No abstract available.
Hemorrhage* ; Kidney Transplantation*

PURPOSE: We wanted to evaluate the usefulness of a new type of a complex expandable nitinol stent that was designed to reduce the stent's propensity to migration during the treatment of malignant gastroduodenal obstructions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two types of expandable nitinol stent were constructed by weaving a single thread of 0.2 mm nitinol wire in a tubular configuration: an uncovered stent 18mm in diameter and a covered stent 16mm in diameter. Both ends of the covered stent were fabricated by coaxially inserting the covered stent into the tubular uncovered stent and then attaching the two stents together with using nylon monofilament. Under fluoroscopic guidance, the stent was placed in 29 consecutive patients (20 men and 9 women, mean age: 65 years) who were suffering with malignant gastric outlet obstruction (n=20), duodenal obstruction (n=6) or combined obstruction (n=3). Clinical improvement was assessed by comparing the food intake capacity before and after the procedure. The complications were investigated during the follow up period. RESULTS: Stent placement was successful in all the patients. After stent placement, the symptoms improved in all but one patient. During the follow up, stent migration occurred in one patient (3%) at 34 days after the procedure. Despite the stent migration, the patient was able to resume a soft diet. Six patients developed recurrent symptoms of obstruction with tumor overgrowth at a mean of 145 days after the procedure; all the patients underwent coaxial placement of an additional stent with good results. One patient showed recurrence of obstruction due to tumor in-growth, and this was treated by placement of a second stent. Two patients with stent placement in the duodenum suffered from jaundice 26 days and 65 days, respectively, after their procedures. CONCLUSION: Placement of the newly designed complex expandable nitinol stent seems to be effective for the palliative treatment of malignant gastroduodenal obstructions. The new stent also seems to help overcome the disadvantage of the increased migration observed for the covered stent.
Diet ; Duodenal Obstruction ; Duodenum ; Eating ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastric Outlet Obstruction ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Male ; Nylons ; Palliative Care ; Recurrence ; Stents*

Castleman's disease is uncommon lymphoproliferative disorder as giant lymph node hyperplasia and angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia. Multicentric variant of Cagtleman's disease, plasma cell type has been, described that has mort generalized lymph node involvement as well as involvement of other organ systems than localized type. Multicentric plasma cell type is frequently accompanied by systemic manifestations, such as weight loss, lowgrade fever and weakness. But the reported cases of pulmonary parenchymal involvement are rare and have almost consisted of hyalinized ganuloma adjacent 13 a bronchus. We report a patient with Castleman's disease of the lung, pathologically proven interstitial pulmonary involvement.
Bronchi ; Fever ; Giant Lymph Node Hyperplasia* ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Lung* ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders ; Plasma Cells ; Weight Loss

BACKGROUND: Pathogenic fungi infect humans, especially immunocompromised patients, with superficial or deeply invasive pattern. In the past 20 years, fungal infections have been increased dramatically resulted by increment of organ transplantation, cancer, AIDS patients, or use of broad-spectrum antibacterial agents. Fungal infections are now important causes of morbidity and mortality of hospitalized patients. but there is no effective antifungal antibiotics as well as antibacterial antibiotics OBJECTIVE: Effective new antifungal antibiotics are needed for the treatment of mycosis. So in an effort to develop effective antifungal antibiotics, we screened over 600 isolates of Streptomyces sp. from soil. METHODS: Antifungal producing strain was selected using disk diffusion method, An antifungal substance (AF1) was purified with ethyl acetate extraction, silica gel column chromatography and reverse phase HPLC. MICs of AF1 were detected by agar dilition method. RESULTS: The compound showed UV maxima of 307, 321, 340, 359 nm indicating methylpentaene. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of the AF1 were 3.7 microgram/ml against mold, and 3.7 - 7.4 microgram/ml against Candida species. AFI was also active against Crytococcus neoformans, with MIC of 0.9 microgram/ml. The concentration of AF1 for K+ ion release from human red blood cell and hemolysis were 5 microgram/ml. CONCLUSION: The antibiotic purified from culture broth of Streptomyces sp. WCM-9 was a polyene antifungal antibiotic which have broad spectrum antifungal activity.
Agar ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Antifungal Agents ; Candida ; Chromatography ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Diffusion ; Erythrocytes ; Fungi ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Mortality ; Organ Transplantation ; Silica Gel ; Soil ; Streptomyces* ; Transplants

