Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of suction drains following total hip arthroplasties, by comparing the post-operative results between the group with suction drains and the group without suction drains. Materials and Methods: Eighty-six patients, who underwent primary total hip arthroplasties from June 2001 to June 2004, were divided into two groups: group 1 (48 patients), with suction drains; and group 2 (38 patients), without suction drains. We assessed the perioperative hemoglobin and platelet levels, the amount of total blood loss, the amount of post-operative blood transfusions, post-operative ranges of motion (ROMs, at 6 weeks), wound problems, and general conditions. Results: Although the postoperative hemoglobin level was greater in group 2 than in group 1, there was no statistically significant difference. The amount of total blood loss and blood transfusions in group 1 were statistically greater than in group 2 (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the post-operative ROMs and wound complications between groups 1 and 2. Conclusion: There were no limitations of hip motion and no wound complications in the patients without suction drains after total hip arthroplasties. However, they required fewer post-operative blood transfusions than did the patients with suction drains, due to less post-operative blood loss; and the absence of a suction drain might prevent retrograde tube infections. In addition, patients without suction drains after total hip arthroplasties seemed to recover better did than those with suction drains. Therefore, suction drains might provide no benefit in total hip arthroplasties.
Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip* ; Blood Platelets ; Blood Transfusion ; Hip ; Humans ; Suction* ; Wounds and Injuries

Bone Density ; Bone Regeneration ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Jaw ; Jaw Cysts ; Mandible ; Maxilla ; Transplants

The treatment of choice for Cushing's disease is surgical removal of tumor, the source of ACTH overproduction. In occasional patients in whom a surgical approach including total adrenalectomy is not feasible or surgical removal of tumor is not complete, medical treatment may be necessary because pituitary irradiation requires a long 1ag time to remission. Although ketoconazole, an imidazole derivative with inhibitory activity on adrenal steroidogenesis has been reported to be effective in the treatment of Cushing's disease, the limited effectiveness in lowering very high level of cortisol and occasional hepatotoxicity restrains its wide use. In this report, we describe a woman with Cushing's disease due to pituitary microadenoma. Transsphenoidal pituitary adenomeetomy followed by ketoconzole treatment had been unsuccessful in achieving remission of the disease, but combined treatment with ketoconazole and octreotide accomplished successful reduction in cortisol production.
Adrenalectomy ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Ketoconazole* ; Octreotide* ; Pituitary Irradiation

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to correlate the CT and histopathologic findings of abscess wall. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The CT findings of 12 patients with pathologically proven brain abscess were retrospectively analyzed with particular attention to the thickness, smoothness and uniformity of enhancing abscess wall, and the results were correlated with histopathologic findings. RESULTS: Two patients with acute cerebritis showed an isodense ring on non-contrast CT(NCCT), but a true capsule formation could not be identified at pathologic examination. Six other patients with isodense ring on NCCT consisted of early to late cerebritis(3 cases), late cerebritis to early capsule(1 case), early capsule(1 case), and late capsule(1 case). These 6 cases showed ring enhancement on contrast enhanced CT(CECT) and true capsule formation pathologically. There was no isodense ring on NCCT in the remaining four patients. They consisted of early to late cerebritis(2 cases), late cerebritis(1 case), and late cerebritis to early capsule formation(1 case). These also showed ring enhancement on CECT and true capsule formation pathologically. CONCLUSION: We found that it is difficult to predict the exact stage of brain abscess on preoperative CT findings. It is suggested that clinical findings and sequential dynamic CT may provide more detailed informations for evaluation of abscess staging.
Abscess ; Brain Abscess* ; Brain* ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies

The Tempofilter II is a widely used temporary vena cava filter. Its unique design, which includes a long tethering catheter with a subcutaneous anchor, facilitates the deployment and retrieval of the device. Despite this, the Tempofilter II has been used only in the inferior vena cava of patients with lower extremity deep venous thrombosis. In this article, we present a case of superior vena cava filtering using the Tempofilter II in patients with upper extremity deep venous thrombosis.
Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Pulmonary Embolism/radiography ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Upper Extremity Deep Vein Thrombosis/radiography/*therapy ; *Vena Cava Filters ; *Vena Cava, Superior

BACKGROUND: The role and future of family physician are not yet clearly determined even when 20 years lapsed since its introduction to Korea. This study was conducted to establish identity of family physician, to develop pragmatic curriculum of training, and to sort out frame of certification exam by analysing the job of family physicians who were practicing in community. METHODS: We analysed the job of practicing family physician by using DACUM(Development of Curriculum) method from March 11, 2000 through March 12. Job analysis team was composed of five practitioners, four professors, one facilitator, and one scriber. Six sessions of 2 hours were mainly devoted to brain storming of the idea related to family physician. RESULTS: Job analysis results are as follows. Family physician was defined as "primary care physician who provides primary medical service continuously and comprehensively by offering individual patient and/or family health promotion, disease prevention, and treatment of common illness". Family physician had seven duties and 129 tasks. The duty of physical exam had 18 tasks, duty of test, 21 tasks, duty of treatment, 40 tasks, duty of health promotion and disease prevention, 15 tasks, duty of patient/client management, 12 tasks, duty of clinic management, 15 tasks, and self development, 8 tasks respectively. Number of tasks whose impotance was classified as `A'(very important) were 43 as total, 3 in physical exam, 7 in test, 9 in treatment, 11 in health promotion and disease prevention, 2 in patient/client management, 9 in clinic management, and 2 in self development respectively. Number of tasks whose difficulty was classified as `A'(very difficult) were 19 as total, 2 in physical exam, 7 in test, 7 in treatment, 1 in clinic management, and 2 in self development respectively. Number of tasks whose frequency was classified as `A'(very frequent) were 22 as total, 6 in physical exam, 1 in test, 8 in treatment, 3 in health promotion and disease prevention, 3 in patient/client management, and 1 in clinic management respectively. Number of tasks which were required for entry level were 74 as total, 18 in physical exam, 14 in test, 29 in treatment, 9 in health promotion and disease prevention, 3 in patient/client management, and 1 in clinic management respectively. CONCLUSION: Family physicians in Korea perform 7 duties and 129 tasks. Seventy four tasks are required to enter into the job.
Brain ; Certification ; Curriculum ; Family Health ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Job Description ; Korea* ; Physicians, Family*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to figure out the correlation of hypertension and atherogenic dyslipidemia in postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population consisted of consecutive 380 postmenopausal women (age> or =50, FSH>40IU/L and triglyceride[TG]<400 mg/dl) visiting health promotion center at Samsung Cheil Hospital from March 1997 to July 1998. We measured blood pressure by automatic sphygmomanometer (A & Dco.LTD.TM-2654) and divided them into four groups by blood pressure (Group I:systolic blood pressure[SBP]< 120 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure[DBP]<80 mmHg, n=87. Group II:SBP 120-139 mmHg or DBP 80-89 mmHg, n=109. Group III: SBP 140-159 mmHg or DBP 90-99 mmHg, n=127. Group IV: SBP> or =160 mmHg or DBP> or =100 mmHg, n=57). We measured thier body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR). We also measured their levels of glucose, total cholesterol and TG by automatic biochemical analyzer (Hitachi 7150) and HDL cholesterol by direct method using AutoDAIICHI reagent. We calculated LDL cholesterol levels by Friedewald formula. RESULTS: MI, WHR and glucose level of group IV were significantly higher than those of group I. But there were no significant differences among the groups in the levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B. HDL cholesterol level of group I was statistically higher than that of group IV. TG level and LDL cholesterol/apo B ratio of group IV were significantly higher and lower than those of other groups respectively. CONCLUSION: Postmenopausal women who had moderate or severe hypertension show the trend toward abdominal obesity and atherogenic dyslipidemia. We might have to pay attention to these metabolic abnormalities in postmenopausal women with hypertension.
Apolipoproteins ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Cholesterol, LDL ; Dyslipidemias* ; Female ; Glucose ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Menopause ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Sphygmomanometers ; Waist-Hip Ratio

BACKGROUND: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remains a life-threatening disease. Many patients with ARDS do not recover fully, and progress to terminal lung fibrosis. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor is known to modulate the neurohormonal system to reduce inflammation and to prevent tissue fibrosis. However, the role of ACE inhibitor in the lungs is not well understood. We therefore conducted this study to elucidate the effect of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockage on the prognosis of patients with ARDS. METHODS: We analyzed medical records of patients who were admitted to the medical intensive care unit (ICU) at a tertiary care hospital from January 2005 to December 2010. ARDS was determined using the Berlin definition. The primary outcome was the mortality rate of ICU. Survival analysis was performed after adjustment using propensity score matching. RESULTS: A total of 182 patients were included in the study. Thirty-seven patients (20.3%) took ACE inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) during ICU admission, and 145 (79.7%) did not; both groups showed similar severity scores. In the ICU, mortality was 45.9% in the RAS inhibitor group and 58.6% in the non-RAS inhibitor group (P = 0.166). The RAS inhibitor group required a longer duration of mechanical ventilation (29.5 vs. 19.5, P = 0.013) and longer ICU stay (32.1 vs. 20.2 days, P < 0.001). In survival analysis, the RAS inhibitor group showed better survival rates than the non-RAS group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: ACE inhibitor or ARB may have beneficial effect on ARDS patients.
Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists ; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors ; Angiotensins ; Berlin ; Case-Control Studies* ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Intensive Care Units ; Lung ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Prognosis ; Propensity Score ; Renin-Angiotensin System* ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult* ; Retrospective Studies* ; Survival Rate ; Tertiary Healthcare

PURPOSE: To report a case of acute orbital abscess after Medpor(R) implantation for orbital floor fracture repair. CASE SUMMARY: A 15-year-old boy who was punched in the right orbit visited our clinic because of diplopia. An orbital CT scan demonstrated a fracture of the right orbital floor. At surgery, a Medpor sheet was placed over the orbital floor defect. Over the first three days, clinical improvement was gradual, but at four days postoperatively, depression of the right eye was restricted, and lower lid edema and proptosis was present in the right eye. At eight days postoperatively, the orbital CT scan showed a large cystic mass surrounding the Medpor sheet and fine needle aspiration cytology showed a number of inflammatory cells. Because systemic antibiotics were ineffective, the Medpo(R) sheet and the cystic mass were removed through a transconjunctival approach to the orbit. A culture of the removed Medpor(R) sheet grew Staphylococcus aureus and signs of inflammatory cells in the tissue were present. After removal of the abscess, most clinical symptoms showed improvement except for the remaining depression of the right eye. CONCLUSIONS: Symptoms of eye movement restriction, lower lid edema, and proptosis may be uncommon after orbital floor fracture repair but can occur. We should also consider the possibility of abscess formation due to infection of the implant and emphasize the importance of prompt diagnosis and treatment of such a case.
Abscess* ; Adolescent ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Diplopia ; Edema ; Exophthalmos ; Eye Movements ; Humans ; Male ; Orbit* ; Orbital Fractures ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

No abstract available.
Pubic Bone* ; Technetium Tc 99m Medronate*