Cobb syndrome is a rare neurocutaneous angiomatosis characterized by a vascular skin nevus associated with a spinal cord angioma of the same metamere. A 14-year-old girl had an asymptomatic large cutaneous hemangioma distributed from the TI dermatome downward to the L3 dermatome since birth and complained of a gait disturbance and urination difficulty for 1 year. A biopsy specimen in the skin lesion revealed the findings of capillary hemangioma. From C7 downward to L4 posterior epidural hemangioma composed of arteriovenous and cavernous components was diagnosed by radiological examination and surgical exploration. Because of very extensive cord hemangioma, only partial removal of the tumor at T11, T12 and L1 level was performed and postoperatively she was transferred to a special facility for rehabilitative therapy.
Adolescent ; Angiomatosis ; Biopsy ; Female ; Gait ; Hemangioma ; Hemangioma, Capillary ; Humans ; Nevus ; Parturition ; Skin ; Spinal Cord ; Urination

We experienced a case of arteriovenous hemangioma showing Dariers sign on the forehead of a 43-year-old man. He presented with a single, 1 * 1.5cm sized, violaceous, asymptomatic nodule with a history of an intermittent wheal at the lesional site. This skin lesion showed Dariers sign clinically and proliferation of mast cells histopathologically with the punch biopsy specirnen suggesting urticaria pig- mentosa. Howerer, we could diagnose it as a arteriovenous hemangioma on complete excision, as the specimen showed arteriovenous proliferation with increased mast cells in a perivascular pattern. This case showed confusing clinical signs and showed the importance of complete excision for the diagnosis of a small skin tumor especially when a vascular proliferating tumor is suspected.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Forehead ; Hemangioma* ; Humans ; Mast Cells ; Skin ; Urticaria

PURPOSE: To compare the therapeutic effects and complications after panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) and discomforts of patients using patterned PRP versus conventional PRP for diabetic retinopathy. METHODS: Eighty patients who required PRP due to diabetic retinopathy were enrolled in a prospective randomized controlled study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: a patterned PRP group in which PRP was performed with a short laser exposure time (0.02 seconds) and a conventional PRP group with a long exposure time (0.2 seconds). At the 1-year follow-up visit, the progressions of diabetic retinopathy, best-corrected visual acuity, and central macular thickness were evaluated. All patients were questioned about the grade of pain during PRP. In addition, the complications after PRP were investigated. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences in clinical characteristics between both groups. The progression of diabetic retinopathy was not different in both groups at the 1-year follow-up visit. The best-corrected visual acuities at 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after PRP were decreased in both groups and, in the conventional PRP group, the decrements of visual acuity were greater than in the patterned PRP group. The increments of central macular thickness were also greater in the conventional PRP group than the patterned PRP group. CONCLUSIONS: When patterned PRP is performed using a short laser exposure time, the efficacy in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy is similar to that of the conventional PRP using a longer laser exposure time. Moreover, patterned PRP is less painful, and fewer complications.
Diabetic Retinopathy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Light Coagulation ; Prospective Studies ; Visual Acuity

INTRODUCTION: Although it is well known that medical students are not getting an adequate amount of sleep, there have been only a few studies on the sleep patterns of medical students and the related factors. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the medical students' sleep patterns and the related factors. METHODS: A questionnaire package was administered to the 1st to 4th year medical students at one medical school. It consisted of questions asking about their lifestyles as well as Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), global assessment of recent stress scale (GASS), the center for epidemiologic studies-depression scale (CES-D), and Moudsley obsessive-compulsive inventory (MOCI). A total of 352 students (206 males and 146 females) responded to the survey and the result was analyzed using the independent t-test, the chi-square test, the paired t-test, Pearson's correlation and ANOVA. p-values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant in analyses. RESULTS: The weekend bedtime was significantly delayed (0 : 49 on weekday ; 1 : 34 on weekend ; t=-5.23, p<0.001), the weekend rise time was delayed (6 : 58 on weekday ; 9 : 30 on weekend ; t=-24.48, p<0.001) and the total sleep time was increased on weekends (5 : 36 on weekday ; 7 : 39 on weekend ; t=15.94, p<0.001). The PSQI score of all subjects was 6.43+/-2.64. PSQI was positively correlated with ESS (r=0.383, p<0.001), GASS (r=0.326, p<0.001), CES-D (r=0.393, p<0.001), and MOCI (r=0.247, p<0.001), but not with GPA (r=0.072, p=0.228. The more senior students had lower PSQI, GASS, CES-D, and MOCI score (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Medical students were experiencing a lack of sleep during weekdays as they have a later bedtime and earlier rise time, and consequently had more hours of sleep on weekends. Overall, the medical students were experiencing poor sleep quality and sleep deprivation. Poor sleep quality is associated with psychological problems (daytime sleepiness, stress, depression, and obsessive tendency).
Depression ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Schools, Medical ; Sleep Deprivation ; Students, Medical*

