Hibernoma is a rare subcutaneous neoplasm resembling the brown fat of the hibernating animal. It is usually found in the interscapular, cervical or axillary regions. We report a case of this rare tumor which developed on the occeipital scalp of a 42-year-old woman.
Adipose Tissue, Brown ; Adult ; Animals ; Female ; Humans ; Lipoma* ; Scalp*

BACKGROUND: Prevention of postherpetic neuralgia as well as management of the symptoms of the acute stage is an important therapeutic goal in the treatment of herpes zoster. Corticosteroid, acyclovir and sympathetic block have all been advocated as effective therapeutic tools for the treatment of the disease. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the necessity of sympathetic block for prevention of postherpetic neuralgia in acute herpes zoster. METHODS: The author observed the duration and degree of pain and the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia in 54 patients with herpes zoster treated with three different therapeutic measures. Group A was treated with triamcinolone acetonide 80mg three times, acyclovir and sympathetic blockade, group B with triamcinolone acetonide 80mg three times and acyclovir, and group C with triamcinolone acetonide 40mg three times and acyclovir. RESULTS: 1. Addition of sympathetic blockade to corticosteroid and acyclovir therapy did not seem to reduce the duration of pain and incidence of postherpetic neuralgia. 2. The Incidence of postherpetic neuralgia was higher in the elderly, especially with underlying systemic disease including diabetes melitus, hypertension, etc. Al] the therapeutic measures could not completely prevent the development of postherpetic neuralgia in those patients. 3. Regarding corticosteroid dosage, daily triamcinolone acetonide 80mg for three consecutive days showed no better effect than daily 40mg for consecutive days. CONCLUSION: When herpes zoster was treated with proper dosages of corticosteroid and acyclovir in its acute stage, sympathetic block showed no additional beneficial effect.
Acyclovir ; Aged ; Herpes Zoster* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; Triamcinolone Acetonide

Evaluation of a fever of unknown origin (FUO) is complex. Recently, PET scanning has been approved for screening in FUO evaluation. We treated three cases of FUO associated with increased FDG uptake in the bone marrow of the femur and tibia on the fusion PET/CT; all three had the same pattern of uptake. Bone marrow biopsies revealed mature lymphocyte and histiocyte infiltration and myxoid changes in one case, and cortical bone involvement in another case. The cases were all young females who had fever with neutropenia and relative lymphocytosis that lasted for several weeks and then remitted spontaneously. Even though the results of the studies were not diagnostic, the unique uptake pattern on PET/CT and the histology might be related to the cause of the illness and should be studied further to assess the association with classic FUO.
Biopsy ; Bone Marrow ; Female ; Femur ; Fever ; Fever of Unknown Origin ; Histiocytes ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphocytosis ; Mass Screening ; Neutropenia ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Tibia

PURPOSE: The clinical significance of preoperative serum levels of CEA and CA19-9, levels of CEA and CA19-9 in peritoneal washing fluid and free cancer cells in peritoneal washing fluid in gastric cancer patients were evaluated in this study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serum and peritoneal levels of CEA and CA19-9 and peritoneal washing cytology in 115 patients with gastric cancer were analyzed with respect to the prognostic factors using univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Positive rate of serum CEA and CA19-9 was 16.5%, 13.0%. And that of peritoneal washing CEA, CA19-9 and cytology was 15.7%, 7.8% and 9.6%. A univariate analysis showed that tumor markets in serum and peritoneal washing fluid and peritoneal washing cytology had significant correlations with the progression of the tumors, and patients with positive serum or peritoneal tumor markers had poorer survival after operation than did the patients with negative tumor markers. But in a multivariate analysis showed that only peritoneal CA19-9 was an independent risk factor. And combination of these five markers provided rnore predictable prognostic informations in a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Combination of serum or peritoneal levels of CEA, CA19-9 and washing cytology appeared to be a useful marker for managing gastric cancer patients.
Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Biomarkers, Tumor

