The author measured the central corneal thickness of the 105 normal Korean adults (210 eyes) aged from 25-40 years with the Haag-Streit pachometer type I, and measured the radius of corneal curvature with A.O. Keratometer, I.O.P. with applanation tonometer. The obtained results were summarized as follows. 1) The average central corneal thickness of 210 eyes was 0.5118 +/- 0.016mm. 2) The left eye values were significantly thicker than right eye values(P<0.05). 3) In the 105 right eyes, (1) The sex difference with larger male eye values were proved to be significant(P<0.01). (2) No correlation was found for radius of anterior corneal curvature(both Horizontal and Vertical) against central corneal thickness(Horizontal: r=-0.007843, P>1) (Vertical: r=0.09466, p>1). (3) The central corneal thickness was found to increase significantly with increasing intraocular pressure within normal range(r=0.46942, P<0.05).
Adult* ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Male ; Radius ; Sex Characteristics

The Pill Questionnaire (PillQ) has been proposed as a simple way to evaluate cognitive deficits and their impact on the daily lives of those with Parkinson’s disease (PD) by asking patients or caregivers about whether patients can independently manage their pills. We used the PillQ to investigate the association of ability to manage medication with cognition and activities of daily living (ADLs) in patients with PD. Patients were divided into two groups based on PillQ scores. The no-impact group was able to take their antiparkinsonian medication independently, and the impact group exhibited problems describing their treatment or taking their drugs independently. A total of 208 participants (93 men) were included. 111 patients (53.4%) were included in the no-impact group, and 97 (46.6%) were included in the impact group. The impact group showed significantly lower cognitive functioning, difficulties with the performance of ADLs, and severe motor dysfunction. PillQ scores were significantly correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and Clinical Dementia Rating scores. Management of medication by PD patients is associated with cognitive function, and the PillQ is an easy and useful test for detecting cognitive impairment and its impact on daily life.

PURPOSE: To describe the clinical and radiologic findings of all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) syndrome in acute promyelocytic leukemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among 21 patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia who were treated with all-trans- retinoic acid between 1995 and 1998, we retrospectively evaluated the cases of four with ATRA syn-drome. Two were male and two were female, and their mean age was 58 years. The clinical and radiologic findings of chest radiography (n=4) and HRCT (n=1) were analyzed. RESULTS: Between seven and 13 days after ATRA treatment, dry cough, dyspnea and high fever developed in all patients. The WBC count in peripheral blood was significantly higher [2.9 -25.3(mean, 10.8)-fold] than before ATRA treatment, and in all patients, chest radiography revealed ill-defined consolidation and pleural effu-sion. Kerley 's B line (n=3) and hilar enlargement (n=3) were also seen, and in one patient, HRCT demonstrated septal line thickening. Among four patients treated with prednisolone and Ara-C,three recovered and one CONCLUSION: In acute promyelocytic patients treated with all-trans-retinoic acid, radiologic findings of ill-de-fined consolidation, pleural effusion, hilar prominence and Kerley 's B line may suggest ATRA syndrome. The early diagnosis of this will improve the patients' prognosis.
Cough ; Dyspnea ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute* ; Male ; Pleural Effusion ; Prednisolone ; Prognosis ; Radiography ; Retrospective Studies ; Thorax ; Tretinoin

A renal cell carcinoma with tumor thrombus extension into the inferior vena cava occurs in approximately 5 percent of cases. Despite invasion of the inferior vena cava, an aggressive surgical approach for these neoplasms is recommended, but pulmonary and tumor embolisms have been common complications. Therefore, the prevention of tumor emboli during operation is necessary. Placement of a suprarenal filter in the inferior vena cava has become the procedure of choice for preventing tumor emboli during a radical nephrectomy.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Nephrectomy* ; Thrombosis ; Vena Cava Filters ; Vena Cava, Inferior*

Intracranial hemorrhage is a major cause of sudden unexpected death and its identification is important for death investigations. Cisternal puncture of the cerebellomedullary cistern (CMC) can be used to identify intracranial hemorrhage during postmortem examination. Intracranial hemorrhage comprises various types of hemorrhage, and the possibility of hemorrhage identification by cisternal puncture can differ according to the type of intracranial hemorrhage. Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) is non-invasive and can be performed before autopsy. In this study, we aimed to identify the hemorrhage in the CMC using PMCT in cases of various intracranial hemorrhage. PMCT was performed before the autopsy. Autopsy reports and PMCT were retrospectively reviewed for 108 cases of intracranial hemorrhage confirmed by conventional autopsy. Hemorrhagic regions showed ≥60 Hounsfield units on PMCT. Hemorrhage in the CMC was identified in 42.6% (46/108) by PMCT and was frequently identified in the cases of basal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) (19/21). Hemorrhage in the CMC was identified in approximately 50% of patients with non-basal SAH and intracerebral hemorrhage. Detection of hemorrhage in the CMC by PMCT is hindered by several factors, such as dental artifacts. This study does not guarantee the usefulness of postmortem cisternal puncture. However, this study verified hemorrhage in the CMC according to the various types of intracranial hemorrhages using PMCT and showed its possibilities and limitations.

