No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Holmium* ; Lasers, Solid-State* ; Lithotripsy* ; Ureter* ; Ureteral Calculi*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to identify preoperative predictive factors of prolonged bladder catheterization after anterior vaginal wall sling operation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-seven patients who had undergone vaginal wall sling to treat stress urinary incontinence were reviewed retrospectively. All had got preoperative evaluations that included history, physical examination, voiding cystourethrography and urodynamic study. Voiding difficulty was the main outcome measure. This was determined by the time of suprapubic catheter removal. According to the catheter removal time, we divided the patients into 3 groups: Group A(<10 days), Group B(10-20days), Group C(>20 days). Fourteen parameters of the patients in 3 groups were compared. RESULTS: Median duration of postoperative catheterization was 10 days (range 2 to 50). There was no case of permanent urinary retention. Forty-five patients(52%) were free of catheter within 10 days after operation(Group A). Group B consisted of 24 patients (27%) and group C consisted of 18 patients(21%). There was no significant relationship between preoperative parameters and the duration of catheterization. CONCLUSIONS: We could not find any preoperative predictive factors that prolonged the duration of postoperative catheterization. Risk of prolonged catheterization did not depend on the patients characteristics. Other factors which have not been assessed in this study, such as the amount of tension applied to the sling, should be evaluated as the predictive factors in the further study.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Humans ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Physical Examination ; Retrospective Studies ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Incontinence ; Urinary Retention ; Urodynamics

PURPOSE: Many pediatric urologists perform diagnostic laparoscopy for the evaluation of the patients with impalpable testis. While laparoscopic procedure is very useful for accurate localization of the impalpable testis, it has potentially significant complications especially in the less experienced hands. Previous studies demonstrated that the contralateral testicular hypertrophy (CTH) could be induced by hemicastration in prepubertal animals. The CTH can occur in the cases of the testicular nubbin (TN), which is usually removed by inguinal approach. If we can perfectly predict the TN by confirming the CTH, the diagnostic laparoscopic procedure could be omitted in case of unilateral impalpable testis with the CTH. Therefore, we studied to determine the correlation between CTH and TN in children with unilateral impalpable testis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 1995 to May 1998, 22 boys (1-13y) with unilateral impalpable testis were evaluated at our institution. Preoperative ultrasonography was performed to measure the size of the descended palpable testis. The CTH was defined if the longitudinal diameter of the descended testis was greater than the mean +2 S.D. of the normal testicular size in Korean children. RESULTS: In cases with the CTH, the sensitivity and specificity for prediction of the TN were 82% and 91%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values for TN using the CTH were 90% and 83%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The correlation between CTH and TN in unilateral impalpable testis was significantly high (p=0.015), but there were a few exceptional cases. Therefore, we could not replace the diagnostic laparoscopic procedure using the CTH in the evaluation of the children with unilateral impalpable testis.
Animals ; Child ; Hand ; Humans ; Hypertrophy* ; Laparoscopy ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Testis* ; Ultrasonography

Bone morphogenetic proteins have been shown to possess significant osteoinSductive potential, but in order to take advantage of this effect for tissue engineering, carrier systems are essential. Successful carrier systems must enable vascular and cellular invasion, allowing BMP to act as a differentiation factor. The carrier should be reproducible, non-immunogenic, moldable, and space-providing, to define the contours of the resulting bone. The purpose of this study was to review available literature, in comparing various carriers of BMP on rat calvarial defect model. The following conclusions were deduced. 1. Bone regeneration of ACS/BMP, beta-TCP/BMP, FFSS/BMP, FFSS/beta-TCP/BMP, MBCP/BMP group were significantly greater than the control groups. 2. Bone density in the ACS/BMP group was greater than that in beta-TCP, FFSS, FFSS/beta-TCP carrier group. 3. Bone regeneration in FFSS/BMP group was less than in ACS/BMP, beta-TCP/BMP, MBCP/BMP group. However, New bone area of FFSS/beta-TCP/BMP carrier group were more greater than that of FFSS/BMP group. ACS, beta-TCP, FFSS, FFSS/beta-TCP, MBCP were used for carrier of BMP. However, an ideal carrier which was reproducible, non-immunogenic, moldable, and space-providing did not exist. Therefore, further investigation are required in developing a new carrier system.
Animals ; Bone Density ; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins* ; Bone Regeneration ; Rats* ; Tissue Engineering

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to evaluate the presynaptic effects of depolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs by using slow and fast frequencies of indirect stimulation on partial twitch depression in vitro. METHODS: A rat phrenic nerve hemidiaphragm was dissected and was mounted in an organ bath containing an oxygenated Krebs solution. The phrenic nerve was stimulated supramaximally and the twitch response (0.1 Hz) was stabilized for at least 30 minutes. T200/T1 ratio (twitch height of the 200th stimuli divided by that of the first stimuli) at frequencies of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 Hz using a drug concentration which provided approximately 20% twitch depression at 0.1 Hz was calculated. To compare T200/T1 ratios with TOF ratios, a 2.0 Hz TOF response was measured immediately after the 200th stimuli at either frequency of stimulation. RESULTS: T200/T1 ratios produced by succinylcholine (SCC) and decamethonium (C10) were located between alpha-bungarotoxin (ABX) and hexamethonium (C6), however, significant differences among the four drugs were found at 2.0 Hz. The propensity for a decrease in T200/T1 ratios at 2.0 Hz might differ from this study: C6 > C10 > SCC > ABX. T200/T1 ratios at 2.0 Hz were not different from TOF ratios. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that small doses of C10 have a greater presynaptic activity than that of SCC, when the observed effects in this study were compared with the result of ABX acting predominantly at postsynaptic receptors and C6 acting predominantly at presynaptic receptors.
Animals ; Baths ; Bungarotoxins ; Depression ; Hexamethonium ; Neuromuscular Blockade* ; Neuromuscular Blocking Agents* ; Oxygen ; Phrenic Nerve ; Rats ; Receptors, Presynaptic ; Succinylcholine

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the colon is very rare and its incidence is 0.025% to 0.05% among all colon cancers. We report a case of primary squamous cell carcinoma of the sigmoid colon in a 65year-old man. He had bowel habit change and hematochezia for 3 months. Colonoscopy with biopsy and left inguinal lymph node biopsy revealed squamous cell carcinoma. We confirmed the diagnosis of primary squamous cell carcinoma of the sigmoid colon with lymph node metastasis by diagnostic criteria. The patient was discharged against advice and expired.
Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Colon ; Colon, Sigmoid* ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Colonoscopy ; Diagnosis ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis

The purpose of this study was to make and ascertain a decision making process on the base of patient-oriented utilitarianism in the treatment of patients of chronic adult periodontitis. Fifty subjects were chosen in Yonsei Dental hospital and the other fifty were chosen in Severance dental hospital according to the selection criteria. Fifty four patients agreed in this study. NS group(N=32) was treated with scaling and root planing without any surgical intervention, the other S group(N=22) done with flap operation. During the active treatment and healing time, all patients of both groups were educated about the importance of oral hygiene and controlled every visit to the hospital. When periodontal treatment needed according to the diagnostic results, some patients were subjected to professional tooth cleaning and scaling once every 3 months according to an individually designed oral hygienic protocol. Probing depth was recorded on baseline and 18 months after treatments. A questionnaire composed of 6 kinds(hygienic easiness, hypersensitivity, post treatment comfort, complication, functional comfort, compliance) of questions was delivered to each patient to obtain the subjective evaluation regarding the results of therapy. The decision tree for the treatment of adult periodontal disease was made on the result of 2 kinds of periodontal treatment and patient's ubjective evaluation. The optimal path was calculated by using the success rate of the results as the probability and utility according to relative value and the economic value in the insurance system. The success rate to achieve the diagnostic goal of periodontal treatment as the remaining pocket depth less than 3mm and without BOP was 0.83+/-0.12 by non surgical treatment and 0.82+/-0.14 by surgical treatment without any statistically significant difference. The moderate success rate of more than 4mm probing pocket depth were 0.17 together. The utilities of non-surgical treatment results were 100 for a result with less than 3mm probing pocket depth, 80 for the other results with more than 4mm probing pocket depth, 0 for the extraction. Those of surgical treatment results were the same except 75 for the results with more than 4mm. The pooling results of subjective evaluation by using a questionnaire were 60% for satisfaction level and 40% for no satisfaction level in the patient group receiving non-surgical treatment and 33% and 67% in the other group receiving surgical treatment. The utilities for 4 satisfaction levels were 100, 75, 60, 50 on the base of that the patient would express the satisfaction level with normal distribution. The optimal path of periodontal treatment was rolled back by timing the utility on terminal node and the success rate, the distributed ratio of patient's satisfaction level. Both results of the calculation was non surgical treatment. Therefore, it can be said that non-surgical treatment may be the optimal path for this decision tree of treatment protocol if the goal of the periodontal treatment is to achieve the remaining probing pocket depth of less than 3mm for adult chronic periodontitis and if the utilitarian philosophy to maximise the expected utility for the patients is advocated.
Adult ; Male ; Female ; Humans