Trichilemmal carcinoma is a rare tumor that is located predominantly on sun-exposed skin of the elderly. It is thought to be related to the external root sheath of the hair follicle and the malignant counterpart of a trichilemmoma. We report a case of trichilemmal carcinoma in a 88-year-old woman who had a 10 year history of a single, dark brown tumor on the right preauricular region. In her past medical history, it had been excised twice at a private clinic without a histopathological evaluation and recurred 2 years later. Histopathological findings showed atypical clear cells resembling those of the outer root sheath. Tumor cells showed PAS-positive cytoplasm. Immunohistochemistry revealed positive high molecular weight cytokeratin expression. To our knowledge, this is the second case of trichilemmal carcinoma in the Korean literature. (Ann Dermatol 100) 175178, 1998).
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cytoplasm ; Female ; Hair Follicle ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Keratins ; Molecular Weight ; Skin

We report two cases of linear focal elastosis. They are a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy who had had asymptomatic, several, yellow-red, slightly elevated, palpable, striae-like lesions on their middle and lower back since their early childhood. Light microscopic examinations of skin biopsy specimens demonstrated dermal thickening and focal increases of thin wavy fibers in the upper and mid-dermis but no changes in the epidermis. Verhoeff-van Gieson stains for elastic fiber revealed aggregated, clumped, curled, or fragmented elastic fibers.
Adolescent ; Biopsy ; Coloring Agents ; Elastic Tissue ; Epidermis ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Skin

No abstract available.

Chondroblastoma is a rare primary bone tumor which originates from cartilage, and represents approximate 1% af all bone tumor. The chondroblastoma arises most frequently from the epiphysis of the long bones with the humerus being the commonest site. It afflicts usually the young under 25 years with greater incidence in male. As there is no cartilage cell on craniofacial bone which is mainly fromed by intramembranous ossification, the chondroblastoma on the craniofacial bone is extremely rare. But the chondroblastoma recurred frequently in craniofacial bone when the mass is excised incompletely or curretted and, as the tumor has the outstanding ability of local invasiveness, it destructs the adjacent bone. In addition, it is difficult to diagnose differentially from sarcoma or giant cell tumor histopathologically. Due to the entities described above, it is necessary to remove the entire tumor mass as complete as possible, to treat with radiation pre or postoperatively for preventing from recurrence, and to observe for a long time. The chondroblastoma on temporal bone is rare and is difficult to diagnose and treat successfully. So we'd like to present a case of chondroblastoma which was originated from temporal side of TMJ with literatural review.
Cartilage ; Chondroblastoma ; Epiphyses ; Giant Cell Tumors ; Humans ; Humerus ; Incidence ; Male ; Recurrence ; Sarcoma ; Temporal Bone ; Temporomandibular Joint*

BACKGROUND: Acne is a relatively common disorder, especially in the adolescent. The condition is characterizecl by comedones, papules and pusi:ules. Acne patients frequently wash their face. Cleansing with an effective agent is therapeutic and preventive for patients suffering from acne vulgaris. OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to compare thc efficacy and safety of a facial clemser consisting of 1% triclosan and 0.5% Ku Shen and a in in the treatment of facial acne vulgaris. METHODS: The study was camed out on two groups of people: a treatment and a control group. Efficacy and safety were assessed at baseline and at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Efficacy was determined by investigating counts of non-inflamatory open and closed comedones, and inflamatory papules and pustules. Global improvement was also assessed. RESULTS: At week 12, the mean counts in the differe,nt lesions were as follows; 11.2 versus 17.2 for total lesions (p<0.05); 9.4 versus 11.3 for non-inflammatory lesions (p<0.05); 1.8 versus 5.9 for inflammatory lesions (p<0.05) in the treatment and control group, respectively. A Statistically significant difference was observed in patients overall self-assessment (p<0.05). The Group applying the facial cleanser with 1% triclosan and 0.5% Ku Shen felt significantly better than the one applying the control facial cleanser. Some patients developed mild and transient local side effects. CONCLUSION: Cleansing three times a day with a facial cleanser consisting of l% triclosan and 0.5% Ku Shen was found to be effective ancl safe for patients suffering from acne vulgaris.
Acne Vulgaris* ; Adolescent ; Dronabinol ; Humans ; Self-Assessment ; Triclosan*

Early MRI and arthroscopic findings were compared to evaluate the efficacy of the former for patients, who upon physical examination, were diagnosed with possihle acute ACL tears. MRI, taken between 1-21 days after injury, had to reveal complete ACL tears and arthroscopic surgery should have taken place 3-12 weeks after the injury for patients of this prospective study. Fifty such cases were initially catagorized according to five MRI patterns. Types I to V were separated by the following ACL tear characteristics: Enlarged and diffusely increased in signal, horizontally oriented, non-visualized, discontinuous and vertically oriented. The cases were then divided into two groups of arthroscopic findings; Group A included cases of complete ACL tearing and group B included those with intact or minimally torn ACLs. Of MRI types I through V, there were 31, 9, 5, 4, and I cases of each respectively. 37 cases resulted in complete ACL tears (21 type I, 6 type II, 5 type III, 4 type IV and 1 type V) and 13 cases were catagorized into group B, 10 of which had pattern type I and 3 of which had pattern type II. As result, types III, IV and V had a 100% Positive Predictive Value (PPV) whereas types I and II together had a 67% PPV vaiue. Division of the cases into the five pattern types in early MRI proved valuble for possible cases of acute ACL tears. MRI pattern types III, IV and V were correlated with definite complete ACL tears. However, caution must be taken for types I and II, the majority of the cases, for which there exists a significant possibility for misdiagnosis and consequently unnecessary arthroscopic surgery.
Arthroscopy ; Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Knee ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Physical Examination ; Prospective Studies

Background: Fluvastatin is the first entirely synthetic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A(HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor. Clinical data indicate that this agent exhibits the proven efficacy of its class and also has some theoretical advantages in safety for long-term use because of its unique pharmacololgic property consistent with hepatoselectivity(i.e., low systemic exposure). This study is to evaluate efficacy and safety of fluvastatin in hypercholesterolemic patients in Korea. Methods: An open clinical trial with fluvastatin was conducted in 31 subjects who continued to have high blood cholesterol levels of 6.21 mmol/L(240 mg/dl) or greater after 1 month of lipid-lowering diet plus single blind placebo period. Fluvastatin was administered for 8 weeks with the initial dose of 20 mg per day and if serum cholesterol levels did not fall below 5.20 mmol/L(200 mg/dl) after 4 weeks the dose was increased to 40 mg per day for the second 4 weeks. On each visit every 4 weeks they underwent interview and laboratory tests about side effects and tolerability. Results: The mean % changes in plasma total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol from baseline were
Cholesterol ; Creatine Kinase ; Diet ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Korea ; Oxidoreductases ; Plasma ; Sleep Stages ; Triglycerides

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an hereditary autosomal dominant disease characterized by development of hundreds to thousands of adenomatous polyps in the colon and rectum. The common symptoms are bloody stool, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. The average age at onset of symptoms is 33 years. Because of inevitable progression to malignancy, it is necessary to remove the entire colonic and rectal mucosa. Current surgical options are total proctocolectomy with permanent ileostomy, trans-abdominal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis (IRA), and restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). Recently IPAA can give optimum control of colorectal polyposis in FAP patients with an acceptable incidence of postoperative complications and satisfactory functional results. We experienced one case of FAP who had malignacy in the remained rectum after subtotal colectomy. IPAA was done and the result was satisfactory.
Abdominal Pain ; Adenomatous Polyposis Coli* ; Adenomatous Polyps ; Colectomy* ; Colon ; Diarrhea ; Humans ; Ileostomy ; Incidence ; Mucous Membrane ; Postoperative Complications ; Proctocolectomy, Restorative ; Rectum*

BACKGROUND: Bentonite clay, which is a major component of mud pack, has been used for various purposes in cosmetics. Glycolic acid is known to be effective in the treatment of acne. Al-though those products are used widely, information on the mode of action and effects on the skin are little and controversial till now. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether bentonite alone, or bentonite with glycolic acid in mixed formulation affect the stratum corneum leading to alteration on cutaneous barrier function and whether those products alter the lipid lamellae and desmosomes of corneocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mud pack-type ointment of bentonite, bentonite and 5% glycolic acid formulation, bentonite and 10% glycolic acid formulation were applied on the volar fore-arm of the five healthy men and flank skin of five 6-8 week old hairless mice. Transepidermal water loss and capacitance were measured. Electron microscopic examination after ruthenium tetroxide postfixation was performed on the flank skin of the mice. RESULTS: Transepidermal water loss(TEWL) increased immediately and normalized 4 to 6 hours later after removal of vapor permeable membrane in both mouse and human. Capacitance did not show any evidence of change in the water content of the stratum corneum. Electron microscopic examination revealed that lipid lamellae and desmosome of corneocytes were not de-graded, but lamellar body secretion and partially electron-lucent material was-increased in 10% glycolic acid and bentonite mixture-treated area. CONCLUSION: Barrier function of stratum corneum is not disturbed by bentonite and glycolic acid formulations at the concentration used. Barrier structures are not disrupted, but lamellar body secretion and partially electron-lucent material was increased by bentonite and glycolic acid formulations at higher concentration.
Acne Vulgaris ; Animals ; Bentonite* ; Desmosomes ; Humans ; Male ; Membranes ; Mice ; Mice, Hairless ; Mud Therapy ; Ruthenium ; Skin ; Water

No abstract available.
Meningitis* ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae* ; Mycoplasma* ; Pneumonia* ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma*