PURPOSE: Numerous methods have been utilized to repair nasal septal perforation with varying degrees of success; however, no consensus has been reached on nasoseptal perforation repair. Here, the authors describe a surgical method based on human dermal allograft (Surederm(TM), Hans Biomed Corp. Korea) for the repair of nasal septal perforations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven patients with a nasal septal perforation were included in this study. The causes of these septal perforations included previous nasal surgery, trauma, foreign body (button battery), and idiopathy. There were several sites of perforation: 9 in the central area, 1 in the posterior-central area, and 1 in the anterior area. An interpositional graft incorporating Surederm(TM) was positioned between bilateral mucoperichondrial flaps using an intranasal approach. A silastic sheet was then left in the nasal septum bilaterally until complete healing had occurred through new nasal mucosa, which took a mean duration of 6 weeks. RESULTS: Outcomes in ten of the eleven patients were successful, with complete septal perforation closure. The remaining perforation, which was caused by a button battery, closed incompletely; however, its initial size of 2cm was reduced to 5mm. CONCLUSION: The described technique has a high success rate and can be performed under local anesthesia without external scarring. In the absence of donor site morbidity, this technique can also be utilized to repair posterior or multiple septal perforations without difficulty.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Dermis/*transplantation ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasal Septum/pathology/*surgery ; Nose Diseases/*surgery ; Skin Transplantation/methods ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Treatment Outcome

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a widely used chemical for production of plastics. However occupational asthma (OA) caused by PVC has been reported only rarely. We report a 34-yr-old male wallpaper factory worker with OA due to PVC and nickel (Ni) whose job was mixing PVC with plasticizers. He visited the emergency room due to an asthma attack with moderate airflow obstruction and markedly increased sputum eosinophil numbers. A methacholine challenge test was positive (PC20 2.5 mg/mL). Bronchoprovocation tests with both PVC and Ni showed early and late asthmatic responses, respectively. Moreover, the fractional concentration of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) was increased after challenge with PVC. To our knowledge, this is the first case of OA in Korea induced by exposure to both PVC and Ni. We suggest that eosinophilic inflammation may be involved in the pathogenesis of PVC-induced OA and that FeNO monitoring can be used for its diagnosis.
Adult ; Asthma, Occupational/*chemically induced/*diagnosis ; Breath Tests ; Bronchial Provocation Tests ; Environmental Exposure ; Eosinophilia/*diagnosis ; Exhalation ; Humans ; Leukocyte Count ; Male ; Nickel ; Nitric Oxide/metabolism ; Occupational Exposure ; Plasticizers ; Polyvinyl Chloride

PURPOSE: The surgical treatment of anal stenosis includes internal sphincterotomy, rotaton flap and advancement flap according to the stenosis degree, recently, Christensen performed house shaped advancement flap and reported fair results. We compared and analyzed the surgical methods and results in patients with moderate and severe anal stenosis who underwent house shaped advancement flap and C-anoplasty. METHODS: We have performed this study with 6 cases using the house shaped advancement flap and 6 cases using the C-anoplasty. The out come was assessed by clinical characteristics, surgical method, operation time, duration of hospitalization, healing time, postoperative complications, results. RESULTS: The average operation time was 38 min in those house shaped advancement flap cases and 63 min in C-anoplasty cases. The average time of hospitalization was 6 days and 9 days, respectively, and the average time of healing was 28 days and 46 days, respectively. In those house advancement flap cases, surgery could be done in 2 directions at the same time in 4 cases and 3 directions in 2 cases; as for those C-anoplasty cases, surgery could be done in 1 direction in 4 cases and 2 directions in 1 case. Two complications were observed in C-anoplasty, one flap infection and one flap necrosis, and in house shaped advancement flap, no complication was observed. CONCLUSIONS: House shaped advancement flap have several advantages compared to the C-anoplasty, and since house shaped advancement flap could be performed in 2 to 3 directions or even 4 directions at the same time, the anus could sufficiently expanded in severe anal stenosis patients. The house shaped advancement flap might be one of the good method in treating anal stenosis.
Anal Canal ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Postoperative Complications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Various materials have been used for ossicular reconstruction, but there have been no reports for titanium prosthesis in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to assess the hearing results of Kurz titanium prosthesis in chronic ear diseases. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: A retrospective review was made of 62 cases who underwent ossicular reconstruction using either titanium (TTP(R)-VARIO System) or plastipore (Polycel(R)) prosthesis from January 2003 to July 2005. Postoperative hearing results were analyzed taking in several prognostic factors such as the condition of middle ear mucosa and ossicle, or surgical method. RESULTS: A postoperative air-bone gap of E20 dB was obtained in 75.6% of the titanium and 56% of plastipore ossiculoplasty. The Postoperative ABG (air bone gap) show better results in healthy middle ear mucosa and in those cases which contain stapes superstructure. CONCLUSION: Titanium have a good biocompatibility and low extrusion rates with excellent hearing results. Besides, good visualization and accurate placement were easy to achieve.
Ear Diseases ; Ear, Middle ; Hearing ; Korea ; Mucous Membrane ; Ossicular Replacement ; Prostheses and Implants* ; Retrospective Studies ; Stapes ; Titanium*

A 5 year-old, intact female Yorkshire terrier was referred for dysuria and dyschezia. The radiographic and ultrasound examination showed a round shaped mass caudal to the urinary bladder that contained anechoic fluid within the thin walls. During surgery, the cyst was noted to be attached to the outer wall of the vagina, not connected to the vaginal lumen. Cystic fluid was removed and the cystic wall was resected. Then the remaining cystic wall was omentalized to prevent a recurrence. Histological examination confirmed that the cyst was of Wolffian duct origin. In this case, a large Gartner duct cyst causing urological problems was diagnosed and removed by surgical resection.
Animals ; Constipation/etiology/veterinary ; Cysts/surgery/ultrasonography/*veterinary ; Dog Diseases/*pathology/surgery/ultrasonography ; Dogs ; Dysuria/etiology/veterinary ; Female ; Treatment Outcome ; Vaginal Diseases/complications/pathology/surgery/*veterinary ; Wolffian Ducts/*pathology/surgery

The tools for asthma control assessment recommended by the current guideline are cognitive function- and effort-dependent, which is substantially impaired in the elderly. The aim of this study is to investigate objective assessment tools of asthma control status and previous asthma exacerbation (AE) in elderly subjects. Asthmatics aged >60 years who were treated with step 2 or 3 by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guideline were enrolled. During the 12-week study period, the subjects used either 400 µg of budesonide plus 10 mg of montelukast or 800 µg of inhaled budesonide. The occurrence of AE during the 4-week run-in and 12-week treatment period was monitored. After 12-week of treatment, sputum eosinophil count, peripheral eosinophil count, the plasma leukotriene E₄ (LTE₄), and prostaglandin F₂α (PGF₂α) metabolite levels were measured using the UHPLC/Q-ToF MS system. The study subjects were divided into group 1 (asthmatics who experienced AE during the study period) and group 2 (those who did not). A total of 101 patients aged 60-85 years were enrolled. Twenty-three patients (22.8%) had experienced AE. The plasma LTE₄ level, LTE₄/PGF₂α ratio, and peripheral eosinophil count were significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2 (P=0.023, P=0.010, P=0.033, respectively). The plasma LTE₄/PGF₂α ratio and peripheral eosinophil count at week 12 were significantly associated with previous AE (odds ratio [OR]=1.748, P=0.013; OR=1.256, P=0.027). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to discriminate the subjects with previous AE, including these 2 parameters, showed that the area under the curve was 0.700 (P=0.004), with 73.9% sensitivity and 47.9% specificity. In conclusion, a combination of plasma LTE₄/PGF₂α ratio and peripheral eosinophil count can be an objective assessment tool which is significantly associated with asthma control status in elderly asthmatics.
Aged* ; Asthma* ; Budesonide ; Eosinophils* ; Humans ; Plasma* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sputum

Long-term alveolar bone resorption in edentulous patient causes difficulty in denture use. Applying an implant overdenture with 2 to 4 implants to edentulous patient is easily approachable. Moreover, it improves denture stability, support, and retention. Milled bar, the attachment used in implant overdenture, can be used to induce better stability and retention to the supporting structure than conventional bar. It has become convenient to use due to the development of CAD/CAM system which had allowed the simplification of dental techniques. In this case, application of conventional maxillary full denture and mandibular overdenture made of CAD/CAM milled bar with 4 implants showed satisfactory results in the patient who had used upper and lower full dentures for a long time.
Bone Resorption ; Denture Retention ; Denture, Overlay* ; Dentures ; Humans ; Rehabilitation*

