BACKGROUND: To report the radiological and clinical outcomes of internal fixation using distal clavicle hook plates for distal clavicle fractures. METHODS: From April 2008 to December 2012, 32 patients with distal clavicle fractures underwent surgery using an AO hook plate. The reduction was qualified and evaluated according to the radiological findings. The evaluation of the clinical outcomes was performed with the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) score, the Korean Shoulder score, and the visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score. RESULTS: By radiological evaluation, we found that 31 of 32 patients showed anatomical reduction and solid bone union. Although we obtained satisfactory UCLA scores, Korean Shoulder Scale scores, and VAS pain scores, 12 cases of complications were present. We found 4 cases of osteolysis of the acromion, 1 case of nonunion, 3 cases of periprosthetic fractures, 3 cases of subacromial pain, and 1 case of skin irritation. We performed re-operations in 2 patients. CONCLUSIONS: To avoid complications associated with clavicle hook plates, choosing the appropriate hook size and bending of the hook according to the slope of the acromion undersurface is critical. Also, we believe that early removal of clavicle plates may help reduce complications.
Acromion ; California ; Clavicle* ; Humans ; Osteolysis ; Periprosthetic Fractures ; Shoulder ; Skin

Unilateral renal agenesis is uncommon congenital condition with important implication when operation is performed. We report on two cases of unilateral renal agenesis but blind loop of ureter in a 2 year male child with vesical diverticulum and a 8 year old girl with contralateral hydronephrosis. An excretory urogram of the former revealed nonvisualization of left kidney and normal right kidney, it of the latter showed marked hydronephrosis of right kidney and nonvisualization of left kidney. These cases were finally confirmed by exploratory surgery with transvesical retrograde pyelography and histopathological findings of resected surgical specimen.
Child ; Diverticulum ; Female ; Humans ; Hydronephrosis ; Kidney ; Male ; Ureter ; Urography

Teratoma of the testis is rare in testicular tumors and usually has more than one germ cell layer. Recently, we experienced one case of testicular teratoma in 19 years old adolescence, admitted to the department of urology, Chungnam National University Hospital. Histopathologic finding revealed the testicular teratoma with 3 germ layers. Herein, we report this one case of testicular teratoma with review of related literatures.
Adolescent ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Germ Cells ; Germ Layers ; Humans ; Teratoma* ; Testicular Neoplasms ; Testis ; Urology ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Humans ; Immunoglobulin G* ; Immunoglobulins* ; Pneumonia*

Crohn's disease is one of the inflammatory bowel diseases and is characterized by the involvement of the entire depth of the intestinal wall from the anus to the mouth. Neurological complications rarely occur in Crohn's disease and recurrent transverse myelitis has not yet been described in association with it. We report a 50-year-old man with Crohn's disease accompanied by recurrent transverse myelitis. Inflammatory bowel diseases and demyelinating disorders may share an autoimmune pathophysiology.
Anal Canal ; Crohn Disease ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Middle Aged ; Mouth ; Myelitis ; Myelitis, Transverse

Aplastic anemia in pregnancy is an extremely rare condition with high maternal morbidity and mortality rates. Prognosis is poorer when aplastic anemia is complicated during pregnancy and many such patients have an unsuccessful pregnancy outcome. The relationship between aplastic anemia and pregnancy remains uncertain. Intensive hematological support remains the mainstay of therapy and a successful obstetric outcome can be best accomplished with the close clinical collaboration of the hematologist and the obstetrician. We report here a case of a 24-year-old woman with aplastic anemia, she experienced two consecutive vaginal deliveries. We present it with brief review of literature.
Anemia, Aplastic* ; Cooperative Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Mortality ; Pancytopenia ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnancy* ; Prognosis ; Young Adult

Radiological criteria such as smooth, sharply defined interface, obtuse angles between lesion and lung and intimate effect on mediastinal contents were usually used to differentiate mediastinal lesion from parenchymal lung lesion Recently, we experienced a 60-year-old female presenting with anterior mediastinal mass with cavitation. Grossly it was proven to be peripheral lung cancer adjacent to mediastinum and microscopically it was squamous cell carcinoma. The gross pathological findings of surgical specimen were very well correlated with radiological findings. The unique location such as lung periphery and attachment to mediastinum led us to misdiagnosis of anterior mediastinal mass such as germ-cell tumor and neurogenic tumor.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mediastinum ; Middle Aged

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate effect of alpha-lipoic acid on apoptotic cell death in rat hippocampal neuron following transient forebrain ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. METHODS: The four-vessel occlusion method was used to induce transient I/R injury in the forebrain of Sprague-Dawley rats. In the treatment group, alpha-Lipoic acid (LA) was administered subcutaneously at 50 mg/kg/day for 7 days before induction of I/R injury. RESULTS: Pretreatment with LA significantly reduced the number of TUNEL-positive neurons in the pyramidal cells layer of the hipocampal CA1 region 5 days after the ischemia, suggesting a marked reduction of apoptotic cell death. Pretreatment with LA also resulted in marked suppression at the transcript level of mRNA for caspase-3 at 24 hours, and decreased concentration of the active form of caspase-3 protein in the hippocampus at 1, 3, and 5 days after I/R injury. Furthermore, as indicated by western blot analysis, the concentration of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) in the hippocampus was reduced at 1 and 3 days after a transient I/R injury by pretreatment with LA. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that LA has the potential to prevent neuronal cell death in the hippocampus by inhibiting intracellular signaling pathways responsible for apoptosis following transient I/R injury.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Apoptosis Inducing Factor ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; Cell Death* ; Hippocampus* ; Ischemia ; Neurons ; Prosencephalon* ; Pyramidal Cells ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury* ; RNA, Messenger ; Thioctic Acid*

PURPOSE: To evaluate displacement and morphologic changes of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc in patient with internal derangement using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and forty five MR images of TMJs in 73 patients were evaluated. Positional and morphologic changes of the TMJ discs were assessed. Lateral or medial disc displacement was also evaluated on coronal images. RESULTS: Among 63 discs with anterior disc displacement, 37 discs were assessed as a biconcave disc and 21 as a deformed disc. Rotational disc displacement was observed in 35 discs. Anteromedial disc displacement was observed in 29 discs, and anterolateral direction in 6 discs. Among 35 rotational displacement, 5 biconcave discs and 21 deformed discs were observed. CONCLUSION: Rotational and sideways displacement of TMJ discs were found to be common and an important aspect of internal derangement. This study also suggests that sagittal and coronal images of the TMJ have complementary abilities for an assessment of joint abnormality.
Humans ; Joints ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Temporomandibular Joint Disc* ; Temporomandibular Joint Disorders ; Temporomandibular Joint*

PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of optimal treatment of proximal humeral fractures and humeral shaft fractures in elderly patients with osteoporosis using the Polarus nail. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-three patients with proximal humeral and humeral shaft fractures in elderly osteoporosis patients were treated using the Polarus intramedullary nail. Nine patients had proximal humeral fracture, 10 had humeral shaft fracture and 4 had the proximal humeral frac-ture extended diaphyseally. Radiological outcomes included the bone-union and the degree of re-sidual deformity. The residual deformities of the proximal humerus were assessed by the neck-shaft angle and the shaft angulation. Clinical outcome was assessed with the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score. RESULTS: All cases had bony union and the mean union period was 16.5 weeks. The average neck/shaft alignment at the time of bone union was 135degrees and varus deformities of neck-shaft angle was not seen in all patients. Varus shaft angulation was seen in 5 patients. The mean ASES score after surgery was 86.7 points. CONCLUSION: The Polarus intramedullary nail is effective for the treatment of proximal humeral and humeral shaft fractures in elderly patients with osteoporosis because it not only enables early postoperative mobilization, but also obtains bone-union without avascular necrosis and nonunion.
Aged ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Elbow ; Humans ; Humerus ; Nails ; Necrosis ; Osteoporosis ; Shoulder ; Shoulder Fractures