PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the HRCT findings of bronchial asthma during maintenance bronchodilator therapy and to determine whether there were irreversible bronchial changes occurred in pediatric patients with this condition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HRCT findings of the lung in 21 asthmatic children [14 boys and 7 girls aged between 3.5 and 13.8 (mean : 7.7) years] who were receiving maintenance bronchodilator therapy were retrospectively studied. At the time of CT examination, 16 were receiving nonsteroid bronchodilator therapy only, and five were receiving both bronchodilator and steroid therapy. Thirteen patients were defined as allergic and eight were nonallergic. The clinical severity of chronic asthma was graded as severe in seven cases, and moderate in 14. The duration of the disease ranged from 4 months to 6 years (mean 3.2 years). HRCT was performed in 19 cases for evalvation of the atelectasis, hyperinflation, and prominent bronchovascular bundles seen on plain radiographs, and in two cases for evaluation following acute exacerbation. A CT W-2000 scanner (Hitachi Medical Co. Tokyo, Japan) was used during the end inspiratory phase, and in addition, ten patients were scanned during the expiratory phase. Scans were reviewed for evidence of bronchial thickening, bronchiectasis, emphysema, abnormal density, mucus plugs, and other morphological abnormalities. The presence of bronchial wall thickening or air trapping was evaluated according to the duration, severity and type of asthma. RESULTS: Among the 21 patients, 7(33.3%) had normal HRCT findings, while in 14 (66.7%), bronchial wall thickening was demonstrated. Eleven of the 14 patients with bronchial wall thickening (78.6%) also had air trapping. No patient was suffering from bronchiectasis or emphysema. There were no statistically significant correlations between the presence of bronchial wall thickening or air trapping and the duration of the disease, its severity, or type of asthma. There was, however, a statistically significant correlation between bronchial wall thickening and air trapping (p < . 0 5 ). CONCLUSION: In asthmatic children who were under maintenance therapy, the most frequent HRCT findings were bronchial wall thickening and air trapping, with significant correlation between the presence of these two phenomena. No destructive lesion such as bronchiectasis or emphysema was found in these asthmatic children, however, and this is probably due to the short duration of the disease, and different disease processes.
Asthma ; Bronchiectasis ; Child* ; Emphysema ; Female ; Humans ; Lung ; Mucus ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prognosis of patients with paraquat poisoning by measuring the extent of lunginvolvement, as seen on HRCT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-one patients with paraquat poisoning were treatedaccording to our hospital's routine protocol and underwent HRCT scanning 1-21(mean 7-8) days later. In 31, theresults were abnormal, and these were retrospectively analysed. Differences in the extent of lung involvement,patient age, ingested amount of paraquat, and blood WBC count were compared between the group of survivors andthose who had died. RESULTS: Among the 31 patients with abnormal HRCT findings, 11 died and 20 patients survived.The extent of lung involvement among the group of survivors was 14.8+/-14.8%; among the deceased group, it was72.3+/-16.3%. The age of the survivors was 37.5+/-13.5(11-67) years, while that of the deceased was25+/-8.9(16-41)years. Those who died showed a significantly higher extent of lung involvement than the survivors,and were younger (p<0.05). There was, however, no significant difference in blood WBC count and ingested amount ofparaquat between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: In paraquat poisoning, the extent of lung involvement onHRCT, is useful for prediction of the prognosis and severity of poisoning.
Humans ; Lung* ; Paraquat* ; Poisoning* ; Prognosis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Survivors

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine the effectiveness of transabdominal amnioinfusion in the pregnant women with preterm premature rupture of the membranes (PPROM). METHODS: Between March 1997 and June 1999, 54 pregnancies of 26 weeks to 36 weeks of gestation complicated with preterm premature rupture of the membranes were admitted at our institution, 23 patients were excluded from study due to incomplete data, loss follow up or medical diseases was combined. Among included 31 cases were randomly selected either for amnioinfusion (n=16) or expectant management (n=15). After hospitalization, all patients were assessed for fetal heart rate abnormalities, fetal lung maturity and chorioamnionitis. Labor induction was not performed until progressive labor and chorioamnionitis occurred. Amnioinfusion was done through transabdominal catheter and infused group was managed with prophylactic antibiotics and conservative group were treated by hydration and antibiotics. RESULTS: The median interval from PPROM and delivery was significantly increased in amnioinfused group compared to expectant group (11.19+/-11.52 days vs 3.67+/-5.59 days, p=0.02). There were no differences in 1 minute and 5 minutes Apgar score. However, the duration of incubator treatment and oxygen supplementation were more necessary in expectant group compared to amnioinfused group (p=0.01, respectively). Respiratory distress syndrome was more frequent in expectant group although it did not show statistical significance (20% vs 6%, p<0.25). There was no differences in mode of delivery, birth weight and maternal clinical characteristics between two groups. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that active management using transabdominal amnioinfusion in pregnancies complicated with PPROM may give a chance to gain minimal time to accelerate lung maturation and thus improve neonatal outcome without increasing complications.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Apgar Score ; Birth Weight ; Catheters ; Chorioamnionitis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Rate, Fetal ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incubators ; Lung ; Membranes* ; Oligohydramnios ; Oxygen ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Rupture*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Helicobacter pylori is a well known precursor to gastric cancer and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. This study was to determine whether H. pylori was associated with colorectal neoplasms in Korean subjects undergoing routine checkup. METHODS: A total of 10,082 subjects underwent routine checkups from January 2004 to April 2005. A H. pylori IgG test and stool occult blood test were included in the routine checkup program. Colonoscopy was performed if the stool occult blood test was positive or under subject request. Patients who underwent colonoscopy and had histologically confirmed cases of colorectal neoplasms were designanted as the subject group and those without as the control group. RESULTS: Of the 10,082 subjects, 597 had full colonoscopy. The results identified 9 colorectal carcinomas and 118 adenomas. H. pylori seropositivity was identified in 6 (66%) subjects with colorectal carcinoma, 81 (68.6%) with colorectal adenoma and 248 (52.8%) controls. Subjects having colorectal neoplasms had a significantly higher H. pylori seropositivity rate compared with the controls (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.28-2.95). This remained significant after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, HbA1c and total cholesterol (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.23-2.93). Patients with distal neoplasms also had a significantly higher H. pylori seroposivity rate (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.17-3.01) which persisted after multivariate adjustment (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.10-2.94). CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with colorectal neoplasms present an increased H. pylori seroprevalence compared with controls.
Adenoma/*diagnosis/etiology ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol/blood ; Colonoscopy ; Colorectal Neoplasms/*diagnosis/epidemiology/etiology ; Female ; Helicobacter Infections/complications/*diagnosis ; Helicobacter pylori/*immunology ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated/analysis ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G/analysis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occult Blood ; Odds Ratio ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sex Factors

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a neoplasm of vascular origin with a low-to-intermediate malignant potential and is one of the rare sarcomas arising from the liver. Its etiology is unknown and its clinical outcome is unpredictable. There is no generally accepted therapeutic strategy because of its rarity and the variable natural course between hemangioma and angiosarcoma. We report a case of a 64-year old woman who underwent hepatic resection due to epithelioid hemangioendothelioma in the right lobe that progressed to extrahepatic metastases of the bone, pleura, and peritoneum 22 months later. However, after resection there was no primary hepatic recurrence.
Bone Neoplasms/diagnosis/pathology/secondary ; Female ; Hemangioendothelioma, Epithelioid/*diagnosis/pathology/*secondary ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology ; Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis/pathology/secondary ; Middle Aged ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Tortuous arteries are common clinical observation. Although mild tortuosity is asymptomatic, severe tortuosity can lead to ischemic attack in several organs. With advances in imaging technology, an increasing number of tortuous vessels have been detected. The purpose of this report is to describe a case of acute cerebral infarction due to tortuous subclavian artery and to review the literature.
Arteries ; Cerebral Infarction* ; Subclavian Artery*

