Subepidermal calcified nodule, a form of idiopathic calcinosis cutis, typically present as a hard, 3 to 11 mm, solitary lesion on the exposed area of the head and the extremities. Here we re-port an unusual case of subepidermal calcified nodule occurring on the buttock. A 15-year-old girl presented with a 6-month history of a 12 × 6 mm, oval, hard, erythematous nodule on the right buttock. Histopathologic examination of an excision biopsy specimen revealed extensive deposition of calcium in the whole dermis as large multilobulated masses.
Adolescent ; Biopsy ; Buttocks* ; Calcinosis ; Calcium ; Dermis ; Extremities ; Female ; Head ; Humans

Angioma serpiginosum is a rare vascular naevoid disorder due to progressive ectatic dilatation of capillaries in the papillary dermis. We report two cases of angioma serpiginosum. A 24-year-old woman presented with asymptomatic multiple deeply red macules arranged in a serpiginous pattern on the left posterior thigh. In the other case, an 8-year-old girl had asymptomatic red nonpalpable puncta that were grouped closely together in a linear pattern from the left lower abdomen to thigh. On the histopathological examination, both cases commonly showed grouped, dilated, ectatic vessels in the upper dermis. These clinical and histopathological findings were typical of angioma serpiginosum.
Abdomen ; Capillaries ; Child ; Dermis ; Dilatation ; Female ; Hemangioma* ; Humans ; Thigh ; Young Adult

Bowen's disease is a premalignant condition, which may evolve into invasive carcinoma. Most invasive carcinomas arising from Bowen's disease show squamous differentiation, but rarely basaloid, pilar, pilosebaceous or sebaceous differentiation. We herein describe two cases of invasive carcinoma arising from Bowen's disease. First case, a 78-year-old male, presented with an erythematous plaque with ulcerated and fungating changes on his back. Biopsy specimen revealed Bowen's disease transformed into invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Second one, a 67-year-old male who had been diagnosed histologically as Bowen's disease on the right inguinal area 5 months ago, complained of enlargement and infiltration of the previous lesion. Biopsy specimen showed invasive carcinomatous change of basosquamous differentiation. Our cases represent unusual invasive changes of Bowen's disease into squamous cell carcinoma and carcinoma of basosquamous differentiation.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Bowen's Disease* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Humans ; Male ; Ulcer

Intracavitary metastasis is an uncommon secondary cardiac malignancy and metastasis to the right atrium and ventricle is even less common. Prior reports have demonstrated an association of this disease entity with sudden death. We report a recent experience of intracavitary cardiac metastasis of a primary hepatoma in a 24-year-old woman who presented with a exertional dyspnea and a syncopal episode.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Death, Sudden ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Syncope ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Central Nervous System*

BACKGROUND: The differentiation between hemorrhagic(HS) and norhemorrhagic(NHS) stroke is the most important first step in the management of acute stroke because clinical management of the two disorders differs substantially. Neuroimaging studies are useful in diagnosing and distinctioning between HS and NHS. The use of clinical variables, such as Siriraj stroke scores(SSS), has led to good sensitivity, specificity and predictive values. The aim of our study was to evaluate the use of the SSS in the Korean population and assess whether it could aid to expedite treatment decisions. METHODS: We reviewed 111 cases of stroke patients admitted to our hospital via the emergency department over a 6 months period from July to December 1998. Levels of consciousness, vomiting, headache, and atheroma markers used in the SSS were applied to these patients who met the criteria for a stroke. RESULTS: Of the 111 patients, the SSS classified 83 with sensitivities of 81.1%(NHS) and 73.3%(HS) and positive predictive values of 84.3% and 68.8%, respectively. The overall accuracy rate was 78.3%. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the SSS is not reliable in distinguishing stroke types in the Korean population. Definite neuroimaging studies are needed prior to thrombolytic therapy.
Consciousness ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Headache ; Humans ; Neuroimaging ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stroke* ; Thrombolytic Therapy ; Vomiting

Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis(EPF) is a rare inflammatory follicular disorder of unknown etiology. EPF is characterized by recurrent clusters of pruritic, follicular, sterile papules and pustules on the seborrheic area of young men. Compared with classical adult type, infantile EPF reveals the distinctive clinical features, such as constant involvement of the scalp, self-healing recurrent crops, and the possibility of lasting until 3 years of age. We describe two patients with infantile EPF. Both patients commonly had recurrent crops of papules and pustules affecting the scalp only. Bacterial and fungal cultures were negative, and one patient showed an eosinophilia. Biopsy specimens revealed folliculitis with a predominant eosinophilic infiltrate. Clinical response to oral antihistamines and topical corticosteroids was noted, but the lesions have been recurrent during the long-term follow-up period of 1 year.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Adult ; Biopsy ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils* ; Folliculitis* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Histamine Antagonists ; Humans ; Male ; Scalp

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the survival rate of vitrified blastocyst according to the freezing vessels, equilibration time in cryoprotectant and artificial dehydration method. METHODS: Human blastocysts were vitrified after loading onto the plastic straw, open-pulled straw (OPS), electron microscopy grid (EM grid) for 1.5 min or 3 min. They also were directly plunged into LN2 within 30sec. For artificial shrinkage of blastocysts, 36 gauge fine needle was pushed at the cellular junction of the trophectoderm into the blstocoele cavity until it shrank without damage of inner cell mass. RESULTS: The survival rate of vitrified blastocysts on plastic straw, OPS, EM grid as freezing vessels were 26.7, 13.0 and 60.5%, respectively. The survival rate of EM grid was significantly higher than that of plastic straw and OPS (p<0.05). For 1.5 min equilibrium, the survival rates of early blastocyst (EB), middle blastocyst (MB) and late blastocyst (LB) were 64.4, 81.0, and 20.0% respectively. For 3 min equilibrium, the survival rates of EB, MB, and LB were 69.9, 50.0 and 57.5% respectively. The survival rates of EB and MB were significantly higher than that of LB in 1.5 min equilibrium group (p<0.05), however, the significance was not observed in 3 min equilibrium groups. In cytoplasmic shrinkage before vitrification, the survival rates of EB, MB and LB were 92.9, 100 and 75.9% respectively. The survival rate of MB was significantly higher than that of LB (p<0.05). The survival rates of vitrified blastocysts by artificial dehydration and slow-frozen blastocysts were not significantly different as 88.9 and 66.7%, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the vitrification of human blastocysts using EM grid and artificial dehydration is an effective method. Therefore, these methods would be an useful techniques for blastocyst cryopreservation.
Blastocyst* ; Cryopreservation ; Cytoplasm ; Dehydration ; Freezing ; Humans* ; Microscopy, Electron ; Needles ; Plastics ; Survival Rate ; Vitrification*

PURPOSE: To investigate the expression of bone morphogenetic protein(BMP)-2/4 during eary tooth development after irradiation and calcium-deficient diet. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The pregnant three-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were used for the study. The control group was non-irradiation/normal diet group(Group 1), and the experimental groups were irradiation/normal diet group(Group 2) and irradiation/calcium-diet group(Group 3). The abdomen of the rats at the 9th day of pregnancy were irradiated with single dose of 350 cGy. The rat pups were sacrificed at embryonic 18 days, 3 days and 14 days after delivery and the maxillae tooth germs were taken. The tissue sections of specimen were stained immunohistochemically with anti-BMP-2/4 antibody. RESULTS: At embryo-18 days, immunoreacivity for BMP-2/4 of the Group 1 was modetate in stratum intermedium of dental organ and weak in dental papilla and dental follicle, but that of Group 2 was weak in cell layer of dental organ, and no immunoreacivity was shown in dental papilla and dental follice of Group 2 and in all tissue components of the Group 3. At postnatal-3 days, immunoreacivity for BMP-2/4 of the Group 1 was strong in cell layer of dental organ, odontoblasts and developing alveolar bone, but that of Group of 2 and Group 3 was weak in odontoblasts and developing alveolar bone. At postnatal-14 days, immunoreacivity for BMP-2/4 of the Group 1 was strong in newly formed cementum, alveolar bone and odontoblasts, but that of Group 2 was weaker than that of Group 1. In the Group 3, tooth forming cell layer showed weak immunoreactivity, but other cell layers showed no immunoreactivity. CONCLUSION: The expression of bone morphogenetic protein(BMP)-2/4 during early tooth development was disturbed after irradiation and calcium-deficient diet.
Abdomen ; Animals ; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins ; Dental Cementum ; Dental Papilla ; Dental Sac ; Diet* ; Maxilla ; Odontoblasts ; Pregnancy ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tooth Germ ; Tooth*

Desmoplastic Spitz nevus is a rare histological variant of Spitz nevus characterized by diffuse fibrosis without junctional activity, nesting, or pigmentation. Nevus cells are predomintantly spindle- shaped and compressed by a desmoplastic stroma. It presents typically as a firm, dome-shaped, flesh-colored papule or nodule, measuring up to 1cm in the greatest diameter, is most often located on extremities. We report a case of desmoplastic Spitz nevus occurring on the left side of the buttock in a 33-year-old women.
Adult ; Buttocks ; Extremities ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Nevus ; Nevus, Epithelioid and Spindle Cell* ; Pigmentation