Ouarian tumors of low malignant potential(OTLMP) or borderline tumors account for approximately 10% of all ovarian neaplasms. Borderline tumors have some but not all of the histologic characteristics af ma lignancy : stratification of epitheliial cells, with some degree of nuclear atypia a,nd inereased mitotic actitity but. without stromal invasion. We reviwed 20 published Rnglish written articlea from 1978 to 1992 and Korean gynecologic cancer regestry of 1990. In this review, we tried to concentrate on several debating is sues in OTLMP: 1) What kind of surgery is needed for each stages?, 2) Is postoperative adjuvant t.herapy needed?, 3) Jf needed, which type? Following result were obtained from the besis of 1516 patients with OTLMP. Patients withh OTLMIP are younger than those with invasive ovarian cancers', mean age was in their forties. The majority of patients(74.5%) had stage I disease, and the incidence dropped ahruptly to 9.4% for stage ll, 15.7% for stage III and 0.4% for stage IV. The most cammon histologic subtype was serous(56.7%), followed by muci noua(38.1%), However, interestingly in Korea and Japan, the mucinous type was the most common one. The primary treatment for OTLMP was surgery, and the conservative surgery to preserve fertility in young women was sufficient for stage I disease with careful follow-up. The majority of patients(79.1%) with stage I disease were treated by surgery alone. Adjuvant such as chemotherapy (CT) and/or radiotherapy(RT) could prolong the recurrence of disease a little later, but failed to increase diaease-free survival significantly in stage I disease. In stageII disease, the surgery should be a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with multiple sampling of the peritoneal cavity. About a third of patients with stageII disease received no adjuvant therapy and the others received CT and/or RT, however, there was no difference in outcome of recurrence and survival. In advanced stage. 15% of patients received no adjuvant therapy after initial debulking surgery, and the rest of patients received CT and/or RT. No differences in recurrence and survival between each groups were noticed , too. The status of second-look laparotomy(SLL) did not depend on the stage of the disease. Positive rate of SLL for stage I diaease was not statistically different from that for the combined stages II-IV. Survival for stage I at 5 years was reported to range from 80 to 100%, and even stage III had survival ranging from 64 to 96%. Long-term survival at 15~20 years was also good. Although it is quite difficult to make conclusions because of the lack of prospective randomized studies from this review, it appears clear that surgical removal of the tumor and careful follow-up of patients are all that are necessary in stage I disease and further multi-center prospective study for the effect of adjuvant therapy in advanced disease is definitely needed.
Drug Therapy ; Female ; Fertility ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Incidence ; Japan ; Korea ; Mucins ; Peritoneal Cavity ; Prospective Studies ; Recurrence

We present 9 cases of plexiform schwannoma examined at Severance hospital from January, 1980 to September, 1987. The predilection sites of plexiform schwannoma included head and neck including oral cavity. The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 32 years. The difference of sex ratio was not apparent. Histopathological findings revealed multiple round to oval nodules encapsulated by thin fibroconnective tissue with nuclear palisading and Verocay body in each nodule. There was mild to moderate cellular atypia in some area, but mitotic figure was not found. The Bielschowsky's silver stain did not demonstrate any axon within or outside of the nodule. The thin capsule was positive with reticulin stain.

No abstract available.
Adolescent* ; Humans ; Parents* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Products*

Mucocele of the appendix is uncomrnon and rarely diagnosed preoperatively. The malignant rountpart-i.e. mucinous cystadenocarcinoma--has the same grross appearance and many micro scopic features in cornmon wilhe the benign form. It rnay be associated with ovarian mucinous cystadenoma of strikingly similar microscopic appearence. A serious complication is a rupture of the mucoeele resulting in pseudomyxoma peritonei. Each case of benign and malignant mucocelr of the appendix falsely diagnosecl as an oovarian tumor before laparotxumy are presented wilh a brief rieview of the literatures.
Appendix* ; Cystadenoma, Mucinous ; Mucins ; Mucocele* ; Pseudomyxoma Peritonei ; Rupture

No abstract available.
Membranes* ; Pregnancy* ; Rupture*

Tumor DNA content measured by flow cytometry may be a predictor in the prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer, but the results have been inconsistent. It is recognized that these conflicting results are at least partly due to the variation of DNA content between the samples from the same patient(i.e., intratumoral DNA heterogeneity). The purposes of this retrospective study were to investigate the frequency and the nature of DNA heterogeneity in epithelial ovarian cancer and to evaluate the prognostic significance of DNA heterogenetiy itself. Thirty-two patients with stage II to IV epithelial ovarian cancer who were managed at Asan Medical Center between May 1993 and April 1996 were analysed. Measurements of the nuclear DNA content were performed on samples from primary and metastatic lesion using paraffin embedded archival tissues by Epics(Coulter Inc.) flow cytometry. In two cases, the metastatic tumor was minute and did not reveal a separable peak on repeated examination. DNA heterogeneity was defined as different ploidy pattern or difference of the DNA indices than 0.15 between primary and metastatic tumors. DNA heterogeneity was found in 11 cases(36.7%), and the number of cases with homogeneous diploid and that with homogeneous aneuploid tumor were 5(16.7%) and 14(46.7%) respectively. In evaluation of prognostic significance of DNA heterogeneity using correlation with serum CA 125 level after second course of chemotherapy and residual tumor size after cytoreductive surgery among these three groups, the patients with DNA heterogeneity were considered to show intermediate prognosis between those with homogeneous diploid and homogeneous aneuploid tumor. In conclusion, DNA heterogeneity in epithelial ovarian cancer is considerable in frequency and may have prognostic value.
Aneuploidy ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Drug Therapy ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Paraffin ; Ploidies* ; Population Characteristics* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

It is very important to estimate the future medical care expenditure, because medical care expenditure escalation is a big problem not only in the health industry but also in the Korean economy today. This study was designed to project the medical care expenditure in view of population age change. The data of this study were the population projection data based on National Census Data (1990) of the National Statistical Office and the Statistical Reports of the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation. The future medical care expenditure was eatimated by the regression model and the optional simulation model. The significant results are as follows; 1. The future medical care expenditure will be 3,963 billion Won in the year 2000, 4,483 billion Won in 2010, and 4,826 billion Won in 2020, based on the 1990 market price considering only the population age change. 2. The proportion of the total medical care expenditure in the elderly over 65 will be 10. 4% in 2000, 13.5% in 2010, and 16.9% in 2020. 3. The future medical care expenditure will be 4,306 billion Won in the year 2000, 5,1101 billion Won in 2010, and 5, 699 billion Won in 2020 based on the 1990 market price considering the age structure change and the change of the case-cost estimated by the regression model. 4. When we consider the age-structure change and inflation compared with the preceding year, the future medical care expenditurein 2020 will be 21 trillion Won based on a 5% inflation rate, 42 trillion Won based on a 7.5% inflation rate, and 84 trillion Won based on a 10% inflation rate. Consideration of the aged (65 years old and over)will be essential to understand the acute increase of medical care expenditure due to changes in age structure of the population. Therefore, alternative policies and programs for the caring of the aged should be further studied.
Aged ; Censuses ; Population Forecast ; Health Expenditures* ; Humans ; Inflation, Economic ; Insurance ; Korea

