Complications of penile prosthesis include malfunction, infection and patient dissatisfaction. Herein, a rare complication of a retained reservoir having eroded into the bladder after the removal of the penile components of a three-piece penile prosthesis, is reported. A 39-year-old man complained of irritative voiding symptoms. The symptoms had developed 4 years after the removal of the penile components of the prosthesis. The erosion of the reservoir into the bladder was discovered incidentally during the treatment of bladder calculi. The reservoir was removed by an open vesicolithotomy.
Adult ; Calculi ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 ; Humans ; Penile Prosthesis* ; Prostheses and Implants ; Urinary Bladder Calculi* ; Urinary Bladder*

Prader-Willi(PW)syndrome is characterized by obesity, hypotonia, mental retardation, hypogonadism, short stature, excessive eating and characteristic facial appearance. Diabetes mellitus has been considered a component of PW syndrome. Recently this syndrome is caused by the absence of paternally derived genes normally located on chromosome segment 15 q11-q13 or may be the result of maternal uniparental disomy with the absence of paternally derived 15 q11-q13 region. The developement of probes containing segments of DNA from chromosome region 15 q11-q13 provides the oppotunity to confirm the diagnosis of PW syndrome by fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH). We experienced a 15-year-old boy of PW syndrome with diabetes mellitus, who revealed mental retardation, hypogonadism, obesity and microdeletion of chromosome 15 q11-q13 comfirmed by FISH.
Adolescent ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 15* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; Eating ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Hypogonadism ; Intellectual Disability ; Male ; Muscle Hypotonia ; Obesity ; Prader-Willi Syndrome* ; Uniparental Disomy

The formation of cysts in the parameatal area has been reported as rare. A parameatal urethral cyst is a congenital anomaly and has been reported even more rarely in adults. In this study, we present two cases of parameatal urethral cyst and aim to investigate their causes and treatment methods. The extent of cyst spread was assessed using a urethroscope prior to cyst excision, and the excision range was determined accordingly. Complete excision of the cyst was performed as the treatment for parameatal urethral cyst. Both patients were adults who presented with urinary symptoms related to the cyst, necessitating the excision of the congenital parameatal urethral cyst.

The piercing is increasing in western culture, and has also become gradually popular among Korean teenagers recently However, the accident happens sometimes such as loss of a bar into the tongue or mouth floor during the procedure. Because of the rare cases, few treatment of choices can be made when a bar is lost inside the mouth floor. In this case, the bar was removed under fluoroscope, without giving significant damage to the adjacent structure. 18 years old female patient visited the emergency room in our hospital. She attempted to pierce her tongue herself and could not find the bar which was lost in the mouth floor. The radiographs revealed that the needle was somewhere inside the mouth floor, but if incision were to be made it would be too deep to find the bar. The bar was reomoved through fluoroscope easily. Primary closure was done by 5-0 Vicryl and stitch-off was done 1 week later. The patient didn't have any speech problems and complications.
Adolescent ; Emergencies ; Female ; Fluoroscopy ; Humans ; Mouth ; Mouth Floor ; Needles ; Polyglactin 910 ; Tongue

The piercing is increasing in western culture, and has also become gradually popular among Korean teenagers recently However, the accident happens sometimes such as loss of a bar into the tongue or mouth floor during the procedure. Because of the rare cases, few treatment of choices can be made when a bar is lost inside the mouth floor. In this case, the bar was removed under fluoroscope, without giving significant damage to the adjacent structure. 18 years old female patient visited the emergency room in our hospital. She attempted to pierce her tongue herself and could not find the bar which was lost in the mouth floor. The radiographs revealed that the needle was somewhere inside the mouth floor, but if incision were to be made it would be too deep to find the bar. The bar was reomoved through fluoroscope easily. Primary closure was done by 5-0 Vicryl and stitch-off was done 1 week later. The patient didn't have any speech problems and complications.
Adolescent ; Emergencies ; Female ; Fluoroscopy ; Humans ; Mouth ; Mouth Floor ; Needles ; Polyglactin 910 ; Tongue

PURPOSE: To evaluate the incidence, time of detection, classification, and risk factors of thyroid dysfunction in neonates at a neonatal intensive care unit. METHODS: This is a retrospective study reviewing medical records of 67 infants (including 40 very low birth weight infants, VLBW), who were admitted for more than 1 month at Chungbuk National University Hospital from July 2006 to June 2009. Initial screening and repeat thyroid function tests were performed before and after two weeks of age. RESULTS: 1) In the thyroid dysfunctional group (42/67, 62.7% including 30 VLBW), only 9 infants (including 8 VLBW) were abnormal at screening. Among 57 infants with normal screening, 33 infants (57.9%, including 22 VLBW) changed to abnormal at follow-up. The detection times at the repeat test were 2-4 weeks of age (WA) (n = 15), 4-6 WA (n = 15), and 6-8 WA (n = 3). 2) The types of dysfunction were primary hypothyroidism (PH) with marked TSH rise (n = 7), mild PH (n = 3), hyperthyrotropinemia (n = 11), hypothyroxinemia (n = 7), and non-thyroidal illness (n = 14). 3) Compared to the normal group (n = 25), the dysfunctional group (n = 42) had lower birth weight, shorter gestational age, and more morbidity of respiratory distress syndrome (P < 0.05). 4) Thyroxine was prescribed in 15cases (35.7%) in the dysfunctional group except non-thyroidal illness. CONCLUSION: Thyroid dysfunction was common in the intensively cared neonates, especially in VLBW, and many cases were detected at the repeat test. The thyroid function test should therefore be repeated at least from 2 WA to 8 WA, and a proper management plan established by investigate the characteristics and long-term prognosis of these neonates.
Infant ; Male ; Female ; Infant, Newborn ; Humans ; Incidence ; Risk Factors

The authors present a series of 35 patients who underwent operation for metastatic spinal tumor. Patients were operated via anterior, posterior or posterolateral and combined anterior-posterior approach. The anterior approach was used in cases where there was no involvement of the posterior column, tolerable of a thoracotomy and involvement of three or less adjacent vertebral bodies. The posterior or posterolateral approach was used in cases with involvement of the posterior column, disease at two seperated locations, intolerable of a thoracotomy and involvement of three columns. The combined anterior-posterior approach was used when it was not enough to obtain stabilization with anterior or posterior approach alone and expected greater than 1 year life expectancy. Twenty-five(89%) of the 28 patients improved neurologically following surgery. Average neurologic improvement was 1.3 Frankel grade. Pain relief was obtained in twenty-six(93%) of the 28 patients. Recovery of spincter change was obtained twelve(80%) of the 15 patients. Two patients died postoperatively due to DIC and pneumonia. Prior to operation, selective spinal angiography and embolization were performed in nine patients with metastases from renal carcinoma, thyroid cancer and hepatoma to reduce intraoperative bleeding. The authors believe that the choice of surgical approach has to be individualized for each patient depending on extent and location of the tumor, general condition of patient, goal of therapy and life expectancy.
Angiography ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Dacarbazine ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Life Expectancy ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pneumonia ; Thoracotomy ; Thyroid Neoplasms

The authors present a series of 12 patients who underwent one-stage spondylectomy, vertebral reconstruction, posterior segmental stabilization for malignant metastatic disease. Major indication for this approach includes three column involvement or untolerable thoracotomy. This operative method involved the spondylectomy via a bilateral transpedicular or unilateral extracavitary approach, vertebral body reconstruction with methlymethacrylate (MMA), and posterior stabilization with sublaminar wiring in one stage. Postoperatively, all patients improved neurologically. Average neurologic improvement was 1.5 Frankel grade. Pain relief was obtained in all patients. Recovery of sphincter change was obtained 7(88%) of the 8 patients. One patient died postoperatively due to pneumonia. Spinal alignment was maintained in all. The major advantage of this approach is that circumferential decompression of the spine and stabilization can be obtained safely by one stage.
Decompression ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Pneumonia ; Spine ; Thoracotomy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the quantitative evaluation of the corticospinal tract (CST) at the multiple levels by using functional MRI (fMRI) co-registered to diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten normal subjects without any history of neurological disorder participated in this study. fMRI was performed at 1.5 T MR scanner using hand grasp-release movement paradigm. DTT was performed by using DtiStudio on the basis of fiber assignment continuous tracking algorithm (FACT). The seed region of interest (ROI) was drawn in the area of maximum fMRI activation during the motor task of hand grasp-release movement on a 2-D fractional anisotropy (FA) color map, and the target ROI was drawn in the cortiocospinal portion of anterior lower pons. We have drawn five ROIs for the measurement of FA and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) along the corona radiata (CR) down to the medulla. RESULTS: The contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) was mainly found to be activated in all subjects. DTT showed that tracts originated from SM1 and ran to the medulla along the known pathway of the CST. In all subjects, FA values of the CST were higher at the level of the midbrain and posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC) than the level of others. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that co-registered fMRI and DTT has elucidated the state of CST on 3-D and analyzed the quantitative values of FA and ADC at the multiple levels. We conclude that co-registered fMRI and DTT may be applied as a useful tool for clarifying and investigating the state of CST in the patients with brain injury.
Anisotropy ; Brain Injuries ; Diffusion ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Extremities ; Hand ; Humans ; Internal Capsule ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mesencephalon ; Nervous System Diseases ; Pons ; Pyramidal Tracts ; Seeds ; Track and Field

Patients with pain syndromes resulting from recurrent or metastatic cancer should be evaluated carefully to determine the cause of their pain and the need for appropriate antitumor treatment. The most effective ablative pain control procedure at the current time is cordotomy, which is indicated in patients with unilateral pain. The authors results of 12 antero-lateral thoracic cordotomies performed for intractable cancer pain between 1996-1998. The follow-up of these patients was continued for at least 12 months or until death to determine the late success of this procedure. Excellent surgical results were obtained in 100% after one week and in 50% in 6 months after operation. The operation was considered to be successful for patients with malignant disease of short life expectancy.
Cordotomy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Life Expectancy