In community-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae infection, pyogenic liver abscess is common as a primary site of infection, particularly in Asia, that can progress to bacteremia. Diabetes mellitus is a usual predisposing factor. Pneumonia as primary site of infection by community-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae infection is not common but carries a poor outcome. Early administration of appropriate antibiotics is extremely important to avoid the development of bacteremia and septicemia. An infective endocarditis caused by community-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae infection is very rare; particularly, such a case of endocarditis in which pneumonia was the primary site of infection has never been reported previously. In this report we described a case of community-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae infection that started with pneumonia and progressed to bacteremia, leading to endocarditis, liver abscess, and other systemic septic complications. Delayed administration of appropriate antibiotics may have played a role in this case.
Abscess ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Asia ; Bacteremia ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Endocarditis ; Klebsiella ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Liver Abscess ; Liver Abscess, Pyogenic ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis ; Shock, Septic

PURPOSE: To review the mechanisms and clinical patterns of spontaneous resolution of vitreoretinal interface disorders by analyzing cases and available literature on macular hole (MH), vitreoretinal traction (VMT), and epiretinal membrane (ERM). METHODS: Medical records and optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of patients with spontaneous resolution of MH, VMT, and ERM were reviewed. RESULTS: Two eyes with VMT, 3 eyes with idiopathic MH, 3 eyes of traumatic MH (including 1 eye with electrical burn), and 2 eyes with ERM showed spontaneous resolution. All eyes except traumatic MH reached a visual acuity better than 0.5 after resolution. All idiopathic MHs achieved anatomic closure in 6 months, and traumatic MHs in 1 month except for the electrical burn case. Seven out of 10 eyes experienced complete posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) during resolution. CONCLUSIONS: Some cases of vitreoretinal interface disorders can resolve spontaneously with complete PVD or other mechanisms. Indicators predicting spontaneous resolution should be considered in patients with vitreoretinal interface disorder.
Burns ; Epiretinal Membrane ; Eye ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Retinal Perforations ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Traction ; Visual Acuity ; Vitreous Detachment

In Table 6, the unit concentration of phthalates was not correctly indicated.

PURPOSE: Blind individuals who have photoreceptor loss are known to perceive phosphenes with electrical stimulation of their remaining retinal ganglion cells. We proposed that implantable lateral geniculate body (LGB) stimulus electrode arrays could be used to generate phosphene vision. We attempted to refine the basic reference of the electrical evoked potentials (EEPs) elicited by microelectrical stimulations of the optic nerve, optic tract and LGB of a domestic pig, and then compared it to visual evoked potentials (VEPs) elicited by short-flash stimuli. METHODS: For visual function measurement, VEPs in response to short-flash stimuli on the left eye of the domestic pig were assessed over the visual cortex at position Oz with the reference electrode at Fz. After anesthesia, linearly configured platinum wire electrodes were inserted into the optic nerve, optic track and LGB. To determine the optimal stimulus current, EEPs were recorded repeatedly with controlling the pulse and power. The threshold of current and charge density to elicit EEPs at 0.3 ms pulse duration was about ±10 microA. RESULTS: Our experimental results showed that visual cortex activity can be effectively evoked by stimulation of the optic nerve, optic tract and LGB using penetrating electrodes. The latency of P1 was more shortened as the electrical stimulation was closer to LGB. The EEPs of two-channel in the visual cortex demonstrated a similar pattern with stimulation of different spots of the stimulating electrodes. We found that the LGB-stimulated EEP pattern was very similar to the simultaneously generated VEP on the control side, although implicit time deferred. CONCLUSIONS: EEPs and VEPs derived from visual-system stimulation were compared. The LGB-stimulated EEP wave demonstrated a similar pattern to the VEP waveform except implicit time, indicating prosthetic-based electrical stimulation of the LGB could be utilized for the blind to perceive vision of phosphenes.
Animals ; Electric Stimulation ; Electrodes, Implanted ; Evoked Potentials, Visual/*physiology ; Geniculate Bodies/*physiology ; Male ; Optic Nerve/physiology ; Optic Tract/physiology ; Photic Stimulation ; Sus scrofa ; Visual Cortex/*physiology

Background: F-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-18 FDG PET), which can cover the body from the skull base to the thigh in one scan, is beneficial for evaluating distant metastasis. F-18 FDG PET has interested policymakers because of its relatively high cost. This study investigated the effect of the F-18 FDG PET reimbursement criteria amendment on healthcare behavior in breast cancer using an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the inpatient and outpatient data from Korea’s Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2018. ITS analysis was performed for the number of each medical imaging modality and the total medical imaging cost of the breast cancer patients. Results: The annual number of breast cancer patients has been increasing steadily since 2013. The trend of F-18 FDG PET increased before the reimbursement criteria was amended, but intensely decreased immediately thereafter. The chest and abdomen computed tomography scans showed a statistically significant increase immediately after the amendment and kept steadily increasing. A change in the total medical imaging cost for the breast cancer patient claimed every month showed an increasing trend before the amendment (β = 5,475, standard error [SE] = 1,992, P = 0.008) and rapid change immediately after (β = −103,317, SE = 16,152, P < 0.001). However, there was no significant change in the total medical imaging cost at the long-term follow-up (β = −912, SE = 1,981, P = 0.647). Conclusion Restriction of health insurance coverage for cancer may affect healthcare behaviors. To compensate for it, the policymakers must consider this and anticipate the impact following implementation.

BACKGROUND: Patients with severe aortic valve disease frequently display mitral valve regurgitation (MR). In such patients, the clinical course of MR after isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) may be important for determining the treatment strategies. After isolated AVR, the change of the concomitant moderate degree or less of MR according to the type of aortic valve disease is not known well. The aim of this study was to analyze the postoperative changes of MR after performing AVR in those patients with severe AS (Group S) and those with severe AR (Group R). MATERIAL AND METHOD: We retrospectively evaluated 43 patients with severe aortic disease and a moderate degree or less of mitral valve regurgitation, and these patients underwent isolated aortic valve replacement from January 1996 to June 2005. The patients were divided into two groups: the aortic valve stenosis group (n = 29) and the aortic valve regurgitation group (n = 14). The patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography preoperatively and at 7 days, 6~10 months and more than 18 months (mean follow-up duration: 38 months) postoperatively. RESULT: The mean age was 60.9 years (Group S: 62 years, Group R: 52.5 years) and 60% (Group S=55%, Group R=71%) of the patients were male. The preoperative MR was mild in 29 (67.5%), mild to moderate in 11 (25.5%), and moderate in 3 (6.9%) patients. In the Group S patients, MR improved in 16 (55%) patients at the immediate postoperative days and in 17 (59%) patients at more than 18 months postoperatively. On the other hand, all the Group R patients exhibited earlier improvement. The decrease of LA size had a similar pattern to the MR change, but there were no significant differences in the change of the ejection fraction of the two groups. CONCLUSION: In the patients with severe aortic valve disease and concomitant low grade MR, the MR after AVR improved earlier and more effectively in the patients with AR than in those patients with AS.
Aortic Diseases ; Aortic Valve Stenosis ; Aortic Valve* ; Echocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Heart Valve Diseases ; Humans ; Male ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency* ; Pathology* ; Retrospective Studies