No abstract available.

Opioids are effective analgesics, but they are often difficult to use properly, due mainly to adverse events, such as constipation, respiratory depression, addiction, tolerance, and opioid induced hyperalgesia. In the past, the problem of opioids around the world was usually caused by drugs traded illegally, so there was no need for medical and social attention in Korea. On the other hand, with the dramatic increase in the therapeutic use of opioids, which commenced more than a decade ago, problems caused by legally prescribed drugs have emerged, and now a more serious opioid crisis is being experienced than in the days of illegal drugs. A growing number of patients are chronically prescribed opioids, and a growing number of health care providers and hospitals suffer from problems related to chronic prescription. Currently, in Korea, it is the time to pay serious attention to achieve the safe and effective use of prescribed opioids. This paper consists of the following parts. 1) A summary of the issues related to chronic pain, opioids, and problems associated with the use of opioids. 2) Some case examples the authors' experienced. 3) Simple guidelines on the use of opioids in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain are proposed based on the author's experience and existing literature. These guidelines are by no means comprehensive, and hopefully in the future, related experts will join forces to develop better guidelines.
Analgesics ; Analgesics, Opioid ; Chronic Pain ; Constipation ; Hand ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Hyperalgesia ; Korea ; Prescriptions ; Respiratory Insufficiency

Umbilical catheters have been used in NICUs for drawing blood samples, measuring blood pressure, and administering fluid and medications for more than 50 years. When the patient does not need the umbilical catheter or complications associated with umbilical catheters have risen, the catheter must be removed. In this process, the catheter may snap or be cut off and the fragment may migrate to a near vessel or to the heart and cause infection, thrombosis, or arrythmia. We report a case where in the process of removing an umbilical vein catheter, the catheter was stuck to the dried umbilical cord and pulling at it caused the catheter to snap. An immediate roentgenogram showed the fragmented catheter had migrated to the left pulmonary artery. Using an intravascular snare with a femoral approach, we were able to collect the remaining catheter and remove it from the patient's body without any complications.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Blood Pressure ; Catheters* ; Heart ; Humans ; Pulmonary Artery ; SNARE Proteins* ; Thrombosis ; Umbilical Cord ; Umbilical Veins*

Kallmann's syndrome is a rare condition, and this is defined as hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and anosmia or hyposmia. The syndrome may be associated with cleft lip, cleft palate, color blindness, skeletal abnormalities, renal agenesis, sensory neural hearing loss, obesity, etc. About 10 cases of Kallmann's syndrome have been reported in Korea, but there are no reports on cases of Kallmann's syndrome with atrophy of the frontal lobe, severe mental retardation and unilateral renal agenesis. We experienced a case of 17-year-old boy with abnormalities of the olfactory system, as was noted on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He had an atrophy of the frontal lobe, mental retardation, a micropenis and unilateral renal agenesis. Hormonal assay documented low levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). So, we report here on an unusual case of Kallmann's syndrome along with briefly reviewing the relevant medical literature.
Adolescent ; Atrophy ; Cleft Lip ; Cleft Palate ; Color Vision Defects ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; Frontal Lobe ; Genital Diseases, Male ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Hypogonadism ; Intellectual Disability ; Kallmann Syndrome ; Kidney ; Kidney Diseases ; Korea ; Luteinizing Hormone ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Obesity ; Olfaction Disorders ; Penis ; Testosterone ; Thyrotropin

