• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.363-368
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• 2010

Adequate acidic environment in wound healing prevents the inflammation of virus, increases the cell activity, promotes cell proliferation and regular rearrangement of fibroblast, and results in matured epithelialization. In this study, we prepared dressing materials consisting of pectin and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) with varied ratios. These dressing materials showed different pH values according to the composition ratio. The effect of acidity of pectin/CMC dressing materials on wound healing rates, degree of epithelialization, collagen deposition, and so on, in 3 types of wound models (fresh surgical wounds, $3^{rd}$ degree burn wounds, and infection wounds) were investigated by animal tests. From the results of wound contraction, wound healing, and epithelialization, it can be deduced that dressing material having pectin/CMC ratio of 16/19 (pH 4.67) is most effective among the 3 types of wound models.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1004-1012
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• 2001

Objective : The spinal cord tumors(including vertebral tumors) are increasingly diagnosed and operated due to development of refined diagnostic and therapeutic tools. It is necessary to re-evaluate clinical features and surgical results of spinal cord tumors with increasing cases and developing treatment modalities. The authors reviewed the spinal cord tumor cases to evaluate their clinical characteristics. Material and Methods : The retrospective review of 654 cases of spinal cord tumors between 1973 and 1999 was done. The clinical features, pathological analysis and surgical results were analyzed and compared to the literature. The results of the study are analyzed with a more detailed consideration of each of major pathologies : neurogenic tumors, meningeal tumors, neuroepithelial tumors, and metastatic tumors. Results and Conclusion : The spinal cord tumor was most common in the 5th decade of age(145 cases, 22.1%) and 78 cases(11.9%) were found in children under 15 years of age. The ratio of male to female was 1.2 : 1. The pathologic diagnosis was neurogenic tumor in 266 cases(40.7%), neuroepithelial tumor in 131(20.0%), metastatic tumor in 118(18.0%), and meningeal tumor in 94(14.4%) in the order of frequency. The tumor was located most frequently in the thoracic area(36.5%) and in the intradural extramedullary space(38.1%). The most common initial presentation was pain(40.1%) and the mean duration for presentation to operation was 14.8 months. The total or gross total removal was possible in 404 cases(61.7%) and the surgical result on the postoperative one month was recovery or improvement in 424 cases(64.8%), stationary in 188(28.7%), progression in 42(6.4%). As a surgical complication, there was a spinal deformity(12 cases), wound infection(5 cases), aspiration pneumonia(5 cases) etc. Neurogenic tumors and menigiomas showed good surgical results, whereas neuroepithelial tumors(except ependymoma) and metastatic tumors showed relatively poor prognosis.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.116-121
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• 2011

Purpose: Gastric cancer surgery is a common operation in East Asia, such as Korea and Japan, and there has been a significant increase in the need for this procedure due to the aging population. As a result, surgery for the treatment of gastric cancer for elderly patients is expected to increase. This study examined the effect of old age on gastric cancer surgery, and analyzed the operative risk factors for elderly patients. Materials and Methods: From November 2008 to August 2010, 590 patients, who underwent a curative resection for gastric cancers, were enrolled. Patients who underwent palliative or emergency surgery were excluded. A retrospective analysis of the correlation between surgical outcomes and age was performed. The elderly were defined as patients who were over the age of 65 years. Results: The mean age of all patients was 58.3 years, and complications occurred in 87 cases (14.7%). The most common complication was wound infection and severe complications requiring surgical, endoscopic, or radiologic intervention developed in 52 cases (8.8%). The rate of complications increased with increasing age of the patients. Univariate analysis revealed age, comorbidity, extent of resection, operation time, and combined resection to be associated with surgical complications. In particular, age over 75 years old, operation time, and comorbidity were predictive factors in multivariate analysis. In the elderly, only comorbidity was associated with surgical complications Conclusions: The patients' age is the most important factor for predicting surgical complications. Surgeons should pay an attention to the performance of gastric cancer surgery on elderly patients. In particular, it must be performed carefully for elderly patients with a comorbidity.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.398-405
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• 1992

