The recent development of microsurgical tissue transfer has enabled any defect in any area to be reconstructed with free flaps. However, the need for a more functional and thinner flap has been raised due to bullkiness of the flap and donorsite morbidity. For better functional and aesthetic results, various perforator flaps excluding muscles or adjacent subcutaneous tissue have been recently reported. We report 44 cases of perforating artery pedicled flaps from April 1995 to August 1998, including 21 cases of anterolateral thigh flap, 12 cases of gluteal artery perforator flap, 4 cases of posterior interosseous flap, and 7 cases of paraumbilical perforator flap for various soft tissue defects. Even though marginal necrosis of flap occurred in 9 cases, complete healing without significant problem was possible. The advantages of perforator flaps are as follows: 1. It is possible to obtain a relatively thin fasciocutaneous flap, but still with sufficient volume 2. Donor site morbidity was reduced without damage of main artery. 3. In spite of diverse vascular pattern of the perforator, the location of perforating arteries can be Detected with relative ease and mapped preoperatively with an ultrasound Doppler. The need of meticulous and tedious dissection could be a sole disadvantage of these flaps. This report describes the clinical experience with a perforator-based flap, anticpating applications of many other types of perforator flap in the future.
Arteries* ; Free Tissue Flaps ; Humans ; Muscles ; Necrosis ; Perforator Flap ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Surgical Flaps* ; Thigh ; Tissue Donors ; Ultrasonography

The orbitozygomatic area occupies a key anatomic position in midface, is prone to injury, and plays a prominent role in facial aesthetics. So the facial appearance including orbital shape can be altered by complications of orbitozygomatic fractures. Most possible initial complications include blindness, hyphema, retinal detatchment, and paralysis or entrapment of extraocular muscles. Long term sequelaes include infraorbital nerve dysfunction, loss of malar projection, enophthalmos, and dystopia. Accurate anatomic reduction and rigid fixation is essential for management of orbitozygomatic fractures to minimize those late sequelaes. Conventional fixation devices to fix displaced fracture of facial bone are interosseous wire and miniplate. But interosseous wirings are unstable for primary bone healing and time consuming. Miniplates have great deal in rigid fixation but their high profile and palpability are the main complaints in many patients, especially in orbital rim area. In this article, we reviewed the 30 cases of zygomamaxilla complex fractures with orbital rim fracture fixed with microplates, and discussed the stability of microplate and superiorities in final aesthetics result. The use of microplates in these area permits enough stability of fracture segment with ease of procedures and superiorities in final results without any palpability.
Blindness ; Enophthalmos ; Esthetics ; Facial Bones ; Humans ; Hyphema ; Muscles ; Orbit* ; Paralysis ; Retinaldehyde

Acute intermittent porphyria(AIP) is a rare hepatic disorder resulting from defects in the synthesis of heme. This occurs in approximately 0.01% of the general population and is even rare in black and orientals. Acute episode of this disease can be triggered by surgery, certain drug, pregnancy, mensturation, fasting and etc. We report a porphyrinogenic neuropathy occured after general anesthesia in a oriental woman who presented with abdominal pain and other typical sign and symptom. 56 year-old female patient was diagnosed as acute appendicitis for 2 days of constipation and abdominal pain and appendectomy was performed under general anesthesia at local clinic. Anesthesia was induced with penthothal and maintained with halothane, and she was recovered from anesthesia without event. After operation she experienced difficult swallowing and generalized weakness which were aggrevated day by day. Therefore she was transferred to our hospital on fourth postoperative day. Physical examination revealed Grade II motor weakness of Gxtremities and decreased deep tendon reflex. Neostigmine test and Jolly test were done under impression of myasthenia gravis but revealed negative. Guillian-Barre syndrome was difficult to rule out in this patient, but urinalysis revealed increased delta aminolevulinic acid and urine color changed dark under light. Therefore we diagnosed her as AIP. 6 days after appendectomy she complained severe dyspnea with vital capacity 350 ml and arterial blood gas analysis revealed PO2 of 56 mmHg and PCO2 of 44 mmHg under nasal oxygen 5 1/min inhalation. Therefore we diagnosed this peripheral neuropathy as AIP and report here with references.
Abdominal Pain ; Aminolevulinic Acid ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Appendectomy ; Appendicitis ; Blood Gas Analysis ; Constipation ; Deglutition ; Dyspnea ; Fasting ; Female ; Halothane ; Heme ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Middle Aged ; Myasthenia Gravis ; Neostigmine ; Oxygen ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Physical Examination ; Porphyrias ; Pregnancy ; Reflex, Stretch ; Urinalysis ; Vital Capacity

PURPOSE: Although the rotavirus-related neonatal death occurred in western part of Kyeonggi Province recently, there were just a few reports about rotavirus gastroentertis in domestic since 2000. We proposed to investigate changes of epidemiology and clinical features of rotavirus gastroenteritis for the last 2 years. METHODS: We selected 166 patients diagnosed as gastroenteritis from January, 2002 to July, 2003 and reviewed the admission records retrospectively such as age distribution, sex ratio, seasonal distribution, admission period, laboratory data and dehydration type in the rotavirus group (RVG) and non-RVG. RESULTS: The percentage of patient under 3 years was 77% on RVG. The non-RVG showed even age distribution (P< 0.05). In RVG, patients occurred in March frequently and 52% occurred from January to March. In non-RVG, patients occurred highly in February and July (P< 0.05). The average of admission period was higher in RVG than non-RVG (P< 0.05). The percentage of patient admitted for over 10 days was 8% in the RVG. In dehydration severity, the RVG showed mild (51%), moderate (44%) and severe (5%) respectively, but non-RVG showed only mild dehydration (P< 0.05). The laboratory findings' did not have statistic significance between RVG and non-RVG. CONCLUSION: Compared to the previous studies, seasonal peak prevalence of rotavirus gastroenteritis changed from autumn to spring and patients over 3 years increased. Therefore, we suggest that there are variable serotypes of rotavirus domestically and there is a need for reinvestigation about clinical features and serotypes of rotavirus gastroenteritis.
Age Distribution ; Dehydration ; Epidemiology ; Gastroenteritis* ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; Rotavirus* ; Seasons ; Sex Ratio

No abstract available.
Ear Canal* ; Keratosis, Seborrheic*

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the most common complications in patients with chronic renal failure. Common causes are peptic ulcer, gastritis, duodenitis, esophagitis, Mallory-Weiss tear, and angiodysplasia. However, gastric polyp is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. We diagnosed a bleeding hyperplastic polyp in chronic renal failure patient with melena. He had a bleeding polyp with a Y-shaped stalk. This polyp was treated effectively by endoscopic snare polypectomy.
Angiodysplasia ; Duodenitis ; Esophagitis ; Gastritis ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Mallory-Weiss Syndrome ; Melena ; Peptic Ulcer ; Polyps* ; SNARE Proteins

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the most common complications in patients with chronic renal failure. Common causes are peptic ulcer, gastritis, duodenitis, esophagitis, Mallory-Weiss tear, and angiodysplasia. However, gastric polyp is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. We diagnosed a bleeding hyperplastic polyp in chronic renal failure patient with melena. He had a bleeding polyp with a Y-shaped stalk. This polyp was treated effectively by endoscopic snare polypectomy.
Angiodysplasia ; Duodenitis ; Esophagitis ; Gastritis ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Mallory-Weiss Syndrome ; Melena ; Peptic Ulcer ; Polyps* ; SNARE Proteins

PURPOSE: We present our experience involving the management of this disease, identifying prognostic factors affecting treatment outcomes. METHODS: The patients treated for Fournier gangrene at our institution were retrospectively reviewed. Data collected included demographics, extent of soft tissue necrosis, predisposing factors, etiological factors, laboratory values, and treatment outcomes. The severity index and score were calculated. Multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the association between potential predictors and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 41 patients (male:female = 33:8) were studied. The mean age was 54.4 years (range, 24–79 years). The most common predisposing factor was diabetes mellitus (n = 19, 46.3%). Sixteen patients (39.0%) were current smokers. Seven patients had chronic kidney disease. The most frequent etiology was urogenital lesion (41.5%). The mortality rate was 22.0% (n = 9). Multivariate regression analyses showed that extension of necrosis beyond perineal/inguinal area and pre-existing chronic kidney disease were significant and independent predictors of mortality. Extension of necrosis beyond perineal/inguinal area was a significant predictor of increased duration in the intensive care unit and hospital stay. In addition, pre-existing chronic kidney disease was a significant predictor of flap reconstruction in the wound. CONCLUSION: Fournier gangrene with extensive soft tissue necrosis and pre-existing chronic kidney disease was associated with poor prognosis and complexity of patient management. Early recognition of dissemination and premorbid renal function is essential to reduce mortality and establish a management plan for this disease.
Causality ; Demography ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Fasciitis, Necrotizing ; Fournier Gangrene* ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Length of Stay ; Mortality ; Necrosis ; Prognosis ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Retrospective Studies ; Wounds and Injuries

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Sudden deafness in the elderly is rare and its prognosis is poorer than in adults. The unaffected ear also may have hearing impairment of variable severity and physiological hearing threshold shift termed presbycusis in the elderly. The old person often had various systemic complications including diabetes and hypertension. This study was designed to evaluate clinical manifestations and prognosis of sudden deafness in the elderly and to compare with sudden deafness in adults and children. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We reviewed the medical and audiological records of 96 patients (102 ears) who are more than 60 years of age, and admitted to the Department of Otolaryngology, Pusan National University Hospital from January 1990 to December 2001. RESULTS: The total recovery rate of sudden deafness was lower in the elderly than in adults and children. Hearing recovery was significantly poorer in the patients with diabetes and hypertension. Hearing recovery was significantly poor in the patients with profound degree of hearing loss. The patients who had been treated within 7 days after onset of hearing loss showed better recovery rate than those treated 7 days later. CONCLUSION: We consider the effect of treatment of sudden deafness in the elderly to be best judged in various degrees of hearing impairment in the unaffected ear. The poor prognosis observed in patients with the concurrent disease is likely to have been brought about by preexisting microvascular diseases of the hearing organ, which is highly affected by aging. Good hearing recovery in the elderly is considered to be associated with time of initial treatment and expected in patients without concurrent diseases.
Adult ; Aged* ; Aging ; Busan ; Child ; Ear ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Sudden* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Otolaryngology ; Presbycusis ; Prognosis

Twenty-four monoclonal antibodies were produced by immunizing BALB/c mice with Rickettsia tsutsugamushi Boryong strain and used for the analysis of antigenic characteristics of R.tsutsugamushi Boryong strain and antigenic heterogeneity of R.tsutsugamushi by indirect immunofluorescent(IF) test. R. tsutsugamushi Kato, Karp, Gilliam, TA686, TA716, TA763, TC586, TH1817, and Boryong were used for the analysis of antigenic heterogeneity of R.tsutsugamushi. Five monoclonal antibodies were reactive with 27-kDa protein, four monoclonal antibodies were reactive with 47-kDa protein, and eight monoclonal antibodies were reactive with 56-kDa protein of R.tsutsugamushi Boryong strain. The reactive protein of seven monoclonal antibodies could not be identified by immunoblotting method. All monoclonal antibodies to 27-kDa protein and three monoclonal antibodies to 47-kDa protein, and five monoclonal antibodies to 56-kDa protein were reactive with three to eight strains among nine strains of R. tsutsugamushi tested. One monoclonal antibody reactive to 47-kDa protein(KI18) and two monoclonal antibodies reactive to 56-kDa protein(KI36, and KI37) reacted with all the strains of R. tsutsugamushi tested. Strain-specific monoclonal antibody(KI58) could be found among antibodies which were reactive with 56-kDa protein. There was no strain which showed same reactivity pattern to these 24 monoclonal antibodies among nine strains. From this results, it could be concluded that Boryong strain is antigenically different from other strains of R.tsutsugamushi and antigenic heterogeneity of R.tsutsugamushi is due to the antigenic diversity of several proteins of R. tsutsugamushi including 56-kDa protein.
Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/*immunology ; Antigens, Bacterial/*analysis ; Bacterial Proteins/analysis ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Orientia tsutsugamushi/*immunology ; Species Specificity