PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the differences of the clinicopathological features and survival rates in gastric cancer according to the sex of the patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed 5,784 cases of gastric cancer patients who underwent laparotomy at the Department of Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital fmm Jan. 1986 to Dec. 1995. We have analyzed clinicopathologic features including tumor location, Bonmann type, depth of invasicm, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, TNM stage, histologic differentiation and survival rates according to the sex of the patients. RESULTS: The mean age of female patients was 52.4 years, which is lower than that of male, 54.8 years. There were no differences in tumor location, Borrmann type, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, TNM stage of tumor between male and female. But there were some differences in histologic differentiation; well- and moderately differentiated cancers were more common in male and signet-ring cell cancers were more common in female. Female shows slightly better prognosis than male. But the prognosis of young female was poorer than that of young male. CONCLUSION: In gastric cancer patients, differences in histologic differentiation and more aggressive nature of the signet-ring cell cancer in female may affect the survival differences according to the sex.
Female* ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Seoul ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

No abstract available.
Animals ; Cell Adhesion* ; Female ; Leiomyoma* ; Mice ; Myometrium* ; Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules*

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy(ESWL) for urinary calculi is usually performed under general anesthesia, regional anesthesia or intravenous anesthesia. We evaluated the sedativeanalgesic effeet and untoward effects of diazepam-fentanyl for ESWL. 60 patients were belonged to physical status 1 or 11 of ASA classification who injected diazepam(5~10 mg) and fentanyl(1.5 ug/kg) at 2 minutes were as follows The results were as follows; 1) Mean arterial pressure(MAP) was significantly decreased in 3-10 minutes after injection compared to baseline value. 2) Heart rate(HR) was statistically nonsignificant but slightly decreased from 2 minutes after injection. 3) Respiratory rate(RR) and arterial oxygen saturation(SaO2) were significantly decreased until 15 miuntes after injection but SaO was not decreased below 92.7% and RR was not decreased below 13 rates/minute. 4) Pain and movement during ESWL developed in 18 cases but repositioning and discon- tinuation of EWSL were not necessary. Episodes of desaturation(SaO2<90%) developed in 2 cases. 5) Postoperative dizziness developed in 24 cases. nausea and vomiting developed in a few cases. We concluded that intravenous administration of diazepam-fentanyl is more convenient and simpler than other anesthetic technique for ESWL.
Administration, Intravenous ; Analgesia ; Anesthesia, Conduction ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesia, Intravenous ; Classification ; Diazepam* ; Dizziness ; Fentanyl* ; Heart ; Humans ; Lithotripsy* ; Nausea ; Oxygen ; Shock* ; Urinary Calculi ; Vomiting

We report on a patient with spontaneous rupture of hemorrhagic renal cyst into the pyelocaliceal system. He had no history of trauma, bleeding disorders, urinary tract infection or urinary tract obstruction. Gross hematuria followed by left flank pain occurred 1 day prior to admission. Although radiologic findings were suggestive of rupture of renal cyst into the calyx or calyceal diverticulum. exclusion of malignant disease or renal carbuncle was difficult. He was managed by partial nephrectomy. Microscopic findings revealed ruptured cyst lined with low cuboidal epithelium without evidence of malignancy.
Carbuncle ; Diverticulum ; Epithelium ; Flank Pain ; Hematuria ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Nephrectomy ; Rupture ; Rupture, Spontaneous* ; Urinary Tract ; Urinary Tract Infections

BACKGROUND: The risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is higher in hemodialysis (HD) patients than in general population. Early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are the best way to reduce the most important cause of death. However, cardiac geometric and/or functional alterations including left ventricular hypertrophy, atherosclerosis and/or systolic and diastolic dysfunction are not easily known to nephrologist in the sense that diagnostic procedure is limited because cardiac angiography and echocardiography are frequently needed. METHODS: To evaluate the cardiac alteration by non-invasive tools, we measured pre- and post-HD B-type natriuretic peptide levels and performed impedance cardiography (ICG) in 40 HD patients and 10 healthy adults as control. RESULTS: Pre- and post-HD BNP level, cardiac index (CI), cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV), systemic vascular resistance index (SVRI), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), acceleration index (ACI), velocity index (VI) and thoracic fluid content (TFC) in patients were significantly higher than those in normal control group (p<0.05). Pre-HD BNP level, stroke index (SI), SV and TFC were significantly different after HD (p<0.05). There were significant differences in pre-HD BNP level, SI, SV and VI between diabetes and non-diabetes groups (p<0.05). Pre-HD BNP level correlated significantly with post- HD BNP level, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, CO, SVRI, SVR and TFC (p<0.05). In multiple linear regression analysis, SVR and TFC were positively associated with pre-HD BNP level (R2=0.289). The area under the ROC curve for cardiac alterations was 0.749 for pre-HD BNP level. A cut-point of 560 pg/mL for pre-HD BNP level was 80% sensitive and 72% specific in determining cardiac alterations. CONCLUSION: Even though cardiac alterations of patients were heterogeneous in our study, plasma BNP level and some parameters (SVR, TFC) of ICG seem to be available to nephrologist for detecting and monitoring cardiac conditions in HD patients.
Acceleration ; Adult ; Angiography ; Atherosclerosis ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiac Output ; Cardiography, Impedance* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death ; Early Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Electric Impedance* ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Linear Models ; Mortality ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain* ; Plasma ; Renal Dialysis* ; ROC Curve ; Stroke ; Stroke Volume ; Vascular Resistance

