A 49-year old man was admitted to the Korea university hospital, department of surgery, for evaluation of anterior neck mass which was slowly growing for five years. His past history was unremarkable except for known hypertension for several years. Physical examination revealed high blood pressure, measuring 180 mmHg in systolic phase and 120 mmHg in diastolic phase. A soft nontender mass was palpated at anterior neck just above the sternal notch with smooth surface and its size was about 4 x 5 cm in cross. On laboratory examination, diabetic evidence such as high blood sugar (FBS 170 mg/dl, PP2hr. 234 mg/dl) and glucosuria. The CBC finding suggested polycythemia with high hemoglobin (18.0 g/dl) and hematocrit (54%) levels. The differential count and platelet count were within normal limits.
Male ; Humans

No abstract available.
Neural Conduction*

BACKGROUND: Coagulase negative staphylococcus (CNS) spp. is a major pathogenic organism of nosocomial and community-acquired urianry tract infections, and causes infrctions in the immunocompromised host, and in particular, bloodstream infetions in patent with indwelling devices. High prevalance of methicillin resistance has been noticed in CNS which also have been recongnized as an important multidrug resistant pathogen. The optimal phenotypic method for detecting methicillin resistance still remains controversial, and new guidelines for detecting methicillin resistance of CNS was proposed by NCCLS in January 1999. We evaluated the relationship between mecA gene by PCR method and antimicrobial susceptibility tests according to the new NCCLS guidelines. METHODS: A total of 82 CNS isolates were examined for MICs and penicillin MICs by disk diffusion and agar dilution method according to NCCLS guidelines, and detections, and detection of mecA gene by PCR. RESULT: In disk diffusion method, 66 strains (80.5%) and 63 strains (76.8%) showed resistance to penicillin and oxacillin, respectively, and in agar dilution method, 71 strains(86.6%) and 53 strains (64.6%), respectively. In PCR method, mecA genes were detected in 49 strains(59.8%). Comparing with mecA gene detection by PCR method, the sensitivity of disk diffusion and agar dilution method was 95.8% and 89.8%, repectively. However, the sensitivity of disk diffusion and agar dilution method was 65.3% and 75.5%, respectively using previous NCCLS criteria. CONCLUSION: The new criteria of NCCLS detects the methicillin resistance induced by mecA gene more sensitively than previous one.
Agar ; Coagulase* ; Diffusion ; Immunocompromised Host ; Methicillin Resistance ; Oxacillin ; Penicillins ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Staphylococcus*

BACKGROUND: A novel technique for the repair of tears of the upper subscapularis tendon—intraarticular knotless fixation—has been introduced recently. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and structural outcomes of arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation for the treatment of upper subscapularis tendon tears. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and radiological outcomes of 27 patients who underwent arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation for upper subscapularis tendon tears. Finally, a total of 10 patients who could participate in at least a 6 month follow-up of magnetic resonance imaging evaluation and in a least 1-year follow-up on an outpatient basis were enrolled in our study. The mean age at the time of operation was 60.7 years, and the mean duration of follow-up was 14.7 months. Two patients had concomitant tears of the supraspinatus tendon and 8 patients had concomitant tears of the supraspinatus and the infraspinatus tendons. RESULTS: The clinical and radiological outcomes improved after the patients had undertaken arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation. The mean visual analogue scale score for pain during motion improved from 6.7 preoperatively to 1.4 at the final follow-up (p<0.001). The mean Constant score improved from 59.3 preoperatively to 79.6 at the final follow-up, and the mean the University of California at Los Angeles score, from 21.7 to 30.2, respectively (p<0.001 and p<0.001). The upper subscapularis tendon tear was healed in every patient except one (90%), for the patient had suffered from a postoperative trauma that resulted in a retear. CONCLUSIONS: We found that arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation gives good clinical and structural outcomes for the repair of upper subscapularis tendon tears. Arthroscopic intraarticular knotless fixation provided such a reliable and efficient restoration of the subscapularis tendon footprint that we anticipate it will become a widely-used procedure for upper subscapularis tendon tears.
Arthroscopy ; California ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Outpatients ; Retrospective Studies ; Shoulder ; Tears* ; Tendons* ; Treatment Outcome

Dislocation of both ends of a clavicle in a 49-yesr-old man during an auto-accident is presented. The medial end of the right clavicle was severely displaced antero-inferiorly while the 1ateral end displaced posteriorly. And the clavicle was rotated along its long axis. Sever al attempts of manual and a surgical reduction through separate incision on both ends of the clavicle failed to have anatomical reduction. It was presumed that the cause of failure in reduction were delayed reduction due to combined chest injury, blockade by first rib that was broken and was anteriorly displaced as well as the complexity of the dislocation. It is speculsted that anatomic reduction in this rare injury require wider surgical exposure. Though authors failed to have anatomic reduction in present case, stabilization of the medial end of the clavicle with a strip of fascia lata after medial clavicular resection and ligament repair at the lateral end resulted in satisfactory regain of shoulder motion and cosmetic improvement.
Clavicle ; Dislocations ; Fascia Lata ; Ligaments ; Ribs ; Shoulder ; Thoracic Injuries

