Sellar arachnoid cysts are rare; an infected arachnoid cyst is extremely rare as only one case has been reported to date in the literature. Here, we report a patient with an infected or inflamed sellar arachnoid cyst that was successfully treated with transsphenoidal surgery (TSA). A 53-year-old female with a history of chronic sinusitis developed a headache 5 months ago, and one month before admission polyuria, polydipsia, and abnormal vaginal bleeding occurred. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a sellar cystic mass with a thickened pituitary stalk. Preoperative hormonal study revealed normal pituitary hormone levels except for a moderate elevation of prolactin. She was diagnosed with diabetes insipidus of the central nervous system origin based on a water-deprivation test. TSA was performed under an impression of symptomatic Rathke's cleft cyst according to the MRI findings. Intraoperative findings showed confirmation of turbid intracystic contents, but micro-organisms were unidentified on microbial culture. Pathology of the cyst wall revealed inflamed meningoepithelial lining cells compatible with an arachnoid cyst.
Arachnoid Cysts ; Arachnoid* ; Central Nervous System ; Diabetes Insipidus ; Female ; Headache ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Pathology ; Pituitary Gland ; Polydipsia ; Polyuria ; Prolactin ; Sinusitis ; Uterine Hemorrhage

The delayed rupture of the flexor tendons is a rare complication of malunited distal radius fractures after nonoperative management. The known cause of a flexor tendon rupture is attrition between the palmarly displaced ulnar head and the involved tendons. Sharp bony spurs on the volar side of the malunited distal radius can also cause flexor tendon rupture. About 30 cases have been reported in literature. There were only four case reports about the delayed rupture of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th flexor tendons. In this case, we experienced flexor digitorum superficialis and flexor digitorum profundus tendon ruptures of the index, middle, ring, and little fingers, after 8 months following the malunion of a distal radius fracture. At two years follow-up after tendon graft and corrective osteotomy, the range of motion and motor weakness of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers improved.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical outcomes and efficacy of hip resurfacing arthroplasty (HRA) in patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral head after the failure of porous tantalum rod insertion without rod removal. Materials and Methods: Conversion to hip resurfacing arthroplasty was performed in 10 patients (11 hips) with a mean period of 14.9 months after the primary surgery. The mean follow-up period was 73.7 months. Analysis of pre and postoperative range of motion (ROM), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) activity score, modified Harris hip score, and visual analog scale (VAS) pain score was performed. Radiographic analysis of component loosening and osteolysis was performed. Results: The postoperative ROM showed significant improvement (P<0.05), excluding flexion contracture. The modified Harris hip score showed improvement from 65.82 to 96.18, the UCLA score showed improvement from 4.18 to 8.00, and the VAS pain score was reduced from 6.09 to 1.80. All scores showed statistically significant improvement (P<0.05). No component loosening or osteolysis was detected by radiographic analysis. Conclusion Satisfactory results were obtained from conversion hip resurfacing arthroplasty after failure of porous tantalum rod insertion without rod removal. The findings of this study demonstrate the advantages of HRA, including no risk of trochanteric fracture and no bone loss around the tantalum rod. In addition, the remaining porous tantalum rod provided mechanical support, which reduced the potential risk of femoral neck fracture or loosening. This technique can be regarded as a favorable treatment option.

PURPOSE: Young infants with suspected sepsis routinely undergo laboratory evaluation. In particular, when an infant is a newborn baby, evaluation of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been frequently included, because the prognosis is poor, irrespectively of the etiology of meningitis. We aimed to examine the clinical predictors of CSF pleocytosis among the newborns. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of all infants, aged 30 days or younger, requiring lumbar puncture. Electronic data sources provided the demographic data of the newborns, the clinical manifestations, and all laboratory values. After a univariate analysis, logistic regression analysis was performed to predict newborns at increased risk for CSF pleocytosis. RESULTS: One hundred thirteen newborns were studied; 20 of whom (17.7%) had CSF pleocytosis. Fever was significantly associated with CSF pleocytosis (P=0.008, OR=5.08, 95% CI, 1.39-18.54). The infants with lethargic appearance also had an increased risk for CSF pleocytosis. Blood urea nitrogen level was higher in patients with pleocytosis. Logistic regression analysis revealed that other clinical features and laboratory data were not significant, except for fever and lethargy. A total of 45% of the infants with CSF pleocytosis were diagnosed with serious bacterial infection, as opposed to 19.4% of those without CSF pleocytosis. CONCLUSION: In case of neonates, it would be better to perform lumbar puncture, when the infant has fever or lethargic appearance, although, the results of routine laboratory tests were nonspecific.
Aged ; Bacterial Infections ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Fever ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Lethargy ; Leukocytosis ; Logistic Models ; Meningitis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Spinal Puncture

