No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast*

OBJECTIVE: SCC-Ag(Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen) is a tumor marker for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. It has shown that the SCC-Ag was well related with the response of cancer therapy and course of cervical cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the presence of pelvic lymph node metstasis can be predicted by the measurement of the preoperative SCC-Ag levels in the patients with early staged squamous cell carcinoma of cervix. METHODS: The preoperative serum SCC-Ag levels were measured in 45 patients with stage I-II squamous cell carcinoma of cervix undergoing radical hysterectomy from September 1995 to December 1997. The serum SCC-Ag levels were analyzed for the clinicopathologic characteristics and other prognostic factors using univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The serum SCC-Ag levels of the patients exhibited pelvic lymph node metastasis were above 4.8ng/ml. An elevated preoperative serum SCC-Ag level, and tumor size were independent predictors for the presence of lymph node metastasis(p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The determination of the preoperative serum SCC-Ag levels provides a new prognostic factor in early staged cervical cancer.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cervix Uteri ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary tuberculosis with a remaining cavitary lesion is considered to be a problem with the course of treatment. In particular, re-treatment cases tend to respond poorly to current anti-tuberculosis agents. Therefore the factors that are related with the poor closure of a cavitary lesion in pulmonary tuberculosis during treatment were evaluated. METHODS: A retrospective review of the medical records and chest X-ray films of 68 patients who had chemotherapy for the pulmonary tuberculosis with cavitary lesions was made. All the patients had been followed up for more than 12 months at National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital as of Aug. 2000. RESULTS: The male to female ratio was 3.9:1. 72.4% of the patients were between 20 to 50 years of age. 66.2% of the cavitary lesions on the chest X-ray films were confined to the upper lung fields : 36.8% in the right upper lung field and 29.4% in the left upper lung field. 82.4% of the cavities were less than 40mm in their size, and 83.8% were less than 6mm thick. The cavitary lesions were closed in 48 cases and remained in 20 cases during a follow-up period of more than 12 months. The factors that are though to affect ot the outcomes of the cavities were age, past medication history, the number of unused drugs, and the number of sensitive drugs. CONCLUSION: In the treatment courses of pulmonary tuberculosis with cavitary lesions, the following factors are associated with less desirable outcome:an age over 45, a past medication history of more than 2 courses of treatment, The number of unused drugs not exceeding average 6 and the number of sensitive drugs not exceeding average 7.
Drug Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hospitals, Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary* ; X-Ray Film

BACKGROUND: In recent years, lymphocyte subset analysis in peripheral blood is widely performed using erythrocytes-lysed whole blood and two color immunofluorescence/flow cytometry method. Use of fresh blood drawn within 6 hours of staining is recommended, and some patients have to revisit the hospital for blood collection. We tested whether 24 hours-refrigerated/stored whose blood can be used for lymphocyte subset analysis. METHODS: Twenty consecutive blood samples from patients (including nine HIV positive patients) collected in EDTA-vacutainer were tested: 1) on the day of sampling using fresh blood kept at room temperature for up to 6 hours until staining (as recommended by the manufacturer) and 2) on the following day using the same tube of blood refrigerated for 24 hours after the first staining. Two colon immunofluorescenc staining was done using Simultest(TM) IMK-Lymphocyte kit (Beckon Dickinson, U.S.A.) and flow cytometric analysis was performed using FACScan and SimulSET(TM) software (Becton Dickinson, U.S.A.). Results of alive kinds of Lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CDl9+, CD3+CD4+CD3+CD8+, CD3-CDl6+ and/or CD56+) on day 1 and day 2 were compared by pained-t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS: There was no significant change of values for all of the lymphocyte subsets except CD3+CD8+suppressor/cytotoxic (S/C) T cells. There was a slight but statistically significant change in S/C T cells (39.9%-->41.8%: 1.9%, p=0.008) after 24 hours of refrigeration, and this change was observed mainly in HIV-positive patient group. However, there was no significant change in the absolute count of helper/inducer T cells or CD4/CD8 ratio, and the change of S/C T cells in these patients was not considered to be of clinical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The difference in the values of lymphocyte subsets between fresh blood and 24 hours-refrigerated blood was negligible and it is concluded that 24 hours-stored blood samples can be used for lymphocyte subset analysis for clinical purposes.
Colon ; HIV ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Subsets* ; Lymphocytes* ; Refrigeration ; T-Lymphocytes

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Humerus*

This study was done to determine the value of thallium-201 stress myocardial perfusion scanning for identifying disease in the individual coronary arteries. Segement analysis of rest and stress myocardial perfusion scanning was performed in 65 subjects who underwent coronary arteriography. Anterolateral wall detects had a sensitivity of 70%, a spectivity of 92%, and a predicitive accuracy of 93.3% for identifying left anterior descending(LAD) coronary artery disease(CAD). Anteroseptal wall defects had a sensitivy of 62.5%, a specificity of 80%, and a predictive accuracy of 83.3% for identifying LAD CAD. Septal wall defects had a sensitivity of 67.5%, a specificity of 92%, and a predictive accuracy of 94.4% for identifying LAD CAD. Inferior wall defects had a sensitivity of 65.4%, a specificity of 89.7%, and a predictive accuracy of 80.9% for identifying right CAD. Posterolateral wall defects had a identifying left circumflex CAD. Thus, although senmental analysis of stress myocardial perfusin scanning can identify LAD CAD with high sensitivity and specificity, only moderate sensitivity and specificity are achieved in identifying right CAD or left circumflex CAD. But stress myocardial perfusion scanning has tendency to identify the most severely ischemic area, use of segmental analysis may be of benefit in the evaluation of patients with ischemic heart disease before or after coronary artery bypass graft and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.
Angiography ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Humans ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Perfusion* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Transplants

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans

The medial collateral ligament(MCL) of the knee is the well established secondary restraint to the anterior displacement of the knee joint. However, there has been no report about the estimation of the anterior displacement in combined ACL(anterior collateral ligament) and MCL injures according to period when they were treated with conservative measures. This prospective study evaluated the changes of anterior displacement over time in combined ACL/MCL injury as the MCL injury heals after initial conservative measures. 19 patients who had combined ACL/MCL injury were followed during twelve months after injury. All patient had a positive Lachman test and were evaluated the side to side differences on KT-2000 knee arthrometer(Medmetric, San Diego, California) testing under 20 Ibs anterior tibial loading at 30 degree knee flexion. The stability of the knee was assessed using KT-2000 knee arthrometer every 8 weeks with clinical examination prospectively. They were treated with CI (Combined instability) brace (Smith & Nephew, Carlsbad, California) as conservative measures. Overall, Initial side to side difference of the anterior displacement was averaged 5.21mm (range,4.0-7.0mm) and 3.30mm (range,2.0-5.5mm) finally. According to the classification of MCL injury, in Grade III groups, they had the greatest initial anterior displacement about 6.4mm, but tight- ened the most to 3.08mm finally. In Grade II and Grade I groups they showed 2.97mm and 2.13mm side to side difference (p>0.01). However in Grade I, the anterior displacement were decreased by 4 months after injury but, it were increased at 6 months after injury. In Grade II and III, the decrement of the anterior displacement were continued by 6 months after injury, but they were not changed after that. The data was analyzed by General Linear Model Procedure method. Conclusively, the anterior displacement of knee in patients with combined ACL/MCL injury was diminished with the time in the majority of patients as the MCL healed. It means that the MCL was the stabilizer to the anterior displacement of the knee under the anterior tibial loading.
Braces ; Classification ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; Knee* ; Linear Models ; Prospective Studies

There have long been a lot of controversies on the treatment of unstable thoracolumbar spine fracture, and the role of decompression is also controversial. Compression of the neural elements by retropulsed bone fragments can be relieved indirectly by the reduction with posterior instrumentation or directly by the exploration of the spinal canal through a posterolateral or anterior approach. There is no universal agreement about the indications for each of these method. Authors analyzed the result of 24 cases of thoracolumbar spine fracture which had been operated by anterior decompression and Kaneda instrumentation from the February 1990 to May 1993 at Inha general hospital. The results were as follows: 1. The most common cause of injury was falling from a height, 20 cases (83.3%). And the 12 cases were in the 4th decade, with an average age of 37.7 years. 2. According to McAfee classification, there were 7 stable(29.2%) and 15 unstable bursting fractures(62.5%). And the most common level of injury was L1(11 cases, 45.8%). 3. Neurologic status was improved one or more grade(Frankel grade) in 21 cases except one case of complete paraplegia. 4. The average correctional angle of kyphotic deformity was 13.1° immediate postoperatively, and the loss of correction(average, 6.7°) was observed during the follow-up period. 5. The segmental instability was found at the level below the fusion in three cases during the follow-up period. 6. There was neither failure of instrument, dislodgement of graft bone nor lateral wedging during the follow-up period.
Accidental Falls ; Classification ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Decompression ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hospitals, General ; Methods ; Paraplegia ; Spinal Canal ; Spine ; Transplants