No abstract available.

A case of a third ventricular epidermoid is presented, which was diagnosed by conray ventriculography and computerized tomography. The tumor was subtotally removed through a low parieto-occipital approach and ventriculo-peritoneal shunt was performed. The epidermoid of the third ventricle is extremely rare and only a few cases have been reported in the literatures. It's incidence, preoperative diagnosis, surgical technique and complications are briefly reviewed.
Diagnosis ; Incidence ; Third Ventricle* ; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt

Brain abscess is a rare, extremely aggressive, life-threatening infection. It may occur following : infection of contiguous structure, hematogenous spread, or cranial trauma/ surgery. Dental pathology and/or treatment have been linked to a small number of brain abscesses as possible source of infection. 50-year-old male patient was presented with a brain abscess caused by Streptococcus viridans. In the case presented, the significant oral findings were chronic periapical and periodontal infection due to root remnant of lower right 3rd molar. A case history and brief literature review of brain abscess related odontogenic infection was presented after successful treatment with antibiotics and craniotomy.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Brain Abscess* ; Brain* ; Craniotomy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molar ; Pathology ; Viridans Streptococci

Brain abscess is a rare, extremely aggressive, life-threatening infection. It may occur following : infection of contiguous structure, hematogenous spread, or cranial trauma/ surgery. Dental pathology and/or treatment have been linked to a small number of brain abscesses as possible source of infection. 50-year-old male patient was presented with a brain abscess caused by Streptococcus viridans. In the case presented, the significant oral findings were chronic periapical and periodontal infection due to root remnant of lower right 3rd molar. A case history and brief literature review of brain abscess related odontogenic infection was presented after successful treatment with antibiotics and craniotomy.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Brain Abscess* ; Brain* ; Craniotomy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molar ; Pathology ; Viridans Streptococci

Acute embolic occlusion of the common iliac artery is a rare medical emergency that is not only limbthreatening, but also potentially life-threatening. Several treatment options exist for acute limb ischemia, although no treatment is clearly best. We report a case of acute embolic occlusion of the left common iliac artery in a patient with atrial fibrillation who was treated successfully using mechanical thrombectomy following intra-arterial thrombolysis.
Acute Disease ; Arterial Occlusive Diseases/radiography/*therapy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Embolism/radiography/*therapy ; Female ; Fibrinolytic Agents/*administration & dosage ; Humans ; *Iliac Artery/radiography ; Middle Aged ; *Thrombectomy ; *Thrombolytic Therapy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator/*administration & dosage

Tuberculosis is a systemic disease with a world-wide distribution, and its occurance in the oral cavity is well documented in the literature. Disease of oral cavity and jaw caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is very rare, so it is often difficult to diagnose tuberculosis in the oral cavity. When granulomatous and ulcerative lesion persists in the oral cavity for a long time, it may be considered a tuberculosis. When differential diagnosis is needed, the most reliable indicators of mycobacterial infection are careful clinical evaluation, skin test, acid-fast staining, biopsy and culture. We report a case of tuberculous osteomyelitis which simultaneously occurred on the maxilla and mandible in a 85 years old man that proved diagnosis difficult, but which responded very well to surgical treatment and chemotherapy.
Aged, 80 and over ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Jaw ; Mandible* ; Maxilla* ; Mouth ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Osteomyelitis* ; Skin Tests ; Tuberculosis ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cilostazol is an anti-platelet and arterial vasodilating drug that inhibits phosphodiesterase type III, an enzyme that breaks down cyclic AMP in platelets, vascular smooth muscle cells, cardiac myocytes and adipocytes. Several animal and human studies have shown that cilostazol has the potential to reduce restenosis after coronary angioplasty, but the precise mechanism by which the inhibition of vascular smooth muscle cell growth occurs from an increase in cyclic AMP is not yet clear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated the effects of cilostazol on cell proliferation and expression of iNOS and p21 by western blotting with the cultured aortic vascular smooth muscle cells stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor BB. RESULTS: In comparison to the control, treatment with cilostazol significantly inhibited (p<0.05) the increase in cell number. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and p21 expression increased with cilostazol treatment, and these effects of cilostazol were eliminated by simultaneous incubation with the NOS inhibitor, L-NAME. These results indicate that cilostazol increases p21 expression at least partially through an iNOS-dependent pathway in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells stimulated with PDGF-BB. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that cilostazol has a direct inhibitory effect on abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells accompanied by the induction of iNOS-dependent p21 expression, and cilostazol may have potential to prevent restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention by this mechanism.
Adipocytes ; Angioplasty ; Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Count ; Cell Proliferation ; Cyclic AMP ; Humans ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular* ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor

BACKGROUND: Vascular lesions are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in hypertensive patients. However, the pathologic characteristics of gradually evolving, chronic hypertension have not been adequately studied and the mechanism by which hypertension accelerates atherosclerosis is still uncertain. This study was undertaken to invertigate the ultrastructural changes of the aorta and the effect of high cholesterol diet in spontaneously hypertensive rats(SHR). METHODS: Spontaneously hypertensive rats (n=80, male, 5 weeks old) and Wistar rats (n=40, male, 5 week old) were used. Forty SHR were fed with 2% cholestrol diete, while the remainder with control diet. Systolic blood pressure was measured weekly until 16 weeks after birth, and then biweekly until 40 weeks after birth. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy were used to evaluate ultrastrucural changes of the aorta. RESULTS: 1) The blood pressure of SHR rose stedily and progressively from the 5 weeks after birth and reached nearly 190mmHG at the 16 weeks after birth. 2) In SHR, the subendothelial component contained finely granular substances, abundant fibrillar collagen and elastin. Infiltration of the mononuclear blood leukocytes into the intima was frequently seen. 3) Endothelium from cholestrol-fed SHR did exhibit numerous pinocytotic vesicles and contained many cytoplasmic filaments. There were a number of large mononuclear lipid-filled cells in the intimal lesions. Blistering of the endothelial plasma membrane was also observed in high cholesterol diet-fed SHR. Later on, adhesion of platelets, febrin, and white blood cells as well as damage of intima shown as multiple small holes were more marked. 4) There was no significant difference in systoloic blood pressure between high cholesterol diet-fed and control diet-fed SHR. CONCLUSION: In the aorta of SHR, the most prominent change was an expansion of the subendothelial space and infiltration of the mononuclear leukocytes into the intima. The present study showed that the SHR was indeed a reliable model for the essential hypertension. In some SHR, high cholesterol diet could induce more pronounced vascular lesions, which were enhanced by hypertension.
Aorta* ; Atherosclerosis ; Blister ; Blood Pressure ; Cell Membrane ; Cholesterol* ; Cytoskeleton ; Diet* ; Elastin ; Endothelium ; Fibrillar Collagens ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Leukocytes ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Mortality ; Parturition ; Rats, Inbred SHR* ; Rats, Wistar

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The responses of lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] to lipid-lowering drugs are different from those of other lipids and lipoproteins. Most reports on the effect of fibrate on the Lp (a) level have only a few cases, with inconsistent results. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of fibrate on the Lp (a) level in hypertriglyceridemic patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with either a triglyceride (TG) level over 300mg/dL or TG level over 200mg/dL and a high density lipoprotein cholesterol level below 40mg/dL, were enrolled. They were treated with either fibrate (Fibrate group, n=29) or general measures (Control group, n=29). Gender and age matched patients with hypercholeste-rolemia were adopted and treated with statin (Statin group, n=29). The lipid and lipoprotein levels were measured before and after the medication for 2 months. RESULTS: The baseline Lp (a) levels were similar between the Fibrate and Control groups (p=0.19). Fibrate therapy increased the Lp (a) level from 10.3+/-16.4 to 15.1+/-15.2 mg/dL (p=0.003), but there were no changes in the Lp (a) levels in the Statin and Control groups. Before the treatment, the Lp (a) levels were negatively associated with the TG levels (r=-0.36, p=0.001). The relationship became weaker and insignificant after the medication. The more the TG level was decreased, the more the Lp (a) level was increased in all of the cases (r=-0.35, p=0.001 ) as well as in the Fibrate group (r=-0.46, p=0.013). CONCLUSION: Fibrate increased the Lp (a) level, and this elevation was associated with the reduction in the TG level. This finding might be related with a lesser cardioprotective effect of fibrate than that of statin in addition to the effect on the cholesterol level.
Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Gemfibrozil ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors ; Lipoprotein(a)* ; Lipoproteins ; Triglycerides

A 54-year-old man was transferred with sigmoid colon cancer combined with multiple bilobar liver metastases. Nine metastases were in the left lobe and 5 metastases were in the right lobe. After low anterior resection, all 9 lesions in the left lobe were completely removed by wedge resections. Because the remnant liver volume after multiple wedge resection of the left lobe was not sufficient to perform a right hepatectomy simultaneously, we planned a two-stage hepatectomy. Right portal vein embolization was performed one week after the first liver operation. A right hepatectomy was safely performed 22 days after the first hepatectomy. A recurrent mass developed in the segment III 18 months after the right hepatectomy. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) was performed to remove that lesion. Five other metastases developed 18 months after RFA whereby multiple wedge resections were performed. The patient has survived for more than 7 years after the first liver operation.
Colon ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Portal Vein ; Sigmoid Neoplasms