No abstract available.

The presence of A-V shunting in hepatocellular carcinoma is an important factor for deciding the prognosis and in the management with transarterial chemoembolization. Twenty-four patients with hepatocellular carcinoma performed with CO2-DSA and iodinated-DSA were reviewed for the evaluation of visibility of A-V shunting. It was classified by the visibility into clearly visible, faintly visible and invisible. Also the authors evaluated neovascularity and tumor staining. And we checked side effects after the injection of CO2 gas during CO2-DSA. A-V shunting was noted in 19 cases(63%), which were clearly visible in 15 of 19 cases(79%) on CO2-DSA and in 7 of 19 cases(37%) on iodinated-DSA. In 3 cases, A-V shunting was noted only on CO2-DSA. CO2-DSA(17%)was inferior to iodinated-DSA in detection of neovasculaity and tumor staining. Side effects from CO2-DSA were abdominal pain(1 case) and chest discomfort(1 case) but improved within several minutes. In conclusion, CO2-DSA is a sensitive and effective method for the detection of A-V shunting in hepatoma.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Humans ; Methods ; Prognosis ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: Although postoperative back pain has been reported to occur, as a frequent complication of anesthesia and surgery, it is usually mild and self-limited. However, we experienced cases of uncontrolled postoperative back pain in patients even after IV-PCA administration. These patients' back pain was relieved by the traditional diclofenac sodium intramuscular injection, so we evaluated the efficacy of diclofenac sodium on uncontrolled postoperative back pain by IV-PCA. METHODS: We studied 16 patients who complained of postoperative back pain even with IV-PCA for postoperative pain control. When NRS pain score was above 5, the patients were treated with a diclofenac sodium 75 mg intramuscular injection. Postoperative back pain and operation site pain was measured by NRS before and after diclofenac sodium injection. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in the pain score of postoperative back pain after diclofenac sodium injection without a dramatic improvement of operation site pain. CONCLUSIONS: Diclofenac sodium plays a useful role in the control of acute postoperative back pain.
Anesthesia ; Back Pain* ; Diclofenac* ; Humans ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Pain, Postoperative

No abstract available.
Colon* ; Lymphangioma, Cystic*

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

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy(CIDP) is a rare acquired demyelinating disease of peripheral nervous system(PNS), characterized by relapsing or progressive proximal and distal muscle weakness with possible sensory loss. It is one of several chronic neuropathic syndromes that are believed to have an autoimmune etiology. We experienced a case of CIDP in a 3-month-old boy associated with perianal abscess by Klebsiella pneumoniae who had a precipitous onset of symptoms after anesthesia. He was treated with intravenous immunoglobuline with little improvement but showed a remarkable clinical and electrophysiologic improvement after methylprednisolone pulse therapy. We report this case with a brief review of related literature.
Abscess* ; Anesthesia ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Infant ; Klebsiella pneumoniae* ; Klebsiella* ; Male ; Methylprednisolone ; Muscle Weakness ; Polyradiculoneuropathy, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating*

Four patients underwent lumbar surgery. In all four patients, the dura was minimally torn during the operation. However, none exhibited signs of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage. In each case, a few days after the operation, the patient suddenly experienced severe recurring pain in the leg. Repeat magnetic resonance imaging showed transdural nerve rootlets entrapped in the intervertebral disc space. On exploration, ventral dural tears and transdural nerve rootlet entrapment were confirmed. Midline durotomy, herniated rootlet repositioning, and ventral dural tear repair were performed, and patients' symptoms improved after rootlet repositioning. Even with minimal dural tearing, nerve rootlets may become entrapped, resulting in severe recurring symptoms. Therefore, the dural tear must be identified and repaired during the first operation.
Diskectomy ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; Laminectomy ; Leg ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