BACKGROUND: The rapid emergence of multi-drug resistant pneumococcal strains has heightened the importance of reliable and convenient susceptibility testing methods. The newly-developed VITEK-2 (bioMerieux, Inc., Hazelwood, MO, USA) System includes the capability of performing rapid susceptibility testing of Streptococcus pneumoniae using specially configured cards. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the VITEK-2 System for susceptibility testing of S. pneumoniae. METHODS: One hundred clinical strains of S. pneumoniae (18 penicillin susceptible strains, 32 intermediate strains, and 50 resistant strains) were tested, which had been isolated in Samsung Medical Center. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for penicillin, cefotaxime, erythromycin, ofloxacin, chloramphenicol, tetracyclin, and vancomycin were determined by broth dilution method and VITEK-2 System using AST-P506 cards. The results obtained by VITEK-2 System were compared to those obtained by broth dilution method. RESULTS: Overall agreement of MICs determined by two methods was 93.0% within the range of one dilution. The best agreement was achieved with vancomycin (100%), and in descending order, 99% with ofloxacin, 97% with erythromycin, 94% with chloramphenicol, 89% with cefotaxime, 88% with tetracycline, and 85% with penicillin. There were 1.9% of very major error, 2.0% of major error, and 8.6% of minor error. The mean time for generation of susceptibility results was 9.6 hours. CONCLUSIONS: VITEK-2 System provided rapid and reliable determinations of susceptibility category for most antibiotics and would be helpful as a substitution of existing MIC methods.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cefotaxime ; Chloramphenicol ; Erythromycin ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Ofloxacin ; Penicillins ; Pneumonia ; Streptococcus pneumoniae* ; Streptococcus* ; Tetracycline ; Vancomycin

Lichen aureus is a rare disorder classified as a pigmented purpuric dermatosis. This case report is of a 46-year-old female in whom a coin sized, gold tinted, erythematous maculopapule developed on the right lower quadrant of the abdomen l0 years ago which showed characteristic histological findings of lichen aureus consisting of lymphohistiocytic infiltration in the upper dermis and extravasation of red blood cells.
Abdomen ; Dermis ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Humans ; Lichens* ; Middle Aged ; Numismatics ; Skin Diseases

BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the functional and radiologic outcomes of additive augmentation sutures through rotator cuff for proximal humeral fractures stabilized locking plate in elderly patients. METHODS: We enrolled 74 patients over the age of 60 years who received internal fixation using locking plates for proximal humeral fractures. Of these, 50 patients had additive augmentation sutures through rotator cuff. The mean age at the time of surgery was 72.1 years (range, 60-89 years), and the mean follow-up period was 17.5 months (range, 12-62 months). The humeral neck-shaft angle and humeral head height were used as radiological markers to assess the effect of additive augmentation sutures through rotator cuff. We allocated the patients who received additive augmentation sutures into group A and those who did not into group B. RESULTS: At the final follow-up, the mean Korean Showlder Society score and Constant scores were 88.96 +/- 12.1 and 86.6 +/- 11.9, respectively, in group A and 86.21 +/- 11.8 and 85.3 +/- 11.7, respectively, in group B (p=0.368, 0.271). At the final follow-up, the mean loss in humeral neck-shaft angle from the time of immediate postoperative measurement was 1.6degrees in group A and 4.8degrees in group B, whereas the mean loss in humeral head height was 0.82 mm in group A and 0.52 mm in group B (p=0.029, 0.178). CONCLUSIONS: The surgical outcomes of internal fixation using locking plates for proximal humeral fractures were clinically and radiologically good in elderly patients over the age of 60 years without any observable complications. Further, the loss of humeral head shaft angle at the final follow-up from its initial postoperative measurement was significantly smaller in patients who received an additive augmentation suture than in those who did not. Thus, we conclude that augmentation sutures are a beneficial option for elderly patients that clinicians can consider at the time of surgical decision making.
Aged* ; Decision Making ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Humeral Head ; Rotator Cuff ; Shoulder Fractures* ; Sutures*

No abstract available.
Cytomegalovirus* ; Humans* ; Methotrexate* ; Papaverine*

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis(LAM) is a rare disease of women of child-bearing age in which there is progressive hyperplasia of atypical smooth mucle along lymphatics in the lung, and/or axial lymphatics in the thorax and abdomen, resulting in honeycombing of lung. Interestingly there has been a speculation that it represents a forme furste or incomplete expression of tuberous sclerosis complex. This is based on the observation that patients with tuberous sclerosis can manifest pulmonary lesions indistinguishable from LAM. We report a case of LAM occuring in a 39-year-old female, who complained of recurrent pneumothorax, chest pain and shortness of breath. Three years ago, the patient had right nephrectomy under the diagnosis of ruptured angiomyolipoma. A X-ray film of the chest showed honeycombing with a diffusely reticulonodular pattern and cyst-like spaces. She had a characteristic facial appearance of adenoma sebaceum, which her father and uncle had. Microscopically, the lung showed a marked smooth muscle proliferation around the slit-like lymphatic spaces and also some respiratory bronchioles.
Female ; Humans ; Adenoma