The purpose of this study is to introduce a new method to reduce the donor morbidity of radial forearm free flap using ulnar forearm flap, and to evaluate its usefulness and results. 6 patients underwent radial forearm free flap designed by authors and we repaired radial forearm flap donor defect using ulnar forearm flap following ablative surgery for oropharyngeal cancers from June 1995 to February 1997. Radial forearm flap was designed just proximal to wrist crease, and its vascular pedicle was placed in the center of flap. Donor defect was repaired with V-Y fashion closure using ulnar artery axial pattern fasciocutaneous flap. Mean closing time of donor site was 30 minutes. and mean healing period of donor site was 10 days. There was no difficulty in closure. All donor sites healed completely without complication. Limitation of motion was not noticed in the wrist and forearm. We conclude that repair of radial forearm flap donor defect using ulnar forearm flap is new excellent method to prevent the prominent scar of forearm in cases of conventional skin graft for donor defect, and provide rapid healing of wound with low risk of complication
Cicatrix ; Forearm* ; Free Tissue Flaps* ; Humans ; Oropharyngeal Neoplasms ; Skin ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplants ; Ulnar Artery ; Wounds and Injuries ; Wrist

The purpose of this study is to introduce a new method to reduce the donor morbidity of radial forearm free flap using ulnar forearm flap, and to evaluate its usefulness and results. 6 patients underwent radial forearm free flap designed by authors and we repaired radial forearm flap donor defect using ulnar forearm flap following ablative surgery for oropharyngeal cancers from June 1995 to February 1997. Radial forearm flap was designed just proximal to wrist crease, and its vascular pedicle was placed in the center of flap. Donor defect was repaired with V-Y fashion closure using ulnar artery axial pattern fasciocutaneous flap. Mean closing time of donor site was 30 minutes. and mean healing period of donor site was 10 days. There was no difficulty in closure. All donor sites healed completely without complication. Limitation of motion was not noticed in the wrist and forearm. We conclude that repair of radial forearm flap donor defect using ulnar forearm flap is new excellent method to prevent the prominent scar of forearm in cases of conventional skin graft for donor defect, and provide rapid healing of wound with low risk of complication
Cicatrix ; Forearm* ; Free Tissue Flaps* ; Humans ; Oropharyngeal Neoplasms ; Skin ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplants ; Ulnar Artery ; Wounds and Injuries ; Wrist

The claustrum, a brain nucleus located between the cortex and the striatum, has recently been highlighted in drug-related reward processing. Methyl CpG-binding protein-2 (MeCP2) is a transcriptional regulator that represses or activates the expression of the target gene and has been known to have an important role in the regulation of drug addiction in the dopaminergic reward system. The claustrum is an important region for regulating reward processing where most neurons receive dopamine input; additionally, in this region, MeCP2 is also abundantly expressed. Therefore, here, we hypothesized that MeCP2 would be involved in drug addiction control in the Claustrum as well and investigated how claustral MeCP2 regulates drug addiction. To better understand the function of human claustral MeCP2, we established a non-human primate model of methamphetamine (METH) - induced conditioned place preference (CPP). After a habituation of two days and conditioning of ten days, the CPP test was conducted for three days. Interestingly, we confirmed that virus-mediated overexpression of MECP2 in the claustrum showed a significant reduction of METH-induced CPP in the three consecutive days during the testing period. Moreover, they showed a decrease in visit scores (frequency for visit) for the METH-paired room compared to the control group although the scores were statistically marginal. Taken together, we suggest that the claustrum is an important brain region associated with drug addiction, in which MeCP2 may function as a mediator in regulating the response to addictive drugs.

We investigated the feasibility of repairing cartilage defect with cultured mesenchymal stem cell from bone marrow. Mesenchyaml stem cells were aspirated from bone marrow of mature rabbits, and cultured in monolayer. Osteochondral defect was artificially made on the patellar groove of distal femur of the same rabbit, and fascia overlying quadriceps was harvested and sutured around the defect, then cultured mesenchymal cells were injected to the defects. Sixteen mature New Zealand white rabbits were used as experimental group and 13 rabbits were used as control. The rabbits were killed at after 14 weeks. Healing of defect was investigated histologically with H-E and toluidine blue staining, biochemically with immunohistochemical staining for Type II collagen, and also at molecular level through RT-PCR for mRNA of type II collagen. Semiquantitative histological scores were significantly higher in experimental group than thoese in control(P<0.05). Immunohistochemical staining showed high signal thor type II collagen on newly formed cartilage in the defect. RT-PCR detected mRNA for type II collagen from mature chondrocytes. Our data suggest that repair of cartilage defect can be enhanced with transplantation of cultured mesenchymal stem cell.
Bone Marrow* ; Cartilage* ; Chondrocytes ; Collagen Type II ; Fascia ; Femur ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells* ; Rabbits ; RNA, Messenger ; Stem Cells ; Tolonium Chloride

We described a 65-year-old female of 45,X/46,XX Turner's syndrome associated with patent ductus arteriosus who was admitted due to exertional dyspnea and palpitation. This patient had not spontaneous mensturation and had a short stature without webbed neck and a sexual infantilism. Chromosomal aberrations cause primarily structural defects of cardiovascular system, and a variety of structural aberrations involving the X chromosome can cause partial or complete Turner's syndrome. In Turner's syndrome, bicuspid aortic valve or coarctation of aorta is frequently combined, also aortic root dilatation, partial anomalous venous drainage, hypoplastic left heart, ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect has been reported. However, this patient had not abnormality in aortic valve and whole aorta. Patent ductus arteriosus in 45,X/46,XX Turner's syndrome have not been reported in Korea. We report this case with a brief review of the literature.
Aged ; Aorta ; Aortic Coarctation ; Aortic Valve ; Bicuspid ; Cardiovascular System ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Dilatation ; Drainage ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent* ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Heart ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Humans ; Korea ; Neck ; Sexual Infantilism ; Turner Syndrome ; X Chromosome

In the article, the weighted overall mean MLA cut-off value has been miscalculated. Tha authors deeply apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused.