Meningiomas are the most common benign intracranial tumors and make up 13-26% of all primary intracranial tumors. Clinical presentation of hemorrhage is rare in these tumors occurring in approximately 1.3% of cases and subdural hemorrhages are even more uncommon. The mechanism of hemorrhage is still unclear and may vary according to histologic type, location and the type of hemorrhage. We experienced a case of 61-year-old woman with a benign meningioma presenting as a subdural hemorrhage. She developed sudden onset of headache right after aggressively coughing. Her headache persisted for a week before she was admitted to the emergency room of National Cancer Center. She had a past medical history of ovarian cancer which had been treated and was allegedly recurrence-free for 2 years. At the time of admission, a headache was the only symptom and imaging studies showed a right frontal hemorrhagic subdural mass lesion accompanying an ipsilateral subdural hematoma. Elective surgery was performed and intraoperative findings revealed the hallmark characteristics of a meningioma with mixed stage diffuse subdural hematoma. Permanent pathology result determined it was a conventional meningioma (World Health Organization grade I). From this case, we discuss the rare presentation of subdural hemorrhage in meningioma and related points by reviewing the literature of previous studies.
Cough ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Headache ; Hematoma, Subdural* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Meningioma* ; Middle Aged ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Pathology ; World Health Organization

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is one of the common chief complaints in primary care setting. It causes disability in daily activity and lowers quality of life. This study was intended to investigate the information about fatigue useful in outpatient clinic. METHODS: The data was obtained from the Korean Health and Nutrition Survey 2001. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between self- reported fatigue and several factors including sociodemographic factors, life style factors, stress, depression, and worry about health. RESULTS: The prevalence of fatigue was low in unmarried status, more significantly in men when compared with those in married status. No significant association was found between fatigue and occupation, education level, monthly income, smoking, and alcohol consumption. The risk of fatigue in the exercising group more than 4 times per week was significantly low in women. The risk of fatigue in the group of sleeping duration less than 5 hours was significantly higher than the group of sleeping more than 9 hours. Compared with unemployed state, the daily working duration of more than 9 hours increased the risk for fatigue significantly. Stress perception, sadness or depression during the past 1 year and worry about health were strongly associated with fatigue. CONCLUSION: When evaluating and managing patients with fatigue, we should search for information about the patients' lifestyle such as exercise, daily work hours, sleeping as well as stress perception and depressive mood. Especially among the lifestyle, inquiring about regular exercise and promoting it may be important in order to manage patients with fatigue.
Alcohol Drinking ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Depression ; Education ; Fatigue* ; Female ; Humans ; Life Style ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Primary Health Care ; Quality of Life ; Single Person ; Smoke ; Smoking

