Torsion of a mucocele of the vermiform appendix: a case report and review of the literature / 대한외과학회지

Torsion of a mucocele of the vermiform appendix is an extremely rare condition and also a rare cause of an acute abdomen with a clinical presentation that is indistinguishable from acute appendicitis, and thus, the condition is diagnosed during operation. Here, the authors describe the case of a 78-year-old female, who presented with intermittent abdominal pain. The appendix had a pelvic position and the torsion was counterclockwise. In addition, the torsion was associated with mucocele of the appendix, which was considered a secondary factor of torsion. Appendectomy and drainage were performed.

Choledochal cyst with ectopic distal location of the papilla of Vater / 대한외과학회지

In cholangiographic techniques, the close relationship between choledochal cyst and anomalous union of pancreaticobiliary duct has attracted medical attention. There have been rare cases in which the papilla of Vater was found in a position other than its normal position, and such cases have been reported sporadically. However, such cases are interesting in the anatomical context. In this review, we present our experience of choledochal cyst in a 30-month-old boy in whom the papilla of Vater was positioned in the third portion of the duodenum.

Clinical Analysis of Blunt Abdominal Trauma in Childhood

Traumatic injury is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children. This is a clinical review of pediatric blunt abdominal trauma. A retrospective analysis of the 112 children with blunt abdominal trauma aged 15 years or less treated at the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital was performed. The analysis included age, sex, injury mechanism, number and site of the injured organ, management and outcomes. The average age of occurrence was 7.6 years, and the peak age was between 6 and 8 years. There was a male preponderance with a male to female ratio of 2.3:1. The most common cause of blunt abdominal trauma was traffic accidents (61.6%), principally involving pedestrians (79.7%). The accident prone times were between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM, the weekends (40.2%), and the winter respectively. Thirthy-five patients (31.2%) had multiple intra-abdominal organ injuries and the most common injured organ was the liver. Seventy-four cases (66.1%) were managed non-operatively and eleven cases (9.8%) expired. Of the patients who were treated surgically or were to be operated on one patient died before surgery, the remainder died during or after surgery. Risk factors such as number of injured organ, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and trauma scores by Glasgow coma scale (GCS), Pediatric trauma score (PTS), revised trauma score (RTS), injury severe score (ISS), TRISS were significantly correlated with mortality rate.

A Case of Extramammary Paget's Disease of the Axilla / 한국유방암학회지

Extramammary Paget's disease is an uncommon intraepithelial malignancy that usually presents as a well circumscribed, reddish eczematous patch on the apocrine-bearing regions such as the genital and perineal areas. It progresses slowly with local extension. However, it may become invasive and may be associated with internal malignancies. Extramammary Paget's disease has high local recurrence rates after complete surgical excision and therefore, long-term follow-up is necessary. Extramammary Paget's disease of the axilla is extremely rare, with few reported cases. We report here a case of extramammary Paget's disease of the axilla in a 68-yr-old man, with a review of the literature.

Metastatic Breast Cancer from Cervical Cancer

Metastatic breast cancer from a primary cervical cancer is extremely rare with few cases reported. A diagnosis of breast metastasis can present difficulties due to various clinical, radiological, and histological manifestations. The important factors that suggest an appropriate diagnosis are the history of the cancer, specific mammographic or ultrasonographic findings and a correlation between the histology of the metastatic and primary tumor. Only an accurate diagnosis can avoid an unnecessary mastectomy and is required to institute an appropriate systemic oncological therapy. An metastatic breast cancer has a poor prognosis. We report a case of a 39-year-old woman with primary cervical cancer who developed a breast metastasis with a review of the literature.

Effectiveness of Silk-glove Test in the Contralateral Exploration of Inguinal Hernia in Children

Inguinal hernia is one of the most common surgical diseases in pediatric patients. But the management of the side opposite the clinically apparent inguinal hernia, the "silent side" is controversial. Four hundred fifty-eight cases of pediatric inguinal hernias, operated by one pediatric surgeon at the Divisionof Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital from January 1998 to December 2002, were reviewed retrospectively to determine the characteristics and significances of the silk-glove test on the side opposite the clinically apparent inguinal hernia. Males were preponderant as 2.8:1. Allhernias were of the indirect type and were repaired by high ligation of the sac. There were 238 (52.0%) right sided hernias, 160 (35.0%) were on the left and 60 (13.0%) were bilateral. The number of patients with a positive silk-glove sign on the contralateral side was 158(39.7%), and 133 of these had a contralateral patent processus vaginalis. Positive predictive value of Silk-glove test was 84.2% (133/158). The silk-glove test is a simple, safe, and relatively accurate method for contralateral exploration in the unilateral inguinal hernias in children.

Effectiveness of Silk-glove Test in the Contralateral Exploration of Inguinal Hernia in Children

Inguinal hernia is one of the most common surgical diseases in pediatric patients. But the management of the side opposite the clinically apparent inguinal hernia, the "silent side" is controversial. Four hundred fifty-eight cases of pediatric inguinal hernias, operated by one pediatric surgeon at the Divisionof Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital from January 1998 to December 2002, were reviewed retrospectively to determine the characteristics and significances of the silk-glove test on the side opposite the clinically apparent inguinal hernia. Males were preponderant as 2.8:1. Allhernias were of the indirect type and were repaired by high ligation of the sac. There were 238 (52.0%) right sided hernias, 160 (35.0%) were on the left and 60 (13.0%) were bilateral. The number of patients with a positive silk-glove sign on the contralateral side was 158(39.7%), and 133 of these had a contralateral patent processus vaginalis. Positive predictive value of Silk-glove test was 84.2% (133/158). The silk-glove test is a simple, safe, and relatively accurate method for contralateral exploration in the unilateral inguinal hernias in children.

Trend (in 2005) of Repair of Inguinal Hernia in Children in Korea : A National Survey by the Korean Association of Pediatric Surgeons in 2005

Inguinal hernia is the most common disease treated by the pediatric surgeon. There are several controversial aspects of management 1)the optimal timing of surgical repair, especially for preterm babies, 2)contralateral groin exploration during repair of a clinically unilateral hernia, 3)use of laparoscope in contralateral groin exploration, 4)timing of surgical repair of cord hydrocele, 5)perioperative pain control, 6)perioperative management of anemia. In this survey, we attempted to determine the approach of members of KAPS to these aspects of hernia treatment. A questionnaire by e-mail or FAX was sent to all members. The content of the questionnaire were adapted from the "American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Surgery hernia survey revisited (J Pediatr Surg 40, 1009-1014, 2005)". For full-term male baby, most surgeons (85.7 %) perform an elective operation as soon as diagnosis was made. For reducible hernia found in ex-preterm infants already discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), 76.2 % of surgeons performed an elective repair under general anesthesia (85.8 %). 42.9 % of the surgeons performed the repair just before discharge. For same-day surgery for the ex-premature baby, the opinion was evenly divided. For an inguinal hernia with a contralateral undescended testis in a preterm baby, 61.9 % of surgeons choose to 'wait and see' until 12 month of age. The most important consideration in deciding the timing of surgery of inguinal hernia in preterm baby was the existence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (82.4 %), episode of apnea/bradycardia on home monitoring (70.6 %). Most surgeons do not explore the contralateral groin during unilateral hernia repair. Laparoscope has not been tried. Most surgeons do not give perioperative analgesics or blood transfusion.

Anorectal Malformation: Postoperative Care and Functional Results

Postoperative management of anorectal malformation consists of colostomy management and then management after definitive surgery. Colostomy management requires attention to certain details, i. e. complete decompression of the distal limb to avoid secondary megarectosigmoid and prevention and treatment of urinary tract infections in patients with rectourethral fistula. Management after definitive surgery requires the care of catheters placed in the rectourethral fistula or cloacal defect. Prevention and treatment of various complications after definitive operation, i. e. wound infection, anal stenosis or stricture, anal mucosal prolapse, and management of functional disorders, i.e. constipation, fecal incontinence and urinary incontinence are also necessary. In this review, recent trends for the prevention and treatment of the above mentioned problems after operation for anorectal malformation are presented.

A case of phyllodes tumor in a 10-year-old girl / 한국유방암학회지

A premenarcheal 10-year-old girl visited our clinic due to a rapidly growing and painless mass of the right breast of three months duration. The breast mass was removed using a wide local excision. The pathological findings revealed the tumor was made up of a phyllodes tumor. A phyllodes tumor, also known as cystosarcoma phyllodes, is a rare fibroepithelial tumor of the breast, which accounts for 0.3 to 1.0 % of all breast neoplasms. They have a greater degree of stromal cellularity than fibroadenomas, with a characteristic leaf-like projection. These tumors can occur between the ages of 9 to 88 years, but are most common in the third and fourth decades of life; therefore, are uncommon in children. A phyllodes tumor in an adolescent patient was first studied by Amerson, in 1970, at which time he reviewed 355 cases from the American literature, and found a five percent incidence in subjects below 20 years old. Because only a few cases have been reported in the literature; here we report a case of a phyllodes tumor in a 10-year-old girl.

Torsion of Ovarian Cyst in the Fetal Period: a Case Report

Ovarian cyst is found in 32% of necropsies in neonates, and can be visualized during gestation by ultrasonography. The clinical evolution of these cysts is variable, but in most cases the prognosis is favorable. Ovarian torsion, bleeding, rupture, and peritonitis have been described as complications. We report a newborn girl with torsion of ovarian cyst. A cystic mass measuring 41.9x31.9 mm on left side of abdomen was identified at 32 weeks of gestation by fetal ultrasonography. Surgery was performed after birth.

A Clinical Analysis of Complicated Gastroduodenal Ulcer in Children

A total of 30 cases of the peptic ulcer in children, who underwent operations from January 1981 to December 1995 because of complications at Department of the Surgery, Chonbuk National University Medical School, is reviewed. Twenty-three were males (76.7%), 7 females (23.3%) and male was preponderant at 3.3:1. There were 25 cases (83.3%) age 10 to 15 years, 3 (10.0%) between 2 and 9 years, and 2 (6.7%) below 2. The ulcer was located at duodenum in 27 (90.0%), and at stomach in 3 cases (10.0%). Complications were perforation in 19 cases (63.3%), pyloric obstruction in 9 (30.0%) and bleeding in 2 (6.7%). For perforation, truncal vagotomy with pyloroplasty was done in 11 cases, truncal vagotomy with hemigastrectomy and gastrojejunostomy in 6, and simple closure in 2 cases. For obstruction, truncal vagotomy with hemigastrectomy and gastrojejunostomy was done in 5, and truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty in 3 cases. For bleeding lesions, truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty was performed in 2 cases. Ten postoperative complications developed in 9 patients; adhesive ileus in 5, recurrence in 2, pneumonia 2, and wound seroma 1 case. One patient developed a primary duodenal perforation and another a recurrent obstruction. Both of patients had symptoms for more than 3 years and were treated with truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty for the primary operations. Hospital stay was 11.5 days for the patient with perforated ulcer, 11.0 days for the patient with pyloric obstruction, and 14.5 days for the child with bleeding. Average hospital period was 11.6 days. To reduce recurrences after operation, extensive procedure such as distal gastrectomy with vagotomy at the first operation should be considered in case with severe complication or with patients who have been symptomatic for long periods.

The Clinical Analysis of Primary Malignant Hepatic Tumor in Childhood

The purpose of our study was to evaluate children who underwent hepatic resection for primary malignant hepatic tumor in the period from January 1994 to December 2001. A total of 8 patients, seven with hepatoblastoma (HB) and one with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). were studied. One HCC was respectable at the initial diagnosis, but five cases of unresectable HB received two cycles of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) before operation. One patient with an unresectable HB with bone marrow metastasis was operated after one cycle of TACE and one cycle of systemic chemotherapy based on CCG-823F protocol. All 6 patients who underwent TACE and neoadjuvant chemotherapy showed marked redcuction in tumor volume and a clear outline of the lesion. Major complication was not noticed. Mean alpha-fetoprotei (alpha-FP) level at diagnosis, after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and after postoperative chemotherapy was 9,818 (42-35,350), 664, and 10.1 ng/mL, respectively. Half life of the alpha-FP after complete resection was 5.1 days (3.0-8.7 days). Median follow up period was 57.1 months (10-97 months) and all the patients are alive with NED. In conclusion, preoperative chemotherapy, especially TACE, is effective, safe, and useful to treat initially unresectable hepatoblastoma, and serial level of the serum alpha-FP is a useful tumor marker for diagnosis and monitoring therapeutic responses.

Adnexal Torsion Misdiagnosed as Periappendiceal Abscess in a Child

A 4-year-old female with acute lower abdominal pain was admitted with the diagnosis of periappendiceal abscess made by ultrasonography. At laparotomy, the appendix was normal, but the left ovary was twisted and necrotic. Appendectomy and left salpingo-oophorectomy were performed. The pathology of the appendix was normal, and the left tube and ovary were ischemic and had hemorrhagic necrosis. Pediatric adnexal torsion may be difficult to diagnosis clinically. Sonography is the preferred imaging study. It usually confirms a pelvic mass but may not establish the diagnosis. The correct diagnosis of adnexal torsion is often made at exploration. The most common erroneous diagnosis is acute appendicitis or periappendiceal abscess. Therapy for adnexal torsion remains controversial. While extirpation has been the standard of treatment in the past, there are current proponents of conservative therapy with adnexal sparing. Early diagnosis may lead to more frequent salvage of affected adnexa.

Endometrioma in the Abdominal Incisional Scar

Endometriosis is a condition where uterine mucosal tissue is located outside of the uterus, which may be pelvic or extrapelvic. The term endometrioma is used when extrapelvic endometriosis appears as a discrete mass. A 34-year-old female, with an abdominal mass along the scar site of a cesarean section, was transferred from her local hospital following the diagnosis of a foreign body granuloma or infected lipoma. The patient had history of two cesarean sections, 5 and 7.5 years previously. The abdominal mass was associated with abdominal pain, which increased in severity during her menstrual cycle. The ultrasonography showed a solid irregular, ill defined mass, with heterogeneous echogenicity. The cytological findings showed epithelial and stromal cells. A mass excision was performed under local anesthesia. The final pathology results confirmed an endometrioma in the abdominal wall, and the microscopic findings indicated benign endometrial glands, with surrounding spindled endometrial cells in the soft tissue of the abdominal wall. The treatment of choice is wide local excision of endometrial tissue, with a clear margin. An endometrioma in the abdominal scar, following a cesarean section, is a rare event, but may be more frequent than estimated from the literature. This case was reported with a brief review of the literature.

