OBJECTIVE: It is widely accepted that the estrogen plays an important role in the maintenance of bone mineral density (BMD). The purpose of this study is to compare the BMD between premature ovarian failure (POF) patients and spontaneous menopausal women, both of which are characterized by estrogen deficiency. METHOD: We compared the BMD of Lumbar 2-4 and Femur neck(right) measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry in 17 premature ovarian failure patients and 21 spontaneous menopausal women. RESULTS: POF patients and spontaneous menopausal women showed the BMD of 1.000+/-0.165g/cm2, 1.167+/-0.279g/cm2 at Lumbar 2-4 and 0.793+/-0.132g/cm2, 0.885+/-0.128g/cm2 at Femur neck, respectively. POF patients had lower BMD of Lumbar 2-4 and Femur neck significantly(p<0.05). FSH and estradiol level were not different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the BMD in POF patients was decreased more severely than that of spontaneous menopausal women. Therefore, more preventive measures against bone loss is required in POF patients than spontaneous menopausal women.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Bone Density* ; Estradiol ; Estrogens ; Female ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Humans ; Primary Ovarian Insufficiency*

No abstract available.
Arthroplasty ; Femoral Fractures ; Hip

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Lymph Nodes* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

No abstract available.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Carcinoma, Medullary* ; Thyroid Gland*

Systemic tumor embolisms after pulmonary resections for malignancy are rare, but usually severe and sometimes fatal. Here, we report a case of a 70-year-old woman who underwent pulmonary resection for lung cancer and subsequently developed acute arterial occlusion of the lower extremities caused by a tumorous embolus.
Aged ; Embolectomy ; Embolism* ; Female ; Femoral Artery ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating

PURPOSE: The aim of this presentation is to analyze the factors influencing on retrograde insertion of double-J catheter in urethral obstruction due to malignancy and to predict the possibility of stunting with double-J catheter. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 43 patients who had underwent retrograde double-J catheter insertion for urethral obstruction secondary to pelvic malignancy, from January 1993 to April 1997, was performed to evaluate the success rates of double-J ureteral stenting according to the factors such as age, sex, presence or absence of flank pain, degree of hydronephrosis, renal function, stage of tumor, laterality of ureter, past history of radiotherapy, operation and chemotherapy. RESULTS: According to the degree of hydronephrosis, the success rate was 100, 73.7 and 50% in grade I II and III, respectively(p<0.05). According to the renal function, the success rate was 81.3% in the group with normal renal function and 45.5% in the group with abnormal venal function(p<0.05) According to the stage of disease, the success rate was 100, 70.7 and 58.3% in stage I, II and III, respectively. According to the absence or presence of flank pain, the success rate was 56.3% in the group with flank pain and 81.5% in the group without flank pain. According to the past history of radiotherapy, the success rate was 65.6% in the group treated with radiotherapy and 90.9% in the group not treated with radiotherapy. The age, sex, laterality of ureter, past history of operation and chemotherapy were not significantly correlated to the success rates. CONCLUSIONS: The factors influencing on double-J ureteral slanting were the degree of hydronephrosis, renal function, absence or presence of flank pain, stage of disease and past history of radiotherapy Further study will be needed to demonstrate the accurate timing of urethral stenting with doublets ureteral catheter.
Catheters* ; Drug Therapy ; Flank Pain ; Humans ; Hydronephrosis ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents ; Ureter* ; Ureteral Obstruction* ; Urethral Obstruction ; Urinary Catheters

No abstract available.
Female ; Obstetric Labor, Premature* ; Pregnancy ; Ritodrine* ; Tocolytic Agents*

No abstract available.
Copper* ; Humans* ; Milk, Human* ; Zinc*

Granuloma is a chronic inflammatory process associated with non-infectious agents or infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. It is well known that AFB staining, which has been used to determine the etiology of the granulomatous inflammation, lacks both sensitivity and specificity. Due to the slow growth rate of most pathogenic mycobacteria, culturing of organisms can take up to eight weeks. It is not uncommon for specific therapy to be delayed, or for an inappropriate treatment be given to patients without mycobacterial infections or with infections caused by atypical mycobacteria. Determination of the causative agent in Papanicolaou stained cytology specimens gives pathologists even more difficulties when only necrotic material has been aspirated from the center of the granuloma. In recent years, the use of a polymerase chain reaction for the amplification of DNA has appeared promising in terms of speed, efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity. Since a polymerase chain reaction permits the sensitive genetic analysis of small amounts of tissue, it is ideally suited to the genetic analysis of cytologic specimens. A polymerase chain reaction is easily performed on unfixed and unstained cells, however, an analysis of ethanol fixed and Papanicolaou-stained archival smears has also been described. We have recently established a method to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis organism by a nested polymerase chain reaction with primers in the insertion sequence IS 6110, using cellular digests of ethanol-fixed and Papanicolaou-stained archival specimens aspirated from the lymph nodes, lungs, thyroid, etc. Inhibitors present in Papanicolaou stained material was removed by destaining the slides with 0.5% HCl solution for 10-30 minutes. Eight out of ten cases which have shown the epithelioid granulomas revealed a positive reaction and four out of ten cases which have shown lymphohistiocytic cells in a necrotic background without any evidence of granuloma revealed a positive reaction. This study showed that it was possible to employ a polymerase chain reaction to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Papanicolaou stained archival cytology specimens.
Communicable Diseases ; DNA* ; Ethanol ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Mycobacterium* ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Gland ; Tuberculosis

Leiomyosarcoma arising in the skin is rare tumor, and diagnosis usually is made microscopically. After local excision, these lesions recur in large proportion of pat ients. The authors herein report a 53-year-old male with leiomyosarcoma appeared in the skin of the right forearm and presenting as a dark reddish colored, 5*6cm in diameter, superficial ulcerated single firm nodule with intermittent pain. Histopathological examination showed poorly circumscribed tumor consisting of interlacing bundles of spindle shaped smooth muscle cells in the middle and lower parts of the dermis. The nuclei were hyperchromatic, large, vacuolated, and irregular in shape. Electron microscopic findings revealed cytoplasmic organelles such as rough endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of malignant smooth muscle cells in the paranuclear area, Characteristic subsarcoelmmal caveolae and dense plaque were noted and myofilaments were distributed in the peripheral cytoplasm. The tumor did not recur in 10 months' follow-up.
Caveolae ; Cytoplasm ; Dermis ; Diagnosis ; Endoplasmic Reticulum, Rough ; Follow-Up Studies ; Forearm ; Humans ; Leiomyosarcoma* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mitochondria ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Myofibrils ; Organelles ; Skin* ; Ulcer