Twenty nine adult patients underwent surgical esohpagectomy and one, bypass procedure for documented carcinoma of esophagus and cadiac portion of stomach at Chonnam National University Hospital from Jan 1986 to April 1991. There were several kinds of esophagectomies including through transhiatal, left thoracotomy only, laparotomy and thoracotomy, and laparotomy and right thoracotomy and cervical incision. Twenty five and squamous cell carcinoma and 5, adenocarcinoma. The tumor locations were the upper third in 3, middle third in 12, lower third in 10 and cardiac portion of stomach in 5. After operation, 8[27%] patients were classified in Stage IIa, 6[20%] patients in Stage IIb, 15 patients[50%] in Stage III and one patient in Stage IV. Major postoperative complications included anastomotic narrowing in 3, limited suture line leak in 2, wound infection in 2, hoarseness in 2, pseudomembraneous enterocolitis in 1 and herpes zoster in 1. There was no death within 30 days of operation. Ten months survival was 100% for patients with Stage lIa, 67% for patients with Stage IIb, 50% for patients with Stage III. Furthermore, 20 months survival was 75% in IIIa, 33% in IIb, and 40% in III. But there were no significant differences in survivals among the stage. The actuarial survival is 58% at one year and 41% at two years, The periods of average survival is 589 days after operation.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.453-456
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• 2017

Patients are increasingly seeking repair of their earlobes following ear gauging. Research has shown that current repair techniques either excessively reduce the lobular volume or leave an obvious scar along the free edge of the earlobe. In our case series, we describe the use of a novel technique for repairing earlobes following ear gauging using a rolling earlobe flap that preserves the lobular volume and avoids leaving a scar on the free edge of the lobule. The procedure was performed on 3 patients (6 earlobes) who had defects from ear gauging that ranged from 3.0 to 6.5 cm. There were no postoperative complications of infection, wound dehiscence, flap necrosis, hypertrophic scars, or keloids, and all patients were highly satisfied with the postoperative results. This versatile technique allows for an aesthetically pleasing reconstruction of the lobule with the advantages of: the absence of a surgical scar on the free edge of the lobule, preserving the lobule volume, and presenting a highly customizable technique that allows lobules to be created with various shapes and volumes.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.695-699
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• 1994

Pectus excavatum. the most common congenital chest wall deformity, is manifested by deformity of the costal cartilages resulting in a depressed and often rotated sternum. Surgical correction of this disease is frequently indicated for aesthetic improvement. The most popular current repair involves resection of abnormal costal cartilages, sternal osteotomy and mobilization, followed by fixation of the sternum in the corrected position.12 patients have been operated upon for pectus excavatum by the Adkins` method for 8 years in our hospital and the results were as follows: 1. All the patients were male. Age distribution was 2-26 years[average 10.8 years] and 69.2% were below 7 years. 2. The deformity was found at neonate or infant in the most of the patients [92.3 %] 3. The subjective symptoms were frequent URI[35.7%], dyspena on exertion[21.4%], chest dis comfort[7.1%], asthma [7.1%] and most of the patients didn`t like their appearance. 4. Combined diseases were urticaria in 2 cases, bilateral cryptomhism and pulmonary tuberculosis in 1 case each other. 5. Welch index ranged from 1.7 to 5.0 with the average of 3.47. 6. Postoperative complications were pneumothorax [45.5%], wound infection [36.4%] and skin necrosis [18.2%]. Although the period of follow-up was short in some cases there was no relapse.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.325-332
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• 1990

Complications of the mediastinal tumors and cysts are malignant change, infection, bleeding, local invasion and mass effect to heart, lung and other mediastinal structures. But early surgical excision and proper treatments bring patients to good clinical course and results. Therefore mediastinal tumors and cysts are surgically interesting diseases We report the analysis of the 58 cases of mediastinal tumors and cysts, experienced in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of the Kosin Medical College from July 1979 to June 1989. The results were as follows ; Sex ratio of male to female to female was 1.3: 1. Range of age was from 11 to 64 years and mean age was 34.3 years. The thymomas were 14 cases[24%], the teratomas were 19 cases[33%o], the neurogenic tumors were 10 cases[17%], the cysts were 9 cases[15%], the carcinomas were 3 cases[5%], the thyroid tumor was 1 case[2%], the Castleman’s disease was 1 case[2%] and unclassified tumor was 1 case[2%]. Malignant tumors were 12 cases [21%] of the 58 cases. Most frequent symptom was chest pain and discomfort and relationship of symptom and malignancy was significant. Complete removal of tumor was performed on the 47 cases[92%] and partial excision was 3 cases[6%]. Inoperable cases were treated with anticancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Postoperative complications were wound infection, Homer’s syndrome, phrenic nerve palsy, mediastinal hematoma and pleurisy. There was no case of postoperative mortality and good clinical course in surgically completely resected cases.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.161-170
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• 1987

