Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans(DFSP) is a rare, distinctive cutsneous tumor originating in the dermis that appears as a raised uninodular or multinodular lesion on the trunk or the proximal extremities. In about 10% of the cases, DFSP arises in childhood and it is rarely evident already at birth. Histopathologically, DFSP shows the chsracteristic storiform and cartwheel patterns, with the fibroblasts arranged radially about a small central hub of fibrous tissue. We report herein a case of childhood DFSP in a 7-year-old boy.
Child ; Dermatofibrosarcoma* ; Dermis ; Extremities ; Fibroblasts ; Humans ; Male ; Parturition

Traumatic injury to the lower legs has been increasing in Korea and often leads to skin and soft tissue loss, exposing blood vessels, nerves, tendons or bones. Salvaging these legs often requires free flaps. Over the past two decades, the use of free tissue transfer has produced an increasing salvage rate for severely injured lower leg. Between April. 1988 to July, 1997, 47 cases of lower soft tissue defects were reconstructed with free flaps, and retrospective analysis was performed to determine more about the factors associated with free flap failure or immediate vascular complications. We evaluated wound status before operation, operation time after injury, vascular status of recipient site, use of vein graft, use of reverse flow, salvage protocol in compromised anastomosis, survival rate and complications. There were 9 cases of venous thrombosis and 2 cases of arterial insufficiency while 7 out of 9 cases of venous thrombosis were reexplorated. However, 2 cases of partial flap necrosis and 1 case of total necrosis. Two cases of arterial insufficiency were necrotized, so the overall free flap failure rate was 9.6%. The results were analyzed to determine the factors promoting either failure or vascular complication, Many factors which are often blamed for failure (trauma cause, preoperative general condition, preoperative infection status, intraoperative ischemic time) were not significant in this study, but prolonged time after injury correlated with free flap failure, We concluded the adequate debridement and infection control, adequate selection of recipient vessel, accurate vascular anastomosis and most of all, early free flap transfer after injury, will improve the success rate.
Blood Vessels ; Debridement ; Free Tissue Flaps* ; Infection Control ; Korea ; Leg* ; Necrosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Skin ; Survival Rate ; Tendons ; Transplants ; Vascular System Injuries ; Veins ; Venous Thrombosis ; Wounds and Injuries

BACKGROUND: The vanA gene cluster of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) is carried as a part of Tn1546-like elements. In this study we characterized the structure of Tn1546-like elements in Enterococcus. faecium isolated from patients in Korea. The isolates were also typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). METHODS: During 2000, 21 clinical isolates of vanA-containing E. faecium were collected from ten university hospitals in Korea. E. faecium BM4147 was used as a control. PFGE was performed on a CHEF-DR III apparatus. For structural analysis of Tn1546, the overlapping PCR amplification of internal regions of Tn1546 was performed. The purified PCR products were directly sequenced by using ABI Prism 3100 DNA SEQUENCER. RESULTS: All isolates were divided into 3 types according to the distribution of insertion sequences (IS elements) integrated Tn1546 elements. Type I and II were characterized by an IS1542 insertion in the orf2-vanR intergenic region and an IS1216V insertion in the vanX-vanY intergenic region. Type III represented two copies of IS1216V at the orf1 and in the vanX-vanY intergenic region as well as IS1542 in the orf2-vanR intergenic region. No isolates were identical to the prototype, which was identical to the predicted pattern for the published sequence of Tn1546. The PFGE results revealed that all strains except A13, C1, A2 and A9 were genetically unrelated. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of IS in Tn1546-like elements of the Korean isolates is similar to that of the European VREs. Considering the results of PFGF and Tn1546 typing, the horizontal transfer of vanA resistance gene may be occurring among genetically diverse strains of E. faecium in Korea.
DNA ; DNA, Intergenic ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Enterococcus ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Korea ; Multigene Family ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to investigate five cases with chronic Achilles tendon rupture that occurred after steroid injections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In our hospital, we experienced five cases of chronic Achilles tendon rupture from September 2010 to March 2012. All patients had got steroid injection for Achilles tendinitis at the other hospitals, and their heel pain was aggravated when they visited our outpatient department. After treatment, signs and symptoms of Achilles tendon rupture were developed and the diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasonography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Surgical treatment was done for Achilles tendon rupture. RESULTS: There was difference between intra-operative findings of Achilles tendon rupture and usual chronic Achilles tendon rupture. Unlike usual findings of chronic Achilles tendon rupture whose scar tissue or tissue attenuation are found around the defect area of Achilles tendon, there were partial necrosis of tendon severe adhesion with surrounding tissue, extensive defect and longitudinal rupture on ruptured area. Also, severe inflammation of paratenon, granulation and fibrinoid deposit were found on biopsy findings in four cases. CONCLUSION: Based on review of data about relative risk and benefit of local corticosteroid injection to inflammatory lesion in Achilles tendon, it requires more attention to Achilles tendon rupture following local corticosteroid injection.
Achilles Tendon* ; Biopsy ; Cicatrix ; Diagnosis ; Heel ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Necrosis ; Outpatients ; Rupture* ; Tendinopathy* ; Tendons ; Ultrasonography

