No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Kidney Transplantation*

The Ventriculo-peritoneal(VP) shunt is effective and easy method for the treatment of hydrocephalus. But it has a high complication rate including malfunction and infection. This study seeks to find out how to reduce reoperation and complication rates of previously VP shunt-treated patients by analyzing risk factors, complication, and the relstionship with the time course. The authors reviewed 714 cases with VP shunt performed from 1986 to 1994. The risk factors of VP shunt related complications were insufficient surgical skill, younger age group, and some causes of hydrocephalus which were meningitis, neurocysticercosis, and congenital orgin. The complications including shunt malfunction were most frequent within 1 month after the initial VP shunt and were most common at the proximal site of the shunt system.
Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Meningitis ; Neurocysticercosis ; Reoperation ; Risk Factors ; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt*

No abstract available.
Adrenocortical Adenoma* ; Lipomatosis* ; Paraplegia*

The authors performed three consecutive cases of stereotaxic radiofrequency hypophy-sectomies for patients with disseminated cancer from breast or prostate at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University. The procedures were essentially the same, in large part, as the technique first introduced by Zervas. The authors modified the-original technique to reduce the known risks of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea and meningitis. Surgical details and clinical cases are presented.
Breast Neoplasms/surgery* ; Female ; Human ; Hypophysectomy/methods* ; Male ; Middle Age ; Prostatic Neoplasms/surgery* ; Radio Waves/therapeutic use* ; Stereotaxic Techniques*

BACKGROUND: For the treatment of Parkinson's disease, dopamine-producing cells or genes involved in producing dopamine or supporting neurons have been tested to replace conventional chemical therapies. Of these, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was the most widely used gene for the therapy. Trials using TH via various vectors yielded behavioral improvements in animal models but the effectiveness did not last long enough. As one of the approaches for solving this problem, the regulation of expression of the protein and mRNA of TH was studied. METHODS: Two approaches for a higher and/or more stable expression of TH were pursued. First, the effect of cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) on the expression level of TH and second, the effect of deletion which enables TH protein to escape from protease attack, were examined. RESULTS: Cells producing BH4 showed an approximately 10-fold higher TH expression than cells expressing TH alone. When the in vitro modified TH was expressed in NIH-3T3, mutant THs showed elevated protein (17.5 ~68.6 fold) and mRNA (1.8 ~4.6 fold) expression levels at a steady state. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that an addition of BH4 has a more positive effect on mRNA expression levels than protein. However, the deletions seem to have a tremen-dous effect on the translation and/or protein stability, but a small effect on the mRNA level. (J Korean Neurol Assoc 19(5):514~519, 2001)
Dopamine ; Models, Animal ; Neurons ; Parkinson Disease ; Phosphorylation ; Protein Stability ; RNA, Messenger ; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase* ; Tyrosine* ; United Nations

Although moderate amounts of pneumocephalus can be easily identified on routine skull films, very small amounts of air can be easily diagnosed and its location correctly assessed only by computerized tomography. The identification of even a small air collection should alert the clinician to the likelihood of a basilar skull fracture and its potentially serious sequelae such as tension pneumocephalus or meningitis. Authors report and summarize 11 cases of traumatic peumocephalus diagnosed with CT scan.
Meningitis ; Pneumocephalus* ; Skull ; Skull Fracture, Basilar ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) for preoperative tumor staging in cases of colorectal cancer. METHODS: Between July 2006 and September 2007, seventy-six patients with a diagnosis of colorectal cancer (43 males and 33 females; mean age: 60.4+/-10.13 years; range: 34~82 years) selected prospectively were studied for staging by using Chest X-ray, abdominal CT and PET-CT. RESULTS: The sensitivities and the specificities for N-staging were 76.9% and 35.1% for CT, 61.8% and 66.7% for PET-CT, and both procedures showed a relatively low diagnostic accuracy (CT 57.9%, PET-CT 61.8%). In the PET-CT alone, six distant metastatic lesions and four multiple primary malignancies were found. The locations of the distant metastases were the liver, the axillary node, the common iliac node, the subclavicular node, the peritoneum, and the lung. The locations of the multiple primary maligancies in extracolonic sites were 3 in the thyroid and 1 in the nasopharynx. CONCLUSIONS: For N-staging, preoperative PET-CT is no more useful than CT, but PET-CT is required before surgery to find lesions that cannot be found with conventional studies.
Colorectal Neoplasms ; Electrons ; Humans ; Liver ; Lung ; Male ; Nasopharynx ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Peritoneum ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Prospective Studies ; Thorax ; Thyroid Gland

The meningioma constitutes the large proportion of the intracranial tumor, but extracranial involvement of meningioma is known to be very rare. The authors experienced a case of meningioma involving the right frontal and ethmoidal sinus, which did not present any clinical or radiological evidences of intracranial involvement.
Meningioma*

The present study involves 30 craniopharyngioma patients who were admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, Yonsei Medical college from April, 1965 to December, 1978. All 30 patients received surgery, the results of which were analyzed and evaluated as follows. 1. They consisted of 22 male and 8 female patients. Sixty percent of all patients were under 20 years of age. 2. Chief complaints were as follows:headache(80.0%), decreased visual acuity(80.0%), visual field cut(46.3%), nausea and vomiting(40.3%), papilledema(40.0%), optic atrophy(33.3%), diabetes insipidus(27.0%), and mental disturbance(27.0%). 3. They were diagnosed mainly by cerebral angiography until 1977, at times combined with pneumoencephalography, isotope brain scan, and Conray ventriculography. Since 1978 using the CT brain scan we have been able to reduce risk during and after neuroradiological study, and accurately determine location, size, shape and invasiveness of the tumor. 4. Surgical procedures were performed in 32 cases of craniopharyngioma using several approaches;transfrotal approaches;transfrontal approach:29 cases, transsphenoidal approach:2 cases, and sterotaxic cyst puncture:1 cases. In 8 cases(27.0%) total resection of the tumor was performed, subtotal resection in 23 cases(71.9%), and aspiration of the cyst in one case(3.1%). 5. In the above 32 surgeries, 24 cases(75.0%) of craniopharyngioma were performed by microsurgery, 8 cases involved total resection and 16 cases subtotal removal. As a result of microsurgery, it was possible to remove the tumor from the surrounding structures with less damage. 6. To manage hydrocephalus during the operation, extraventricular drainage was applied in 8 cases(27%) and in 7 cases(23.3%) ventriculoatrial or ventriculoperitoneal shunts were employed pre-or postoperatively. 7. Postsurgical radiation therapy was given to 8 patients in the dosage of 5000-7000 rad during 6 to 8 week period following surgery.
Brain ; Cerebral Angiography ; Craniopharyngioma* ; Drainage ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Male ; Microsurgery ; Nausea ; Neurosurgery ; Pneumoencephalography ; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt ; Visual Fields