Nineteen patients suffering from post-traumatic intracerebral hematoma, being managed by stereotactic aspiration of hematoma were evaluated. The outcome in this series is quite satisfactory, with 58% of patients having a functional survival. Eight patients died, of which three patients died of brain swelling and 5 died of systemic causes such as respiratory failure, gastrointestinal(GI) bleeding, and renal failure. It is our belief that stereotactic aspiration is helpful in managing patients with traumatic intracerebral hematoma without herniation and wevere brain swelling.
Brain Edema ; Hematoma* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Renal Insufficiency ; Respiratory Insufficiency

There exist some restrictions and difficulties in performing follicular unit extraction (FUE) in white-haired patients, for several reasons. In this paper, we introduce a novel technique for visualizing white hair during the punching procedure and graft preparation in FUE for white-haired patients. In white-haired older male patients, we dyed the surrounding scalp skin purple with a gentian violet solution-stained toothpick. Our method has several advantages: surgeons can easily focus on the center of the follicular unit and rapidly perform punching, they can recognize the condition of the harvested follicular units during FUE, and the hair transplant team can secure a clear view for trimming and loading into the implanter. We suggest that scalp dyeing in difficult FUE procedures, especially in patients with white hair, may be a simple method that provides a good visualization for donor site harvesting and for microdissection.
Alopecia ; Gentian Violet* ; Gentiana* ; Hair ; Hair Color ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Microdissection ; Scalp ; Skin ; Surgeons ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

Very late stent thrombosis after implantation of drug eluting stent is rare, but its consequences are potentially fatal. Stent thrombosis may be occurred in perioperative period because of interruption of anticoagulation therapy and intraoperative hypercoagulability. We report a case of very late stent thrombosis in a 49-year-old male patient during total gastrectomy. ST-segment elevation in lead II occurred during the surgery and followed by cardiac arrest. After external cardiac massage and electrocardioversion, normal sinus rhythm was restored. Postoperative 12 lead ECG showed ST-segment elevation in leads II, III, aVF and serum cardiac enzymes such as CPK, CK-MB, and Troponin T were markedly elevated. Postoperative coronary angiography showed complete occlusion of the right coronary artery stent. Emergency percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty was performed and the patient recovered uneventfully.
Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Vessels ; Electrocardiography ; Emergencies ; Gastrectomy ; Heart Arrest ; Heart Massage ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Perioperative Period ; Stents ; Thrombophilia ; Thrombosis ; Troponin T

The fine structure of cells in the trigeminal mesencephalic (Me5) nucleus in the rat was studied by transmission electron microscopy. This nucleus located in the mid-brain and the rostral portion of the pons, most neurons in the caudal part of Me5 nucleus were sufficiently large (40~50micrometer) and appeared as round-shaped unipolar cells. The Me5 neurons had a large, round, centrally located nucleus, and their cytoplasm contained numerous mitochondria, dense granular endoplasmic reticulum, abundant Golgi apparatus, groups of free ribosomes, some heterogeneous particles and neurofilaments. Cell surfaces were studded irregularly with small spinouts processes, and they contained a few fine irregularly arranged neurofilaments and some granular endoplasmic reticulum. Boutons contacting the soma of Me5 neurons were defined as axosomatic synapses and bostons contacting dendrites located between the Me5 neurons were defined as axodendritic synapses. Based on differences in bouton and vesicle morphology, the four synaptic bouton types were identified. 1. Asymmetrical as well as symmetrical synapses with small round vesicles. 2. Asymmetrical synapses with pleomorphic admixture contained predominantlyspherical vesicles. 3. Symmetrical synapses with pleomorphic vesicles of flattened, spherical and dense-core vesicles. 4. Asymmetrical as well as symmetrical synapses with heterogeneous and large dense-core vesicles. Synaptic boutons containing round vesicles and large dense-core vesicles were most frequently observed.
Animals ; Carisoprodol ; Cytoplasm ; Dendrites ; Endoplasmic Reticulum, Rough ; Golgi Apparatus ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Mitochondria ; Neurons ; Pons ; Presynaptic Terminals ; Rats* ; Ribosomes ; Synapses

PURPOSE: To report the clinical outcomes of percutaneous A1 pulley release for the surgical treatment of locked trigger thumb in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six trigger thumbs in 24 patients with a average of 14.2 months follow-up after percutaneous release were enrolled. There were 15 females and 9 males with an average age of 39 months. The mean time from first presentation to surgery was 16 months. Procedures were performed under local anesthesia. Postoperative examinations at immediate, 3 months and 1-year recorded pain, triggering and range of motion and presence of complications. RESULTS: All thumbs had a satisfactory result without digital nerve injury. Eleven patients(46%) had a mean 14.3degrees extension loss of the interphalangeal joint and 12.0degrees hyperextension of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb, compared to the contralateral thumb. At final follow-up, all but 1 patient were completely resolved. The duration of symptoms and age were higher in the group with thumb deformity (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Temporary thumb deformity is possible after surgical treatment of trigger thumb in children with a long duration of symptoms. Percutaneous release can be a safe and satisfactory treatment option in pediatric trigger thumb.
Anesthesia, Local ; Child ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand Deformities ; Humans ; Joints ; Male ; Metacarpophalangeal Joint ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Thumb ; Trigger Finger Disorder

OBJECTIVE: Since the accuracy of Pap smear for cervical neoplasm has been questioned, a number of adjunctive tests have been developed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of speculoscopy, a magnified chemiluminescent examination, as compared with that of the Pap smear in the screening of cervical neoplasm. METHODS: A total of 41 women were included in the study. We conducted Pap smear, speculoscopy, and punch biopsy to all subjects. Targeted biopsies were obtained from any suspicious lesions that were found with positive speculoscopy. Women with negative speculoscopy underwent random biopsies. The data were analysed using McNemar's test. RESULTS: Thirty-one out of 41 biopsy specimen were found to have cervical lesion that were worse than CIN I, including 8 cases of invasive cancer. The sensitivity and specificity of Pap smear were 74.2% and 70.0%, respectively. Those of speculoscopy were 93.5% and 60.0%, respectively. When these two tests were combined, the sensitivity was raised to 96.8%, but the specificity declined to 50.0%. Among 9 cases of ASCUS on Pap smear, 6 cases were found to have cervical pathology worse than CIN II, and these were positive on speculoscopy. CONCLUSION: Speculoscopy combined with a Pap smear can increase the detection of cervical lesions compared with the Pap smear alone. In the cases of ASCUS on Pap smear, speculoscopy may be more useful to detect significant pathology.
Biopsy ; Female ; Humans ; Mass Screening* ; Pathology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

This studies were examined and compared the immunohistochemical distribution of the two calcium -binding proteins calbindin D -28K and parvalbumin positive neurons in the brain stem and spinal cord after transection of spinal cord in rats. In this experiment, calbindin D -28K immunoreactive neurons were mainly found in many pyramidal cells distributed in the brain stem and spinal cord of rats. Calbindin D -28K neuropil labeling was strongly noted in brain stem and in spinal all segments of the spinal cord. In contrast to parvalbumin, little differences were found in distribution, size and morphology of calbindin D -28K cell body or neuropil staining in the brain stem and spinal cord. Parvalbumin immunoreactive cells were demonstrated in all lamina of the gray matter of the spinal cord. These immunoreactive cells had the most high density in the layer I and II dorsal horn and several nuclei of the ventral horn of the all segments of the spinal cord. These immunoreactive cells between the brain stem and spinal cord were quite different markedly in number, cell size and morphology The number of parvalbumin positive cells were more than twice in the brain stem and spinal cord compared to the calbindin D -28K positive cells. Calbindin D -28K and parvalbumin -immunoreactive somata were round, oval, spindle and polygonal in shape, and the positive neurons were unipolar, bipolar, multipolar and horizontal in shape. The diameters of the somata of the two positive neurons were 30 ~40 micrometer, respectively. Also dendrites of two positive neurons were densely arrayed in arborization.
Animals ; Brain Stem* ; Brain* ; Calbindins* ; Calcium ; Cell Count ; Dendrites ; Horns ; Neurons* ; Neuropil ; Pyramidal Cells ; Rats* ; Spinal Cord*

OBJECTIVES: This study is to examine the efficacy and the limitation of translated Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale. The Korean version of the scale is to be used for treatment and research on alcoholism. METHODS: This study was carried out to examine reliability and validity of the translated Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale. One hundred forty two out-patient alcohol dependence subjects were measured of their cognitive and behavioral aspects of craving with this scale. RESULTS: For 142 tested alcoholic subjects, internal consistency among 14 items of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was 0.8947(Crohnbach's alpha). For 40 detoxified alcoholics, test-retest reliability of total score of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was 0.76 (correlation coefficient, p<0.01). In 131 alcoholic subjects, validity of total score of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was examined by correlation analysis with visual analogue scale (VAS). Correlation coefficient was 0.52 with VAS. Especially, correlation coefficient of compulsive subscale of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was 0.61 with VAS. The total score of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale which was analyzed by repeated measure analyses of variance during 8 weeks was significantly different between the relapse group and the abstinence group. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale shows very similar psychometric performance to the original Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale developed by Anton. The Korean version, therefore, is an useful instrument that reflects characteristic drinking behaviors of alcoholics.
Alcoholics ; Alcoholism* ; Drinking Behavior ; Drinking* ; Humans ; Outpatients* ; Psychometrics ; Recurrence ; Reproducibility of Results*

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to compare the clinical efficacy of intravaginal misoprostol and that of intravenous sulprostone for termination of second-trimester pregnancy. METHODS: The patients were assigned to misoprostol and sulprostone group, and the misoprostol group was further divided into two groups according to gestational age. In the misoprostol group, the patients at or before 20 weeks of gestation received 400 microgram of intravaginal misoprostol every 4 hours until labor pain was established, 200 microgram every 6 hours after 20 weeks of gestation. In the sulprostone group, intravenous sulprostone was infused at the speed of 100 microgram/hr after cervical ripening with 3 mg of intravaginal dinoprostone. RESULTS: At or before 20 weeks of gestation, the median time from induction to completion of termination was longer, but the success rate within 24 hours was less in the misoprostol group than in the sulprostone group (18.75 vs. 7.15 hours, p=0.015; 50% vs 92%, p=0.014, respectively). After 20 weeks, there was no significant difference in median induction time or success rate within 24 hours (5.54 vs. 8.0 hours, p>0.05; 100% vs. 100%, p>0.05, respectively). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of complication or change of hemoglobin after termination between two groups. CONCLUSION: Sulprostone may be more effective for termination of pregnancy at or before 20 weeks of gestation and misoprostol may be as effective as sulprostone after 20 weeks of gestation. But considering less cost and complication, the efficacy of misoprostol should be further investigated for termination of second- trimester pregnancy.
Cervical Ripening ; Dinoprostone ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Labor Pain ; Misoprostol* ; Pregnancy* ; Prevalence

Although urinary tract infections are common in adults, pyelonephritis is rarely considered in the differential diagnosis of acute renal failure. Acute pyelonephritis without urinary tract obstruction, previous renal diseases or septic shock is a rare cause of acute renal failure. Despite appropriate antibiotic therapy, recovery of renal function could be slow and incomplete. We experienced a 45 year-old woman with diabetes who developed bilateral acute pyelonephritis followed by acute renal failure. The renal biopsy revealed diffuse edematous and focal fibrotic inters- titium with infiltration of lymphocytes compatible with interstitial nephritis. Although her renal function improved gradually with antimicrobial treatment, the process was incomplete and renal dysfunction persisted at about 10-month follow-up, suggesting permanent renal damage. Therefore, we report this case with brief review of related literature.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Adult ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; Middle Aged ; Nephritis, Interstitial ; Pyelonephritis* ; Shock, Septic ; Urinary Tract ; Urinary Tract Infections