During The last 11 years from Jan. 1980 to Dec. 1990, 72 cases of salmonellosis has been admitted to the Department of Pediatrics of National Medical Center and evaluated clinical difference between typhoid fever and salmonella gastroenteritis. The results were as follows: 1) The annual incidence of salmonella gastroenteritis insalmonellosis was increased in the latter half of the eighties. 2) Both salmonellosis had its peak incidence in the summer. 3) Salmonella gastroenteritis was highest in the age of less than 5 year in contrast with the age of 6~9 year in typhoid fever. 4) The specimens isolated salmonellae were blood and stool in most cases, especially blood in typhoid fever and stool in gastroenteritis. 5) S.typhi was 16 cases, salmonella group A was 3 cases, group B was 16 cases and Group D and E were a case in each in isolated salmonellae. 6) On the antibiotic sensitivity test, S.typhi was sensitive to the most antibiotics. but the salmonella group B was relatively resisitant to Ampicillin, Carbenicillin, Tetracycline and Chloramphenicol.
Ampicillin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Carbenicillin ; Chloramphenicol ; Gastroenteritis ; Incidence ; Pediatrics ; Salmonella ; Salmonella Infections* ; Tetracycline ; Typhoid Fever

A 54-year-old man experienced injury to the second finger of his left hand due to damage from a paintball gun shot 8 years prior, and the metacarpo-phalangeal joint was amputated. He gradually developed mechanical allodynia and burning pain, and there were trophic changes of the thenar muscle and he reported coldness on his left hand and forearm. A neuroma was found on the left second common digital nerve and was removed, but his symptoms continued despite various conservative treatments including a morphine infusion pump on his left arm. We therefore attempted median nerve stimulation to treat the chronic pain. The procedure was performed in two stages. The first procedure involved exposure of the median nerve on the mid-humerus level and placing of the electrode. The trial stimulation lasted for 7 days and the patient's symptoms improved. The second procedure involved implantation of a pulse generator on the left subclavian area. The mechanical allodynia and pain relief score, based on the visual analogue scale, decreased from 9 before surgery to 4 after surgery. The patient's activity improved markedly, but trophic changes and vasomotor symptom recovered only moderately. In conclusion, median nerve stimulation can improve chronic pain from complex regional pain syndrome type II.
Arm ; Burns ; Causalgia ; Chronic Pain ; Cold Temperature ; Electrodes ; Fingers ; Forearm ; Hand ; Humans ; Hyperalgesia ; Infusion Pumps ; Joints ; Median Nerve ; Middle Aged ; Morphine ; Muscles ; Neuroma

Experimental spinal cord compression was successfully produced in the rabbit by the expansion of the stalks of "laminaria", a sea weed, which was placed in the spinal epidural space at the level of fifth lumbar vertebrae. The experimental spinal cord compression and subsequent edema at the site of compression and its adjacent area were studied at interval of 6, 12 and 24 hour's compression by measuring wet weight and dry weight, and by calculating percent water contents, swelling percent and changesa of water content to that in control group. The oxygen consumption of cord tissues at the site of compression and its distal adjacent area of the spinal cord was investigated by using Warburg's manometric apparatus supplying 100% oxygen. In the normal rabbit, the average water content of the spinal cord was 63.38+/-0.9%. The percentage of water and swelling of the cord tissues in experimental group were higher than those in the control during the period of 24 hour's compression, and that at the site of compression they showed a tendency of rapid increase in value at an early stage, and the area adjacent to the compression demonstrated values increasing gradually during the process of compression. In control group, the average value of oxygen consumption of the cord tissue was 0.48+/-0.01---lO2 mg(dry weight)/30 min. The values of oxygen consumption of cord tissue at the site of compression and distal adjacent area were higher than in control group at an early stage and gradually decreased thereafter. It was noted that the changes of water content and oxygen consumption of spinal cord were well and influenced by the mechanical compression with "laminaria" insertion in the rabbit, resulting in spinal cord edema.
Edema ; Epidural Space ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Oxygen Consumption* ; Oxygen* ; Spinal Cord Compression* ; Spinal Cord*