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to examine the interactions between mivacurium and vecuronium when administered during a standardized technique. METHODS: Eighty patients (ASA physical status I or II) were randomly assigned to one of four groups (n=20). Their neuromuscular function was measured in response to ulnar nerve supramaximal square-wave TOF stimulation at 10-sec intervals. After the attainment of a stable baseline neuromuscular response, the patients were randomly assigned to receive a rapid iv bolus of either: (1) 3M group (n=20): mivacurium 0.21 mg/kg. Alone, or (2) 2M1V group (n=20): mivacurium 0.14 mg/kg plus vecuronium 0.05 mg/kg, or (3) 1M2V group (n=20): mivacurium 0.07 mg/kg plus vecuronium 0.10 mg/kg, or (4) 3V group (n=20): vecuronium 0.15 mg/kg alone. The onset time of the neuromuscular block, time of recovery of T1 to 25% and reblock time (the time from the reinjection of vecuronium at the time of recovery of T1 to 25% to the time of recovery of T1 to 25%: T25-25) were measured. The intubating condition was evaluated clinically with a scoring system. RESULTS: The onset of block in the 3M group was 33% slower than in the 3V group. The time durations until 25% recovery in the 2M1V, 1M2V and 3V groups were longer than in the 3M group, and the durations in the 1M2V and 3V groups were longer than in the 2M1V group. The T25-25 reblock times of the 2M1V, 1M2V and 3V groups were prolonged in comparison to that of the 3M group. There was no difference in intubating conditions between any of the groups. CONCLUSIONS: A combination of mivacurium with vecuronium provides rates of onset and duration of block which are more effective than an equivalent dose of mivacuriun alone as an additive reaction.
Anesthesia, General* ; Humans ; Neuromuscular Blockade* ; Ulnar Nerve ; Vecuronium Bromide*

OBJECTIVE: The changes of the production of nitric oxide in preeclampsia are still controversial. To determine the changes of nitric oxide production in preeclamptic pregnancies, NOS activity and eNOS and iNOS expression in preeclamptic placentae were compared with those in normal placentae, and to determine the changes of nitirc oxide production according to the sites of placenta, NOS activity and eNOS expression in preeclamptic placentae were also compared with those in normal placentae. METHODS: Human placentae were obtained from 15 normal and 15 preeclamptic pregnant women at the time of cesarean section. NOS activity was assessed by measuring the conversion of [3H]-arginine into [3H]-citrulline. The eNOS and iNOS expression were assessed by using western blot analysis. Data were analyzed by Student t-test and paired t-test where appropriate. RESULTS: The NOS activity(judged by measurement of [3H]-citrulline production) was significantly increased in preeclamptic placentae compared to normal(P<0.05). In normal and preeclamptic pregnant placentae, the NOS activity in main stem villi was increased compared to that in terminal villi. However, the difference of NOS activity between main stem villi and terminal villi was not significant(P>0.05). Quantification of the autoradiographic images demonstrated that the integrated optical density of the immunoreactive bands of eNOS were significantly lower in preeclamptic placentae compared to normal(p<0.05). Conversely, the integrated optical densities of the bands of iNOS were significantly higher in preeclamptic placentae compared to normal(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Although the eNOS expression in preeclamptic placentae was lower than that in normal placentae, the NOS activity was significantly higher in preeclamptic placentae than that in normal in this study. These are result from increased production of iNOS in the compensatory mechanisms for the decreased nitric oxide production in pre-eclamptic placentae.
Blotting, Western ; Cesarean Section ; Female ; Humans* ; Nitric Oxide Synthase* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Placenta* ; Pre-Eclampsia ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnant Women

Measurement of the serum CA 125 level as a tumor marker in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer has been widely used to monitor disease status and predict survival of patient. While a number of benign gynecologic as well as benign or malignant non-gynecologic conditions are associated with elevations of serum CA 125 levels, the established normal range describes a healthy population of women. Because the metabolism and clearance of CA 125 is not well understood and mild or moderate degrees of renal impairment frequently occurs in ovarian cancer patients during treatment or course of disease, it is valuable to investigate the effect of impaired renal function on serum level of CA 125. Eighty-nine women on hemodialysis who had no other definite cause to elevate serum CA 125 level were selected at random. The age of the patients ranged from 19 to 83 and renal disease was secondary in most cases to diabetes mellitus, hypertension or glomeru-lonephritis. The creatinine clearance was less than 10cc/min for all patients. (continue)
Creatinine ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Metabolism ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Reference Values ; Renal Dialysis