workers. More studies are required to determine malignancy.
Acne Vulgaris ; Adult ; Dermatitis, Phototoxic ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Skin Diseases*

Cat liver fluke (Platynosomum fastosum) was identified upon necropsy of a Felis catus (domestic cat). This trematode has not been reported in domestic cats previously in Korea. Diagnosis of this fluke was made by the presence of eggs in the feces of the cat through the fecal sedimentation method. Flukes in the gallbladder, bile duct, and liver parenchyma were revealed by the necropsy findings. This report describes as the first case of a domestic cat with Platynosomum fastosum in Korea.
Animals ; Bile Ducts ; Cats ; Eggs ; Fasciola hepatica ; Feces ; Gallbladder ; Korea ; Liver ; Ovum ; Trematoda

Cat liver fluke (Platynosomum fastosum) was identified upon necropsy of a Felis catus (domestic cat). This trematode has not been reported in domestic cats previously in Korea. Diagnosis of this fluke was made by the presence of eggs in the feces of the cat through the fecal sedimentation method. Flukes in the gallbladder, bile duct, and liver parenchyma were revealed by the necropsy findings. This report describes as the first case of a domestic cat with Platynosomum fastosum in Korea.
Animals ; Bile Ducts ; Cats ; Eggs ; Fasciola hepatica ; Feces ; Gallbladder ; Korea ; Liver ; Ovum ; Trematoda

Panner's disease, osteonecrosis of the capitellum of the elbow, was first reported by Panner in 1927. The disease occurs mainly in boys between 6 and 15 years old and shows unilateral distribution. Pain, stiffness, localized tenderness over the lateral condyle of the elbow, and decreased range of motion are the typical clinical symptoms. Conservative treatment is generally recommended for patients in the early stage of this disease. A few cases of Panner's disease have been reported and few are related to long-term follow-up results. To the best of our knowledge, all reported cases were over six years. Therefore, we report on a five-year-old boy diagnosed as Panner's disease that showed resorption and regeneration of the humeral capitellum with no limitation of motion over three years. The current study was exempted from review by the institutional review board because it was a single retrospective case report. Informed consent was obtained from the patient's guardian.
Child* ; Elbow ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Male ; Osteochondrosis ; Osteonecrosis ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Regeneration ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To evaluate the early clinical results of lumbar microdiscectomy using minimally invasive tubular retractor (METRx-MD system, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Memphis, TN), and to validate the merits of minimally invasive spinal surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April, 2003 to April 2004 we retrospectively studied a consecutive series of 45 patients who underwent lumbar microdiscectomy using minimally invasive tubular retractor. In all cases, minimally invasive approach using the tubular retractor were performed with a 2 cm sized paramedian incision. The following data were collected: clinical outcomes, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, need for blood replacement, time needed before ambulation, length of hospital stay, and complications. The clinical outcomes were assessed by the modified MacNab criteria. RESULTS: Minimally invasive tubular microdiscectomy was performed in 45 patients over a 12-month period with an average follow-up of approximately 8 months. The clinical outcomes assessed by MacNab criteria were excellent in 33 patients (73%), good in 10 patients (22%). The average operative time was 63 minutes (range, 35 to 95 minutes). The average blood loss was 62 mL (range, 50 to 110 mL). None of the patients needed blood replacement. With the exception of 2 patients, all patients could walk at the day of surgery. The average hospital stay was 2.3 days. None of the patients had dural tear, wound problem, or other complications. CONCLUSION: Lumbar microdiscectomy using tubular retractor can offer a useful modality for the treatment of lumbar herniated disc with the merits of minimally invasive spinal surgery. Further long-term, randomized, prospective investigations are needed to fully evaluate the impact of this technique.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Length of Stay ; Operative Time ; Wounds and Injuries