Fifty-nine cases of congenital chest wall defects experienced in the department of thoracic surgery of Seoul National University Hospital were analyzed and the relevant literatures were reviewed. They are 52 cases of funnel chest, 3 cases of pigeon breast, one case of superior sternal fissure, one case of costochondral incurvation, one case of Cantrell`s pentalogy, and one case of Poland`s syndrome. Funnel chest affected males more frequently than females by 44 to 8. All of the funnel deformities were corrected by Ravitch operation or its modification except one which was the first case of this series and was corrected by a sterno-turnover. Two cases required a mechanical ventilation for 3 days and 5 days respectively. Four minor complications which were two cases of skin wound infection and 2 cases of fluid accumulation were noted. Skin would infection was repaired by a secondary closure and fluid accumulation was treated by aspiration only. The result are all excellent without recurrence or reoperation. In 3 cases of pigeon breast, they were treated by subperichondrial resection of all of the involved costal cartilages and shortening their course with reefing sutures in the perichondrium with excellent result. The superior sternal fissure which was combined by a ventricular septal defect was treated by a simple wire closure with a good result. The costochondral incurvation was corrected by subperichondrial resection of deformed cartilages and a rib graft removed from the contralateral normal side. The Poland syndrome and the Cantrell`s pentalogy was already presented previously.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.703-708
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• 2008

Purpose: Microtia is a congenital anomaly resulting from abnormal development of the branchial apparatus. Although significant modification and improvement of operative procedures for the reconstruction of the auricle with a natural appearance have been reported, postoperative complications, such as infection, flap necrosis and deformity, still remain serious problems in patients. Many studies with long-term results have focused mainly on operative procedures for an acceptable auricular shape without consideration of possible complications. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on postoperative complications at the recipient sites of 183 patients who underwent auricular reconstruction with autologous rib cartilage grafts from November 1987 to January 2007 at the Division of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital. Patients were analyzed in terms of the kinds and incidences of complications, and their treatment options. Results: Postoperative complications included wound dehiscence, flap necrosis, infection, hypertrophic scar, auricular deformity and absorption of rib cartilage grafts. The complications occurred in 47 patients with a complication rate of 25.7%. Fourteen patients were successfully managed with conservative treatment. However, surgical treatment was required in 51 reoperations(33 patients) of total 329 operations. Conclusion: Postoperative complications at the recipient sites of autologous rib cartilage grafts occurred with relatively high incidences and required long-term treatments and multiple surgeries. The results of this study may provide information on the causes and proper management of postoperative complications as well as safe procedures for the reconstruction of the auricle.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.231-236
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• 2021

Mucormycosis is an invasive, rapidly progressive, life-threatening fungal infection, with a propensity for diabetic, immunosuppressed, and trauma patients. The classic rhinocerebral variation is most common in diabetic patients. While the cutaneous form is usually caused by direct inoculation in immunocompetent patients. Cutaneous mucormycosis manifests in soft tissue and risks involvement of underlying structures. Tibial osteomyelitis can also occur secondary to cutaneous mucormycosis but is rare. Limb salvage is typically successful after lower extremity cutaneous mucormycosis even when the bone is involved. Herein, we report two cases of lower extremity cutaneous mucormycosis in diabetic patients that presented as acute worsening of chronic pretibial ulcers. Despite aggressive antifungal therapy and surgical debridement, both ultimately required amputation. Such aggressive presentation has not been reported in the absence of major penetrating trauma, recent surgery, or burns.