BACKGROUND: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is usually managed pharmacologically. It is not uncommon for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) to suffer from PHN. It is difficult to prescribe a sufficient dose of anticonvulsants for intractable pain because of the decreased glomerular filtration rate. If the neural blockade and pulsed radiofrequency ablation provide only short-term amelioration of pain, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) with a low level of evidence may be used only as a last resort. This study was done to evaluate the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation in the treatment of PHN in patients with CKD. METHODS: PHN patients with CKD who needed hemo-dialysis who received insufficient relief of pain over a VAS of 8 regardless of the neuropathic medications were eligible for SCS trial. The follow-up period was at least 2 years after permanent implantation. RESULTS: Eleven patients received percutaneous SCS test trial from Jan 2003 to Dec 2007. Four patients had successfully received a permanent SCS implant with their pain being tolerable at a VAS score of less than 3 along with small doses of neuropathic medications. CONCLUSIONS: SCS was helpful in managing tolerable pain levels in some PHN patients with CKD along with tolerable neuropathic medications for over 2 years.
Anticonvulsants ; Electric Stimulation Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Health Resorts ; Humans ; Kidney ; Kidney Diseases ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; Pain, Intractable ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Stimulation

No abstract available.
Humans ; Intestinal Obstruction/*diagnosis/etiology/surgery ; Male ; Meckel Diverticulum/complications/*diagnosis ; Middle Aged ; Radiography, Abdominal ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

A nosocomial outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 occurred in two general wards. One outbreak had pre-symptomatic transmission and was linked epidemiologically with an index case. The other outbreak was associated with early detection failure in a crowded room. Notably, adherence to appropriate mask wearing was not confirmed in the hospital outbreak. Confirmed cases were moved into isolation rooms, and contacts were quarantined. Quarantined cases were tested regularly and facilitated early termination of the hospital outbreak.

A nosocomial outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 occurred in two general wards. One outbreak had pre-symptomatic transmission and was linked epidemiologically with an index case. The other outbreak was associated with early detection failure in a crowded room. Notably, adherence to appropriate mask wearing was not confirmed in the hospital outbreak. Confirmed cases were moved into isolation rooms, and contacts were quarantined. Quarantined cases were tested regularly and facilitated early termination of the hospital outbreak.

PURPOSE: By developing on-line statistics program to record the information of radiation oncology to share the information with internet. It is possible to supply basic reference data for administrative plans to improve radiation oncology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The information of radiation oncology statistics had been collected by paper forms about 52 hospitals in the past. Now, we can input the data by internet web browsers. The statistics program used windows NT 4.0 operation system, Internet Information Server 4.0 (IIS4.0) as a web server and the Microsoft Access MDB. We used Structured Query Language (SQL), Visual Basic, VBScript and JAVAScript to display the statistics according to years and hospitals. RESULTS: This program shows present conditions about man power, research, therapy machines, technics, brachytherapy, clinic statistics, radiation safety management, institution, quality assurance and radioisotopes in radiation oncology department. The database consists of 38 inputs and 6 outputs windows. Statistical output windows can be increased continuously according to user's need. CONCLUSION: We have developed statistics program to process all of the data in department of radiation oncology for reference information. Users easily could input the data by internet web browsers and share the information.
Brachytherapy ; Internet ; Radiation Oncology* ; Radioisotopes ; Safety Management ; Web Browser

Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) has become the major cause of liver transplantation (LT) in Korea, and is currently the most common cause of LT in Europe and the United States. Although, ALD is one of the most common indications for LT, it is traditionally not considered as an option for patients with ALD due to organ shortages and concerns about relapse. To select patients with terminal liver disease due to ALD for transplants, most LT centers in the United States and European countries require a 6-month sober period before transplantation. However, Korea has a different social and cultural background than Western countries, and most organ transplants are made from living donors, who account for approximately twice as many procedures as deceased donors. Most LT centers in Korea do not require a specific period of sobriety before transplantation in patients with ALD. As per the literature, 8%–20% of patients resume alcohol consumption 1 year after LT, and this proportion increases to 30%–40% at 5 years post-LT, among which 10%–15% of patients resume heavy drinking. According to previous studies, the risk factors for alcohol relapse after LT are as follows: young age, poor familial and social support, family history of alcohol use disorder, previous history of alcohol-related treatment, shorter abstinence before LT, smoking, psychiatric disorders, irregular follow-up, and unemployment. Recognition of the risk factors, early detection of alcohol consumption after LT, and regular follow-up by a multidisciplinary team are important for improving the short- and long-term outcomes of LT patients with ALD.

