No abstract available.
Adolescent* ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc* ; Spine*

PURPOSE: This study was tried to evaluate the potential benefits of concurrent chemoradiation therapy (low dose daily cisplatin combined with split course radiation therapy) compared with conventional radiation therapy alone in stage III non-small cell lung cancer. The end points of analyses were response rate, overall survival, survival without locoregional failure, survival without distant metastasis, prognostic factors affecting survival and treatment related toxicities. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between April 1992 and March 1994, 32 patients who had stage III non-small cell lung cancer were treated with concurrent chemoradiation therapy. Radiation therapy for 2 weeks (300cGy given 10 times up to 3000cGy) followed by a 3 weeks rest period and then radiation therapy for 2 more weeks (250cGy given 10 times up to 2500cGy) was combined with 6mg/M2 of cisplatin. Follow-up period ranged from 13 months to 48 months with median of 24 months. Historical control group consisted of 32 patients who had stage III non-small cell lung cancer were received conventionally fractionated (daily 170-200cGy) radiation therapy alone. Total radiation dose ranged from 5580cGy to 7000cGy with median of 5940 cGy. Follow-up period ranged from 36 months to 105 months with median of 62 months. RESULTS: Complete reponse rate was higher in chemoradiation therapy (CRT) group than radiation therapy (RT) group (18.8% vs. 6.3%). CRT group showed lower in-field failure rate compared with RT group (25% vs. 47%). The overall survival rate had no significant differences in between CRT group and RT group (17.5% vs. 9.4% at 2 years). The survival without locoregional failure (16.5% vs. 5.3% at 2 years) and survival without distant metastasis (17% vs. 4.6% at 2 years) also had no significant differences. In subgroup analyses for patients with good performance status (Karnofsky performance scale 80), CRT group showed significantly higher overall survival rate compared with RT group (62.5% vs. 15.6% at 2 years). The prognostic factors affecting survival rate were performance status and pathologic subtype (squamous cell cancer vs. nonsquamous cell cancer) in CRT group. In RT alone group, performance status and stage (IIIa vs IIIb) were identified as a prognostic factors. RTOG/EORTC grade 2-3 nausea and vomiting (22% vs. 6%) and bone marrow toxicities (25% vs. 15.6%) were significantly higher in CRT group compared with RT alone group. The incidence of RTOG/EORTC grade 3-4 pulmonary toxicity had no significant differences in between CRT group and RT group (16% vs. 6%). The incidence of WHO grade 3-4 pulmonary fibrosis also had no significant differences in both group (38% vs. 25%). In analyses for relationship of field size and pulmonary toxicity, the patients who treated with field size beyond 200cm2 had significantly higher rates of pulmonary toxicities. CONCLUSION: The CRT group showed significantly higher local control rate than RT group. There were no significant differences of survival rate in between two groups. The subgroup of patients who had good performance status showed higher overall survival rate in CRT group than RT group. In spite of higher incidence of acute toxicities with concurrent chemoradiation therapy, the survival gain in subgroup of patients with good performance status were encouraging. CRT group showed higher rate of early death within 1 year, higher 2 year survival rate compared with RT group. Therefore, to evaluate the accurate effect on survival of concurrent chemoradiation therapy, systematic follow-up for long term survivors are needed.
Bone Marrow ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Cisplatin ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Nausea ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; Survival Rate ; Survivors ; Vomiting

The present study reports a case of eosinophilic granuloma of the mandibular condyle. Eosinophilic granulomas on the mandibular condyle are very rare, but there are several common clinical and radiographic presentations. The clinical presentations involve swelling on preauricular area, limitation of opening, TMJ pain, etc. The radiographic presentations involve radiolucent lytic condylar lesion with or without pathologic fracture. Sometimes new bone formations are observed. The purpose of the article is to add new cases to the literatures.
Eosinophilic Granuloma ; Eosinophils ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell ; Mandibular Condyle ; Temporomandibular Joint

Benign tumors of the trachea are rare, accounting for approximately 10% of all primary tracheal neoplasms. They are frequently misdiagnosed and managed as bronchial asthma or chronic bronchitis. We report a lipoma and a leiomyoma of the trachea with emphasis on the clinical, radiographic and CT findings, and review the literature.
Asthma ; Bronchitis, Chronic ; Leiomyoma ; Lipoma ; Trachea* ; Tracheal Neoplasms