Odontoblasts are responsible for the formation and maintenance of dentin. They are known to synthesize unique gene products including dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP). Another unique genes of the cells remain unclear. OD314 was isolated from the odontoblasts/pulp cells of rats and partially characterized as an odontoblast-enriched gene (Dey et al., 2001). This study aimed to elucidate the biological function of OD314, relating to odontoblast differentiation and dentinogenesis. After determining the open reading frame (ORF) of OD314 by transient transfection analysis using green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression vector, mRNA in-situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western analysis were performed. The results were as follows: 1. In in-situ hybridization, OD314 mRNAs were expressed in odontoblasts of developing coronal and root pulp. 2. OD314 was a novel protein encoding 154 amino acids, and the protein was mainly expressed in cytoplasm by transient transfection analysis. 3. Mineralized nodules were associated with multilayer cell nodules in the culture of human dental pulp cells and first detected from day 21 using alizarin-red S staining. 4. In RT-PCR analysis, OD314, osteocalcin (OC) and DSPP strongly expressed throughout 28 days of culture. Whereas, osteonectin (ON) mRNA expression stayed low up to day 14, and then gradually decreased from day 21. 5. Western blots showed an approximately 17 kDa band. OD314 protein was expressed from the start of culture and then increased greatly from day 21. In conclusion, OD314 is considered as an odontoblast-enriched gene and may play important roles in odontoblast differentiation and dentin mineralization.
Amino Acids ; Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Cytoplasm ; Dental Pulp ; Dentin ; Dentinogenesis ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Odontoblasts ; Open Reading Frames ; Osteocalcin ; Osteonectin ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger ; Transfection

BACKGROUND: Several Studies from western institutes were done on the clinical characteristics and long-term prognosis of patients with variant angina. In these reports, 61-92% of patients had significant coronary artery disease, and survival without myocardial infarction at 1 year was approximately 70-83%. These results differ from our clinical experiences with Korean patients with variant angina;however, no detailed study has been reported in Korea. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics and long-term follow-up data of our Korean patients with variant angina. METHODS: Two hundred four consecutive patients with variant angina(M/F;166/38, mean age 53+/-10 year) were included. The diagnosis of variant angina was made by spontaneous spasm in 53, positive intravenous ergonovine(iv Erg) provocation in 52, intracoronary acetylcholine(ic Ach) provocation in 55, simultaneous iv Erg and ic Ach provocation in 48 and bedside intravenous ergonovine with 2-dimensional echocardiography in 33. The clinical and angiographic characteristics were examined in 204 patients and mean 1.5 year(6 month to 3.5 year) follow-up could be done in 165 for the evaluation of long-trem prognosis. RESULTS: The Korean patients with variant angina were characterized by relatively low prevalences of significant coronary stenosis(25%), myocardial infarction and rate of cardiac death. Futhermore, survival and survival without myocardial infarction for the entire group were significantly better in our observation(1 year survival without myocardial infarction, 98%) than in other studies. During the follow-up period, 4(2%) out of 165 patients died, 1 developed myocarddial infarction and ventricular fibrillation occurred in 2. Three of 4 death caused by stopping medication abruptly. Thirteen patients were angina free after discontinued medications during the follow-up. CONCLUSION: The overall prognosis of variant angina may be better in Korean patients. We believe that less severe coronary atherosclerotic disease and a high rate of treatment with calcium blockers may have contributed to the lower rate of cardiac death and myocardial infarction on our patients compared with those in previous studies.
Academies and Institutes ; Calcium ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Death ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Ergonovine ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Infarction ; Korea ; Myocardial Infarction ; Prevalence ; Prognosis ; Spasm ; Ventricular Fibrillation

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Myocardial bridge is congenital coronary anomaly and cause myocardial ischemia by milking effect. The general study of myocardial bridge is to be weak, so we examined a clinical study of myocardial bridge. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This study included 36 bridge cases out of 1048 patients who underwent coronary angiography due to chest pain from Jan. 1993 to Jul. 1998. Angiographic film, medical records and interview by telephone were reviewed retrospectively. Total follow-up duration was mean 27 months (1 month to 62 months). RESULTS: Incidence of myocardial bridges diagnosed by angiography was 3.4%. Angiography showed normal in 32, 1 vessel disease in 3 and 2 vessel disease in one patient. Mean reference diameter was 2.97+/-0.36mm, bridge diameter was 2.75+/-0.33mm in diastole, 1.12+/-0.47mm in systole. Myocardial bridge length was 12.50+/-7.44mm, mean % diameter stenosis was 59.26+/-17.7%. Myocardial bridge location was 80.6% in mid LAD and 13.9% in mid & distal LAD and 5.5% in distal LAD. There was no statistically significant correlation with sex, risk factor of coronary heart disease, resting electrocardigraphy, treadmill test, diameter and angulation of coronary artery, clinical symptom in the severity of myocardial bridge. But the severity of myocardial bridge correlated with bridge length(r=.5033). CONCLUSION: Clinical outcomes of bridge patients were relatively good during the mean follow up periods of 27 months. Myocardial bridge was more severe in younger age and longer bridge length.
Angiography ; Chest Pain ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Diastole ; Exercise Test ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Medical Records ; Milk ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Systole ; Telephone