Takayasu's arteritis is an arteritis of undetermined etiology, which affects the aorta, proximal portion of its major branches, and causes narrowing, occlusion, or aneurismal dilatation of vessel. Authors report 2 cases of Takayasu's arteritis with brief review of the literature.
Aorta ; Arteritis ; Dilatation ; Takayasu Arteritis*

No abstract available.
Leiomyoma*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Adult* ; Humans ; Neural Conduction*

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary tuberculosis(TB) is still prevalent and remains a significant clinical problem for the elderly. However, the disease presents in many ways, and there are frequent adverse drug reactions that may prevent the early diagnosis and treatment of elderly TB patients compared to the young. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there are any differences in the clinical feature of pulmonary tuberculosis(TB) in both the diagnosis and treatment between the young (less than 64 years) and the elderly (65 years and more). METHODS: The medical records of 125 young and 70 elderly pulmonary TB patients, who were diagnosed with and treated for pulmonary TB at the Seoul Municipal Boramae Hospital from November 1991 to January 1997, were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Anorexia(12% vs. 31.4%), general weakness (20.0% vs. 54.3%), dyspnea(21.6% vs. 37.1%) and an abnormal mentality (0.8% vs. 15.7%) were more frequent presenting symptoms in elderly TB patients, whereas hemoptysis (32.8% vs. 10.0%) and fever (BT>37℃ 58.4% vs. 35.7%) were more frequent in the young. The elderly had a higher number of cardiovascular and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases as underlying illnesses. In chest PA, there were no differences in the location of the TB lesion, but the appearances were initially diagnosed more frequently as pneumonia or lung cancer (8.8% vs. 30.0%, p<0.05) in the elderly. There was no difference in the detection rate of acid fast bacilli(AFB) in the sputum between the two groups. There were no differences in the treatment response and follow-up loss. However, adverse drug reactions (13.6% vs. 45.7%, p<0.05), and changes in medication (4.9% vs. 25.7%, p<0.05) during treatment occurred more frequently in the elderly. One among the 125 young patients died from tuberculosis whereas 6 among the 70 elderly patients died from the disease. CONCLUSION: Because the clinical and radiological presentations were more atypical, a sputum AFB smear and culture should be done immediately in the elderly who are TB. The elderly experienced more frequent adverse drug reactions and mortality during treatment, but the response to treatment was good and rapid.
Aged* ; Diagnosis ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Early Diagnosis ; Fever ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Lung Diseases, Obstructive ; Lung Neoplasms ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Pneumonia ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

BACKGROUND: Conventional thoracoscopic thoracic sympathectomy or sympathicotomy is an effective method in treating localized hyperhidrosis; however, this may result in a postoperatively embarrassing compensatory hyperhidrosis or facial anhidrosis in the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis. We modified the conventional sympathicotomy by limiting the extent of nerve transection. The purpose of this study was to assess the result of the limited thoracoscopic sympathetic nerve transection in hyperhidrosis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: From May to August 1998, 17 patients underwent limited transection of the sympathetic nerve. For 9 patients with facial hyperhidrosis, we transected only the interganglionic fiber between the first and the second ganglion, whereas the conventional method cuts two interganglionic fibers. Eight patients with palmar hyperhidrosis underwent limited transection of the interganglionic fiber between the second and third ganglion. RESULT: Sixteen patients had improved symptom postoperatively. There was a recurred facial sweating in 1 patient 1 month after the operation. Among the 9 facial hyperhidrosis patients, postoperative compensatory hyperhidrosis was severe in 4, moderate in 4 and minimal in 1. But in 8 cases of palmar hyperhidrosis compensatory hyperhidrosis was moderate in 3, and minimal in 1, none in 4. Facial sweating was not disturbed postoperatively in all of the palmar hyperhidrosis patients. CONCLUSION: Limited sympathetic nerve transection is a practical and less invasive method for the treatment of localized hyperhidrosis and may reduce the incidence of compensatory truncal hyperhidrosis and facial anhidrosis in case of palmar hyperhidrosis.
Ganglion Cysts ; Humans ; Hyperhidrosis* ; Hypohidrosis ; Incidence ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Sympathectomy

Malignant lymphoma of the bladder is a rare lesion, representing approximately 0.2% of the primary lesions and approximately 1.8% of the secondary lesions. A disseminated lymphoma presenting as a bladder mass is an infrequent phenomenon. The authors report the case of a 71-year-old patient with concurrent bladder lymphoma and bladder cancer presenting as metastatic bladder cancer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of concurrent bladder lymphoma and bladder cancer.
Aged ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms

No abstract available.
Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Mortality*

OBJECTIVE: To examine if amniotic fluid (AF) monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) concentrations are useful in the identification of intrauterine infection and pregnancy outcomes in preterm labor with intact membranes. METHODS: The study population consists of 65 patients who received amniocentesis for preterm labor with intact membranes. Amniotic fluid was cultured for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, as well as mycoplasmas. MCP-1 was determined by a sensitive and specific immunoassay. Fisher's exact test, Mann-Whitney U test, receiver operating characteristic curve, survival techniques, logistic regression, and Spearman correlation were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: (1) Patients with a positive amniotic fluid culture had a significantly higher median AF MCP-1 concentration than those with negative results (median, 9.0 ng/mL; range, 0.45-40.5 ng/mL; vs median, 0.82 ng/mL; range, 0.06-30.1 ng/mL; P<.01). (2) Patients with AF MCP-1 concentration of >1.9 ng/mL had a significantly shorter median interval to delivery, the higher rate of histologic chorioamnionitis, preterm delivery within 2 and 5 days, and the occurrence of congenital proven or suspected sepsis than did those with AF MCP-1 concentration of <1.9 ng/mL after adjustment for gestational age (P<.05). (3) There was strong correlation between AF MCP-1 concentrations and AF interleukin-6 concentrations (r=.881, P<.001). CONCLUSION: AF MCP-1 determinations are useful in the identification of intrauterine infection, preterm delivery, and neonatal infectious complication in preterm labor with intact membranes.
Amniocentesis ; Amniotic Fluid* ; Bacteria, Anaerobic ; Chemokine CCL2* ; Chorioamnionitis ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; Interleukin-6 ; Logistic Models ; Membranes ; Monocytes* ; Mycoplasma ; Obstetric Labor, Premature* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; ROC Curve ; Sepsis

INTRODUCTION: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is now considered as an alternative treatment option for severe aortic stenosis (AS) patients who cannot undergo surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR). CASE REPORT: We describe the first Korean case of transaortic TAVI with mini-sternotomy using CoreValve. A 83-year-old woman with severe AS and recent history of non-ST elevation myocardial infarction was referred to our institution for TAVI intervention. There was no amenable peripheral vascular access for transfemoral or trans-subclavian approach. Considering the relatively high procedural risk of transapical approach in this patient, we performed transaortic TAVI with mini-sternotomy. CONCLUSION: The present case suggests transaortic approach may be an effective and safe strategy for TAVI in high risk severe AS patients without eligible femoral or subclavian access routes.
Aged, 80 and over ; Aortic Valve Stenosis ; Aortic Valve* ; Female ; Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Vascular Access Devices