Microvenular hemangioma (MH) is a recently described, uncommon, acquired vascular, tumor presenting clinically as a small reddish nodule in young and middle, aged individuals of either gender. Histologically, thin and irregularly branching small venules with inconspicouous lumia and without cellular atypia are found widely throughout the dermis. The presence of histologic features of the collagen dissection and vascular tufts makes it necessary to differentiate MH with Kaposi's sarcoma and angioblastoma. As we are aware, the description of these two cases which showed the characteristic clinical and histologic features of MH, is the first report of MH in Korea.
Collagen ; Dermis ; Hemangioma ; Korea ; Sarcoma, Kaposi ; Venules

Oral anticoagulant therapy is frequently and increasingly prescribed for patients at risk of arterial or venous thromboembolism (VTE). Although elective surgical or invasive procedures have necessitated temporary interruption of anticoagulants, managing these patients has been performed empirically and been poorly investigated. This study was designed to evaluate the adequacy of perioperative anticoagulation using enoxaparin. This was a retrospective, single-center study that evaluated the efficacy and safety of therapeutic-dose enoxaparin for bridging therapy in patients on long-term warfarin at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Korea between August 2009 and July 2011. Warfarin was discontinued 5 days before surgery, and enoxaparin was administered twice daily by subcutaneous injection at a dose of 1 mg per kg from 3 days before the procedure to the last dose 24 hours before the procedure. Anticoagulation was restarted if proper hemostasis had been confirmed. There were 49 patients, of whom 25 (51%) were men, and the mean age was 63 years. Thirty-four (69%) received warfarin therapy for VTE, and 9 (18%) for atrial fibrillation. Twenty-nine patients (59%) underwent major surgery and 20 (41%) minor surgery. The mean postoperative duration of enoxaparin was 4 days. No patients had thromboembolic complications through 30 days after the procedure. The overall 30-day mortality rate was 0%. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that bridging therapy with therapeutic-dose enoxaparin is feasible and associated with a low incidence of major bleeding and no thromboembolic complications. However, the optimal approach to managing patients perioperatively is uncertain and requires further evaluation.
Anticoagulants ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Enoxaparin* ; Hemorrhage ; Hemostasis ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; Humans ; Incidence ; Injections, Subcutaneous ; Korea ; Male ; Minor Surgical Procedures ; Mortality ; Retrospective Studies ; Thromboembolism ; Venous Thromboembolism ; Warfarin

This study was undertaken to investigate the immunological mechanism of Behqet s syndrome, considered to be important in the pathogenesis of the disease. Seventy- three patients with complete, incomplete and suspected types of Behget's syndrotne were tested for leukocyte migration ingibition factor(LIF), one of the lymphokines. The results were as follows : 1. There was no difference between the average LIF activity of all the patients and that of eontrol. 2. LIF activity of complete type, according to Shirnizus classification, was significaritly lower than the control value. 3. LIF activity of ocular type, according to Lehners classification, was signficantly lower than the control value. 4. LIF activity for patients with 4 clinical symptoms was well below the value for patients with less symptomes 5. For patients with single clinical symptom, LIF activity of complete type was well below the values of incomplete and suspected types. 6. In suspected and mucocutaneous types, LIF activity was low when the patients showed two clinical symptoms than one. Thus, LIF activity was low for patients with complete, ocular and neurological types and with multiple symptorns.
Behcet Syndrome* ; Classification ; Humans ; Leukocytes* ; Lymphokines

