Clinical Features of Symptomatic Meckel's Diverticulum / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

PURPOSE: The proper diagnosis of Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is difficult and delayed because of the variety of clinical manifestations. We reviewed clinical characteristics of symptomatic MD to facilitate early detection. METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively the clinical manifestations, diagnostic tools, histopathological findings, and operative findings in 58 patients with symptomatic MD. RESULTS: The male to female ratio was 2.8 : 1. The most common symptom of MD was bleeding. Others symptoms included: vomiting, abdominal pain, irritability, abdominal distension and fever in the order of frequency. The clinical manifestations of symptomatic MD were lower gastrointestinal bleeding, intestinal obstruction, perforation, diverticulitis and hemoperitoneum, in the order of frequency. The causes of intestinal obstruction were intussusception, internal hernia, band, volvulus, invagination, in the order of frequency. Seventy five percent of patient with MD were diagnosed prior to 5 years of age. The most frequently used diagnostic tool was the Meckel's scan. The diverticulum was located 2 cm to 120 cm proximal to the ileocecal valve. The length of the diverticulum ranged from 1 cm to 10 cm and 94% were less than 5 cm. The most common ectopic tissue found in the MD was gastric mucosa. Ileal resection was more frequently performed than diverticulectomy. CONCLUSION: In cases of unexplained gastrointestinal bleeding, obstruction and repeated intussusception, the meckel's scan, ultrasound and computed tomography shoud be considered to rule out MD, and if clinically necessary, an exploratory laparotomy when needed.

A Case of Actinomycotic Thyroiditis in a Child with Fourth Branchial Cleft Fistula / 소아과

Fistulas of the fourth branchial pouch have an external opening in the neck and the inner opening at the apex of the pyriform fossa. The tract passes from the left lobe of the thyroid, resulting in acute suppurative thyroiditis in most cases. Actinomycosis is an indolent, slowly progressive infection caused by anaerobic or microaerophilic gram-positive bacteria, primarily of the genus Actinomyces. These bacteria are filamentous with branching and may colonize in the oral cavity. Actinomycosis is a chronic disease characterized by abscess formation, tissue fibrosis, and draining sinuses. We experienced a case of 6-year-old boy who had presented with a left neck mass. Neck sono showed an approximately 3 cm-sized low echoic mass in the left thyroid gland. Thyroid scan was compatible with thyroid hypofunction. Gomori-methenamine silver stain after fine needle aspiration showed colonies of bacteria, are composed of long, thin, filamentous bacteria. Barium esophagogram showed a linear barium-filled track at the left pyriform sinus. Neck excisional biopsy was consistent with the remnant of a fourth branchial cleft fistula. We report a case of actinomycotic thyroiditis in a child with fourth branchial cleft fistula, with a brief review of related literature.

The VACTERL Association: Tracheal Stenosis, Tracheal Bronchus and Partial Pulmonary Agenesis, Instead of Tracheoesophageal Fistula / 소아과

VACTERL association is a disease with multiple congenital anomalies of the vertebrae, anus, cardia, tracheoesophageal(TE) fistula, renal and limb. This disease is derived from VATER anomaly, accompanied by cardiac and limb anomalies. We experienced a case of a 1-day-old boy with anal atresia, who represented multiple anomalies during hospital course. The multiple anomalies were hemivertebra, anal atresia, complex heart disease(coarctation of aorta, secundum aterial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus), horseshoe kidney, tracheal stenosis, tracheal bronchus and left upper lung agenesis. Because both trachea and esophagus arise from fetal foregut, tracheal or pulmonary anomalies may be developed in VACTERL association instead of TE fistula. VACTERL association with tracheal anomalies, such as tracheal stenosis and tracheal bronchus or pulmonary agenesis, have been reported in foreign scientific society reports. But a case of VACTERL association with both tracheal bronchus and pulmonary agenesis has not reported yet. So we report this case with a brief review of related literature and suggest the consideration of possibility of tracheal or pulmonary anomaly in VACTERL association without TE fistula.

A Case of Henoch-Schonlein Purpura Nephritis Complicating Encephalopathy Accompanied by Hypertension and Cerebral Vasculitis

Henoch-Shonlein purpura(HSP) is a systemic small-vessel vasculitis that primarily affects the skin, gastrointestinal tract, joints, and kidneys. The nervous system may be involved, less commonly than other organs. When the central nervous system(CNS) was involved, headache, changes in mental status, seizures, and focal neurologic deficits have been reported. Hypertension, uremic encephalopathy, metabolic abnomalities, electrolyte abnormalities, or cerebral vasculitis were suggested as possible causes of the neurologic manifestation. Diagnosis of vasculitic involvement of CNS is difficult. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain is the modality of choice for the evaluation of the CNS disease. Steroid or plasmapheresis are used in treatment of cerebral vasculitis. We experienced a case of 9-year-old boy who had presented with Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis complicating encephalopathy accompanied by hypertension and cerebral vasculitis. Brain MRI showed multiple small nodular-linear pattern enhancing lesions in whole cerebral hemispheres and focal increased T2 signal in the right basal ganglia. We used intravenous immunoglobulin in treatment of cerebral vasculitis. We report this case with a brief review of related literature.

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of Helicobacter pylori for proteomic analysis

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) is an essential tool of proteomics to analyse the entire set of proteins of an organism and its variation between organisms. Helicobacter pylori was tried to identify differences between strains. As the first step, whole H. pylori was lysed using high concentration urea contained lysis buffer (9.5 M Urea, 4% CHAPS, 35 mM Tris, 65 mM DTT, 0.01% SDS and 0.5% Ampholite (Bio-Rad, pH 3-10)). The extract (10 mug) was rehydrated to commercially available immobilised pH gradient (IPG) strips, then the proteins were separated according to their charges as the first dimensional separation. The IPG strips were placed on Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) to separate according to molecular mass of the proteins as the second dimension. The separated protein spots were visualised by silver staining in order to compare different expression of proteins between strains. Approximately 120 spots were identified in each mini-protein electrophoresised gel, furthermore about 65 to 75 spots were regarded as identical proteins in terms of pI value and molecular weight between strains used. In addition, distinct differences were found between strains, such as 219-1, Y7 and Y14, CH150. Two representative strains were examined using strips which had pH range from 4 to 7. This strips showed a number of isoforms which were considered large spots on pH range 3-10. Furthermore, the rest of spots on pH 4-7 IPG strips appeared very distinctive compared to broad range IPG strips. 2-DE seems to be an excellent tool for analysing and identifying variations between H. pylori strains.

Prevalence of Rubella Antibodies in the Southern Central Korea

No abstract available.