Park Tae-sung

Forty-five infants with myelomeningocele in whom hydrocephalus was absent or adequately controlled developed signs and symptoms of the Arnold-Chiari malformation before the age of 3 months. All of them underwent laminectomy and opening of the dura mater for hindbrain decompression. The clinical presentation included swallowing difficulty, apneic episodes, stridor, bronchial aspiration, arm weakness, and opisthotonos. Within 2 weeks of the initial clinical presentation, the neurological status of

Mean platelet volume (MPV) has been actively investigated in liver disease such as steatosis, cirrhosis and hepatitis. Recently, MPV/platelet count (PC) ratio has been proposed as a predictor of long-term mortality after myocardial infarction. As PC is known to be decreased in various liver diseases such as cirrhosis, hepatosplenomegaly and malignancy, we planned to evaluate MPV/PC ratio in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in this study. Mean of MPV levels showed significant differen

Unrecognized spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) otorrhea led to recurrent bacterial meningitis in three children. The underlying cause of the spontaneous CSF otorrhea was proved to be a congenital cystic dilatation of the cochlear aqueduct and Mondini dysplasia of the temporal bone. The CSF leak recurred in all patients after an initial surgical attempts to close the defects through a tympanotomy. A suboccipital approach was used successfully to obliterate the CSF fistulas in two children; a

Infective endocarditis (IE), an infection of the endocardial surface, frequently leads to life-threatening complications, such as thromboembolism due to platelet activation. We investigated the mean platelet volume (MPV) in Korean patients with IE and the serial changes thereof, in comparison with other laboratory parameters. We analyzed 248 MPV results from 22 patients diagnosed with IE in our hospital between January 2011 and April 2012. MPV was measured with an Advia 2120 (Siemens Healthcare

Mean platelet volume (MPV) is a parameter generated by fully automated blood count analyzers as a part of routine complete blood count, and a useful platelet function index that can show platelet a...

We report a case of extensive thrombosis of dural venous sinuses associated with placement of a central venous catheter in the jugular vein. Cases such as this one, though uncommon, underscore a potentially devastating complication associated with central venous catheterization and emphasize caution in catheter placement particularly in neonates.

We describe a 23-year-old retired military officer who was immunocompetent but diagnosed with hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) by Plasmodium vivax infection. Initially, the patient was suspected to have toxic hepatitis related to heavy drinking. But abnormal hematologic findings required a further bone marrow examination and the diagnosis of HPS was made. Antimalarial chemotherapy then brought complete remission. Plasmodium falciparum, a species causing more severe malarial infection, was listed as

AIM: Although the etiology of plasma cell dyscrasia is poorly understood, there is evidence for immune dysregulation or sustained immune stimulation playing a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of these diseases, including chronic infection and autoimmune disorders. In this study, we report four autoimmune disease cases where monoclonal gammopathy (MG) was incidentally found during follow-up. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts and laboratory test results in the following four