Since the time of Jonathan Hutchinson(1858~63), it has been known that over 90% of cases of diffuse interstitial keratitis occur in syphilitic patients. Interstitial keratitis is due to acquired syphilis in 4% of cases and the other 6% of cases due to tuberculosis, sarcoid, trypanosomiasis, onchocerciasis and other rare infections. After the introduction of penicillin by Mahoney et al. in 1943 for syphilis therapy, syphilis epidemy was sharply decreased throughout the world. However, during the middle 1950's the incidence of syphilis began to increase throughout the world. In Korea. the syphilis incidence has been increased since around 1963-1965 in parallel with the world trends(Kim and Lew 1968). A 6 year old Korean girl has been found to have bilateral acute interstitial keratitis and a positive serological test for syphilis.
Child ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Keratitis* ; Korea ; Onchocerciasis ; Penicillins ; Serologic Tests ; Syphilis ; Syphilis, Congenital* ; Trypanosomiasis ; Tuberculosis

No abstract available.
Coronary Vessels*

Acrochordons are commonly found in middle aged rnan. They are mostly a few millimeters in size. The authors report an exceptionally large(10x5cm) one with a 3cm pedicle, which is thought to be the largest one in the Korean literature.
Humans ; Middle Aged

BACKGROUND: The dipstick methodology is the most fundamental urinalysis but interfered by many factors. We evaluated the effect of semen contamination on the urine dipsticks. METHODS: Thirty-two specimens for semen analysis were enrolled. After semen was directly applied on urine dipsticks, residual samples were diluted in pooled normal urine. Urine dipsticks were performed at each dilution titer. Seminal plasma separated by centrifugation of semen were also tested in the same manner. RESULTS: All semen showed positive results for blood, protein and leukocytes. The intensities of reaction for blood and leukocytes were correlated with sperm concentration. The negative conversion of blood and protein occurred at 1:100, and that of leukocytes occurred at 1:50. Seminal plasma showed nearly the same findings. CONCLUSIONS: Semen contamination of urine may cause false positive reaction especially for blood and protein on the urine dipsticks. It should therefore be considered when assessing unexplained, transient hematuria or proteinuria.
Centrifugation ; False Positive Reactions ; Hematuria ; Leukocytes ; Proteinuria ; Semen Analysis ; Semen* ; Spermatozoa ; Urinalysis

Epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is an uncommon autoimmune subepidermal blistering disorder and has four clinical subtypes. Among the four types of EBA, the cicatricial pemphigoid-like type is rarer than the other types and clinically the worst one. We experienced a case of cicatricial pemphigoid-like type of EBA in a 69-year-old woman, whose initial symptom was painful erosive lesions of oral mucous membrane before development of ocular and bullous cutaneous lesions. The clinical, histopathological findings and immunoblot assay were all typical of the disease. The course of her disease showed remissions by treatments including corticosteroid and intravenous immunoglobulin, but each time with exacerbations.
Aged ; Blister ; Epidermolysis Bullosa Acquisita* ; Epidermolysis Bullosa* ; Female ; Glycogen Storage Disease Type VI ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Mucous Membrane

PURPOSE: It is hypothesized that robotic gastrectomy may surpass laparoscopic gastrectomy after the operators acquire long-term experience and skills in the manipulation of robotic arms. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term learning curve of robotic distal gastrectomy (RDG) for gastric cancer compared with laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From October 2008 to December 2015, patients who underwent LDG (n=809) were matched to patients who underwent RDG (n=232) at a 1:1 ratio, by using a propensity score matching method after stratification for the operative year. The surgical outcomes, such as trends of operative time, blood loss, and complication rate, were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The RDG group showed a longer operative time (171.3 minutes vs. 147.6 minutes, P<0.001) but less estimated blood loss (77.6 ml vs. 116.6 ml, P<0.001). The complication rate and postoperative recovery did not differ between the two groups. The RDG group showed a longer operative time and similar estimated blood loss compared with the LDG group after 5 years of experience (operative time: 159.2 minutes vs. 136.0 minutes in 2015, P=0.003; estimated blood loss: 72.9 ml vs. 78.1 ml in 2015, P=0.793). CONCLUSIONS: In terms of short-term surgical outcomes, RDG may not surpass LDG after a long-term experience with the technique.
Arm ; Gastrectomy* ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Learning Curve ; Methods ; Operative Time ; Propensity Score* ; Robotics ; Stomach Neoplasms