PURPOSE: This study was performed to examine if CT classification of renal blunt injury could aid in expectation of hemodynamic stability and clinical decision of whether to intervene surgically. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Over a 80-month period between July 1987 and March 1994, 41 patients were admitted to our hospital with the diagnosis of renal blunt injury. The renal blunt injuries were classified on Fedede's three-point scale CT classification methods :grade I, contusion, intrarenal hematoma, segmental infarction, and small subcapsular hematoma;grade II, complete or incomplete laceration, large subcapsular hematoma, and renal fracture;grade Ill, shattered kidney and renal pedicle injury. Hemodynamic stability, treatment method and clinical outcome of the patients with different CT grade were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: All 34 patients with grade I or II CT findings were hemodynamically stable and were successfully managed with conservative method. Among 7 patients with grade III CT findings, 6 patients were hemodynamically unstable. Out of the 6, One patient with grade IIIb or renal pedicle injury was expired before surgical intervention due to ischemic shock. Four patients were intervened surgically with one failure to thrive. The remaining one patient refused to be intervened surgically, and was discharged against medical advice. Only one out of 7 patients was hemodynamically stable and was managed conservatively. CONCLUSION: The patients with grade I or II CT findings are prone to be hemodynamically stable and to be managed with conservative method. But the patients with grade III CT findings are more likely to be hemodynamically unstable. Therefore patients with grade III CT findings should be closely monitored and be pre- pared for the possibility of immediate surgical intervention
Classification* ; Contusions ; Diagnosis ; Failure to Thrive ; Hematoma ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Infarction ; Kidney ; Lacerations ; Retrospective Studies ; Shock ; Wounds, Nonpenetrating

No abstract available.
Fatigue* ; Sciatica*

No abstract available.

Primary malignant melanoma arising from the leptomeninges is a rare entity. We report two cases of primary intracranial melanoma developed in one aged 65 years female and the other 70 years male. One case died 2 years after the operation, and the other case is still living more than 1 year after operation. Both cases seems to have a relatively long survival. The literature on this subject is briefly reviewed.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Melanoma*

No abstract available.
Brain Injuries* ; Child* ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Humans

We examined the initial CT findings of the early(within on week) death after head injury, retrospectively. The patient population consisted of 182 patients who were admitted to the Soonchunhyand University Chonan Hospital, and were examined by CT, from August 1986 to May 1990 after head injury. We compared clinical features and radiological findings between the group of focal lesion and the group of diffuse lesion. The focal lesion was found in 47.8%, while the diffuse lesion was found in 45.6%. Statistically significant differences were found in the age, Glasgow Coma Score(GCS) on admission, injury Severity Score(ISS), hypotension, and hypoxia. The focal lesion was more common in the aged, while the diffuse lesion was common in the young(less than 40 years of age). Patients with high GCS(more than 8) constitued 25.3% of the focal lesion, while only 6.0% of the duffuse lesion had the high GCS. ISS was higher than 30 in 67.5% of the diffuse lesion, while 32.2% of the focal lesion had ISS of 30 or more. The causes of injury was pedestrian traffic accident in 46.5% and passanger's traffic accident in 31.8%. Midline shift(more than 3mm), compressed ventricles, and obliteration of the suprasellar cistern and quadrigeminal cistern were observed in 34.1%, 82.4%, 67.6%, and 58.2%, respectively. Lesions with severe midline shift were focal in 93.1% and lesions without midline shift were diffuse in 88.4%(P<0.005). Cranial vault fracture was noticed in 68.2%, and basal skull fracture was found in 28.8%. The frequency of basal skull fracture was high in the diffuse lesion(P<0.005). In this study, we could presumed that 17.2% to 25.3% of the patients with focal lesions could be saved, if proper treatment was given. Since the diffuse lesion was responsible for nearly half of the early death after head injury, proper treatment or prevention should be made. Prevention of the diffuse lesion seems to be possible by correction of hypotension and hypoxia for the diffuse lesions were intimately related to them. At any event, further studies on the diffuse brain injury are required.
Accidents, Traffic ; Anoxia ; Brain Injuries ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Coma ; Craniocerebral Trauma* ; Head* ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Retrospective Studies ; Skull Fractures

We report a unique case of a 12-year-old girl with unilateral proptosis form orbital extension of an extensive bilateral cephalhematoma. Loss of vision in the left eye due to severe proptosis was reversed by prompt aspiration and tarsorrhaphy.
Cerebral Hemorrhage/*complications/radiography ; Child ; Exophthalmos/*etiology/radiography ; Female ; Hematoma/*complications/radiography ; Humans

No abstract available.
Cerebral Hemorrhage* ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Fistula*

It is never easy to assess the rate of disability from spinal injuries objectively. One reason is that the pain is an unmeasurable subjective symptom, and the other is that the disability is usually not confirmed by or correlated with radiological or laboratory examinations. The disability is an essentially subjective inconvenience or limitation, which is hard to measure objectively. However, compensation or reparation requires a scale to measure this unmeasurable disability, even with a universal validity and equity. There are several guidelines or criteria for a quantitative assessment of the disability. They differ from each other and have their own advantages and disadvantages. This difference may cause confusion or inequity. To improve the validity and equity, we propose a new design for the disability evaluation in patients with spinal injuries. We reviewed the Korean law for compensation in industrial accidents, McBride's disability table, the guideline proposed by American Medical Association, and a impairment rating table. Disabilities resulting from spinal injuries were classified into three types, i.e., morphologic sequelae(deformity), functional sequelae(dysfunction), and others. Only objective findings were considered as criteria for rating the disability. Disability resulting from deformity were rated from 0 to 20% by the degree of compression. Dysfunction can be rated by the number of lost motion segment from 10 to 60%. Disability from other compensable spinal pain were rated by objective physical findings or neurologic deficit from 0 to 25%. By eliminating the subjective or intentional complaints, this design can be a useful method minimizing the differences from the multiple examiners.
Accidents, Occupational ; American Medical Association ; Compensation and Redress ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Disability Evaluation ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Spinal Injuries*

Development of new surgical devices and approaches for management of injuries to the cervical spine has offered various methods of treatment available. Making it is not easy in choosing the most suitable method of treatment. We present our experience and results of 90 operations performed during the past eight-year-period(1986-1993) including 10 halo-vest applications. The timing of operation was within 7 days posttrauma in 34.2%, 8-14 days in 27.4%, 15-28 days in 1.0%, and over 28 days in 27.4%. In 18 cases of upper(C1-3) cervical spine injuries, 23 operations were performed, all approached from the posterior. In 5 cases of lower(C4-7) cervical spine injuries, 67 operations were performed, the anterior approach used in 33 patients and the posterior approach in 18 patients. Halo-vest was applied in 6 patients with upper cervical spine injuries and in 4 patients with lower cervical spine injuries. The halo-vest was inadequate in maintaining the stability of the injured spine in 5 out of 0 cases. The complication rate was 23.3% in postrior approaches and 32.4% in anterior approaches. Overall, 27 complications(0%) occurred in 90 operations, and the reoperation rate was 16.4%(85 operations for 73 patients, except for the halo-vest applications). Internal fixation with a variety of devices has become a popular procedure for ervical spine injuries. Despite the popular and wide usage of such devices, the occurrence of complications and the need to reoperate has rendered the procedure to be applied with much caution regarding its technical aspects and possible problems it may pose. In our study, the rate of reoperation and complications following such procedures were quite high. We conclude that in choosing the most proper surgical approach for ervical spine injuries with minimal occurrence of any complications, a stringent criteria should be adhered to rather then easily select the more fashionable, new of fancy devices over the traditional techniques.
Humans ; Reoperation ; Spine*