Lentigo maligna melanoma(LMM) is the least common type of melanoma. LMM is almost exclusively located on sun-exposed skin of the head and neck. We describe a case of lentigo maligna melanoma evolved from lentigo maligna in 82-year-old man. Five years ago, the patient developed a brownish pigmented lesion on the left cheek. The lesion progressed slowly, and several months ago, a black pigmented patch was developed in the periphery of the brownish pigmented patch. Histopathologic examination of the lesions revealed findings consistent with lentigo maligna and lentigo maligna melanoma.
Aged, 80 and over ; Cheek ; Head ; Humans ; Hutchinson's Melanotic Freckle* ; Lentigo* ; Melanoma* ; Neck ; Skin

Seventy-five patients with tumors of the head and neck treated with either radiation therapy alone or combined with surgery or chemotherapy were studied prospectively to evaluate the effects of radiation therapy to the neck on thyroid gland between September 1986 and October 1992. All patients were serially monitored for thyroid function tests before and after radiation therapy. Radiation dose to the thyroid gland ranged from 35 to 60 Gy with a median dose of 50 Gy. Median follow-up time was 30 months with a range of 11 to 85 months. The incidence of thyroid dysfunction was 40%; forty-five patients (60%) euthyroid, 2 patients (3%) clinical hypothyroidism, 27 patients (36%) subclinical hypothyroidism and 1 patient (1%) hyperthyroidism. No thyroid nodules or thyroid cancer were detected in any patients. Thyroid dysfunction appeared earlier in patients who underwent surgery than in those patients treated with radiation therapy alone or combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy (p=0.0013). By multivariate analysis, risk factors that significantly influenced a higher incidence of thyroid dysfunction were female sex (p=0.0293) and combination of total larygectomy and radiation therapy (p=0.0045). In conclusion, evaluation of thyroid function before and after radiation therapy with periodic thyroid function tests are recommended to detect thyroid dysfunction in time and thyroid hormone replacement therapy is recommended whenever thyroid dysfunction develops.
Drug Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head* ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Humans ; Hyperthyroidism ; Hypothyroidism ; Incidence ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neck* ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Thyroid Function Tests ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of the proximal nerve stump, in end-to-side nerve repair, to functional recovery, by modifying the classic end-to-side neurorrhaphy and suturing the proximal nerve stump to a donor nerve in a rat model of a severed median nerve. METHODS: Three experimental groups were studied: a modified end-to-side neurorrhaphy with suturing of the proximal nerve stump (double end-to-side neurorrhaphy, Group I), a classic end-to-side neurorrhaphy (Group II) and a control group without neurorrhaphy (Group III). Twenty weeks after surgery, grasping testing, muscle contractility testing, and histological studies were performed. RESULTS: The grasping strength, muscle contraction force and nerve fiber count were significantly higher in group I than in group II, and there was no evidence of nerve recovery in group III. CONCLUSIONS: The contribution from the proximal nerve stump in double end-to-side nerve repair might improve axonal sprouting from the donor nerve and help achieve a better functional recovery in an end-to-side coaptation model.
Anastomosis, Surgical/methods ; Animals ; Axons/pathology ; Forelimb ; Hand Strength ; Male ; Median Nerve/pathology/*surgery ; Muscle Contraction ; Muscle, Skeletal/physiopathology ; Nerve Regeneration ; Nerve Transfer/*methods ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Recovery of Function ; Ulnar Nerve/pathology/*surgery

An increase in the dose of chemotherapy enhances the response of many experimental and clinical cancers, but the extent of chemotherapy dose escalation and repeated use is often limited by myelosuppression. The side effects of chemotherapy including bleeding and infection due to myelosuppression have resulted in delayed therapy and a reduction in the therapeutic dose, therefore it is necessary to overcome myelosuppression especially leukopenia in patients with gynecologic malignancies who recieved chemotherapy. This study is undertaken to investigate the clinical effects of rhG-CSF(recombinant human Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor) in 29 patients with gynecologic malignancy who recieved chemotherapy. It was given at a dose of 100 microgram bid/day subcutaneously until significantly increase of leukocyte count in leukopenic patient. The results showed, the rhG-CSF has significantly increased the number and function of leukocyte. The use of rhG-CSF was effective and useful to treat chemotherapy induced leukopenia and to accelerate the recovery from this complications.
Drug Therapy* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans* ; Leukocyte Count ; Leukocytes ; Leukopenia*

A study was to evaluate the efficacy and clinical utility of second look operation in the managements of malignant ovarian tumor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kosin medical colleage from January 1986 to September 1993. Of 220 patients diagnosed as ovarian cancer, 48 patients who had underwent primariy laparotomy were performed second look operation. Thirty-seven patients were found to have no evidence of disease. The result revealed that negative second look operation rate was noted 96.3% at stage I, 66.6% at stage II, 50.0% at stage III, and 42.9% at stage IV and total negative second look operation rate was 77.1%. The 2 year survival rate for stage I, II, III, IV were 85.2%, 66.6%, 50.0% and 42.9% respectively. The survival rate of negative second look operation was 86.5%, that of positive second look operation was 18.1%. In conclusion, second look operation in early stage ovarian cancer need to be justified.
Follow-Up Studies* ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Laparotomy* ; Obstetrics ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

We studied the retinal complication of systemic alpha-interferon in 52 patients who had chronic myelogenous leukemia of chronic phase. 32 patients of them were systemically injected with alpha-interferon for 6 months or more, and 20 patients who were not injected were used as a control. In the injected group, 10 of the 32 patients(31%) showed retinopathies such as yellowish white subretinal deposits, multiple blot shaped hemorrhages, and cotton wool spots. However in the control group, there was only one patient who showed blot shaped hemorrhage. The injected group had significantly much higher chance to have retinopathy than the control group(p<0.05). Majority of the retinal findings were yellowish white subretinal deposits rather than retinal hemorrhage or cotton wool spots. The possibility of interferon related retinopathy increased in older patients and in the patients with longer use of systemic alpha-interferon (p>0.05). The sex and hematologic factor did not affect the development of retinopathy(p<0.05). Since the patients under long term treatment of systemic alpha-interferon are at higher risk of retinopathy, their fundus should be examined periodically.
Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; Interferons* ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; Retinal Hemorrhage ; Retinaldehyde ; Wool

PURPOSE: Bone graft is essential for successful spinal fusion. So, we clinically assessed the effect of uniting grafted autologous bone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis is performed on 46 patients who had grade I or II, one segmental, degenerative spondyloiisthesis according to Meyerding classification and treated operatively by posterolateral fusion with posterior decompression and autologous iliac bone graft from January 1991 to June 1996. We got the data from simple anteroposterior, lateral, flexion- extension X-ray film at preoperative, postoperative and last follow-up period, and from clinical results at last OPD follow-up according to Kirkaldy-Willis criteria. We compared the union of grafted autologous bone with clinical results using X2-test. We also compared preoperative spinal instability, with/without instrumentation and intraoperative reduction with the union of grafted autologous bane and clinical results. RESULTS: There was high significant correlation (P=0.000) between the union of grafted autologous bone and clinical results statistically, CONCLUSIONS: This results suggest that the union of grafted autologous bone was an important factor in determing clinical results.
Classification ; Decompression ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fusion ; Spondylolisthesis* ; Transplants* ; X-Ray Film

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the difference in the vascular parameters of perfusion in the optic nerve head in normal tension glaucoma (NTG) across disease stages using optical coherence tomography angiography and its correlation with peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. Methods: In this retrospective study, 83 eyes with varying stages of NTG (25 mild, 31 moderate, and 27 severe) and 90 healthy eyes were enrolled. The perfusion density (PD) and flux index (FI) of the optic nerve head divided into four sectors were determined. We compared the vascular, structural, and functional parameters between normal and glaucomatous eyes and performed a subgroup analysis among the NTG stages. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the topographic correlation between vascular parameters and RNFL thickness. Results: PD and FI were significantly decreased in the NTG group. Subgroup analysis revealed a significant decrease in vascular parameters in most regions in the NTG group, except for the nasal PD and temporal FI. Post hoc analysis showed a significant decrease in PD in the inferior region across all severity levels (mild vs. moderate, p = 0.012; moderate vs. severe, p = 0.012; mild vs. severe, p < 0.001). PD and FI were strongly correlated with RNFL thickness in all quadrants (all p < 0.001), with the strongest correlation observed in the inferior region. Conclusions Vascular parameters were significantly decreased in glaucomatous eyes, and the degree of decrease in vascular parameters was proportional to glaucoma severity. Peripapillary perfusion analysis using optical coherence tomography angiography may complement other measurements used for glaucoma diagnosis.

Between January 1985 and July 1592, 52 patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma were studied retrospectively for the effectiveness of sequential chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The male to female ratio was 3.3:1 with a median age of 41 years. Forty patients had squamous cell carcinoma and the remaining 12 had undifferentiated carcinoma. Seven patients had stage III disease and the remainder had stage IV disease at time of presentation. All patients were treated two courses of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy Chemotherapy consisted of either CVB(cisplatin, vincristine and bleomycin) of CF(cisplatin and 5-FU). Total radiation dose to the primary site ranged from 6000 cGy to 7500 cGy. Neck nodes were given booster treatment to maximum of 7000 cGy, depending on the extent of disease. Local control, overall survival and disease-free survival rates were analyzed. The complete response(CR) rate to chemotherapy was 15%, and the partial response(PR) rate was 46% for overall major response rate of 61%. The CR rate was 87% after radiation therapy. Median follow-up time was 51 months. The overall survival and disease-free survival rates at 36 months were 54% and 49%, respectively. Median time to relapse was 15 months. The patterns of initial relapse in CR patients was as follows: locoregional failure only, 12 patients; distant metastasis only, 11; both, 2. Cox's multivariate regression model revealed that nodal status was the single most important independent prognostic factor influencing disease-free survival(p=0.001). Comparison of these results with other published reports with radiation therapy alone showed that a high rate of initial response to chemotherapy did not translate into local control or survival. At present time radiation therapy alone remains the standard treatment for locoregional cancer of the nasopharyngeal cancer. More controlled clinical trials must be completed before acceptance of chemotherapy as a part of treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Carcinoma ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; Neck ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Vincristine

MEN type 1 is characterized primarily by the presence of functioning and nonfunctioning tumors or hyperplasia of the pituitary gland, parathyroid glands, and pancreatic islet cells. Pancreatic islet tumors in MEN type 1 produce different kinds of hormone which were pancreatic polypeptide, gastrin, glucagon, insulin and so on. To date, ten cases had been reported in Korea. We report another case with MEN type 1 having prolatin-secreating pituitary adenoma, parathyroid hyperplasia and insulinoma. A 36-year-old woman was admitted because of long-standing amenorrhea and recently diagnosed osteoporosis. Otherwise, she had been in good health except experiencing one episode of loss of consciousness after skipped meal. The blood chemistries were normal except hypercalcemia and hypophosphatemia. Hormonal studies revealed elevated levels of intact PTH and prolactin and decreased value of estradiol with low LH and FSH. The neck CT revealed 1 cm-sized nodule at posterior portion of right thyroid gland and 99mTc-sestamibi sintigraphy showed a increased uptake in left lower and right lower parathyroid glands. The sella MRI showed 0.7 cm-sized enhanced lesion in the left pituitary gland. The ratio of immunoreactive insulin to glucose was elevated and 3-4 pancreatic masses of variable size were identified by endoscopic ultrasonography and angiography. Subtotal parathyroidectomy and pyrolus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy with spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy was done. Postoperative she had been doing well with normocalcemia and normoglycemia. Transsphenoidal adenonectomy was done 5 months later. Histologic examination of removed tissues revealed a single insulinoma, prathyroid hyperplasia and prolactin-secreating pituitary adenoma.
Adult ; Amenorrhea* ; Angiography ; Endosonography ; Estradiol ; Female ; Gastrins ; Glucagon ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hypercalcemia ; Hyperplasia ; Hypophosphatemia ; Insulin ; Insulinoma ; Islets of Langerhans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Meals ; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1* ; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia* ; Neck ; Osteoporosis* ; Pancreatectomy ; Pancreatic Polypeptide ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Parathyroid Glands ; Parathyroidectomy ; Pituitary Gland ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Prolactin ; Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi ; Thyroid Gland ; Unconsciousness