INTRODUCTION: During an acute myocardial ischemia, maintenance of overall ventricular function may depend on remote nonischemic myocardium. Whereas fentanyl has minimal hemodynamic effects, volatile anesthetics, including halothane and isoflurane cause negative inotropic and lusitropic effects in normal myocardium. This investigation examined the effects of volatile anesthetics in comparision with fentanyl on compensatory responses to brief left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) occlusion in remote normal myocardium (left circumflex coronary artery (LCX) supply) in an open-chest canine model. METHODS: Thirty-six mongrel dogs, acutely instrumented for measurement of pressure (left ventricle (LV) and aorta), flows (pulmonary trunk and LCX) and dimensions in ischemic and non-ischemic myocardium, were subjected to a 10-min LAD occlusion during fentanyl (n=10), halothane (n=13), or isoflurane (n=13) anesthesia. Regional contractile function was assessed using percent systolic shortening (%SS) and the preload recruitable stroke work slope (Mw). Diastolic function was evaluated using a regional time constant for intramyocardial pressure decline of LV (IMPtau), peak lengthening rate (dL/dtmax) and a regional chamber stiffness constant (Kp). RESULTS: Acute LAD occlusion caused immediate deterioration of anterior wall function similarly without changes in cardiac index, mean arterial pressure and dP/dtmax in all three groups. LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), LVPtau, and heart rate increased and dP/dtmin decreased to the same extent with regional myocardial ischemia in all groups. During fentanyl anesthesia, acute myocardial ischemia was associated with an increase in %SS (26%) and Mw (48%) in LCX area without changes in IMPtau and dL/dtmax. With halothane or isoflurane anesthesia, %SS, Mw and IMPtau showed similar changes as those in fentanyl in response to LAD occlusion. However, dL/dtmax was increased (47 and 45% in the halothane and isoflurane groups, respectively) and Kp was increased (34 and 33% in the halothane and isoflurane groups, respectively) less compared to fentanyl (78%). Enhanced function in LCX zone was associated with a comparable increase (21~28% from baseline) in LCX flow in all groups. CONCLUSION: Enhanced regional contractility following acute coronary occlusion in nonischemic myocardium during fentanyl anesthesia is well-preserved with volatile anesthetics in an open-chest canine model. In addition, diastolic functions are also enhanced rather than depressed during anesthesia with volatile anesthetics. Halothane and isoflurane, however, do not differ in the compensatory responses to acute regional ischemia.
Anesthesia ; Anesthetics ; Animals ; Arterial Pressure ; Coronary Occlusion ; Coronary Vessels ; Dogs* ; Fentanyl ; Halothane ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Ischemia ; Isoflurane ; Myocardial Ischemia* ; Myocardium* ; Stroke ; Ventricular Function

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We investigated the effect of low dose corticosteroid therapy on HBV reactivation in patients with chronic HBV infection. METHODS: From August 1998 to March 2007, the HBsAg-positive patients who received oral or intravenous corticosteroid therapy for more than 1 week at Samsung Medical Center were included in this retrospective study. We included those patients who received anticancer chemotherapy or organ transplantation, or concurrent antiviral therapy or other immunosuppressive agents. HBV reactivation was defined as a 10-fold increase in the HBV DNA levels compared with baseline. RESULTS: A total of 16 patients were included. They were 45.4+/-16.7 years of age, and the male:female ratio was 14:2. Their combined diseases included bronchial asthma, allergic urticaria, allergic rhinitis, etc. The corticosteroid doses were converted to prednisolone equivalent doses and these varied from 2.5 mg to 50 mg per day. Eleven patients used less than 20 mg of prednisolone per day. The mean medication duration was 60.1 days (range: 7-364 days). Among the patients, only one patient showed HBV reactivation. This ankylosing spondylitis patient was a 31-year old man who took prednisolone 5 mg/day for 364 days. He displayed HBeAg-positivity before corticosteroid treatment. There was no aggravation of the levels of ALT, albumin, bilirubin, and PT between the pre-and post-medication in this patient. CONCLUSIONS: The short term use of low dose corticosteroid is not likely to be related with HBV reactivation in those patients with chronic HBV infection, yet long term use may lead to viral reactivation. Further large scaled, prospective studies on this subject are needed.
Asthma ; Bilirubin ; DNA ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Organ Transplantation ; Prednisolone ; Retrospective Studies ; Rhinitis ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing ; Transplants ; Urticaria

PURPOSE: We tried to evaluate the usefulness of the arthroscopy in the operative treatment of intra-articular calcaneal fracture. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Between March 2005 and May 2008, 9 patients with intra-articular calcaneal fractures (Tongue type or Sanders type IIC) were treated with arthroscopically assisted percutaneous reduction and screw fixation. American orthopedic foot and ankle society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot score, visual analogue scale (VAS), preoperative and postoperative Bohler's angle and the rate of complication were evaluated. RESULTS:AOFAS score at postoperative 1 year was 88.2 (range, 71-92), and mean VAS score was 2.8 (range, 1-4). Bohler angle was improved from preoperative mean 16.2 degrees to postoperative mean 29.7 degrees . There were no complications such as wound problem, infection or nerve injury. CONCLUSION: Subtalar arthroscopy provides precise view of posterior facet during the operation. Therefore, it can be a useful tool in treating intra-articular calcaneus fractures, especially tongue type and Sanders type IIC fractures.
Animals ; Ankle ; Arthroscopy ; Calcaneus ; Foot ; Humans ; Orthopedics ; Tongue