Spinal epidural lipomatosis (SEL) is a rare disorder, regarded in literature as a consequence of administration of exogenous steroids, associated with a variety of systemic diseases, endocrinopathies and the Cushing's syndrome. Occasionally, SEL may occur in patients not exposed to steroids or suffering from endocrinopathies, namely, idiopathic SEL. Thus far, case studies of SEL among Korean have been published rather sporadically. We reviewed the clinical features of SEL cases, among Koreans with journal review, including this report of three operated cases. According to this study, there were some differences between Korean and western cases. Koreans had higher incidences of idiopathic SEL, predominant involvement in the lumbar segments, very few thoracic involvement and lower MBI, as opposed to westerners.

We report a rare case of remote cerebellar hemorrhage after intradural disc surgery at the L1-2 level. Two days after the spine surgery, patient complained unexpected headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. From the urgently conducted brain CT, it was reported that the patient had cerebellar hemorrhage. Occipital craniotomy and hematoma evacuation was performed, and hemorrhagic lesion on the right cerebellum was effectively removed. After occipital craniotomy, the patient showed signs of improvement on headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. He was able to leave the hospital after two weeks of initial operation without any neurological deficit. Remote cerebellar hemorrhage following spinal surgery is extremely rare, but may occur from dural damage of spinal surgery, accompanied with cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Early diagnosis is particularly important for the optimal treatment of remote cerebellar hemorrhage.

BackgroundRifampicin (RFP) is one of the principal first-line drugs used in combination chemotherapies against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and its use has greatly shortened the duration of chemotherapy for the successful treatment of drug-susceptible tuberculosis. Compensatory mutations have been identified in rpoC that restore the fitness of RFP-resistant M. tuberculosis strains with mutations in rpoB. To investigate rpoC mutation patterns, we analyzed 93 clinical M. tuberculosis isolates from patients in South Korea.MethodsDrug-resistant mycobacterial isolates were cultured to determine their susceptibility to anti-tubercular agents. Mutations in rpoC were identified by sequencing and compared with the relevant wild-type DNA sequence.ResultsIn total, 93 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates were successfully cultured and tested for drug susceptibilities. They included 75 drug-resistant tuberculosis species, of which 66 were RFP-resistant strains. rpoC mutations were found in 24 of the 66 RFP-resistant isolates (36.4%). Fifteen different types of mutations, including single mutations (22/24, 91.7%) and multiple mutations (2/24, 8.3%), were identified, and 12 of these mutations are reported for the first time in this study. The most frequent mutation involved a substitution at codon 452 (nt 1356) resulting in amino acid change F452L.ConclusionFifteen different types of mutations were identified and were predominantly single-nucleotide substitutions (91.7%). Mutations were found only in dual isoniazid- and RFP-resistant isolates of M. tuberculosis. No mutations were identified in any of the drug-susceptible strains.