• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1079-1085
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• 2001

Objective : We analysed various surgical approaches and surgical results of 28 middle cranial base tumors for the purpose of selecting optimal surgical approach to the middle cranial base tumor. Methods : In this retrospective review, 28 patients, including 16 meningioma, 6 trigeminal neurinoma, 2 pituitary adenoma, 2 craniopharyngioma, 1 facial neurinoma, and 1 metastatic tumor, underwent surgical treatment using skull base technique. Of theses, 16 tumors were mainly confined to middle cranial fossae, 5 tumors with extension into both anterior and middle fossa, and 7 tumors with extension into both middle and posterior fossa. Tumors that confined to the middle cranial fossa or extended into the anterior cranial fossa were operated with modified pterional, orbitozygomatic or Dolen'c approach, and tumors that extended into the posterior cranial fossa were operated with anterior, posterior or combined transpetrosal approach. Completeness of tumor resection, surgical outcome, postoperative complication, and follow up result were studied. Results : Total tumor removal was achieved in 9 tumors of 10 tumors that did not extended to the cavernous sinus, and was achieved in 7 tumors of 8 tumors that extended to the lateral wall of the cavernous sinus. Of 10 tumors that extended to the venous channel of the cavernous sinus, only 2 were removed totally. Surgical outcome was excellent in 14 patients, good in 10, fair in 2 and poor in 2. There were no death in this series. Dumbell type tumor which extended into both middle and posterior fossae showed tendency of poor prognosis as compared with tumors that confined middle cranial fossa and extended into both anterior and middle cranial fossa. Postoperative dysfunctions were trieminal hypesthesia in 3, oculomotor nerve palsy in 2, abducens nerve palsy in 2, hemiparesis in 2, cerebellar sign in 1, facial palsy in 1 and hearing impairment in 1. Conclusion : Based on our findings and a review of the literature, we conclude that, when selecting the surgical approach to the middle cranial fossa tumors, the most important factors to be considered were exact location of the tumor mass and existence of the cavernous sinus invasion by tumor mass. We recommend modified pterional or orbitozygomatic approach in cases with tumors located anterior and middle cranial base, without cavernous sinus invasion. In cases with tumors invading into cavernous sinus, we recommend Dolen'c or orbitozygomatic approach. And in lateral wall mass and the cavernous sinus, it is preferred to approach the tumor extradurally. For the tumor involing with middle fossa and posterior fossa(dumbell type) a combined petrosal approach is necessary. In cases with cavernous sinus invasion and internal carotid artery encasement, we recommend subtotal resection of the tumor and radiation therapy to prevent permanent postoperative sequele.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.241-247
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• 2007

Purpose : Congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) is a common and benign congenital disorder of the musculoskeletal system in neonates and infants. The pathophysiology is that the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) is shortened on the involved side by fibrosis, leading to ipsilateral tilt and contralateral rotation of the face and chin. In this study, we investigated the clinical features of CMT, the role of ultrasonography (USG) in prediction of prognoses and the clinical significance of early detection and treatment. Methods : Forty seven patients (M:F=31:16) were diagnosed as a CMT between March 2003 and May 2006. We reviewed age at diagnosis, physical findings, USG findings, treatment and therapeutic outcome from their medical records. Results : The median age at diagnosis was 90 days (18 days-9 years, 7 months) and the right side of neck was affected in more patients (right : left=26:21). Of 24 patients with a palpable neck mass, 21 had USG; 19 cases showed sternocleidomastoid tumor (SMT). In cases with no neck mass, USG was performed in 11 patients; seven had postural torticollis (POST), three had SMT and one had muscular torticollis (MT). Among 40 patients with follow-up, 36 had total resolution. There was negative correlation between the age at diagnosis and the recovery time, whereas the final outcome was not correlated with USG findings. However, the patients without positive findings in USG had earlier resolution (1 month vs 2.6 months, P=0.0008). The patients with SMT had earlier diagnosis and excellent outcomes. The patients with MT were delayed to diagnosis and had the longest time to resolve. Lastly, the patients with POST had delayed diagnoses, but they had excellent outcomes. Conclusion : Since the patients with delayed diagnoses, in despite of benign courses, may take a long time to resolve and rarely need surgical treatment, it is important to diagnose and treat early. This study showed that USG findings of the SCM may be used as predictive factors.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.189-193
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• 2009

