Candida albicans is the most common cause of infectious esophagitis and usually is an opportunistic infection in immunocompromised patients. Dysphagia and odynophagia are the usual presenting complaints and, importantly, oral lesions are absent in 50 percent of patients. The role of gastrointestinal endoscopy in diagnosing fungal infections of the esophagus is primary. It is the most definitive and often the only method of detecting esophageal candidiasis. Accurate endoscopic diagnosis by biopsy or brushing leads to the initiation nf effective therapy. We have experienced a case of esophageal candidiasis in an 11-year-old girl who was immunologically normal and whose main symptoms were epigastric abdominal pain and nausea for 4 months. The endoscopic and pathologic findings of esophageal candidiasis were presented.
Abdominal Pain* ; Biopsy ; Candida albicans ; Candidiasis* ; Child* ; Deglutition Disorders ; Diagnosis ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Esophagitis ; Esophagus* ; Female ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Intestines* ; Nausea ; Opportunistic Infections ; Stomach*

We observed the motion of left ventricular posterior wall aortic root posterior wall in 20 normal persons and 20 patients with left ventricular hypertrophy during the period from March 1985 to Agust 1985. The results were as followings; 1) The percentage of rapid filling time to one cycle of heart beat obtained from the ventriculat posterior wall motion was significantly prolonged in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy(24.1+/-5.44%) than in normal persons(13.5+/-3.69%)(p<0.05) and that of slow filling time was significantly shortend in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy(27.4+/-6.10%) than in normal persons(38.7+/-9.06%)(P<0.005). 2) The rapid filling slop obtained from left ventricular postrior wall motion was significantly reduced in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy(44.0+/-12.45mm/sec)than in normal persons(91.7+/-53.16mm/sec)(P>0.005) but the slow were not signigficantly different between the two groups. 3) The left artial emptying index calculated from the aortic root posterior wall motion was significantly lower in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy(0.6+/-0.18) than in normal persons(1.1+/-0.26)(P<0.005).
Echocardiography* ; Heart ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular*

We experienced a case of pedunculated left atrial primary fibrosarcoma, which obstructed the mitral orifice and produced symptoms and manifestations of mitral stenosis clinically. There was no evidence of metastasis to adjacent tissue or distant organs. It was treated by open heart surgery.
Fibrosarcoma* ; Heart Atria* ; Mitral Valve Stenosis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Thoracic Surgery

No abstract available.
Liver*

The occurrence of immune complexes in the serum from rats infected with M. leprae-murium and 38 patients with leprosy were studied by the polyethylene glycol precipitation complement consumption (PEG-CC) test and the results were compared in the various forms of the disease. Circulating immune complexes (CIC) were significantly increased in the sera from rats infected with M. lepraemurium compared to normal control rats (P < 0.005). There were no significant differences between the the level of CIC in the sera from lepromatous leprosy patients and that from tuberculoid leprosy patients, but in the sera from patients with erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) the level of CIC was significantly increased (P < 0.005). And although we couldn't find a corre1ation between the level of CIC and bacterial indices in lepromatous leprosy patients, CIC tends to de-crease after negative conversion of their bacterial indices. These findings suggested that the detection of CIC can be of some practical interest in the early diagnosis of ENL and can be a valuable assessment in following the therapy after negative conversion of their bacterial indices.
Animal ; Antigen-Antibody Complex/analysis* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Human ; Leprosy/immunology* ; Male ; Rats ; Reference Values ; Time Factors

Aortic root diameter by two dimensional and M-mode echocardiography in predicting prosthetic aortic valve size preoperatively was measured in 10 adult patients undergoing aortic valve replacement. Correlation of aortic root diameter measured by two dimensional echocardiography and actual prosthetic valve size implanted by aortic valve replacement was excellent. Correlation coefficient was statistically significant (r=0.91, P<0.001). Correlation of aortic root diameter measured by M-mode echocardiography and actual prosthetic valve size was also excellent. Correlation coefficient was statistically significant (r=0.86, P<0.001). This study demonstrates that aortic root diameter by two dimensional and M-mode echocardiography can accurately predict prosthetic aortic valve size in patient undergoing aortic valve replacement.
Adult ; Aortic Valve* ; Echocardiography* ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: Panic disorder is a chronic condition that may carry significant negative impact on the quality of life in patients. However, the association between quality of life in panic patients and their clinical characteristics has not been investigated. Aim of this study is to compare quality of life in panic patients and healthy controls by using WHO Quality of Life(QOL) Scale that evaluates the domains of physical health, psychological health, social relationship and environment. Additionally, relationship between clinical factors in patients with panic disorders and their quality of life were explored. METHOD: 64 patients with panic disorder and 27 healthy controls were recruited in this study and WHO QOL Scales were completed. Total scores and scores of domains of WHO QOL Scale in two groups were compared. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed to examine the relationship between quality of life and the clinical characteristics in patients with panic disorder. RESULTS: Total scores and scores of all domains except environmental domain of WHO QOL scale in patients with panic disorder were decreased compared to those in healthy controls. Clinical characteristics including the severity of agoraphobia and depression, number of symptoms during panic attacks and the frequency of panic attacks showed significant correlation with quality of life in general and most of subscales of QOL. Multiple regression revealed that the severity of depression, the number of symptoms during panic attacks and the severity of agoraphobia in the presence of accompanied persons were factors directly affecting the quality of life in the patients with panic disorder. CONCLUSION: Quality of life in patients with panic disorder was poorer than that of healthy controls. The severity of depression, the number of symptoms during panic attacks and the severity of agoraphobia in the presence of accompany were related to the quality of life in the patients with panic disorder.
Agoraphobia ; Depression ; Humans ; Panic Disorder* ; Panic* ; Quality of Life* ; Weights and Measures

The incidence of severe hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection has been increasing. However, clinicopathologic features of severe HAV infection that lead to liver transplantation (LT) have not been reported in Korea. We retrieved 16 LT cases with HAV infection during the last 3 years at Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. Fifteen cases progressed to hepatic encephalopathy. Thirteen cases survived with or without complications, and three patients died of sepsis. The explanted liver showed massive or zonal necrosis with moderate to severe cholestasis. The zonal distribution of necrosis was frequently associated with endothelialitis of portal and/or central veins. Degenerative changes of hepatocytes were various in degree and distribution. Viral inclusions were suspected in two cases. Although HAV infection is usually confirmed by serological tests, significant venulitis of central and/or portal veins and viral inclusions, which are rarely observed, can suggest an HAV infection as a cause of massive hepatic necrosis of unknown mechanism.
Cholestasis ; Fluconazole ; Hepatic Encephalopathy ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis A ; Hepatitis A virus ; Hepatocytes ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Liver ; Liver Transplantation ; Massive Hepatic Necrosis ; Necrosis ; Portal Vein ; Sepsis ; Serologic Tests ; Veins

To investigate the genetic factors in Koreans with leprosy, 157 unrelated leprosy patients have been typed for HLA antigens, and compared with 162 healthy controls. The patient group consisted of 124 with lepromatous leprosy and 33 with tuberculoid leprosy. HLA-A11 was found to be increased in lepromatous leprosy (p=0.0005). HLA-Aw33 was found to be increased in both lepromatous leprosy (p = 0.0002) and tuberculoid leprosy (p = 0.005). HLA-Cw5 was found to be decreased in lepromatous leprosy (p = 0.009). Frequencied of HLA-B antigens did not differ significantly between the leprosy patients and the healthy controls.
HLA Antigens/analysis* ; Human ; Korea ; Leprosy/genetics ; Leprosy/immunology* ; Phenotype

The polymorphic variants of HLA-linked genetic markers GLO, Bf, C2 and C4 were determined in Koreans. The GLO2 allele was found at a similar frequency as compared with other orientals and at higher frequency than in Caucasians. The gene frequencies of BfS and BfF showed different figures from those in other orientals and were similar to Caucasians. The C2C allele was the highest variant as in other populations. The rare variant C2A was not observed in this study. The common variants of C4A alleles are C4A*3 and C4A*4. Among the C4B variants, C4B*1, C4B*2 and C4B* QO are common in that order. Several undefined electrophoretic variants C4A and C4B were observed in this study. These findings suggest that the frequencies of various HLA-linked genetic markers can be used in anthropological studies.
Caucasoid Race ; Comparative Study ; Genetic Markers* ; HLA Antigens/genetics* ; Human ; Korea ; Mongoloid Race* ; Polymorphism (Genetics)