No abstract available.
Carbamazepine* ; Haloperidol*

PURPOSE: To establish modality of diagnosis and treatment in pisiform injuries by analysis of its clinical experiences. Materials & Methods : Twelve fractures and one dislocation of the pisiform that were followed up for more than twelve months were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Eight cases had associated injuries on the wrist or hand of ipsilateral side. Eight cases were diagnosed by routine radiography and three cases required additional special radiography such as the supinated oblique view or carpal tunnel view. One case was diagnosed by computed tomography. Cast immobilization was performed in nine cases and three cases underwent internal fixation. Pisiform was excised in one chronic dislocation case. The results were usually satisfactory but two cases showed pisotriquetral arthritis and one of them underwent excision of pisiform. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of pisiform injury may accompany some difficulties due to associated carpal injuries. Routine radiography is sufficient for the screening of it if attention is paid and specific radiography such as supinated oblique view or carpal tunnel view may be very useful for confirmation. As conservative treatment alone shows good result, operative fixation is recommended for limited cases. The excision of pisiform is required in case of pisotriquetral arthritis or neglected chronic dislocation.
Arthritis ; Diagnosis* ; Dislocations ; Hand ; Immobilization ; Mass Screening ; Radiography ; Retrospective Studies ; Wrist

BACKGROUND: Thymoma occurs in approximately 10% of myasthnia gravis patients. The thymus or a thymoma plays a role in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis. However, there is currently no definitive position about the effect of thymectomy on patients' symptoms and prognosis. We retrospectively studied the effect of thymoma on remission in patients who underwent thymectomy for myasthenia gravis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: From July, 1992 to December, 2002, we performed extended thymectomy due to myasthenia gravis for 100 patients. The thymoma group included 30 people, the non-thymoma group included 70 people and the change of the Ossermann stage between the two groups after surgery was compared. RESULT: For the non-thymoma group, the average age was 34.7 years (range: 12.7~47.7). Before the surgical operation, the Ossermann stage for the non-thymoma group was an average of 3.06, and this was reduced to an average of 1.41 after operation. For the thymoma group, the average age was 50.9 years (range: 37.3~64.5). Before the surgical operation, the Ossermann stage for the thymoma group was an average of 3.00, and this was reduced to an average of 1.47 after operation. The non-thymoma patients had a higher proportion of males than the thymoma patients (35% vs 30%, respectively). The Masaoka stage was stage of the thymoma group was I for 27 patients and stage II for 3 patients. There was no statistically significant Ossermann stage change between the thymoma and non-thymoma groups. CONCLUSION: Whether thymoma was present or not, there was no significant difference on remission and improvement of myasthenia symptoms after thymectomy in the myasthenia gravis patients.
Humans ; Male ; Myasthenia Gravis* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Thymectomy* ; Thymoma* ; Thymus Gland

PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate the survival rate and prognostic factor of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who received chemoirradiation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From March 1993 to November 1995, twenty patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer were treated at the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, St Mary's Hospital, Catholic University Medical College. There were 11 men and 9 women. Age at diagnosis ranged from 34 to 75 years. All patient were treated according to a protocol consisting of 40 Gy external radiation by split course concomitant with intravenous 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 500 mg/m2 given in a bolus injection 4 hours before radiatian on each of the first 3 days of each treatment course. Among them, 5 patients received incomplete radiotherapy. The follow-up period ranged from 1.3 to 29 months. RESULTS: In all the patients, median survival is 5.0 months and one and two-year overall survival rate was 34.3% and 25.8%, respectively. Median survival was 9.0 months and one-year survival rate was 33.3% in 15 patients with complete radiotherapy. The significant prognostic factors were stage, tumor location, and completion of chemoradio- therapy(p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: A combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy resulted in improved median survival. However, the significant prognostic factars affecting survival rate in this analysis need to be verified further through randomized trial.
Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Radiation Oncology ; Radiotherapy ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVE: This multicenter clinical trial was carried out to investigate the efficacy and the safety of olanzapine for the treatment of Korean patients. METHOD: 105 patients with schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder, visited at 10 mental or university hospitals, had received an open and non-comparative treatment with olanzapine for 8 weeks. Patients had psychotic or depressive symptoms with the severity above moderate degree or intolerable side effects to previous antipsychotics. After a wash-out period of 2-7 days, 10mg olanzapine was prescribed initially to all the patients, and then the dosage could be adjusted within the range of 5-20mg/day of olanzapine by 3-7 days. RESULTS: 90(85.7%) of 105 patients completed the 8-weeks trial and the mean modal dose of olanzapine was 16.1(+/-4.7)mg/day. At the end of the trial, 73 patients(69.5%) were classified as responder, which was defined as 40% or more improvement in BPRS(Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale) score comparing to baseline. There was a significant reduction in the scores of PANSS(Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) and subscales including negative symptom scores and CGI. Also weekly analysis showed that the reductions in scores were kept on for the whole period of the trial. 43.8% of all the patients had depressive symptoms at the baseline and total scores of MADRS(Montgomery-sberg Depression Rating Scale) and HAM-A(Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety) were also reduced after the trials. Vital signs revealed no clinically significant changes but continuous weight gain was observed during the treatment with olanzapine. The scores of SAS(Simpson-Angus Scale) and AIMS(Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale) for assessing the EPS(extrapyramidal symptoms) and tardive dyskinesia respectively were significantly decreased and only a few patients reported EPS as adverse events. Although mild and clinically non-significant elevation of ALT/SGPT was observed, most laboratory parameters including plasma prolactin level showed no significant changes during the trial. CONCLUSIONS: Although this trial had many limitations because it was a non-comparative and open study, olanzapine showed high efficacy on the positive, negative and depressive symptoms in schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder. In addition to that, olanzapine showed a substantially favorable safety profile, such as low incidence of EPS and hyperprolactinemia.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Depression ; Dyskinesias ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Hyperprolactinemia ; Incidence ; Movement Disorders ; Plasma ; Prolactin ; Psychotic Disorders* ; Schizophrenia* ; Vital Signs ; Weight Gain

Great advances have been made in the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART) since the first in vitro fertilization (IVF) baby was born in Korea in the year of 1985. However, it deserve to say that the invaluable data from fertility centers may serve as a useful source to find out which factors affect successful IVF outcome and to offer applicable information to infertile patients and fertility clinics. This article intended to report the status of ART in 2009 Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology surveyed. The current survey was performed to assess the status and success rate of ART performed in Korea, between January 1 and December 31, 2009. Reporting forms had been sent out to IVF centers via e-mail, and collected by e-mail as well in 2012. With International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies recommendation, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and non-ICSI cases have been categorized and also IVF-ET cases involving frozen embryo replacement have been surveyed separately. Seventy-four centers have reported the treatment cycles initiated in the year of 2009, and had performed a total of 27,947 cycles of ART treatments. Among a total of 27,947 treatment cycles, IVF and ICSI cases added up to 22,049 (78.9%), with 45.3% IVF without ICSI and 54.7% IVF with ICSI, respectively. Among the IVF and ICSI patients, patients confirmed to have achieved clinical pregnancy was 28.8% per cycle with oocyte retrieval, and 30.9% per cycle with embryo transfer. The most common number of embryos transferred in 2009 is three embryos (40.4%), followed by 2 embryos (28.4%) and a single embryo transferred (13.6%). Among IVF and ICSI cycles that resulted in multiple live births, twin pregnancy rate was 45.3% and triple pregnancy rate was 1.1%. A total of 191 cases of oocyte donation had been performed to result in 25.0% of live birth rate. Meanwhile, a total of 5,619 cases of frozen embryo replacement had been performed with 33.7% of clinical pregnancy rate per cycle with embryo transfer. When comparing with international registry data, clinical pregnancy rate per transfer from fresh IVF cycles including ICSI (34.1%,) was comparable to clinical pregnancy rate per transfer in European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology report was 32.5% though lower than 45.0% for USA data. There was no remarkable difference in status of assisted reproductive technology in Korea between the current report and the data reported in 2008. The age of women trying to get pregnant was reconfirmed to be the most important factor that may have impact on success of ART treatment.
Electronic Mail ; Embryo Transfer ; Female ; Fertility ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Korea* ; Live Birth ; Oocyte Donation ; Oocyte Retrieval ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Reproduction ; Reproductive Techniques ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted* ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic

Background: and purpose Whether pharmacologically altered high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) affects the risk of cardiovascular events is unknown. Recently, we have reported the Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Asian Patients with Ischaemic Stroke at High Risk of Cerebral Haemorrhage (PICASSO) trial that demonstrated the non-inferiority of cilostazol to aspirin and superiority of probucol to non-probucol for cardiovascular prevention in ischemic stroke patients (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01013532). We aimed to determine whether on-treatment HDL-C changes by cilostazol and probucol influence the treatment effect of each study medication during the PICASSO study. Methods: Of the 1,534 randomized patients, 1,373 (89.5%) with baseline cholesterol parameters were analyzed. Efficacy endpoint was the composite of stroke, myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis examined an interaction between the treatment effect and changes in HDL-C levels from randomization to 1 month for each study arm. Results: One-month post-randomization mean HDL-C level was significantly higher in the cilostazol group than in the aspirin group (1.08 mmol/L vs. 1.00 mmol/L, P<0.001). The mean HDL-C level was significantly lower in the probucol group than in the non-probucol group (0.86 mmol/L vs. 1.22 mmol/L, P<0.001). These trends persisted throughout the study. In both study arms, no significant interaction was observed between HDL-C changes and the assigned treatment regarding the risk of the efficacy endpoint. Conclusions Despite significant HDL-C changes, the effects of cilostazol and probucol treatment on the risk of cardiovascular events were insignificant. Pharmacologically altered HDL-C levels may not be reliable prognostic markers for cardiovascular risk.

Despite the great socioeconomic burden of stroke, there have been few reports of stroke statistics in Korea. In this scenario, the Epidemiologic Research Council of the Korean Stroke Society launched the “Stroke Statistics in Korea” project, aimed at writing a contemporary, comprehensive, and representative report on stroke epidemiology in Korea. This report contains general statistics of stroke, prevalence of behavioral and vascular risk factors, stroke characteristics, pre-hospital system of care, hospital management, quality of stroke care, and outcomes. In this report, we analyzed the most up-to-date and nationally representative databases, rather than performing a systematic review of existing evidence. In summary, one in 40 adults are patients with stroke and 232 subjects per 100,000 experience a stroke event every year. Among the 100 patients with stroke in 2014, 76 had ischemic stroke, 15 had intracerebral hemorrhage, and nine had subarachnoid hemorrhage. Stroke mortality is gradually declining, but it remains as high as 30 deaths per 100,000 individuals, with regional disparities. As for stroke risk factors, the prevalence of smoking is decreasing in men but not in women, and the prevalence of alcohol drinking is increasing in women but not in men. Population-attributable risk factors vary with age. Smoking plays a role in young-aged individuals, hypertension and diabetes in middle-aged individuals, and atrial fibrillation in the elderly. About four out of 10 hospitalized patients with stroke are visiting an emergency room within 3 hours of symptom onset, and only half use an ambulance. Regarding acute management, the proportion of patients with ischemic stroke receiving intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular treatment was 10.7% and 3.6%, respectively. Decompressive surgery was performed in 1.4% of patients with ischemic stroke and in 28.1% of those with intracerebral hemorrhage. The cumulative incidence of bleeding and fracture at 1 year after stroke was 8.9% and 4.7%, respectively. The direct costs of stroke were about ₩1.68 trillion (KRW), of which ₩1.11 trillion were for ischemic stroke and ₩540 billion for hemorrhagic stroke. The great burden of stroke in Korea can be reduced through more concentrated efforts to control major attributable risk factors for age and sex, reorganize emergency medical service systems to give patients with stroke more opportunities for reperfusion therapy, disseminate stroke unit care, and reduce regional disparities. We hope that this report can contribute to achieving these tasks.
Adult ; Aged ; Alcohol Drinking ; Ambulances ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Emergency Medical Services ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Hope ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality ; Prevalence ; Reperfusion ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Writing

BACKGROUND: Although several hospital-based stroke studies were published, there has not been any reliable data representing the clinical characteristics of stroke in Korea. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients with ischemic stroke registered in the Korean Stroke Registry (KSR), which is the largest prospective hospital-based nation-wide stroke registry in Korea. METHODS: The KSR provided standardized protocols for collecting data, which includes the data of demographics, subtypes of stroke, risk factors, and neurological outcome at discharge. The brain imaging studies, including CT or MRI, were performed in all cases. RESULTS: KSR registered 10,811 patients of acute ischemic stroke between Nov. 2002 and Jun. 2004. The large-artery atherosclerosis was the most common subtype (37.3%), followed by small vessel occlusion (30.8%). Hypertension (65.4%) was the most common risk factor, followed by smoking (34.5%) and diabetes (28.3%). Although most of the hypertensive and diabetic patients had been diagnosed before the stroke, less than 45.4% and 32.5% of them were under regular control. The steno-occlusive lesion of extracranial carotid artery was only 29.3% and the ratio of intra- to extracranial artery disease was more than 2 in KSR. Only 20.5% of patients were admitted within 3 hours after stroke onset and 2.1% were treated with intravenous thrombolysis. In-hospital case-fatality was 5.2%, which is relatively comparable to those of previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: The KSR provided informative data in understanding the clinical characteristics of ischemic stroke in Korea. Further analysis of KSR will facilitate clinical trials and development of guidelines for the management of stroke patients.
Arteries ; Atherosclerosis ; Carotid Arteries ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Demography ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neuroimaging ; Prospective Studies* ; Registries ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke*

Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in Korea and the world. Since 2004, this is the 4th gastric cancer guideline published in Korea which is the revised version of previous evidence-based approach in 2018. Current guideline is a collaborative work of the interdisciplinary working group including experts in the field of gastric surgery, gastroenterology, endoscopy, medical oncology, abdominal radiology, pathology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and guideline development methodology. Total of 33 key questions were updated or proposed after a collaborative review by the working group and 40 statements were developed according to the systematic review using the MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library and KoreaMed database. The level of evidence and the grading of recommendations were categorized according to the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation proposition. Evidence level, benefit, harm, and clinical applicability was considered as the significant factors for recommendation. The working group reviewed recommendations and discussed for consensus. In the earlier part, general consideration discusses screening, diagnosis and staging of endoscopy, pathology, radiology, and nuclear medicine. Flowchart is depicted with statements which is supported by meta-analysis and references. Since clinical trial and systematic review was not suitable for postoperative oncologic and nutritional follow-up, working group agreed to conduct a nationwide survey investigating the clinical practice of all tertiary or general hospitals in Korea. The purpose of this survey was to provide baseline information on follow up. Herein we present a multidisciplinary-evidence based gastric cancer guideline.