Reperfusion injury of the spinal cord has been scarcely reported. Herein, we present a case of white cord syndrome after spinal decompression. A 61-year-old male, who initially had ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament at C3-6 level, was admitted to our hospital with a ruptured disc at the C6-7 level. The patient experienced radiating pain in both upper extremities. Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion was performed. However, the patient developed quadriplegia. Emergency magnetic resonance imaging revealed a new and enlarged signal change in the spinal cord at the C4-7 level. Additional posterior decompression surgery was performed. After intense rehabilitation, the patient’s motor function improved to grade 4. White cord syndrome is likely due to reperfusion injury following operative decompression of a compressed spinal cord segment. Although rare, spine surgeons should be aware of this complication and warn patients preoperatively.

Acupuncture, one of oriental medicine’s crucial treatment methods, is a popular practice around the world. Although its mechanism of effect remains uncertain and unknown, many people have confidence in this treatment method. Ironically, due to its rise in popularity, there are increased reports of treatment complications. We present here a case where a 75- year-old patient suffered acute cervical epidural hemorrhage mimicking symptoms of acute disc rupture, immediately after being administered acupuncture on the neck. Fortunately, the patient required no surgical intervention since his motor symptoms spontaneously improved with only pain management. After a close observation period of 10 days, the patient was discharged with mild radiculopathy. This case was unique since it mimicked the symptoms of acute disc rupture or severe stenosis. Thus, to successfully manage patients, the initial history taking at the emergency room is crucial. Patients should always consider that even though the reported complication rate for acupuncture is very low, there is a possibility of severe adverse effects, such as the consequences seen in this case.

Lesions occurring simultaneously in the somatosensory or motor cortex of the brain and the cervical spine are rare. Brain tumors can cause similar symptoms to cervical lesions which can lead to confusion in treatment priorities. Moreover, if cervical disease is noticeably observed in radiologic findings of a patient complaining of cervical radiculopathy with non-specific electromyography results, it is common to no longer perform further evaluation. Here we introduce two cases where the cause of cervical radiculopathy was first considered to be the result of a degenerative cervical disease but was later discovered to be a result of a brain tumor.

OBJECTIVE: To show the effect of dual monitoring including cardiac output (CO) and intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring for severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patiens. We hypothesized that meticulous treatment using dual monitoring is effective to sustain maintain minimal intensive care unit (ICU) complications and maintain optimal ICP and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) for severe TBI patiens. METHODS: We included severe TBI, below Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) 8 and head abbreviation injury scale (AIS) >4 and performed decompressive craniectomy at trauma ICU of our hospital. We collected the demographic data, head AIS, injury severity score (ISS), initial GCS, ICU stay, sedation duration, fluid therapy related complications, Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) at 3 months and variable parameters of ICP and CO monitor. RESULTS: Thirty patients with severe TBI were initially selected. Thirteen patients were excluded because 10 patients had fixed pupillary reflexes and 3 patients had uncontrolled ICP due to severe brain edema. Overall 17 patients had head AIS 5 except 2 patients and 10 patients (58.8%) had multiple traumas as mean ISS 29.1. Overall complication rate of the patients was 64.7%. Among the parameters of CO monitoring, high stroke volume variation is associated with fluid therapy related complications (p=0.043) and low cardiac contractibility is associated with these complications (p=0.009) statistically. CONCLUSION: Combined use of CO and ICP monitors in severe TBI patients who could be necessary to decompressive craniectomy and postoperative sedation is good alternative methods to maintain an adequate ICP and CPP and reduce fluid therapy related complications during postoperative ICU care.
Brain Edema ; Brain Injuries* ; Cardiac Output* ; Cerebrovascular Circulation* ; Decompressive Craniectomy ; Fluid Therapy ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Glasgow Outcome Scale ; Head ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Intensive Care Units ; Intracranial Pressure* ; Monitoring, Physiologic ; Multiple Trauma ; Reflex, Pupillary ; Stroke Volume

Scleredema is a rare connective tissue disease of unknown etiology and characterized by non-pitting thickening of subcutaneous tissue of the neck, face, head, upper trunk and arms. We present a 28 year-old man with extensive skin changes following upper respiratory infection, who have not any concurrent disorders such as diabetes mellitus. Histopathological findings of skin showed normal epidermis with a widening of spaces between collagen bundles by infiltration of acid mucopolysaccharide in the dermis.
Adult ; Arm ; Collagen ; Connective Tissue Diseases ; Dermis ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Epidermis ; Head ; Humans ; Neck ; Scleredema Adultorum* ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Tissue

