Evaluation of RF300 for Leukoreduction of Red Blood Cells / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: Use of universal leukoreduction for prevention of leukocyte associated transfusion reactions is common practice in many countries. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the performance of a newly developed leukoreduction filter for red blood cells (RBCs), the RF300 (Kolon Industries, Inc, Gumi, Korea). METHODS: Filtration time, RBC recovery, residual leukocyte count, and leukocyte removal rate were evaluated. To assess the quality of RBCs after filtration, percent hemolysis was monitored for a period of 21 days. Performance of the RF300 (N=78) was compared with that of the Bio-R O2 plus (Fresenius, Hamburg, Germany), the Pall Purecell RC (Pall Co., Washington, USA), and the Sepacell R-500N (Asahi, Tokyo, Japan). RESULTS: The shortest filtration time was observed using the RF300 (P<0.05). Using the RF300, recovery of RBC was 96.5%, which was higher than that of two filters (P<0.05). Mean residual leukocyte count was 0.26x10(6)/unit, with a leukocyte removal rate of 3 log. Using the RF300, mean percent hemolysis was 0.32% at day 21, which was comparable with that of two filters, but lower than that of one filter (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The RF300 meets all established quality requirements for conduct of safe and effective leukoreduction of RBCs.

Clinical Manifestation of Thalamogeniculate Artery Territory Infarction

BACKGROUND: In terms of localizing value, the clinical features of small lesion confined to thalamus are of great interest. The clinical manifestations frequently comprise hemiparesis, hemianesthesia, and neuropsychological abnormalities and the main cause of thalamic infarct is thought to be an arteriolopathy. To better understand the relationship between the location of thalamic lesion and clinical features, we studied the charateristics of patients with thalamogeniculate artery(TGA) territory infarction, which is most common site of thalamic infarction. METHODS: We reviewed 732 ischemic stroke patient registered to our stroke database over 4-year period. On the basis of MRI, we identified 33 cases of small thalamic infarction(<2cm). Among them, 21 cases had a lesion purely confined to TGA territory. RESULTS: The clinical type of manifestations were sensorimotor(10), pure sensory(7), hemiataxia+sensory(2), hemiataxia+ sensorimotor(1) and involunatry movement(1), respectively. No cases had neuropsychological abnormalities. Only 19% of total cases developed classical Dejerine-Roussy syndrome on short term follow-up. Most patients had hypertension and/or diabetes with the absence of large vessel abnormalities on MRA, but none had the cardioembolic source. CONCLUSION: The lesion sizes of pure sensory thalamic infarction were relatively small. The classical Dejerine-Roussy syndrome had been originally described as the effect of TGA occlusion but uncommon in our series.

MR Imagings of Chronic Acquired Hepatic Failure

Neuroimaging of the brain is useful diagnostic evaluation of patients with hepatic encephalopathy msofar as it is able to exclude other causes of abno rmal mental status. Recently, changes of basal ganglia on MRI characteriwd by increased signal mtensity on Tl-weighted images were reported m patients with liver cirrhosis. Signal abnormality involves mainly the globus pallidus and seems to be specific for patients with chronic liver disease. Its pathogenesis and significance are obscure, and no pathological reports have been made. We experienced 3 cases of Chronic acquired hepatic failure whose MRI showed increased signal in-tensity in the basal ganglia on Tl-weighted imaging. Our findings su-ggest that basal ganglia signal abnormality could arise as a marker of brain impairment related to deposition of an unidentified paramagnetic substance or altered intracellular water relaxation.

Inclusion Body Myositis Distal Myopathy?

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is a chronic inflammatory myopathy with characteristic rimmed vacuoles. Cytoplasmic and intranuclear filamentous inclusions in muscle speci men. The clinical features manifest male dominance with the onset between the second and eighth decade but usually after the age of 50 years. Slow progression of painless muscle weakness, normal or mildly elevated serum CK level, myopathic and neurogenic eIectromyographic patterns and refractory to steriod therapy. The presence of rimmed vacuoles and filamentous inclusions in myofiber gives an important clue in the diagnosis of IBM, however, it is very difficult to differentiated young age onset IBM with distally predominant muscle weakness from distal myopathy with rimmed vacuole formation. While we present a young female patient who had slow progression of painless distal muscle weakness in both upper and lower extremities for 1 year, previously published articles concerning of IBM and distal myopathy with rimmed vacuole formation are reviewed and our own differential points are discussed in the diagnosis of this case as IBM.