No abstract available.
Angiokeratoma* ; Hypertrophy*

BACKGROUND: 1. Conventional topical treatments of alopecia areata such as intralesional injection and topical application of glucocorticosteroids, and induction of conttact sensitivity using DPCP have had dieadvantages as follow 1) a time -consuming treatment perioed 2) various forms of discomfort during and after treatment 3) many side effects. 2. Though hair follicllee are easily damaged by intense cryo-application, we anticipate the regrowth of hair without damage to the tissue when applied to the scalp lightly OBJECT: We evaluated the efficacy of treatment and side effect of cryotherapy in patients with alopecia areata and whether this method can be used for the firstiline treatment of small alopecic patches, avoiding the above disadvantages of conventional methods METHOD: 19 patients witt alopecia areata lesion(s) confined within one fourth of the totaI scalp area were treated by dip-stick method with liquid nitrogen once a week luring the first 4 weeks, then at a two week interval. A cotten tip was lightly applied to the alopecic, patches for one to two seconds. We surveyed side effects and regrowth of hair during a periodic follow up. RESULT: The results can be summurized as follows : 1. Therapeutic responses were noted in 17(89%) of 19 patients studid. 2. In all the patients who responded, vellus hair appeared within 4 weeks of treatment, and terminal hair appeared within 6 weeks of treatment. 3. There were no specific fectors showing statistical significance between therapeutic responses. 4. There were no significanf, side effects except very faint pain during cryoapplication. 5. Recurrence was observed in only patieni during a 9-12 months follow-up CONCLUSION: Cryotherpy of the alopecia areata can be regarded as an effective mode of treatment with many advantages. These include relatively good therapeutic results, short-term treatment, a simple and convenient method, and nearly no side effects. We recommerld cryotherapy as a first-line mode of treatment of alopecia area.ta lesions which are small in size and few in number.
Alopecia Areata* ; Alopecia* ; Cryotherapy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hair ; Humans ; Injections, Intralesional ; Nitrogen ; Recurrence ; Scalp

Contact Urticaria is a wheal-and-flare response to chemicals applied to the skin. Contact urticaria due to bee sting therapy has never been reported in Korea. A 45-year-old male was seen for erythematous plsques and patches with the duration of 3 days. Histologicall, the skin biopsy specimen showed necrosis and dyskeratotic cells in the epidermis. Collagen degenerati in and perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates were seen in the upper dermis.
Bees* ; Biopsy ; Bites and Stings* ; Chronic Pain* ; Collagen ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Skin ; Urticaria*

Dried specimens of the genus Inocybe collected from mountain areas throughout the Korean country from 1982 to 1998 and preserved in NIAST were investigated. Out of them, Inocybe hystrix were confirmed as an unrecorded species in Korea. In 1991 Lee et al., previously recorded Inocybe kasukayamensis only with its scientific name and korean common name. In this study we report it with full descriptions of morphological characteristics and diagnosis of micro-structures of this species.
Diagnosis ; Korea* ; Porcupines

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating disease resulting from infection of oligodendrocytes with JC virus. PML was a rare disease, but nowadays not uncommon as AIDS prevailed. Histopathologic features of the affected lesion shows infiltrations of foamy macrophages and hyperchromatic, pleomorphic, reactive astrocytes that may raise the suspicion of a brain tumor. We recently met with 3 cases of PML. Two of the patients had AIDS and the other had been treated for lymphoma. All cases were diagnosed by histopathologic examination in stereotactic brain biopsies.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Astrocytes ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Brain Neoplasms ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host* ; JC Virus ; Leukoencephalopathy, Progressive Multifocal* ; Lymphoma ; Macrophages ; Oligodendroglia ; Rare Diseases

BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrhythmias and other cardiac dysfunctions occur in relation with acute cerebral ischemia. This study was undertaken to evaluate the sequential changes of electrocardiogram and cardiac enzymes after acute ischemic stroke, and to evaluate the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias. METHODS: Forty-three patients with acute ischemic stroke were recruited for this study. Electrocardiogram and cardiac enzymes were checked at 1, 3, 5, 7, 15, and 30 days after onset. RESULTS: Heart rates were decreased acutely after ischemic stroke and showed maximal decrease at day 3 (p<0.05). Heart rates were more significantly decreased in the right-sided lesions than the left (p<0.05) and in the supratentorial lesions than the infratentorial (p<0.05). PR intervals and durations of QRS complex were prolonged at day 3 and 5 but were not significant. The prolongation of the QTc interval was found in 21 patients (48.8%) and sustained QTc prolongation at day 30 were seen in 16 patients. Compared with controls, patients showed significantly higher incidence of arrhythmias (p<0.01). Creatine phosphokinase-MB (CK-MB) was significantly increased at day 5 (p<0.01) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) was increased at day 7 (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, the incidence of neurogenic cardiac abnormalities in acute ischemic stroke was higher than that of previous studies. Abnormalities peaked at days 3 and 5 were nearly similar to control levels at day 30. These periods of peak abnormalities coincided with those of increasing brain edema. Therefore, we postulate that cardiac autonomic controls are also influenced by acute brain edema. (J Korean Neurol Assoc 19(3):207~212, 2001)
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Brain Edema ; Brain Ischemia ; Cerebral Infarction ; Creatine ; Electrocardiography* ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Incidence ; Oxidoreductases ; Stroke*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether intravenous injection of the zoledronic acid could promote osseointegration of the porous implant inserted into the rabbit medullary cavity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A rabbit intramedullary osseointegration model was used. A specially designed porous nitinol implant (Bio-Smart, Sungnam, Gyeonggi-do, Korea) was inserted in the right distal femur of twenty six rabbits. They were randomized into the control or the experimental groups. In the control group, an intravenous injection of normal saline 2 ml/kg (Daihan Pharm, Seoul, Korea) was given at the end of the operation. In the experimental group, an intravenous injection of zoledronic acid 0.1 mg/kg (AclastaG(R) 2 ml/kg, Norvatis, Stein, Switzerland) was given at the end of the operation. Six weeks later, all animals were sacrificed and undecalcified histologic sections were prepared. Then, histomorphometric measurement of bone affinity index (%) and bone ingrowth area rate (%) was carried out. RESULTS: Six rabbits were excluded due to death and wound infection. Nine rabbits in the control group and eleven rabbits in the experimental group were included for the analysis. The bone affinity indices were 19.9+/-7.9% in the control group, and 28.4+/-7.2% in the experimental group. Although there was no statistical significance (p=0.056), the bone affinity index of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. The bone ingrowth area rates were 8.7+/-3.7% in the control group, and 12.1+/-4.1% in the experimental group (p=0.046), indicating zoledronic acid had an positive effect on the promotion of bone ingrowth into the porous implant. CONCLUSION: In our rabbit intramedullary osseointegration model, intravenous injection of the zoledronic acid promoted early osseointegration of the porous implant. Zoledronic acid might be useful to promote the early osseointegration of the joint replacement implants.
Alloys ; Animals ; Diphosphonates ; Femur ; Imidazoles ; Injections, Intravenous ; Joints ; Osseointegration ; Rabbits ; Wound Infection

BACKGROUND: It is well known that when macrophages are stimulated with endotoxin, they produce a wide variety of cytokine mediators, including TNF-α and IL-1β. However, there is an alterationnin the macrophages responsiveness when they are challenged with repeated bouts of endotoxin, termed 'endotoxin tolerance' which is regarded as a self-protective phenomenon from continuous stimulation. In this study, endotoxin tolerance in the peripheral blood monocytes of sepsis patients was evaluated. METHODS: Fourteen patients with organism-documented sepsis were included. The severity of illness was evaluated by APACHE IIscore. Peripheral blood monocytes were isolated from the patients and diluted to 1×105/well. After stimulation with endotoxin(LPS of E. coli O114:B4, 100 ng/ml), they were incubated at 37℃ in 5% CO2 incubator for 24 hours. Supernatant was collected for the measurement of TNF-αand IL-1β with ELISA method. Peripheral blood monocytes of seven healthy volunteers were used as control. RESULTS: The APACHE IIscore(mean±SD) of the patients at the time of blood sampling was 12.2±5.7. The primary infection foci were urinary tract infection, pneumonia, subacute bacterial endocarditis, and catheter related infection, etc. The causative organisms were gram negative rods(10 cases), gram positive cocci(6 cases) with two cases of mixed infection. Serum TNF-α could be measured in 4 cases with 29.9±27.7 pg/ml. Serum IL-1β was measureable in only one patient. The TNF-α level of supernatant of cultured peripheral blood monocytes was 2,703±2,066 pg/ml in patients and 2,102±1,914 pg/ml in controls. The IL-1β level of supernatant was 884±1,050 pg/ml in patients and 575±558 pg/ml in controls. There was no difference of TNF-α and IL-1β level between patients and controls. CONCLUSION: We cannot prove the phenomenon of endotoxin tolerance in this study. Future study needs to be focused on the more severe sepsis patients who were taken for sampling earlier. Addition of serum to the culture medium could be an another valuable option for the success of this study.
APACHE ; Catheters ; Coinfection ; Endocarditis, Subacute Bacterial ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Incubators ; Macrophages ; Monocytes ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha* ; Urinary Tract Infections

PURPOSE: The early detection of gastric cancer and accuracy of preoperative staging has currently been on the increase due to the development of endoscopy and imaging techniques, but there are still many cases of advanced gastric cancer detected at the first diagnosis and there are also many cases of stage IV gastric cancer diagnosed after a postoperative pathological examination. Although the prognosis of stage IV gastric cancer is very poor, this study was performed to determine the value of the use of aggressive treatment determined after a clinical analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 150 patients that were diagnosed with stage IV gastric cancer among 1376 patients who underwent a laparotomy for gastric cancer from January 1994 to December 2006. RESULTS: Of the 150 patients with stage IV gastric cancer who underwent a laparotomy, there were 104 men and 46 women. The mean patient age was 57.8 years (age range, 28~93 years). A subtotal gastrectomy or total gastrectomy was performed in 119 patients and 31 patients underwent an explorative laparotomy. The mean survival time of patients that underwent a gastrectomy and patients that did not undergo a gastrectomy was 722 days (range, 14~4,559 days) and 173 days (range, 16~374 days), respectively this result was statistically significant. When patients that underwent a gastrectomy were classified according to the TNM stage, the mean survival time of 33 patients with stage T4 disease was 534 days (range, 17~3,378 days) and the mean survival time of 63 patients with stage N3 disease was 521 days (range, 14~4,190 days), but there was no statistical significance. Chemotherapy was administered to 98 patients and 52 patients did not receive chemotherapy. The mean survival time of patients that received chemotherapy was 792 days (range, 36~4,559 days) and the mean survival time of patients that did not receive chemotherapy was 243 days (range, 14~2,413 days), with statistical significance. CONCLUSION: If there is no evidence of distant metastasis in stage IV gastric cancer, one can expect improvement of the survival rate by the use of aggressive treatment, including curative gastric resection with radical lymph node dissection and chemotherapy.
Endoscopy ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Lymph Node Excision ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Survival Rate

Dorsal extradural migration of extruded disc material is clinically uncommon. We report a rare case of posterior epidural migration of an extruded lumbar disc mimicking a facet cyst. A 32-year-old man was admitted to our institute with a 2-week history of severe low back pain and radiating pain in the left leg. The magnetic resonance (MR) images revealed a dorsally located, left-sided extradural cystic mass at the L2-3 level. The initial diagnosis was an epidural facet cyst because of the high signal intensity on MR images and its location adjacent to the facet joint. Intraoperatively, an encapsulated mass of soft tissue adherent to the dural sac was observed and excised. The pathological diagnosis was degenerated disc material. After surgery, the patient experienced complete relief from leg pain.
Adult ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Leg ; Low Back Pain ; Zygapophyseal Joint