BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although the quality of colonoscopy is considered important to improve screening efficacy, there is little evidence and few statistical reports which properly reflects the colonoscopy quality of clinical practices in Korea. We aimed to investigate the quality indicators of colonoscopy performing in clinical practice. METHODS: We analyzed the computerized photo-documentation files of patients who were transferred to tertiary academic hospital from private clinics or primary and secondary hospitals from January 2012 to October 2012. Quality indicators including cecal intubation rate, withdrawal time, bowel preparation status, colonoscopy report form were analyzed. Bowel preparation was assessed by 4 steps on the preparation scale (excellent, good, fair, poor). RESULTS: A total of 198 patients (134 male, 64 female) were enrolled and analyzed. Cecal intubation rate was 91.4% (181/198) and photo-documentation of appendiceal orifice and ileocecal valve was achieved as 84.3% (167/198) and 71.7% (142/198), relatively. Overall, 83.3% of cases were adequate bowel preparation state (excellent 52%, good 31.3%). Withdrawal time could be estimated at 94.4% (187/198) of cases and mean withdrawal time of diagonostic colonoscopy (n=165) was 8.6 minutes. However, the rate of cases which withdrawal time was more than 6 minutes was 69.7% (115/165). Total of 30 institution's colonoscopy report forms were analyzed and among nearly half enrolled institutions (46.6%, 14/30) were just recording patient's information and colonoscopic diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable portion of colonoscopy examination in the primary clinical practice has been performed with low procedure quality. We thus need careful attention to maintain the quality of colonoscopy in daily practice routines.
Cohort Studies ; Colonoscopy ; Humans ; Ileocecal Valve ; Intubation ; Korea ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Quality Indicators, Health Care ; Tertiary Care Centers

Four cases of mucinous ductal ectasia of the pancreas are presented, along with a review of the literature. Mucinous ductal ectasia is a clinicopathologic entity characterized by dilation and filling of the main pancreatic duct or its side branches with thick, viscid mucus, leading to recurrent acute pancreatitis or symptoms that mimic chronic pancreatitis. Three of the patients were male (M:F=3:1) and the patients were 54~74 years old. The symptoms of two patients were abdominal pain and they had a frequent admission history due to pancreatitis. One patient had jaundice, and one patient presented no symptoms. In all of the patients, the tumor was located in the read of the pancrease and the size of tumor was about 3 cm. A total pancreatectomy was performed, and three pancreatico-duodenectomy were performed. The pathologic report revealed that two cases were malignant and two cases were borderline malignant. The tumor marker did not correlate with the presence of malignancy. Because mucinous ductal ectasia is recognized as a premalignant disease, the treatment of choice is pancreatic resection.
Abdominal Pain ; Dilatation, Pathologic* ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Male ; Mucins* ; Mucus ; Pancreas ; Pancreatectomy ; Pancreatic Ducts ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Pancreatitis ; Pancreatitis, Chronic ; Pancrelipase

No abstract available.
Common Bile Duct*

Tracheobronchial rupture is one of the less-common injuries associated with blunt chest trauma. The diagnosis of tracheobronchial rupture is not easy, but failure to diagnosis may lead to death or long-term disability. Early diagnosis and appropriate management can reduce the mortality and morbidity. Bronchoscopy is the diagnostic method of choice for patients with tracheobronchial rupture. We report a case of tracheal rupture after blunt chest trauma. A 40-year-old man was transferred to our hospital for dyspnea after blunt chest trauma. He was promptly diagnosed as tracheal rupture by fiberoptic bronchoscopy and chest computed tomogram. He was successfully managed by thoracotomy and primary repair.
Adult ; Bronchoscopy* ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Mortality ; Rupture* ; Thoracotomy ; Thorax*

Tracheobronchial rupture is one of the less-common injuries associated with blunt chest trauma. The diagnosis of tracheobronchial rupture is not easy, but failure to diagnosis may lead to death or long-term disability. Early diagnosis and appropriate management can reduce the mortality and morbidity. Bronchoscopy is the diagnostic method of choice for patients with tracheobronchial rupture. We report a case of tracheal rupture after blunt chest trauma. A 40-year-old man was transferred to our hospital for dyspnea after blunt chest trauma. He was promptly diagnosed as tracheal rupture by fiberoptic bronchoscopy and chest computed tomogram. He was successfully managed by thoracotomy and primary repair.
Adult ; Bronchoscopy* ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Mortality ; Rupture* ; Thoracotomy ; Thorax*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to compare the values of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) measured with two different non-invasive methods as predictors of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients who had undergone coronary angiography. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: From 6373 patients who visited our laboratory for non-invasive procedures, we enrolled 965 consecutive patients undergoing coronary angiography. Data for baPWV and peripheral augmentation index (pAI) were recorded. CAD was defined as greater than 50% stenosis of a major epicardial artery in a coronary angiogram. In addition, the severity of CAD was classified as: none/minimal or 1-, 2-, or 3-vessel disease, based on previous or current angiographic findings. RESULTS: Among 965 subjects, the mean age was 63.7+/-11.6 years, and 58.2% were male. Compared with subjects without CAD disease, those with CAD showed higher values of baPWV (16.6+/-3.5 m/sec vs. 15.9+/-3.4 m/sec, p<0.001), and lower values of pAI (73.5+/-15.9% vs. 76.0+/-15.7%, p=0.01). When the severity of CAD was expressed as none/minimal or 1-, 2-, or 3-vessel disease, there was a significant association between the extent of CAD and baPWV (p<0.001). In univariate analysis, high PWV and low pAI were associated with an increased prevalence of CAD (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Increased baPWV and decreased pAI were associated with the presence of CAD in the elderly.
Aged ; Arteries ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Humans ; Male ; Prevalence ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; Vascular Stiffness*

Purpose: There have been few reports on comparison between sunitinib and pazopanib as first-line targeted therapy in Korean metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). We sought to analyze the treatment trends of metastatic ccRCC by comparing the effects and adverse events of sunitinib and pazopanib. Materials and Methods: Data of 357 metastatic RCC patients who received the sunitinib or pazopanib as the first-line targeted therapy from the Daegyeong Oncology Study Group database was obtained and analyzed. Among these patients, patients who only clear cell type was confirmed after needle biopsy or nephrectomy were included, and patients who underwent target therapy for less than 3 months were excluded. Results: Of 251 patients who met the inclusion criteria, sunitinib and pazopanib group were identified in 156 (62%) and 95 patients (38%), respectively. Pazopanib group was older (66 years vs. 61 years, p=0.001) and more symptomatic (65% vs. 52%, p=0.037) and had more patients with Karnofsky performance status <80 (20% vs. 11%, p=0.048) and fewer number of organ metastases (p=0.004) compared to sunitinib group. There was no significant difference in disease control rate (88.5% vs. 87.3%, p=0.744), the median progression-free survival (19 months vs. 15 months, p=0.444) and overall survival (25 months vs. 19 months, p=0.721) between sunitinib and pazopanib. The most common grade 3/4 adverse events with sunitinib and pazopanib were anemia (5%) and hand-foot syndrome (3%), respectively. There was no significant difference between sunitinib and pazopanib in number of patients who experienced grade 3/4 adverse events (15% vs. 11%, p=0.275). However, there were more patients who discontinued treatment due to only adverse events in sunitinib group compared to pazopanib group (12% vs. 3%, p=0.020). Conclusions In Korean metastatic ccRCC, pazopanib tended to be used in patients with poorer health status compared to sunitinib. Sunitinib and pazopanib had no significant difference in treatment effect and survival, but pazopanib had more tolerable adverse events.

Background/Aims: We examined the efficacy and safety of tegoprazan as a part of first-line triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, controlled, multicenter study was performed to evaluate whether tegoprazan (50 mg)-based triple therapy (TPZ) was noninferior to lansoprazole (30 mg)-based triple therapy (LPZ) (with amoxicillin 1 g and clarithromycin 500 mg; all administered twice daily for 7 days) for treating H. pylori. The primary endpoint was the H. pylori eradication rate. Subgroup analyses were performed according to the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 genotype, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of amoxicillin and clarithromycin, and underlying gastric diseases. Results: In total, 350 H. pylori-positive patients were randomly allocated to the TPZ or LPZ group. The H. pylori eradication rates in the TPZ and LPZ groups were 62.86% (110/175) and 60.57% (106/175) in an intention-to-treat analysis and 69.33% (104/150) and 67.33% (101/150) in a per-protocol analysis (non-inferiority test, p=0.009 and p=0.013), respectively. Subgroup analyses according to MICs or CYP2C19 did not show remarkable differences in eradication rate. Both first-line triple therapies were well-tolerated with no notable differences. Conclusions TPZ is as effective as proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapy and is as safe as first-line H. pylori eradication therapy but does not overcome the clarithromycin resistance of H. pylori in Korea