No abstract available.
Free Tissue Flaps* ; Rectus Abdominis*

No abstract available.
Allografts* ; Cyclosporine* ; Humans

Spinal stenosis is a localized narrowing of spinal canal due to strurctural abnormalities. Its symptoms are obscure, and characterized by chronic, poorly localized, bilateral nerve root compression signs. Computerized tomography(CT) has been accepted as almost an absolute diagnostic method for spinal stenosis after its application in the orthopedic field. During the period of 2 years, from March 1982 to March 1984, 26 cases of spinal stenosis were treated surgically after botlt CT scanning and myelography. We obtained following results about advantage of CT scanning in spinal stenosis. 1. Myelography showed following findings: Hourglass defect 9, Complete block 8, Unilateral focal defect 4, Uniform narrowing 1, Mixed 2, Negative finding 2. Myelographic finding was not specific for spinal stenosis and diagnostic accuracy was inferior to CT. 2. The type of spinal stenosis was identified by CT scan finding. Of 26 cases, 21 cases were degenerative spinal stenosis, of which central stenosis was present in 7 cases, and lateral stenosis was present in all cases. The remaining 5 cases were combined type, and both central and lateral stenosis were present in all cases. 3. The diagnostic accuracy,in localizing the level of stenosis was 61.5% by myelography, and 96.2% by CT scan. CT was especially superior to myelography in the localization of the multi-segmental stenosis. 4. CT gives valuable information about extent and degree of stenosis, especially lateral recess stenosis, thus helping the surgeon to decide on the extent of decompressive lamininectomy preoperatively.
Clothing ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Methods ; Myelography ; Orthopedics ; Radiculopathy ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Stenosis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Reorganization of myun health care service is one of the main issues in health care delivery in rural Korea. The fundamental, concept of the role and function of the myun health subcenter is that it is the basic unit of rural health care service and is to provide comprehensive health care service through the integration of curative and preventive services. The aim of this study is to analyze the patterns of curative activities in the myun health subcenter in terms of the most prevalent types of diseases, necessary diagnostic methods and required equipment, types of treatment, necessary drugs and materials, and finally the cost of curative services. The population on which this study was done was the 1596 patients who visited the two myun health subcenters (Sunwon Myun and Naega Myun) in Kang Hwa County, the area of the Yonsei University Community Health Teaching Project, during period from May 1, 1975 to June 10, 1976. For the patient's record in the clinic, problem oriented medical records were used. Decisions regarding the disease classification, the diagnostic methods used and selection of the most appropriate and adequate medical treatment were made by a group of three experienced physicians after reviewing the medical records which had been written by public physicians who were treating patients in the study area. The records were reviewed by resident staff members of the Department of Preventive Medicine, of Yonsei University College of Medicine. A brief summary of results of the study is as follow: 1. 29.9% of the patients who visited the clinics were ages between 0-4. No sex difference was observed among patients less than 20 years of age. However, among patients over 20 years old, females predominated. Thus it is evident that the majority of patients were either children or mothers and grandmothers. 2. The distance from the individual villages to the myun health subcenter was one of important factors in determining the ratio of clinic visits. However, other factors such as the activities of the health workers also affected the rates substantially. 3. The most common 25 diseases comprised 90.2% of all the diseases recorded. Acute respiratory infection (25.5), skin (12.7%), diarrheal diseases (6.8%), neuralgia and back pain (4.9%) and all other injuries (3.9%) were the five most common diseases. 4. Of all the diseases diagnosed and treated, 9.2% required simple laboratory tests for diagnosis, 6.5% required X-ray examination, and altogether 13.6% required either laboratory test of X-ray examination. 5. Treatment and management of 42.0% of the cases could be accomplished with simple, inexpensive drugs, 12.8% required the use of more expensive drugs (mostly antibiotics) and injections were required in 19.7% of the cases. Minor surgery and referral were necessary in 5% of the cases. 6. The cost for diagnosis and treatment was estimated with a standard which was set by general concensus. The average cost of diagnosis was 144 per case and the cost of treatment was 726 per case. The total average cost per visit was 870.
Ambulatory Care ; Back Pain ; Child ; Classification ; Comprehensive Health Care ; Delivery of Health Care ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Medical Records, Problem-Oriented ; Mothers ; Neuralgia ; Preventive Medicine ; Referral and Consultation ; Rural Health ; Sex Characteristics ; Skin ; Surgical Procedures, Minor ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Meningitis*

