Survival Rates of Breast Cancer Patients Aged 40 to 49 Years according to Detection Modality in Korea: Screening Ultrasound versus Mammography

Objective@#The aim of this study was to compare the survival rates of Korean females aged 40 to 49 years with breast cancer detected by supplemental screening ultrasound (US) or screening mammography alone. @*Materials and Methods@#This single-institution retrospective study included 240 patients with breast cancer (mean age, 45.1 ± 2.8 years) detected by US or mammography who had undergone breast surgery between 2003 and 2008. Medical records were reviewed for clinicopathologic characteristics and detection methods. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared between patients with breast cancer in the US and mammography groups using the log-rank test. Multivariable cox regression analysis was used to identify independent variables associated with DFS and OS. @*Results@#Among the 240 cases of breast cancer, 43 were detected by supplemental screening US and 197 by screening mammography (mean follow-up: 7.4 years, 93.3% with dense breasts). There were 19 recurrences and 16 deaths, all occurring in the mammography group. While the US group did not differ from the mammography group in tumor stage, the patients in this group were more likely to undergo breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy than the mammography group.The US group also showed better DFS (p = 0.016); however, OS did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.058). In the multivariable analysis, the US group showed a lower risk of recurrence (hazard ratio, 0.097; 95% confidence interval, 0.001–0.705) compared to the mammography group. @*Conclusion@#Our study found that Korean females aged 40–49 years with US-detected breast cancer showed better DFS than those with mammography-detected breast cancer. However, there were no statistically significant differences in OS.

A Case of Cysticercosis in Lateral Rectus Muscle

The authers have recently experienced a case of cysticercosis in the left lateral rectus muscleof 9 years old Korean boy. The cyst, 3 X 3 X 5mm of size, was located within the muscle sheath and removed surgically in its capsule, confirmed as cysticercosis microscopically. We presents here a report of cysticercosis with a brief review of literature.

A Case of Cysticercosis in Lateral Rectus Muscle

The authers have recently experienced a case of cysticercosis in the left lateral rectus muscleof 9 years old Korean boy. The cyst, 3 X 3 X 5mm of size, was located within the muscle sheath and removed surgically in its capsule, confirmed as cysticercosis microscopically. We presents here a report of cysticercosis with a brief review of literature.

Therapeutic Effects of Ruby Laser Photocoagulation on Retinal Diseases

I. Central Serous Chorioretinopathies: One hundred and nine patients with central serous retinopathy were an a lysed after treatment with AO Laser Photocoagulator. The patients in this study were mainly male (87%) between the ages of 30 and 40 years (81.5%). Involvement was exclusively unilateral (98.1 %), and fluorescein fundus angiography revealed leaking points in almost all cases (98.1%). Majority of patients (67.4%) recovered normal vision with one or two sittings of photocoagulation, each sitting composed of 6 to 8 energy pulses producing grade I lesion. During the course of this study normal vision is gained in 80.2% of patients. With the development of fluorescein fundus angiography the lesion of central serous retinopathy were found to be choroidal abnormalities associated serous leakage across Bruch's membrane. Burn is made by the light energy delivered to pigment epithlium. The burn results, through normal healing processes, in a scar, which seals off the communication across Bruch's membrane. This phenomenon constructs the basis of treatment of central serous retinopathy with photocoagulation. II. Diabetic Retinopathies: Diabetic retinopathy is rapidly becoming the prominent cause of blindness in the world. The striking change of retinopathy is in the venous side of retinal capillaries and their altered function leads to exudation, hemorrhage, formation of new vessels, and fibrosis over the retinal plane or into vitreous, resuJting ultimately into blindness. Of the 34 patients treated with AO Ruby Photocoagulator at Han Yang Uni. Hos., the response of the patients in pre-proliferative stage was excellent, all of them recovering vision above 0.8. The patients in proliferative stage, however, responded poorly to photocoagulation. It is learned in this study that the optimal time of photocoagulation is in the pre-proliferative stage. The photocoagulation of retinitis proliferans has some effect only in arresting or delaying the progress of retinal changes. III. Focal Choroiditis: Nonsuppurative intracular inflammation is caused by various etiology. Scrutinization such as serologic and skin test or x-ray finding is important for the diagnosis of uveitis but not so significant as the definitive clinical characteristics of specific forms of ocular inflammation. Focal choroiditis, sized less than 1/4 disk diameter, was coagulated with ruby laser. Four out of 6 patients recovered good vision, the lesion being replaced by a scar. The remaining two patients did not visit the hospital after one session of photocoagulation. It is emphasized by the author that the focal choroiditis is excellent indication to the laser photocoagulation. IV. Eales' Disease: Eales' disease is considered to be due to hypersensitivity to mostly tuberculo-antigen, clinically characterized by retinal perivenous exudate, neovascularization and vitreous hemorrhage. A boy has recovered his normal vision after 18 sessions of ruby laser photocoagulation. There have been no benificent effects where photocoagulation was discontinued after two or three sittings.

A Case of von Hippel-Lindau Disease

Recently, we have experienced a case of von Hippel-Lindau's disease. The patient was a 16 years old Korean girl who visited to our hospital because of visual impairment in both eyes since childhood, mental retardation, dysarthria and gait disturbance. On the eye examination, visual acuity of both eyes were 0.04, incorrectable, funduscopy revealed optic atrophy and typical angiomatosis retinae in the right eye and optic atrophy associated with retinal detachment in the left eye. The cerebral angiography showed a space occupying mass in the left cerebellum. Thus this case was presented as a complete form of von Hippel-Lindau's disease, and a brief review of literatures was also discussed.

Comparative Study on the Epithelial Regeneration of the Corneal Ulceration after Cryocautery and Iodine Cautery

Recently cryogenic therapy is widely used for the treatment of herpes simplex keratitis. We had experimental studies on the effect of iodine cautery and cryocautery upon the regeneration of corneal ulceration. On 10 adult albino rabbits, one eye was treated by iodine, and the other by cryocautery in area of 0.6cm X 0.6cm. The epithelium in this area was completly removed by cotton applicator. There after, the rate of epithelial regeneration was observed every 12 hours. The results were as follows: (1) The average period of complete epithelial regeneration was 48 hours in animal treated with cryocautery and 78 hours in animals treated with iodine cautery. This difference is statistically highly significant. (2) Corneal opacity was not demonstrated in eyes treated with cryocautery. Six eyes treated with iodine, however, showed various degree of corneal opacities. These results support the view that the healing time in human herpes simplex keratitis is shortened in patients with cryocautery as compared with iodine.