Germinal matrix-intraventricular hemorrhage (GM-IVH) is among the devastating neurological complications with mortality and neurodevelopmental disability rates ranging from 14.7% to 44.7% in preterm infants. The medical techniques have improved throughout the years, as the morbidity-free survival rate of very-low-birth-weight infants has increased; however, the neonatal and long-term morbidity rates have not significantly improved. To this date, there is no strong evidence on pharmacological management on GM-IVH, due to the limitation of well-designed randomized controlled studies. However, recombinant human erythropoietin administration in preterm infants seems to be the only effective pharmacological management in limited situations. Hence, further high-quality collaborative research studies are warranted in the future to ensure better outcomes among preterm infants with GM-IVH.

Eyelid tumors, including metastatic lid tumors, present clinically as recurrent chalazia, multicentric nodules, ul cerated lesions, diffuse swelling, or chronic blepharocon juntivitis. Lid tumors consist of benign lesions(69%) and malignant lesions(31%). Basal cell carcinoma and squa mous cell carcinoma account for 92% of the malignant lesions. Metastatic lid disease was found to be of rare occurence, accounting for 0.1% of all lid lesions and 0.3% of malignant lid lesions. We report a case of metastatic lid carcinoma of sto mach cancer. A 60-year-old man developed a painless, slow-growing nodular lesion of his right lower eyelid. Excisional biopsy revealed metastatic undifferentiated ade nocarcinoma. We believe this is the first case in Korean literature.
Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Chalazion ; Eyelids ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Stomach*

OBJECTIVES: Diabetic autonomic neuropathy is a common complication of long standing diabetes mellitus and is well known to induce the motor dysfunction of cardiovascular system, genitourinary system and diges tive system. Although many studies have done to eval uate the diabetic autonomic neuropathy, gallbladder motor function and biliary dynamic study to evaluate the change of gallbladder function in diabetic patients is relatively rare. This study was performed to measure the gall bladder ejection fraction using Tc- 99m-DISIDA with fatty meal in order to evaluate the gallbladder motor func tion in diabetic patients and to examine the usefulness of it in analyzing diabetic autonomic neuropathy. METHODS: 51 diabetic patients(males 31, females 18, mean age 57yr(39-77yr)) and 18 control subjects(males 14, females 4, mean aged 47yr(31-70yr)) without gall stone and impaired liver function were enrolled in our study. Also the diabetic patients were categorized by age, disease duration, body weight and diabetic complications such as retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy and cardiovas cular autonomic neuropathy accompanying with or not. RESULTS: 1) Median value and interquartile range of gallbladder ejection fraction(%) were 66%(48-79%) in diabetic pa tients group and 75%(64-80%) in control subjects. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups, but the mean value of diabetic patients was slightly lower than that of control subjects. 2) There was no significant difference between the two groups in mean value of gallbladder ejection fraction in every age group(P>0.05). 3) Median value of gallbladder ejection fraction in diabetic groups with less than 10 years of duration (both under 5 years and 5 to 10 years groups) was similar to that of control subjects. However in patients whose diabetic conditions last more than 10 years, the median range of gallbladder ejection fraction was significantly lower than that of control subjects(p<0.05). 4) Median range of gallbladder ejection fraction in obese diabetic patients group was significant lower than those of control subjects and non-obese diabetic pa tients(p<0.05). 5) Median value of gallbadder was lower in diabetic patients group with complications like retinopathy, periph eral neuropathy or cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (p<0.05) in comparison with those of control subjects and diabetic patients group without diabetic complication (p>0.05). Also seven diabetic patients whose gallbladder ejection fraction was reduced under 35% have had at least two diabetic complications. CONCLUSION: We observed that gallbladder ejection fraction of diabetic patients was reduced compared with that of control subjects. This is due to the reduced gallbladder muscle contractility resulting from diabetic autonomic dysfunction. These results suggest that the assessment of gallbladder ejection fraction using 99m- Tc-DISIDA would be useful to diagnose diabetic auto nomic neropathy.
Body Weight ; Cardiovascular System ; Diabetes Complications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetic Neuropathies ; Female ; Gallbladder* ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Liver ; Meals ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Radionuclide Imaging* ; Urinary Bladder ; Urogenital System