BACKGROUND: To investigate the possibie difference, if any, between office blood pressure(BP) and home BP may be important in the diagnosis and treatment of hypersensive patients. This report deails the difference between the two BP's and the usefulness of digital electronic sphygmomanometer(DES) for self-monitoring of home BP. METHODS: The BP's of 14 patients with essential hypertension were measured with mercury sphygmomanometers at outpatient department by physician and with DES at home(twice a day) by the patients. Patients were followed up every 2 weeks for 4 weeks and previous 2 weeks' average home BP's were compared with the office BP's of each 2 weeks' end. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between office and home BP(both systolic and diastolic) ; office average BP(151/95mmHg) was higher than home average BP(136/86mmHg). CONCLUSION: Caution may be needed in the interpretation of office BP unless it is measured several times after adequate rest.
Blood Pressure* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Outpatients ; Sphygmomanometers*

To demonstrate the stimulation effect on fracture healing by capacitively coupled electrical field, the rabbits' fibulae were fractured and treated with a capacitively coupled electrical signal (10V peak to peak, 60 kiloherz, symmetrical quadriangular wave) that was applied non-invasively over the skin surface overlying the approximate site of the fractured fibulae. Each fibula was evaluated with gross, roentgenographic, histological and mechanical tests after 21 days of the electrical stimulation, and compared to control group statistically. Maximum bending moment, Young's modulus of elasticity and bending stiffness were calculated by 3 point bending test, and the ratios of the fractured to the intact fibulae of the electrically stimulated rabbits were compared to the non-stimulated rabbits statistically. The results revealed that the fractured fibulae exposed to capacitively coupled electrical field showed the higher degree of fracture healing than the non-stimulated fibulae.
Elastic Modulus ; Elasticity ; Electric Stimulation ; Fibula ; Fracture Healing ; Rabbits ; Skin

OBJECTIVE: The reaccumulation of hematoma is one of the most frequent problems on the chronic subdural hematoma. The aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting the reaccumulation of hematoma and the reasonable site for the burr-hole trephination to achieve a low reaccumulation rate after burr-hole trephination and closed-system drainage METHODS: The authors studied 93 patients with chronic subdural hematoma in whom the location of burr-hole trephination was randomly placed and precisely determined on postoperative brain computerized tomographic scans or skull roentgenogram. Eighty five patients with chronic subdural hematoma were obtained with brain computerized tomographic scans the postoperative 3 day. The location of the burr-hole trephination, the location of subdural catheter tip, the maximum postoperative width of the subdural space, and the percentage of the ipsilateral subdural space occupied by air postoperatively were measured and analyzed the correlation with the postoperative reaccumulation rates. RESULTS: Patients with the parietal trephination had much more subdural air and a higher of chronic subdural hematoma reaccumulation than those with the frontal one. In addition, patients with residual subdural air on brain computerized tomographic scans obtained the postoperative 3 day also had a higher reaccumulation rate than those without subdural air collections. CONCLUSION: The incidence of postoperative subdural fluid reaccumulation can be reduced by the burr-hole trephination on the frontal convexity and by preventing subdural air accumulation during operation.
Brain ; Catheters ; Drainage* ; Hematoma ; Hematoma, Subdural ; Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Rabeprazole ; Skull ; Subdural Space ; Trephining*

The sensitivity and specificity of ST segment change on ECG for detection of coronary artery disease(CAD) by pacing stress test were assessed. Among 28 cases with chest pain(mean age 52, M/F : 21/7), 10 patients had normal coronary angiographic finding(Group I), and 18 had coronary artery disease(Group II). Pacing stress test showed high specificity(100%), but low sensitivity(61%) for the diagnosis of CAD. Especially in patients with 1 vessel disease, the sensitivity was only 50%, and positive results were not attained unless there was at least 90% or more stenosis in any of the major branches(LAD, RCA or LCX). But in patients with multivessel disease, the sensitivity was much higher(83%). Lateral(V4-6) or inferior leads(2, 3, aVF) showed ischemic ST segment depression most commonly. Therefore one of the inferior lead and V5 may be a minimum requirement for monitoring pacing-induced ST segment changes. Time constant during isovolumic relaxation showed statistically significant prolongation after pacing only in CAD patient group, suggesting pacing-induced impairment of early left ventricular relaxation.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Depression ; Diagnosis* ; Electrocardiography ; Exercise Test ; Humans ; Relaxation ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thorax

