PURPOSE: To evaluate whether radial rigidity measured using RigiScan(R) represents the intracorporeal pressure effectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 1998 to May 1999, total of 23 patients with erectile dysfunction were evaluated by RigiScan(R) and duplex ultrasonography after the intracorporeal injection of prostaglandin E1. Peak systolic velocity and end diastolic velocity were measured by duplex ultrasonography and then the resistance index was calculated as (peak systolic velocity-end diastolic velocity)/(peak systolic velocity). Radial rigidity of penile tip and base was measured by RigiScanR . The results were analyzed statistically by PC-SPSS version 7.5. RESULTS: There were statistically significant correlations between radial rigidity of penile tip and base and the resistance index by Spearman's correlation analysis, respectively (r=0.680, p<0.001)(r=0.703, p<0.001). When radial rigidity of penile tip and base exceeded 60% of maximum, radial rigidity of penile tip and base again correlated well with the resistance index, respectively (r=0.659, p=0.020)(r=0.759, p=0.011). Based on clinically determined degree of erection, radial rigidity of penile tip and base represented the intracorporeal pressure effectively. CONCLUSIONS: Radial rigidity measured by RigiScan(R) represents the intracorporeal pressure effectively.
Alprostadil* ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Humans ; Male ; Ultrasonography

To evaluate characteristic CT findings of orbital pseudotumor and to define differentialpoints from other pathology, the authors retrospectively reviewed CT of 19 patients who were prooen to have orbital pseudotumor by clinical course and, in some cases, biopsy. A variety of CT findings including extraocular muscle thickening(11 cases), streaky infiltration of retroorbital fat(11 cases), mass formation(10 cases), optic nerve thickening (6 cases), conjunctival thickening (5 cases), scleral thickening(4cases), enlarged lacrimal gland(4 cases) and destruction of orbital bone (2 cases) were observed. Thickening of the anterior portion and irregular margin were characteristic findings of extraocular muscle and optic nerve lesions. Mass formation predominantly occurs in the anterior portion of the orbit. In most cases more than two orbital structures are involved by lesion.
Biopsy ; Humans ; Optic Nerve ; Orbit* ; Orbital Pseudotumor* ; Pathology ; Retrospective Studies

The pulmonary cytology has reached a high level of accuracy. By the examination of the sputum and/or bronchial brushings, it is now possible to make a diagnosis in 70% to 90% of patients with cancer. Primary melanoma of the lung is very rare and there have been reported about 20 cases in the world literature. We present a case of primary malignant melanoma of the lung in a 61-year-old male diagnosed by cytologic examination of sputum, bronchial brushing and aspirated pleural fluid. Histologic examination of bronchoscopic biopsy and examination of the skin and other primary sites confirmed the diagnosis.
Male ; Humans ; Biopsy

PURPOSE: The study was performed to identify the process of change, decisional balance and self-efficacy corresponding to the stage of smoking cessation behavior based on Transtheoretical Model in industrial workers. METHOD: A convenience sample of 146 industrial workers except for the never smokers, were recruited at a H industry in Ulsan. Data were collected from February 1 to 28, 2002. The research instruments were Stages of Change of Smoking Cessation Measure(DiClemente et al, 1991), Process of change(Prochaska, 1988), Smoking Abstinence Self Efficacy (SASE: DiClemente et al, 1985) and Decisional balance(SDB; Kim, 1999). RESULT: The results of this study were as follows; 1. The subjects were distributed in each stage of smoking cessation change: There were 64 subjects (43.0%) in the precontemplation stage, 35 subjects(23.5%) in the contemplation stage, 28 subjects(18.8%) in the preparation stage, 14 subjects(10.1%) in the action stage and 7 subjects(4.7%) in the maintenance stage. 2. Analysis of variance showed that experiental process(F=2.808, p=.042), behavioral process (F=4.567, p=.004) self-efficacy(F=9.809, p=.000), pros(F=11.107, p=.000), cons(F=6.686, p=.000), pros- cons(F=3.446, p=.018) were significantly associated with the stages of smoking cessation change. 3. Through discriminant analysis, it was found that 'PROS' was the most influential variable in discriminating the four stages of change. CONCLUSION: This study can provide the basis of staged matching smoking cessation program using TTM for more effective and useful intervention.
Self Efficacy* ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking* ; Ulsan

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship of body fatness indicators and serum lipids (total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low density lipoprotein(LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, myocardial infarction(MI) index) to find anthropometric indicators of body fat distribution that are strongly associated with serum lipids. 347 adult male workers of an industry in Kyungpook province were selected and data on the general characteristics were obtained using questionnaire from June 26 to June 29, 1991. Serum lipids were tested with 5 ml fasting blood and height, weight, circumferences of waist, hip and mid-thigh, five subcutaneous fat thickeness(biceps, triceps, supscapular, suprailiac, thigh) were mea sured using Ultrasound type A TATT. Waist circumference, waist/hip circumference ratio and subcutaneous fat thickness of suprailiac area are significantly increased with increasing age, but thigh circumference is significantly decreased (P< 0.05). These results suggest that central obesity is closely related to age and waist circumference may be the best indicator of body fatness or body fat distribution in men. In younger age group(below 40 year old), the result of canonical correlations analysis suggests that circumferences(0.501) was slightly closely related to serum lipids than subcutaneous fat thickness(0.493), however, in older age group (above 40 year old), subcutaneous fat thickness(0.528) were more strongly associated with serum lipids than circumferences(0.419). Weighted canonical analyses suggest that biceps and suprailiac areas in younger age group and sub scapular area in older age group are stronger indicators of serum lipids among .subcutaneous fatness measurements. Of the circumferences, waist is the most strongest indicator of serum lipids in both age groups. Therefore, it is recommended that circumference of waist and subcutaneous fat thickness of subscapular area should be measured to estimate the degree of central obesity for preventing cardiovascular disease in men.
Adipose Tissue* ; Adult ; Body Fat Distribution* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Fasting ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hip ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Male ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Subcutaneous Fat ; Thigh ; Triglycerides ; Ultrasonography ; Waist Circumference ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Myopathy due to hypothyroidism can be detected in its early stage, but as the symptom is mild, complications such as rhabdomyolysis are rare. Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in hypothyroidism is not yet clearly defined, and rare cases of it are reported. Reported herein is a case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and rhabdomyolysis associated with acute renal failure in hypothyroidism. A 70-year-old male was admitted to the hospital due to general weakness and muscle pain. Later, based on the laboratory findings, he was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis associated with acute renal failure and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura combined with hypothyroidism. Initially, he was treated with fluid resuscitation due to rhabdomyolysis combined with acute renal failure but eventually, the levothyroxine supplement lowered the thyrotropin-stimulating hormone level. As a result, the patient recovered from rhabdomyolysis and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura without receiving plasmapheresis treatment.
Acute Kidney Injury* ; Aged ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism* ; Male ; Muscular Diseases ; Myalgia ; Plasmapheresis ; Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic* ; Resuscitation ; Rhabdomyolysis* ; Thyroxine

PURPOSE: Total mesorectal excision has been advocated as the effective operation for patients with rectal cancer to reduce the local recurrence rate after curative resection. Its rationale is to remove possible tumor foci at the mesorectum distal to the level of the rectal cancer. This study was undertaken to clarify the rationale for total mesorectal excision. METHODS: Total mesorectal excision was performed in 72 patients with rectal cancer who admitted in Severance Hospital between December, 1996 and December, 1997. The obtained mesorectums were classified to M0 (from the proximal margin to the distal margin of the tumor), M1 (from the distal margin to 2 cm below the distal margin), M2 (from 2 cm to 5 cm below the distal margin), and microscopic examination was done. RESULTS: The nodal metastases were detected in 7 cases and tumor deposits in 4 cases. Especially in M2 with Dukes' C2, the rate of nodal metastases was 3.6 percent and the rate of tumor deposits was 7.1 percent. The nodal metastases and tumor deposits in the distal mesorectum have no correlation with gross finding, size, location and differentiation of the tumor. CONCLUSIONS: En bloc excision of all mesorectal tissue down to at least 5 cm below the lower margin of the tumor is required for patients with advanced rectal cancer to remove possible metastatic lymph nodes and tumor deposits in the distal mesorectum.
Humans ; Lymph Nodes* ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Rectal Neoplasms* ; Recurrence

PURPOSE: This study is aimed at identifying the effects of telephone counseling as nursing support on distress, anxiety, depression, and adverse events in cancer patients undergoing their first chemotherapy. METHODS: This was a randomized controlled trial (pretest-posttest design). A total of 70 patients who showed 4 or higher distress scores were selected from the screening process. Four patients dropped out; therefore, 66 patients participated in this research. Thirty-two and 34 patients were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control group, respectively. After a preliminary survey, telephone counseling support was given to the experimental group at three time points. The post survey was done before the second cycle of chemotherapy. RESULTS: Regarding distress, both groups showed a statistically significant decrease in the scores: 3.4 for the experimental group and 1.8 for the control group (p=.002). Furthermore, the experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant decrease relative to the control group. Anxiety and depression showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that nursing support through phone counseling is effective in decreasing distress in patients undergoing chemotherapy for the first time.
Anxiety* ; Counseling* ; Depression* ; Drug Therapy* ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Nursing ; Telephone*

A cilioretinal artery occlusion associated with a central retinal vein occlusion is a rare condition and has been reported to have a good visual prognosis. We report a young patient with this condition who also demonstrated prolonged filling of the branch retinal arteries with fluorescein angiography. Her initial visual acuity was 0.03 in the affected eye. Two months later, normal central retinal artery inflow resumed. Her visual acuity has improved to 0.5 over the three years' follow-up.
Arteries* ; Fluorescein Angiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Retinal Artery ; Retinal Vein* ; Visual Acuity

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the usefulness of initial electroencephalograms (EEG) in the prediction of neurological outcomes of acute encephalitis. METHODS: Thirty-one patients diagnosed with acute encephalitis between January 2007 and March 2010 were included in the study, all of whom were less than 18 years old. Patients were divided into two groups. Those who had recovered completely were designated group A, and those who had neurological sequalae were designated group B. We compared the severity of EEG background abnormalities according to the Synek classification, and the incidence of interictal epileptiform discharges, electrographic seizures, normal sleep features, and EEG reactivity to pain stimuli between the two groups upon initial EEGs. RESULTS: Compared with group A, group B showed a higher grade of EEG background abnormalities (P = 0.004). The incidence of interictal epileptiform discharge (P = 0.004) and electrographic seizure (P = 0.049) were also higher in group B. Further, Group A had more EEG reactivity (P = 0.002) and the incidence of normal sleep features tended to be higher in group A (P = 0.081). CONCLUSION: Initial EEG features including the severity of EEG background abnormalities are helpful in predicting the prognosis of acute encephalitis.
Electroencephalography ; Encephalitis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Prognosis ; Seizures