Usefulness of the ProSet MRI for Diagnosis of the Extraforaminal Disc Herniation

STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective study. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to confirm the clinical usefulness of utilizing ProSet imaging for checking the nerve root compression and swelling in extraforaminal disc herniation. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: Diagnosing extraforaminal disc herniations can be neglected with using a conventional MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 25 patients, who underwent both conventional & Principles of the selective excitation technique (ProSet) MR imaging for the evaluation of extraforaminal disc herniation, from April 2008 to October 2010. Radiographic analysis was based on the notion that the degree of nerve root compression and swelling was decided by Pfirrmann's classification. RESULTS: Severe compression in the ProSet 3D rendering image was observed in 21 subjects, as compared with 8 subjects in the conventional axial image. Especially, nothing was ever detected in the conventional sagittal image. Severe compression in the ProSet 3D rendering image was observed in 4 subjects, while their nerve root compression was not clear in the conventional axial image. Severe compression and severe swelling in the ProSet 3D & coronal image was observed in 15 subjects, while their nerve root compression was none or not clear in the conventional sagittal image. The swelling degree of the ProSet coronal image turned out bigger than the swelling degree of conventional axial image, and the signal intensity change was also obvious. CONCLUSIONS: ProSet imaging is regarded useful to investigate the symptom triggering nerves, because ProSet image not only observes better nerve root compression, but also identifies the swelling degree more easily than that of the conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Analysis of Treatment Results of Malignant Melanoma / 대한골관절종양학회지

PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate the treatment results of malignant melanoma and to analyze the factors influencing prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty one cases of malignant melanoma were included in this study. They were treated in our hospital surgically, medically and immunologically from January 1996 to December 2005, and were followed more than 5 years. We compared 5 year survival rate (5YSR) according to the age, gender, anatomical site, depth of tumor, TNM stage, involvement of lymph node and immuno-chemotherapy. RESULTS: Overall 5YSR was 80.6%. 5YSR of the age group below 65 years was 89.7% and 66.7% for the age group over 65 (p=0.033). 5YSR for men was 75% and 90.9% for women. 5YSR according to the site of occurrence showed 66.7% in upper extremities, 89.5% in lower extremities, and 66.7% in other site. 5YSR was 100% for the Clark level below III and 62.5% for the level above IV (p=0.032). 5YSR was 53.8% for lymph node metastasis group and 100% for non-lymph node metastasis group (p=0.021). CONCLUSION: We concluded that early diagnosis and wide excision was the most important in treatment of malignant melanoma. The prognostic fractors of malignant melanoma were age, depth of tumor (Clark's stage) and metastasis of lymph node.

Surgical Treatment for Pathologic Fracture of Skeletal Metastatic Lesion of the Proximal Femur: Comparison of Clinical Outcomes for Prosthetic Joint Replacement and Osteosynthetic Fixation / 대한골관절종양학회지

PURPOSE: To compare clinical outcomes of the tumor prosthetic replacement and osteosynthetic fixation for pathologic fracture of skeletal metastatic lesion of the proximal femur. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1994 May to 2009 May, medical records of 22 patients who underwent tumor prosthetic replacement with tumor resection (group 1) and 15 others (16 hips) who underwent osteosynthetic fixation without tumor resection (group 2) were reviewed. The mean age of overall patients were 59 (group 1) and 60 (group 2). Mean follow up periods were 23 and 11 months. The oncological and functional results were evaluated with Kaplan-Meier methods and Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) scoring system, 1993. The statistical evaluation was assessed with Log rank test and t-test. RESULTS: The mean survival periods were 24 months in group 1 and 11months in group 2. The 1 year survival rates were 86% in group 1 and 50 % in group 2, and 2 year survival rates were 29.7% in group 1 and 9.4% in group 2. The mean MSTS functional score were 26.4 (19-30), 87.9% in group 1 and 15.3 (10-23), 51.0% in group 2. CONCLUSION: The results of tumor resection and prosthetic replacement in selected cases was better than osteosynthetic fixation without tumor resection for metastatic bone tumors around proximal femur in oncological and functional aspects.