Acute basilar artery (BA) occlusion is a key etiology of devastating posterior circulation stroke, unless recanalization is performed early. Recanalization therapy is determined synthetically based on symptom onset time, stroke severity, and brain imaging. Herein, we report the case of a 72-year-old male patient presenting with minor neurological symptoms, but with thrombotic occlusion at the BA tip. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) showed systolic flow reversal along the vertebrobasilar arteries, and the patient benefited from endovascular thrombectomy. This case highlights the critical role of TCD in identifying hemodynamic insufficiency and determining the implementation of endovascular interventions to mitigate stroke progression.

Acute basilar artery (BA) occlusion is a key etiology of devastating posterior circulation stroke, unless recanalization is performed early. Recanalization therapy is determined synthetically based on symptom onset time, stroke severity, and brain imaging. Herein, we report the case of a 72-year-old male patient presenting with minor neurological symptoms, but with thrombotic occlusion at the BA tip. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) showed systolic flow reversal along the vertebrobasilar arteries, and the patient benefited from endovascular thrombectomy. This case highlights the critical role of TCD in identifying hemodynamic insufficiency and determining the implementation of endovascular interventions to mitigate stroke progression.

Acute basilar artery (BA) occlusion is a key etiology of devastating posterior circulation stroke, unless recanalization is performed early. Recanalization therapy is determined synthetically based on symptom onset time, stroke severity, and brain imaging. Herein, we report the case of a 72-year-old male patient presenting with minor neurological symptoms, but with thrombotic occlusion at the BA tip. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) showed systolic flow reversal along the vertebrobasilar arteries, and the patient benefited from endovascular thrombectomy. This case highlights the critical role of TCD in identifying hemodynamic insufficiency and determining the implementation of endovascular interventions to mitigate stroke progression.

Acute basilar artery (BA) occlusion is a key etiology of devastating posterior circulation stroke, unless recanalization is performed early. Recanalization therapy is determined synthetically based on symptom onset time, stroke severity, and brain imaging. Herein, we report the case of a 72-year-old male patient presenting with minor neurological symptoms, but with thrombotic occlusion at the BA tip. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) showed systolic flow reversal along the vertebrobasilar arteries, and the patient benefited from endovascular thrombectomy. This case highlights the critical role of TCD in identifying hemodynamic insufficiency and determining the implementation of endovascular interventions to mitigate stroke progression.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is common cause of fatal intoxication. When carbon monoxide is absorbed into the blood, it interferes with the oxygen supply to the cells, causing damage to tissues and organs. Delayed neuropsychiatric sequelae (DNS) manifested by cognitive dysfunction, motor disorder, micturition disorder are widely known complication of carbon monoxide intoxication. But neuromuscular complication is a rare DNS of carbon monoxide intoxication. We herein report a 42-year-old patient with multifocal neuropathies, rhabdomyolysis, and dermal change due to carbon monoxide intoxication.

Methods: We developed a questionnaire related to VFSS protocols and test diet. It was sent to the expert physicians who directly implementing VFSS in 35 training hospitals, which were sent out and collected by e-mail from December 7, 2017 to February 19, 2018. Among them, 12 out of 28 hospitals selected randomly and we conducted field survey including observing the process of the VFSS. Results: The most common protocol was to provide a test sample with 7 stages (28.1%). In the order of provided test samples, ‘the small amount of liquid’ was the most provided in the 1st stage (53.1%). Among the used samples of thin liquid level, the mixing ratio of the liquid samples and barium was not uniform among each institution. ‘Yogurt (semi-solid type)’ was the most commonly used sample for ‘nectar thick’ and ‘honey thick’ diet. Various samples were used on ‘pudding thick’ diet. Conclusion These results indicate that, in the 32 Korean general hospitals, each hospital uses samples depending on experience or according to its own standards rather than unified standard among the institutions. Thus, the protocols for each hospital are not standardized, which make them difficult to the accurate sharing of information about the test results. Therefore, it will be necessary to make a consensus for the protocol and establish nationwide standard of VFSS through future research

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Understanding the mechanism of chewing and swallowing food is important when creating a proper diet for older adults. This study investigated whether texture-modified model foods can reduce the difference in chewing and swallowing parameters between healthy community-living young and older adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In total, 35 older and 20 young adults (mean age: 75 and 25 years, respectively), matched for sex and number of teeth, were recruited and their unstimulated salivation and tongue pressure were measured. Simultaneous assessment of chewing and swallowing characteristics was conducted using surface electromyography and a videofluoroscopic swallowing study while the participants ingested 8 g of model food with one to four levels of hardness. RESULTS: The average tongue pressure and salivation among older adults were 61% and 49.7%, respectively, of the corresponding values observed in young adults. The older adult group used significantly (P < 0.05) increased muscle force with more chewing cycles (P < 0.05) than the young adult group, which was maintained even when consuming foods with the lowest hardness, although without chewing. However, the age effect on oral processing time existed only for the hardest foods. Swallowing difficulties among older adults were demonstrated by the significant increase in vallecula aggregation time. The total food intake duration was significantly (P < 0.05) longer in older adults than in young adults, regardless of food hardness. CONCLUSIONS There were measurable differences in the process of chewing and swallowing food between young and older adults, which can be improved with food hardness control. Adjusting food hardness may help food intake in healthy older adults.

Objectives: Disability weights require regular updates, as they are influenced by both diseases and societal perceptions. Consequently, it is necessary to develop an up-to-date list of the causes of diseases and establish a survey panel for estimating disability weights. Accordingly, this study was conducted to calculate, assess, modify, and validate disability weights suitable for Korea, accounting for its cultural and social characteristics. Methods: The 380 causes of disease used in the survey were derived from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network and from 2019 and 2020 Korean studies on disability weights for causes of disease. Disability weights were reanalyzed by integrating the findings of an earlier survey on disability weights in Korea with those of the additional survey conducted in this study. The responses were transformed into paired comparisons and analyzed using probit regression analysis. Coefficients for the causes of disease were converted into predicted probabilities, and disability weights in 2 models (model 1 and 2) were rescaled using a normal distribution and the natural logarithm, respectively. Results: The mean values for the 380 causes of disease in models 1 and 2 were 0.488 and 0.369, respectively. Both models exhibited the same order of disability weights. The disability weights for the 300 causes of disease present in both the current and 2019 studies demonstrated a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.994 (p=0.001 for both models). This study presents a detailed add-on approach for calculating disability weights. Conclusions This method can be employed in other countries to obtain timely disability weight estimations.

Purpose: We evaluated the risk factors for progression to chronic complicated bronchopleural fistula (BPF) after pulmonary resection using follow-up CT. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 45 cases with BPF that had undergone pulmonary resection during 2010-2018. We compared the clinical and radiological characteristics of those with complicated BPF (n = 24) and those without complicated (sterilized) BPF (n = 21). The clinical and radiological risk factors for progression to chronic complicated BPF were examined by logistic regression analysis. Results: The thickness of the pleural cavity wall (p = 0.022), the size of the pleural cavity (p = 0.029), and the size increase of BPF on follow-up (p = 0.012) were significantly different between the two groups. The risk factors for progression to chronic complicated BPF were age > 70 years (odds ratio, 6.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.2–33.7), the thickness of the cavity wall > 5 mm (odds ratio, 52.5; 95% confidence interval, 5.1–545.4), and an increase in the size of the pleural cavity on follow-up CT (odds ratio, 12.5; 95% confidence interval, 2.1–73.5), only in the univariate analysis. Conclusion The risk factors for progression to chronic complicated BPF can be evaluated using follow-up CT.