PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of scatter correction on the assessment of myocardial perfusion and left ventricular function by gated Tc-99m myocardial SPECT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subjects were 11 normal volunteers, 20 patients with non-cardiac chest pain and 13 patients with coronary artery diseases. We classified above 3 groups into normal and diseased groups. Scatter correction was done using dual-energy-window scatter correction method (DEW-SC). We compared acquired counts, image contrast, corrected maximum relative counts, indices of left ventricular function, extent and severity of perfusion defects calculated by 'CEqual program' between scatter non-corrected and corrected images. RESULTS: Scatter corrected studies was lower in counts by 18+/-3% than uncorrected studies, but image contrast were improved in all cases. Scatter correction using DEW-SC took 3 minutes to complete, and 512 kB memory to store. There were no significant differences among indices of left ventricular function between scatter non-corrected and corrected images. Although extents of perfusion defects were not significantly different, severity was severer in scatter corrected images. CONCLUSION: Scatter correction using DEW-SC is simple to do, and improves image contrast without changing other indices of myocardial perfusion and function.
Chest Pain ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Memory ; Perfusion* ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon* ; Ventricular Function, Left*

Angiokeratoma circumscriptum is present at birth or early childhood and is an uncommon dermatosis characterized by papules and small nodules that may coalesce to form plaques. Histopathologically, there are varying degrees of hyperkeratosis, papillomatosis, and irregular acanthosis. In the papillary dermis, greatly dilated capillaries are observed, The acanthotic epidermis encircles the vascular spaces(blood cysts) where, occasionally, organized thrombi may be found. The use of pulsed-dye lasers to treat cutaneous vascular lesions is based on the theory of selective photothermolysis. We report a case of an angiokeratoma circumscriptum in an 48-year-old woman for whom the flashlamp pulsed tunable dye laser proved to be a highly successful means of treatment.
Angiokeratoma* ; Capillaries ; Dermis ; Epidermis ; Female ; Humans ; Lasers, Dye* ; Middle Aged ; Papilloma ; Parturition ; Skin Diseases

Favre-Racouchot syndrome is a disease of senile or actinic processes and another name is nodular elastosis with cysts and comedones. Clinically, facial skin shows, especially lateral to the eyes, multiple open and cystically dilatated comedones and can be defined as cutaneous disturbances characterized by a degenerative process of the dermis associated with cysts and comedones. Sunlight is a strong causative factor and dermal degenerative processes result in this condition. We report the case of a 78-year-old man who showed multiple yellowish papules on both sides of cheeks, the periorbital and, malar areas. He had had this condition for 25-years. His job used to involve physical labor and much exposure to sunlight. An excisional biopsy specimen from the facial malar lesion showed cystically dilated comedones with basophilically degenerated dermal tissue. We performed a therapeutic excision on the two large nodular lesions on both malar areas and applied topical tretinoin. The Patients clinical appearance was much improved 2 months later.
Actins ; Aged ; Basophils ; Biopsy ; Cheek ; Dermis ; Facial Dermatoses* ; Humans ; Skin ; Sunlight ; Tretinoin*

A 51-year-old Korean woman presented with a non-tender, well-demarcated, reddish, edematous patch on the right anterior chest where a previous mastectomy and radiation therapy had been performed. She had been diagnosed as having infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the right breast about 1 year ago. Histopathological findings of the skin lesions were consistent with inflammatory metastatic carcinoma of the breast. Inflammatory carcinoma or carcinoma erysipeloides is a well-established entity most frequently associated with carcinoma of the breast. It is characterized by dermal lymphatic invasion by malignancy and clinically should be distinguished from erysipelas or cellulitis. We describe a case of inflammatory metastatic carcinoma derived from an infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast which can be clinically confused with radiation dermatitis.
Breast* ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Cellulitis ; Dermatitis ; Erysipelas ; Erysipeloid ; Female ; Humans ; Mastectomy ; Middle Aged ; Skin ; Thorax

The association of varicose vein, soft tissue and bony hypertrophy and cutaneous hemangi-oma of the port-wine variety confined to one extremity was first reported in 1900 by Klippel and Trenaunay, and then Weber. A case of Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome with macrodactylia in a 2 months old male infant(dizygotic) is presented who was asmitted to B.N.U.H. with chief complaints of nevus fla-mmeus, swelling of the left lower extremity.
Extremities ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Infant ; Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome* ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Nevus ; Port-Wine Stain ; Varicose Veins

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been reported to be effective reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In the very thrombotic environment of AMI, primary PCI, with heparin-coated stents, has been known to reduce the early reocclusion of the stented vessel by preventing thrombosis. However, little data exist regarding the long-term clinical outcomes. The aim of our study was to evaluate the safety, feasibility and long-term efficacy of heparin-coated stents in AMI. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Between January 1998 and July 2002, primary PCI with heparin-coated stents was performed in 132 consecutive patients (98 males, with a mean age of 56.3+/-0.7 years) admitted with the diagnosis of AMI within 12 hours from the onset of the chest pain. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE), including death, MI, TLR (target lesion revascularization) and CABG, were recorded during hospitalization and the follow-up period. Angiograms were obtained at the baseline, after stent implantation and at 6 months following implantation. RESULTS: The angiographic and procedure success rate was 96.2%. During hospitalization, there was no evidence of reocclusion of stented vessel, but 1 patient underwent a repeat PCI due to dissection. There were no bleeding complications. A six-month angiographic follow-up was completed in 47.2% of eligible patients and binary restenosis was present in 20.1%. During the long-term clinical follow-up (mean follow-up period 37.2+/-7.2 months), there were 12 deaths, 1 myocardial infarction and 18 TLR. The MACE free survival rate was 76.5%. CONCLUSION: Primary PCI, with heparin-coated stents, shows favorable long-term clinical outcomes.
Chest Pain ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Reperfusion ; Stents* ; Survival Rate ; Thrombosis