Purpose: To report on the changes in the patterns of care and survival over time for esthesioneuroblastoma. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 42 previously untreated and histologically confirmed esthesioneuroblastoma patients seen between March 1989 and June 2007. According to Kadish's classification, 3 patients (7%) were stage A, 6 (14%) at stage B, and 33 (79%) at stage C. Of the 33 Kadish C patients, 19 and 14 patients were treated from 1989 through 2000 and from 2001 through 2007, respectively. Treatment included surgical resection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these methods. Chemotherapy was administered to 8 of 19 patients (42%) seen from 1989 through 2000, whereas all of the 14 patients seen from 2001 through 2007 received chemotherapy (p<0.001). No patient was treated by three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) from 1989 through 2000, however 8 of 14 patients (67%) seen from 2001 through 2007 underwent 3D-CRT (p<0.001). The median follow-up time for surviving patients was 6.5 years (range, 2.2~15.8 years). Results: The 5-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates for the entire cohort were 53% and 39%, respectively. The 5-year OS was 100% for Kadish stages A or B and 39% for stage C (p=0.007). For patients with stage C disease who were treated from 1989 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2007, the 5-year OS rate was 26% and 59% (p=0.029), respectively and the corresponding 5-year PFS rate was 16% and 46% (p=0.001), respectively. Intraorbital extension and treatment era (1989~2000 vs. 2001~2007) were found as independent factors for OS and PFS in a multivariate analyses. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that treatment era, which features a distinction in treatment modality and technique with the introduction of 3D-CRT, may be the cause of improved OS and PFS in Kadish stage C patients. To achieve better outcomes for patients with Kadish stage C, combined chemoradiotherapy, especially 3D-CRT, is recommended in addition to surgery.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2000

Purpose : The hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia thrombocytopenia, and acute renal failure. It is ole of tile most common cause of acute renal failure in children but few reports are available in Korea. Thus we investigated the 23 patients diagnosed as HUS during last 14 years. Method : We retrospectively investigated the etiologic factor, clinical manifestations laboratory findings, treatment modalities, and final outcomes of the patients. Then patients were divided into two groups according to outcome, md comparison was performed. Group A(8) comprised patients who progressed to end-stage renal disease or expired. Group B(15) comprised patients who completely recovered after dialysis treatment. Result The number of patients aged less than 4 years were 17; between 5 and 10 were 4 and more than 10 were 2. The gende ratio was M:F=2 : 1. The etiologic factors were as follows: acute gastroenteritis in 14 patients including 4 bloody diarrhea, upper respiratory tract infection in 7 patients, and 1 patient with herbal mediation. The overall mortality rate was 22$\%$: 2 patients died of US complications, 2 patients died of sepsis, and 1 patient died of pulmonary hemorrhage. Group A (Hb 4.8${\pm}$1.2 g/dL) showed lower value in hemoglobin than group B (Hb 6.3${\pm}$1.7 g/dL) during hospital stay (P< 0.05), And the time interval between tile disease onset and dialysis treatment was significantly longer in group A ($11.9{\pm}9.1\;days\;vs\;2.8{\pm}2.1\;days$) (P< 0.05). Conclusion : Overall mortality rate was 22$\%$. Low hemoglobin value and the prolonged time interval between the disease onset and dialysis treatment were related with poor prognosis. So early diagnosis and appropriate intensive care including dialysis treatment is essential to achieve better outcome in children.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.5-12
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• 2004

I. Introduction : The constipation is one of the common gastrointestinal symptoms seen in the clinical practice. When people come to the clinic complaining of the constipation, it is generally one of the cases of infrequent, painful or difficult evacuation as well as the hardened feces and unsatisfactory evacuation sense. Since the constipation is heavily influenced by dietary habit as well as the social and medical environment, the diagnostic radiology is useful to establish the objective and standardized definition in consideration of those various factors before diagnosis and treatment of the constipation patient. This paper describes the study of such diagnosis. II. Main Subject : Testing of CTT (colon transit time) is key study of the colon performance. CTT is very helpful in classifying the pathologic physiological types and defining the treatment plan for the chronic constipation. The study methods include using the radipaque marker, multiple marker technique and scintigraphic measurement. The defecography is the functional radiologic examination a that provides not only the anatomical information of anorectal but also performance of the pelvic floor and rectal change during evacuation. Study of dynamic movement of the anorectal during evacuation is helpful for diagnosis and treatment planning as well as follow-up testing for the constipation patient. One of the issues essential for the case history is the thorough observation of whether the patient shows the psychic psychological symptoms such as the behavior disorder or emotional disturbance. In that case, the decision must be made whether or which type of medication is needed for such psychiatric problem. III. Conclusion : The main causes of the constipation are insufficient intake of fiber or liquid. The key objective of such tests is to check etiology of the constipation. In general, the radiological examination does not provde the colon or anorectal performance information. It is envisaged that this study will provide the information to decide the testing and treatment plans and predict the prognosis of the patient by classifying the pathologic physiological types.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.74-81
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• 2008

Background: Fascin is an actin-bundling protein that induces membrane protrusions and it increases cell motility in various transformed cells. Esophageal cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies, and it exhibits extensive local invasion or frequent regional lymph node metastasis even after curative surgery. We investigate the expression of fascin by performing immunohistochemistry to evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognostic significance of its expression in esophageal cancer patients. Material and Method: Immunochemistry for fascin was performed on 76 tumor samples from 76 patients who underwent esophageal cancer operations. The expression levels of fascin in the 76 esophageal cancer tissues were compared with those in the corresponding normal esophageal epithelium. The fascin-positive samples were defined as those showing more than 75% of fascin-positive cells. Result: Overall, a fascin positive expression was detected in 39 (51.3%) out of the total 76 cases. The tumors with positive fascin expression tended to more frequently show a higher stage (p=0.030), and a higher T-factor (p=0.031). The prognosis of the fascin negative group was significantly better than that of the fascin positive group (p=0.004). Multivariate analysis revealed that lymphovascular invasion and the fascin expression were independent prognostic factors. Conclusion: Fascin was expressed in 513% of the esophageal cancer tissues and a positive expression of fascin was associated with more advanced tumor progression and recurrence. Our study suggests that the fascin expression may be an independent prognostic factor for an unfavorable clinical course few those patients suffering with esophageal cancer.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.2 s.30
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• pp.17-35
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• 1995

Clinical observation was made on 161 cases of CVA that were confirmed through brain CT, MRI scan and clinical observation. They were hospitalized in the oriental medical hospital of Kyung-Won University from January to December in 1994. 1. The CVA cases were classified into the following kinds: cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH), transient ischemic attack, hypertensive encephalopathy, and the greatest in number among them were the cases of cerebral infarction. 2. The frequency of strokes was much the same between male and female cases and most cases were over 50 of age. 3. In the case of cerebral infarction the place of the most frequent occurrences was in the MCA territory, and as for cerebral hemorrhage, in the basal ganglia area. 4. The most ordinary preceding disease was hypertension. The next was diabetes mellitus. 5. Generally it is thought that CVA occurs frequently in winter. But on the contrary this study of observation confirmed that it occurs mostly in summer. 6. The predisposing factors of cerebral infarction were usually initiated during the time of resting and sleeping and those of cerebral hemorrhage chiefly during the time of exercising. 7. As concerns the course of hospitalization, most patients passed through western medical hospitals or oriental medical hospitals. 8. For the patients the condition of whose consciousness was bad at the time of admission, the prognosis in most cases was bad. 9. The common symptoms were motor disability and verbal disturbance. 10. With regard to cerebral infarction, the average time to start physical theraphy was 11.4 days and with cerebral hemorrhage 22.7 days after stroke. 11. The duration of hospitalization was in most cases more than one month. 12. The main complication was urinary tract infection. The next was pneumonia. 13. At the time of admission to hospital, the blood pressure in most cases was high, but it well controlled at the time of discharge. 14. Most cases were given simultaneous treatment in both ways of western and oriental medicine.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.5-24
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• 1997

