Thyroglossal duct cyst (TGDC) and lingual thyroid (LT) are two relatively common anomalies of thyroid gland development. Each may occur without the orthotopic thyroid gland, although the co-existence of these three anomalies is very rare. The thyroidal function may be abnormal in both anomalies, and careful evaluation of thyroid function is essential for the management of these lesions. A 71-year-old woman was admitted to our department for removal of midline neck mass. She underwent the classical Sistrunk's operation, but after the surgery, her hypothyroidism became aggravated. We report, along with a literature review, an extremely rare case of co-existence of TGDC and LT in the absence of orthotopic thyroid gland.
Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; Lingual Thyroid ; Neck ; Thyroglossal Cyst ; Thyroid Gland

OBJECTIVE: It was suggested that the cause of microalbuminuria is heterogeneous in NIDDM. However, only a few studies are available that investigated the renal pathology in NIDDM patients with microalbuminuria. This study was undertaken to evaluate renal pathology in Korean NIDDM patients with microalbuminuria. METHODS: Fifty NIDDM patients with microalbuminuria and without retinopathy were undertaken renal biopsy. Renal pathologic findings were classified as follows: group A, near-normal finding; group B, typical diabetic nephropathology; group C, atypical patterns of renal injury (mild glomerular change with disproportionally severe tubulointerstitial lesion, arteriolar hyalinosis or global glomerular sclerosis); group D, non-diabetic renal lesion. RESULTS: Seventeen patients were classified into group A, 19 into group B and 8 into group C. Six patients had non-diabetic renal lesions and they were all confirmed to be IgA nephropathy. Fasting blood sugar and GFR were significantly higher in group B than in group A and group C respectively, and systolic blood pressure was higher in group C than in group A. CONCLUSION: Renal pathology in microalbuminuric NIDDM patients without retinopathy was heterogeneous. This may explain heterogeneous clinical meaning of microalbuminuria in NIDDM.
Biopsy ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Fasting ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Humans ; Pathology* ; Population Characteristics*

OBJECTIVES: Microalbuminuria predicts cardiovascular mortality in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetses mellitus (NIDDM). Microalbuminuria is frequently associated with high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and central obesity, and has been suggested to be a feature of metabolic syndrome (syndrome X). Metabolic syndrome is also present in Cushings syndrome, which is characterized by primary hypercortisolism as well as profound visceral obesity. Considering common features of Cushings syndrome and metabolic syndrome, microalbuminuria could be a feature of Cushings syndrome. METHODS: We studied urinary albumin excretion (UAE) in 13 patients with Cushings syndrome. UAE was reexamined after the correction of hypercortisolemia in the patients with microalbuminuria or overt proteinuria. Kidney biopsy was performed in 3 patients with microalbuminuria. RESULTS: Eight out of 13 patients (61.5 %) had microalbuminuria. Kidney biopsy revealed apparently normal glomerular structures without evidence of diabetic or hypertensive nephropathy. Patients underwent successful removal of pituitary or adrenal tumors and were reevaluated 2 months after surgery. UAE declined profoundly in all of the patients with initial microalbuminuria. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that more than 60% of patients with Cushings syndrome have microalbuminuria. This rate far exceeds the rate in NIDDM patients and hypertensive patients. Microalbuminuria nearly completely reversed after successful treatment of hypercortisolism.
Biopsy ; Cushing Syndrome ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Dyslipidemias ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Insulin Resistance ; Kidney ; Mortality ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Proteinuria

BACKGROUND: It is known that pregnancy markedly influences the clinical course of autoimmune thyroid diseases. In the postpartum period, various kinds of autoimmune thyroid dysfunctions can be observed. Thyroid dysfunction is found in 5.5-7.1% of postpartum women in the general population. Among those who show thyroid dysfunction after delivery, some will develop Graves' disease and others will develop postpartum thyroiditis. It is also known that patients with Graves' disease may manifest thyrotoxicosis in the postpartum period because of postpartum thyroiditis or relapse of the Graves' disease itself. We evaluated the clinical features of postpartum thyrotoxicosis in Graves' disease patients to find diagnostic indices that could be used in differentiating between postpartum thyroiditis and relapse of Graves' disease. METHOD: We reviewed the cases with postpartum thyrotoxicosis in patients that had a history of Graves' disease between 1995 and 2000. The diagnosis of postpartum thyroiditis had been made by means of a 99mTc thyroid scan or by the observation of a typical triphasic thyroid function change, in cases where a 99mTc thyroid scan was not possible because of breast feeding. We measured the serum TSH, free T4, free T3, TSH binding inhibiting immunoglobulin (TBII), anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibody, and anti- thyroglobulin (Tg) antibody serially from the time of the diagnosis of Graves' disease to the time of postpartum thyroid dysfunction. RESULTS: Eleven patients, 5 patients in the postpartum thyroiditis (PPT group) and 6 patients with relapse of the Graves' disease (GD group), were identified. The mean values of TBII of two groups at the time of diagnosis of Graves' disease were 40.9+/-4.8 IU/mL (PPT group), 58.9+/-23.5 IU/mL (GD group) respectively, which were insignificant. The mean values of TBII of the two groups at early pregnancy were 3.2+/-1.9 IU/mL (PPT group), 41.6+/-22.6 IU/mL (GD group) and this difference was statistically significant (p=0.009). The mean values of TBII of the two groups at the time of postpartum thyrotoxicosis were 1.9+/-1.6 IU/mL (PPT group), 51.5+/-23.2 IU/mL (GD group) which were also statistically significant (p=0.003). The mean values of anti-TPO antibody, anti-Tg antibody, disease duration, and treatment duration between the two groups were not significantly different. The onsets of thyroid dysfunction after delivery in the two groups were 2.6+/-2.0 (PPT group), 4.0+/-3.9 (GD group) months which were statistically insignificant. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that the measurement of TBII at the time of the postpartum thyrotoxic period, could help to differentiate postpartum thyroiditis from a relapse of Graves' disease in those patients that have a history of Graves' disease especially when thyroid scan is not possible because of breast feeding.
Breast Feeding ; Diagnosis ; Graves Disease* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Peroxidase ; Postpartum Period* ; Postpartum Thyroiditis ; Pregnancy ; Receptors, Thyrotropin* ; Recurrence ; Thyroglobulin ; Thyroid Diseases ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyrotoxicosis

Autoantibodies against thyroid hormones can be detected in the sera of patients with both thyroidal and non-thyroidal disorders. These antibodies interfere with the radioimmunoassay of serum total and free thyroid hormone concentrations, resulting in a discrepancy between the measured hormone levels and clinical features. This can in turn lead to an erroneous diagnosis and patients may receive unnecessary treatment from physicians who are unaware of the presence of the autoantibodies. We experienced a woman having Hashimotos' thyroiditis with a spurious elevation of total T3 and free T3 values according to one-step analog-tracer radioimmunoassay who was had been treated as Graves' disease in past. Through the use of a polyethylene glycol precipitation method, she was subsequently revealed to have anti-triiodothyronine autoantibodies. We report this case with a review of related literature.
Antibodies ; Autoantibodies ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Graves Disease ; Humans ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Radioimmunoassay ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Hormones ; Thyroiditis*

As a single CAPD center in Korea, we, at the department of internal medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, conducted a retrospective study in CAPD patients for the causes of death, patient survival rate, technique success rate, and risk factors. We enrolled in our study 167 patients who had began CAPD as an initial replacement therapy for end stage renal disease from March 1992 to July 1997 and survived for more than 2 months. As the prognostic factors of patient survival and technique success, we analyzed demographic features, clinical features including comorbid conditions at the beginning of CAPD, and laboratory findings at the beginning and 6 months after the start of CAPD. The mean age of patients was 49.8 12.5, and sex ratio was 1.4: 1(M: F). The mean follow-up period was 24.0 +/- 14.4 months. Cerebrovasular accident(CVA), the patient giving up on the treatment, cardiac dis- eases and peritonitis were the main causes of death in CAPD patients. Among the causes of death, although CVA and the patient giving up on the treatment were relatively important, the most im- portant causes of death were cardiovascular diseases. The 2 year survival rate and 4 year survival rate of CAPD patients were 89.4% and 55.579o respectively ; the 2 year technique success rate and 4 year technique success rate of CAPD were 87.37% and 63.18% respectively ; and the mean survival period and technique success period were 50.57 +/- 2.42 and 49.37 +/- 2.85 rnonths, respectively. We determined the independent prognostic factors for patient survival to be diabetes mellitus(p=0.0004, relative risk=5.9263) and liver cirrhosis(p=0.0032, RR=5.3211) using multivariate analysis with Cox proportional hazard model. Although the results were statistically insignificant, the patients with cardiac diseases(p=0.0961, RR= 2.0116) and older patients who were over 60 years old(p=0.1312, RR=1.8431) had a poor prognosis. The probable prognostic factors for 2 year survival of patients, considered marker of risk factors for early death, were DM, liver cirrhosis, and cardiac diseases, though statistically insignificant, and they were similar to prognostic factors for the patient survival during the entire period. The independent prognostic factor of technique failure of CAPD was DM(p= 0.0150, RR=2.6762). The patient survival rate and technique success rate of CAPD patients were similar to the outcomes reported in other countries. However, the fact that liver cirrhosis was included as one of the independent prognostic factors seems to reflect a disease characteristic of Korean population in whom chronic liver diseases are prevalent. Due to ever increasing pro- portions of DM, cardiac diseases, and older patients in CAPD patients and the prevalence of liver cirrhosis in Korea, more intensive management is necessary for CAPD patients with these disorders/ conditions.
Adult* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Korea ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Diseases ; Multivariate Analysis ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory* ; Peritonitis ; Prevalence ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Seoul ; Sex Ratio ; Survival Rate