Fingerprints remain the most important methodology of personal identification in the field of scene investigation despite of outstanding current DNA typing technique. Restoration of fingerprints may be, however, difficult or impossible in cases of severely putrefied or dried bodies. Several methods have been used in fingerprints recovery but they are somewhat easy and costly. We introduce a new practical method that is reconditioning of friction ridge skin with rehydration, which can obtain a good quality for comparison and identification via the automated fingerprint identification system. We think this method is easy to use and could contribute to restoring fingerprints of dead bodies with severe postmortem change.
Dermatoglyphics ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Fluid Therapy ; Friction ; Humans ; Skin

Clear cell sarcoma(CCS) is an uncommon soft tissue sarcoma that occurs in tendons and aponeuroses, usually of the lower extremities and is believed to be of neural crest origin that have a capability to produce melanin. These tumors commonly metastasize and have a very poor prognosis. The fine needle aspiration cytologic finding of CCS is not well documented. We recently experienced a case of CCS. The patient was a 54-year-old male with painful swelling of the right inguinal area. Fine needle aspiration cytology revealed polygonal or fusiform tumor cells with clear or granular cytoplasm and vesicular nuclei containing one or two nucleoli. Im munohistochemical staining for S-100 protein and HMB-45 revealed strong positivity, and variable developing stages of premelanosomes were observed by electron microscopy in the excised specimen.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Cytoplasm ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Melanins ; Microscopy, Electron ; Middle Aged ; Neural Crest ; Prognosis ; S100 Proteins ; Sarcoma ; Sarcoma, Clear Cell* ; Tendons

A variety of experiments concerning the development of ideal prosthetic grafts for correcting circumferential tracheal defects have been performed. The requirements for an ideal tracheal prosthesis are impermeability to air, consistency to prevent collapse, and acceptance by the host tissue causing a minimum inflammatory reaction, allowing fibroblastic infiltration and epithelialization. The synthetic material, polyurethane(PU), is known as a biocompatible polymer with an inert component. In this study, the tracheal prosthesis was made from microporous PU(30 micrometer in diameter) coated with gelatin and reinforced with isoplastic rings. This procedure provides the prosthesis with a compression strength. The out side diameter of the prosthesis was 20 mm with a length of 30 mm. The gelatin used in the study was obtained from pig skin and immobilized and cross-linked by irradiation(60 Co gamma ray) to promote host tissue incorporation and render the prosthesis epithelization after implantation. Animal experiments using 10 mongrel dogs were performed to compare three kinds of prosthesis; gelatin coated polyurethane graft, uncoated polyurethane graft, and prosthesis/ pericadium complex graft. After 6 weeks of implantation, the epithelialization of implants was seen on the gelatin-coated and prosthesis/pericadium complex grafts. Implanted prosthesis were complicated by airway obstruction due to anastomosis granuloma. Early tracheal stenosis was found in the uncoated graft group. Two kind of anastomosis techniques were tested on the gelatin-coated prosthesis. Everted anastomosis resulted severe granuloma than the inverted anastomosis. In the prosthesis/pericadium complex graft, bacteria and inflammation at an anastomotic site was found. Based on these results, gelatin coated porous polyurethane trachea prosthesis is biocompatible and may be useful in clinical application with further investigation.
Airway Obstruction ; Animal Experimentation ; Animals ; Bacteria ; Dogs ; Epithelium* ; Fibroblasts ; Gelatin ; Granuloma ; Inflammation ; Polymers ; Polyurethanes ; Prostheses and Implants ; Skin ; Trachea* ; Tracheal Stenosis ; Transplants

Coblation devices are now widely used in arthroscopic surgery and they show a very low incidence of intraoperative complications. We experienced a case where the tip of the wand separated and migrated into the posterior knee compartment in an arthrofibrotic knee. The free wand tip was identified and then extricated from the popliteal hiatus of the knee with using C-arm fluoroscopic control. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of its kind involving coblation wands. We describe this complication to show that the use of coblation devices can lead to unexpected problems and it is imperative to inspect all instruments before and after each surgical use.
Arthroscopy/adverse effects/*instrumentation ; Catheter Ablation/adverse effects/*instrumentation ; *Equipment Failure ; Humans ; *Intraoperative Complications ; Knee Joint/*surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged

Lymphangioma is a benign vascular lesion with characteristics of subepithelial tumor which can proliferate in the lymphatic system. Lymphangioma of the small-bowel mesentery is rare, having been reported in less than 2% of all lymphangiomas. Lymphangioma does not require any specific treatment because it is absolutely a benign tumor. However, surgical exploration is rarely required for cases with disease-related symptoms or complications, or for those misdiagnosed as a malignant lesion. We recently experienced a case of mesenteric cavernous lymphangomas in a 53-year-old female who was misdiagnosed as having a liposarcoma. The final diagnosis was confirmed by a pathologic examination of the specimen that was obtained via laparoscopic exploration. Herein, we report a very rare case of mesenteric cavernous lymphangioma along with a brief review of relevant literature.
Female ; Humans ; Intestine, Small/pathology ; Laparoscopy ; Lymphangioma/*diagnosis/pathology/surgery ; Mesentery/pathology ; Middle Aged ; Peritoneal Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology/surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND: In spite of the improvement in the quality of artificial heart valves and surgical techniques, the incidence of the complications following valve replacement is still high. We reviewed the clinical results of the valve replacements performed in Korean University Anam Hospital during the last 26 years. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The data of 571 patients who received valve replacement between December 1976 and December 2003 were reviewed. RESULT: There were 304 cases of MVR which was the most common procedure performed. There were 122 cases of AVR, and 111 cases of AVR with MVR. Among the 47 patients who received redo operation 38 cases were redo cases including 31 cases of MVR. 32.5% of the patients who had tissue valve replacement had second valve replacement with 10.2+/-3.9 years interval. 24.3% (139/571) of the patients developed valve related complications and cerebral infarction was the highest in frequency. Atrial fibrillation was related with increased complication rates and the mechanical valve replaced group had higher hemorrhagic complication rate than tissue valve replaced group. The operative mortality was 3.68% and the most common cause of the failure was low output syndrome. The operative mortality was higher in the patient group who had valve replacement before the year 1990. The patient group who had mechanical valve replacement had higher operative mortality rate than the tissue valve group. The 5-year survival rate was 92.2% and 10 year survival rate was 85.7%. CONCLUSION: The operative mortality of valve replacement has been improved. The mechnical valve replaced patients had higher hemorrhagic complication rate than the tissue valve replaced patients and more tissue valve replaced patients received redo valve replacement.
Atrial Fibrillation ; Cerebral Infarction ; Heart Valve Diseases ; Heart Valves* ; Heart* ; Heart, Artificial ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Survival Rate

Korean artificial heart(AnyHeart) is a single-pieced and implantable bi-ventricular pulsatile pump adapting a moving actuator mechanism. The authors report a case of clinical application of AnyHeart as a life-saving device for the patients with end-stage heart disease combined with biventricular failure.
Heart Diseases ; Heart Failure ; Heart, Artificial ; Humans

Pseudoaneurysm formation in the pulmonary vasculature is a rare but fatal condition. Several etiologies have been described including trauma, complication after cardiac or other surgeries, tuberculosis, necrotizing pneumonia, congestive heart disease, atherosclerosis, cancer and vasculitis. We report a case of pseudoaneurysm found in a patient being treated with status asthmaticus, who developed complications of pneumonia and brain abscess secondary to sepsis.
Aneurysm, False ; Atherosclerosis ; Brain Abscess ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis ; Status Asthmaticus ; Tuberculosis ; Vasculitis

Chemical pneumonitis induced by hydrocarbon aspiration is rare in Korea. Kerosene is a petroleum distillate with low viscosity and high volatility. We report two adult cases of chemical pneumonitis caused by the accidental aspiration of kerosene. They were treated successfully with antibiotics and systemic corticosteroids, and recovered without complications.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Humans ; Kerosene ; Korea ; Petroleum ; Pneumonia ; Viscosity ; Volatilization

CD64 (Fc gamma RI) is the one of the three Fc gamma receptors on monocytes and represents a high affinity immunoglobin G receptor. CD64 is rapidly upregulated on monocyte in response to gamma interferone. X-linking of CD64 triggers an oxidative burst as well as antibody dependent cytotoxicity. In this experiments, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were separated and incubated with or without gamma interferone and PG E1. The samples were divided into four groups, the first was PBMC alone, the second was PBMC with gamma interferone 100 U/ml, the third was PBMC with gamma interferone 100 U/ml and Prostaglandin E1 1 micro M/L, and the fourth was PBMC with gamma interferone 100 U/ml and Prostaglandin E1 10 micro M /L. Flow cytometric measurements of CD64 on monocyte were performed at 0, 3, 6, and 9 hours after incubation and the mean fluorescence intensities (MFI) and the mean percentages of CD64(+) cell in monocytic gated area were obtained. After 6 hours of incubation, although there is no statistical significance, all gamma interferone added groups show the higher mean fluorescence intensity than PBMC alone group. Furthermore, at 6 and 9 hours of incubation, the mean percentages of CD64(+)cells between the PBMC with gamma interferone group and the PBMC with gamma interferone and PG E1 10 micro M/L group showed 74.83 +/- 9.72% vs. 34.07 +/-12.98%, 80.04 +/- 11.30% vs. 29.42 +/- 19.86% respectively, and there are statistical significances, p=0.05, p=0.05 respectively. It appears that PG E1 inhibits the expression of CD64 on monocyte.
Alprostadil* ; Fluorescence ; Interferons ; Monocytes* ; Receptors, IgG ; Respiratory Burst