BACKGROUND: Intermediate myasthenia syndrome(IMS) is thought to have clinical importance because it may cause sudden respiratory failure during the recovery phase of a cholinergic crisis of organophosphate poisoning. We designed this study to identify the prevalence, the inducing agent, clinical predictor, and the proposed treatment of IMS. METHODS: Patients who had admitted with the diagnosis of acute organophosphate poisoning from 1992 to 1998 at two teaching hospitals were enrolled in this study. We selected the cases of IMS based on a review of medical records using modified He's criteria. RESULTS: Twelve(12) out of 110 patients with acute organophosphate poisoning were diagnosed for a prevalence at 10.9%. The drug inducing IMS were identified as dichlorvos, fenthion, EPN, methidathion, and phosphamidon. The occurrence of IMS was not related to either the initial treatment with atropine and pralidoxime, or the level of serum cholinesterase. Complications were pneumonia, sepsis, pancreatitis, and pseudomembranous colitis, etc. Eleven(11) patients were discharged without sequelae, and one patient was discharged as a hopeless care. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that IMS is not rare, so close observation is required to detect IMS in organophosphate-poisoning patients. Also, more studies are required to find predictors and treatments.
Atropine ; Cholinesterases ; Diagnosis ; Dichlorvos ; Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous ; Fenthion ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Organophosphate Poisoning ; Pancreatitis ; Phosphamidon ; Pneumonia ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Sepsis

No abstract available.
Ovarian Neoplasms*

Trichogenic tumors are a very rare group of primary cutaneous neoplasms and a few tumors have been recognized. Trichofolliculoma is a benign, papular, organoid adnexal tumor of the skin and presents as a solitary skin-colored nodule. We report six cases of trichofolliculoma occurred in Korean patients consisting of three male and three female patients. The duration of disease was variable from 3 months to 5 years. The site of tumor was limited to the face and included eyelid in two cases, nose in two cases, cheek and posterior aspect of ear in each one case. The size of the mass varied from 4 to 8 mm in diameter. Microscopically, all the cases showed large central cystic hair follicle with numerous secondary follicular buds, producing a radiating pattern. The stroma was fibrotic and well demarcated from the adjacent dermis.
Cheek ; Dermis ; Ear ; Eyelids ; Female ; Hair Follicle ; Humans ; Male ; Nose ; Organoids ; Skin

No abstract available.
Muscle, Skeletal* ; Tibial Nerve*

OBJECTIVE: Gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) is the least invasive surgical option for patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN). However, the indications and long term outcomes of GKRS are still controversial. Additionally, a series with uniform long-term follow-up data for all patients has been lacking. In the present study, the authors analyzed long-term outcomes in a series of patients with TN who underwent a single GKRS treatment followed by a minimum follow-up of 60 months. METHODS: From 1994 to 2009, 40 consecutive patients with typical, intractable TN received GKRS. Among these, 22 patients were followed for >60 months. The mean maximum radiation dose was 77.1 Gy (65.2-83.6 Gy), and the 4 mm collimator was used to target the radiation to the root entry zone. RESULTS: The mean age was 61.5 years (25-84 years). The mean follow-up period was 92.2 months (60-144 months). According to the pain intensity scale in the last follow-up, 6 cases were grades I-II (pain-free with or without medication; 27.3%) and 7 cases were grade IV-V (<50% pain relief with medication or no pain relief; 31.8%). There was 1 case (facial dysesthesia) with post-operative complications (4.54%). CONCLUSION: The long-term results of GKRS for TN are not as satisfactory as those of microvascular decompression and other conventional modalities, but GKRS is a safe, effective and minimally invasive technique which might be considered a first-line therapy for a limited group of patients for whom a more invasive kind of treatment is unsuitable.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Microvascular Decompression Surgery ; Radiosurgery ; Trigeminal Neuralgia