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has a strong genetic component, and its prevalence is notably increased in the family members of T2DM patients. However, there are few studies about the family history of T2DM. We carried out this study to assess the influences of family history on clinical characteristics in T2DM patients. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving 651 T2DM patients. Patient history and physical examination were performed and fasting blood was taken. If any first degree relative was diabetic, a family history of diabetes was considered to exist. RESULTS: Among the total 621 patients, 38.4% had a family history of diabetes. Patients with a family history had a younger age, higher weight, younger age at diagnosis and higher triglyceride level than did those without a family history. Dyslipidemia medication and metabolic syndrome were more prevalent in familial diabetes. Sex, blood pressure, previous treatment for diabetes, HbA1C, C-peptide, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were not different between familial and non-familial diabetes. Upon multiple linear regression analysis, the family history of diabetes remained significantly associated with serum triglyceride level. CONCLUSION: In T2DM patients with a family history of diabetes, the disease tended to develop earlier. Metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors are more prevalent in familial T2DM than they were in non-familial T2DM. These results support the necessity of earlier screening for diabetes in family members of T2DM patients and more active prevention against cardiovascular disease in T2DM patients with a family history.
Blood Pressure ; C-Peptide ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Cholesterol, LDL ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Dyslipidemias ; Fasting ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Lipoproteins ; Mass Screening ; Physical Examination ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper was report first case of renal cell carcinoma developed in a worker who worked in an automobile manufacture line which handles trichloroethylene in Korea. CASE PRESENTATION: To clarify the relationship between the onset of renal cell carcinoma in 52-years old male worker and the exposure to trichloroethylene, document studies and work environment measurement were done. Past work environment exposure data were reviewed and medical history and surgery records of the worker were also reviewed. The patient had no personal risk factor related to renal cell carcinoma except for his smoking habit of quarter a pack per day for twenty years, and since trichloroethylene was not part of measurement criteria, past work environment risk assessment data could not verify the exposure. The exposure level is deduced by analyzing material exposure level of work environments which has similar processes in data from revised research of chemical exposure standard and work environment validity assessment. Evaluation Committee of Epidemiologic Survey decided that there are relevant relationship between the exposure and the disease, though we do not have exact data during that period, most experts agree that in every factories they used trichloroethylene without any direction. CONCLUSIONS: From the relevant medical history and the results of the usage of trichloroethylene in the relevant industries, and initial discovery of renal cell carcinoma at health inspection sonogram in 2001, it can be concluded that suggests significant causal relationship between the exposure to trichloroethylene and renal cell carcinoma onset, thus reporting it to be the first domestic case declared to be occupational disease.
Automobiles* ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Male ; Occupational Diseases ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Trichloroethylene*

Coronary artery milking is defined as a systolic compression of the coronary artery, usually resulting from myocardial bridging. Rarely, congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension and ventricular aneurysm can lead to coronary artery milking, and there has been a reported case of left anterior descending coronary artery milking after coronary stenting. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is an emerging strategy for treatment of stenosis in the left main stem. We report a case of symtomatic systolic milking at the left main stem treated by direct stenting during PCI in a patient with unstable angina pectoris.
Aneurysm ; Angina, Unstable ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Vessels ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Milk ; Myocardial Bridging ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Pulmonary Heart Disease ; Stents

The accumulation of fluid in the pericardium in an amount sufficient to cause serious obstruction to the inflow of blood to the ventricles results in cardiac tamponade. This complication may be fatal if it is not recognized and treated promptly. We report a case of cardiac tamponade caused by acute pancreatitis, which resolved after catheter drainage.
Cardiac Tamponade* ; Catheters ; Drainage ; Pancreatitis* ; Pericardium

Sarcoma is rare malignant tumor originated from mesenchymal stem cells that can differentiate to soft tissue and bone. Therefore sarcoma can be arised from any regions in human body. However, the incidence of bile duct sarcoma is extremely rare in adults. Obstructive jaundice is the most common presentation in the patients, but there're no specific symptoms or signs. Also it can be misdiagnosed with other tumors or benign lesions in computed tomography or ultrasonography. For these reasons, it is hard to diagnose and manage. We present a case of intrahepatic bile duct sarcoma misdiagnosed with liver abscess in 70 year-old female with literature review.
Adult ; Bile Ducts ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic* ; Female ; Human Body ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Liver Abscess* ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Sarcoma* ; Ultrasonography

Bile duct web is very rare disease and it's etiology is controversial. Some webs are occurred in the presence of chronic inflammation, frequently associated with bile duct stone, but others are thought to be congenital. Many patients with bile duct web are asymptomatic, but they sometimes present symptom of biliary obstruction and cholangitis. It can be diagnosed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogram, typically appearing as thin and shelf like radiolucent ring. We report a case of the common bile duct web with bile duct stones diagnosed by Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in a 65-year-old man. The patient was treated by balloon dilatation successfully.
Aged ; Bile Ducts* ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Cholangitis ; Common Bile Duct* ; Dilatation* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Rare Diseases