BACKGROUND: Acute abdominal pain in children is one of the most common problems encountered in our daily practice. The children often are not able to tell us their exact complain symptoms and differential diagnosis of acute abdominal pain is difficult in its first encounter. When family physicians encounter patients with acute abdominal pain in the ambulatory care settings, they must make an appropriate decision for proper management such as admission, referral, discharge and follow-up without firm diagnosis. If it is possible to predict the course or prognosis of acute abdominal pain by clinical data concerning patient, it will be helpful to make a decision for the management of acute abdominal pain. So we tested for hypothesis that patients with acute intermittent abdominal pain and normal simple abdomen X-ray finding is not serious and shows favorable outcome. METHOD: 82 patients with acute abdominal pain were assessed from Oct. in 1996 to Sep. in 1997 at the emergency department of Kyungju Hospital, Dongkuk University. 69 patients among 82 showed normal simple abdomen X-ray findings. 67 patients were discharged and 2 patients were admitted. 64 patients were contacted by phone call after 1 week and reported their outcome of the previous abdominal pain. RESULTS: Among 64 subjects 36 patients were male and 28 patients female. 57 patients complained of intermittent abdominal pain and 7 patients complained continous abdominal pain. Positive predictive value of intermittent abdominal pain and normal simple abdominal x-ray was 98%. Outcome of patients with intermittent abdominal paln was more favorable than that of continuous pain. CONCLUSIONS: Acute intermittent abdominal pain and normal simple abdomen x-ray findings in children shows favorable outcome and can be managedim ambulatory care settings.
Abdomen ; Abdominal Pain* ; Ambulatory Care ; Child* ; Decision Making* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Male ; Physicians, Family ; Prognosis ; Referral and Consultation

Erdheim Chester disease (ECD) is very rare non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) which occurs in the skeletal system and multiple organs. As it is progressive, sometimes it causes fatal results. However, it is often misdiagnosed as LCH or multiple bone metastasis and, thus, is very difficult to diagnose. In Korea, only 10 cases were first reported in 1999. In particular, there have been a few orthopedic approaches or reports in English-speaking literatures, and no report has been issued in Korea. The authors performed bone biopsy in patients with knee and lower extremity pain who were referred for the integrated treatment. We attempts to report this diagnosis experience with literature review.
Biopsy ; Erdheim-Chester Disease ; Histiocytosis ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell ; Humans ; Knee ; Korea ; Lower Extremity ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Orthopedics

No abstract available.
Animals ; Brain* ; Rats* ; Serotonergic Neurons*

Fractures significantly involving the weight-bearing articular surface and the overlying metaphysis of the distal tibia have deserved notoriety as a severe and challenging subject of ankle injuries. It was not until 1963 that the AO group developed principles for open reduction and internal fixation of pilon fracture. But recently, limited internal fixation of the joint surface combined with external fixation may avoid the soft tissue complications associated with formal open reduction and internal fixation. We have treated 22 cases of tibial pilon fracture with biologic principle. The mean follow-up period was two years ranging from one to three years. According to the Riiedi and Allgower classification, three cases were type I, five cases were type II, and fourteen cases were type III Biologic treatment includes combination of internal and external fixation, external fixation alone, or plating was done with careful soft tissue dissection, limited stripping of fracture fragments, and indirect reduction technique. Radiographic results were assessed by Burwell and Charnley criteria. Three cases of type I, three cases of type II and seven cases of type III pilon fractures obtained good anatomic radiographic results. We also assessed the functional results by Mast and Teipner criteria. Three cases of type I, three cases of type II, six cases of type III pilon fractures obtained good functional outcome. We believed that combination of internal and external fixation provides the patient who has a markedly displaced pilon fracture and diaphyseal comminution with the best chance of good clinical result and minimal risks. As such, we believe biologic treatment is excellent for these injuries.
Ankle Injuries ; Classification ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Joints ; Tibia ; Weight-Bearing

In the orthopaedic field, some elective surgeries such as joint replacement, spinal surgery and limb salvage procedures for musculoskeletal tumors frequently need various amounts of blood transfusions. However, homologous transfusion occasionally results in various side effects, such as allergic reaction, febrile reaction, and the transmission of infectious diseases such as syphilis, hepatitis and AIDS, ctc. Recently, these complications especially in elective surgery might result in medicolegal or social problems. Risks from transfusions in elective surgery can be minimized with prebanked autologous transfusion. To evaluate the necessity of prehanked autogenous transfusion, fifty five patients who had unilateral hybrid total knee arthroplasty (noncemented at the femoral side and cemented at the tibial and patellar sides) were operated on by the same surgeon from April 199S to July 1997 and had autogenous shed blood transfusion were evaluated for postoperative blood loss, amount of autogenous shed blood, amount of transfusion, hemoglobin and hematocrit. The results were as follows: 1. The distribution of preoperative hemoglobin was from 9.6g/dL to 16.5g/dL (average: 1.8g/dL). 2. The distribution of the amount of blood loss for three days postoperatively was from 156ml to 2001 ml (average: 798ml). 3. The distrihution of the amount of transfusion of autogenous shed blood was from 30ml to 600ml (average: 448ml). 4. There were two patients who had febrile reactions above 38 after transfusion of autogenous shed blood. 5. Forty-six patient(84%) had a homologous transfusion and the average amount of transfusion was 1.9 pint. 6. Total amount of homologous transfusion was decreased according to the increased amount of hemoglobin and the amount of transfusion was statistically decreased above the level of I 3g/dL(Students t-test, P=0.0005). 7. There were no significant differences in the amount of homologous transfusion between age, sex, type of disease, type of implants. In conclusion, most of our patients(84%) needed homologous blood transfusion in unilateral hyhrid total knee arthroplasty and the amount of transfusion decreased in patients who had hemoglobin above 13.0g/dL. So we recommend preparing banked autogenous hlood preoperatively in patients who have a lower hemoglobin level in unilateral hyhrid total knee arthroplasty.
Arthroplasty* ; Blood Transfusion* ; Communicable Diseases ; Hematocrit ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Joints ; Knee* ; Limb Salvage ; Postoperative Hemorrhage ; Social Problems ; Syphilis

