A patient with extraskeletal cervical epidural Ewing's sarcoma who presented with cervical radiculopathy is reported. A 58-year-old woman presented with right posterolateral neck pain and upper extremity radiculopathy. The computed tomography myelography showed epidural and paravertebral masses on right side, with widening of the ipsilateral neural foramina at the C2-C3 level. On magnetic resonance images, the mass was isointense to soft tissue on T1-weighted images, hyperintense on T2-weighted images, and showed diffuse enhancement on GdTA enhanced T1-weighted images. The staged, combined posterior and anterior approach were done and the tumor mass was subtotally removed. During postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with Cytoxane, Adriamycin, Vincristine, Prednisolone regimen, the patient died of severe compression of upper cervical cord by recurrent, extended tumor mass in the spinal canal.
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cyclophosphamide ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Myelography ; Neck Pain ; Prednisolone ; Radiculopathy ; Sarcoma, Ewing* ; Spinal Canal ; Upper Extremity ; Vincristine

No abstract available.
Animals ; Liposarcoma* ; Mice ; Mice, Nude*

Bacteroides fragilis is a Gram negative nonsporulating anaerobic rod bacterium that makes up about 1 to 2% of the norrnal human colonic microflora. In 1984, Myer et al. reported that some strains of B. fragilis produce enterotoxin and cause diarrheal disease in cattle and human. Since then it has been termed enterotoxigenic B. fragilis (ETBF). In this study, we tried to detect enterotoxin gene from 37 B. fragilis strains, isolated in Korean patients, to confirm the existence of ETBF and usefulness of PCR as a rapid diagnosis method. By this method, we identified 9 ETBF strains and confirmed their pathogenesis by cytotoxicity test. No significant cross- reactivity with other anaerobes or aerobes was observed. Thus, the PCR method may be considered useful for the sensitive and rapid detection of anaerobic infections. And the entire amplified PCR mixture was ligated into a pT7Blue T-vector and transformed into E. coli. When the nucleotide sequences of cloned PCR products were compared with reported enterotoxin gene, pBF529 inserted DNA sequence was nearly in good agreement with it but pBF570 inserted DNA sequence showed some difference at nucleotide 270-300. A search for nucleotide sequence homologies revealed that pBF529 exhibited 99%, but pBF570 indicated only 90% identity with reported enterotoxin gene. According to these results, it was suggested that ETBF toxin can be differentiated into at least 2 subtypes.
Animals ; Bacteroides fragilis* ; Bacteroides* ; Base Sequence ; Cattle ; Clone Cells ; Colon ; Diagnosis ; Enterotoxins* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction*

No abstract available.

An astroblastoma is a rare primary glial tumor occurring preferentially in young adults. It is characterized by a perivascular arrangement of the tumor cells forming perivascular pseudorosettes mimicking ependymomas. The histogenesis of astroblastoma is unclear, despite a number of studies to determine its possible cellular origin. We have experienced a case of astroblastoma located at the temporal lobe. It presented as a large, wellcircumscribed, and highly enhanced mass lesion on magnetic resonance images(MRI). The tumor was well demarcated and did not infiltrate the brain, which made complete removal possible. Here, we report and discuss the characteristic histological and radiological features of this case.
Brain ; Ependymoma ; Glioma ; Humans ; Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial* ; Temporal Lobe ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to verify the hypothesis that human dendritic cells(DCs) can process antigens from glioma cell apoptotic bodies and induce antigen-specific effector T cells. METHODS: DCs generated in the presence of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF) and interleukin-4(IL-4) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) of healthy donors with human leucocyte antigen(HLA) A*0201 were cultured for 7 days. Glioma apoptotic bodies(GABs) from T98G glioblastoma cells following 18 hour-actinomycin D treatment were co-incubated with DCs for 3 days. CD8 T cells isolated from peripheral blood of same donors were cultured in media containing IL-2 and were stimulated by GAB-pulsed DCs three times at a weekly interval. The interferon-gamma(IFN-gamma), a cytokine related to cytotoxicity, concentrations of cell culture supernates were measured by enzyme immunoassay technique. RESULTS: Induced DCs had DC's own phenotypic characteristics such as highly expressed major histocompatibility complex(MHC) class II, CD1a and CD86 molecules. They also had high endocytotic activity. Preteatment of T98G glioma cells with actinomycin D resulted in 53% of cells undergoing apoptosis. IFN-gamma production of effector T cells stimulated by GAB-pulsed DCs was significantly higher than that of T cells stimulated by non-pulsed DCs. CONCLUSION: Naive CD8 T cells can be activated by human GAB-pulsed DCs to become antigen-specific effector T cells. Using GABs as a antigen source may be a novel approach in future DC-based immunotherapeutic trials for malignant glioma.
Apoptosis ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Dactinomycin ; Dendritic Cells* ; Glioblastoma ; Glioma* ; Granulocytes ; Histocompatibility ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular* ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Interferon-gamma ; Interleukin-2 ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tissue Donors

Brown-Sequard syndrome may be the result of penetrating injury to the spine, but many other etiologies have been described. This syndrome is most commonly seen with spinal trauma and extramedullary spinal neoplasm. A herniated cervical disc has been rarely reported as a cause of this syndrome. We present a case of a 28-year-old male patient diagnosed as large C3-C4 disc herniation with spinal cord compression. He presented with left hemiparesis and diminished sensation to pain and temperature in the right side below the C4 dermatome. Microdiscectomy and anterior cervical fusion with carbon fiber cage containing a core of granulated coralline hydroxyapatite was performed. After the surgery, rapid improvement of the neurologic deficits was noticed. We present a case of cervical disc herniation producing acute Brown-Sequard syndrome with review of pertinent literature.
Adult ; Brown-Sequard Syndrome ; Carbon ; Ceramics ; Durapatite ; Humans ; Hydroxyapatites ; Male ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Paresis ; Sensation ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Spinal Neoplasms ; Spine

No abstract available.
Aspergillosis*

Intraosseous lipoma is one of the rarest benign primary tumors of the bone, especially of the spine, but has been reported at increasing frequency. Only a few cases of intraosseous lipoma originating primarily in the spine were reported. Twenty one-year old male with intraosseous lipoma located in lamina and spinous process of the 4th lumbar vertebra, who presented with lower back pain is reported. And the clinical features, natural courses and treatments of this rare tumor are discussed with literature review.
Humans ; Lipoma* ; Low Back Pain ; Male ; Spine*

PURPOSE: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and subsequent percutaneous ethanol injection (PEi) was attempted in 8 patients with 9 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) for complete tumor necrosis of HCCs less than 5cm in greatest diameter. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PEI was performed with 2-8ml of absolute (99.9%) ethanol two weeks after TACE under CT or ultrasound guidance. For each patient PEI was done twice to four times within 4-10 days of each procedure. After completion of a series of PEI, follow up examination (range:3 months-l.5 year period) was done with angiography, CT or ultrasound and correlated with serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level. RESULTS: On follow up anglograms, the lesions completely disappeared or decreased in size without tumor vessels or staining in 5 of 6 patients. On follow up CT of 6 patients, the lipiodol-laden HCCs were surrounded by non-enhancing low density and the losion sizes were slightly decreased or not changed. These are suggestive of necrosis of tumor itself and adjacent liver parenchyma. The tumors could not be detected on follow up ultrasound examination in 2 patients. Serum AFP was decreased in 7 patients and was well corresponded to the results of imaging modalities. CONCLUSION: The authors concluded that the combined TACE and PEI is an appropriate treatment for small HCCs having high surgical risks.
alpha-Fetoproteins ; Angiography ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Ethanol* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Liver ; Necrosis ; Ultrasonography