A 69-year-old man, suffering from diabetes, presented with drowsiness and general weakness is reported. Brain computed tomography revealed low density subdural lesion in the left hemisphere. A single burr hole was trephined and purulent material with liquified hematoma was drained to reveal Klebsiella pneumoniae from the specimen culture. Due to the unexplained postoperative mental deterioration and high fever, the patient underwent abdominal sonography to reveal liver abscess and the same pathogen was also cultured from the liver abscess. This case was very rare in that Klebsiella pneumoniae implanted into the vascularized capsule of the chronic subdural hematoma by hematogenous bacteremia. When chronic subdural hematoma is present in an immunocompromised or in old age patient, the infected subdural hematoma might be considered as one of the differential diagnosis.
Aged ; Bacteremia ; Brain ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Empyema, Subdural ; Fever ; Hematoma ; Hematoma, Subdural* ; Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Liver Abscess ; Sleep Stages

Curettage ; Facial Asymmetry ; Female ; Fibroma, Ossifying ; Humans ; Mandible ; Maxilla ; Maxillary Sinus

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic liver resection has gained much popularity in recent years, but relatively few centers have performed hepatectomies in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients due to the technical difficulties faced with underlying liver cirrhosis. We now present our early experience with laparoscopic liver resection in HCC performed in a single institution. METHODS: From October 2003 until March 2009, 39 laparoscopic liver resections were performed on HCC patients among whom 26 had underlying liver cirrhosis. RESULTS: The location of the tumor was in the left lateral section in 15, segment 5 or 6 in 20, segment 4 in 3 and caudate lobe in 1. Resection involving less than a monosegment was done in 26 and more than 2 segments in 13. Tumor size ranged from 0.8 cm to 6.6 cm (median 2.35) and the resection margin from 0.1 to 6 cm (median 1.5 cm). All patients were either stage I (29) or II (10). There was no difference between cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients in operation time (median 210 minutes, range 60~637), change of hematocrit value (4.8%, -1~19.6%), or hospital stay (8 days, 3~67 days). The median follow up duration was 15.1 months, and the 2-year recurrence free survival rate was 48.3%. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic liver resection in HCC with or without underlying cirrhosis seems to be feasible with minimal morbidity, especially in well selected cases with early stage HCC.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Fibrosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematocrit ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Submucosal tumors of the esophagus are rare lesions among all esophageal neoplasms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathologic features of esophageal submucosal tumors treated by surgical approach. METHODS: We analyzed the clinicopathologic and endoscopic ultrasonographic features of 18 esophageal submucosal tumors which were treated by surgical approach at Boramae Medical Center and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital from January 2005 to June 2012. RESULTS: The mean age was 48.9 years old and male to female ratio was 2.6:1. Asymptomatic patients were most common (77.8%). In endoscopic ultrasonographic finding, the majority tumor arouse in the middle (55.6%) and lower (44.4%) esophagus, and appeared as hypoechoic lesion (72.2%) in the 4th layer (83.3%). The most common indication for surgical approach was unclear biological behavior of the tumor. Minimally-invasive technique using thoracoscopy was applied for the enucleation (83.3%). The mean diameter of the tumor was 5.4 cm, and the final diagnosis was leiomyoma (89.9%) and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (11.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Leiomyoma was the most common submucosal tumor in esophagus. However, endoscopic ultrasonography was not able to differentiate between leiomyoma and gastrointesinal stromal tumor. For more accurate diagnosis and treatment, minimally-invasive approaches may be suitable for the surgical enucleation of indicated esophageal submucosal tumor.
Adult ; Aged ; Esophageal Neoplasms/*pathology/*surgery/ultrasonography ; Esophagus/pathology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors/diagnosis/surgery ; Humans ; Intestinal Mucosa/*pathology ; Leiomyoma/diagnosis/surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Thoracoscopy

This article was inadvertently omitted Acknowledgments section for grant support.