No abstract available.
Fungi* ; Plastics*

No abstract available.
Ear* ; Papain*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study was designed to determine the effect of supplementary argon plasma coagulation (APC) after piecemeal resection of a gastric adenoma or an intramucosal adenocarcinoma. METHODS: Cases of 62 lesions of 56 consecutive patients with either a gastric adenoma or carcinoma were retrospectively reviewed at the Ajou University Medical Center. APC was performed after an endoscopic complete resection using the piecemeal method of endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for patients in the EMR-APC group. For patients in the EMR group, APC was not performed. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the recurrence rate of the cancers for both groups (9.7%, for the EMR group, 6.5% for the EMR-APC group). The recurrence rate of a low grade dysplasia was 6.7% (EMR group) and 6.3% (EMR-APC group) (p=1.000), the recurrence rate for a high grade dysplasia was 11.1% (EMR group) and 25.0% (EMR-APC group) (p=1.000), and the recurrence rate for an intramucosal adenocarcinoma was 14.3% (EMR group) and 0% (EMR-APC group) (p=0.389). The recurrence rates of lesions in which the lesion size was less than 20 mm and over 20 mm for each group were 6.7% and 9.1% (EMR group) (p=1.000) versus 12.5% and 0% (EMR-APC group) (p=0.520). There was also no significant statistical difference in the recurrence rates for both groups according to the location and macroscopic type of lesion. CONCLUSIONS: Supplementary treatment with APC could not significantly reduce the recurrence rate after complete piecemeal resection determined macroscopically. A large- scale and prospective study is necessary to elucidate the clinical significance of supplementary APC for gastric neoplasm treatment.
Academic Medical Centers ; Adenocarcinoma ; Adenoma* ; Argon Plasma Coagulation* ; Argon* ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Common bile duct stones are the most common among bile duct diseases. In the past, common bile duct stones were considered a surgically operable disease, but is now considered a medical disease due to the advancement of endoscopy and endoscopic techniques. The aim of this study was to determine the results of endoscopic treatment of common bile duct stones. METHODS: Removal of primary or secondary common bile duct stones were attempted by peroral or percutaneous endoscopy. The common bile duct stones were diagnosed by ultrasonography or cholangiography. As a primary approach route, the peroral transpapillary endoscopic approach was tried. On the other hand, percutaneous common bile duct stone removal was attempted if the patient already had a percutaneous route, peroral transpapillary approaches failed, or if conditions for endoscopy were unfavorable. RESULTS: The study subjects consisted of 196 patients; 96 males and 100 females. The mean age was 61.8 years. A total of 272 endoscopic stone removal were attempted in 196 patients. Of the 272, peroral approaches were conducted 241 times for 183 patients, and percutaneous approaches were performed 31 times for 12 patients. The success rate of the first treatment modality to remove the common bile duct stones was 90.3% (176/195). The overall success rate of endoscopic common bile duct stones removal was 100%. CONCLUSIONS: In all patients, the common bile duct stones were removed successfully by endoscopy, and thus supporting the shift of recognizing common bile duct stones as a medical rather than surgical discase.
Bile Duct Diseases ; Cholangiography ; Chymopapain ; Common Bile Duct* ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Male ; Ultrasonography