Benign tumors of the trachea are rare, accounting for approximately 10% of all primary tracheal neoplasms. They are frequently misdiagnosed and managed as bronchial asthma or chronic bronchitis. We report a lipoma and a leiomyoma of the trachea with emphasis on the clinical, radiographic and CT findings, and review the literature.
Asthma ; Bronchitis, Chronic ; Leiomyoma ; Lipoma ; Trachea* ; Tracheal Neoplasms

Ceftriaxone is a commonly used antibiotic due to some of its advantages. Reversible gallbladder (GB) sludge or stone has been reported after ceftriaxone therapy. Most of these patients have no symptom, but the GB sludge or stone can sometimes cause cholecystitis. We experienced two patients who had newly developed GB stones after ceftriaxone therapy for diverticulitis and pneumonia, and this resolved spontaneously 1 month after discontinuation of the drug. Awareness of this complication could help to prevent unnecessary cholecystectomy.
Ceftriaxone ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystolithiasis ; Diverticulitis ; Gallbladder ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Pneumonia ; Sewage ; Young Adult

This paper describes the basic date measurements for total body irradiation with 6 Mv photon beam including compensators designs. The technique uses bilateral opposing field with tissue compensators for the head, neck, lungs, and legs from the hip to toes. In vivo dosimetry was carried out for determining absorbed dose at various regions in 7 patients using diode detectors (MULTIDOSE, Model 9310, MULTIDATA Co., USA). As a results, the dose uniformity of+/-3.5%(generally, within+/-10%) can be achieved with our total body irradiation technique.
Head ; Hip ; Humans ; Leg ; Lung ; Neck ; Toes ; Whole-Body Irradiation*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) in depicting renal infarction inrabbits during experimental renal segmental arterial occlusion, and to compare the results with those of CTscanning. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 28 rabbits weighing 2.5-4kg, the segmental renal artery was occluded throughthe left main renal artery by embolization with Ivalon (Nycomed, Paris, France). Power Doppler ultrasonography andspiral CT scanning were performed before and at 2, 5, 8, 15, and 24 hours, and 3 and 7 days after occlusion of thesegmental renal artery. The location of infarcted areas and collaterals, as seen on PDUS and CT scans, wasevaluated by two radiologists. RESULTS: In all cases, as seen on power Doppler ultrasonography, infaretedareas-when compared with normal parenchyma, clearly demonstrated wedge-shaped perfusion defects in the kidney. Thelocation of the lesion closely corresponded to the location seen during CT scanning. After renal arterialocclusion, transiently congested capsular arteries, which were named 'capsular sign', were seen in 63% ofrabbits in the two and five-hour groups. No significant cortical rim sign was demonstrated on power Dopplerultrasonography, though it was noted on spiral CT at 15 and 24 hours, and 3 and 7 days after renal arterialocclusion. CONCLUSION: Power Doppler ultrasonography was useful for the diagnosis of renal infarction. Congestedcapsular artery seen in the early stage of renal infarction might be a characteristic finding of this condition,as seen on power Doppler ultrasonography.
Animals ; Arteries ; Diagnosis ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Infarction ; Kidney ; Perfusion ; Rabbits ; Renal Artery* ; Tomography, Spiral Computed ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography* ; Ultrasonography, Doppler

A prominent crista terminalis is a normal anatomic variant which consist of thick muscular bridge within the right atrium. However, it could be often misdiagnosed with an abnormal mass on the transthoracic echocardiography. The case report presented here, describe the findings of transthoracic echocardiography that suggested a right atrial mass in patients with pulmonary embolism. However, subsequent transesophageal echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging differentiated a true right atrial mass from a prominent crista terminalis.
Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Pulmonary Embolism

The genetic alterations of vitamin D receptor (VDR) are related with the growth of long bone. There were a lot of reports regarding an association of polymorphisms in the VDR promoter with many disorders, but not with idiopathic short stature (ISS). We investigated the association of them with ISS. A total of 50 subjects, including 29 ISS patients and 21 healthy controls with their heights within the normal range was recruited. We selected two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from VDR promoter (rs11568820 at the Cdx-2 binding site upstream of exon 1e and rs4516035 at -1012 upstream of exon 1a) as candidates, respectively. In genotype analysis, the frequency of A/A genotype at the Cdx-2 binding site locus (rs11568820) upstream of exon 1e of VDR was decreased to 6.9% in ISS patients (28.6% in controls) (P = 0.027). The genetic variation at the Cdx-2 binding site of VDR promoter can be a contributing factor of growth of height.
Adolescent ; Alleles ; Binding Sites ; Child ; Dwarfism/*genetics ; Exons ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; *Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Receptors, Calcitriol/*genetics