PURPOSE: Many studies have shown that subjects show a change of vocal fundamental frequency (F0) when phonating subjects hear their vocal pitch feedback shifted upward or downward. This study was performed to demonstrate whether vocal parameters [F0, intensity, jitter, shimmer, and noise to harmonic ratio (NHR)] in normal males respond to changes in frequency of pure tone masking. MATERIALS and METHODS: Twenty healthy male subjects participated in this study. Subjects vocalized /a/ vowel sounds while listening to a pitch- shift pure tone through headphones (upward pitch-shift in succession: 1kHz to 2kHz and 1kHz to 4kHz at 50dB or 80dB, respectively, downward pitch-shift in succession: 1kHz to 250Hz and 1kH to 500Hz at 50dB or 80dB, respectively). RESULTS: Vocal intensity, F0, was increased, whereas jitter was decreased as the pitch of pure tone was shifted upward. However, there was no correlation between shimmer and NHR with pitch-shift feedback for pure tones. Unlike vocal pitch- shift feedback in other studies, upward pitch-shift feedback of pure tones caused the vocal F0 and intensity to change in the same direction as pitch-shift. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that auditory kinesthetic feedback is affected by pitch-shift in pure tone.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Adult ; *Feedback ; Humans ; Male ; Pitch Perception/*physiology ; Voice/*physiology

PURPOSE: Increasing in prevalence, food allergy (FA) is becoming an important public health concern. In Korean adults, however, clinical phenotypes and causes of FA have not been studied. We aimed to study common causative allergens and clinical manifestations of FA in Korean adults. METHODS: This study was conducted as a retrospective review of medical records for 95 patients (≥19 years old) diagnosed with FA from September 2014 to August 2015 at a single university hospital. RESULTS: In the 95 patients, 181 FA events were recorded. The mean age of first onset of FA symptoms was 34.7±15.8 years. The most frequent causative food was seafood (34.8%); shrimp and crab allergies ranked highest, regardless of age and sex. Among all FA events, there were 47 (26.0%) cases of anaphylaxis and 26 (14.4%) cases of oral allergy syndrome (OAS). Seafood (51.1%) was the most frequent cause of anaphylaxis, followed by grains (14.9%). Most OAS cases were associated with fruits (95.7%). The frequency of fruit-induced FA was significantly higher in males than in females (23.0% vs 8.4%, P=0.011). While no cases of vegetables-induced FA were noted in younger individuals (19 to 30 years), vegetables accounted for 20.5% of FA symptoms in older subjects (≥51 years, P<0.001). Allergic rhinitis (44.2%) and drug allergy (20.0%) were major comorbidities associated with FA. Overall, 29 FA events had cofactors, of which 10 were combined with exercise. CONCLUSIONS: The major causes of FA in Korean adults were crustacean, fruits, and grains. Interestingly, the clinical manifestations of FA and demographics varied according to type of food allergen.
Adult* ; Allergens ; Anaphylaxis ; Comorbidity ; Demography ; Drug Hypersensitivity ; Female ; Food Hypersensitivity* ; Fruit ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea ; Male ; Medical Records ; Phenotype* ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Retrospective Studies* ; Rhinitis, Allergic ; Seafood ; Vegetables

A 55-year old woman with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer was admitted to hospital for the management of severe chest pain, which measured 7 out of 10 on a numerical rating scale (NRS). Despite palliative radiation and the application of multiple epidural blocks, she continued to experience severe cancer pain. We gradually increased the dose of transdermal fentanyl patches from 500 microgram/hr to 3,650 microgram/hr, for 3 months without any significant side effects. Concomitantly, adjuvant therapy with antidepressants and anticonvulsants were added, decreasing the patient's pain to NRS 3~4 down from 7. After being transferred to a hospice clinic, her chest pain was well-controlled below NRS 4 by means of strong opioid medications, including the highest dose of transdermal fentanyl 4,050 microgram/hr for more than 16 months.
Analgesics, Opioid ; Anticonvulsants ; Antidepressive Agents ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Chest Pain ; Female ; Fentanyl ; Hospices ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms