BACKGROUND: As anti-retroviral therapy has improved and the life expectancy of patients' with HIV in Korea has increased, an increased number of surgical procedures have been performed in this population. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated the trend in surgery conducted on patients with HIV in our hospital over the last 5 years. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of HIV-infected patients who underwent surgery under general or local anesthesia at our hospital between 2005 and 2010. RESULTS: The total number of surgeries performed in HIV-infected patients in the 5-year period was 95. Of these, 23 (24%) were performed under general anesthesia and 72 (76%) under spinal anesthesia. Anorectal surgery was the most commonly performed surgery (71 cases, 76%). The postoperative complication rate was 5.3% (3 cases of pneumonia and 2 of wound infection), with general anesthesia and time to discharge being identified as contributory factors. Preoperative CD4+ T cell count was not significantly associated with complications. CONCLUSION: This study was the first to analyze the trends in surgical procedures performed in HIV-infected patients in Korea. Our study may be beneficial as a reference for clinicians who manage patients with HIV.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesia, Local ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Cell Count ; HIV ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Expectancy ; Medical Records ; Pneumonia ; Postoperative Complications ; Retrospective Studies ; Wounds and Injuries

No abstract available.
Humans ; Prone Position* ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Ventilation*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Prone Position* ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Ventilation*

Background: Older adults are given high priority for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination; however, little is known about the safety of vaccines. This study was conducted to examine the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine for people who were ≥ 75 years of age, specifically those who first took two doses of the vaccine at the COVID-19 central vaccination center in South Korea. Methods: Safety monitoring after the BNT162b2 vaccine was conducted in three ways for older adults who received the first dose of the vaccine at our center between April 5 and April 23, 2021. For immediate adverse reactions, every person who was vaccinated was observed for 15–30 minutes after injection at the center. For active surveillance, a telephone interview was conducted for stratified randomly sampled people after 7 days of each vaccination to enquire regarding types of adverse reactions they experienced, and its severity and duration. For passive surveillance, reported adverse event data were collected from the COVID-19 vaccine adverse event following immunization (AEFI) surveillance system—run by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The data were then reviewed. Results: In total, 2,123 older adults received at least one vaccine dose during the study period. The frequency of acute adverse reactions that developed during the observed 15–30 minutes after injection was 8.5 cases per 1,000 doses. None of the reactions was assessed as acute allergic reactions to the vaccine and no cases required special treatment or drug administration. Overall, 638 people were followed up at least once by telephone interview 7 days post vaccination. The overall response rate was 82.3%. The rates of local reactions were 50.3% after the first dose and 45.2% after the second dose, and the rates of systemic reactions were 15.2% and 26.0%, respectively. During the study period, 23 medically attended adverse events (5.4 cases per 1,000 administered doses) were reported to the KDCA AEFI surveillance system. The most common symptoms of medically attended cases were nonspecific general weakness (26%) and dizziness (26%), followed by muscle pain (22%), headache (13%), fever (13%), and skin rash or urticaria (13%). Among them, there were five serious adverse events reported, which required hospitalization, including one death. However, most of them were not related to the vaccines. Conclusion BNT162b2 vaccination was tolerable among adults who were ≥ 75 years of age.

Central venous catheters are useful for acute hemodynamic monitoring, fluid resuscitation, drug administration, the aspiration of air embolism and total parenteral nutrition. However, various complications may occur during central venous catheterization and the most common complication of the internal jugular approach is arterial puncture. Arterial puncture can be easily identified by a pulsatile blood flow and the bright red color of blood. It is usually confirmed by connecting catheter to a pressure transducer and observing venous waveforms and venous pressure. We experienced a patient in whom arterial cannulation was unrecognized by pressure recording, but was confirmed by blood gas analysis.
Blood Gas Analysis ; Catheterization ; Catheterization, Central Venous* ; Catheters ; Central Venous Catheters* ; Embolism, Air ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Parenteral Nutrition, Total ; Punctures* ; Resuscitation ; Transducers, Pressure ; Venous Pressure

The health and welfare of North Korean defectors is a rising interest as a large number of North Korean defectors are currently living in South Korea. Due to shortage of food provisions, intensive physical labor oriented lifestyle and inadequate medical service system, the medical environment and disease distribution is very different between North and South Korea. Furthermore the physical and mental hardships during the escape from North Korea and the difficulty of adjusting to a new society may all contribute to the health status of North Korean defectors. Recently many health concerns of North Korean defectors have been a social issue in the Korean society. There have been studies and statistics on the mental illnesses of the defectors due to the sufferings during the escape and the difficulty in adjusting into a new environment but there have been no information on the surgical aspects of the defectors. Analyzing the underlying diseases and the incidences of surgery may prepare for an improved understanding in patient care of North Korean defectors
Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; Incidence ; Korea ; Life Style ; Patient Care ; United Nations

We report an extremely rare case of right ventricle perforation by a Swan-Ganz catheter during open heart surgery. Even when pulmonary artery catheters are inserted with the utmost care, serious complications such as hematoma formation, pneumothorax, hemothorax, perforation of the cardiac chambers, and rupture of the pulmonary artery may occur. We present a case of primary closure of a right ventricle perforation discovered during coronary artery bypass graft surgery. In this case, the Swan-Ganz catheter was found penetrating the anterior wall of the right ventricle during the surgery. The location of the Swan-Ganz catheter, the stiffness of the catheter caused by hypothermia, and excessive surgical manipulation were supposed to be the etiologies. Therefore, the location of the Swan-Ganz catheter and increased stiffness from hypothermia should be taken into consideration during heart surgery.
Catheterization, Swan-Ganz* ; Catheters ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Heart Ventricles* ; Hematoma ; Hemothorax ; Humans ; Hypothermia ; Pneumothorax ; Pulmonary Artery ; Rupture ; Thoracic Surgery ; Transplants

After Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) was first confirmed in Korea on May 20, 2015, a total of 186 confirmed cases and 37 deaths occurred until the announcement of its cessation on December 23, 2015. MERS often causes severe pneumonia; accordingly, many patients require endotracheal intubation for mechanical ventilation. At our hospital, we treated 30 confirmed and 29 suspected cases and performed 9 endotracheal intubations in 8 of these patients, using conventional direct laryngoscopy (DL) and GlideScope video-laryngoscopy (GL). We faced difficulty in conducting endotracheal intubation due to the personal protective equipment and the limited bed height required for managing MERS patients. In such cases, GL improved the ease and direct confirmation of success of endotracheal intubation as compared to DL. In addition, we found that portable end-tidal CO2-monitoring devices may facilitate more precise and reliable confirmation of successful intubation.
Airway Management ; Coronavirus Infections* ; Humans ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal* ; Korea ; Laryngoscopy ; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ; Middle East* ; Personal Protective Equipment ; Pneumonia ; Respiration, Artificial

BACKGROUND: During carotid endarterectomy, hemodynamic stability is very important to reduce the incidence of cerebral stroke and myocardial infarction. Therefore, we studied the effects of intravascular volume expansion using colloid solution on hemodynamic stability. METHODS: We studied 22 patients undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia. Preanesthetic mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) and heart rate (HR) were checked, and the intraoperative target range was taken +/- 20% of these values. Following standardized anesthetic technique including intravenous induction with thiopental sodium and vecuronium, standard intraoperative monitoring and direct arterial blood pressure monitoring were instituted. Patients were randomly assigned to a Hartmann's solution group (group H, n = 11) or a pentastarch group (group P, n = 11). Distinct intraoperative episodes beyond the predetermined target range, and the number of episodes requiring interventional therapy were recorded. RESULTS: The pentastarch group had a significantly lower incidence of episodes requiring interventional drug therapy during the pre-reperfusion period. No difference was found between out of target incidents in MABP and HR. CONCLUSIONS: During carotid endarterectomy, the infusion of pentastarch solution reduced drug therapy requirement for hemodynamic stability during pre-reperfusion period only.
Anesthesia, General ; Arterial Pressure ; Colloids ; Drug Therapy ; Endarterectomy, Carotid* ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics* ; Humans ; Hydroxyethyl Starch Derivatives ; Incidence ; Monitoring, Intraoperative ; Myocardial Infarction ; Stroke ; Thiopental ; Vecuronium Bromide

Vocal cord paralysis is one of the most serious anesthetic complications related to endotracheal intubation. The practitioner should take extreme care, as bilateral vocal cord paralysis can obstruct the airway and lead to disastrous respiratory problems. There have been many papers on bilateral vocal cord paralysis after neck surgery, but reports on such a condition after lung surgery are very rare. We report a case of bilateral vocal cord paralysis detected after removal of a double-lumen endotracheal tube in a 67-year-old patient who underwent wedge resection by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. We also note that he recovered spontaneously without complications within a day.
Aged ; Humans ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Lung ; Neck ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Vocal Cord Paralysis ; Vocal Cords