A complete fracture dislocation at the cervicothoracic junction is rare and accompanied by severe spinal cord injury. This region is difficult to image with plain radiography, and to immobilize with external orthosis due to the biomechanical forces exerted in this transitional portion of the spinal column. We experienced a rare case in 52-year-old male victim of a car accident. He sustained paraplegia, and complained of dyspnea and neck pain of 10 days duration at another hospital. The delayed clinical rediagnosis was a C6 and 7 spinous process fracture and a cervicothoracic fracture dislocation, with complete transection of spinal cord, which was based on a clinical examination, simple radiography, CT and MRI. Skeletal traction was immediately applied, followed by a posterior pedicle screw to stabilize the spine and secure the grafts. Rehabilitation was initiated and the dysphagia and dyspnea, due to aspiration pneumonia, were improved, but no neurologic recovery was made after the 1st postoperative year.
Deglutition Disorders ; Dislocations ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck Pain ; Orthotic Devices ; Paraplegia ; Pneumonia, Aspiration ; Radiography ; Rehabilitation ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Spine ; Traction ; Transplants

No abstract available.
Blood Group Incompatibility* ; Bromelains*

We conducted this cohort analytic study to determine whether women with unexplained elevations of maternal serum hCG at 15-18 weeks' gestation are at increased risk for pregnancy complications and adverse perinatal outcomes. The inclusion criteria were a singleton gestation, a confirmed gestational age, and an hCG level greater than 2.0 multiples of the median (MoM). The exclusion criteria were fetal anomalies, an abnormal karyotype, molar pregnancy, and an MSAFP level greater than 2.5 multiples of the median (MoM). A group of randomly selected women with hCG levels under 2.0 MoM served as controls. Patients with elevated levels of hCG had a significantly higher risk for PIH (17.9% versus 4.5%; P <.05) and preterm delivery (17.9% versus 3.5%; P<, 05) than control. But no significant differences were observed in the incidence of intrauterine growth restriction and low birth weight and in the newborn weight. We suggested that pregnancies with unexplained elevated hCG levels should be regarded as high-risk pregnancies. And these patients require careful monitoring with adequate obstetric management.
Abnormal Karyotype ; Chorionic Gonadotropin* ; Cohort Studies ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans* ; Hydatidiform Mole ; Incidence ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications ; Pregnancy Outcome* ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnancy, High-Risk

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is the most common cause of death among patients with infectious disease in Korea. However, studies of pneumonia with septic shock in patients presenting to the emergency department are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic factors associated with pneumonia with septic shock in patients presenting to the emergency department. METHODS: From January 2008 to September 2014, patients with pneumonia with septic shock admitted through the emergency department were retrospectively examined. RESULTS: Of the 561,845 patients who visited the emergency department, 398 were admitted for pneumonia with septic shock. The 28-day mortality rate in these patients was 36.4%. The independent prognostic factors were old age (>70 yrs) (odds ratio [OR], 2.42; 95%, confidence interval [CI], 1.35-4.32), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.08), leukopenia (OR, 3.63; 95% CI, 1.48-8.94), prolonged PT-INR (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.41-4.54), and hypoxemia (OR, 2.88; 95% CI, 1.30-6.38). CONCLUSIONS: A poor prognosis of patients with pneumonia is associated with old age (>70 yrs), increased APACHE II score, leukopenia, prolonged PT-INR, and hypoxemia.
Anoxia ; APACHE ; Cause of Death ; Communicable Diseases ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Korea ; Leukopenia ; Mortality ; Pneumonia* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Shock, Septic*

Adult intussusception is rare involving of only 1% of the causes of bowel obstruction. We report a case of a 39-year-old female with intussusceptions due to inverted Meckel's diverticulum. She visited our hospital for diffuse abdominal pain during 1 week and aggravated abdominal pain for 2 days. Vital signs were stable, and there was periumbilical tenderness. She had no history of abdominal operation. CT scan showed a 3.7x2.1 cm of fatty mass with focal intussusception in the distal ileum. When the emergency operation was performed, the patient was found to be suffering from ileocolic intussusception. A manual reduction of intussusception showed inverted Meckel's deverticulum at 65 cm proximal to the ileocecal valve, and the segmental resection of small bowel including a Meckel's diverticulum was performed. Pathologic examination revealed a Meckel's diverticulum containing a 0.6x0.6 cm sized aberrant pancreas.
Abdominal Pain ; Adult ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Ileocecal Valve ; Ileum ; Intussusception ; Meckel Diverticulum ; Pancreas ; Stress, Psychological ; Vital Signs