The clinical features of corticobasal degeneration (CBD) are quite asymmetric. The severity of clinical symptoms and dopamine transporter (DAT) bindings were less correlated compared to other parkinsonisms, suggesting that presynaptic nigrostriatal dopaminergic dysfunction may not explain extrapyramidal manifestations in CBD. Therefore we wanted to reexamine asymmetry and severity between DAT imaging and clinical findings. We studied patients meeting the diagnostic criteria for CBD based on clinical features. We collected their clinical information and imaging retrospectively. Seven patients were enrolled and all had asymmetric rigidity, bradykinesia and unilateral limb dystonia. These symptoms did not improve with levodopa. All patients showed symptoms bilaterally in the last visit, but asymmetry of clinical symptoms was remarkable at the time of DAT imaging. The DAT bindings were decreased in six subjects. However, one patient showed normal DAT binding. Four patients had a more evident DAT reduction on the side contralateral to the more clinically affected side, however, two patients had a more prominent reduction on the ipsilateral side. The symptoms that we regard as parkinsonian features in CBD are not only explained by presynaptic dopaminergic dysfunction. Our findings suggest that postsynaptic dopaminergic or nondopaminergic systems may play a major role in parkinsonian symptoms in corticobasal syndrome.
Parkinsonian Disorders

PURPOSE: To investigate the prevalence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and evaluate the availability of D-dimer test for the diagnosis of DVT after TKA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April 2006 to July 2006, 140 consecutive patients, who had degenerative osteoarthritic knees and underwent primary total knee arthroplasty, were enrolled in this study. General and hematological risk factors were compared between DVT positive and negative patients. D-dimer level was checked preoperatively, and at 1, 7 and 14 days after surgery. A diagnosis of DVT was established by computed tomography venography. RESULTS: DVT was found in 48 (34%) patients and only 5 (10.4%) showed symptoms of DVT. Regarding the risk factors, only obesity was significantly associated with an increased incidence of DVT (p=0.049). Seven days after surgery, the average D-dimer level in the DVT positive and negative patients was 4.90 mg/L and 3.12 mg/L, respectively (p=0.000). CONCLUSION: In our study patients, the incidence of symptomatic DVT was lower than in the Western population. We recommend obesity, clinical symptoms and D-dimer value at 7 days after surgery as a valuable screening tests for detecting DVT.
Arthroplasty* ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Knee* ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Phlebography ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Thrombosis* ; Veins* ; Venous Thrombosis

Primary small intestinal lymphoma is relatively uncommon. Small bowel tumors are difficult to diagnose, because they are usually asymptomatic in the initial phase, and they are not easily detected by traditional methods of investigating the small intestine. This case shows a successfully detected and treated gastrointestinal bleeding from rare ileal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, using double balloon endoscopy.
Aged ; Arteries ; Capsule Endoscopy ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Ileal Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology ; Intestinal Mucosa/pathology ; Lymphoid Tissue/*pathology ; Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone/*diagnosis/pathology ; Male

PURPOSE: Adverse drug events (ADEs) are associated with high health and financial costs and have increased as more elderly patients treated with multiple medications emerge in an aging society. It has thus become challenging for physicians to identify drugs causing adverse events. This study proposes a novel approach that can improve clinical decision making with recommendations on ADE causative drugs based on patient information, drug information, and previous ADE cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We introduce a personalized and learning approach for detecting drugs with a specific adverse event, where recommendations tailored to each patient are generated using data mining techniques. Recommendations could be improved by learning the associations of patients and ADEs as more ADE cases are accumulated through iterations. After consulting the system-generated recommendations, a physician can alter prescriptions accordingly and report feedback, enabling the system to evolve with actual causal relationships. RESULTS: A prototype system is developed using ADE cases reported over 1.5 years and recommendations obtained from decision tree analysis are validated by physicians. Two representative cases demonstrate that the personalized recommendations could contribute to more prompt and accurate responses to ADEs. CONCLUSION: The current system where the information of individual drugs exists but is not organized in such a way that facilitates the extraction of relevant information together can be complemented with the proposed approach to enhance the treatment of patients with ADEs. Our illustrative results show the promise of the proposed system and further studies are expected to validate its performance with quantitative measures.
Aged ; Aging ; Clinical Decision-Making ; Complement System Proteins ; Data Mining ; Decision Trees ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Humans ; Learning* ; Prescriptions

A glomus tumor is a very rare neoplasm consisting of cells that resemble the modified smooth muscle cells of normal glomus bodies. Here, we report a case of a 39-year-old male with multiple omental glomus tumors. The patient underwent a complete resection of the glomus tumors. This is a rare case of omental glomus tumors, and to our knowledge, this patient is the first with multiple omental glomus tumors to be described.
Adult ; Glomus Tumor* ; Humans ; Male ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Omentum*