Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a systemic inflammatory disorder that affects the axial skeleton. It often involves the extra-articular organs. Cardiovascular involvement is one of the extra-articular manifestations, which is mostly represented by aortic root, valvular heart disease, and conduction disturbances. An aortic sclerosing inflammatory process induces aortic root thickening and rigidity. An aortic aneurysmal change is a rare complication that often leads to life threatening conditions. A few cases regarding aortic aneurysm have been reported, but there are no reported cases in Korea. We report the first case of descending thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis.
Aortic Aneurysm ; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal* ; Heart Valve Diseases ; Humans ; Korea ; Skeleton ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing*

Large bowel metastasis from a primary lung cancer is rare and is hard to be asymptomatic. We report a case of intussusception without any symptoms caused by cecal metastasis of primary small cell lung cancer. A 70-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with cough and sputum of 3 weeks' duration. She was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer based on percutaneous needle biopsy of a lung mass identified by chest CT. In abdominal CT, multiple metastatic lesions were detected in the left adrenal gland and cecum with intussusception. After further colonoscopy and biopsy evaluations, the pathology results showed metastatic cancer originating from small cell cancer of the lung.
Adrenal Glands ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Needle ; Cecum ; Colonoscopy ; Cough ; Female ; Humans ; Intussusception ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma ; Sputum ; Thorax

PURPOSE: In order to provide effective hospice care, adequate length of survival (LOS) in hospice is necessary. However the reported average LOS is much shorter. Analysis of LOS in hospice has not been reported from Korea. We evaluated the duration of LOS and the factors associated with LOS at our hospice center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively examined 446 patients who were admitted to our hospice unit between January 2010 and December 2012. We performed univariate and multivariate analysis for analysis of factors associated with LOS. RESULTS: The median LOS was 9.5 days (range, 1 to 186 days). The LOS of 389 patients (86.8%) was< 1 month. At the time of admission to hospice, 112 patients (25.2%) were completely bedridden, 110 patients (24.8%) had mouth care only without intake, and 134 patients (30.1%) had decreased consciousness, from confusion to coma. The median time interval between the day of the last anticancer treatment and the day of hospice admission was 75 days. By analysis of the results of multivariate analysis, decreased intake and laboratory results showing increased total white blood cell (WBC), decreased platelet count, increased serum creatinine, increased aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level were poor prognostic factors for survival in hospice. CONCLUSION: Before hospice admission, careful evaluation of the patient's performance, particularly the oral intake, and total WBC, platelet, creatinine, AST, ALT, and LDH level is essential, because these were strong predictors of shorter LOS. In the future, conduct of prospective controlled studies is warranted in order to confirm the relationship between potential prognostic factors and LOS in hospice.
Alanine Transaminase ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Blood Platelets ; Coma ; Consciousness ; Creatinine ; Hospice Care ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Korea ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Leukocytes ; Mouth ; Multivariate Analysis ; Platelet Count ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Analysis

The genus Alternaria contains several species of melanized hypomycetes that cause opportunistic human infections. The most frequent clinical manifestations of alternariosis are cutaneous and subcutaneous infections, followed by oculomycosis, invasive and non-invasive rhinosinusitis, and onychomycosis. So far, only 17 cases of rhinosinusitis caused by Alternaria species have been reported since 1977. Although several domestic cases of cutaneous alternariosis have been reported, there is no report of Alternaria rhinosinusitis in Korea. The majority of Alternaria rhinosinusitis involves immunocompromised patients. We report the first case of alternariosis in a patient with neutropenia and myelodysplastic syndrome that was treated with endoscopic debridement and a conventional antifungal agent.
Alternaria ; Alternariosis ; Debridement ; Eye Infections, Fungal ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Korea ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; Neutropenia ; Onychomycosis ; Sinusitis