PURPOSE: To evaluate the refractive outcomes of small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) in high myopia patients compared with mild to moderate myopia patients. METHODS: This study included 332 eyes of 166 myopic patients treated with SMILE using Visumax 500 kHz femtosecond laser. Treated eyes were divided into 2 groups according to preoperative spherical equivalent (SE): mild to moderate myopia (A group, <-6.0 D) and high myopia (B group, > or =-6.0 D). Follow-up visits were at 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. The outcome measures included uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), best corrected distance visual acuity (BDVA), postoperative SE, efficacy index, safety index and predictability. RESULTS: Preoperative SE was -4.85 +/- 0.86 D in the A group and -7.70 +/- 1.0 D in the B group. No differences were observed between -0.04 +/- 0.29 D in the A group and -0.30 +/- 0.37 D in the B group at 6 months postoperatively (p = 0.062). At 6 months postoperatively, 98.3% and 97.3% had UDVA of 20/25 or better in the A group and B group, respectively. In the A group, 97.3% and 100% were within +/-0.5 D and +/-1.0 D of intended correction and in the B group, 91.7% and 96.9% were within +/-0.5 D and +/-1.0 D, respectively. Efficacy indices were 1.02 +/- 0.19 in the A group and 0.99 +/- 0.18 in the B group. Safety indices were 1.16 +/- 0.16 in the A group and 1.14 +/- 0.16 in the B group. The efficacy and safety indices were not significantly different between the A and B groups at 6 months postoperatively (p = 0.09, p = 0.695, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that SMILE is effective and safe for correcting high myopia as well as mild to moderate myopia.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Myopia* ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Visual Acuity

OBJECTIVES: To compare the urodynamic characteristics between pre- and post-menopausal women with stress urinary incontinence. METHODS: Forty premenopausal women and 44 postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinenece were enrolled. All of the patients underwent a detailed history, gynaecologic examination, urinalysis and urodynamics including cystometry and pressure-flow analysis. RESULTS: There was no difference in the body mass index between the two groups. The mean age of pre- and post-menopausal women was 40.9 +/- 6.4 years and 62.1 +/- 9.4 years, respectively. The parity in postmenopausal women was greater than premenopausal women (2.8 +/- 1.2 vs 2.2 +/- 0.8, P = 0.026). The valsalva leak point pressure (VLPP) in postmenopausal women was lower than that in premenopausal women (106.4 +/- 30.3 vs 88.2 +/- 25.1 cmH2O, P = 0.04). The maximal urethral closure pressure (MUCP) in postmenopausal women was lower than premenopausal women (44.9 +/- 21.4 vs 77.4 +/- 32.2 cmH2O, P < 0.001). The functional urethral length (FUL) in postmenopausal women was shorter than it in premenopausal women (29.0 +/- 9.7 vs 37.0 +/- 10.9 mm, P = 0.003). There were no significant statistical differences in maximal flow rate, residual urine, maximal bladder capacity and Q tip test. CONCLUSION: The VLPP and MUCP were lower, and the FUL was shorter in postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence than premenopausal women. The parity and number of vaginal deliveries were different between the two groups. Further investigation will be needed concerning these variables.
Body Mass Index ; Female ; Humans ; Parity ; Postmenopause ; Premenopause ; Retrospective Studies ; Urinalysis ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Incontinence ; Urodynamics

In order to examine the neurotoxic mechanism of oxygen radicals on cultured bovine oligodendrocytes, cytoxic effect of oxygen radicals was examined when cultures were treated with various concentrations of xanthine oxidase (XO) and hypoxanthine (HX) in culture medium. In addition, the neuroprotective effect of iron-chelators against the neurotoxicity induced by oxygen radicals was evaluated by MTT assay. Cell viability was remarkably decreased in a time-dependent manner after exposure of cultured bovine oligodendrocytes to 20mU/ml XO and 0.1mM HX for 4 hours. In the neuroprotective effect of iron-chelators on oxidant-induced neurotoxicity, tetrakis (2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPEN) blocked the neurotoxicity induced by oxygen radicals, while DFX was not effective in blocking oxidant-induced neurotoxicity in these cultures. These results suggest that oxygen radicals are toxic in cultured bovine oligodendrocytes, and also selective iron-chelators such as TPEN are effective in blocking the neurotoxicity induced by oxygen radicals.
Allopurinol* ; Cell Survival ; Hypoxanthine ; Neuroprotective Agents ; Oligodendroglia ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Xanthine Oxidase