Parathyroid Cyst

Parathyroid cysts are an uncommon cause of neck masses, which are rarely suspected before surgery. Although several theories of their origin have been proposed, none has been proven satisfactorily to the exclusion of the others. We experienced a 33-year-old euthyroid woman presenting with a mass on the jugular notch. She complained of throat discomfort. An ultrasound of the mass in the neek suggested a thyroglossal duct cyst. Treatment consisted of a neck exploration and the removal of a 4x3x3 cm cystic mass. The cystic mass contained a clear fluid with a high level of parathyroid hormones in excess of 11.4 ng/ml. The pathological diagnosis revealed a benign parathyroid cyst. This report reviews current knowledge of parathyroid cysts as well as the relevant literature.

A Case of Thyroid Hemiagenesis / 대한내분비외과학회지

Thyroid hemiagenesis is considered to be a rare congenital anomaly, but its incidence is propabley underestimated because the diagnosis is usually incidental. The left lobe is absent four times as often as the right and women are about three times more likely to have this developmental defect. Many of these patients are hyperthyroid or medical attention. We present the case of a 14-year-old women with right thyroid hemiagenesis associated without other thyroid disorders. The diagnosis of hemiagenesis was established by isotope imaging and thyroid ultrasound. In most of the clinical reports on thyroid hemiagenesis, an association with other thyroid disorders was found such as hyperthyroidism, multinodular goitre, hypothyroidism, benign adenama, Graves' disease, acute and subacute thyroiditis, and carcinoma. Even if morphology and function of thyroid gland is normal on diagnosis, a follow-up survey should be recommended.

A Case of Thyroid Hemiagenesis / 대한내분비외과학회지

Thyroid hemiagenesis is considered to be a rare congenital anomaly, but its incidence is propabley underestimated because the diagnosis is usually incidental. The left lobe is absent four times as often as the right and women are about three times more likely to have this developmental defect. Many of these patients are hyperthyroid or medical attention. We present the case of a 14-year-old women with right thyroid hemiagenesis associated without other thyroid disorders. The diagnosis of hemiagenesis was established by isotope imaging and thyroid ultrasound. In most of the clinical reports on thyroid hemiagenesis, an association with other thyroid disorders was found such as hyperthyroidism, multinodular goitre, hypothyroidism, benign adenama, Graves' disease, acute and subacute thyroiditis, and carcinoma. Even if morphology and function of thyroid gland is normal on diagnosis, a follow-up survey should be recommended.

Intraperitoneal Explosion Resulting from the Use of Electrocautery

Explosion of the gastrointestinal tract during use of the electrocautery have been reported previously. Most reports deal with explosions of the lower large bowel. A careful search of the literature has revealed no previous reference to explosions of the intraperitoneum during a celiotomy of which the patient had a pneumoperitoneum resulting from a perforation of the gastrointestinal tract. We report a case of an intraperitoneal explosion resulting from the use of electrocautery in an 83 year-old female. The patient visited our hospital complaining abdominal pain that had been sustained during 10 months and was aggravated one day before admission. The plain X-ray showed a massive pneumoperitoneum. The patient underwent an emergency laparotomy and was used to open the abdominal wall by electrocautery. A loud explosion followed as soon as the peritoneum was opened by the electrocautery. No change in the patient's vital sign was noted and all the abdominal viscera were intact. The operative finding showed gastric outlet obstruction due to an antral mass, gastric laceration on the body and an enlargement of multiple lymph nodes. The pathological evaluation diagnosed it as a gastric adenocarcinoma. We report this rare case with a review of the relevant literature.

Primary Angiosarcoma of the Greater Omentum

Primary angiosarcoma of the greater omentum is extremely rare. We present a case of angiosarcoma arising from the greater omentum in a 56-year-old-woman. She was admitted due to abdominal mass that had found 20 days prior. Abdominal CT scan showed an ill-defined lobulated, well enhanced mass in the right lower abdomen. An omentectomy including the tumor was performed. Histopathological examination showed the excised tumor to be an angiosarcoma. Immunohistochemical studies were strongly positive for vimentin, Factor VIII-relative antigen, and CD34 staining, but were negative for CD68, S-100 protein, and cytokeratin staining. The clinical presentation, course and treatment of the patient are discussed.