PURPOSE: This study was performed to find the relation between glaucoma and the quality of life (QOL). METHODS: The questionnaire survey and ophthalmologic examination was made in 105 glaucoma patients under treatment at ophthalmology clinic of a university hospital and 120 normal persons who had undergone an routine health check-up from June 1st, 2000 and June 30th, 2001. The questionnaire was composed of general characteristics, health-related behavior and the short form-36 health survey for QOL. Using the t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson's correlation analysis and analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA), we examined the relationship between glaucoma and QOL. RESULTS: 1. By t-test or ANOVA various domains of QOL showed statistically significant difference by sex, age, coverage of medical insurance, family history of glaucoma, past history of systemic diseases, educational level, marital status, smoking and drinking status. Visual acuity showed significant positive correlation with QOL and horizontal and vertical cup-to-disk (C/D) ratio showed significant negative correlation with QOL. 2. By ANCOVA to find the association of glaucoma with QOL controlling other related characteristics of subjects, QOL of the glaucoma group showed lower than that of the normal group, but the differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: QOL of glaucoma patients was lower than that of normal persons without glaucoma considering sex, age, health insurance system, family history of glaucoma, past history of systemic disease, educational level, marital status, smoking status, drinking status and visual acuity, so further study will be necessary to observe the change of QOL according to progression of glaucoma and treatment status.
Drinking ; Glaucoma* ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Insurance ; Insurance, Health ; Marital Status ; Ophthalmology ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Visual Acuity

PURPOSE: To investigate the changes in tear flow and tear filim stability in patients with long-term instillation of antiglaucoma drug. METHODS AND OBJECTS: We measured Schirmer test score and tear film break-up time (BUT) in long-term antiglaucoma drug instilling 60 patients (120eyes) who had been diagnosed with open angle glaucoma and in randomly selected 60 normal subjects (120eyes) from March 2000 to February 2001 at Chosun University Hospital. Obtained results were retrospectively analyzed with the age progression and sex of subjects, duration of instillation, number and type of drugs to find out correlations between these factors. RESULTS: Average Schirmer test score and BUT were measured considerably lower in antiglaucomat drug instilled group compared to normal-subjects group (P<0.05, student t-test). Both measurements considerably decreased as age of patients and drug instillation time increased (P<0.05, ANOVA test). But number and type of instilled drugs had no considerable correlation to the obtained results (P>0.05, ANOVA test). CONCLUSIONS: It should be predicted that the patients who had instilled antiglaucoma drug for a long time and who are also of old age may develop dry eye syndrome and eye surface problem. So special care should be taken with glaucoma treatment in such cases.
Dry Eye Syndromes ; Glaucoma ; Glaucoma, Open-Angle ; Humans ; Instillation, Drug* ; Retrospective Studies ; Tears*

We report a 36-year-old male with the bilateral visual field defect following LASIK was observed. Preoperatively, patient had high myopia(right. -7.25 0.75x18, left. -7.5-0.5x12), normal intraocular pressure(IOP)(right/left: 16/14 mmHg), normal visual field(Humphrey 30-2 visual field)and revealed the tilted discs with symetric optic nerve head cupping(cup-to-disc ratio, 0.70), parapapillary atrophy. Bilateral LASIK keratorefractive surgery was on the same day and intraoperative complication was not noted. After the first operative visit day, examination revealed uncorreted visual acuity right 0.8 and left 0.6 but scotoma was reported. Three months later, Humphrey 30-2 visual field revealed a near-superior altitudinal defect in the right eye and nasal side visual field defect in the left eye. Best corrected visual acuity was 1.0 in the right eye, 0.8 in the left eye. Repeated visual fields over a 11-month period postoperatively showed stability of the defect, with IOP of 12 mmHg to 15 mmHg in each eye. We considered LASIK uses a microkeratome vaccum ring to make a corneal flap, transient elevation of IOP alters the microcirculation of optic nerve head and may have precipitated visual field defect.
Adult ; Atrophy ; Humans ; Intraoperative Complications ; Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ ; Male ; Microcirculation ; Optic Disk ; Scotoma ; Visual Acuity ; Visual Fields*

BACKGROUND: Newly developed alpha-, beta-receptor blocker, Amosulalol HCI(YM-09538) was evaluated for its hypotensive efficacy, safety and usefulness in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension. METHODS: Thirty patients of essential hypertension(male 8, female 22), mean age 55 years were included for the study. Amosulalol HCI was administered 20-60mg daily for 10 weeks and initial starting dose was 10mg twice daily and dose was increased 40mg and 60mg daily in cases of insatisfactory hypotensive effect ever 2 weeks interval. Patients were evaluated every two weeks on blood pressure, pulse rate, improvement of subjective symptoms and side effects. Laboratory examinations were carried out routinely in principle two times before trial and after completion of study. RESULTS: Blood pressure began to fall significantly after tow weeks of administration and changed from initial 172.4mmHg of systolic pressure to final 149.3mmHg and from 104.7mmHg of diastolic pressure to final 92.5mmHg. The response rates were marked fall in 30%, satisfactory fall in 40%, thus overall hypotensive effect was observed in 70%. Pulse rate decreased slightiy but significantly from 4 weeks of administration. Improvement of subjective symptoms were observed in 7 cases out of 12 cases and no significant side effects were observedd except of two mild transitory cases of polyuria and indigestion. Laboratory examination also did not show any significant changes before and after medication. CONCLUSION: The daily administration fo 20-60mg of Amosulalol HCI to moderate essectial hypertension seems to be effective and safe with clinical usefulness.
Blood Pressure ; Dyspepsia ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Nifedipine ; Perindopril ; Polyuria

The Flash Light Emitted Diode Flash Visual Evoked Potential(Flash VEP) is useful when patients are unable to cooperate sufficiently for a Pattern Reversal Visual Evoked Potential(RP-VEP). In order to evaluate the clinical utility of Flash VEP, we performed the PR-VEP and Flash VEP in 208 eyes of 104 normal persons. The average P100 latency(LaP100) was analyzed according to check size, age, sex, and the laterality of the eye. The LaP100 of PR-VEP stimulated with 8 X 8(120' X 96'), 16 X 16(60' X 48'), 32 X 32 (30' X 24') and 64 X 64(15' X 12') check size were 98.88 +/- 7.57msec(mean S.D msec) , 97.68 +/- 7.44msec, 96.31 +/- 7.21msec, 101.20 +/- 7.81msec, respectively. The LaP100 of PR-VEP stimulated with 32 X 32 check size at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th decades were 93.95 +/- 5.61msec, 94.70 +/- 7.71msec, 92.92 +/- 6.28msec, 97.78 +/- 6.24 msec, 102.79 +/- 5.27msec, respectively. The LaP100 of PR-VEP remained relatively stable until over 6th decade when it increased significantly (p<0.05). The LaP100 of FlashVEP in age of 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th decade were 87.08 +/- 7.82msec, 91.07 +/- 8.46msec, 99.37 +/- 6.36msec, 105.30 +/- 7.82msec, and 111.62 +/- 5.54msec, respectively. The LaP100 of Flash YEP increased progressively with aging changes(p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between the left and right eyes(p>0.05), and between male and female(p>0.05) in the LaP100 of both VEP. These results showed that LaP100 of PR-VEP changes according to the check size and patient's age. We should interprete the LaP100 of PR-VEP or Flash VEP after the processing of averaging its P100 according to the patient's.
Aging ; Humans ; Male

Postoperative endophthalmitis following cataract surgery is rare but may influence the final visual outcome markedly. The authors reviewed the clinical records of 16 patients who had been treated with the diagnosis of endophthalmitis after cataract surgeries from March. 1992. to September, 1995. We analysised their final visual outcomes according to cultured microorganisms, durations of symptom onset after the surgeries, the methods of antibiotic administration and treatment methods with or without vitrectomies. Final visual accuities were 0.5 or better in 50% of all eyes, 0.15 or better in 75% and light perception or worse in 4 eyes(25%). Twelve(75%) of all eyes were cultured in positive. Five of twelve culture proven cases were Staphylococcus epidermidis and five were Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Each case of Xanthomonas maltophilia and fluorescens were cultured. All 5 cases infected by gram positive organisms had got visual accuity of 0.15 or better but 4 of 7 eyes infected by gram negative ones had got. We treated 9 patients with intravitreal, subconjunctival and systemic antibiotics but did 7 without systemic antibiotics. Six cases(85.7%) of these had got visual accuity of 0.15 or better but 6 cases(66.7%) of those had got. One of five patients who had undergone therapeutic vitrectomies had got visual outcome of 0.15 or better but all eleven without vitrectomy had got.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cataract* ; Diagnosis ; Endophthalmitis* ; Humans ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ; Vitrectomy

Neuromyelitis optica(Devie's disease) is a demyelinating disorder of unknown etiology that is characterized by bilateral acute optic neuritis, associated with transverse myelitis. The authors experienced a case of Neuromyelitis optica in a 28 year old female who developed acute visual disturbance, sensory loss under the thoracic dermatome 8, and paraplegia, shortly after upper respiratory infection. Bilateral acute optic neuritis was noted with abnormal visually evoked potential. We confirmed this case by neurologic features, magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid finding, and treated with Corticosteroid "pulse therapy".
Adult ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Evoked Potentials ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Myelitis, Transverse ; Neuromyelitis Optica* ; Optic Neuritis ; Paraplegia

Dengue fever is an acute febrile illness caused by dengue virus infection. Found predominantly in tropical urban areas, dengue virus is transmitted to humans by a female mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti. The clinical features of dengue fever include fever, headache, skin rash and bleeding. These symptoms are usually mild and not fatal, but dengue hemorrhagic fever is life threatening without proper management. The diagnosis of dengue fever can be established with a dengue virus-infected cell culture or with isolated dengue IgM. No specific treatment exists for dengue fever except for symptomatic management. With the recent global increase of dengue fever incidence, the number of cases of dengue fever in returning travelers is on the increase in Korea. Therefore, it is possible that Korean primary physicians will confront dengue fever cases. We report two cases of dengue fever that we experienced in the Department of Family Medicine in 2007.
Aedes ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Culicidae ; Dengue ; Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever ; Dengue Virus ; Exanthema ; Female ; Fever ; Headache ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin M ; Incidence ; Korea

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to analyze the current problems in completing death certificates and to identify the correct method for completing death certificates. METHODS: We reviewed 262 death certificates in three hospitals from March 1 to April 30, 2000, and 119 death certificates in one hospital from March 1 to 31, 2000. We identified major and minor errors and analyzed and compared them retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 381 death certificates were reviewed: 59 in Seoul National University Hospital, 101 in Ewha Woman's University Hospital, and 102 in Gachon Medical College Hospital, which has no education program for completing death certificates in postgraduate training, and 119 in Samsung Medical Center which has an education program for completing death certificates. 358 certificates(94.0%) had at least one error. There were only 23 death certificates(6.0%) without an error. In 182 cases(47.8%), there was one major error. In 321 death certificates(84.3%), there were more than two errors. A comparison of Samsung Medical Center with the other hospitals showed that the number of total errors was statistically different(p=0.001). CONCLUSION: There were few death certificates without an error in this study. In a hospital which has postgraduate training in completing death certificates, there are fewer errors than in other hospitals which have no training course. Emergency physicians actually certify many deaths, so they must know the correct method of completing death certificates for statistics on morbidity and mortality.
Death Certificates* ; Education ; Emergencies ; Mortality ; Retrospective Studies ; Seoul

OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic and prognostic performance of amniotic fluid white blood cell(AF WBC) count and amniotic fluid culture for the prenatal diagnosis of intrauterine infection and the prediction of neonatal outcomes in patients with preterm labor and intact membranes. Methods: Amniocentesis was performed in 75 patients with preterm labor and intact membranes, who delivered preterm neonates within 72 hours after amniocentesis. AF WBC was determined and amniotic fluid was cultured for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria as well as mycoplasma. The relations among placental histologic findings, perinatal outcome, AF WBC count, and AF culture were examined. Student t test, Mann Whitney U test, lamda2 test, Fisher's exact test, modified t test, and logistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Microbial invasion of the amniotic fluid was more frequent in the patients with histologic chorioamnionitis than patients without histologic chorioamnionitis (28.9% vs 5.4%, p<0.05), and patients with histologic chorioamnionitis had significantly higher amniotic fluid white blood cell counts than those patients without such lesion (median 99, range 0-3024 cells/mm3 vs median 1, range 0-180 cells/mm3, p<0.01). Amniotic fluid white blood cell count (> or = 50cell/mm3) had a sensitivity of 55.3%(21/38) and a specificity of 94.6%(35/37) for the diagnosis of histologic chorioamnionitis and a sensitivity of 47.5%(19/40) and specificity of 90.9%(30/33) for the prediction of significant neonatal morbidity (defined as neonatal sepsis, respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, intraventricular hemorrhage, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or necrotizing enterocolitis). These sensitivities were significantly higher than those of amniotic fluid culture (for histologic chorioamnionitis, 55.3% vs 28.9% ; for significant neonatal morbidity, 47.5% vs 25.0%, p<0.01 for each). CONCLUSION: Amniotic fluid WBC count is a more sensitive test for the prenatal diagnosis of intrauterine infection and for the prediction of significant neonatal morbidity than amniotic fluid culture in the patients with preterm labor and intact membranes.
Amniocentesis ; Amniotic Fluid* ; Bacteria, Anaerobic ; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia ; Chorioamnionitis ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Leukocyte Count* ; Leukocytes* ; Logistic Models ; Membranes* ; Mycoplasma ; Obstetric Labor, Premature* ; Pneumonia ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Diagnosis* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sepsis