Many reports have shown that endoscopic polypectomy or endoscopic mucosal resection can successfully remove tumor less than 1.0 cm in size. However, most carcinoid tumors in the rectum occur in the submucosal layer so that the entire tumor cannot be completely removed via endoscopic polypectomy or endoscopic mucosal resection. Endoscopic mucosal resection can also cause perforation of the intestinal wall and bleeding. Due to these reasons, instead of these two conventional methods, endoscopic mucosal resection using a ligation device is currently being used for the treatment of rectal carcinoid tumor. Recent studies that used this method have reported that endoscopic mucosal resection of rectal carcinoid tumor by band ligation and the snare resection technique is safe with minimal complications and this is quite useful to completely remove rectal carcinoid tumor.
Carcinoid Tumor ; Hemorrhage ; Ligation ; Rectum ; SNARE Proteins

PURPOSE: To assess the usefulness of breath-hold fast MR imaging of liver with fat suppression (FS) by application of chemical saturation technique in the diagnosis of regional fatty changed suspected in sonography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen patients who had focal lesions with diffuse, homogeneous signal changes after FS through chemical saturation technique without additional changes of imaging parameter during MR imaging of liver were selected. T1-weighed fast low-angle shot and T2-weighted turbo spin-echo sequences were obtained with or without FS during each single breath-holding session. Subjective changes of signal intensity between the pre-FS and the FS images were compared with the sonographic findings in each lesion. RESULTS: Seven lesions of decreased signal intensity after FS on T1 or T2-weighted images, including three lesions only at FS T1 images, were regarded as focal fat infiltration. All seven lesions had compatible sonographic findings as homogenously echogenic areas. Another six lesions of subjectively increased signal intensity including two lesions only at FS T2 images were regarded as focal fat sparing. All six lesions had sonographic findings as homogenous echo poor areas suggesting focal fat sparing. In cases regarded as fat infiltration, score changes were more prominent at FS T1 images than FS T2 images(p=0.0002). In cases regarded as fat sparing, score changes were more prominent at FS T2 images than FS T1 images(p=0.042). CONCLUSION: Breath-hold fast T1 and T2-weighted MR imaging with and without chemical saturation pre-pulse may be sufficient for characterization of regional fatty changes in the different ferential diagnosis of focal hepatic lesion found at sonography.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Liver* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Ultrasonography

No abstract available.
Endometrial Neoplasms* ; Female

BACKGROUND: It is important to differentiate between schwannomas and neurofibromas for the cases in which the histopathologic features overlap. Depending on the tumor type, surgeons can decide on a treatment method and whether to preserve or sacrifice the nerve; the possibility of malignant transformation in the case of neurofibromas also needs to be considered. METHODS: We studied 101 cases of schwannoma and 103 cases of neurofibroma. All the hematoxylin and eosin slides for these cases were reviewed, and tissue microarrays were prepared from the representative areas. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed using antibodies for S-100 protein, calretinin, CD56 and CD34. RESULTS: All the tumors except 3 neurofibromas were positive for the S-100 protein. Calretinin was found in 26.7% of the schwannomas (27/101), but it was not found in any of the neurofibromas. CD56 was positive in 77.2% of the schwannomas (78/101) and in 9.8% of the neurofibromas (10/102). CD34 was positive in 42.5% of the schwannomas (43/101) and in 80.2% of the neurofibromas (81/101). Statistically, calretinin was significantly specific for schwannomas (p<0.001) and CD56 was also sensitive for these tumors (p<0.001). On the other hand, a CD34 expression seemed highly sensitive (p<0.001) for neurofibromas. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that combined immunohistochemical analysis for calretinin, CD56, and CD34 may be very useful for differentiating schwannomas from neurofibromas.
Antibodies ; Calcium-Binding Protein, Vitamin D-Dependent ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Hand ; Hematoxylin ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neurilemmoma ; Neurofibroma ; S100 Proteins