OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to develop the Korean version of Wahler Physical Symptom Inventory (WPSI), to examine the reliability and validity of it, and to investigate usefulness for diagnosing somatization. METHODS: The normal group was composed of 242 persons consist of middle and high school students, university students, and adults living in Seoul, Puchon, and Suwon. The two clinical groups consisted of 33 persons with somatic symptoms and 38 diabetic patients. RESULTS: Internal consistency (Cronbach alpha=.91) was very high. Test-retest reliability was calculated from 46 university group, and it's correlations was also high (.87). And the total score of K-WPSI was significantly and positively correlated with subscales of SCL-90-R. There was significant difference between the normal, psychiatry group, and diabetic group of K-WPSI (F=15.48, p<.001). Especially, K-WPSI was very useful to differentiate between the somatization group and diabetic group. CONCLUSION: K-WPSI was found to be a reliable and valid instrument for diagnosing somatization, and for differentiating somatization and diabetic groups. K-WPSI is a brief and economical questionnaire, which may curtail medical expenses of patients. It is also expectated that K-WPSI can be used for identifying somatization and providing information which may contribute to ascertain diagnosis. The limitation of this study is the small normative data, and not distinguishing sex differences. This limitation should be supplemented by future studies.
Adult ; Diagnosis ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; Seoul ; Sex Characteristics

Primary tumors of the heart are uncommon among pediatric patients. Rhabdomyoma is the most frequent cardiac tumor in infants and children, which is commonly associated with tuberous sclerosis. Tuberous sclerosis is a neurocutaneous syndrome affecting the brain, heart, skin, and other organs. Cardiac rhadomyomas are reported in 50-64% of infants with tuberous sclerosis. Tuberous sclerosis involves multiple locations in the atrium, ventricle and septum, and may induce mechanical obstruction of the outflow tract and heart failure depending on the location, number, size, and degree of invasion of tumors. Arrhythmias may also develop in infants with cardiac rhadomyomas, but only a few of these patients require prolonged anti-arrhythmic therapy because arrhythmia often disappears with spontaneous regression of the tumors, and the ultimate prognosis may be decided by the cerebral manifestations.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Brain ; Child ; Heart ; Heart Failure ; Heart Neoplasms ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Neurocutaneous Syndromes ; Prognosis ; Rhabdomyoma ; Skin ; Tachycardia, Supraventricular ; Tuberous Sclerosis

Four cases of congenital coronary arteriovenous fistula were diagnosed using coronary angiography. Three cases had fistula-related chest pain and the remaining case showed no symptoms but displayed electrocardiographic changes suggesting myocardial ischemia. As he was elderly and had a potential for future complications, we decided to close the fistulas of all cases. Three cases were closed with transcatheter coil embolization and one with surgical ligation due to a suspicious accompanying pericardial cyst. None of the patients demonstrated periprocedural or perioperative complications and all were relieved from symptoms during the 2 year follow-up period. We concluded that transcatheter coil embolization and surgical ligation are effective methods for use in the management of coronary arteriovenous fistula.
Aged ; Arteriovenous Fistula* ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Disease ; Electrocardiography ; Embolization, Therapeutic ; Fistula ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Ligation ; Mediastinal Cyst ; Myocardial Ischemia