OBJECTIVES: Percutaneous vertebroplasty has recently been introduced as an interesting therapeutic alternative for the treatment of thoracolumbar vertebral body fractures in elderly persons with osteoporosis. The authors present the early results of this method. METHOD AND MATERIAL: From July 1999 to April 2000, percutaneous transpedicular technique was used in 20 patients (2 men and 18 women) whose mean age was 67.5 years old(range 59-79) with painful vertebral compression(22) and burst(2) fractures. The interval between fracture and vertebroplasty ranged 1 day to 4 months. The procedure involved percutaneous puncture of the injured vertebra via transpedicular approach under fluoroscopic guidance, followed by injection of polymethylmetacrylate(PMMA) into the vertebral body through a disposable 11-guage Jamshidi needle. RESULT: The most common cause of fracture was slip down and the most frequent injured level was the twelfth thoracic spine. The procedure was technically successful bilaterally in 18 patients(9 thoracic and 15 lumbar spines) with an average injection amount of 7.7ml PMMA in each level. Seventeen(94.4%) patients reported significant pain relief immediately after treatment. Two leaks of PMMA were detected with postoperative CT in spinal epidural space and extravertebral soft tissue without clinical symptoms. CONCLUSION: Although this study represents the early results, percutaneous vertebroplasty seems to be valuable tool in the treatment of painful osteoporotic vertebral body fractures in elderly, providing acute pain relief and early mobilization.
Acute Pain ; Aged ; Early Ambulation ; Epidural Space ; Fractures, Compression ; Humans ; Male ; Needles ; Osteoporosis ; Polymethyl Methacrylate ; Punctures ; Spine ; Vertebroplasty*

Eight strains of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella typhi were isolated from Kyonggi area during January-February,1997. They were resistant to ampiciUin, amoxicillin, carbeniciillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim. Eight strains had one plasmid respectively which size was approximately M.W 220 kb and showed same restriction pattern by endonuclease HindIII. The plasmid was similar to the plasmid in size that was related to multidrug resistant S. typhi isolated from southeast Asia. It were transferred by conjugation to recipient E, coli K-12 in frequency of 2.43 x10-4 - 1.73 x 10-2 and transconjugant showed same drug-resistant pattem with donor cells. All of 8 strains produced B-lactamase that was assummed to TEM-1 type by isoelectric focusing and PCR.
Amoxicillin ; Asia, Southeastern ; Chloramphenicol ; Deoxyribonuclease HindIII ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Isoelectric Focusing ; Korea* ; Plasmids* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Salmonella typhi* ; Salmonella* ; Tetracycline ; Tissue Donors ; Trimethoprim

To evaluate the quantitative relation between the changes of visual field and optic disc in glaucoma, thirty-six patients(58 eyes) with primary glaucoma(P.O.A.G: 29 cases, P.A.C.G.; 7 cases) were enrolled in this study. Visual field defects including the central(25 degrees) and peripheral fields were examined with three different illuminations(2-9, 2-4 and clear filters) by using an automated perimeter(Autofield D, Cavitron, CA, USA) and horizontal and vertical cup/disc(C/D) ratios were traced and calculated with the disc photographs taken with a fundus camera(CF-60Z, Canon Inc, Tokyo, Japan). Each defect by using 2.9, 2.4 and clear filter of Autofield D in either the central or the peripheral visual field has the relationship of arc tangent with either the horizontal or the vertical C/D ratio. The exponential correlation was noted between the summation of the central or the peripheral visual field defect and either horizontal or vertical C/D ratio.
Glaucoma ; Visual Fields*

Aspergillosis is defined to include any infection caused by a species of Aspergillus. Aspergillosis is a granulomatous, necrotizing. and cavitary disease of lung, often with hematogenous spread to other organs such as brain. kidney, heart, spleen. intestine, skin, and bone. Aspergillosis is becoming increasingly vulnerable to patients with malignant disease and to patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy and antibiotics for a wide range of illness. We present a case of this disease involved the right kidney without lung.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Aspergillosis* ; Aspergillus ; Brain ; Heart ; Humans ; Intestines ; Kidney ; Lung ; Skin ; Spleen

Testicular tumor in children has the seventh incidence among the pediatric neoplasm and represents 1% of the malignant tumor in children. Of th testicular tumor, Leydig cell tumor is comprising only 2 to 3%. A 4-year-old boy was admitted to our hospital due to precocious puberty. On physical examination, the right testicle was 4x3cm in size, but not transilluminated. Under the Impression of Leydig cell tumor, radical orchiectomy was performed. We report this case with review of literature.
Child ; Child, Preschool* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leydig Cell Tumor* ; Male* ; Orchiectomy ; Physical Examination ; Puberty, Precocious ; Testis*

No abstract available.
Gangwon-do* ; Humans ; Norovirus* ; Sequence Analysis*

BACKGROUND: During the period from April to June 1996, an outbreak of typhoid fever occurred in SuYoung-Ku, Pusan city. We performed the molecular epidemiological analysis and drug susceptibility test for 48 isolates of Salmonella typhi from the outbreak. METHODS: Chromosomal DNA of S. typhi was digested with the restriction endonuclease Spe I and the resulting restriction polymorphism was observed on pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Phage typing was performed using Vi-phages, and antimicrobial susceptibility test was done by Disc diffusion method. RESULTS: On phage typing, 2 isolates were M1 phage type, 2 E1 phage type and 44 untypable. The PFGE analysis on 14 to 16 chromosomal DNA restriction fragments ranged from 50 Kb to 1000kb showed 2 different patterns of restriction fragments, divided into group A and B. Forty-seven isolates belonged to group A that were allocated into A1 (42 strains), A2 (1 strain), A3 (3 strains), A4 (1 strain), and one strain was grouped into group B. In the F-value of genetic similarity of the epidemic S. typhi strains, there was low similarity (F value:0.2-0.258) between group A strains and group B strains. However, the subgroup strains (A1-A4) showed high similarity (F value:0.8-0.897) each other. The drug susceptibility test showed susceptibility to ampicillin, carbenicillin, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, tobramycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, nalidixic acid, neomycin, polymyxin B, streptomycin, tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin. CONCLUSION: This study showed that phage typing and PFGE were very useful as a tool to investigate molecular analyses of epidemic S. typhi strains this study.
Ampicillin ; Bacteriophage Typing ; Bacteriophages* ; Busan* ; Carbenicillin ; Cephalothin ; Chloramphenicol ; Ciprofloxacin ; Diffusion ; DNA ; DNA Restriction Enzymes ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field* ; Epidemics ; Gentamicins ; Kanamycin ; Nalidixic Acid ; Neomycin ; Norfloxacin ; Polymyxin B ; Salmonella typhi* ; Salmonella* ; Streptomycin ; Tetracycline ; Tobramycin ; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination ; Typhoid Fever

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is mostly transmitted by the oral-fecal route. However, rare cases of transmission via blood transfusion still exist. A retrospective study was designed to trace a case of transfusion transmitted HAV (TTHAV) infection through the Post Donation Infection (PDI) system in Korea in 2006. We report here on a case of TTHAV that was identified through a lookback study. A 35-year old woman received 6 units of packed red cell transfusion when undergoing Caesarian section in a hospital. Ten days later, she developed a high fever and sore throat. Anorexia and abdominal pain developed in 45 days after transfusion. She was diagnosed with acute tonsillitis at the hospital, and she was not aware of her HAV infection at that time. Then, a donor informed the blood center of his HAV infection 10 days after donation to request his blood be discarded. The recipients of the blood were traced and epidemiological studies lead to the patient, which prompted her serum to be collected and tested. Finally, TTHAV was identified for this patient with positive anti-HAV IgG/IgM results. This is the first case of TTHAV to be identified through the HAV lookback study in Korea.
Abdominal Pain ; Anorexia ; Blood Transfusion ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Fever ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis A ; Hepatitis A Antibodies ; Hepatitis A virus ; Humans ; Korea ; Palatine Tonsil ; Pharyngitis ; Retrospective Studies ; Tissue Donors ; Tonsillitis

PURPOSE: To generate a Korean specific brain template, especially in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by optimizing the voxel-based analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three-dimensional T1-weighted images were obtained from 123 subjects who were 43 cognitively normal subjects and patients with 44 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 36 AD. The template and the corresponding aprior maps were created by using the matched pairs approach with considering differences of age, gender and differential diagnosis (DDX). We measured several characteristics in both our and the MNI templates, including in the ventricle size. Also, the fractions of gray matter and white matter voxels normalized by the total intracranial were evaluated. RESULTS: The high resolution template and the corresponding aprior maps of gray matter, white matter (WM) and CSF were created with the voxel-size of 1 x 1 x 1 mm. Mean distance measures and the ventricle sizes differed between two templates. Our brain template had less gray matter and white matter areas than the MNI template. There were volume differences more in gray matter than in white matter. CONCLUSION: Gray matter and/or white matter integrity studies in populations of Korean elderly and patients with AD are needed to investigate with this template.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease ; Brain ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Mild Cognitive Impairment

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to standardize the written informed consent form for transfusion to establish the recipient's self-determination and safe blood transfusion procedures of hospitals. This survey focused on doctors' acknowledgment on informed consent before conducting a transfusion and its current situation. METHODS: Data collection was conducted in 11 tertiary hospitals from February 2010 to March 2010 with random sampling among the 30 hospitals that have a blood transfusion committee. The survey was carried out in the division of medical services that supports blood transfusion or in the blood transfusion committee of each hospital. The questionnaires focused on the necessity of written consent and its contents before transfusion. Also, informed consent forms were collected when a hospital already had an informed content form. RESULTS: The majority of hospitals (94.9%) agreed about the necessity of informed consent. However, only 6.7% of hospitals were obtaining informed consent before transfusion. The contents of the written form were the necessity of blood transfusion (94.9%), the adverse effects of transfusion (84.1%) and beneficiary of the transfusion (64.6%). Twenty-eight point two percent of the medical institutions were obtaining informed written consent forms and keeping them in the medical records. The problems for obtaining informed consent before a transfusion was insufficient standardized forms (40.4%) and a lack of time (33.9%). CONCLUSION: Though doctors agreed to the provision of information through consent forms, there were no standardized procedures and forms. Therefore, this study introduced the written form to medical institutions and academies. Also, it was applied to hospitals as an evaluation index in 2010. The written informed consent form can contribute to the safety of blood transfusions in the medical area.
Academies and Institutes ; Blood Transfusion ; Consent Forms ; Data Collection ; Informed Consent ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Surveys and Questionnaires