A 54 year-old woman underwent resection of pheochromocytoma under general anesthesia. Following induction of anesthesia with intravenous thiopental sodium, succinylcholine iodide was administered intravenously and endotracheal intubation was performed. Anesthesia was maintained with nitrous oxide, oxygen and diethyl ether using a semi-closed carbon dioxide absorption circle system. The course of anesthesia was rather stormy, reflected by hypertension, arrhythmia and hypotension, but the patient tolerated anesthesia well.
Absorption ; Anesthesia* ; Anesthesia, General ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Carbon Dioxide ; Ether ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypotension ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Middle Aged ; Nitrous Oxide ; Oxygen ; Pheochromocytoma* ; Succinylcholine ; Thiopental

A fungus that grew over bed-logs of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) and caused damage was isolated from mushroom-growing farms. The fungus produced extensive mat-like dark subiculum with ascomata in it and was identified as Nitschkia confertula. This is the first report in Korea and morphological characteristics are fully described.
Fungi ; Hippocampus ; Korea ; Sordariales

Collagenous colitis is an uncommon condition charaeterized clinically by diarrhea and weight loss and histologically by thickening of the subepithelial collagen band with chromic inflammation. Laboratory tests of blood, urine and stool, and colonscopic findings are usually normal. The etiology of collagenous colitis is unknown. We report a case of collagenous colitis improved after treatment with sulfasalazine with review of literatures.
Colitis, Collagenous* ; Collagen* ; Diarrhea ; Inflammation ; Sulfasalazine ; Weight Loss

PURPOSE: Purpose of this study was to determine if quantitative measures of CT attenuation and ADC values in combination with conventional imaging features can differentiate primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) and glioblastoma (GBM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six patients with histologically-proven GBM (14 men and 12 women; median age, 50 years; age range, 22 - 73 years) and 14 patients with PCNSL (11 men and 3 women; median age, 61 years; age range, 41 - 74 years) were enrolled. Maximum CT attenuation, minimum ADC, and lesion to normal parenchyma minimum ADC ratios were measured in solid tumor regions. Conventional imaging features were evaluated for the following: ill-defined margin, homogeneous enhancement pattern, degree of necrosis, extent of tumor involvement and multiplicity. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare maximum CT attenuation and minimum ADC values for PCNSL and GBM. Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate relationships between pathologic diagnoses and imaging features. RESULTS: The CT attenuations were similar for PCNSL and GBM (37.84 +/- 6.90 HU versus 37.00 +/- 5.54 HU, p = 0.68), but minimum ADC and minimum ADC ratio were significant lower in PCNSL than in GBM (595.01 +/- 228.28 10(-6) mm2/s versus 736.52 +/- 162.05 10(-6) mm2/s; p = 0.028, 0.87 +/- 0.26 versus 1.14 +/- 0.29; p = 0.007). PCNSL showed greater homogeneous enhancement and smaller necrotic areas than GBM (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively) and was more likely to have multiple tumors than GBM (p = 0.039). When necrotic PCNSL (n = 4) and necrotic GBM (n = 24) were compared, minimum ADC and minimum ADC ratios were also significantly lower in PCNSL, but CT attenuation were not. CONCLUSION: Although CT attenuation does not provide valuable information, minimum ADC and minimum ADC ratio and some imaging features can aid the differentiation of PCNSL and GBM.
Central Nervous System ; Diffusion ; Glioblastoma ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Male ; Necrosis

Many patients of gastroenterology clinics complain symptoms requiring colonic investigations. Radiological examinations may fail to detect early inflammatory bowel diseases and small neoplasms or polyps. And therefore colonoscopies are performed in preference to barium enema. Recently several reports raised a question regarding whether biopsy is necessary in a macroscopically normal colon. To determine what proportion of apparently normal colons is histologically abnormal, to measure the thickness of subepithelial basement membrane(SEBM) in normal colons, and to see whether the thiekness varies according to the different areas of the large bowel we prospectively analyzed 100 consecutive subjects with normal laboratory findings and normal mucosa on colonoscopy. Significant histologic abnormalities were not detected in all 100 cases. Thickness of SEBM (mean+SD) was 1.6+0.4 um at hepatic flexure, 1.6+0.4um at splenic flexure and 1.7+0.4 pm at sigmoid colon. The SEBM was significantly thicker at the sigmoid colon than at the hepatic flexure. Range of thickness of normal SEBM was 0.8 to 2.5 pm(mean+2SD). Maximum thickness of SEBM was 3 pm. The result of this study suggests that doing colonoscopic biopsies in all normal colons do not seem to be essential in Koreans yet.
Barium ; Biopsy* ; Colon ; Colon, Sigmoid ; Colon, Transverse ; Colonoscopy* ; Enema ; Gastroenterology ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Mucous Membrane ; Polyps ; Prospective Studies

PURPOSE: Recent advances in molecular technology have made it possible to detect small numbers of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood or bone marrow. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is an oncofetal antigen that is expressed in epithelial tumor cells. CEA mRNA may be a reliable marker for the detection of tumor cells in the peripheral blood of patients with epithelial cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the peripheral blood of 46 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone curative resection. The presence of CEA mRNA was serially monitored using RT-PCR (Preop, Post op 15 day, 2 months (m), 4 m, 6 m, 8 m, 10 m, 12 m). The clinical characteristics, serum CEA level and immunohistochemical staining of tumor tissue were also evaluated. Patients were followed up for 6 to 12 months. RESULTS: There was no significant relationship seen between CEA mRNA RT-PCR positivity in the peripheral blood and sex, stage, serum CEA level or immunohistochemical staining for CEA antigen, During follow up,eight patients experienced recurrence; were positve for CEA mRNA RT-PCR recurrence was seen in 66.7% (6/9) of the patients who before clinical recurrence as compared to 5.4% (2/37) of patients who were negative (p=0.0002). Serial changes of CEA mRNA RT-PCR correlated with clinical recurrence; 100% in the positively converted group (3/3), 0% in the negatively converted group(0/18), 50% in all positive group (3/6) and 10.5% in all negative group (2/19) experienced recurrence, respectively. CONCLUSION: RT-PCR analysis of CEA mRNA in the peripheral blood seems to be a promising tool for the early detection of micrometastatic circulating tumor cells in gastric cancer patients and may be useful in determining patients at high risk for recurrence. However, definitive correlation with recurrence certainly requires a longer follow up duration in further studies.
Bone Marrow ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Recurrence ; RNA, Messenger* ; Stomach Neoplasms*

Biliary complication occurs in 6-34% of all liver transplant patients. Although bile leaks and strictures are relatively common, other biliary complications such as T-tube leak, choledocholithiasis, and biliary cast syndrome can also be observed. The biliary cast syndrome describes the presence of casts causing obstruction with its resultant sequelae of biliary infection, hepatocyte damage secondary to bile stasis and ductal damage, all contributing to cholangiopathy. Because the exact timing of cast formation after orthotopic liver transplantation is not consistent, it is difficult to define the true incidence of biliary cast syndrome without long-term follow-up data. Proposed etiological mechanisms include acute cellular rejection, prolongation of cold ischemic time, infection, biliary drainage tubes, and biliary obstruction. The diagnosis of biliary cast syndrome is usually confirmed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. There have been few published articles about biliary casts in Korea. Herein, we report a case of biliary cast syndrome followed by orthotopic liver transplantation.
Adult ; Bile Duct Diseases/*complications/diagnosis/etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Jaundice, Obstructive/*etiology ; Liver Transplantation/*adverse effects ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Hand eczema is one of the most common skin disorders and negatively affects quality of life. However, a large-scale multicenter study investigating the clinical features of patients with hand eczema has not yet been conducted in Korea. OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of various hand diseases, which is defined as all cutaneous disease occurring in hands, and to investigate the clinical features of patients with hand eczema and the awareness about hand eczema in the general population and to compare the prevalence of hand eczema between health care providers and non-health care providers. METHODS: To estimate the prevalence of hand diseases, we analyzed the medical records of patients from 24 medical centers. Patients were assessed by online and offline questionnaires. A 1,000 from general population and 913 hand eczema patients answered the questionnaire, for a total of 1,913 subjects. RESULTS: The most common hand disease was irritant contact dermatitis. In an online survey, the lifetime prevalence of hand eczema was 31.2%. Hand eczema was more likely to occur in females (66.0%) and younger (20~39 years, 53.9%). Health care providers and housewives were the occupations most frequently associated with hand eczema. Winter (33.6%) was the most common season which people experienced aggravation. The 63.0% and 67.0% answered that hand eczema hinders their personal relationship and negatively affects daily living activities, respectively. CONCLUSION: Hand eczema is a very common disease and hinders the quality of life. The appropriate identification of hand eczema is necessary to implement effective and efficient treatment.
Activities of Daily Living ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Eczema* ; Female ; Hand* ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Korea* ; Medical Records ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Seasons ; Skin ; Surveys and Questionnaires