Due to its safety and softness, autologous fat transplantation has been commonly performed for soft tissue correction. However, the injected fat is absorbed resulting in the reduction of volume of the graft by 40- 60% within a few months. Thus, there was an attempt to use adipocytes differentiated from preadipocytes in vitro for transplantation. Differentiated adipocytes were biocompatible and matured with gradual volume increase at transplantation site in clinical study(unpublished data). In addition, they did not induce immune rejection in response to nonself lymphocytes in a mixed lymphocyte reaction(MLR)(unpublished data). The purpose of this study is to differentiate mouse preadipocytes following labeling into adipocytes to establish an animal model for allogenic transplantation. Preadipocytes isolated from inguinal and retroperitoneal fat pad of C57BL/6 mice were proliferated with growth medium by passage 3 and differentiated into adipocytes with different culture conditions after labeled with BrdU. At most suitable conditions, above 90% of preadipocytes were differentiated and BrdU labeling did not affect differentiation rate and function of differentiated adipocytes. These results demonstrate that BrdU-labeled adipocytes resulting from this in vitro differentiation protocol are useful for allogenic transplantation study.
Adipocytes ; Allografts ; Animals ; Bromodeoxyuridine ; Intra-Abdominal Fat ; Lymphocytes ; Mice* ; Models, Animal ; Transplants

Uterine prolapse is extremely rare during pregnancy. However in some cases significant complications such as urinary tract infection, voiding difficulty, abortion, and preterm labor may develop. Conservative management consisted of bed rest and use of a pessary. An elective cesarean section near term is the safest mode of delivery in cases where the cervix is edematous and elongated. We present a case of a patient developing uterine prolapse at 12 weeks of gestation, treated with bed rest and use of a pessary. A repeat cesarean section was performed at 38 weeks of gestation and report with a brief review of literatures.
Bed Rest ; Cervix Uteri ; Cesarean Section ; Cesarean Section, Repeat ; Female ; Humans ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Pessaries ; Pregnancy ; Prolapse ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Uterine Prolapse

Cesarean scar pregnancy is one of the rarest forms of ectopic pregnancy. Little is known about its incidence and natural history. With increasing incidence of caesarean section worldwide, more and more cases are diagnosed and reported. Transvaginal ultrasound and colour flow Doppler provides a high diagnostic accuracy with very few false positives. A delay in diagnosis and/or treatment can lead to uterine rupture, major haemorrhage, hysterectomy and serious maternal morbidity. Surgical management can be safe and effective and medical treatment can be selected as appropriate selection criteria. Patients with history of a pregnancy in a cesarean delivery scar should be advised of the risk for future uterine rupture and placenta accreta. We experienced a case of ectopic pregnancy with treatment of surgical excision and report with a brief review of literatures.
Cesarean Section ; Cicatrix* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Incidence ; Natural History ; Patient Selection ; Placenta Accreta ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic* ; Ultrasonography ; Uterine Rupture

The incidence of ectopic pregnancy has increased considerably a decade. And treatment has changed from salpingectomy by laparotomy to conservative laparoscopic surgery or medical treatment. This procedure has many advantages, but there are also disadvantages with the conservative approach and several studies have reported a higher incidence of residual trophoblastic tissue remaining in the tube after treatment. Postoperative follow up of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels and ultrasonography are needed. This report describes a rare case of persistent trophoblastic implants to the ovary and peritoneum 40 days after laparoscopic salpingectomy. Treatment consisted of laparoscopic excision with biopsy forceps and bipolar, followed by medical treatments. So we report with a brief review of literatures.
Biopsy ; Chorionic Gonadotropin ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Incidence ; Laparoscopy ; Laparotomy ; Ovary ; Peritoneum ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic ; Pregnancy, Tubal ; Salpingectomy ; Surgical Instruments ; Trophoblasts

Ectopic pregnancy and appendicitis in pregnancy are two most common causes of acute abdomen in young women and differenciation of these diseases is very difficult. Heterotopic pregnancy is a rare event, occuring less than 1:30,000 pregnancies in natural conception cycles. However, with assisted reproduction techniques, this incidence has increased. We experienced a case of spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy after missed abortion and acute appendicitis treated by laparoscopy. So we report this case with brief review of literature.
Abdomen, Acute ; Abortion, Missed ; Appendicitis ; Female ; Fertilization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Laparoscopy ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Ectopic ; Pregnancy, Heterotopic ; Reproductive Techniques

We report a case of pseudo-Meigs syndrome due to a large subserosal leiomyoma in a patient with a high serum carcinogenic antigen 125 level. Initial clinical examination suggested disseminated malignant disease though the typical signal characteristics of leiomyoma, seen at MR imaging, led to the diagnosis of pseudo-Meigs syndrome.
Diagnosis ; Humans ; Leiomyoma* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging*

While epidural abscesses are rare in hemodialysis patients, they can cause severe neurological complications that can be fatal because only nonspecific symptoms appear in the early stages of the infection. Their incidence increased recently due to intravenous drug abuse, invasive spinal surgery, percutaneous vertebral procedures, and the development of diagnostic modalities. The increased number of cases is related to the use of dialysis catheters in hemodialysis patients. If a patient has fever and back pain, doctors should eliminate the possibility of other common diseases and consider spinal epidural infection. Early diagnosis and proper treatment are important to prevent neurological complications. In this paper, the symptoms, blood work, magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI) findings, and clinical course of two hemodialysis patients who developed spinal epidural abscesses are described.
Back Pain ; Catheters ; Dialysis ; Early Diagnosis ; Epidural Abscess ; Fever ; Humans ; Incidence ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetics ; Magnets ; Renal Dialysis ; Substance Abuse, Intravenous