PURPOSE: Anal cancer is a relatively uncommon malignancy, representig only 1.8 to 3.4% of all colorectal cancers. In the past, an abdominoperineal resection (APR) was the treatment of choice for an anal cancer. Since the introduction of chemoradiation (radiation combined with 5-Fu and mitomycin) therapy which proved to enhance the responsiveness of the lesion, the limited resection with preservation of anal sphincter function became the gold standard treatment of the anal lesion. Few studies have examined the effectiveness of each modality due to the rarity of this disease. We compared the results of treatment in two groups, one treated with APR and the other with chemoradiation, and evaluated the prognosis of the anal cancer and the advantages and disadvantages of each method. METHODS: This study was performed from January 1992 to December 2001 in the Department of Surgery, Chonnam University Hospital. It considered many factors, including sex, age, chief complaint, location of the lesion, size of the lesion, histopathologic pattern, method of treatment, and metastasis, based on a retrospective review of clinical files and biopsy results. RESULTS: For the patients, the male to female ratio was 1.8:1.0; the mean age was 64.6 (47~90); the chief complaint was anal mass; with symptoms of anal bleeding and pain; and the mean prevalence rate of disease was 8.5 months. According to the staging, 4 patients were T1 (14%), 19 (67.8%) were T2 and 4 (14.3%) were T3. By histologic biopsy, there were 23 squamous cell and 5 cloacogenic carcinoma. Four patients were initially treated by an APR at a local clinic, while 22 underwent combined chemoradiation therapy. Of the four patients who underwent a chemoradiation after an APR, two died as a result of liver and bone metastasis. According to the TNM classification, the 5-year survival rates were 75, 67, 60, 83, and 55% for T1, T2, T3, M0, M1, respectively; the 5-year survival was 71% the for combined chemotherapy and radiation and 53% for the APR. CONCLUSIONS: In the anal cancer treatment, remission occured in over 50% of patients treated with combined chemoradiation therapy. Also, when the surgery had added, the prognosis was not worse than primary choice of APR. Therefore, combined chemoradiation therapy should be considered the treatment of choice, reducing the amount of resection and conserving the sphincter function.
Anal Canal ; Anus Neoplasms* ; Biopsy ; Classification ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do ; Liver ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prevalence ; Prognosis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common gastrointestinal malignancies in Korea. However, there have been few studies concerning the prognosis of colorectal cancer in Korea. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the prognostic factors of colorectal cancer and identify those independent prognostic factors. METHODS: A total of 960 cases with colorectal cancer who received surgery at Chonnam University Hospital of Korea between Jan 1, 1980 and Dec 31, 2000 were analyzed retrospectively with respect to several prognostic factors including age, sex, location of tumor, histologic grade, stage, Borrmann type, depth of invasion, invasion of lymph node, tumor size, liver metastasis, peritoneal seeding, preoperative serum CEA level and DNA ploidy. Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences were analyzed by the Log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis. The data was considered to be significant when the p value was less than 0.05. RESULTS: The mean age was 57 years and median follow-up was 26.7 months. By univariate analysis, significant prognostic factors were stage by TNM, histologic grade, invasion of lymph node, liver metastasis, peritoneal seeding, depth of invasion, Borrmann type and preoperative serum CEA level. By multivariate analysis, TNM stage was the most obvious independent prognostic factor. Histologic grade and depth of invasion were also significant independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: In this study, TNM stage, histologic grade and depth of invasion were revealed independent prognostic factors.
Colorectal Neoplasms* ; DNA ; Follow-Up Studies ; Jeollanam-do ; Korea ; Liver ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ploidies ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: This study is aimed to see ultrastructural changes of pineal gland in rats exposed to microwaves. METHODS: We conducted an experiment by exposing rats at the electromagnetic wave frequency of 2.45GHz, using with an EMR(electromagnetic radiation) emitting apparatus to study the effect of electromagnetic wave on the pineal gland. Paying especial attention to measure damages to pineal gland cells in the brain, we set the levels of EMR according to the duration of electromagnetic wave exposure at 1.2 joules(20min exposure), 2.4 joules(40min exposure), 3.6 joules(60 min exposure), and 4.8 joules(80min exposure) per 1cm2. RESULTS: Compared with normal cells, main histologic changes were observed with an electron microscope included swelling of the pineal gland cells, a decrease in the electron density of interstitial tissue, an increase in the distances between pineal gland cells, an increase in number of lipid-droplets, and swelling of mitochondria. Especially in those pineal cells exposed to EMR for 80 min, severe swelling of mitochondria and a slight increase in lysosome were observed. CONCLUSION: The authors could identify the harmful effect of microwave by observing abnormal ultrastructural changes of pineal cell in rat according to the increasement of electromagnetic radiation.
Animals ; Brain ; Electromagnetic Radiation ; Lysosomes ; Microwaves* ; Mitochondria ; Pineal Gland* ; Rats*