Purpose: Immunochemical fecal occult blood tests (iFOBT) have been utilized as the primary method for colorectal cancer screening within Korea's National Cancer Screening Program. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the accreditation program for clinical laboratories and external quality assessment (EQA) programs on colorectal cancer screening. Methods: We analyzed the false-positive rates of iFOBT in colorectal cancer screening from 2016 to 2020 according to participation and performance in the Outstanding Laboratory Accreditation Program (OLAP) conducted by the Laboratory Medicine Foundation, and the External Quality Assessment programs run by the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service. Results: False-positive rates of iFOBT were lower among institutions accredited by OLAP (2.35%) compared with non-accredited (3.04%) and non-participating institutions (5.60%). Similarly, institutions participating in the EQA program exhibited lower false-positive rates (3.79%) compared to non-participants (7.04%). Within the iFOBT-specific EQA program, institutions that passed demonstrated the lowest false-positive rate (3.37%), while failing institutions showed the highest rate (9.07%), surpassing even non-participating institutions (6.44%). Conclusion Participation in quality management programs such as OLAP and EQA was associated with lower false-positive rates in iFOBT for colorectal cancer screening. These findings suggest that quality management initiatives can increase the accuracy of iFOBT, potentially improving the effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening programs, and reducing unnecessary follow-up procedures and associated healthcare costs.

Purpose: Immunochemical fecal occult blood tests (iFOBT) have been utilized as the primary method for colorectal cancer screening within Korea's National Cancer Screening Program. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the accreditation program for clinical laboratories and external quality assessment (EQA) programs on colorectal cancer screening. Methods: We analyzed the false-positive rates of iFOBT in colorectal cancer screening from 2016 to 2020 according to participation and performance in the Outstanding Laboratory Accreditation Program (OLAP) conducted by the Laboratory Medicine Foundation, and the External Quality Assessment programs run by the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service. Results: False-positive rates of iFOBT were lower among institutions accredited by OLAP (2.35%) compared with non-accredited (3.04%) and non-participating institutions (5.60%). Similarly, institutions participating in the EQA program exhibited lower false-positive rates (3.79%) compared to non-participants (7.04%). Within the iFOBT-specific EQA program, institutions that passed demonstrated the lowest false-positive rate (3.37%), while failing institutions showed the highest rate (9.07%), surpassing even non-participating institutions (6.44%). Conclusion Participation in quality management programs such as OLAP and EQA was associated with lower false-positive rates in iFOBT for colorectal cancer screening. These findings suggest that quality management initiatives can increase the accuracy of iFOBT, potentially improving the effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening programs, and reducing unnecessary follow-up procedures and associated healthcare costs.

Purpose: Immunochemical fecal occult blood tests (iFOBT) have been utilized as the primary method for colorectal cancer screening within Korea's National Cancer Screening Program. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the accreditation program for clinical laboratories and external quality assessment (EQA) programs on colorectal cancer screening. Methods: We analyzed the false-positive rates of iFOBT in colorectal cancer screening from 2016 to 2020 according to participation and performance in the Outstanding Laboratory Accreditation Program (OLAP) conducted by the Laboratory Medicine Foundation, and the External Quality Assessment programs run by the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service. Results: False-positive rates of iFOBT were lower among institutions accredited by OLAP (2.35%) compared with non-accredited (3.04%) and non-participating institutions (5.60%). Similarly, institutions participating in the EQA program exhibited lower false-positive rates (3.79%) compared to non-participants (7.04%). Within the iFOBT-specific EQA program, institutions that passed demonstrated the lowest false-positive rate (3.37%), while failing institutions showed the highest rate (9.07%), surpassing even non-participating institutions (6.44%). Conclusion Participation in quality management programs such as OLAP and EQA was associated with lower false-positive rates in iFOBT for colorectal cancer screening. These findings suggest that quality management initiatives can increase the accuracy of iFOBT, potentially improving the effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening programs, and reducing unnecessary follow-up procedures and associated healthcare costs.

In 2016, the clinical chemistry proficiency-testing program consisted of 21 programs, including the general chemistry program of the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service. The general chemistry program consisted of 28 test items and was conducted using two level control materials four times per year. Based on the information and results for each test item entered by each institution, statistical analysis data according to test method, instrument, and reagent were reported. The report comprised a general statistics report showing the characteristics of all participating institutions and a separate institutional report showing the evaluation data of individual institutions. The statistics included the number of participating institutions and the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, median, minimum, and maximum values for each group. Each report was composed of a table, histogram, and Levey-Jennings chart showing the statistics for each test item. The results of each institution and the statistics for each classification are presented in the table showing the statistics, and a standard deviation index is presented together with a method classification and a classification by reagent companies. A total of 14 items, including albumin, were evaluated by more than 1,000 institutions. There was no significant difference in the distribution of the measurement methods compared with those used in the previous year. The coefficient of variation showed a tendency to increase as the concentration of the level control material decreased and as the number of participating institutions decreased for each test item. Most of them showed a coefficient of variation within 10%. These statistical data will be useful when interpreting the survey results from the institutions and selecting a test method.
Chemistry ; Chemistry, Clinical* ; Classification ; Korea* ; Methods

BACKGROUND: Medical skin care is essential for the treatment of skin diseases all over the world. Medical skin care is also part of medical practice and this must be differentiated from the simple skin care that is given for normal healthy skin. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to discuss medical skin care and the related medical devices and legal issues. METHODS: We reviewed the related laws and regulations, we consulted experts and associations and we analyzed the result of the survey. RESULTS: Legally, medical skin care and simple skin care are well classified. However, many illegal procedures are still performed by non-medical personnel and many adverse effects have been reported as a result. Furthermore, there are no legal restrictions for the performer based on the grade of each medical skin care procedure. CONCLUSION: For the best results and safe procedures, medical skin care must be performed by approved medical equipment under the supervision of a physician or medical personnel. Continuous control and guidance by the government is strongly needed.
Jurisprudence ; Organization and Administration ; Skin ; Skin Care ; Skin Diseases ; Social Control, Formal

Condyloma acuminatum (CA) is a common sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papillomavirus. In gastrointestinal practice, we generally encounter this disease in the anal canal but rarely in the rectum during a colonoscopy. There are many therapeutic options for CA including chemical or physical destruction, immunological therapy, or a surgical excision. All these procedures have some degree of limitations such as limited clearance rate, high recurrence rate, long duration of therapy, bleeding, release of potentially infectious aerosols, scarring etc. With argon plasma coagulation (APC), which is more available than lasers in gastrointestinal practice, a high frequency current flows through the argon plasma to the tissue, allowing well-controlled superficial tissue destruction without any direct contact between the probe and the tissue. We present a case of anal CA that was treated successfully with APC during a colonoscopy with no recurrence during the follow up.
Aerosols ; Anal Canal ; Argon Plasma Coagulation* ; Argon* ; Cicatrix ; Colonoscopy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Plasma ; Rectum ; Recurrence ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases

BACKGROUND: To compare the infection rate of Chlamydia pneumoniae in patients with respiratory symptoms and control group, METHODS: we recruited 189 patients (149 adults and 40 pediatric patients) with respiratory symptoms and 197 controls (159 healthy adults and 38 pediatric patients without respiratory symptoms) visited Kyungpook National University Hospital from August 2002 to July 2003. A serological test was done by micro- immunofluorescence (MIF) method. Antibody titers of IgG (1:32 or more) indicate past infection of C. pneumoniae. A recent infection was defined as one in which there is a high titer of IgG antibody (1:512 or more) or a positive IgM antibody (1:16 or more) with a negative for rheumatoid factor. RESULTS: The past infection rate of C. pneumoniae in case group (65.6%) was not significantly higher than 61.4% in control group. The past infection rate of C. pneumoniae of male patients (62.0%) was not significantly higher than 58.7% in control group, and in female showed the same pattern, 70.4% in patients and 63.8% in control group. The recent infection rate of C. pneumoniae in patients (13.2%) was not significantly higher than 9.6% in control group. The recent infection rate of C. pneumoniae of male patients (10.2%) was not significantly higher than 5.4% in control group, and in female showed the same pattern, 17.3% of patients and 13.3% of control group. CONCLUSIONS: The recent infection rate of C. pneumoniae by IgG and IgM serological tests in patients with respiratory symptoms was not significantly higher than that in control group.
Adult ; Chlamydia* ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae* ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Male ; Pneumonia ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Serologic Tests

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The intricate anatomy of the temporal bone has always been difficult to visualize. In this regard, the advantages of computer-assisted reconstruction of temporal bone based on image data from computed tomography (CT) are widely recognized. The goal of this study was to investigate the usefulness of three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of computed tomography in determining the anatomy and topographic relationship of various important structures. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: For 40 ears of 20 patients with various otological diseases, 3D reconstruction based on image data from spiral high-resolution CT was performed by segmentation, volume-rendering and surface-rendering algorithm on a personal computer. The scanning was carried out in axial plane with technical factors of 140 kV, 100 mAs, 1 mm thickness, and 1 second scanning time. A software (Vworks(TM) 4.0, CyberMed Inc, Korea) was used for image processing. RESULTS: We were able to demonstrate the 3D display of the middle and inner ear structures. The computer-assisted measurement of reconstructed structures demonstrated the anatomic details comprehensively, which improved the surgeon's understanding of their spatial relationship, and provided many details that could not be easily measured in vivo. CONCLUSION: The 3D reconstruction of temporal bone CT can be useful in demonstrating and thus understanding the anatomical structures of temporal bone. Also, its clinical applications are inestimable. But it is necessary to confirm the correlation between 3D reconstructed images and histologic sections through the validation study.
Ear ; Ear Diseases ; Ear, Inner ; Humans ; Microcomputers ; Temporal Bone*

Three trials of external quality assessment for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) subcommittee of Korean Association of Quality Assurance for Clinical Pathology (KAQACP) were performed in 2002. Participating laboratories were 79 similar to the previous year. Response rates were 96.3% for 1st, 2nd, and third trials. In the first trial, 20 test items among 27 ones were responded from as least from one laboratory as follows: acetaminophen, amikacin, amitriptyline, carbamazepine, cyclosporine, digoxin, free phenytoin, gentamicin, lithium, methotrexate, phenobarbital, phenytoin, primidone, quinidine, salicylate, tacrolimus (FK-506), theophylline, tobramycin, valproic acid and vancomycin. In the second and third trial, the test items were same with those of 1st trial except the exclusion of quinidine. We included tacrolimus with a whole blood control material in addition to cyclosporine from the first trial. The most common test items were valproic acid, digoxin, phenytoin, carbamazepine, theophylline, and phenobarbital which were peformed in more than 77% of participating laboratories. The most widely used TDM analyzer was Abbott TDx/TDxFLx (56%), but its proportion were decreased slightly comparing with the previous years. In conclusion, we added tacrolimus from the year of TDM proficiency testing in 2002 and found grossly similar pattern comparing with those of previous years.
Acetaminophen ; Amikacin ; Amitriptyline ; Carbamazepine ; Cyclosporine ; Digoxin ; Drug Monitoring* ; Gentamicins ; Korea* ; Lithium ; Methotrexate ; Pathology, Clinical ; Phenobarbital ; Phenytoin ; Primidone ; Quinidine ; Tacrolimus ; Theophylline ; Tobramycin ; Valproic Acid ; Vancomycin

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the aeration of maxillary sinus, using 3-dimensional reconstruction of computed tomography (3DR-CT), to compare the estimated air volume of the normal maxillary sinus with that of the inflamed one, and to evaluate the relationship between the aeration of maxillary sinus and the degree of decreased area of natural ostium. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: In 10 patients having unilateral maxillary sinusitis refractory to proper medical therapy, 3-dimensional reconstruction images were obtained based on high-resolution CT by surface-rendering technique on a personal computer. A software (Vworks(TM) 4.0, CyberMed Inc, Korea) was used for 3-dimensional reconstruction. "Maxillary ostium on CT" was defined to measure the maxillary natural ostium on 3-dimensional reconstruction images. RESULTS: In unilateral maxillary sinusitis, an air volume of the affected sinus was 4.71+/-3.12 mL, and that of the contralateral normal one was 13.29+/-9.76 mL. The area of the affected "maxillary ostium on CT" was 11.10+/-14.40 mm2, and that of the contralateral normal sinus was 24.20+/-18.64 mm2. The air volume and area of "maxillary ostium on CT" of the affected maxillary sinus were reduced significantly, compared with those of the contralateral normal one (p<0.05). But, there was no significant correlation between the aeration of maxillary sinus and the degree of decreased area of "maxillary ostium on CT" (p=0.285). CONCLUSION: 3DR-CT is the new technique, which enables us to measure the volume of maxillary sinus as well as the area of maxillary ostium. Also, it is helpful in assessing the aeration of maxillary sinus.
Humans ; Maxillary Sinus* ; Maxillary Sinusitis* ; Microcomputers ; Sinusitis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed