No abstract available.
Laparotomy* ; Nephrectomy*

We report a case of primary cutaneous mucinous adenocarcinotna in a 64-year-old female. The tumor was about 2cm in size, forminga round dome-shaped alopecic scalp mass which had gradually increased in size over about 5 years, Histalogic examination revealed that the tumor was divided into numerous compartments by strands of fibrous tissue. In each compartment, abundant amounts of pale-staining mucin surrounded nests or cords of moderately anaplastic epithelial cells. We couldn't find any evidence of internal neoplasms as a source of metastasis. We resected the tumor with approximately a 1 cm margin and then performed a split thickness skin graft.
Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous* ; Betazole ; Epithelial Cells ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mucins* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Scalp ; Skin ; Transplants

Behcet's disease is characterized by recurrent orogenital ulcers and ocular and cutaneous inflammatory lesions. Cardiovascular involvement, which may be artrial or venous, is rare but carries a particularly poor prognosis. One of the known vascular complications of Behcet's disease is aneurysm formation or venous thrombosis. We recently experienced a Behect's disease with multiple arterial aneurysms and thrombosis and report this case with review of literatures.
Aneurysm* ; Prognosis ; Thrombosis* ; Ulcer ; Vasculitis ; Venous Thrombosis

Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects beat-to-beat variability in the heart rate due to the dynamic interplay of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. HRV is considered an index of the functional status of the autonomic nervous system. A decrease in HRV is thus observed in individuals with autonomic dysfunction. Abnormal HRV has been reported in a range of mental disorders. In this review, we give an overview of HRV in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), schizophrenia, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of whose core symptoms is cognitive dysfunction. The association between HRV and cognitive function is highlighted in this review. This review consists of three main sections. In the first section, we examine how HRV in patients with MDD, schizophrenia, and PTSD is characterized, and how it is different when compared to that in healthy controls. In the second section, beyond the heart itself, we discuss the intimate connection between the heart and the brain, focusing on how HRV interacts with quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) in the context of physiological changes in the sleep cycle. Lastly, we finish the review with the examination of the association between HRV and cognitive function. The overall findings indicate that the reduction in HRV is one of main manifestations in MDD, schizophrenia, and PTSD, and also more generally HRV is closely linked to the change in qEEG and also to individual differences in cognitive performance.
Autonomic Nervous System ; Brain ; Cognition ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Electroencephalography ; Heart Rate ; Heart ; Humans ; Individuality ; Mental Disorders ; Parasympathetic Nervous System ; Schizophrenia ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

BACKGROUND: Surgical correction of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is relatively safe and effective since it does not remain in the category of open-heart-surgery. Although the surgical practice for PDA is performed in almost all hospitals, they contain the problems of anxiety of patients, remained surgical wounds on patients' chests and complications of surgery and general anesthesia. Recently non-surgical methods for the obstruction of PDA have been developed and some of them including buttoned devices are used now. The success rates of these methods approach to 84%. But the problems of embolization, incomplete closure, hemolysis, stenosis of aorta and left pulmonary artery have been reported. We invented new PDA occluder , using stainless steel wire and polyurethane foam. Therefore we investigated the efficacy of occluding blood flow with the new PDA occluder in the vessels of experimental animals. METHOD: Using 304 stainless steel wire which is self-expandable stent, two star-shaped frames were made, each frame forming cone and facing the other's tip. And in the center of the frames polyurethane foam was inserted. 316L stainless steel wire was used to fix the elements described above and some portion of the wire was extracted outside of the frames, shaping hook or round loop with which the occluder could be pulled out in case of misplacement. To create the similar situation to PDA, we made shunts from artery to vein between carotid arteries and jugular veins with surgical bypass grafts or made shunts of direct artery to vein connections without grafts in 4 dogs and 1 pig. Through 8F sheath, we deployed the occluders into the shunts made of 5 grafts or made of 3 arterial ends. Also the occluders were inserted into the femoral artery of dog and iliac artery of pig. After deployment of occluders, angiograms were performed to obscure the efficacy of blocking blood flow and follow-up angiogrms were done in one and two weeks. The animals were sacrificed in one and two weeks to get the tissues including occluders inside. Gross findings were checked about thrombi formation in and around polyurethane foam. RESULTS: The 10 occluders were placed successfully except one site due to misplacement. The occluders successfully blocked the blood flows in all 10 sites within 3 - 60 minutes. Each follow-up angiogram for occluders in one and two weeks revealed good maintenance of blockade in blood flow. Observed gross findings on tissues were packed thrombi formation in the polyurethane foam and membrane formation along the occluder. CONCLUSIONS: This newly developed device revealed good efficacy for occlusion of blood flow including shunts in immediate and follow-up study. Practical method for the delivery of the device and some design modification for proper fitting into the PDA especially for small patients would be required. Longer period of follow-up with more animal experiments for other possible complications including distal embolization would be required also before clinical trial.
Anesthesia, General ; Animal Experimentation ; Animals ; Anxiety ; Aorta ; Arteries ; Carotid Arteries ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Dogs ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent* ; Femoral Artery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Iliac Artery ; Jugular Veins ; Membranes ; Polyurethanes ; Pulmonary Artery ; Stainless Steel ; Stents ; Thorax ; Transplants ; Veins ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Decompression* ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Spine* ; Titanium*

PURPOSE: The minimally invasive technique in urologic treatment such as percutaneous cyst aspiration with sclerotherapy is increasing in recent years to treat symptomatic simple renal cyst. However, this method has a high recurrence rate. The laparoscopic approach can be an alternative method which is far less invasive than open surgery and less recurrence rate than sclerotherapy. Furthermore, the retroperitoneal approach can avoid unnecessary intraperitoneal manipulation and thereby reduce complications such as injury and adhesion of the bowel. We evaluated the recurrence rate, hospital stay, and postoperative morbidity of retroperitoneal laparoscopic marsupialization of simple renal cyst. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From July 1996 to May 1997, 27 patients(male 7, female 20) with simple renal cyst, presenting with pain(14 patients), recurrent cyst after percutaneous aspiration(9), and incidentally found renal cyst(4) was managed with retroperitoneal laparoscopic marsupialization of simple renal cyst. Mean patient age and cyst size were 50 years(range 35-66 years) and 7.8cm(range 3.0-12.0cm), respectively. RESULTS: Mean operative time, hospital stay, and follow-up period were 58.9 minutes(range 40-110 minutes), 2.3 days(range 1-4 days) and 14.2 months(range 6-25 months), respectively. There was no recurrence and cytologic and pathologic examinations were benign in all patients. There was no significant difference in the operative time according to the position and the side of the renal cyst. CONCLUSIONS: Retroperitoneal laparoscopic cyst marsupialization is an effective therapy for recurrent or symptomatic large simple renal cyst with low recurrence rate and postoperative morbidity.
Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Operative Time ; Recurrence ; Sclerotherapy

No abstract available.