The Usefulness and Indications of Arthrosonography to Differentiate Full-thickness Tears from Partial-thickness Tears of the Rotator Cuff

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the usefulness and indications of arthrosonography by testing if the new technique could provide additional information on the degrees of rotator cuff tears when compaired to the findings of conventional ultrasonographic examinations. METHOD: Thirty six patients, who were identified to have partial or full-thickness rotator cuff tears by conventional ultrasonography, were included. Intraarticular injection of 15 ml of fluid was performed via posterior approach under ultrasound-guidance, which was followed by arthrosonography. RESULTS: Among 26 patients with partial-thickness tear which was detected by the conventional ultrasonography, eight were identified to have full-thickness tears by the arthrosonography. Although the difference was not significant, the grade 3 partial-thickness tear in the conventional sonography had a higher rate of being identified as full- thickness tear in the arthrosonography than the grade 2 partial-thickness tears. The size of partial-thickness tear was increased after instillation of fluid in the arthrosonography. CONCLUSION: Arthrosonography would be useful in differentiating partial- and full-thickness tears. When a tear of the rotator cuff tendon, especially a grade 3 partial-thickness tear, is detected in the conventional sonographic examination, an obscured full-thickness tear should be suspected and subsequent arthrosonographic procedure could be administered to clarify the extent of the lesion. Moreover, arthrosonography might be helpful in detecting partial-thickness tears by making them appear larger after instillation of fluid.

Clinical Usefulness of Computer Assisted Line Bisection Task for the Assessment of Sensory-Attenional Aspect of Visuospatial Neglect

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical usefulness of computer- assisted line bisection task for the patients with sensory- attentional visuospatial neglect. METHOD: Forty patients with unilateral hemispheric stroke (25 right, 15 left) and 15 normal age-matched subjects participated in this study. Computer-assisted line bisection task (CALBT) was designed using modified Milner landmark test to assess the sensory-attentional aspect of visuospatial neglect. Accuracy of response and reaction time for the transected lines, and response rate for the bisected lines were measured. Correlation between the results of CALBT and conventional line bisection test and Albert test was evaluated. RESULTS: In patients with right hemispheric lesion, results of CALBT demonstrated shifting of attention to the right hemifield and neglect of the stimulus in the left hemifield. In contrast, patients with left hemispheric lesion showed significantly decreased attention to the right hemifield and shifting of attention to the left hemifield. Performances of CALBT correlated with the line bisection test, but not with the Albert test. CONCLUSION: Computed assisted line bisection task can be used for the quantitative assessment of the sensory attentional aspect of visuospatial attention in patients with unilateral neglect.

Flow Cytometric Analysis of BRCA1 Protein in Sporadic Breast Cancer / 대한암학회지

PURPOSE: To study the subcellular localization with flow-cytometry and to evaluate their prognostic values. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The breast tissues were obtained from 28 patients with breast cancer and 6 patients with benign mass. The expression of BRCA1 protein was analyzed with the flow cytometry(Coulter Epics-XL, Coulter Corps, FL, USA) using the monoclonal antibody(BRCA1(Ab-1), Calbiochem, MA, USA) before and after nuclear and cytoplasmic permeabilization in association with DNA ploidy analysis. Several BRCA1 protein indices were derived including 95 percentile channel fluorescence(95% CF) and mean channel fluorescence(MCF) and percentage of BRCA 1 positive cell population arbitarily defined as those above 0.12 channel fluorescence. RESULTS: Cytoplasmic 95% CF were higher in breast cancer(n=28, 0.65+/-0.26) than in benign mass(n=6, 0.40+/-0.13, p=0.0211). Cytoplasmic BRCAl positive cell percentages were significantly higher in malignant tissues(24.0+/-10.3) than in benign mass(43.4+/-15.2, p=0.0059). Cytoplasmic BRCA1 positive cell percentages were significantly different according to the stages(stage I vs II, 32.6+/-9.8 vs 48.3+/-18.8, p=0.048, stage I vs stage III, 32.6+/-9.8 vs 47.0+/-10.9, p=0.010). The BRCA1 protein indices were not significantly correlated with histologic grades and DNA indices(aneuploidy, S phase and proliferation fractions). CONCLUSIONS: Flowcytometric assay offers an alternative approach to evaluating BRCA1 protein status of breast cancer tissue and detection of cytoplasmic BRCA1 protein by this method may help to understand the role of BRCA1 in breast cancer cell biology. The further study on cytoplasmic or nuclear BRCA1 protein in association with clinical therapeutic response or prognosis seems to be warranted.

A case of abdominal cocoon

Abdominal cocoon is a rare disease of the peritoneum and almost invariably presents as an acute or subacute intestinal obstruction with or without a mass. The etiology of this disease is largely unknown and abdominal cocoon of unknown etiology has been limited to the tropical and subtropical zones and primarily affects young adolescent females. In the temperate zone, only one case has been reported from the United Kingdom, but the patient was also born in Pakistan. No case of abdominal cocoon purely developed in the temperate zone has been reported. Recently, we experienced a case of abdominal cocoon in a 34-year-old female patient(Korean) who had never been abroad. The diagnosis was made postoperatively by reviewing the literature. We herein report this rare condition developed in an unusual geographical location with a brief review of the literature.

Partial mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection and radiotherapy in breast cancer / 대한암학회지

No abstract available.

Ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast / 대한암학회지

No abstract available.

Familiarly Developed Vitamine D Resistant Rickets: Case Report / 대한정형외과학회잡지

Rickets is a syndrome, characterized pathophysiologically by a failure of normal mineralization of bone and epiphyseal cartilage and clinically by skeletal deformity in growing children. The five principal causes of rickets are vitamin D deficiency, absorptive defects, renal tubular insufficiency, chronic renal insufficiency and hypophosphatasia. In addition to these causes of rickets a defective reabsorption mechanism of the proximal renal tubule is currently believed to be a factor in the development of hypophosphatemic vitamine D resistant rickets. Simple type of hypophosphatemic vitamine D resistant rickets is the most common of all the cases of rickets due to tubular insufficiency. It has a familiar incidence and is a sex-linked dominant disease. There is hypophos-phatemia and an elevated alkaline phosphatase but usually no glomerular disease or uremia. All the clinical manifestations are those of advanced rickets of the ordinary type and usually begin early. We experienced four cases of hypophosphatemic vitamine D resistant rickets which developed in a family.