OBJECTIVE: Cardiac dysfunction after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is associated with elevation of serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels. Elevation of cTnI predicts cardiopulmonary and neurological complications, and poor outcome. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical and radiologic records of 114 (male : 30, female : 84) patients who developed aneurysmal SAH between January 2006 and June 2007 and had no history of previous cardiac problems. We evaluated their electrocardiography and cTnI level, which had been measured at admission. A cTnI level above 0.5 microgram/L was defined as an indicator of cardiac injury following SAH. We examined various clinical factors for their association with cTnI elevation and analyzed data using chi-square test, t-test and logistic regression test with SPSS version 12.0. The results were considered significant at p < 0.05. RESULTS: The following parameters shows a correlation with cTnI elevation : higher Hunt-Hess (H-H) grade (p = 0.000), poor Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score (p = 0.000), profound pulmonary complication (p = 0.043), higher heart rate during initial three days following SAH (p = 0.029), ruptured aneurysm on communicating segment of internal carotid artery (p = 0.025), incidence of vasospasm (p = 0.421), and duration of hyperdynamic therapy for vasospasm (p = 0.292). A significant determinants for outcome were cTnI elevation (p = 0.046) and H-H grade (p = 0.000) in a multivariate study. CONCLUSION: A cTnI is a good indicator for cardiopulmonary and neurologic complications and outcome following SAH. Consideration of variable clinical factors that related with cTnI elevation may be useful tactics for treatment of SAH and concomitant complications.
Aneurysm ; Aneurysm, Ruptured ; Carotid Artery, Internal ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Glasgow Outcome Scale ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Incidence ; Logistic Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Troponin ; Troponin I

OBJECTIVE: Premorbid demographic backgrounds of injured individuals are likely to reflect more accurately the status of patients with traumatic brian injury (TBI) than clinical factors. However, the concrete study about the relationship between the demographic factors and neurocognitive function in TBI patients has not been reported. The object of this study was to evaluate the effect of premorbid demographic factors on the recovery of neurocognitive function following TBI. METHODS: From July 1998 to February 2007, 293 patients (male: 228, female: 65) with a history of head injury, who had recovered from the acute phase, were selected from our hospital to include in this study. We analyzed the effect of premorbid demographic factors including age, sex, educational level and occupation on the recovery of neurocognitive function in each TBI subgroup as defined by Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score. Intelligence and memory are components of neurocognitive function, and the Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale (K-WAIS) and the Korean memory assessment scale (K-MAS) were used in this study. The results were considered significant at p<0.05. RESULTS: The higher level of education was a good prognostic factor for intelligence regardless of GCS score and younger age group showed a better result for memory with an exception of severe TBI group. In the severe TBI group, the meaningful effect of demographic factors was not noted by the cause of influence of severe brain injury. CONCLUSION: The demographic factors used in this study may be helpful for predicting the precise prognosis and developing an appropriate rehabilitation program for TBI patients.
Brain Injuries ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Demography ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Memory ; Occupations ; Prognosis

The causes of sciatica are variable and include musculoskeletal, dermatologic, infectious, neoplastic, and vascular disorders. In many cases, the symptom is usually caused by degenerative disease in the spine with the compression or irritation of spinal nerve. On the other hands, there are also several announced extra-spinal causes including aneurysm, diabetes, and radiation for sciatica in a low rate. Among the extra-spinal cases, aneurysms arising from iliac vessels are sometimes developing a diagnostic confusion with the spinal causes, and delayed diagnosis can lead to poor prognosis. It is very important to pay attention weather the aneurysmal cause is involved in the symptom of sciatica.
Aneurysm* ; Delayed Diagnosis ; Hand ; Humans ; Iliac Aneurysm ; Iliac Artery* ; Prognosis ; Sciatica* ; Spinal Nerves ; Spine ; Thrombosis* ; Weather