To evaluate the differences between current and past surgical treatment of intussusception, the medical records of 48 intussusception patients who underwent surgical treatment over 4 years (1975-1978, Group A) were reviewed and compared to the medical records of 75 intussusception patients who underwent surgical treatment over 4 years (1995-1998, Group B). Sex ratio is male predominant in both group (2.7:1 vs 1.6:1) and mean age of operation is 6.7+/-5.0 month (Group A) and 8.1+/-7.0 month (Group B). Major symptoms and signs of both groups are vomiting, hematochezia and irritability. White blood cell count of peripheral blood in both groups had no significant difference (12,417+/-4,446/mm3 vs 12,297+/-4,531/mm3). In operation methods, group A had significantly higher bowel resection rate over group B (31.3% vs 14.7%, p<0.05). In group A, 2 patients were died after operation, but group B have no operative mortality. Admission period after operation is significantly short in Group B (7.5+/-2.7 day vs 5.4+/-2.1 day, p<0.01). These results suggest there were no significant difference in characters of patients between Group A and B. But surgical treatment of intussusception in 1990s was more conservative than that in 1970s. We expect that recent surgical treatment lead early recovery from operation and early discharge from hospital.
Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intussusception* ; Leukocyte Count ; Male ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Sex Ratio ; Vomiting

Purpose: A laparoscopic radical nephrectomy is known to cause less morbidity than a traditional open radical nephrectomy. In our institution, the laparoscopic approach, with intact specimen removal, has become the standard technique for radical nephrectomies. Herein, we report the results and oncological outcome of the experience of a single center. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 68 transperitoneal laparoscopic radical nephrectomies, performed for suspected renal cell carcinoma between December 1999 and June 2006. All data were collected from the patient's medical records. Results: The mean tumor size, surgical time and estimated blood loss were 4.82cm (1.7-14), 228.5 min (120-480) and 409.1cc (32-1,312), respectively. Conversion to open surgery was required in one case due to Endo-GIA malfunction, and conversion to hand-assisted surgery was performed in one case. The histological findings were pT1, pT2 and pT3 in 40 (59.7%), 9 (13.4%) and 18 patients (26.9%), respectively. In one case, the histology confirmed a non-malignant disease. The follow-up period was from 3 to 80 months (median 18). Distant metastasis was observed in 2 cases, but there was no local recurrence or port metastasis. Conclusions: A laparoscopic radical nephrectomy is a safe and feasible treatment for localized renal cell carcinomas. Longer follow-up and large scale studies are necessary to evaluate the long-term survival and disease- free rates, and confirm the effectiveness of performing a radical laparoscopic nephrectomy.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Conversion to Open Surgery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Medical Records ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nephrectomy* ; Operative Time ; Recurrence

PURPOSE: The outcome of a tubularized incised plate (TIP) urethroplasty for hypospadias was reviewed retrospectively, and compared with other procedures with respected to the success rate, complications and satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between April, 1994 and July, 2001, 51 patients underwent a repair for hypospadias, by the same operator, using a transverse preputial island flap (TPIF; 7), an onlay island flap (OIF; 3), Mathieu (7) and tubularized incised plate (34) procedures. The operation time, period of catheterization, postoperative hospital days and complication rates for each procedure were also compared. RESULTS: The mean operation time in the TIP group was 140 minutes, compared to 230 220 and 160 minutes in the TPIF, OIF and Mathieu groups, respectively. The mean admission periods in the TPIF, OIF, Mathieu and TIP group, were 14, 17, 11 and 10 days, respectively. The mean operation time and admission period was shorter in the TIP group than those of the other procedures. The incidence rate of an urethrocutaneous fistula was lower in the TIP group (23%: 8/34) than in the TPIF (43%: 3/7), OIF (66%: 2/3) and Mathieu groups (57%: 4/7). Postoperative satisfaction for the penis and meatus shapes was highest in the TIP group. CONCLUSIONS: The TIP urethroplasty had better outcomes than the TPIF, OIF and Mathieu procedures with regard to the operation time, catheterization period, admission period and complication rates following the operations. TIP urethroplasty is thought to be the most economic method for the repair of hypospadias, and can be recommended as the first choice for its repair.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Female ; Fistula ; Humans ; Hypospadias* ; Incidence ; Inlays ; Male ; Penis ; Retrospective Studies ; Urethra

No abstract available.
Hand*

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) has been suspected as a possible gene therapy candidate for orthopedic diseases. We demonstrated that the TGF-beta gene therapy can be applicable to orthopedic patients. After transfection of TGF-beta cDNA sequence to myoblasts [C2 (280)] and fibroblasts (NIH 3T3), stable cell lines with TGF-beta mRNA expression were selected by Northern analysis. To evaluate the possibility of clinical application of these cells to orthopedic diseases, the cells were injected into rabbit achilles tendon. Intratendinous injection was done to evaluate the viability of the cells and to determine the optimal concentration for in vivo expression. At 6 weeks after injection, the injected tendon was thickened with newly formed collagen. The results from this experiment indicates that these cells survived and stimulated matrix formation in rabbit achilles tendon. We concluded that TGF-beta cDNA transfected cells can be useful in the evaluation of TGF-beta biology in vivo.
Achilles Tendon* ; Biology ; Cell Line* ; Collagen ; DNA, Complementary ; Fibroblasts* ; Genetic Therapy ; Humans ; Myoblasts* ; Orthopedics ; RNA, Messenger ; Tendons ; Transfection ; Transforming Growth Factor beta*