OBJECTIVE: CDA is a standard for the exchange and sharing of clinical documents among all entities in the healthcare domain. As it proliferates, the number of CDA documents will increase exponentially and it will require huge storage spaces to store them. The main goal of this study is to devise an efficient compression method optimized for CDA documents so that the storage requirement can be lowered. METHODS: The method proposed in this paper is based on a compression method called Xmill which has been designed specifically for XML documents at large, which requires human intervention for the effective compression, especially, of CDA. Our proposed method, CDACOM, automatically extracts type information from CDA documents to infer the data type, assigns data values of the same type to the same data container, and applies an optimized encoder to the container so that a better compression rate can be achieved. RESULTS: Experiments with various types of CDA documents were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of CDACOM over Xmill. The results show that CDACOM indeed outperforms Xmill and can decrease the output file size by about 24.1% on average, compared to Xmill. If documents are combined and compressed together, the gap gets even bigger to about 50%. CONCLUSION: The proposed compression method, CDACOM, is very effective and promising. It will help lowering the cost for systems to transmit and store CDA documents and, hence, expediting the adoption of the standard in the healthcare domain.
Adoption ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans

We report herein a case of smooth muscle hamartoma associated with Beckers nevus in a 5-year-old female. The child presented with a slight.ly brownish. 2 x 3 cm sized, pigmentecl patch with follicular accentuation on the right forearm, witch had been observecl since age of 2. Histopathologic findings showed the epidermal changes most consistent with Becker's nevus and the presence of irregularly arranged hyperplastic smooth muscle hundless in the dermis.
Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dermis ; Female ; Forearm ; Hamartoma* ; Humans ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Nevus*

Two patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis were treated with itraconazole. One patient was a 24-year-old man who had several erythematous papulonodules on the extremities for 1 month, which revealed cutaneous leishmaniasis, histopathologically. He was treated with itraconazole (200 mg/day) for 2 months. After treatment he showed clinical healing and the biopsy specimens no longer showed leishmania organisms. The other patient was a 27-year-old female who had several erythematous papulonodules on the face and neck for 3 months. The skin lesions revealed leishmania organisms in the tissue sections and culture media. She was also treated with itraconazole (200 mg/day) for 2 months. After treatment she also showed satisfying clinical healing and the biopsy specimens revealed no leishmania organisms. No specific side effects were encountered in both patients during the treatment. From these results, itraconazole is considered to be one of the promising anti-leishmanial drugs.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Culture Media ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Itraconazole* ; Leishmania ; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous* ; Neck ; Skin ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system adoption and healthcare information technology (IT) infrastructure. METHODS: Both survey and various healthcare administrative datasets in Korea were used. The survey was conducted during the period from June 13 to September 25, 2017. The chief information officers of hospitals were respondents. Among them, 257 general hospitals and 273 small hospitals were analyzed. A logistic regression analysis was conducted using the SAS program. RESULTS: The odds of having full EMR systems in general hospitals statistically significantly increased as the number of IT department staff members increased (odds ratio [OR] = 1.058, confidence interval [CI], 1.003–1.115; p = 0.038). The odds of having full EMR systems was significantly higher for small hospitals that had an IT department than those of small hospitals with no IT department (OR = 1.325; CI, 1.150–1.525; p < 0.001). Full EMR system adoption had a positive relationship with IT infrastructure in both general hospitals and small hospitals, which was statistically significant in small hospitals. The odds of having full EMR systems for small hospitals increased as IT infrastructure increased after controlling the covariates (OR = 1.527; CI, 1.317–4.135; p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: This study verified that full EMR adoption was closely associated with IT infrastructure, such as organizational structure, human resources, and various IT subsystems. This finding suggests that political support related to these areas is indeed necessary for the fast dispersion of EMR systems into the healthcare industry.
Dataset ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Electronic Health Records* ; Health Care Sector ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical decision support (CDS) functions and digitalization of clinical documents of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems in Korea. This exploratory study was conducted focusing on current status of EMR systems. METHODS: This study used a nationwide survey on EMR systems conducted from July 25, 2018 to September 30, 2018 in Korea. The unit of analysis was hospitals. Respondents of the survey were mainly medical recorders or staff members in departments of health insurance claims or information technology. This study analyzed data acquired from 132 hospitals that participated in the survey. RESULTS: This study found that approximately 80% of clinical documents were digitalized in both general and small hospitals. The percentages of general and small hospitals with 100% paperless medical charts were 33.7% and 38.2%, respectively. The EMR systems of general hospitals are more likely to have CDS functions of warnings regarding drug dosage, reminders of clinical schedules, and clinical guidelines compared to those of small hospitals; this difference was statistically significant. For the lists of digitalized clinical documents, almost 93% of EMR systems in general hospitals have the inpatient progress note, operation records, and discharge summary notes digitalized. CONCLUSIONS: EMRs are becoming increasingly important. This study found that the functions and digital documentation of EMR systems still have a large gap, which should be improved and made more sophisticated. We hope that the results of this study will contribute to the development of more sophisticated EMR systems.
Appointments and Schedules ; Decision Support Systems, Clinical ; Electronic Health Records ; Health Information Exchange ; Hope ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Medical Informatics ; Medical Records ; Medical Records Systems, Computerized ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Knowledge about the degree of risk and location of multiple primary cancers can facilitate the targeting of screening and surveillance practices on follow-up after treatment of cervical cancer. PURPOSE: The retrospective study was performed to evaluate the characteristics of multiple primary malignancies in patients treated for cervical carcinoma. METHOD: From data base file of gynecologic cancer patients between 1976 and 1995, total 20 patients were found to have cervical cancer and another primary malignancy. Their medical records and pathologic slides were reviewed. Follow-up information was obtained from medical records or by telephone. RESULT: There were 8 synchronous and 12 metachronous multiple primary cancers (MPC) among 20 patients. Their mean age was 51 years (range 23 ~ 68 years). The distribution of FIGO stage of the patients with cervical cancer was classified into stage I, 6 patients; stage II, 9 ; and stage III, 5. All patients showed squamous cell type histology of cervical cancer. Eight(40 %) of 20 patients developed second cancer in uterus : 6 malignant mixed Mllerian tumors(MMMT), one endometrial stromal sarcoma, and one endometrial adenocarcinoma. Seven of 8 synchronous type MPC patients are alive (median follow-up, 27 months). In contrast, only one out of 12 metachronous type MPC patients is alive(median follow-up, 114 months). The occurrence of eight malignancies including 6 MMMT, one bladder cancer, and one rectal cancer might be related with previous radiation therapy for cervical cancer. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that routine screening and surveillance work-up might not be necessary in most of patients with cervical cancer. However, the patients with cervical cancer undergoing radiation treatment have to be followed carefully with the consideration of possibility for developing second cancer in the field of irradiation.
Adenocarcinoma ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Medical Records ; Neoplasms, Second Primary ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies ; Sarcoma, Endometrial Stromal ; Telephone ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Uterus

This study was performed to demonstrate the efficacy of combination of cold-knife conization and cold-coagulation for the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN). In addition, the accuracy of the colposcopic biopsy and Pap smear compare to conization was determined. Cold-coagulation was performed simultaneously in 151 patients after cold-knife conization for diagnosis and treatment of CIN from Jan. 1995 to Dec. 1996. Medical records and pathologic slides of those patients were reviewed. Histologic comparison between the Pap smear and conization specimens showed agreement with 70 % within one grade difference ; Histologic comparison between the colpodirected punch biopsy and conization specimens showed agreement with 80 %. The margin involvement of conization was seen in 35 patients(23 %). There was a tendency of increasing rate of positive cone margin with grade of the lesion : 14 %(1/7) in CIN 1, 20 %(2/10) in CIN 2, 35 %(31/88) in CIN 3, and 33 %(1/3) in microinvasive cervical cancer. Among these 35 patients, 11 patients underwent hysterectomy and showed residual disease in 4 patients(36 %). Recurrence of CIN was found in 4 patients(16 %) with positive cone margin and 1 patient(0.9 %) with negative cone margin. Bleeding was observed in 13 patients(9 %). Two patients underwent hysterectomy because of severe bleeding. These results suggest that cold-knife conization with cold-coagulation is an effective procedure to reduce recurrence rate of the patients with CIN regardless of status of cone margin and to reduce the severity of bleeding after conization.
Biopsy ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia* ; Conization* ; Diagnosis* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Medical Records ; Recurrence ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Objectives: In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a focus on managing diverse medical data to improve healthcare and prevent disease. The challenges include tracking detailed medical records across multiple institutions and the necessity of linking domestic public medical entities for efficient data sharing. This study explores MyHealthWay, a Korean healthcare platform designed to facilitate the integration and transfer of medical data from various sources, examining its development, importance, and legal implications. Methods: To evaluate the management status and utilization of MyHealthWay, we analyzed data types, security, legal issues, domestic versus international issues, and infrastructure. Additionally, we discussed challenges such as resource and infrastructure constraints, regulatory hurdles, and future considerations for data management. Results: The secure sharing of medical information via MyHealthWay can reduce the distance between patients and healthcare facilities, fostering personalized care and self-management of health. However, this approach faces legal challenges, particularly relating to data standardization and access to personal health information. Legal challenges in data standardization and access, particularly for secondary uses such as research, necessitate improved regulations. There is a crucial need for detailed governmental guidelines and clear data ownership standards at institutional levels. Conclusions This report highlights the role of Korea's MyHealthWay, which was launched in 2023, in transforming healthcare through systematic data integration. Challenges include data privacy and legal complexities, and there is a need for data standardization and individual empowerment in health data management within a systematic medical big data framework.