A Case of Locally Invasive Thyroid Papillary Cancer Diagnosed by Esophagoscopy / 대한소화기내시경학회지

Papillary carcinoma is the most common malignant tumor of the thyroid gland, and it only infrequently invades the upper aerodigestive tract. When such invasion does occur, it is a source of significant morbidity as well as mortality. Although most thyroid tumors first clinically manifest as a neck mass, there have been few reports of patients whose initial compliant was a disturbance of the aerodigestive tract. The patient in our present study had no significant past medical history, and esophagoscopy and biopsy revealed papillary adenocarcinoma. We report here on a case of thyroid papillary carcinoma that was diagnosed by esophagoscopic biopsy.

A Case of Polypoid Angiolipoma of the Distal Descending Colon as Cause of Hematochezia / 대한소화기내시경학회지

Angiolipoma is a benign tumor that is mainly observed in the subcutaneous tissue and is composed of mature adipose tissue and proliferative blood vessels. However, the condition is rare in the gastrointestinal tract including the colon. There was a case report of angiolipoma of the proximal ileum but there are no reports of angiolipoma of the colon in Korea. A 47-year-old man, who presented with intermittent left lower quadrant pain and hematochezia, underwent contrast enhancement CT, which revealed a huge mass with inhomogeneous density in the distal descending colon. The colonoscopy viewed a large polypoid mass with vascular engorgement, and a laparotomy was performed urgently due to the persistent abdominal pain, intussusception and hematochezia. The histology examination disclosed a benign angiolipoma. We report this case of symptomatic angiolipoma of the distal descending colon.

The Prevalence of Dementia in Patients with Hansen's Disease in a Sanatorium of Korea

OBJECTIVES: To identify prevalence of dementia and it's subtypes in patients with Hansen's disease in a sanatorium of Korea. METHODS: The study employs a two-stage design for case identification. One hundred-six patients with Hansen's disease aged 65 and over participated in the study. The Korean Version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD-K) assessment packet was administered to One hundred-two patients with Hansen's disease. Dementia was defined using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition diagnostic features of dementia. RESULTS: The prevalence was 15.1% in Hansen's sanatorium. The prevalence of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia were 10.4% and 4.7%. The age-adjusted prevalence rate for dementia was 11.9%. The rate of patients with dementia was 12.73% in males and 17.65% in females. CONCLSION: The prevalence of dementia in Hansen's disease sanatorium of Korea appears to be similar with those reported in previous study. Our result suggests that Hansen's disease was unrelated to prevalence of dementia, and also that the dementia is major neuropsychiatric disease in patient with Hansen's disease.

Genetic Polymorphisms of Alcohol-metabolizing Enzymes and Cytokines in Patients with Alcohol Induced Pancreatitis and Alcoholic Liver Cirrhosis / 대한소화기학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Susceptibility to organ damage induced by alcohol may be related to inherited variations (polymorphisms) in alcohol-metabolizing enzymes, or polymorphisms affecting cytokines. The aim of this study was to compare the genotype and allelic frequencies of ADH2, ADH3, ALDH2, cytochrome P450-2E1, IL-1, IL-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis and alcoholic liver cirrhosis with those of controls. METHODS: We determined the polymorphism of genes of the above-mentioned alcohol-metabolizing enzymes and cytokines in 29 alcoholic pancreatitis patients (AP), 22 alcoholic liver cirrhosis patients (LC) and 100 healthy blood donors (control). The genotypes were characterized by restriction fragment length polymorphism after amplification of genomic DNA by polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The allelic frequency of CYP2E1*c2 was significantly different in three groups (AP: LC: Control=0.224: 0.136: 0.320, p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the other genotypes or allelic frequencies of the three groups. The allelic frequencies of CYP2E1*c2 and ALDH2*2 were more frequent in the control than patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (LC: Control=0.136: 0.320, p<0.05, LC: Control= 0.114: 0.265, p<0.05). Allelic frequencies of ADH2 was statisitcally different between LC and control (ADH2*1; LC: Control=0.727: 0.495, ADH2*2; 0.227: 0.360, ADH2*3; 0.046: 0.145, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in the frequencies of genotype and allele of enzymes and cytokines among the three groups. However, frequency of ADH2*1 was significantly higher and those of CYP2E1*c2 and ALDH2*2 were significantly lower than LC group than control.