A total seven cases of tuberculous spondylitis of the lumbosacral junction were treated by transperitoneal anterior vertebral interbody fusion. The postoperative course was unevenful with minimal complications in all cases. There was no evidence of recurrence of infection, low back pain, or sciatica during follow-up periods of seven to sixty months. The clinical experience gained in this study leads us to conclude that the transperitoneal approach for tuberculous spondylitis of the lumbo-sacral junction is advantageous in that, the lesion is exposed under direct vision, so adequate curettage and the bone graft can be carried out accurately and easily.
Curettage ; Follow-Up Studies ; Low Back Pain ; Recurrence ; Sciatica ; Spondylitis ; Transplants

Since Lebert stated, in 1851, that fibroblastic and sarcomatous tumors of the intracranial cavity had different survival times, many neuropathologists tried to set up histopathological grading system predicting the prognosis of the tumor of the nervous system. Especially, the histological assessment of the aggressiveness of meningiomas has not always been useful in conforming the biological characteristics of these tumors, and the definition of malignancy is still subject to controversy. However, metastases from meningioma to remote sites have always been considered rarities. The authors experienced a case of metastatic meningioma, hemangiopericytic type, with a history of recurrence. A forty years old male patient received a craniotomy to remove a mass in right parasagittal region, in June 1981. He had suffered from Jacksonian type of seizure started from left foot throuth leg, thigh, and arm to face. During operation, a well defined mass was noted in left parasagittal region with cleavage plane. The tumor was completely removed with cauterization of invasion site. In microscopic examination, the mass had typical findings of hemangiopericytic type of meningioma. In September 1987, he received a repeat operation to remove a recurred tumor mass in vertex, at age of forty-six. The removed tumor revealed same histologic features as those seen in primary tumor. In January 1990, at age of forty-nine, he noted pain and tenderness on the right iliac crest and the left iliac tuberosity, Plain pelvis AP x-ray ad Pelvis CT scan revealed osteolytic expansile mass lesions involving both iliac bones, the body of second sacral vertebra, and the right superior ramus of the pelvic bone. An open biopsy of the iliac bone was performed. The microscopic findings of the bone lesion were same as reccruent lesion of the brain.
Male ; Humans ; Biopsy ; Meningioma ; Neoplasm Metastasis

No abstract available.
Diazepam* ; Seizures, Febrile*

No abstract available.
Diazepam* ; Seizures, Febrile*

Many factors including social rejection, family problems, loss of educational opportunity, fear, prejudice and ignorance, compound the inherent paychologicaI stress of leprosy. In ligh.t of these problems this present study was undertaken to evaluate the psychologica.l status of 1cprosy patients. The subjects of the present study were 220 patients staying at home and 304 control people living in similar isolated areas to resettlemert villages. A self reprort symptom inventory,, SCL--90 symptom check list 90) was used and the group", were analysed and compand by many factors. The results of this study are follows. -countinue-
Humans ; Leprosy* ; Prejudice ; Social Distance

No abstract available.
Paralysis* ; Voice*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant* ; Infant, Low Birth Weight* ; Infant, Newborn

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated that quantitation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in sera of HBsAg-positive patients is more useful test for the assessment of infectivity and for the evaluation of disease status than previously utilized numerous serological markers and qualitative polymerase chain reaction for the detection of HBV DNA. We tried to measure serum HBV DNA using a branched DNA (bDNA) signal amplification assay, which is recently introduced and known to be a simple and nonradioisotopic method. METHODS: Total forty patients with HBsAg were randomly selected and serum HBV DNA was measured with duplication using bDNA signal amplification assay (QUANTIPLEXTM HBV DNA ASSAY, Chiron, USA). Quantitation was determined from a standard curve and expressed as HBV DNA equivalents/mL (Eq/mL; 1 Eq = 1 molecule of the primary HBV DNA standard). Serum HBeAg, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) , and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) were compared with HBV DNA. RESULTS: Serum HBV DNA was quantitated in 13 patients (32.5%) (range 6.4x106-7.4x109 Eq/mL, mean 1.8x109 Eq/mL, CV 8.1%). All eleven patients (100%) with both HBsAg and HBeAg an4 2 of 29 patients (6.9%) with HBsAg but not with HBeAg showed measurable HBV DNA (p < 0.001). In addition, serum levels of AST, ALT, and sIL-2R were significantly higher in HBV DNA measured patients compared with those of unmeasured patients. CONCLUSIONS: Above results show that more than half the HBsAg-positive patients do not have enough HBV DNA which is measurable with boNA signal amplification assay but all of HBeAg-positive patients and some of HBeAg-negative patients do. In addition, HBV DNA quantitation might be correlated with the disease activity in HBsAg-positive patients because serum levels of AST, ALT, and sIL-2R are higher in patients measured with HBV DNA than unmeasured.
Alanine Transaminase ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Branched DNA Signal Amplification Assay* ; DNA ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND: T cell mediated immune destruction is an important mechanism of liver injury in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor(sIL-2R) seem to serve as a marker for the T cell activation and progressive liver injury, This study examined serum levels of sIft-2R and hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in patients with chronic HCV infection to determine the correlation with the severity of chronic hepatocellular damage. METHODS: Serum levels of sIft-2R in 73 patients with HCV infection (chronic hepatitis 52, liver cirrhosis 9, hepatocellular carcinoma 12) and 40 healthy controls were measured by sandwich enzyme immunoassay (CELLFREE, T Cell Sciences, USA). HCV RNA was quantified by QUANTIPLEX(TM) HCV RNA 2.0 assay (Chiron, USA) with duplication. This assay is a sandwich nucleic acid hybridization procedure using branched DNA amplification for the quantitation of HCV RNA. RESULTS: The sIL-2R levels of 52 patients with chronic hepatitis (591.4+/-238.7U/mL), 9 with liver cirrhosis(949.4+/-721.9 U/mL), and 12 with hepatocellular carcinoma (1,167.4+/- 554.4 U/mL) were significantly higher than those of healthy controls(370.8+/-71.8 U/mL) (p<0.001). A progressive and significant increase occurred in sIL-2R levels with chronic hepatitis C, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in order (p(0.001). The HCV RNA was detected in all patients and the means of HCV viral load were 3.3 MEq/mL in chronic hepatitis, 2.8 MEq/mL in cirrhosis, and 3.7 MEq/mL in HCC. There was no significant correlation between HCV RNA and the severity of liver injury in chronic HCV infection. There were no correlations among sIL-2R, HCV RNA and serum ALT. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that chronic hepatocellular injury by HCV progress mainly by T cell mediated immune response, not by direct cytopathic injury. Also, sIL-2R can be useful as a marker in monitoring the patients with HCV infection at high risk of getting HCC.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; DNA ; Fibrosis ; Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis C, Chronic* ; Hepatitis* ; Hepatitis, Chronic* ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Interleukin-2* ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Nucleic Acid Hybridization ; RNA ; Viral Load