Association between Quality of Life and Sexual Adjustment for Spinal Cord Injury Couples

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between sexual adjustment and quality of life and to evaluate the difference of sexual adjustment between small group counselling program and simple sexual rehabilitation program for spinal cord injury couples. METHOD: Fifteen subjects who had participated in 4 weeks small group counselling and twenty subjects, who had participated in simple sexual rehabilitation education were enrolled among among spinal cord injury couples. Direct interview was conducted. Visual analogue scale, Time trade off, Hospital anxiety and depression, and Beck depression inventory were used as quality of life indexes. Sexual Interest, Activity and Satisfaction was used as a sexualadjustment measure. RESULTS: The sexual adjustment index was very significantly positively correlated with all 4 indexes of the quality of life. The couples of the small group counselling had significantly higher sexual adjustment index than the simple education group. Satisfaction for small group counselling was also higher. CONCLUSION: To improve the quality of life for spianl cord injury couples, sexual adjustment level must be improved. Systematic sexual rehabilitation program such as small group counselling may be better solution than simple sexual rehabilitation education program.

Radiotherapy of Locally Recurrent Rectal Carcinoma / 대한방사선종양학회지

PURPOSE: We reviewed the treatment results for the patients with locally recurrent rectal carcinoma. The object was to evaluate the treatment outcome and to identify the prognostic factors influencing the survival. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Twenty-eight patients with locally recurrent rectal carcinoma treated principally with external-beam radiation therapy between 1982 to 1996 in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Paik and Hanyang Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. Of these, 17 patients had initially abdominoperineal resection, 9 had low anterior resection, and 2 had local excision. No patients had received adjuvant radiation therapy for the primary disease. There were 14 men and 14 women whose ages ranged from 31 to 72 years (median age:54.5). Median time from initial surgery to the start of radiation therapy for local recurrence was 11 months (4~47 months). Radiation therapy was given with total doses ranging from 27 to 64.8 Gy (median=51.2 Gy). RESULTS: The median survival was 16.7 months. The 2-year and 5-year survival rates were 20.1%, 4.1% respectively. Upon multivariate analysis, overall survival was positively correlated with duration of intervals from initial surgery to local recurrence (P=0.039). Relief of pelvic symptoms was achieved in 17 of 28 patients (60.7%). Pain and bleeding responded in 40% and 100% of patients, respectively. CONCLUSION: Patients with locally recurrent rectal carcinoma treated with radiotherapy have benefited symptomatically, and might have increased survivals with a small chance of cure. But, patient were rarely cured (median survival:10 months, 5-year survival:less than 5%). Overall survival was positively correlated with long intervals from initial surgery to local recurrence. Future efforts should be directed to the use of effective therapy for patients with locally recurrent rectal carcinoma and adjuvant therapy for patients with rectal cancer to reduce the incidence of pelvic recurrence.

Sacrococcygeal Chordomas with Wide spread Metastases: Report of Two Cases and Review of Literature / 대한방사선종양학회지

Chordomas are rere tumors arising from the primitive notochord. The commonest affected segment is the sacrum and these chordomas frequently follow a progressive course eith multiple recurrences and metastases and eventual death due to tumor.This report describes two cases of sacrococygeal chordomas with widespread metastases treated by surgery and adjuvant radiation therapy.

A Case of Transient Neonatal Pustular Melanosis

Transient neonatal pustular melanosis(TNPM) is a benign, self-limited, cutaneous disorder of unknown etiology. Significant physical findings are limited to the skin. Hematologic and serological tests are normal. Cultures of blood and pustule are negative. Biopsy specimens from pustules show a intracorneal or subcorneal separation containing neutrophils and also some eosinophils. TNPM produces only cutaneous lesions and requires no treatment. So it is essential to differentiate TNPM and other neonatal skin lesions. We experienced a case of TNPM in a male newborn with generalized superficial vesicopustules which developed into pigmented macules and report this case with review of related literatures.

Tract Infection in Acute Febrile Children

Peripheral neuroepithelioma (PNE) of soft tissue is a malignant neuroectodermal tumor arising from peripheral (nonautonomic) nerve. It may occur in both children and adults, and are highly aggressive neoplasms that rapidly give rise to metastatic disease and death. We exprienced a case of peripheral neuroepithelioma of soft tissue in the upper arm in a 18-year-old female. Cytologic features revealed small round cells with scanty cytoplasm occurring both singly and in clusters. The clusters frequently tended to form Homer-Wright rosettes. The cells had a round to oval nucleus with fine chromatin and in- conspicuous nucleoli in a hemorrhagic background.