Syphilid has been called the "great imitator" of skin disease, and it can have protean clinical manifestations and it may present with unusual lesions. Annular syphilid, which can mimic sarcoid, granuloma annulare, Sweet syndrome or tinea corporis, is a rare variant of syphilid. We report here on a case of annular syphilid that mimicked tinea corporis in a 29-year-old female who showed a three month history of multiple, pruritic, well-demarcated annular scaly erythematous patches with central clearing and an elevated border on the trunk and both upper extremities. Direct mycological examination and culture did not result in finding any fungal elements, and annular syphilid was confirmed according to the histopathologic and serologic findings. She and her boyfriend were treated with benzathine penicillin G, and the skin lesions disappeared completely.
Adult ; Ethylenediamines ; Female ; Granuloma Annulare ; Humans ; Hydrazines ; Penicillin G Benzathine ; Skin ; Skin Diseases ; Sweet Syndrome ; Syphilis, Cutaneous ; Tinea ; Upper Extremity

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare aggressive primary skin cancer which mostly occurs in the elderly on sun-exposed skin. It usually presents as a solitary dome-shaped red or purple nodule on the head, neck and extremities. The mortality rate is higher than the rate for malignant melanoma because its local recurrence is common. Agent Orange, an herbicide widely used as a defoliant in the Vietnam War, contains dioxin contaminants and can cause several dermatoses and skin cancers. We report a case of multiple Merkel cell carcinoma in a 65-year-old male with lesions on the head and neck, who had been exposed to Agent Orange during Vietnam War.
2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid ; 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Merkel Cell ; Citrus sinensis ; Extremities ; Head ; Humans ; Male ; Melanoma ; Neck ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Skin Diseases ; Skin Neoplasms ; Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin ; Veterans ; Vietnam

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical outcomes of patients with vitrified-thawed embryos transferred using either the 0.25 mL straw method and the pull and cut straw (PNC) method. To evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients with transferred embryos that underwent assisted hatching at the cleaved embryo (day 3) or the blastocyst (day 5) stage. METHODS: The study population consisted of women who underwent vitrified-warmed embryo transfer between May 2000 and December 2011 and assisted hatching was performed after warming of embryos. Cycles of thawing between assisted hatching treated and non treated groups were compared for survival and pregnancy rates. RESULTS: The PNC vitrification method improved survival and pregnancy rates in partial lysed embryos. While assisted hatching did not affect the developmental and clinical pregnancy rates of the vitrified-warmed blastocyst group, it did increase the pregnancy rate of poor quality vitrified-warmed cleaved embryos. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that PNC may increase the number of clinical pregnancies via the vitrification of both cleaved embryos and blastocysts. In addition, selective assisted hatching treatment of embryos that show a poor prognosis after warming may increase the rate of clinical pregnancy.
Blastocyst ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Prognosis ; Vitrification

No abstract available.

Mycobacterium (M.) fortuitum is a rapidly growing mycobacterium. It is classified as Runyon's group IV with M. abcessus and M. chelonae that are mostly found in water and soil. M. fortuitum infection usually occurs after trauma, surgery or procedures such as acupuncture that cause cutaneous or soft tissue manifestations. We report a case of cutaneous infection due to M. fortuitum in a 72-year-old woman with erythematous deep-seated nodules on her left hand. She inflicted a minor injury to her left hand in a farm. Culture from skin biopsy specimens on 3% Ogawa medium yielded bacterial colonies after 5 days. The microorganism was subsequently identified as M. fortuitum by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The skin lesions were improved by antibiotic therapy with clarithromycin for 6 months.
Acupuncture ; Aged ; Biopsy ; Clarithromycin ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Mycobacterium ; Mycobacterium fortuitum ; Skin ; Soil

Background: The Korean Red Cross has conducted serologic tests for C, c, E, e antigens and found 18 D-- donors.In this study, we performed RHCE genotyping to identify the molecular characteristics of the serologic D-- blood type in Korean blood donors. Methods: We performed RHCE-specific PCR-based electrophoresis to check the amplification pattern of each exon.Sanger sequencing was conducted to find the variants in the nucleotide sequence. We determined the RHCE genotype based on the electrophoresis and Sanger sequencing results. Results: Total eight out of 18 D-- donors were participated in this research. In the PCR-based electrophoresis tests, RHCE exons 3, 4, and 6 were not amplified in samples #4, #6, and #8. Also, sample #2 showed an abnormal band pattern of RHCE exon 9. The Sanger sequencing results showed that the nucleotide sequences of the RHCE exons 5, 7, and 8 in samples #4, #6 and #8 corresponded to the nucleotide sequences of RHD exons 5, 7, and 8, respectively, suggesting the possibility of a RHCE-RHD(3-8)-RHCE hybrid allele. The nucleotide sequences of RHCE exons 7 and 8 in sample #2 were the same as the nucleotide sequences of RHD exons 7 and 8, respectively.In samples #1, #3, #5, and #7, no specific variants known to cause D-- phenotype were found. Conclusion RHCE genes partially replaced by the RHD genes were found in four out of eight participants and three of them were identified as ?RHCE*02N.07, which is known as the RHCE null allele. A further study with complete RHCE sequencing could be helpful for an understanding of the molecular mechanisms of samples in which no significant variants were identified.