Background/Aims: Several prediction models for evaluating the prognosis of nonmetastatic resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) have been developed, and their performances were reported to be superior to that of the 8th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system. We developed a prediction model to evaluate the prognosis of resected PDAC and externally validated it with data from a nationwide Korean database. Methods: Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database were utilized for model development, and data from the Korea Tumor Registry System-Biliary Pancreas (KOTUS-BP) database were used for external validation. Potential candidate variables for model development were age, sex, histologic differentiation, tumor location, adjuvant chemotherapy, and the AJCC 8th staging system T and N stages. For external validation, the concordance index (C-index) and time-dependent area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were evaluated. Results: Between 2004 and 2016, data from 9,624 patients were utilized for model development, and data from 3,282 patients were used for external validation. In the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, age, sex, tumor location, T and N stages, histologic differentiation, and adjuvant chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors for resected PDAC. After an exhaustive search and 10-fold cross validation, the best model was finally developed, which included all prognostic variables. The C-index, 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, and 5-year time-dependent AUCs were 0.628, 0.650, 0.665, 0.675, and 0.686, respectively. Conclusions The survival prediction model for resected PDAC could provide quantitative survival probabilities with reliable performance. External validation studies with other nationwide databases are needed to evaluate the performance of this model.

Amyloidosis is defined as the extracellular deposition of non-branching fibrils composed of a variety of serum-protein precursors. Secondary amyloidosis is associated with several chronic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatologic or intestinal diseases, familial Mediterranean fever, or chronic infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis. Although the association of amyloidosis with inflammatory bowel disease is known, amyloidosis secondary to ulcerative colitis (UC) is rare. A 36-year-old male patient with a 15-year history of UC presented with nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. He had been treated with infliximab for 6 years. At the time of admission, he had been undergoing treatment with mesalazine and adalimumab since the preceding 5 months. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed mucosal erythema, edema, and erosions with geographic ulcers at the 2nd and 3rd portions of the duodenum. Duodenal amyloidosis was diagnosed using polarized light microscopy and Congo red stain. Monoclonal gammopathy was not detected in serum and urine tests, while the serum free light chain assay result was not specific. An increase in plasma cells in the bone marrow was not found. Secondary amyloidosis due to UC was suspected. The symptoms were resolved after glucocorticoid therapy.
Abdominal Pain ; Adalimumab ; Adult ; Amyloidosis ; Bone Marrow ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Communicable Diseases ; Congo Red ; Duodenum ; Edema ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Erythema ; Familial Mediterranean Fever ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Infliximab ; Intestinal Diseases ; Male ; Mesalamine ; Microscopy, Polarization ; Nausea ; Paraproteinemias ; Plasma Cells ; Tuberculosis ; Ulcer ; Vomiting

STUDY DESIGN: Case report OBJECTIVES: This study introduces an interesting case of adolescent cervical myelopathy with atypical cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. A differential diagnosis was made, followed by successful surgical treatment. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: A careful differential diagnosis of high signal intensity on T2-weighted cervical MRI is necessary if there is no evidence of cervical stenosis. Recent reports have suggested that the differential diagnosis should be based on a comprehensive analysis of data, including brain MRI, a cerebrospinal fluid examination, and empirical steroid treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 17-year-old male patient complained of upper extremity weakness, gait disturbance, and decreased sensation in the upper extremity. Cervical spine MRI findings suggested C3/4 disc herniation, moderate cervical stenosis, and high signal intensity in the spinal cord. A differential diagnosis was made between cervical myelopathy and myelitis. RESULTS: Decompression and posterolateral fusion of C3/4 were performed in a 17-year-old patient with cervical myelopathy without significant cervical stenosis. Postoperatively, upper extremity sensation and weakness and gait disturbance showed improvement, and the Japanese Orthopedic Association score improved to 17 points at 6 months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with cervical myelopathy showing high signal intensity on T2-weighted imaging without evident spinal stenosis, a differential diagnosis should be made between cervical myelopathy and myelitis; surgical decompression can be an effective treatment choice upon the diagnosis of cervical myelopathy.
Adolescent* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Brain ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Decompression ; Decompression, Surgical ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential* ; Gait ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Myelitis* ; Orthopedics ; Sensation ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Diseases* ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spine ; Upper Extremity

Esophageal carcinosarcoma is a rare malignant neoplasm that is composed of both carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. A 78-year-old man with esophageal carcinosarcoma presented with dysphagia, and was treated by endoscopic resection. Although surgery is the standard treatment for esophageal carcinosarcoma, endoscopic resection is an excellent alternative when the tumor is superficial and has no metastasis.
Aged ; Carcinosarcoma* ; Deglutition Disorders ; Endoscopy ; Esophagus ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis

During the life cycle of early gastric cancer, some malignant ulcers may undergo partial or complete mucosal repair. Endoscopic visualization alone cannot reliably discriminate benign from malignant gastric ulcers. A 45-year-old man visited our hospital complaining of hematemesis. Endoscopy revealed a 2x2 cm sized, deep ulcer with adherent clots at the posterior wall of the gastric body. Proton pump inhibitor was prescribed for 2 months. Diagnostic endoscopic mucosal resection was performed. Histology revealed an early gastric cancer involving the lamina propria which was resected completely.
Endoscopy ; Hematemesis ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Life Cycle Stages ; Middle Aged ; Mucous Membrane ; Proton Pumps ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Stomach Ulcer* ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND: Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) are characterized by the absence of clinical and biochemical evidence of pituitary hormone hypersecretion, and these tumors constitute approximately one third of all the tumors of the anterior pituitary. Recently, hormonal deficiencies have gradually evolved to become the leading presenting signs and symptoms in patients with NFPAs. We investigated pituitary hormonal insufficiencies according to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in patients with NFPA. METHODS: We evaluated the patients who were newly diagnosed with NFPA from 1997 through 2009. Among them, we analyzed 387 patients who were tested for their combined pituitary function and who underwent MRI. The severity of the hypopituitarism was determined by the number of deficient axes of the pituitary hormones. On the MRI study, the maximal diameter of the tumor, Hardy's classification, the thickness of the pituitary gland and the presence of stalk compression were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age was 46.85 +/- 12.93 years (range: 15-86) and 186 patients (48.1%) were male. As assessed on MRI, the tumor diameter was 27.87 +/- 9.93 mm, the thickness of the normal pituitary gland was 1.42 +/- 2.07 mm and stalk compression was observed in 201 patients (51.9%). Hypopituitarism was observed in 333 patients (86.0%). Deficiency for each pituitary hormone was most severe in the patients with Hardy type IIIA. Hypopituitarism was severe in the older age patients (P = 0.001) and the patients with a bigger tumor size (P < 0.001) and the presence of stalk compression (P < 0.001). However, the patients who had a thicker pituitary gland showed less severe hypopituitarism (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that age, tumor diameter and the thickness of pituitary gland were important determinants for pituitary deficiency (P = 0.004, P < 0.001, P = 0.022, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the hormonal deficiencies in patient with NFPA were correlated with the MRI findings, and especially the tumor diameter and preservation of the pituitary gland.
Humans ; Hypopituitarism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Magnetics ; Magnets ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Pituitary Gland ; Pituitary Hormones ; Pituitary Neoplasms

OBJECTIVES: Several studies have found a significant association between the presence of earlobe crease (ELC) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Brachial-ankle Pulse Wave Velocity (baPWV) is a non-invasive and useful measure of arterial stiffness predicting cardiovascular events and mortality. However, few studies have reported the relationship between ELC and baPWV as a new measure of arterial stiffness. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ELC is related to baPWV in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive, and apparently healthy Korean adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 573 non-hypertensive, non-diabetic Korean adults aged 20-80 yr. Subjects were stratified into three groups according to gender and menopausal status. baPWV was measured by an automatic waveform analyser. The association between ELC and baPWV was assessed by multiple linear regression analysis after adjusting for conventional cardiovascular disease risk factors including age, gender, blood pressure, lipid profile, and smoking status etc. RESULTS: The overall frequency of ELC was 19.02% and the subjects with ELC showed significantly higher mean baPWV (p<0.0001). Multiple linear regression of subjects revealed that the presence of ELC was independently associated with baPWV (male, p<0.0001; premenopausal female p=0.0162; postmenopausal female p=0.0208). CONCLUSION: ELC had a significant correlation with baPWV, independently controlling for other classical cardiovascular risk factors in adults aged 20 yr or older. ELC is an important surrogate marker of increased arterial stiffness as measured by baPWV in Korean adults.
Adult ; Aged ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Linear Models ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vascular Stiffness ; Biomarkers

OBJECTIVE: Anterior discectomy and fusion(ACDF) is still the 'gold-standard' treatment for diseases of the cervical disc. However, concerns over adjacent level degeneration and loss of motion have led us to consider total disc replacement with artificial disc as an alternative solution. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical results and radiological changes after cervical artificial disc replacement. METHODS: Twenty consecutive patients underwent cervical arthroplasty for radiculopathy and were assessed at 1 and 12 months. Clinical outcomes were assessed using a numerical rating scale(NRS) score for radicular pain. Radiological results were evaluated by cervical lordosis(Cobb's angle), cervical range of motion(ROM), segmental lordosis, segmental ROM and segmental ROM of adjacent disc levels. RESULTS: The mean NRS scores of all patients were significantly improved from 8.0+/-1.2 to 1.3+/-1.9 after 12 months. Cervical lordosis was improved in all patients(preoperative mean lordosis score 14.5degrees+/-8.8; postoperative mean lordosis score at 12 months 25.3degrees+/-9.2). There was no intraoperative or postoperative complication. CONCLUSION: Preliminary results showed excellent in clinical and radiological outcomes after at least 20 months follow-up period. It seems that the cervical arthroplasty can be considerd an alternative method for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion(ACDF) and has benefits for postoperative cervical motion maintenance.
Animals ; Arthroplasty ; Diskectomy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lordosis ; Radiculopathy ; Total Disc Replacement

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of spinal metastases continues to increase, likely a result of increasing survival times for patients with cancer. This retrospective study was undertaken to analyze the results of surgery and the outcome of patients with extradural metastases in the cervical spine. METHODS: Thirty-three patients with cervical spine metastases who underwent spinal surgery by two surgeon at a single center in a 14-year period(1993-2007) were analyzed. Indications for surgery include intractable pain, neurological deficits, spinal cord compression, and the need for stabilization of impending pathological fractures. Numerous factors affect outcome including the nature of the primary cancer, the presence of fracture or dislocation, approach of surgery, and the severity of spinal cord compression. The change of predominant symptoms and survival time were evaluated after surgery. RESULTS: There were 17 male and 16 female patients aged from 29 to 78 years old(mean age, 59.9 years). Among the metastatic tumors, colon, breast, and liver were the most common primary sites of origin, and lung, kidney, stomach and thyroid were also common. All patients had bony invasion and 24 patients had pathologic vertebral fracture and 6 patients had dislocation. Based on the tumor location, approaches included 12 anterior, 6 posterior and 15 combined. Epidural spinal cord compression on the axial T2-weighted magnetic resonance(MR) image was noted in 31 patients(93.9%). The American Spinal Injury Association(ASIA) impairment scale scores in preoperative state were stable in 29 patients(87.9%) who presented with ASIA Score D and E. The most common predominant symptoms of patients were cervical and/or radiating pain(26 patients) and 23 patients had neurological deficits. At Follow-up, predominant preoperative symptoms improved in 28(84.8%) patients who had pain or neurological deficits. The overall mean survival duration for patients with cervical metastatic tumors after diagnosis was 7.4 months in 28 expired patients and 17.4 months in 5 survived patients. There were four major early and late complications in this study. One patient suffered from the immediate postoperative epidural hematoma and improved after evacuation of hematoma. There were three cases of instrumentation failure. One of them was symptomatic and underwent second-look surgery. CONCLUSION: Surgery for the treatment of cervical spine metastases is effective for improvement of the neurological deficits and relief the local pain in a significant proportion of patients with acceptable complication rates. The tech- nical evolution of cervical implants has improved our ability to achieve long-term rigid fixation, particularly over the cervicothoracic junction.
Aged ; Asia ; Breast ; Cervical Vertebrae ; Colon ; Dislocations ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Hematoma ; Humans ; Incidence ; Kidney ; Liver ; Lung ; Magnetics ; Magnets ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pain, Intractable ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Spinal Injuries ; Spine ; Stomach ; Thyroid Gland

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our retrospective study is to evaluate the surgical outcome of patients who underwent unila- teral approach for bilateral decompression surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis and to compare outcomes between geriatric and younger patients. METHODS: We reviewed records of 85 patients with an average age of 64 years at the time of surgery after the unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression of degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis between 2005 and 2007. To compare clinical and functional outcomes between younger and geriatric patients, they were divided by age into 2 groups: Group A included patients 65 years of age or older and Group B contained patients younger than 65 years. The study parameters were set to ensure a follow-up period of at least 3 months and hospital records and phone-call review were analyzed for patients' clinical and demographic data, co-morbidity, type of stenosis, clinical and functional outcomes. Clinical outcomes were measured using the scale of Finneson and Cooper and the visual analog scale score for leg and back pain. Functional outcome was assessed with change of walking distance of patients. RESULTS: Follow-up was completed in 80(94.1%) of 85 patients and Group A included 44 patients and Group B did 36 patients. The number of decompressed level showed 2.26 with similar results in both groups(group A, 2.25; Group B, 2.28). The number of co-morbidity was significantly higher incidence of 2.36 in geriatric patients than that of 1.67 in younger individuals. Other demographic data and type of stenosis were similar between two groups. For each back and leg pain, 86.3%(Group A: 86.4%; Group B, 80.6%) and 83.8%(Group A: 90.9%; Group B: 80.6%) had an excellent-to-fair operative result under the scale of Finneson and Cooper. Improvement rate of walking distance was 81.5% of patients and higher in group B(89.3%) than in group A(75.6%), however, there was not statistical significance. Three major complications were occurred in all patient groups, the first patient with chronic renal failure suffered from immediately postoperative epidural hematoma and the second patient had wound dehiscence. The third patient with no improvement was operated with fusion surgery at the other hospital nonetheless she had not improved until now. CONCLUSIONS: The ULBD allowed sufficient and safe decompression of the neural structures and adequate preservation of vertebral stability with acceptable complication rates. This technique could provide a minimally invasive approach for LSS in elderly patients frequently having comorbidities as well as younger one.
Aged ; Back Pain ; Comorbidity ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Decompression ; Dietary Sucrose ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematoma ; Hospital Records ; Humans ; Incidence ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Laminectomy ; Leg ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Stenosis ; Walking