Background: Chronic use of glucocorticoid is known to result in osteoporosis. Deflazacort (DFZ), a synthetic glucocorticoid, has been reported to have bone sparing properties in vivo eompared to dexamethasone(DEX). Not only the direct effect of DFZ on human osteoblast but the mechanism by which the drug spares bone remains unclear. This study, therefore, is aimed to investigate the direct effect of DFZ on the proliferation and differentiation of human osteoblast as well as on the gene expression of osteocalcin and osteoblast as well as on the gene expression of osteocalcin and growth factor produced in osteoblast. Methods: Human osteoblast-like cells were cultured from a piece of the tibia removed during selective orthopedic surgery for patients without metabolic bone diseases. The morphological iden- tification of osteoblast-like cell was performed under the light microscope after alkaline phosphatase staining. Cell proliferation rate was determined by [3H] thymidine incorporation into DNA. Cell differentiation was determined by alkaline phophatase activity. mRNA expression was quanti- tatively measured by the competitive reverse transcription-polymerase ehain reaction(RT-PCR). Results: The cultured cells demonstrated 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3-induced increases in alkaline phophatase activity and osteocalcin mRNA expression which are the properties of osteoblast. Twenty six percent of the cultured cells were identified as osteoblast-like cells by alkaline phophatase staining. After 24hr incubation with DEX or DFZ, the [3H) thymidine incorporation was significantly inhibited by 100nM DEX or DFL Alkaine phophatase activity was significantly increased by 100nM DEX. Osteocalcin mRNA was significantly decreased by both glueocorticoids. While DEX significantly suppressed expression of asteocalcin mRNA at 10nM and 100nM, DFZ did so only at 100nM. IGF-I mRNA was significantly decreased by 100nM DEX. Conclusion: These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of DFZ on the cell proliferation and protein synthesis is less than that of DEX, which might be responsible for the bone sparing effect of DFZ in vivo.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Bone Diseases, Metabolic ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Dexamethasone ; DNA ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Orthopedics ; Osteoblasts ; Osteocalcin ; Osteoporosis ; RNA, Messenger ; Thymidine ; Tibia

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common causes of death in Koreans. Most cases of hepatocellular carcinoma are beyond the stage of curative resection at the time of diagnosis due to extrahepatic metastasis as well as wide distribution of tumor in the liver. The lung is the most common site of extrahepatic metastasis but metastasis to gingiva is very rare in hepatocellular carcinoma. We report a case hepatecellular carcinoma with gingival methststasis in a 59 year old male patient.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*secondary ; English Abstract ; Gingival Neoplasms/*secondary ; Human ; Liver Neoplasms/*pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged

No abstract available.
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use ; Ascites/diagnosis/prevention & control/therapy ; Cholagogues and Choleretics/therapeutic use ; Fatty Liver/diagnosis/diet therapy ; Fatty Liver, Alcoholic/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Hemorrhage/prevention & control/therapy ; Hepatic Encephalopathy/diagnosis/prevention & control/therapy ; Hepatitis B, Chronic/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Hepatitis C, Chronic/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology/*therapy ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary/drug therapy ; Vasodilator Agents/therapeutic use

BACKGROUND/AIMS: While gastric variceal bleeding (GVB) is not as prevalent as esophageal variceal bleeding, it is reportedly more serious, with high failure rates of the initial hemostasis (>30%), and has a worse prognosis than esophageal variceal bleeding. However, there is limited information regarding hemostasis and the prognosis for GVB. The aim of this study was to determine retrospectively the clinical outcomes of GVB in a multicenter study in Korea. METHODS: The data of 1,308 episodes of GVB (males:females=1062:246, age=55.0+/-11.0 years, mean+/-SD) were collected from 24 referral hospital centers in South Korea between March 2003 and December 2008. The rates of initial hemostasis failure, rebleeding, and mortality within 5 days and 6 weeks of the index bleed were evaluated. RESULTS: The initial hemostasis failed in 6.1% of the patients, and this was associated with the Child-Pugh score [odds ratio (OR)=1.619; P<0.001] and the treatment modality: endoscopic variceal ligation, endoscopic variceal obturation, and balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration vs. endoscopic sclerotherapy, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, and balloon tamponade (OR=0.221, P<0.001). Rebleeding developed in 11.5% of the patients, and was significantly associated with Child-Pugh score (OR=1.159, P<0.001) and treatment modality (OR=0.619, P=0.026). The GVB-associated mortality was 10.3%; mortality in these cases was associated with Child-Pugh score (OR=1.795, P<0.001) and the treatment modality for the initial hemostasis (OR=0.467, P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The clinical outcome for GVB was better for the present cohort than in previous reports. Initial hemostasis failure, rebleeding, and mortality due to GVB were universally associated with the severity of liver cirrhosis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Endoscopy ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices/*diagnosis/mortality/therapy ; Female ; *Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio ; Prognosis ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Sclerotherapy ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult