Synovial cysts are uncommon lesions that may occur within the spinal canal. Most commonly synovial cysts arise from degenerative apophyseal joints, in particular at the L4-5 level, and are associated with spondylolisthesis. We present one case of lumbar synovial cyst located both intraspinally and extraspinally and originated from the defect of the pars interarticularis. The content of the synovial cyst was infected. The patient progressively developed low back pain and fever. The lesion was diag nosed by computed tomography and a magnetic resonance imaging. The synovial cyst was presented a huge lobulacted intraspinal and extraspinal mass and connected with the L4-5 facet joint on the right side. The dural sac was displaced by the intraspinal mass. Relieve of symptoms was achieved with decompressive laminectomy and removal of the mass. The content of the synovial cyst was infected with Staphylococcus aureus confirmed by the synovial fluid culture. The reasons for our report are to describe the previously unreported appearance of this lesion that was huge lobulated intraspinal and extraspinal mass with infected fluid content originated from the defect of the pars interarticularis.
Fever ; Humans ; Joints ; Laminectomy ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Nose ; Spinal Canal ; Spine* ; Spondylolisthesis ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Synovial Cyst* ; Synovial Fluid ; Zygapophyseal Joint

Since Green et al has introduced a new technique of retrograde intramedullary nail, the use of retrograde interlocking intramedullary nails has been recommended as one of the treatment options for the distal femoral fracture. However there are some disadvantages that an arthrotomy is required for insertion and the knee joint could often be violated. Authors present a simple, arthroscopically assisted method using the retrograde intramedullary nailing for distal femoral fractures with minimal invasiveness to the knee. From March 1995 to March 1997, the retrograde intramedullary nail was used to treat 9 distal femoral fractures. Five of 9 patients were fractured at the distal shaft of the femur and others were fractured at the supracondylar region of the femur. Only one of the fractures was open injury(Gustilo-Anderson grade II). Significant concomitant knee joint injuries were revealed through the arthroscopy in 3 patients. Eight of 9 fractures healed by 5 months, but one fracture was not healed and required bone grafting. Average knee range of motion was 130. Complications included 1 nonunion and 1 hardware failure. There were no patellofemoral problems and no posttraumatic arthritis of the knee joint. This arthroscope-assisted method have some potential benefits that include decreased risk of damage to the knee joint, early evaluation and treatment of the associated knee joint injuries, and accurate placement of the nail.
Arthritis ; Arthroscopy* ; Bone Transplantation ; Femoral Fractures* ; Femur ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary ; Humans ; Knee ; Knee Joint ; Range of Motion, Articular

No abstract available.

The body has been an intense focus of attention since the 1990s both in academic and mundane discourse. In philosophy, literature critique, sociology and anthropology the body has been found to have various implications and auras around it. I try to explain the body as the subject of medicine rather philosophically, in terms of nature, culture and phenomena. And then I look into the Korean body of the late 19th century when western biomedicine was first introduced. The Korean body was encountering traditional and modern biomedical medicines in three different spaces i.e., corporal, social and moral. The corporal space was the space into which direct intervention such as surgery was performed. The body was also situated in the social space where imperative social measures such as sanitation and sterilization was imposed. The body also had the moral space, invasion into which evoked great moral upheaval. It was when the government ordered the public to cut the long and bound hair, which had long been the symbol of their identity. Reflecting upon the philosophical perspectives and examining concrete cases of the encounters of the body with the two medical systems, I argue that we should have new perspective that embodies the historical and phenomenological experience of the body.
English Abstract ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; *Human Body ; Korea ; Medicine, Oriental Traditional/*history ; Philosophy, Medical/*history ; Western World/*history

OBJECTIVE: To investigate employment status after spinal cord injury (SCI) and identify personal, family, and injury characteristics those affect their employment in South Korea. METHODS: Participants were 334 community-dwelling persons 20-64 years of age who had sustained SCI for more than one year. Investigators visited each participant's home to carry out the survey. Bivariate and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to identify personal, family, and injury characteristics that influenced employment after SCI. RESULTS: Employment rate decreased significantly from 82.5% to 27.5% after SCI. Logistic regression showed that the probability of employment was higher in men than women, and in individuals older than 45 years at the time of injury than those aged 31-45 years of age. Moreover, employment was higher in individuals injured for longer than 20 years than those injured for 1-5 years and in individuals with incomplete tetraplegia than those with complete paraplegia. Employment was lower in individuals with SCI caused by industrial accidents than those injured in non-industrial accidents. CONCLUSION: Injury characteristics are the most important predictors of employment in persons with SCI. For persons with lower employment rate, individualized vocational rehabilitation and employment-support systems are required.
Accidents, Occupational ; Employment* ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Paraplegia ; Quadriplegia ; Rehabilitation, Vocational ; Republic of Korea* ; Research Personnel ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord*

No abstract available.

Medicine is not only a science but also belongs to the humanities. Being a science means that it has the objective and universally applicable methodology. Science, because of its stringent methodologies (determinism, reductionism and mechanism), cannot grasp the fruitful context of human life. Although the humanities can give us flexible wisdom of life, nobody can insist on its objective and universal applicability. We have two different cultures in medicine - those of science and the humanities. If you examine the ways how people choose health services, however, you can find that they do not have any conflict between the two cultures. They simply do not care whether the service they are going to buy is orthodox or alternative if they have high expectations of it. The two cultures already have been resolved in their lives. I suggest that we should learn from ordinary people and not from logics of science and philosophy to resolve the conflict between the two cultures. We can probably begin with the fact that the ultimate goal of medicine is to serve the people and not to find abstract truth in the material body.
*Cultural Diversity ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 21st Cent. ; Humanities/*history ; Philosophy, Medical/*history ; Science/*history

Delayed diagnosis of the compartmental syndrome and subsequent delay in performing the fasciotomy can result in needless loss of function and possible amputation of the involved extremity. Unfortunately early evidence of this syndrome is difficult to assess. A direct measurement of the tissue pressure within a closed compartment has been developed which provides physicians with reliable information for determining the need for fasciotomy. In the 27 cases of the tibia fracture, tissue pressure was measured directly by method of the needle manometer in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Han Kang Sung Sim Hospital from March, 1979 to August, 1979. The results were as follows: 1. The highest mean tissue pressure per hour was 28 mmHg in anterior compartment at 24 hours after trauma, and 28.4 mmHg in deep post compartment at the same hours. 2. The highest pressure measured in all cases was 38 mmHg in anterior compartment at 24 hours and 39 mmHg in deep posterior compartment at 48 hours after trauma. 3. The return of increased tissue pressure to less than 10 mmHg took 122.6 hours in anterior and 124.4 hours in deep posterior compartment. 4. Tissue pressre was higher when there was associated fibula fracture. 5. Tissue pressure was higher in displaced fractures than in undisplaced fractures. 6. Tissue pressure was higher when fracture was in its upper one-third. 7. Tissue pressure was higher in comminuted fracture than simple fracture.
Amputation ; Delayed Diagnosis ; Extremities ; Fibula ; Fractures, Comminuted ; Methods ; Needles ; Orthopedics ; Tibia

Hip fusion has provided disease eradication, stabilization, pain relief and strenuous activity, but the possible complication of pseudarthrosis as well as loss of all motion is a drawback. Total hip replacement arthroplasty has not been a good procedure for active young patients. This study was perforrned to clarify the indications, the best position, the functional results of hip fusion and the effect of hip fusion on the adjacent joint. The authors reviewed 32 cases of hip fusion performed at the Department of Orthopedic Sugery, Seoul National University Hospital during the period of 11 years from April 1973 to June 1984 and the following results were obtained. 1. The average age of the patients at the time of operation was 20.3 years. 2. Tuberculosis of the hip was the most common cause (56.2%). 3. The satisfactory fusion was obtained in 26 cases (81,2 %). 4. The average position of fusion was 20±9 degrees of flexion, 1±5 degrees of abduction and 10±4 degrees of external rotation. 5. Although there was a disability due to limitation of motion after hip fusion, leg length discrepancy was reduced from 3cm (preoperative) to 2.5cm (postoperative) and scoliosis was decreased from 18' of Cobbs angle (preoperative) to 12' of Cobbs angle (postoperative). 6. After hip fusion, walking capacity was increased and back pain was reduced. 7. Age was barely correlated with absolute clinical scores, but better functional results were obtained in younger patients than in older patients. 8. The results were excellent or good in 24 cases (75%).
Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Back Pain ; Disease Eradication ; Hip ; Humans ; Joints ; Leg ; Orthopedics ; Pseudarthrosis ; Scoliosis ; Seoul ; Tuberculosis ; Walking

BACKGROUND: Smoking-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic asthmatic bronchitis, which are the most important causes of chronic airflow obstruction (CAO), can occur together in a pat,ient and the prognoses of these two diseases are different each other. OBJECTIVE AND METHOD: To estimate the extent of asthmatic component in patients with CAO and to evaluate the role of atopy as a predictable index for reversibility of airflow obstruction, 89 CAO patients who were older than 40 years were examined retrospectively. RESULT: Only 15 patients (16.8%) showed an increase of >15% in FEV20 to inhaled salbutamol (short-term responder). However, 18 out of 32 patients (56.3%), who were not responded significantly to inhaled bronchodilator and performed a follow-up lung function study, showed an increase of ) 15% in FEV20 to anti-asthmatic therapy including corticosteroid for 3-4 weeks (long-term responder). Peripheral blood eosinophil count only was different between short-term responder and short-term nonresponder, and there was no difference in all of the measurements between short-term responder and long-term responder. However, there were significant differences in smoking, wheezing on auscultation, peripheral blood eosinophil counts, serum total IgE levels, and MAST atopy score between long-term responder and long-term nonresponder. The increase in FEV, following shortor long-term therapy was related to peripheral blood eosinophil counts and MAST atopy score, and it was significantly great,er in patients with high eosinophil counts or high atopy score. CONCLUSION: About 2/3 of patients with CAO who were older than 40 years had an asthmatic component ap atopy may be useful to predict good bronchodilator response to anti-asthmatic therapy.
Albuterol ; Auscultation ; Bronchitis ; Eosinophils ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Lung ; Prognosis ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Respiratory Sounds ; Retrospective Studies ; Smoke ; Smoking