Open reduction and internal fixation of the displaced fractures of the acetabulum represents one of the greatest challenge in fracture surgery. The purpose of our study is to report the results of operative treatment and establish the guideline for the operative treatment of the displaced acetabular fractures with the analysis of the clinical and radiological results. This retrospective study reports the results of 21 fractures in 21 patients(19 male and 3 female) treated by open reduction and internal fixation from January 1990 to July 1994. The patients were followed up more than 1 year and mean length of follow-up was 2.3 years. According to Letournel's classification, we had 9 elementary fractures(42.8%) and 12 associated fractures(57.2%). Among the elementary fractures, the posterior wall fracture was the most common type(7 cases, 33.3%) and the transverse-posterior wall fracture was the most common type among associated fractures(4 cases, 19.0%). Surgical approaches were 14 Kocher-Langenbeck, 6 Ilioinguinal and 1 extended iliofemoral. Indirect reduction and specially designed reduction method using C-arm and radiolucent operating table were also helpful to achieve satisfactory reduction. Overall quality of clinical results was graded according to the D'Aubigne and Postel rating score. Satisfactory reduction was gained in 16 cases(76.1%). Unsatisfactory reduction was gained in 5 cases(23.8%). Among the cases within category of satisfactory reduction, there were 7 excellent and 8 good clinical results. But among unsatisfactorily reduced 5 cases, there were 2 good clinical results. It seems that the satisfactory operative reduction of the fracture is the factor that correlates with a satisfactory clinical result. There were complications such as 3 secondary osteoarthritis(14.2%), 3 wound infection(14.2%, 2 superficial and 1 deep), 2 iatrogenic nerve palsy(9.5%, 1 sciatic and 1 obturator nerve) and 1 intrapelvic protrusion acetabuli(4.7%) and no postoperative ectopic ossification.
Acetabulum ; Classification ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Methods ; Operating Tables ; Ossification, Heterotopic ; Retrospective Studies ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.
Pregnancy*

Osteoid Osteoma occurs anywhere in skeleton. They are most common in lower extremity, particularly femur about 40%. Two-thirds of femoral lesions is in the intertrochanter or intracapsular regions of the hip. The lesion is usually cortical and may extend into the periosteal or endosteal surface of the bone. It is rare in the cancellous bone. We experienced a case of osteoid osteoma in intertrochanteric cancellous portion of the femur in 50 year old man. Many complained right hip pain worsend three weeks before his visit. Radiograph shows sclerosis around a lucent nidus in cancellous portion. The lesion did not extend to the endosteal surface. We have removed nidus and surrounding reactive portion completely with curettage. Follow up radiographic results after 20 weeks, showed no evidence of recurrence.
Adult* ; Curettage ; Femur* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Middle Aged ; Osteoma, Osteoid* ; Recurrence ; Sclerosis ; Skeleton

Urinary cytology has become an essential element in the diagnosis and management of transitional cell carcinoma(TCC) of the urinary tract. It has the advantage of being noninvasive, inexpensive, and easily accessible. Besides that it can even detect malignancy when unsuspected at cystoscopy. We report a retrospective review of urine cytology in the diagnosis of 83 TCC cases that underwent 295 cytologic evaluation. All patients had biopsy-proven TCC of the bladder, ureter and renal pelvis. The overall inci- dence of the positive cytology cases was 66.2%. To define the cytologic features of tumor cells, we tried to use three cytologic gradings such as "grade 1", "grade 2", and "grade 3" according to the cytologic degree of anaplastic neoplastic cells. These cytologic gades of TCC were relatively well correlated with the histologic grade and tumor invasiveness. This result suggests that the recognition of characteristic cellular features of TCC can suspect the histologic grade and tumor stage. The false negative TCC cases were 78.9%. They showed severe inflammatory or bloody background and a few neoplastic cells. Therefore, a cautious approach for accurate interpretation, personal experience, and proper fixation and processing could expand the role of urinary cytology.
Cystoscopy ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Kidney Pelvis ; Nocturnal Enuresis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Thyroid Gland ; Ureter ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Tract

Pigmented villonodular synovitis and synovial chondromatosis are known as a poup of interrelated tumorous disorders that involve the lining of the joints, hursa and tendon sheath. Pigmented villonodular synovitis consists of proliferatin synovia1 tissue containing histiocytes, librohlasts, multinucleated giant cells, and capillaries that can destroy dense fihrous tissue, form soft tissue masses, and invade bone. Synovial chondromatosis consists of hyaline cartilage nodules within the synovium and synovial joint cavities, develop multiple loose fragments of cartilage within the joint. They may represent a reactive inflammatory process or henign neoplasm and usually occur in latge synovial joints, including the knee, hip and ankle. There are some reports stating that pigmented villonodular synovitis has coexisted with synovial chondromatosis. but none have reported that they occurred simultaneously in a large single joint. This is a report on a diagnosed and arthroscopicully treated pigmented villonodular synovitis and synovial chondromatosis that occurred simultaneously in the same ankle joint.
Ankle Joint* ; Ankle* ; Capillaries ; Cartilage ; Chondromatosis, Synovial* ; Giant Cells ; Hip ; Histiocytes ; Hyaline Cartilage ; Joints ; Knee ; Synovial Membrane ; Synovitis, Pigmented Villonodular* ; Tendons