Background: Thyroid nodule is a common disease of thymid gland. The incidence of malignant nodule is about 3%, so most of thyroid nodules are benign. Because most thyroid nodule morbidity is related to cancerous lesions, early detection of malignant nodule is important. However, some of these nodules are srnall sized or deep seated which were not detected by physieal exarnination but by ultrasonography incidentally. In these cases the diagnostic approach is difficult with conventional methods but it is easy with ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA). However, the role of ultrasound-guided FNA on the thyroid nodules has been poorly evaluated, so we tried to assess the diagnostic value of high resolution ultrasound-guided FNA in the thyroid nodules. Methods: We examined the medical records retrospectively of all patients who were engaged in high resolution ultrasonography(ATL Ultramark-9, 10 MHz linear transducer) due to thyroid nodules and/or other thyroid abnormalities from September, 1995 to March, 1996. Ultrasound- guided FNA was performed in 137 patients with palpable or nonpalpable(small sized or deep seated) nodules which were detected by high resolution ultrasonography. Results: The mean age of the patients was 45 and most of them were middle aged. Male to female ratio was 1:8.1. Malignant nodules were frequent in patients over 30 yus of age. Of 137 patients 43 were involutional change, 45 hyperplasia, 12 Hashimotos thyroiditis, 12 follicular neoplasm, ll papillary carcinoma, 1 Hurthle cell tumor, 1 medullary carcinoma, and 12 inadequate specimen. In 22 cases thyroid nodules were not detected by physical examinatian but by ultrasonography and in 31 cases additional thyroid nodules were detected by ultrasonography. In the nature of thyroid nodules, 99 cases were solid, 16 cystic, 22 mixed. Malignant nodule were more frequent in the solid nodule, but thete was no significant difference between each group. The size of masses was categorized into four groups. Thirty-one cases measured less than 1cm, 63 between 1cm and 1.9cm, 29 between 2cm to 2.9cm, and 14 over 3cm. The malignant nodule was not palpable in 3 cases and the smallest was 0.7cm in diameter. Most of malignant lesions were between 1cm and 2.9cm, but the difference of incidence rate of rnalignant nodules between each group was not significant. The incidence rate of malignancy was 8.8% in solitary nodule and 8.7% in multiple nodules. Twenty-three cases including 12 malignancies diagnosed by FNA underwent operation. Of those 13 were papillary earcinoma, 1 follicular carcinoma, 1 medullary carcinoma. Upon the correlation of ultrasound-guided FNA cytology with pathologic diagnosis, the sensitivity of ultrasound-guided FNA cytology in differentiating benign and malignant nodule was 80.0%, the specificity 100% and overall diagnostic accuracy was 86.1%. The obtainability of adequate cytologic specimen by ultrasound-guided FNA was 91%. No complication except pain was noted during this study. Conclusion: High resolution ultrasound-guided FNA cytology in the thyroid nodules may be useful in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer especially in the nodules which were small sized or deep seated and also useful in early detection of recurrence of thyroid cancer.
Adenoma, Oxyphilic ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Carcinoma, Medullary ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Incidence ; Male ; Medical Records ; Middle Aged ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule ; Thyroiditis ; Ultrasonography

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Hypertrophy* ; Snoring*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The olfactory identification test has been used in clinical assessment of olfactory ability for the following reasons: it is fast, it yields results compatible to a threshold test, and it gives a picture of how well the patient can deal with odors of everyday life. However, items in UPSIT (University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test)and CCCRC (Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center)identification test which are widely used in the world are selected for western people. Accordingly, these items in the tests are not appropriate for Koreans of different cultural background. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the selection of proper items for the olfactory identification test, 42 natural odors familiar to Koreans were applied to 40 normal subjects and 40 patients with decreased sense of smell without sinonasal diseases. Among 42 items, 16 items with high identifiability and familiarity were chosen according to the results of test-retest in normal subjects. RESULTS: The results of olfactory identification test using 16 selected items showed high correlation with olfactory threshold. CONCLUSION: These 16 items can be used for an olfactory identification test for Koreans.
Humans ; Odors ; Pennsylvania ; Recognition (Psychology) ; Smell

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics of Korean pediatric, adolescent and premarital women who visited the Adolescent Gynecology Clinic at Samsung Medical Center. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on the 2070 women visiting the Adolescent Gynecology Clinic at Samsung Medical Center from Feb. 1995 to Sep. 2003. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to patients' age; group I (~9 years, 258 patients), group II (10-20 years, 911 patients), group III (21-30 years, 901 patients). Clinical characteristics were analyzed by chart review and compared among three groups. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 18.4 +/- 6.9 years (mean SD) and the mean age at menarche was 13.4 +/- 1.5 years. The most common disease entity and disorder according to age groups were infectious disease and vaginitis in group I, menstruation associated problems and abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) in group II, and menstruation associated problems and amenorrhea in group III. Among gynecologic problems, AUB was cited as the most common problem for the patients visiting the Adolescent Gynecology Clinic (425 cases, 20.5%), followed by amenorrhea (393 patients, 19.0%). 51.0% of primary amenorrhea had a congenital defects. Among the patients with pelvic tumor (293 patients), 85.3% was due to ovarian tumor, and 166 patients (66.4%) with ovarian tumor underwent operation. The most common pathologic diagnosis for ovarian tumor was endometrioma (60 cases, 36.1%). In primary dysmenorrhea (214 patients, 76.2% of total dysmenorrhea), treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) resulted in symptomatic improvement in 82.6% of the patients. The most common infectious disease was vaginitis and the most commonly isolated organisms varied according to age group (group I, II: E. coli, group III: Candida albicans). CONCLUSION: The most common gynecologic problem in korean pediatric, adolescent and premarital women is menstruation related disorders, presenting in 58.8% of patients visiting the Adolescent Gynecology Clinic.
Adolescent* ; Amenorrhea ; Candida ; Communicable Diseases ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Diagnosis ; Dysmenorrhea ; Endometriosis ; Female ; Gynecology* ; Humans ; Menarche ; Menstruation ; Retrospective Studies ; Uterine Hemorrhage ; Vaginitis

BACKGROUND: Lung abscess is necrosis of the pulmonary parenchyma caused by microbial infection. At present, clinical outcomes after treatment are good. However, the pulmonary parenchymal changes on the chest computed tomography (CT) after treatment are not well known. We studied the changes of pulmonary parenchyma on plane chest radiography and chest CT in patients with lung abscess following the administration of antibiotics. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 39 patients who had lung abscess with or without combined pneumonia from January 2006 to July 2010. We studied the therapeutic response in plane chest radiography of them at 1, 2, or more than 3 months following treatment. If any chest CT of them during the study period, we reviewed. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was about 61.3+/-11.2. Mean duration of antibiotics administration was about 36.7+/-26.8 days. After 3 months of following plane chest radiography, 10 patients (36%) showed without residual sequelae among 28 patients. Findings from other patients showed decrease in densities (11 patients, 39%), fibrostreaky sequelae (4 patients, 14%) and bullae (3 patients, 10%). After more than 2 months, chest CT was checked only in 7 patients. Among the 7 patients, 4 patients showed no residual lesion, 3 patients showed decreased densities on plane chest radiography. Chest CT revealed fibrostreaky densities in 2 patients, ground glass opacities in 3 patients, bullous formation in 1 patient, and cystic bronchiectasis in 1 patient. CONCLUSION: After more than 2 months following treatment for lung abscess even though there were no lesions on plane chest radiography, chest CT showed fibrostreaky or ground glass opacity.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Blister ; Bronchiectasis ; Cicatrix ; Glass ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Abscess ; Necrosis ; Pneumonia ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Retrospective Studies ; Thorax ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND: Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) is a group of musculoskeletal conditions characterized by pain in the pre-auricular area, limitation of jaw movement and palpable muscle tenderness. Thermography is a nonionizing, noninvasive diagnostic alternative for the evaluation of TMD. This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of thermography in the assessment of TMD. METHODS: Thermography was conducted on the 61 patients who had been diagnosed with TMD, and on the 34 normal symptom-free volunteers. The temperature differences between opposite sides of the temporomandibular joint (DeltaTTMJ) and the masseter muscle (DeltaTMST) were calculated. The sensitivity and specificity of thermography was calculated at the cut off values of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 degrees C. RESULTS: In the patient group, the DeltaTTMJ was 0.42 +/- 0.38 degrees C and the DeltaTMST was 0.38 +/- 0.33 degrees C, whereas in the control group the DeltaTTMJ was 0.10 +/- 0.07 degrees C and the DeltaTMST 0.15 +/- 0.10 degrees C. In addition, the patient group demonstrated a significantly lower level of thermal symmetry than the control group (P < 0.001) in both the temporomandibular joints and the masseter muscles. The sensitivity of thermography at the cut off values of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 degrees C was 67.2, 49.2, and 42.6% in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and 60.7, 49.2 and 37.7% in the masseter muscle, respectively. The specificity of thermography at the cut off values of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 degrees C was 88.2, 100, and 100% in the TMJ and 61.8, 91.2 and 100% in the masseter muscles, respectively. The accuracy of thermography at the cut off values of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 degrees C was 74.7, 67.4, and 63.2% in TMJ and 61.1, 64.2 and 60.0% in the masseter muscles, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Temperature differences exist between the opposite sides of the TMD and masseter muscles in patients with TMD. Although the sensitivity of thermography in the diagnosis of TMD is low, it has high specificity in the evaluation of TMD, and is therefore applicable to patients with TMD.
Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Humans ; Jaw ; Masseter Muscle ; Myalgia ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Temporomandibular Joint Disorders ; Temporomandibular Joint* ; Thermography* ; Volunteers

Mixtures of local anesthetics can combine the hest features of both components. The authors assayed the cardiac toxicity of local anesthetic mixtures given intravenously to rabbits. Arrhythmia was appeared at 200-150 beats/min. of pulse rate and tendency of arrhythmia in bupivacaine was increased about 16-17 times more than that of lidocaine. Mean arterial blood pressure before the study was about 92 mmHg, but it was down to about 53-74 mmHg after arrhythmia appeared. Lethal doae of bupivacaine was one-seventh that of lidocaine during infusion. None of the mixtures were more lethal than their parent components; bupivacaine containing mixtures were significantly less lethal than the bupivacaine alone. The toxicity of local anesthetic mixtures was essentially additive not synergistic.
Anesthetics, Local ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Arterial Pressure ; Bupivacaine* ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Lidocaine* ; Parents ; Rabbits*