To evaluate the possibility of the newly developed highly porous glass ceramics as a space-filler in the cavitary bone defect, we made the opening sized 1 × 0.5 cm on the medial aspect of the right proximal tibia of nine rabbits. We impacted the highly porous glass ceramics firmly to the medullary cavity of rabbit tibia through the opening. Each three were sacrificed at 4th, 8th, and 12th week and analyze in vivo reaction of the glass ceramics in rabbit tibia with radiological and histological methods. On radiological examination, radiolucent line was seen around impacted glass ceramics at 4th week, but this radiolucent line was obliterated gradually to 12th week. On histological examination, new bone formation with osteoblast was appeared at 4th week without foreign body reactions. At 8th week, newly formed bone infiltrated into the porous space between glass ceramics particles was noticed, and the surface of glass ceramics was tightly bound by newly formed bone with osteoblastic rim and mature bone, At 12th week, the amount of newly formed mature bone increased, though there was on evidence of resorption of glass ceramics particle. So, we suggest that the highly porous glass ceramics is one of the possible artificial bone graft substitutes, especially as a space-filler.
Ceramics ; Foreign Bodies ; Glass ; Osteoblasts ; Osteogenesis ; Rabbits ; Tibia ; Transplants

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in United States and the fifth most common cancer in men in Korea. Although the majority of patients with metastatic prostate cancer initially respond to androgen deprivation therapy, almost all patients will eventually progress to develop castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Treatment options for CRPC remain limited. Prostate cancer was considered unresponsive to chemotherapy until the mid-1990s, when mitoxantrone combined with prednisone was shown to play a role in the palliative treatment of patients with CRPC. In 2004, two large randomized clinical trials demonstrated for the first time a small but significant survival advantage of docetaxel-based chemotherapy compared with mitoxantrone in patients with metastatic CRPC. Recently, cabazitaxel was shown to improve survival in patients with metastatic CRPC who progressed after docetaxel-based chemotherapy. Sipuleucel-T was also demonstrated to improve overall survival in patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic CRPC. Along with mitoxantrone and docetaxel, cabazitaxel and sipuleucel-T are now approved for use in metastatic CRPC by the US Food and Drug Administration. There have been multiple early-phase clinical trials of various agents for the treatment of CRPC, and some are in phase III development. This review focuses on the key clinical trials of various treatment options of CRPC currently in use and under investigation.
Humans ; Imidazoles ; Immunotherapy ; Korea ; Male ; Mitoxantrone ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; Nitro Compounds ; Palliative Care ; Prednisone ; Prostate ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Taxoids ; Tissue Extracts ; United States ; United States Food and Drug Administration

No abstract available.
Animals ; Blastocyst* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Glucose* ; Mice*

Testicular microlithiasis (TM) is an uncommon abnormality in which concentric laminated bodies are scattered throughout the testis within seminiferous tubules. The sonographic appearance of TM is characteristic. In a retrospective analysis of 281 testicular sonograms, TM were found in 7 cases (2.5%). The presence of TM was associated with the presence of acute epididymitis (n=3), varicocele (n =l), hydrocele (n =l), testicular tumor (n =l), and cryptorchidism (n =l). The pathogenesis of TM is still poorly understood and its clinical relevance is unclear. However, because TM may be associated with testicular tumor, we advocate careful evaluation and follow up of the testes when this abnormality is detected.
Cryptorchidism ; Epididymitis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Seminiferous Tubules ; Testis ; Ultrasonography ; Varicocele

Prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men worldwide. Its incidence and mortality vary widely between countries and ethnicities. In Korea, the incidence of prostate cancer was much lower than that in most westernized countries, but recently, it appears to be rapidly increasing steadily. Prostate cancer has now become the fifth most common cancer in men in Korea since the year 2002. The recent dramatic increase in incidence may be attributed to the growth of elderly population, a westernized diet in daily life style, and introduction of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. The prevalence of latent prostate cancers is similar around the world, but the incidence of clinically manifest cancers differs, with Asians having the lowest rates of clinical prostate cancers. Diet may play a role in converting latent prostate cancer into clinically manifest one. Fat consumption, especially polyunsaturated fat, shows a strong positive correlation with prostate cancer incidence and mortality. The mortality rates for prostate cancer have been decreasing in many developed countries, thanks to early detection and improved treatment, while the mortality rates have been increasing in Korea. Since a significantly higher proportion of Korean prostate cancers exhibit poor differentiation, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment may be important.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Developed Countries ; Diet ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Life Style ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Prevalence ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms