BACKGROUND: The APACHE scoring system of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has been being used for serious patients. The scoring system is composed of acute physiologic variables and chronic disease. METHODS: Among patients who underwent emergency operations from 1992 to 1997 because of gastrointestinal perforation, we analyzed 110 cases with five kinds of diseases: duodenal ulcer perforation, small bowel perforation, perforated appendicitis, gastric ulcer perforation and colon perforation. RESULTS: The results were as follows: 1) The preoperative APACHE II scores ranged from 0 to 21. The scores of 64 cases (60.9%) were from 0 to 5. 2) There were no death in case for which pre-peration APACHE II score was from 0 to 10, 25% of the mortality occurred in cases with scores from 11 to 15, 50% in those with scores from 16 to 20, and 100% in those with scores above 21. 3) The APACHE II score decreased continuously from the 3rd to the 7th postoperative day. 4) The preoperative APACHE II scores in gastric ulcer perforation patients were significantly higher than those in duodenal ulcer perforation patients. In the cases of gastric and duodenal ulcer perforations, the APACHE II scores in patients who underwent primary closure were higher than the scores in those who underwent a more definitive operation. 5) In death cases, all of their APACHE II scores were higher at the 3rd postoperative than at the 7th postoperative day, but their APACHE III scores continuously increased postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: It is thought that the APACHE scoring system is more reliable than clinical experience in the classification of patients by operative risk and in estinating the result and giving a prognosis. Thus, the principle of treatment should be established by estinating patient's score before the operation. Careful preoperative management is necessary for patients with scores more than 10. Because patientswith scores more than 21 have very a high mortality, operative time and method must be carefully decided. The APACHE III scoring system seems to be more sensitive than the APACHE II scoring system in predicting deaths and further investigations and clinical applications should be performed.
APACHE* ; Appendicitis ; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (U.S.) ; Chronic Disease ; Classification ; Colon ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Mortality ; Operative Time ; Prognosis ; Stomach Ulcer

Acute interstitial pneumonia is a fulminant disease of unknown etiology that usually occurs in a previously healthy person and produces the histologic findings of the organizing phase of diffuse alveolar damage. We experienced an autopsy case of acute interstitial pneumonia of unknown etiology. The patient was a 48 year old man who had been healthy and had not been exposed to organic dusts or other toxic materials. The chief complaints represented were dyspnea and a dry cough for several weeks before hospitalization, and the chest radiographs showed bilateral interstitial infiltrates. Patchy consolidation of air space was also identified and ground-glass attenuation similar to those described in ARDS was detected on high-resolution computed tomography. Steroid pulse therapy, mechanical ventilation, and antibiotics for superimposed bacterial infection were performed, but the symptoms did not improve and the patient died of generalized respiratory insufficiency and severe hypoxemia 2 1/2 months after hospitalization. At autopsy the macroscopic and microscopic findings were confined mainly to the lungs. On the whole, both lungs were firm in consistency and the external surface showed a cobblestone appearance. The cut surface showed almost complete replacement of the normal lung parenchyma with gray to yellow fibrous tissue with a little residual functional area remaining. The pathology of both open lung biopsy and autopsy tissue showed marked hyperplasia of type II pneumocytes, hyaline membrane formation, thickening of the alveolar wall due to extensive fibroblast proliferation, and relatively abundant young collagen deposition in the interstitium. An immunohistochemical stain for cytokeratin revealed epithelial hyperplasia and showed that the alveolar spaces were markedly shrunken by fibrous tissue.
Anoxia ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Autopsy* ; Bacterial Infections ; Biopsy ; Collagen ; Cough ; Dust ; Dyspnea ; Fibroblasts ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Hyperplasia ; Keratins ; Lung ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial* ; Membranes ; Middle Aged ; Pathology ; Pneumocytes ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Insufficiency

In Korea medical record administrators/technicians are coding diagnoses and procedures of discharged patients based on their medical records mostly using International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision(ICD-9) and International Classification of Procedures(ICPM) by WHO. This study examined consistency of coding in 63 hospitals in the year of 1992. The statistical data showed great inconsistency in coding patterns among many hospitals. The main reasons of inconsistency were coders errors, ill-defined diagnoses/procedures, no unified route to make new code numbers for the new or ambiguous diagnoses/procedures, inconsistency of selection of using optional(additional) codes, and inconsistency of reference records on coding. Near half of the hospitals do not recheck the accuracy of coding after completion of medical records by physicians. Most of the coders review operation record, admission and discharge record, discharge summary, progress notes, pathology report, and consultation record as references on coding, but 14 hospitals do not review the whole record when they code diagnoses and procedures. Twenty-three hospitals discuss with physicians when they have questions in assigning code numbers. Further study should be done continuously for valid and reliable statistics of diseases and operations and for establishing a systematic unified channel for the new and ambiguous cases.
Classification ; Clinical Coding* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; International Classification of Diseases* ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Pathology

No abstract available.
*Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; *Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; *Chromatography, Ion Exchange ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/*diagnosis ; Female ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated/*analysis ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening/*methods

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of oncology ward nurses toward cancer pain management and to find ways to improve the educational program for nurses. METHOD: A total of 209 nurses working at the oncology ward of three hospitals in Seoul and a Gyenggi Province. The survey instrument used was the 32-item scale for evaluating nurses knowledge and attitudes originally developed by McCaffery and Ferrell'(1990), that was by Kim'(1997). RESULTS: In terms of the nurses knowledge of pain management, the result showed that the nurses scored an average of 67.8 out of 100 for phamacokinetics of opioids, 84.8 for classification of analgesics, 60.1 for pain assessment, and 70.7 for drug administration. 18.2% of the nurses hesitate to inject the narcotic agent because of concerns regarding the drug's potential side effects. there was significant difference in the knowledge of pain management according to the general characteristics of pain in terms of the nurses age(p=.001), position (p=.016), years of experiences(p=.002), experience of cancer pain education(p=.001). CONCLUSION: The also showed that nurses working at cancer ward lack knowledge. It is important to provide intensive education to nurses about cancer pain management.
Analgesics ; Analgesics, Opioid ; Classification ; Education ; Pain Management* ; Pain Measurement ; Seoul

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of oncology ward nurses toward cancer pain management and to find ways to improve the educational program for nurses. METHOD: A total of 209 nurses working at the oncology ward of three hospitals in Seoul and a Gyenggi Province. The survey instrument used was the 32-item scale for evaluating nurses knowledge and attitudes originally developed by McCaffery and Ferrell'(1990), that was by Kim'(1997). RESULTS: In terms of the nurses knowledge of pain management, the result showed that the nurses scored an average of 67.8 out of 100 for phamacokinetics of opioids, 84.8 for classification of analgesics, 60.1 for pain assessment, and 70.7 for drug administration. 18.2% of the nurses hesitate to inject the narcotic agent because of concerns regarding the drug's potential side effects. there was significant difference in the knowledge of pain management according to the general characteristics of pain in terms of the nurses age(p=.001), position (p=.016), years of experiences(p=.002), experience of cancer pain education(p=.001). CONCLUSION: The also showed that nurses working at cancer ward lack knowledge. It is important to provide intensive education to nurses about cancer pain management.
Analgesics ; Analgesics, Opioid ; Classification ; Education ; Pain Management* ; Pain Measurement ; Seoul

Osteomesopyknosis is a rare sclerosing bone disorder of autosomal dominant inheritance. We report a first case of osteomesopyknosis in Korea. A 16-year old girl complained of diffuse back pain for 1 year. We performed physical examination, biochemical investigations and imaging studies. A radiograph of spine revealed rugger-jersey vertebra and sandwich vertebra. Bone specific alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin and C-terminal telopeptides of type I collagen were normal. Only an axial skeleton involvement was shown on the whole body bone scan. This patient was diagnosed to have osteomesopyknosis. Osteomesopyknosis is characterized by normal level of bone turnover marker and an axial bone involvement. Osteomesopyknosis can be occurred in Korea and needs to be considered when patients, especially young patients, suffer from back pain and have only axial osteosclerosis.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Back Pain ; Bone Diseases ; Collagen Type I ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Osteocalcin ; Osteosclerosis ; Physical Examination ; Skeleton ; Spine ; Wills

Purpose: This study analyzed the relationship between degree of disability and edema index [extracellular water/total body water (ECW/TBW) ratio] values in a rural population of older adult patients with osteopenia, sarcopenia, or osteosarcopenia (OS). Materials and Methods: This study used data from the Namgaram-2 cohort. The degree of disability was measured using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 12, and ECW/TBW ratio was calculated using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Based on ECW/TBW ratio, the participants were stratified into normal (<0.391) and abnormal (≥0.391) groups, and the mean WHODAS 12 scores were compared between the two groups. Multiple regression analysis corrected for demographic factors, smoking history, hypertension, diabetes, and serological test results was also conducted. Results: Significant differences in mean WHODAS 12 scores were observed in the healthy group (5.8±7.4 vs. 9.2±9.7, p=0.008), the osteopenia only group (7.4±8.7 vs. 12.9±12.0, p<0.001), and the OS group (16.0±13.2 vs. 23.1±17.1, p=0.004). However, no significant difference in mean WHODAS 12 score was observed in the sarcopenia only group (14.9±13.4 vs. 20.7±14.8, p= 0.051). There were significant differences in ECW/TBW ratio values between the abnormal and normal groups in the osteopenia only group (B=4.646 and p=0.001), the sarcopenia only group (B=5.097 and p=0.016), and the OS group (B=5.653 and p=0.043). Conclusion This study found that the degree of disability is related to the edema index in older patients with osteopenia, sarcopenia, or OS. Since the edema index indicates the nutritional status of an individual, proper nutrition and fluid intake are important to reduce disability.

PURPOSE: The purpose was to describe comparative analysis of the surgical outcome of percutaneous K-wire fixation of bony mallet fingers reduced with towel clip and 18-gauge needle. METHODS: We analyzed the bony mallet finger patients with more than twelve months follow-up after percutaneous K-wire fixation. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. Eighteen fingers were treated with closed reduction using towel clip and 18 other fingers were treated with closed reduction using 18-gauge needle. RESULTS: Radiographs showed bony union and no subluxation in all cases after K-wire removal. The average extension lag was 2.8degrees/1.9degrees, and range of motion of distal interphalangeal joint was 70.3degrees/75degrees respectively. According to Crawford's criteria, excellent results were obtained in 9/11 fingers, good results in 8/7 fingers, and poor result in 1/0 finger, respectively. CONCLUSION: 18-gauge needle reduction in percutaneous K-wire fixation is considered less invasive and useful method for treatment of bony mallet finger with comparable results with towel clip reduction.
Fingers ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Joints ; Needles ; Range of Motion, Articular

Stroke is a disease that causes a substantial economic burden. With the rapidly aging population in Korea, the prevalence of chronic diseases, including stroke, is expected to rise, along with associated health care expenditures. Therefore, we estimated the economic burden of stroke in Korea in 2010 using nationally representative data. We used a prevalence-based approach to estimate the cost of stroke by claims data from the Korean National Health Insurance. Data from the Korea Health Panel, the Korea National Statistical Office's records of causes of death, and Labor Statistics were used to calculate direct non-medical costs and indirect costs. Direct costs included direct medical costs and direct non-medical costs, and indirect costs were opportunity costs lost due to premature death and productivity loss. Total costs were estimated by adding age- and gender-specific costs. The total economic burden of stroke was $3.53 billion: $1.87 billion for hemorrhagic stroke and $1.66 billion for ischemic stroke. The direct costs were $1.74 billion and the indirect costs were $1.79 billion. By gender, males were burdened at $2.19 billion, while females bore $1.34 billion of the total burden. Stroke imposes a huge economic burden, as indicated by the fact that the costs of stroke increased by 4.4% from 2005 to 2010, and the estimated cost was 0.35% of gross domestic product. Therefore, effective prevention programs and treatments are needed to reduce the economic burden of stroke in Korea.
Aging ; Cause of Death ; Chronic Disease ; Cost of Illness ; Delivery of Health Care ; Efficiency ; Female ; Gross Domestic Product ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality, Premature ; National Health Programs ; Prevalence ; Stroke