The CT digital radiography is a new accurate technique for measuring the long bone length. Authors performed acomparative study on accuracy, time and film consumption and radiation dose between conventional spot scanogramand CT scanogram. We used two femur and two tibia specimen for materials, the Somatom II(Siemens) for CTscanogram, and Rad Check(Voctoreen) for radiation dosimetery. There was no significant difference in accuracybetween direct measurement, conventional scanogram and CT scanogram(lesser than 1% difference). The examinationtime of conventional scanogram was about 35 minutes, CT was 15 minutes, and the film consumption of spot scanogramwas 3 of 14x17'' size, but the CT scanogram need only one 8x10'' film for completion of study. The radiation doseof hip, knee and ankle joint were 220 mRad, 365 mRad, respectively, in spot scanogram, but it was lesser than 5mRad in all joints in CT scanogram. The advantages of the CT scanogram are simple, rapid and reduced radiation.
Ankle Joint ; Femur ; Hip ; Joints ; Knee ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; Tibia

Embryonic stem cells can be differentiated into various types of cells, requiring a tight regulation of transcription. Biomarkers related to each lineage of cells are used to guide the differentiation into neural or any other fates. In previous experiments, we reported the guided differentiation (GD)-specific genes by comparing profiles of random differentiation (RD). Interestingly 68% of differentially expressed genes in GD overlap with that of RD, which makes it difficult for us to separate the lineages by examining several markers. In this paper, we design a prediction model to identify the differentiation into neural fates from any other lineage. From the profiles of 11,376 genes, 203 differentially expressed genes between neural and random differentiation were selected by random variance T-test with 95% confidence and 5% false discovery rate. Based on support vector machine algorithm, we could select 79 marker genes from the 203 informative genes to construct the optimal prediction model. Here we propose a prediction model for the prediction of neural fates from random differentiation which is constructed with a perfect accuracy.
Embryonic Stem Cells ; Stem Cells ; Support Vector Machine ; Biomarkers

Intussusception is rare in adult and usually caused by organic lesions, although there is a singnificant numbeof so-called idiopathic cases. The diagnosis of intussusception have been made by pali abdomen, barium enema andsmall bowel series. But recently ultrasound and CT make a contribution to diagnose intussusception. CT is not theprimary means for evaluation a gastrointestinal tract abnormality but also provides yaluable informations inevaluating disorders affecting the hollow viscera of the alimentary tract. CT image of intussusception demonstratea whirl like pattern of bowel loops separated by fatty stripe correlating to the intestinal walls. Abdominal ultrasonogram was used as the initial diagnostic test in 2 cases out of total 4 cases, with abdominal mass ofunknown cause. It revealed a typical pattern, composed of a round or oval mass with central dense echoes andperipheral poor echoes. We report 4 all cases of intussusception in adult who were performed by CT and/orultrasound. All cases were correlated with barium enema examination and/or surgical reports.
Abdomen ; Adult ; Barium ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Enema ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Intussusception ; Ultrasonography ; Viscera

No abstract available.
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Sarcoidosis* ; Thyroiditis, Autoimmune

Schwann cell, one of important components of peripheral nervous system, interact with neurons to mutually support the growth and replication of embryonal nerves and to maintain the different functions of adult nerves. The Ara-C, known as an antimitotic agent, have been used to have high effectiveness in eliminating fibroblasts during Schwann cell culture period. This enrichment effect is also known to be cummulative with each successive pulse of Ara-C applied and is due to a progressive loss of fibroblasts. But the cytotoxicity by Ara-C is also cummulative and noticeable over the period. To determine the most effective application time and interval of Ara-C in the Schwann cell culture, we observed the Schwann cell purity and density with the Ara-C treatment in plain and three-dimensional culture from dorsal root ganglion of new born rat. By culturing dispersed dorsal root ganglia, we can repeatedly generate homogenous Schwann cells, and cellular morphology and cell count with mean percentages were evaluated in the plain culture dishes and in the immunostainings of S-100 and GFAP in the three-dimensional culture. The Ara-C treated cultures showed a higher Schwann cell percentage (31.0%+/-8.09% in P4 group to 65.5%+/-24.08% in P2 group), compared with that obtained in the abscence of Ara-C (17.6%+/-6.03%) in the plain culture after 2 weeks. And in the three-dimensional culture, S-100 positive cells increased to 56.22%+/-0.67% and GFAP positive cells to 66.46%+/-1.83% in G2 group (p<0.05), higher yield than other groups with Ara-C application. Therefore, we concluded that the Ara-C treatment is effective for the proliferation of Schwann cells contrast to the fibroblasts in vitro culture, and the first application after 24 hours from cell harvesting and subsequent 2 pulse treatment (P2 group in plain culture and G2 group in three-dimensional culture) was more effective than other application protocols.
Adult ; Animals ; Cell Count ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cytarabine* ; Fibroblasts ; Ganglia, Spinal* ; Humans ; Neurons ; Peripheral Nervous System ; Rats* ; Schwann Cells ; Spinal Nerve Roots*

A 71-year-old male patient was readmitted to our hospital 1 month after discharge because of relapse of abdominal pain. He had been diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) 1 year prior and had undergone repeated transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and radiotherapy. During the last hospitalization, he was diagnosed with a liver abscess complicated by previous treatments for HCC and was treated with intravenous antibiotics and abscess aspiration. Follow-up abdominal computed tomography revealed a liver abscess with a duodenal fistula, which was successfully treated with endoscopic Histoacryl injection into the fistula. Liver abscesses with duodenal fistulas rarely occur, but they are intractable and possibly fatal in patients with HCC. In the literature, they have frequently been managed only with abscess treatment without fistula management. We herein report the first case of a patient with a liver abscess complicated by a fistula between the duodenum and the abscess, which was treated with endoscopic Histoacryl injection.
Abscess/*complications ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/radiotherapy ; Chemoembolization, Therapeutic/*adverse effects ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Duodenal Diseases/*etiology/therapy ; Enbucrilate/*administration & dosage ; Humans ; Intestinal Fistula/*etiology/therapy ; Liver Diseases/*etiology/therapy ; Male ; Radiotherapy/adverse effects

OBJECTIVES: The most important therapeutic strategy in acute myocardial infarction(AMI) is early recanalization of infarct-related artery(IRA). In Korea the commonly used method for recanalization is urokinase infusion in early phase of disease. But total dosage and method of urokinase infusion are still arbitary. Thus this study was undertaken to evaluate the patency rate of infarct-related artery by urokinase in AMI patients. METHODS: 42 acute myocardial infarction patients were treated with intravenous urokinase(40.000U/kg in 32 patients, 3,00,000U in 10 patients). IRA patency was evaluated with coronary angiography at 90 minutes and 7-10 days after intravenous urokinase. The clinical findings and coronary angiographic findings according to dose of urokinase or pain to time for urokinase injection were analysed prospectively. RESULTS: Mean pain to Door time was 251 minutes and door to urokinase time was 74 minutes. Early patiency of IRA was 61.8%(21/42) and no difference was observed between the dosage of intravenous urokinase. In open IRA group(21 patients) the reocclusion was not observed at 7-10 days later. The ejection fraction on admission was similiar in patent or non-patent IRA group, but follow up ejection fraction was significantly lower in closed IRA group than open IRA group(P=0.0185). Life- threatened bleeding complications were developed in 2 cases(4.8%, I intracranial hemorrhage, 1 gastrointestinal bleeding). CONCLUSION: IRA patency was achieved in 61.8% of acute myocardial infarction by intravenous urokinase as evaluated by coronary angiography. The patency of IRA at 90 minutes was important in preserving the global left ventricular function in early recovery phase of acute myocardial infarction. But large, prospective study may be needed to determine optimal and effective intravenous urokinase dosage in acute myocardial infarction.
Arteries ; Coronary Angiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Korea ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Prospective Studies ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator* ; Ventricular Function, Left

PURPOSE: We wanted to evaluate the value of intravenous contrast enhanced abdomen-pelvis computed tomography (CT) for diagnosing acute appendicitis and we wanted to determine which patients groups will benefit from preoperative CT. METHODS: Between January and June 2006, the medical records of 354 patients who had clinically suspected acute appendicitis were retrospectively reviewed. Appendectomy was performed in 260 patients and CT was conducted in 108 patients of the 260 patients. The 5mm slice CT scans were evaluated for the presence of appendicitis. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CT were calculated. The negative appendectomy rate (NAR) was compared between the patients with CT scans and those without CT scans. Furthermore, the patients were classified into the children and adults groups and the male and female groups and the differences of the NARs were analyzed for each group. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 95%, 93% and 94%, respectively. The NAR was lower for the patients with a CT scan (12%) compared to 27% for those patients without CT scans (P=0.002). The difference of the NAR between the preoperative CT group and the without CT group was statistically significant for the female (P=0.004) and adult groups (P=0.012) (14% vs 36%, 11% vs 26%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Preoperative intravenous contrast enhanced abdomen-pelvis CT was effective in reducing the negative appendectomy rate in patients who were suspected of having acute appendicitis. Especially, the adults and women benefit more from CT scanning and they had a significantly lower negative appendectomy rate than the children and men, respectively.
Adult ; Appendectomy ; Appendicitis ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is an unusual inflammatory disease of the gallbladder characterized by severe proliferative fibrosis and the accumulation of lipid-laden macrophages in areas of destructive inflammation. Its macroscopic appearance may occasionally be confused with gallbladder carcinoma. We present a case of perforated xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis presenting as biloma. An 80-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with a 1-week history of abdominal pain and febrile sensation. Abdominal CT showed a biloma in the subhepatic area. The follow-up CT showed that the biloma increased in size. Therefore, ultrasonography-guided aspiration was performed. The aspirated fluid/serum bilirubin ratio was greater than 5, which was strongly suggestive of bile leakage complicated by perforated cholecystitis. She underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy with cyst aspiration and adhesiolysis. A histological diagnosis of perforated xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis was made.
Aged, 80 and over ; Bilirubin/blood ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystitis/*diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography ; Drainage ; Female ; Gallbladder Neoplasms/diagnosis ; Granuloma/*diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Xanthomatosis/*diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate prognostic factors for survival from first relapse (SFFR) in stage I-III breast cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From June 1994 to June 2008, 3,835 patients were treated with surgery plus postoperative radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy for stage I-III breast cancer at Samsung Medical Center. Among them, a total of 224 patients died by June 2009, and 175 deaths were of breast cancer. Retrospective review was performed on medical records of 165 patients who met the inclusion criteria of this study. Univariate and multivariate analysis were done on survivals according to variables, such as age, stage, hormone status of tumor, disease-free interval (DFI), sites of first failure, number of organs involved by recurrent disease (NOR), application of salvage treatments, and existence of brain or liver metastasis (visceral metastasis). RESULTS: Patients' median overall survival time was 38 months (range, 8 to 123 months). Median SFFR was 17 months (range, 5 to 87 months). Ninety percent of deaths occurred within 40 months after first recurrence. The patients with SFFR < or =1 year had tendency of triple-negativity, shorter DFI (< or =2 years), larger NOR (>3), visceral metastasis for first relapse than the patients with SFFR >1 year. In multivariate analysis, longer DFI (>2 vs. < or =2 years), absence of visceral metastasis, and application of salvage treatments were statistically significant prognosticators for longer SFFR. CONCLUSION: The DFI, application of salvage treatments, and visceral metastasis were significant prognostic factors for SFFR in breast cancer patients.
Brain ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Humans ; Liver ; Medical Records ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence* ; Retrospective Studies