Chronic prostatitis is difficult to treat and unintelligible disease with multi-factorial etiology, various pathophysiology and several clinical manifestations rather than simple single disease. Therefore, it is thought to be important successful treatment and courtesy call that grasp whether some elements influence incidence of disease. The authors wished to search factors which influence the development and the progress of chronic prostatitis.

From January, 2004 to October, 184 patients who undergo diagnosis as chronic prostatitis were selected, and chose healthy 40 men for comparative analysis to control group. Subjects were investigated for the status of profession and form of work, driving, motorcycle or bicycle utilization, drinking, smoking and sex, and the style of behavior and diet.

Average age of chronic prostatitis(CP) group and control group was no difference. The classification of specific profession did not show relevant difference, but sedentary desk workers were much excellently than CP group(40.0%) by control group(53.8%)(p<0.05). Driver's ratio more than 1 day 1 hour was high in CP group than control group(22.5%) by 28.3%(p<0.05). A person who ride motorcycle or bicycle did not show relevant difference(p>0.05). A person who ejaculate more than once a week through any manner, was less CP group(51.1%) than control group(62.5%), but showed high ratio by person with ejaculation less than 1-2 time a month and daily ejaculation in CP group(p<0.05). A person who drinks more than once a week was many in CP group(p<0.05), and also a person who drink more than 1 bottle of soju expressively high ratio show in CP group(p<0.05), In dietary life habit, CP group showed high ratio by salty food preference degree(p<0.05).

Some factors look that have important effect in disease change for the worse progress of chronic prostatitis. Therefore, it is thought should be gone side by side that reform this detecting eating habit and lifestyle that can exacerbate the disease along with general medication in treatment.

This study was performed to evaluate the impact of various peri-transplant factors on transfusion requirements in 45 patients with leukemia or severe aplastic anemia undergoing HLA-matched allogeneic bone marrow transplantation(BMT).

All patients were treated in an isolated room with HEPA filtration, and the combination of cyclosporin and short-course of methotrexate was used for GVHD prophylaxis. Patients received irradiated packed red cells to maintain the hematocrit ≥30% and irradiated platelet pheresis to keep the platelet count ≥20,000/µl.

In the first month, the mean(range) number of red cells and platelet pheresis were 4.9(0-21), 26.7(8-61), respectively. On univariate analyses, pre-BMT status(high-risk : 7.94±5.14 vs standard-risk: 3.78±2.99, p=0.0076) and concurrent infection(present : 8.41±4.70 vs absent : 3.33±2.72, p=0.0005) and sex incompatibility(match : 4.67±3.72 vs female → male : 3.78±3.07 vs male → female : 9.13±5.74, p=0.0161) were significantly associated with red cell requirements in the first month. Also, high-risk pre-BMT status(32.25±16.15 vs 20.25±14.64, p=0.0l56), the presence of concurrent infection(39.35±16.42 vs 15.33±5.67, p=0.0001) and veno-occlusive disease(45.00±14.47 vs 22.00±14.49, p=0.0055) increased platelet requirements significantly after allogeneic BMT. In particular, pre-BMT disease status was found to be independently associated with transfusion requirements.

This study demonstrates that pre-BMT status does influence transfusion requirements in the first month after HLA-matched allogeneic BMT. Further studies are necessary to confirm these results and to define optimal transfusion strategies.

Hepatic veno-occlusive disease(VOD) is a major life-threatening complication of bone marrow transplantation(BMT) caused by high-dose chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the incidence, risk factors, prophylactic effects of low-dose heparin and pentoxifylline(PTX) and therapeutic response to recombinant human tissue plasminogen activator(rt-PA) in VOD patients with leukemia after allogeneic BMT.

Thirty-two consecutive leukemia patients who underwent HLA-matched allogeneic BMT were included in this study. VOD was clinically defined as having two of the following features : hyperbilirubinemia(≥2mg/dL), tender hepatomegaly, unexplained weight gain(>2% from baseline) and/or ascites. Low-dose heparin(l00unit/kg/day, IV) and PTX(1,600mg/day, P0) were administered for the prevention of VOD.

The median age of recipients in this study was 27(17 - 44) years. Patients were treated for the following diseases : 17(53.1%) for acute myeloid leukemia(AML), 10(31.3%) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) and 5(15.6%) for chronic myeloid leukemia(CML). Fourteen patients(43.7%) were classified as having high-risk pre-BMT status. Of the 32 consecutive patients undergoing allogeneic BMT, 5(15.6%) developed VOD. A higher risk of developing VOD was associated with pre-BMT disease status(p<0.01). All VOD patients received rt-PA-based thrombolytic therapy and complete resolution was achieved in-4(80.0%) of 5 patients without significant bleeding complications.

Further studies are needed to develop more effective prophylactic and thera-peutic approaches of VOD in patients with high-risk leukemia after allogeneic BMT.