Bart's syndrome was initially described as a genodermatosis characterized by congenital localized absence of the skin with blistering and nail deformities 1-3. However, it is considered as any type of epidermolysis bullosa(EB) with localized congenital absence of the skin on the extremities. A 33-day-old fbmale baby was presented with congenital absence of the skin over the left shin and dorsa of both feet which were covered with the thin, translucent, and brown-red glistening membranes. Blistering of the right calf and left great toe nail deformity were also noted. She was diagnosed as a recessive dystrophic EB by the histopathological, ultra- structural and immunomapping studies.
Blister ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Extremities ; Foot ; Membranes ; Skin ; Toes

This study was intended to examine the relationship of the MMPI mean scales in the impotents and Beutler`s decision rules to acertain the empirical utility of the MMPI in discriminating between organic and psychogenic erectile dysfunction. The actual number of cases put into the analysis was 97 including 53 psychogenic and 43 or ganic impotents, who were definitely classified into organic or psychogenic impotents out of 451 impotents on several diagnostic tests. Their age was 34.59+/-10.40. Statistical methods employed were x2 and T score. Results obtained were as follows : 1. The mean overall 4-3/3-4 MMPI profile(17.7%) showed somatic complaints, depression, conflict with spouse and emotionally unstable personality trait. However, there were no significant relationship of mean T score between psychogenic and organic impotence. 2. Applying the Beutler`s rule decision, our hit rate of rule I or rule II were 12.391 and 47.2% respectively. Applying the two rules to 97 cases, the hit rate was 60.4% with non-significant Chi square of 0.017. These results revealed no significant differences between psychogenic and organic subject. Finally, we failed to examine the validity of Beutler`s decision rules adapted to our 97 subjects.
Depression ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Erectile Dysfunction* ; Humans ; Male ; MMPI* ; Spouses ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND: For complicated appendicitis, in contrast to simple appendicitis, laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) is considered a relative or absolute contraindication because of the higher postoperative complication rate than that of open appendectomy (OA), especially, high incidence of intra-abdominal abscess. The purpose of this article is to assess the feasibility of LA for complicated appendicitis. METHODS: A retrospective review of 35 LA and 128 OA for the cases of gangrenous, perforated appendicitis, and periappendiceal abscess between May 1995 and June 1997 was performed. Patients were identified through the hospital pathology registry. We compared data from both groups with respect to operative times, postoperative pain, duration of ileus, length of hospital stay, and complication rate, with special attention to the incidence of intra-abdominal abscess. RESULTS: 1) The male:female ratio of LA (1:1.2) was significantly lower than that of OA (1:0.45) (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the age distribution between both groups. 2) The mean operative time of LA (58.3 minutes) was significantly longer than that of OA (51.8 minutes) (p<0.05). 3) The mean number of injections of analgesics and the mean duration of ileus represented an advantage for LA (1.2 times and 1.8 days) than those of OA (1.6 times and 2.0 days). But these differences did not reach statistical significance. 4) The length of hospital stay of LA (6.5 days) was shorter than that of OA (7.8 dyas) (p<0.05). 5) Overall postoperative complication rate was lower in LA (11.4%) compared with OA (11.7) (p>0.05). But LA was associated with higher incidence of postoperative intra-abdominal abscess (3/35, 8.6%) than OA (3/128, 2.3%) (p=0.114). There was one serious intra-abdominal abscess in the LA, which required reoperation. The rest 2 cases in the LA and all 3 cases in the OA were treated conservatively. CONCLUSIONS: LA for complicated appendicitis could afford the merits of shorter hospital stay, reduced incidenceof wound infection, and comparable incidence of overall complication rate. To reduce the incidence of postoperative intra-abdominal abscess, copious irrigation and adequate drainage should be recommended.
Abdominal Abscess ; Abscess ; Age Distribution ; Analgesics ; Appendectomy ; Appendicitis* ; Drainage ; Humans ; Ileus ; Incidence ; Length of Stay ; Operative Time ; Pain, Postoperative ; Pathology ; Postoperative Complications ; Reoperation ; Retrospective Studies ; Wound Infection

Roux-en-Y reconstruction is an occasional occurrence of Roux-Y stasis syndrome, characterized by chronic abdominal pain, persistent nausea, and intermittent vomiting. Construction of the Roux limb requires transection of the jejunum, which disturbs normal propagation of pacesetter potential and evokes development of ectopic pacemakers in the Roux limb. Ectopic pacemakers in the Roux limb generate pacesetter potentials, which with their associated orally propagating contractions, result in slower transit through the Roux limb.To prevent the Roux stasis syndrome, a new operation has been designed that is similar to the standard Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy construction but theoretically without inherent motor pathophysiology. The authors designed a new unbalanced " Uncut Roux-en-Y" procedure to avoid postoperative blind loop syndrome and performed the procedures with staple occlusion of the afferent loop in 11 patients who required gastric resection and reconstruction, during a period of 6 months from April 1995 to September 1995. Results were summarized as follows. 1) 9 of the 11 patients( 81%) had excellent results with stable or increased weight and no stasis syndrome. 2) 2 patients(19%) had poor results with alkaline reflux gastritis or esophagitis. Both had documented staple line dehiscence. One of them was operated on and converted to a standard Roux operation, but died. The other one continued to loose weight but maintained a normal dietary pattern. 3) Unbalanced Roux technique worked well without harmful complications. 4) Reinforcing serosal sutures on the staple line could prevent a possible jejunal leakage in the case of staple line dehiscence and might prevent dehiscence of staple lines.
Abdominal Pain ; Blind Loop Syndrome ; Esophagitis ; Extremities ; Gastric Bypass* ; Gastritis ; Humans ; Jejunum ; Nausea ; Sutures ; Vomiting

Type I thyroplasty, we know, could not overcome the large posterior glottal chink and arytenoid adduction have been proved to be uneffective in the cases of unilateral vocal cord paralysis with vocal cord atrophy or bowing deformity. So we performed type I thyroplasty in conjunction with arytenoid adduction and tried to compare the postoperative results with that of arytenoid adduction. We experienced 8 cases of arytenoid adductions and 6 cases of combined operations in the cases of unilateral vocal cord paralysis. All 14 patients had large posterior glottal chink. In order to compare the postoperative voice results of two groups as objective as possible, we performed preoperative and postoperative videoimage analysis(chink size, interarytenoid distance) and computer-assisted voice analysis(MPT, Jitter, Shimmer, S/N ratio). As a results, the postoperative voice outcome is superior with the combined operation than with the arytenoid adduction only in the cases of unilateral vocal cord paralysis with large glottal chink.
Atrophy ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Humans ; Laryngoplasty* ; Vocal Cord Paralysis* ; Vocal Cords ; Voice

PURPOSE: Despite gsstric cancer is one of the most common ma1ignancies, its prognosis has not been improved significantly. Therefore, it is important to know what clinical and pathological factors relate to survival in gastric carcinoma in order to improve survival rate. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate treatment results and to analyze the factors that affect the survival of patients with gastric carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1,580 patients with primary gastric adenocarcinoma who had been treated surgically during the period 1983-1996 at the Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine was studied to evaluate the treatment outcome. Prognostic factors were investigated by univariate and multivariate analyses in 1,407 resected patients. RESULTS: The 5-year survival rate was 57.1% in all case, 62.4% in resected cases, and there was no survivor at 2.5 year in unresectable cases. In univariate analysis, gross type, maximum tumor diameter, depth of invasion, lymph node involvement, distant metastasis, histologic type and type of operation were found to correlate significantly with survival. Multivariate analysis indicated that lymph node involvement, depth of invasion and type of cancer were independently conelated with survival. The stage-related survival rates (UICC, 1987) were 95.8% (stage Ia), 87.6% (stage Ib), 76.7% (stage II), 51.3% (stage 1IIa), 25.5% (stage IIlb), 9.4% (stage IV) and the stage-related survival rates (UICC, 1997) 95.8% (stage Ia), 87.6% (stage Ib), 76.4% (stage II), 55.2% (stage IIla), 24.0% (stage IIIb), 13.4% (stage IV). There was no difference between two staging systems. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that lymph node involvement, depth of invasion, and gross type were the most important prognostic factors, indicating that they may be helpful as predictors of long-term survival and in planning the treatment.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Humans ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Survivors ; Treatment Outcome

