PURPOSE: Recently, two tests are commercially available for the identification of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI): tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). Due to its false positiveness, TST tends to be preferred by IGRA until now. In our study, we simultaneously performed both TST and QuantiFERON(R)-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and compared their results. METHODS: TST and QFT-GIT were done for the diagnosis of LTBI among children who visited pediatric out-patient clinic at St. Vincent's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea from February of 2007 to May of 2008. The study group was stratified into two groups in terms of whether there was intrafamilial contact or not. RESULTS: Out of total 35 children, 29 were tuberculosis (TB)-exposed cases and the remainders were diagnosed as clinical pulmonary TB. Among these 29 children, TST was positive 38.9% (7/18) for the intrafamilial and 45.5% (5/11) for the non-intrafamilial, and at the same time, the result for QFT-GIT was positive 5.6% (1/18) and 9.1% (1/11), respectively which implies that TST was more sensitive than QFT-GIT. Among 29 TB-exposed cases, 26 initially went through TST and QFT-GIT together on their first visit to out-patient clinic, and 15 continued the follow-up tests. Out of total 41 cases collected, the agreement (known as kappa value) was 0.063 which was relatively low. Including 6 cases with pulmonary TB who were all positive for TST and only 5 being positive for QFT-GIT, the final kappa value was 0.334. CONCLUSION: In our study, the agreement for TST and QFT-GIT was low, and the majorities were almost the cases of positive TST. In current situation with lacking a gold standard test and limited data on children to adolescents, this result is quite alarming that the recent trend tends to replace TST by QFT-GIT when diagnosing LTBI.
Adolescent ; Child ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma Release Tests ; Korea ; Latent Tuberculosis ; Outpatients ; Skin ; Skin Tests ; Tuberculin ; Tuberculosis

We have retrospectively analyzed the clinical and radiological outcome in 22 cervical spondylotic myeloradiculopathy patients who underwent combined front anterior decompression and fusion) and back (open door laminoplasty) surgery between Mar. 1991 and Jan. 1995. Clinical symptoms were evaluated by Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA) score and the recovery rate. Plain radiogram and MIR were taken before and after surgery, and then the cervical curvature, change of body to canal ratio and the A-P compression ratio of the cord were measured and compared to the clinical symptoms. Results : The mean JOA score increased from 10.1±3.3 preoperatively to 14.7±1.4 at the final follow-up with a mean recovery rate of 64.4%. No patients deteriorated as a result of the combined procedure. Post-op. radiograms showed an increasement of body to ratios (average 0.69±0.09 pre-op. to 1.0±0.13 post-op.) and maintenance or recovery of cervical Lordosis. On MRI, the A-P compression ratios of the cord were increased with recovery of subarachnoid space after the operation in most cases (average 38.4±7.6 pre-op. to 55.7±7.2 post-op.). Conclusion : This combined procedure safely and effectively resulted in decompression of the spinal cord and good functional recovery in patients with 1) anterior and posterior pathology, 2) narrow spinal canal and large spondylotic bar or herniated disc encroaching the spinal canal more than 5mm, 3) narrow spinal canal and kyphotic deformity, 4) narrow spinal canal and segmental instability, 5) multisegmental cord compression and severe radiculopathy.
Animals ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Decompression ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Lordosis ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pathology ; Radiculopathy ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Cord ; Subarachnoid Space

No abstract available.
Borrelia burgdorferi* ; Borrelia* ; Ixodes* ; Korea* ; Lyme Disease* ; Ticks*

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty(PTA) was first described by Dotter and Jukins in 1964 and subsequently modified by Gruentzig and Hoff in 1974. PTA has proved a safe and effective treatment for focal atherosclerotic disease of the aorta and its major extremity branches. The complications of PTA of the peripheral vessels are less frequent and less serve than those associated with the comparable surgical procedure. Intestinal angina is a clinical syndrome compromising postprandial abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and eventually fear of eating. The syndrome is thought to be due to visceral ischemia, with stenosis or occlusion of the three visceral arteries being necessary for the syndrome to occur. Although the first report of mesenteric PTA appeared in 1980, the series of PTA with stenting of the visceral arteris reported in the literature have been small or included limited follow-up. We report a case of a intestinal angina due to superior mesenteric arterial stenosis. A 69-year-old male complained of serve postprandial pain, chronic diarrhea for 1 year. PTA with stening in superior mesenteric artery results in recannulation of obstructed artery and relief of symptom.
Abdominal Pain ; Aged ; Angioplasty* ; Aorta ; Arteries ; Chronic Pain ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Extremities ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Male ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; Nausea ; Stents* ; Vomiting ; Weight Loss

No abstract available.
Pancreaticoduodenectomy*

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the functional outcomes of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) and to assess factors affecting the patients' subjective satisfaction after RTSA. METHODS: Forty-three patients (mean age, 75.0 ± 5.2 years) who underwent RTSA for cuff tear arthropathy or irreparable cuff tears with preoperative magnetic resonance imaging and pre- and postoperative radiographs at 1 year, and whose various functional outcomes including pain visual analogue scale (VAS), simple shoulder test, Constant score, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, and active range of motion were evaluated preoperatively and at the last follow-up (>12 months) were enrolled. The outcome parameter was set as a satisfaction scale. Various clinical and radiographic factors were analyzed, and their correlations with postoperative satisfaction were evaluated. RESULTS: All functional scores, VAS pain score, and active forward flexion showed significant improvement after surgery (all p<0.001). Twenty-nine patients were satisfied with the results and 14 were dissatisfied. The presence of pseudoparalysis (p=0.028) and worse preoperative function (all p<0.05) were related with higher satisfaction. Any radiologic parameters did not affect patients' postoperative satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: All patients showed a good functional outcome after RTSA, however the patients' subjective postoperative satisfaction was affected by preoperative functional status (higher satisfaction in poor preoperative function), not by radiological findings.
Arthroplasty* ; Elbow ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Shoulder* ; Surgeons ; Tears

No abstract available.
Nose*

We report an extremely rare case in which two tuberculids, papulonecrotic tuberculid and erythema nodosum, occurred together. A 16-year-old girl had two types of clinically distinct lesions; asymptomatic necrotic papules on the upper and lower extremities and painful subcutaneous nodules on the legs. A Mantoux test showed a strong positive reaction. Histopathologic findings of the necrotic papule and subcutaneous nodule were consistent with papulonecrotic tuberculid and erythema nodosum, respectively. There was no extracutaneous focus of tuberculosis. Polymerase chain reaction for tuberculous bacilli in the papulonecrotic tuberculid lesion revealed a negative result. Antituberculous therapy brought a rapid clinical improvement of both lesions.
Adolescent ; Erythema Nodosum* ; Erythema* ; Female ; Humans ; Leg ; Lower Extremity ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Cutaneous*

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the lung is a newly recognized entity of pulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma. Histologically, it is very difficult to differentiate LCNEC from other pulmonary carcinomas and the prognosis is significantly poor. The cutaneous metastasis of LCNEC of the lung shares some features with Merkel cell carcinoma of the skin in light microscopy and yet it is negatively stained with cytokeratin 20. We report a case of cutaneous metastasis of LCNEC of the lung, previously misdiagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. Our patient showed a poor response to the chemotherapy and also revealed a brain metastasis on follow-up brain CT scan.
Brain ; Carcinoma, Merkel Cell* ; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Keratin-20 ; Lung* ; Microscopy ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Skin ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed