Tracheopathia osteoplastica is a rare benign disorder of the trachea and major bronchi. It is characterized by multiple cartilaginous or osseous submucosal nodules that project into the tracheobronchial lumen. Awareness of the condition is important to avoid unnecessary surgery. We report here on the CT and bronchoscopic findings of tracheopathia osteoplastica associated with anthracofibrosis in a 67-year old woman, and we will then discuss our findings.
Aged ; Bronchi ; Female ; Humans ; Trachea ; Unnecessary Procedures

Perforated appendicitis with an abscess formation is known to be the most common cause of tender mass in right lower abdomen. The differential diagnosis of a tender mass in right lower abdomen, however, is broad and includesvarious intraabdominal and intrapelvic lesions in origin. Preoperative accurate diagnosis is essential in order toavoid unnecessary surgery or complications resulting from delayed surgery. The purpose of this pictorial essay isto illustrate examples of various causes and methods to differentiate them with ultrasonography and CT.
Abdomen* ; Abscess ; Appendicitis ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Ultrasonography ; Unnecessary Procedures

Congenital megacalyces is a congenital renal disease characterized by hypoplasia of the medulla and a non-obstructive dilatation of the calyces. More than 100 cases have been reported in the literature after first described by Puigvert in 1963, but it has been reported only three cases (two cases of adults and one case of child) in the literatures in Korea. The etiology of the congenital megacalyces is unknown. Renal pelvis and ureter are mostly normal in size and there is no urinary obstruction or reflux. Renal medulla of congenital megacalyces is thinner than that of normal kidney but renal cortex retains its normal thickness and function. This is features that help to distinguish megacalyces from obstructive atropy. The calyces are polygonal in shape and the majority of kidney with megacalyces have increased number of calyces. Since congenital megacalyces is a non-progressive lesion, it is important to recognize the clinical entity and avoid unnecessary surgery. We report one case of congenital megacalyces without urinary obstruction or reflux with a brief review of related literatures.
Adult ; Dilatation ; Humans ; Kidney ; Kidney Pelvis ; Korea ; Unnecessary Procedures ; Ureter

Acute appendicitis is the most common reason for non-obstetric abdominal surgery during pregnancy. The diagnosis of appendicitis in pregnancy is difficult due to the blunting of signs and symptoms during pregnancy along with a migration of appendiceal location. When appendicitis in pregnancy is suspected, the physician must balance the risk of delaying surgery and incurring the morbidity of delay against acting hastily and performing unnecessary surgery. Eleven patients who underwent appendectomy during pregnancy from April 1995 through February 1997 were reviewed. Seven patients were proven to be acute appendicitis at laparotomy and by subsequent histopathology. There were no significant differences between patients with positive and negative laparotomies regarding frequency of presenting symptoms and signs or laboratory results. Two cases of preform(25 and 31 weeks) deliveries occurred, one with a perforated appendicitis and the other with negative laparotomy.
Appendectomy ; Appendicitis* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Pregnancy* ; Unnecessary Procedures

Intraoperative fracture in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a rare complication. However, when it happens, additional surgery to fix the fracture site is needed. Therefore, it is important to diagnose intraoperative fractures in TKA exactly. The authors experienced two cases of cortical perforation of medial femoral condyle misidentified as the fracture in TKA. Cortical perforation could be misdiagnosed as the fracture, which could lead to unnecessary surgery. This is the first report about cortical perforation in TKA. We report two cases of intraoperative cortical perforations and describe the radiological characteristics.
Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee ; Femur ; Knee ; Unnecessary Procedures

Endoscopic biopsy is the most popular diagnostic procedure for gastric epithelial neoplasm. However, discrepancy between biopsy and endoscopic resection diagnosis occasionally occurs and leads to an unnecessary procedure. A negative pathologic diagnosis following endoscopic resection is particularly problematic. In this context, we reviewed factors that may be associated with a diagnostic discrepancy between endoscopic biopsy and endoscopic resection, with focus on crypt dysplasia.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial ; Stomach ; Unnecessary Procedures

Accurate cancer staging is essential in patients with hollow viscus malignancy to decide therapeutic modalities. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is considered as the best modality for local staging of hollow viscus cancer. EUS-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a minimally invasive and effective sampling method. EUS-FNA should be applied when positive diagnosis of malignancy can possibly change the choice of therapeutic options. EUS in conjunction with EUS-FNA can optimize stage-directed therapy which is helpful in selecting minimally invasive treatment option including endoscopic treatment and avoiding unnecessary surgery in advanced cases.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration ; Endosonography ; Humans ; Neoplasm Staging ; Unnecessary Procedures

Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease (IgG4RD) is a relatively recently recognized entity that is histopathologically characterized by an extensive infiltration of lymphocytes and IgG4-positive plasma cells with dense fibrosis. IgG4RD is now known to affect any organ system, and a few cases of gastrointestinal lesions have also been reported. However, solitary IgG4RD of the stomach is still very rare. Furthermore, as it can mimic malignant conditions, it is important to recognize this disease to avoid unnecessary surgery. Herein, we present a case of IgG4RD presenting as an isolated subepithelial mass in the stomach.
Fibrosis ; Granuloma, Plasma Cell* ; Immunoglobulins* ; Lymphocytes ; Plasma Cells ; Stomach* ; Unnecessary Procedures

Antroduodenal manometry is one of the methods to evaluate stomach and duodenal motility. This test is a valuable diagnostic tool for gastrointestinal motility disorders especially small intestinal pseudo-obstruction which is difficult to make definite diagnosis by clinical manifestations or radiologic findings. Manometric findings that have no evidence of mechanical obstruction and suggestive of pseudo-obstruction with neuropathy or myopathy can avoid unnecessary surgery and the treatment can be directly targeted. Moreover, among patients who have clinically suspected small intestinal pseudo-obstruction but with normal manometric findings, the alternative diagnosis including psychiatric disorder or other organic disease should be considered. The application of this test to the patients with functional gastrointestinal symptoms especially to find the association of motor abnormalities to the symptom has less impressive yield. Antroduodenal manometry is now readily available only in some tertiary care centers. The aim of this review is to describe the antroduodenal manometry technique, interpretation and clinical utility.
Gastrointestinal Motility ; Humans ; Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction ; Manometry ; Muscular Diseases ; Stomach ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Unnecessary Procedures

PURPOSE: We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy and useful ness of FDG-PET to determine the proper extent of surgery in recurrent papillary thyroid cancer patients with elevated thyroglobulin levels and negative I131 WBS. METHODS: FDG-PET was performed in 16 recurrent papillary thyroid cancer patients with elevated thyroglobulin levels and negative I131 WBS. In 9 patients, FDG-PET was performed to localize the recurrent lesions. In 7 patients, the recurrent lesions were initially diagnosed by physical examination or other image studies and the FDG-PET was subsequently performed to detect additional recurrent lesions. All suspected lesions detected by FDG-PET and other studies were explored. RESULTS: Among the 9 patients in whom FDG-PET was performed to localize the recurrent lesions, the recurrent lesions were detected only by FDG-PET in 4 patients. Among the 7 patients in whom FDG-PET was performed additionally to detect additional recurrent lesions, another recurrent cervical regions were detected by FDG-PET in 2 patients. However, the same lesions were able to be identified by ultrasonography. A total of 26 cervical regions were explored in 16 patients. There were 4 FDG-PET false positive regions and 2 FDG-PET false negative regions. Unnecessary surgery was performed in 4 cervical regions in 4 patients. CONCLUSION: FDG-PET was very useful in detecting small early recurrent lesions but was unable to contribute to the detection of additional recurrent cervical regions in the pa-tients in which the recurrent lesion had already been by physical examination or other studies. Other image studies are necessary to supplement the FDG-PET in false positive or false negative cases.
Humans ; Physical Examination ; Reoperation* ; Thyroglobulin* ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Ultrasonography ; Unnecessary Procedures