Common radiographic appearances of ossifying fibroma (OF) are well demarcated margin, radiolucent or mixed lesion. Lesions for the radiographic differential diagnosis with OF include fibrous dysplasia, focal cemento-osseous dysplasia. Other confusing lesions might be the mixed lesions such as calcifying odontogenic cyst, adenomatoid odontogenic tumor, calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor, and benign cementoblastoma. We reported three cases of OF in posterior mandible. These cases showed a little distinguished radiographic features of OF and diagnosed from a combination of clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic information. We need to further refine radiographic and histopathological features of OF and other confusing lesions with literatures review because some cases of these lesions are not easily differentiated radiographically and histopathologically.
Ameloblastoma ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Fibroma, Ossifying ; Mandible ; Odontogenic Cyst, Calcifying ; Odontogenic Tumors ; Skin Neoplasms

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to demonstrate that the combined systemic administration of apomorphine (APO) and sildenafil have a synergistic effect on the erection in conscious rabbits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The erections of the male New Zealand White rabbits (2-3kg, n=12) were assessed by measuring the length of the uncovered penile mucosa (LUPM) and duration of the erection, both before and after the intravenous administration of agents. After the injection of APO (0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.4mg/kg), sildenafil was administered intravenously in a dose-response manner (0.5, 1, 5mg/kg), followed by measurements for 0-120 minutes. In additional experiments, the effect of increasing the dosages of sildenafil, combined with APO, on blood pressure were evaluated. RESULTS: The intravenous administration of sildenafil caused a concentration dependent increase in the LUPM. There was a statistically significant increase in the LUPM with the administration of APO compared with no administration. The dosages of sildenafil and APO showing the greatest efficacy of sildenafil potentiation were 1mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively. The intravenous administration of APO at a dose of 0.1mg/kg was more effective than those of 0.05 and 0.4mg/kg, with dosages of sildenafil of 0.5 and 1mg/kg. There was no additional increase in the duration of erection on the administration of APO. The intravenous administration of sildenafil caused a concentration dependent decrease in blood pressure, but there was no additional decrease on administration of the APO. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that apomorphine elicits a stronger response on the erection induced by sildenafil in conscious rabbits, with no additional decrease in blood pressure.
Administration, Intravenous ; Apomorphine* ; Blood Pressure ; Humans ; Male ; Mucous Membrane ; Penile Erection* ; Rabbits* ; Sildenafil Citrate

Although the incidence of the skeletal tuberculosis is being decreased with improvement of the socioeconomic status, tuberculous arthritis of the hip in children has many problems in fact that there is a relatively high incidence comparing to that of adult, that it is difficult to early detection for its variable clinical feature, and that there are many controversies in its treatment. From Aug. 1981 to Apr, 1988, 14 cases treated at Busan Paik Hospital were analyzed, and the following conclusions were obtained. 1. Surgical treatment of tuberculous arthritis of the hip with early lesion was better than conservative treatment in that it could be made early diagnosis, removed the infected focus, lessened the recurrence rate, and preserved the hip function. 2. A relatively good result in preserving the hip function was obtained with surgical treatment in tuberculous arthritis of the hip with late lesion.
Adult ; Arthritis ; Busan ; Child ; Early Diagnosis ; Hip ; Humans ; Incidence ; Recurrence ; Social Class ; Tuberculosis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prognostic value of volume-based metabolic parameters measured with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with clinically node-negative (cN0) oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) as compared with other prognostic factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we included a total of 57 patients who had been diagnosed with cN0 tongue cancer by radiologic, 18F-FDG PET/CT, and physical examinations. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), average SUV (SUVavg), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) for primary tumors were measured with 18F-FDG PET. The prognostic significances of these parameters and other clinical variables were assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. RESULTS: In the univariate analysis, pathological node (pN) stage, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, SUVmax, SUVavg, MTV, and TLG were significant predictors for survival. On a multivariate analysis, pN stage (hazard ratio = 10.555, p = 0.049), AJCC stage (hazard ratio = 13.220, p = 0.045), and MTV (hazard ratio = 2.698, p = 0.033) were significant prognostic factors in cN0 OTSCC patients. The patients with MTV > or = 7.78 cm3 showed a worse prognosis than those with MTV < 7.78 cm3 (p = 0.037). CONCLUSION: The MTV of primary tumor as a volumetric parameter of 18F-FDG PET, in addition to pN stage and AJCC stage, is an independent prognostic factor for survival in cN0 OTSCC.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/diagnosis/mortality/pathology/*radionuclide imaging ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18/*diagnostic use ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography ; Prognosis ; Radiopharmaceuticals/*diagnostic use ; Survival Rate ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tongue Neoplasms/diagnosis/mortality/pathology/*radionuclide imaging ; Young Adult