A previously healthy 1-year-old boy suddenly began coughing while eating a dried sweet potato. Because he continued gagging after vomiting a piece of the dried sweet potato, his mother brought him to our emergency room. Upon arrival, despite normal pulmonary findings, he was drooling and gagging. Ultrasonography was performed because food impaction at the upper esophagus was suspected based on his medical history and physical examination, and results showed that a linear hyperechoic lesion was obstructing the posterior esophageal wall. Computed tomography was also considered for a detailed examination of the foreign body. However, the patient vomited the dried sweet potato before the test was performed. After vomiting the foreign body, the patient stopped gagging, and his ultrasonographic findings were normal. Therefore, the patient was discharged without any complications.
Child ; Cough ; Eating ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Esophagus ; Foreign Bodies ; Gagging ; Humans ; Ipomoea batatas ; Male ; Mothers ; Physical Examination ; Point-of-Care Systems* ; Sialorrhea ; Ultrasonography* ; Vomiting

Atazanavir is a protease inhibitor approved for use in combination with other antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus infection. Atazanavir and other protease inhibitors can sometimes induce corrected QT prolongation and ventricular arrhythmia. A 40-year-old man with no comorbidities, except human immunodeficiency virus 1 infection, presented with palpitations 3 days after an overdose of 150 caps of atazanavir, with suicidal intent. His initial electrocardiogram showed monomorphic ventricular tachycardia, and hyperbilirubinemia was observed in his initial blood test. Immediately after magnesium sulfate infusion, his ventricular tachycardia was converted into junctional bradycardia with prolonged corrected QT. After 3 days of close observation in the intensive care unit, the corrected QT prolongation and hyperbilirubinemia were normalized.
Adult ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Atazanavir Sulfate* ; Bradycardia ; Comorbidity ; Electrocardiography ; Hematologic Tests ; HIV ; HIV-1 ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia ; Intensive Care Units ; Magnesium Sulfate ; Protease Inhibitors* ; Tachycardia, Ventricular*

OBJECTIVE: Especially in emergency departments (EDs), a lack of internal medicine (IM) residents in charge causes difficulties in medical care and ED overcrowding. Thus, protocols without IM residents in EDs is needed. This study aimed to investigate changes in medical care when emergency medicine residents replaced the roles of IM residents. METHODS: This study was conducted at a single-site ED of a university medical center. The study group contained patients admitted to the IM department between September and December 2015, during which IM residents were absent in the ED. The control group contained patients admitted to the IM department between September and December 2014, during which IM residents were present in the ED. Changes in medical care between the presence and absence of IM residents in the ED were studied by comparing admission rates from the ED, length of ED stay, duration of hospitalization, and concordance of diagnoses between admission and discharge by the IM department. RESULTS: The study group contained 2,341 patients; the control group contained 2,215 patients. Admission rates from the ED increased by 53.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], P < 0.001); lengths of stay decreased by 15.1% (95% CI, P < 0.001); and durations of hospitalization in the pulmonology department decreased by 38.4% (95% CI, P=0.001). Concordance of diagnoses between admission and discharge decreased by 14.2% in the cardiology department (95% CI, P=0.021). CONCLUSION: Lengths of stay were reduced without critical declines in diagnostic concordance rates when emergency medicine physicians, instead of IM residents in the ED, decided upon admissions of IM patients.
Academic Medical Centers ; Cardiology ; Diagnosis ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Medicine ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Internal Medicine* ; Length of Stay ; Pulmonary Medicine

OBJECTIVE: Several abbreviated versions of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) have been developed and are widely used in clinical settings. In this study, we provide evidence supporting the use of abbreviated versions of AUDIT by comparing the utility of various abbreviated versions and determining cut-off values for the population of South Korea. METHODS: Data were obtained from the 4th to 6th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. After calculating the whole AUDIT score, we applied the cut-off value of at-risk drinking proposed by the World Health Organization and divided the study sample into normal and at-risk drinking groups. Receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn for AUDIT-3rd question (Q3) alone, AUDIT-quantity and frequency (QF), AUDIT-consumption (C), AUDIT-4, and AUDIT-primary clinic (PC), and optimal cut-off values were obtained for each group. RESULTS: A total of 46,450 subjects were analyzed. The at-risk drinking group comprised 29.2% of all subjects. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the abbreviated versions of AUDIT increased from 0.954 to 0.991 as the number of questions increased from one to four. The differences in AUROC between the abbreviated versions of AUDIT were statistically significant. The most appropriate cut-off values for AUDIT-Q3 alone, AUDIT-QF, AUDIT-C, AUDIT-4, and AUDIT-PC for adults over age 19 were 2, 4, 5, 6, and 4 points, respectively. CONCLUSION: As the number of items analyzed increased from one to four items, the AUROC increased to a statistically significant level. Cut-off values for abbreviated versions of AUDIT are similar in South Korea to other countries.
Adult ; Alcohol-Related Disorders ; Alcoholism ; Drinking ; Humans ; Korea ; Nutrition Surveys* ; ROC Curve ; World Health Organization

OBJECTIVE: Most patients with head trauma require brain computed tomography (CT) in the emergency department. However, the requirement for facial CT remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of brain CT alone for detection of facial fractures and its ability to determine the requirement for additional facial CT. METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study was conducted in two tertiary hospitals in Seoul, Republic of Korea, between January 2014 and December 2015. Data were collected from the medical records of adult patients (aged over 18 years) who had undergone both brain and facial CT on the same day as their presentation to the emergency department with blunt trauma to the head and face. The same radiologist analyzed all brain and facial CT images. RESULTS: Eight hundred and sixty patients (668 men, 192 women; mean age 48.60±18.2 years) were identified to have had facial fractures. There was a statistically significant predominance of men but not of any particular age group. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of brain CT were 83.72%, 98.87%, 97.17%, 92.92%, and 94.08%, respectively. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that brain CT has high diagnostic value for detection of upper facial bone fractures with high accuracy and can aid emergency physicians when determining the requirement for additional facial CT.
Adult ; Brain* ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Diagnosis ; Emergencies ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Facial Bones* ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Records ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Seoul ; Skull ; Tertiary Care Centers

OBJECTIVE: A growing interest in extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) as a rescue strategy for refractory adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) currently exists. This study aims to determine current standards of care and practice variation for ECPR patients in the USA and Korea. METHODS: In December 2015, we surveyed centers from the Korean Hypothermia Network (KORHN) Investigators and the US National Post-Arrest Research Consortium (NPARC) on current targeted temperature management and ECPR practices. This project analyzes the subsection of questions addressing ECPR practices. We summarized survey results using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Overall, 9 KORHN and 4 NPARC centers reported having ECPR programs and had complete survey data available. Two KORHN centers utilized extracorporeal membrane oxygenation only for postarrest circulatory support in patients with refractory shock and were excluded from further analysis. Centers with available ECPR generally saw a high volume of OHCA patients (10/11 centers care for >75 OHCA a year). Location of, and providers trained for cannulation varied across centers. All centers in both countries (KORHN 7/7, NPARC 4/4) treated comatose ECPR patients with targeted temperature management. All NPARC centers and four of seven KORHN centers reported having a standardized hospital protocol for ECPR. Upper age cutoff for eligibility ranged from 60 to 75 years. No absolute contraindications were unanimous among centers. CONCLUSION: A wide variability in practice patterns exist between centers performing ECPR for refractory OHCA in the US and Korea. Standardized protocols and shared research databases might inform best practices, improve outcomes, and provide a foundation for prospective studies.
Adult* ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation* ; Catheterization ; Coma ; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Hypothermia ; Korea ; Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest* ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Prospective Studies ; Research Personnel ; Shock ; Standard of Care

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate (1) whether the learning curve of new catheterization laboratory operators increases the incidence of complications of transradial access during percutaneous coronary interventions and (2) whether manual compression with a two-step approach is safe and efficient for radial access hemostasis. METHODS: We performed a prospective study with all consecutive patients who underwent a coronary diagnostic or intervention procedure with radial access. The primary end point was a composite of pulseless radial artery of the wrist and hematoma evaluated after 24 hours. The secondary end point of efficacy was defined as the presence of bleeding or hematoma after 30 seconds. RESULTS: From March 2016 to June 2016, 150 consecutive patients, of whom 147 underwent coronary angiography and/or percutaneous coronary intervention through radial access, were included in the present study. The primary end point was present in 33%, but pulseless radial artery of the wrist was present only in 5.3%. We found that the incidence of primary end point was statistically different according to the number of puncture attempts, with a cutoff of two punctures with blood. The secondary end point of safety was present only in 4.7% of the cases. CONCLUSION: Radial access is feasible and safe even if performed by training physicians. Manual compression with early evaluation after 30 seconds is a safe technique for managing the radial access after sheath removal.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Coronary Angiography ; Hematoma ; Hemorrhage ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Learning Curve ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Prospective Studies ; Punctures ; Radial Artery ; Wrist

OBJECTIVE: The injury-related disease burden in South Korea is relatively high compared to that in other nations. This study was conducted to identify the scale and causes of injury by severity, using an injury pyramid and analyzing the sex and age-dependent differences and the basic demographic characteristics. METHODS: Unintentional injury was estimated for each group after classifying injury-related deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatient department (OPD) visits based on their severity. The injury pyramid was calculated by classifying the injury outcomes into deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatient visits. RESULTS: The incidence of unintentional injury included 31.74 deaths, 1,715.27 hospitalizations, and 7,317.55 OPD visits per 100,000 persons. The incidence of injury was higher among males than that among females. There were more hospitalizations and OPD visits than deaths among females. The mortality and hospitalization rates due to injury per 100,000 persons were the highest among those ≥75 years old, and the OPD visit rate was the highest among preschool children aged 0 to 6 years. The injury mechanisms that caused most deaths and hospitalizations in South Korea were injuries related to traffic, falls, poisoning, and burns/fires. CONCLUSION: The scale of unintentional injury varies based on sex, age, and injury mechanism; additionally there are differences in the incidence of injuries between males and females depending on their age and injury mechanism. The high incidence of injury in elderly people could be a factor that increases the burden of injury in South Korea; hence, it is necessary to develop an injury prevention program that targets the elderly.
Accident Prevention ; Accidental Falls ; Aged ; Child, Preschool ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Male ; Mortality ; Outpatients ; Poisoning

OBJECTIVE: Clinically, consumptive coagulopathy, such as disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC), is the most important among the common venomous snakebite complications owing to the serious hemorrhage risk associated with this condition. We evaluated the predictive value of the delta neutrophil index (DNI)—a new indicator for immature granulocytes—for DIC diagnosis. METHODS: This retrospective observational study consecutively assessed adult patients with venomous snakebites for over 51 months. Patients were categorized into the no DIC and DIC groups. DNI values were measured within 24 hours after snakebite. RESULTS: Thirty patients (26.3%) developed DIC. The DIC group had significantly higher median initial DNI than the no DIC group (0% vs. 0.2%, P < 0.001). When the DIC group was divided into early and late groups (within and over 24 hours after snakebite, respectively), the DNI of the former was significantly higher than that of the latter and no DIC group. The late DIC group had significantly higher DNI than the no DIC group. Furthermore, DNI positively correlated with the DIC score (r=0.548, P < 0.001). The initial DNI (odds ratio, 4.449; 95% confidence interval, 1.738 to 11.388; P=0.002) was an early DIC predictor. The area under the curve based on the initial DNI’s receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.724. CONCLUSION: DNI values were significantly higher in the DIC group. Additionally, DNI was an early predictor of DIC development in patients with venomous snakebites in the emergency department.
Adult ; Dacarbazine ; Diagnosis ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Neutrophils* ; Observational Study ; Retrospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Snake Bites* ; Venoms*

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether ultrasonographic examination compared to chest radiography (CXR) is effective for evaluating complications after central venous catheterization. METHODS: We performed a prospective observational study. Immediately after central venous catheter insertion, we asked the radiologic department to perform a portable CXR scan. A junior and senior medical resident each performed ultrasonographic evaluation of the position of the catheter tip and complications such as pneumothorax and pleural effusion (hemothorax). We estimated the time required for ultrasound (US) and CXR. RESULTS: Compared to CXR, US could equivalently identify the catheter tip in the internal jugular or subclavian veins (P=1.000). Compared with CXR, US examinations conducted by junior residents could equivalently evaluate pneumothorax (P=1.000), while US examinations conducted by senior residents could also equivalently evaluate pneumothorax (P=0.557) and pleural effusion (P=0.337). The required time for US was shorter than that for CXR (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Compared to CXR, US could equivalently and more quickly identify complications such as pneumothorax or pleural effusion.
Catheterization, Central Venous* ; Catheters* ; Central Venous Catheters* ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Observational Study ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumothorax ; Prospective Studies ; Radiography ; Subclavian Vein ; Thorax ; Ultrasonography*