OBJECTIVE: There was no abundance of data on the use of anticoagulant in patients with previous high risk of thromboembolic conditions under a newly developed intracranial hemorrhage in Korean society. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of discontinuance and suggest the proper time period for discontinuance of anticoagulant among these patients. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 19 patients who took anticoagulant because of thromboembolic problems and were admitted to our department with newly developed anticoagulation associated intracranial hemorrhage (AAICH), and stopped taking medicine due to concern of rebleeding from January 2008 to December 2012. Analysis of the incidence of thromboembolic complications and proper withdrawal time of anticoagulant was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Our patients showed high risk for thromboembolic complication. The CHA2DS2-VASc score ranged from two to five. Thromboembolic complication occurred in eight (42.1%) out of 19 patients without restarting anticoagulant since the initial hemorrhage. Among them, three patients (37.5%) died from direct thromboembolic complications. Mean time to outbreak of thromboembolic complication was 21.38+/-14.89 days (range, 8-56 days). The probability of thromboembolic complications at 7, 14, and 30 days since cessation of anticoagulation was 0.00, 10.53, and 38.49%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Short term discontinuance of anticoagulant within seven days in patients with AAICH who are at high embolic risk (CHA2DS2-VASc score >2) appears to be relatively safe in Korean people. However, prolonged cessation (more than seven days) may result in increased incidence of catastrophic thromboembolic complications.
Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intracranial Hemorrhages* ; Medical Records ; Methods

Vasodilatory shock has been implicated in life-threatening complications after cardiac surgery. This syndrome may result from the vasopressin deficiency following cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), which do not respond to fluids or usual intravenous inotropes. We used arginine-vasopressin in adults with vasodilatory shock coming off cardiopulmonary bypass. Therefore, we report these cases with a review of articles.
Adult ; Arginine Vasopressin* ; Arginine* ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass* ; Diabetes Insipidus, Neurogenic ; Humans ; Shock* ; Thoracic Surgery ; Vasodilation ; Vasopressins

A two-month-old girl with a history of an incidental arachnoid cyst in the prenatal period (38 weeks) presented with persistent irritability. A follow-up computed tomographic (CT) scan revealed an enlarged arachnoid cyst with hydrocephalus. We performed craniotomy and fenestration, but the cyst size did not decrease, and hydrocephalus had worsened on a follow-up CT scan performed 13 months after fenestration. The patient was treated with cystoperitoneal shunting. Follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed 5 years later revealed that the arachnoid cyst had decreased in size and that the hydrocephalus had resolved. Enlarging arachnoid cysts are not common, and optimal surgical treatment is uncertain. Based on the features of this case, we believe cystoperitoneal shunting is an advisable surgical intervention for patients with enlarging arachnoid cysts presenting with hydrocephalus.
Arachnoid ; Arachnoid Cysts ; Craniotomy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the clinical features and complications of snake bite patients in urban and rural areas. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients over 18 years of age who were hospitalized for snake bites from January 2013 to December 2019. Patients were categorized into urban and rural groups according to their respective locations at the time of the snake bite and the clinical characteristics and complications of the two patient groups were researched and compared. Results: Of the 77 snake bite patients, 44 patients were categorized into the rural group (57.1%). The rura1 group showed significant differences in old age (p=0.011), delayed hospital visits (p=0.010), far hospital distance (p<0.001), high local effect score (p<0.001), high traditional snake-bite severity grading scale (p=0.008) and use of large amounts of antivenins (p=0.026). There was a significantly higher incidence of acute kidney injury (p=0.030), rhabdomyolysis (p=0.026), and coagulopathy (p=0.033) in the rural group as well as a longer hospitalization period (p<0.011). Conclusion Snake bites that occurred in rural areas resulted in patients with more complications compared to urban areas due to farther distances from hospitals, causing a delay in antivenom treatment.