Myelography is widely used fo radiological diagnosis of herniated lumbar disc. But the diagnositc accuracy isonly about 84% with range of 67 to 100% with many cases of false negative and equivocal cases. In cases of extremelateral disc herniation and short cul de sac or wide epidural space, even quite a large disc herniation cannot bedetected to myelography. But with epidural venography these defects of myelography can easily be over come. 52cases of epidural venography were performed in department of Radiology of Capital Armed Forces General Hospitalduring the 20 months from May 1979 to Dec. 1980. And the findings were compared with those of myelography andoperative results. The results are as follows; 1. Of 52 cases, satisfactory opacification was obtained in 48 cases(92.3%). 2. Single vein injection was adequate for satisfactory opacification in 40 cases (76.9%). 3. There were 2cases of retroperitoneal extravasation of contrast media, but the patient recovered without difficulty. 4. Of 24cases operated, the venographic finding was confirmed in 21 casesa (87.5%) and of the 48 cases adequatelyopacified, there were only 3 cases of confirmed diagnostic error and so the error rate is only 6.25%. 5. Abnormalfindings of myelography were exactly reproduced on epidural venography and many cases with equivocal or normalmyelographic findings were accurately diagnosed with epidural venography. 6. In cases of total block, epiduralvenography was very useful for evalutaion of the caudal portion. So lumbar epidural venography is very useful notonly as an adjunctive method to myelography, but also as the first diagnostic procedure for herniated disc, forthe procedure is simple and the diagnostic accuracy is very high.
Arm ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Epidural Space ; Extravasation of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Materials ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; Methods ; Myelography ; Phlebography ; Veins

No abstract available.
Fever* ; Microwaves*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of common three photon energies (6-MV, 10-MV, and 15-MV) on intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans to treat prostate cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty patients with prostate cancer treated locally to 81.0 Gy were retrospectively studied. 6-MV, 10-MV, and 15-MV IMRT plans for each patient were generated using suitable planning objectives, dose constraints, and 8-field setting. The plans were analyzed in terms of dose-volume histogram for the target coverage, dose conformity, organs at risk (OAR) sparing, and normal tissue integral dose. RESULTS: Regardless of the energies chosen at the plans, the target coverage, conformity, and homogeneity of the plans were similar. However, there was a significant dose increase in rectal wall and femoral heads for 6-MV compared to those for 10-MV and 15-MV. The V20 Gy of rectal wall with 6-MV, 10-MV, and 15-MV were 95.6%, 88.4%, and 89.4% while the mean dose to femoral heads were 31.7, 25.9, and 26.3 Gy, respectively. Integral doses to the normal tissues in higher energy (10-MV and 15-MV) plans were reduced by about 7%. Overall, integral doses in mid and low dose regions in 6-MV plans were increased by up to 13%. CONCLUSION: In this study, 10-MV prostate IMRT plans showed better OAR sparing and less integral doses than the 6-MV. The biological and clinical significance of this finding remains to be determined afterward, considering neutron dose contribution.
Head ; Humans ; Neutrons ; Organs at Risk ; Prostate ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies

The funding acknowledgment in this article was omitted as published.

A series of 510 patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix given the curative radiation therapy from March 1979 through December 1986 was evaluated to determine the value of intravenous pyelography(IVP), cystoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and abdomino-pelvic CT as staging work-up prior to treatment. On IVP and cystoscopy, 10.7%(49/456) and 5/3%(24/452) showed abnormality, respectively, but only 0.7% (3/413) did on signoidoscopy. As a result of these work-ups prerequisite to FIGO staging, twenty six (5.1%) out of 510 patients were upstaged from the stage determned by the findings of physical examination alone. The proportions of upataging in each stage were as follows none in stage IB(35), IIA (89) and IIIA(8), 7.9%(20/252) in stage IIB(14 patients to FIGO Stage IIIB, 6 patients to FIGO stage IVA), and 4.8% (6/126) in stage IIIB (all to FIGO stage IVA). Positive findings of staging work-ups were found only in patients with advanced stages of stage IIB or over determined by physical examination alone but not in those with earlier stages. CT was performed in 337 patients. CT detected pelvic lymph node (LN) enlargement in 25.2% (85/337) and paraaortic LN enlargement in 7.4% (25/337). Pelvic LN positivity was well correlated with increasing stage but paraaortic LN positivity was not. In the evaluation of parametrial involvement, CT findings were in accordance with those of physical examination only in 65.6%(442/674). When compared with endoscopic studeies, CT had much lower positive predicitive value than negative predicitive value in the evaluation of adjacent organ invasion. The staging work-ups should be individualized by the disease extent of each patient, and then the efficiency of work-ups may be increased without compromising the appropriate FIGO staging and treatment.
Cervix Uteri* ; Cystoscopy ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Physical Examination ; Sigmoidoscopy ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

No abstract available.
Fever* ; Thermometry* ; Ultrasonography*

To answer the question whether last clonogenic cell should be eradicated for the tumor to be controlled, radiation tumor control study was performed using microscopic tumors of variable sizes ranging from 101 to 105 tumor cells. TCD50's estimated from experimental data were 14.8, 27.1, 42.4, 49.9 and 65.5 gy for 10(1), 10(2), 10(3), 10(4) and 10(5) tumor cells, respectively. Theoretical calculations, assuming that all the clonogenic cells should be inactivated, were 15.65, 28.50, 40.97, 53.41 and 65.85 gy. From this well matched data, it can be concluded that all the clonogenic cells should be eradicated for tumor control, at least in this tumor model.
Animals ; Fibrosarcoma* ; Mice*

PURPOSE: This study was tried to evaluate the effect of the partial body fractionated irradiation on the frequency of chromosomal aberration. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In three patients with uterine cervix carcinoma, chromosomal aberrations were analyzed during fractionated external beam radiotherapy. Radiation field included whole pelvis and total dose was 5040 cGy in 28 fractions. RESULTS: The values of the frequency of dicentrics and rings (Ydr) in pre- irradiated peripheral lymphocytes in three patients were 0.0060, 0.0000, and 0.0029, respectively. The frequency of dicentrics and rings, estimated during the course of radiotherapy, increased with radiation dose and best fitted to the linear equation, Ydr=7.31x10(-5) D(cGy)+1.45x10(-2). The frequency of dicentrics and rings among the cells with dicentric and/or ring (Qdr) also showed increasing tendency and best fitted to the linear equation, Qdr= 1.01x10(-4) D(cGy)+1.04. CONCLUSION: Ydr increased linearly with radiation dose in the dose range of our study, and Qdr showed increasing tendency with dose.
Cervix Uteri ; Chromosome Aberrations* ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; Pelvis ; Radiotherapy*

PURPOSE: Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) is known to increase the peripheral blood circulation. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of GBE on the acute normal tissue radiation reaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: C3H mice were divided into two groups, radiation alone and two doses GBE plus radiation, for both acute skin reaction and jejunal crypt assay. GBE was given i.p. one hour before irradiation with priming dose given one day earlier. Thirty to Fifty Gy for acute skin reaction and 11 to 14 Gy for jejunal crypt were irradiated to right hind leg and whole body, respectively. RESULTS: Radiation doses (RD50) for peak skin score of 2.0 were 44.2Gy (40.6-48.2Gy) for radiation alone and 44.4Gy (41.6-47.4Gy) for two doses GBE plus radiation, showing no effect of GBE on acute radiation skin damage. The numbers of regenerating jejunal crypts per circumference were also almost the same for each radiation dose level (p=0.57-0.94), and the mean lethal doses (Do) were 1.80Gy (1.57-2.09Gy) for radiation alone and 1.88Gy (1.65-2.18Gy) for two doses GBE plus radiation, indicating no effect of GBE on jejunal crypt cell survival after radiation. CONCLUSION: GBE doesn't increase acute normal tissue radiation reaction in this model system. As GBE was verified to enhance radiation effect on tumor, high therapeutic gain is expected when GBE is combined with radiation therapy.
Animals ; Blood Circulation ; Cell Survival ; Ginkgo biloba* ; Leg ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred C3H ; Radiation Effects ; Radiation Tolerance* ; Skin*

PURPOSE: This study was tried to evaluate the effect of the partial body fractionated irradiation on the frequency of chromosomal aberration. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In three patients with uterine cervix carcinoma, chromosomal aberrations were analyzed during fractionated external beam radiotherapy. Radiation field included whole pelvis and total dose was 5040 cGy in 28 fractions. RESULTS: The values of the frequency of dicentrics and rings (Ydr) in pre- irradiated peripheral lymphocytes in three patients were 0.0060, 0.0000, and 0.0029, respectively. The frequency of dicentrics and rings, estimated during the course of radiotherapy, increased with radiation dose and best fitted to the linear equation, Ydr=7.31x10(-5) D(cGy)+1.45x10(-2). The frequency of dicentrics and rings among the cells with dicentric and/or ring (Qdr) also showed increasing tendency and best fitted to the linear equation, Qdr= 1.01x10(-4) D(cGy)+1.04. CONCLUSION: Ydr increased linearly with radiation dose in the dose range of our study, and Qdr showed increasing tendency with dose.
Cervix Uteri ; Chromosome Aberrations* ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; Pelvis ; Radiotherapy*