Clinical observation was made on 226 cases of CVA that were confirmed through brain CT, MRI scan and clinical observation. They were hospitalized in the oriental medical hospital of Kyung-Won University from January to December in 1995. 1. The CVA cases were classified into the following kinds: cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH), transient ischemic attack, and the greatest in number among them were the cases of cerebral infarction. 2. The frequency of strokes was much the same between male and female cases and most cases were over 50 of age. 3. In the case of cerebral infarction the place of the most frequent occurrences was in the MCA territory, and as for cerebral hemorrhage, in the basal ganglia area. 4. The most ordinary preceding disease was hypertension. The next was diabetes mellitus. 5. Generally it is thought that CVA occurs frequently in winter. But on the contrary this study of observation confirmed that it occurs mostly in spring and summer. 6. The predisposing factors of cerebral infarction were usually initiated during the time of resting and sleeping and those of cerebral hemorrhage chiefly during the time of exercising. 7. As concerns the course of hospitalization, most patients passed through vestern medical hospitals or oriental medical hospitals. 8. For the patients the condition of whose consciousness was bad at the time of admission. the prognosis in most cases was bad. 9. The common symptoms were motor disability and verbal disturbance. 10. With regard to cerebral infarction, the average time to start physical theraphy was 6.4 days and with cerebral hemorrhage 9.7 days after stroke. 11. The duration of hospitalization was in most cases more than one month. 12. The main complication was urinary tract infection. 13. At the time of admission to hospital, the blood pressure in most cases was high, but it well controlled at the time of discharge. 14. Most cases were given simultaneous treatment in both ways of western and oriental medicine.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.171-181
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• 2001

Background : Angiogenesis is an essential process for the growth and metastatic ability of solid tumors. One of the key factors known to be capable of stimulating tumor angiogenesis is the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The serum VEGF concentration has been shown to be a useful parameter related to the clinical features and prognosis of lung cancer and has been recently applied to a the malignant pleural effusion showing a correlation with the biochemical parameters. The VEGF has been shown to play a role in the inflammatory diseases, but rarely in the tuberculosis (TB). The serum and pleural fluid VEGF levels were measured in patients with lung cancer and TB. Their relationship with the clinical and laboratory parameters and repeated measurement 3 months after various anticancer treatments were evaluated to assess the utility of the VEGF as a tumor marker. Methods : Using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the VEGF conoentration was measured in both sera and pleural effusions collected from a total of 85 patients with lung cancer, 13 patients with TB and 20 healthy individuals. Results : The serum VEGF levels in patients with lung cancer ($619.9{\pm}722.8pg/ml$) were significantly higher than those of healthy controls ($215.9{\pm}191.1pg/ml$), However, there was no significant difference between the VEGF levels in the lung cancer and TB patients. The serum VEGF levels were higher in large cell and undifferentiated carcinoma than in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. The serum VEGF levels of lung cancer patients revealed no significant relationship with the various clinical parameters. The VEGF concentrations in the malignant effusion ($2,228.1{\pm}2,103.0pg/ml$) were significantly higher than those in the TB effusion ($897.6{\pm}978.8pg/ml$). In the malignant pleural effusion, the VEGF levels revealed significant correlation with the number of red blood cells (r=0.75), the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)(r=0.70), and glucose concentration (r=-0.55) in the pleural fluid. Conclusion : The serum VEGF levels were higher in the lung cancer patients. The VEGF levels were more elevated in the malignant pleural effusion than in the tuberculous effusion. In addition, the VEGF levels in the pleural fluid were several times higher than the matched serum values suggesting a local activation and possible etiologic role of VEGF in the formation of malignant effusions. The pleural VEGF levels showed a significant correlation with the numbers of red blood cells, LDH and glucose concentrations in the pleural fluid, which may represent the tumor burden.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.445-450
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• 2008

Background: As the number of older-aged people increases, the number of elderly patients who receive critical care services is expected to increase substantially. The objective of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics and outcomes of elderly patients who receive mechanical ventilation for more than 30 days in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) at a university hospital. Methods: We retrospectively examined forty-one elderly patients (${\geq}65$ years old) who were receiving mechanical ventilation, from April 2004 to March 2007, for periods exceeding 30 days at the MICU at Eulji University Hospital. Results: The MICU and hospitalmortality rate were 60.9% and 65.9%, respectively. The mean length of the ICU stay was 57.5 days and the mean duration of mechanical ventilation was 49.3 days. The most common reason for MICU admission was acute respiratory failure (73.2%), followed by sepsis (12.2%), neurological problems (9.8%), and gastrointestinal bleeding (4.9%). The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scores were higher for the nonsurvivors than for the survivors (28.0 vs. 25.0, respectively, p=0.03). The nonsurvivors received more red blood cell (RBC) transfusions during their ICU stay than did the survivors (84.0% vs. 43.8%, respectively p=0.007). The factors associated with hospital death were the APACHE II score and if the patient had received a RBC transfusion. Conclusion: The APACHE II score and a RBC transfusion were predictors of increased hospital mortality for the elderly patients who were on prolonged mechanical ventilation. These predictors may assist physicians to make clinical decisions for this patient population.