BACKGROUND: This retrospective study analyzed the causes of failure in the management process from the identification of brain-dead potential organ donors to actual donation in Korea over the past 5 years. METHODS: Data of 8,120 potential brain deaths reported to the Korea Organ Donation Agency were used, including information received at the time of reporting, donation suitability evaluation performed by the coordinator after the report, and data obtained from interviews of hospital medical staff and the donor's family. RESULTS: From January 2012 to December 2016, the total number of brain-dead potential organ donors in Korea was 8,120, of which 2,348 (28.9%) underwent organ procurement surgery with designated recipients. While the number of transplant donors has increased over time, the ratio of transplant donors to medically suitable brain-dead donors has decreased. The common causes of donation failure included donation refusal (27.6%), non-brain death (15.5%), and incompatible donation (11.6%); 104 potential donors (7.8%) were unable to donate their organs because they were not pronounced brain dead. CONCLUSION: The rate of successful organ donation may be increased by analyzing the major causes of failure in the brain-dead organ donation management process and engaging in various efforts to prevent such failures.
Brain Death ; Humans ; Korea* ; Medical Staff, Hospital ; Retrospective Studies ; Statistics as Topic* ; Tissue and Organ Procurement ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplantation

PURPOSE: We aimed to verify the current status of transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 1,341 men who underwent TURP in 9 Korean medical centers between 2004 and 2008 were reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups according to time periods: 2004-2005 (group 1) and 2006-2008 (group 2). To verify differences in the two patient groups, age, prostate volume, indications for TURP, preoperative International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), and resected tissue weight were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 71.2 years and the mean IPSS was 22.7. The patients' characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups. The annual cases of TURP increased over the study period. The proportion of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) as an indication for TURP increased up to 58.3% in group 2 compared with 51.6% in group 1 (p=0.019). However, the proportion of patients who presented with acute urinary retention decreased from 35.5% to 30.3% with marginal statistical significance (p=0.051). Other indications such as hematuria, bladder stone, recurrent urinary tract infection, and hydronephrosis were not significantly different between the groups. The mean resected weights of the prostate were similar (17.5 g in group 1 and 18.3 g in group 2, respectively; p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: TURP has been steadily performed in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and it is expected to remain constant. LUTS was the most common indication for TURP in recent years.
Hematuria ; Humans ; Hydronephrosis ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Male ; Medical Records ; Prostate ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Transurethral Resection of Prostate ; Urinary Bladder Calculi ; Urinary Retention ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Weights and Measures

Since beginning with the first organ transplantation from brain-dead donor in 1979, organ transplantation has been developing continuously in Korea. However, organ shortage still is a serious problem in the field of solid organ transplantation. For this reason, it is necessary to promote deceased donor organ transplantation and achieve self sufficiency. There are two system requirements managing deceased donor organ transplantation; operational and regulatory systems. In operational system, mutual and balanced cooperation between transplantation centers, organ procurement organism (OPO), registration/allocation system and NGOs is one of most important determinants to maximize brain dead donor. Especially, transplantation center and OPO need to improve in their organ donation process through evaluating donation practices and developing critical pathway for each step. In addition, public education program focusing on the hospital staff, the family of deceased donors and students should be enhanced to increase public awareness for organ donation. In regulatory system, national transplantation authority for the transplant coordination among various structures and policy-making on the issue of organ donation is necessary. For this purpose, Korean Network for Organ Sharing (KONOS) has to be improved into professional and authoritative body and establish more expanded national database network system. Further improvement in operational and regulatory systems to activate organ donation could enable to achieve the Asian leadership in the field of transplantation as well as self sufficiency for organ transplantation.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain Death ; Critical Pathways ; Humans ; Korea ; Organ Transplantation ; Tissue and Organ Procurement ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

PURPOSE: We determine the Korean antibody titer and positive rate of tetanus by using a with qualitative test (ELISA) and a quantitative test (TQS(R)). METHODS: This study was prospective collecting study with uncontolled patients who were admitted in 21 Emergency Departments during 3 months in South Korea. We measured TQS(R) and collected the serum with a centrifuge for 5 groups, which was classified with age: 2~10 years (I), 11~20 years (II), 21~30 years (III), 31~40 years (IV), 41~60 years (V), in each hospital. The freezed serum and the protocol with TQS(R) results were taken at the Soonchunhyang University Bucheon hospital to be analyzed. RESULTS: The number of enrolled patients was 1816 (male 58%). The positive rate of TQS(R) was 835 patients (46%), and there was no relation with region or sex. In sex and age, there was a definitive decline in the group III fort males and females. The results of ELISA was showed that 62.8% (> 0.15 IU/ml) and 52.2% (> 0.2 IU/ml) had protective levels of tetanus antibody. The proportion decreased to approximately 43% and 18% among persons 40~60 years of age at each level of antibody titers. By region and population, there was no statistical relationship with TQS(R) and ELISA, but previous military service was associated with a higher prevalence of protective antibodies to tetanus (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A substantial portion of adults in South Korea do not have antibody levels that are protective against tetanus. Also, the mean level of tetanus antibody titers was definitively lower than those of other developed conturies and consistently decreased with aging. Therefore, an adult formulation diphteria and tetanus toxoid every 5 or 10 years is recommended for all adults between 20 and 60 years of age after being tested with TQS(R) in South Korea.
Adult ; Aging ; Antibodies ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Military Personnel ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Tetanus ; Tetanus Toxoid