Mouse monoclonal antibody was used for this study. This study was undertaken to define the prognostic value of the expression of Cathepsin-D in 121 breast cancer patients. The results were as follows: 1) Overall, 53.7% of patients were positive for Cathepsin-D 2) Positive staining did not correlate with age, estrogen receptor status,tumor size, axillary nodal status, tumor stage, menopausal status, pathologic grade, DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction.
Animals ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; DNA ; Estrogens ; Humans ; Mice ; Ploidies

BACKGROUND: The results of recent reports suggest that mechanical bowel preparation before colonic resection and primary anastomosis may be unnecessary. To determine whether mechanical bowel preparation influences the incidence of postoperative complications following colorectal surgery, the records of patients who had undergone colonic or rectal resection were retrospectively reviewed. METHODS: Between March 1992 and October 1997, colonic resection and primary anastomosis without colostomy was performed on 56 patients. Among these, 27 patients had undergone mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) before surgery, and 29 patients had not. We compared the data from both groups with respect to wound infection, anastomotic leak, intra-abdominal sepsis and death. RESULTS: The postoperative complication and mortality rates were similar in the two groups. Wound infection occurred in seven patients (four with MBP, three without), and the incidence of wound infection was similar in the two groups (14.8% versus 10.3%, P=0.700). Wound disruption occurred in two patients (one with MBP, one without). Anastomotic leaks occurred in two patients who had undergone bowel preparation. The overall anastomotic leak rate was 3.6% (7.4% versus 0%), but the incidence of anastomotic leaks was not significantly different between the two groups (P=0.228). No intra-abdominal sepsis was clinically apparent in either group. There was one death, a patient who had undergone bowel preparation. The mortality rate was not significantly different between the two groups (P=0.482). CONCLUSIONS: We believe that mechanical bowel preparation before colonic resection and primary anastomosis may be unnecessary, so routine MBP should be further scrutinized.
Anastomotic Leak ; Colon* ; Colorectal Surgery ; Colostomy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Postoperative Complications ; Retrospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Wound Infection ; Wounds and Injuries

Purpose: Mechanical and functional ankle instability or combinations of both can contribute to chronic ankle instability (CAI). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the difference in (1) static and (2) dynamic balance function between patients with CAI and the controls; (3) to investigate association between balance function and CAI; and (4) to examine whether balance assessments are valuable for diagnosing CAI. Methods: This study was conducted on 40 patients with CAI and 40 ankle healthy individuals. All participants evaluated the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool questionnaire. Additionally, joint laxity and center of pressure (COP) during static postural control, anterior landing, and lateral landing were measured using an electronic pedobarography. Results: CAI patients showed a larger COP area than controls when performing static postural control (p=0.023) and lateral landing (p=0.002). As a result of the receiver operation characteristic curve analysis, COP distance, area, and speed during static postural control and COP area during lateral landing showed low accuracy, indicating that they are valuable evaluations for the diagnosis of CAI. Conclusion Patients with CAI had poor static and dynamic postural control ability. The static posture control and the lateral landing test had diagnostic significance to evaluate the objective function of CAI.

PURPOSE: To investigate the alteration of lower extremity movement during maintaining balance test with their eyes closed in chronic ankle instability (CAI) patients compared to healthy group with and without plantar cutaneous sensation. METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers (age, 23.40±2.22 years; height, 165.42±6.67 cm; weight, 60.93±13.42 kg) and 10 CAI patients (age, 23.90±2.56 years; height, 166.89±10.50 cm; weight, 67.43±12.96 kg), were recruited. Subjects immersed both feet in an ice water for 10 minutes and performed three trials of a single-leg stance balance test with their eyes closed while standing on a force plate for 10 seconds. RESULTS: CAI group showed increased knee flexion, reduced knee external rotation, and hip internal rotation compared to the healthy group from single-limb stance with eyes closed after diminished plantar cutaneous sensation. However, there was no significant interaction between group and time. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that the postural kinematic analyses revealed that individuals with CAI used different strategy of controlling their lower extremities, which alters transverse plane motion of hip and knee compared to the healthy group in order to compensate for their ankle deficits after freezing the plantar cutaneous.
Ankle ; Foot ; Freezing ; Healthy Volunteers ; Hip ; Humans ; Ice ; Knee ; Lower Extremity ; Sensation ; Water