Recently xenotransplantation has been thought as a final solution for the controi of donor organ shortage in allograft. In order to be a ciinicai entity, xenotransplantation has many obstacles such as hyperacute rejection and delayed xenogratt rejection as a potent immunologic reaction, zoonosis and ethical problems. We already reported the eariy immunoiogic events occuring soon after xenograft in animal model, in which natural antibody and complement have a crucial roie in rejection response. As a further step for the prolongation of graft survival, we used anticomplement agent (cobra venom factor, CVF) in the same model. Graft survival in discordant (guinea pig-to-rat) xenogratt was extended from 30.6 minutes to 2 days following singie injection of CVF, which showed similar pattern of rejection with the concordant xenogratt in terms of time of rejection response after grafting. In this setting antibody response in the blood did not show any difference between that of pre CVF and post CVF, even though IgM response was more pronounced than IgG. The complement activity in the blood showed marked suppression following CVF injection. Intragraft complement gene (C3 mRNA) expression in CVF injected discordant showed delayed response in a similar pattern like that of concordant xenograft. Interestingly enough intragraft anticomplement gene expression showed the simiiar pattern of response with the complement. From these results we can conclude that anticomplement agent (CVF) extended the graft survival in discordant xenograft upto the level of concordant xenograft by shifting the complement activation response from that of discordant to concordant xenograft.
Rats ; Animals

PURPOSE: A better predictive model for occult invasive disease in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) patients is essential to guide the tailored use of sentinel node biopsies. We hypothesized that recent improvement of contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could provide more accurate information on the presence of occult invasion in DCIS patients. METHODS: From a prospectively maintained database, we identified 143 DCIS patients diagnosed with needle biopsies in whom MRI images were available. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients (45.5%) were upstaged to invasive carcinoma after curative surgery. Ultrasonographic lesion size, mass-appearance on mammography, type of needle used, and the presence of suspicious microinvasive foci were associated with increased likelihood of upstaging. Among the features of MRI, only mass-appearance was significantly associated with the presence of invasive disease (p=0.002). However, up to 50% of masses in MRI cases had massappearance on mammography as well. Other morphologic and pharmacokinetic features of MRI, such as shape, margin, and patterns of enhancement and washout, did not have a significant association. CONCLUSION: Among various morphologic and pharmacokinetic parameters of contrast-enhanced MRI, only mass-appearance was associated with occult invasive disease. Our results show the limitations of current contrast-enhanced MRI in predicting invasive disease in patients with preoperative diagnoses of DCIS.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Needle ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mammography ; Needles ; Nitriles ; Prospective Studies ; Pyrethrins ; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Amyloidosis is an acquired or inherited disorder with protein folding and degradation characterizing the deposition of the proteinaceous material in the extracellular matrix of one or several organs. Secondary amyloidosis resulting from the deposition of serum amyloid A protein, occurs 1-5% during the lifetime of patients with chronic inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. In addition, chronic pyelonephritis and pressure sores in patient with spinal cord injury are documented as risk factors of secondary amyloidosis. Thus, the efforts to treat and prevent the development of secondary amyloidosis and to preserve the renal function should focus on avoiding the chronic inflammatory state and a pathologic study of doubtful organs for early diagnosis should be performed. We have experienced one case of secondary amyloidosis in patient with spinal cord injury which involves with kidney and thyroid gland.
Amyloidosis* ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Early Diagnosis ; Extracellular Matrix ; Humans ; Kidney ; Pressure Ulcer ; Protein Folding ; Pyelonephritis ; Risk Factors ; Serum Amyloid A Protein ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing ; Thyroid Gland*

We have experienced three cases of mucinous ductal ectasia of the pancreas. They showed the characteristic duodenoscopic findings and underlying pathology was hyperplasia in two cases and adenocarcinoma in one case. When endoscopic retrograde pancreatography was performed, bulging ampulla of Vater, patulous ampullary orifice and mucus leakage from papillary orifice were noted. Also cyst-like dilatation of main duct or side branch of the uncinate process were observed.
Adenocarcinoma ; Ampulla of Vater ; Dilatation ; Dilatation, Pathologic* ; Hyperplasia ; Mucins* ; Mucus ; Pancreas* ; Pathology

BACKGROUND: Previous studies of animal and human experiments have shown excellent correlation between true or angiographic stenosis severity and stenosis severity calculated from intracoronary Doppler flow measurements and continuity equation method. However, there remains practical problems to be solved on its clinical application. To minimize these problems, the concept of modified continuity equation method, calculating the percent area stenosis by comparing the maximal in-stenosis flow velocity to the distal reference flow velocity, was introduced and compared with dipyridamole stress thallium-201 SPECT. METHODS: In this prospective study, 102 patients (mean age 57+/-10 years, 69 men, 33 women) with coronary artery stenoses ranging from 23-89% in percent diameter stenosis, who received coronary angiography, dipyridamole stress thallium-201 SPECT, and successful intracoronary flow velocity measurements were included. Modified continuity equation method and distal coronary flow velocity reserve were compared to the result of dipyridamole stress thallium-201 SPECT and quantitative coronary angiography. RESULTS: Measurements of adequate intralesional and stenosis distal flow velocities were successful in 102 out of 106 stenoses (96%). Minimal luminal area and percent area stenosis calculated from modified continuity equation method showed significant correlations with those of quantitative coronary angiography. Modified continuity equation method significantly underestimated the severity of stenosis than quantitative coronary angiography did. The test accuracy in relation to the result of dipyridamole stress thallium-201 SPECT were 91% in modified continuity equation method, 80% in quantitative coronary angiography and 63% in distal coronary flow velocity reserve. CONCLUSION: Application of intracoronary Doppler guide wire and modified continuity equation method appears to provide useful on-site implications for the anatomic and functional assessment of coronary artery stenosis. The modified continuity equation method would be one of the promising concepts for clinical decision making during coronary interventions.
Animals ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Stenosis* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Decision Making ; Dipyridamole* ; Humans ; Male ; Phenobarbital ; Prospective Studies ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*