Plummer-Vinson syndrome (PVS), also called sideropenic dysphagia or Paterson-Kelly syndrome, is a condition characterized by a triad of chronic iron-deficiency anemia, esophageal webs, and dysphagia. This syndrome is considered as a precancerous condition due to the occurrence of squamous cell carcinoma in the hypopharynx, upper esophagus and oral cavity. Although exact data on the prevalence of the syndrome are not evidently available, physicians need to recognize this rare syndrome. Most of the patients are elderly Caucasian women aged 40 to 70 years, but cases in children, adolescents, or men have also been described. At present, the prevalence of PVS is decreasing due to improvement in nutritional habits and intake of iron supplements. Therefore, the syndrome accompanied with gastric cancer is even more uncommon. We report a case of a 61-year-old woman with PVS who was diagnosed with gastric cancer and improved after treatment.

PURPOSE: We investigated the change of bone mineral density (BMD) one year after renal transplantation, and examined the risk factors that affect the BMD by performing the dual energy X-ray absorptiometry in Korean adults renal transplants. METHODS: The results of pre-transplant and post-transplant BMD of 99 patients were analyzed in respect to sex, age, method and duration of dialysis before transplantation, immunosuppressive methods, history of previous graft and episode of acute rejection. Alfacalcidol or biphosphonate was not used postoperatively. Data were expressed as T-score and calculated percentage. Uni-variate analysis, T-test and ANOVA were used for the statistical analysis. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: There were 66 male and 33 female patients. Change of T-score (and percentage) of lumbar vertebra and average of femur area in male were -0.353 (-2.3%) and -0.059 (-1.2%), respectively. Those of female patients were -0.483 (-5.2%) and 0.115 (-1.7%), respectively. The significant loss of BMD in the female lumbar spine was evident. Patients in 20's showed the largest loss of BMD [lumbar spine: -0.739 (-2.3%), femur: -0.206 (-3.1%), compared to other age groups. There were no significant differences by the mode and duration of dialysis, presence of diabetes, degree of HLA matching, history of previous graft, immunosuppression methods, and number of acute rejection episode. However we could accept the positive trend of BMD loss related to the kind of immunosuppression methods and number of acute rejection. CONCLUSION: There was significantly different loss of BMD after renal transplantation by the age and sex of the recipients. Although statistically not significant, kinds of immunosuppression and episode of acute rejection are likely to affect the BMD loss one year after renal transplantation.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Adult ; Bone Density* ; Dialysis ; Female ; Femur ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Male ; Risk Factors* ; Spine ; Transplants

PURPOSE: Precise localization of tumors and creation of sufficient proximal resection margins are complicated processes during total laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (TLDG) for clinical T1/T2 gastric cancers. Various solutions to this problem have also yielded many disadvantages. In this study, we reviewed a preoperative endoscopic clipping method based on the results of negative biopsy and selective intraoperative radiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of 345 consecutive patients who underwent TLDG and preoperative endoscopic clipping for tumor localization was conducted. During preoperative endoscopy, the endoscopists performed negative biopsies just 1–2 cm selectively above the tumor's upper limit. After confirming the biopsy results, endoscopic metal clips were applied just proximal to the negative biopsy site the day before surgery. Selective intraoperative tumor localization using portable abdominal radiography was performed only when we could not ensure a precise resection line. RESULTS: Negative biopsy was performed in 244 patients. Larger tumor size (P=0.008) and more distally located tumors (P=0.052) were observed more frequently in the negative biopsy group than in the non-negative biopsy group. The non-negative biopsy group had significantly higher frequencies of differentiated tumor types than the negative biopsy group (P=0.003). Of the 244 patients who underwent negative biopsies, 6 had cancer cells in their biopsy specimens. We performed intraoperative radiography in 12 patients whose tumors had difficult-to-determine proximal margins. No tumors were found in the proximal resection margins of any patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our tumor localization method is a promising and accurate method for securing a sufficient resection margin during TLDG.
Biopsy* ; Endoscopy ; Gastrectomy* ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Methods* ; Radiography* ; Radiography, Abdominal ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms

PURPOSE: Hematuria is a frequently encountered clinical problem in kidney graft recipients. The causes are variable, may be benign or malignant, but imperative to affect long- term graft function and survival. We have evaluated renal recipients who had hematuria using a newly defined algorithm. METHODS: We evaluated 1060 renal transplant recipients from March 1, 1992 to February 28, 2000. In 93 recipients, hematuria was transitory and spontaneously resolved within 3 months. We tried to identify the cause of persistent hematuria in 126 recipients. Patients were evaluated with plain x-ray, sonography, cystoscopic examination and/or graft biopsy. RESULTS: The mean duration of hematuria onset after transplantation was 17.81+/-14.6 months (4-70 months). The causes of gross hematuria were urolithiasis (n= 15), benign bladder mucosal bleeding (n=3), bladder cancer (n=2) and kidney cancer from an original kidney (n=1). Graft kidney biopsies were performed in 96 patients and the results were as follows: chronic rejection in 18, IgA nephropathy in 16, cyclosporine toxicity in 8, acute rejection in 5, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in 3, the other glomerulonephritis in 2, and tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis in 19 patients. Combined pathologic findings were detected in 15 patients. In 8 patients, no pathological diagnoses were made. We were unable to evaluate 9 patients due to patient's refusal. CONCLUSION: The causes of hematuria after kidney transplantation are variable from benign to malignant disease. If the cause of hematuria is uncertain on ultrasonographic examination, cystoscopic examination and/or graft biopsy should be performed for making a definite diagnosis.
Atrophy ; Biopsy ; Cyclosporine ; Diagnosis ; Disulfiram ; Fibrosis ; Glomerulonephritis ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Glomerulosclerosis, Focal Segmental ; Hematuria* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Kidney ; Kidney Neoplasms ; Kidney Transplantation ; Transplantation ; Transplants ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urolithiasis

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy has recently been emerged as a very attractive measure to the standard open surgical procedure for kidney transplantation (KTx) because of many advantages. But it also has some disadvantages such as technical difficulty, impaired early graft function and expensiveness. To overcome this shortcomings, we developed a new surgical method of retroperitoneoscopy assisted live donor nephrectomy. The method has been reported as an attractive surgical methods with many advantages to donor. But, recipient`s outcome is also equally important in living donor kidney transplantation. METHODS: We retrospectively studied recipient`s outcome between patients who received living donor kidneys from conventional open nephrectomies (Group I, n=247) and retroperitoneoscopy assisted nephrectomies (Group II, n=82) at our institution from March 1, 1997 and July 30, 2000. We compared postoperative complication, patient and graft survival and graft function between two groups for 12 months retrospectively. RESULTS: Demographic data such as age, sex, kidney weight/body weight ratio; ABO compatibility; degree of HLA matching and method of immunosuppression were not different between two groups (p>0.05). Complications, such as delayed graft function, acute rejection, ureter complication, graft failure, patients motality were not different. For the evaluation of graft function, we measured serum creatinine level for 12 months after trasplantation. There also was no difference of graft function between two groups. CONCLUSION: Recipient's outcome in patient received kidney by retroperitoneoscopy assisted live donor nephrectomy was similar to those of patient received kidney by conventional operation.
Creatinine ; Delayed Graft Function ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Kidney ; Kidney Transplantation ; Living Donors* ; Nephrectomy* ; Postoperative Complications ; Retrospective Studies ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants ; Ureter

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A two-year, prospective, nationwide multicenter study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication on the development of reflux esophagitis (RE) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms in the Korean population. METHODS: In total, 1,489 subjects without RE were enrolled at the outpatient clinics of 12 tertiary hospitals nationwide, and 452 subjects underwent follow-up (F/U) for 2 years to evaluate the development of RE and GERD symptoms. RESULTS: RE was found in 33 subjects (7.3% of 452 subjects) and 14 subjects (7.3% of 192 subjects) during the first and second year of F/U, respectively. H. pylori status was not associated with the development of RE. RE was found in six (9.0%) of 67 H. pylori-negative patients, in 26 (11.2%) of 233 eradicated subjects and in eight (7.0%) of 114 noneradicated subjects (p=0.532). Multivariate analysis showed that age > or =60 years (odds ratio [OR], 7.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.92 to 26.41), alcohol consumption (OR, 4.43; 95% CI, 1.03 to 19.19) and F/U cholesterol levels > or =200 mg/dL (OR, 5.03; 95% CI, 1.32 to 19.17) were significant risk factors for the development of RE. There was no significant difference in the development of GERD symptoms or weight according to H. pylori status during the 2-year F/U. CONCLUSIONS: Eradication of H. pylori did not affect the development of reflux esophagitis or GERD symptoms among patients in outpatient gastroenterology clinics in South Korea.
Alcohol Drinking ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Cholesterol ; Esophagitis, Peptic ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastroenterology ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Helicobacter ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Outpatients ; Prospective Studies ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; Tertiary Care Centers