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET), a rare, highly aggressive neoplasm of indetermined histogenesis, occurs typically in the soft tissues of the chest wall and the paraspinal region. Comprehensive diagnostic studies including histological, ultrastructural, immunohistochemical and molecular analyses have been stressed to diagnose this entity. We report a case of primary renal PNET which was incidentally found in a 59-year-old man who presented with generalized weakness for 4 months. He was diagnosed as a non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus 15 years ago and has been made well by oral therapy. An ill-defined mass, measuring 3.5 3 cm, located in the left kidney and perirenal fat, was incidentally found by ultrasonogram during a renal diabetic examination. The mass was resected because of the unresponsiveness against one-year chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Grossly, a homogeneously solid, gray-white mass, measuring 2.8 1.8 cm, was noted in the mid portion of renal cortex. The mass showed severe adhesion to the perirenal fatty tissue. Microscopically, tumor cells were rather uniform, small round with scanty cytoplasm and often showed rosette formation. Ultrastructurally, they showed membrane-bound dense core granules, measuring 125~150 nm, intercellular junctions and microvillous cytoplasmic projections. The tumor cells were uniformly immunoreactive for neuron-specific enolase and were focally immunoreactive for CD99 (013), chromogranin, synaptophysin and cytokeratin. They were not reactive for S-100 protein, vimentin, Leu-7, leukocyte common antigen, desmin and smooth muscle actin. To our knowledge, this is the smallest renal PNET in literature.
Actins ; Adipose Tissue ; Antigens, CD45 ; Cytoplasm ; Desmin ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Intercellular Junctions ; Keratins ; Kidney* ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Smooth ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive* ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; Rosette Formation ; S100 Proteins ; Sarcoma, Ewing ; Synaptophysin ; Thoracic Wall ; Ultrasonography ; Vimentin

Purpose: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a critical disease. Most studies of AAA consider reoperation rate, complications, or mortality, but do not consider a patient’s mental state. However, there is a possibility of interaction between AAA and depression in disease development and prognosis. We investigated the incidence and risk ratio of depression in patients with AAA using nationwide data. Methods: We selected subjects from National Health Insurance System database who were diagnosed with AAA between 2009 and 2015 and survived at least 1 year after diagnosis or AAA surgery (n = 10,373). We determined the control group using propensity score matching by age and sex. The control group had about 3 times the number of subjects as the AAA cohort (n = 31,119). Results: The incidence of depression was 1.4 times higher in the AAA group than the control group. We further analyzed the incidence of depression in the AAA group according to treatment modalities (nonsurgical vs. surgical or nonsurgical vs. open surgical aneurysm repair vs. endovascular aneurysm repair) but found no significant difference among them. The incidence of depression was significantly higher in patients aged <65 years than in patients aged ≥65 years (hazard ratio, 1.539 vs. 1.270; P < 0.001). Conclusion The incidence of depression was higher in the AAA group, with an especially high risk for depression in patients aged <65 years. The psychiatric status of patients with AAA should be carefully monitored for clinicians to intervene when appropriate.

Purpose: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes; however, its association with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) remains unknown. To investigate this association, a national wide population study has been undertaken. Methods: This cohort study extracted data from the Korean National Health Insurance System database for individuals who had health checkups in 2009. The incidence of AAA was ascertained through the end of 2019. The study population was classified into 4 groups based on the CKD stage: stages 1, 2, 3, and ≥4. The primary endpoint was newly diagnosed AAA. Results: During the mean follow-up of 9.3 years, a total of 20,760 patients (0.2%) were diagnosed with AAA. The incidence rates of AAA were 0.10, 0.23, 0.67, and 1.19 per 1,000 person-years in stages 1, 2, 3, and ≥4, respectively. In Cox proportional hazard model, advanced stage of CKD was associate with an increased risk of AAA development after adjusting full covariates (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 1.12 [1.07–1.67], 1.16 [1.10–1.23], and 1.3 [1.15–1.46]; CKD stage 2 to ≥4, respectively; P < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between the degree of dipstick proteinuria and the risk of AAA, which was consistent regardless of age group, sex, smoking, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Conclusion CKD demonstrated positively associated with the development of AAA, its association showed graded risk as stage of CKD advanced.

PURPOSE: Early defibrillation is essential for survival from ventricular fibrillation (VF). In Korea, assessment of clinical skills, including electrical defibrillation, has been part of the medical licensing examination since 2009. Although one defibrillator is used in the exam, various defibrillators are used in the real world. We wanted to know whether unfamiliar devices might affect defibrillation skill. METHODS: Our research was performed during conduct of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for sixth grade medical students. Three different defibrillators were used for the test; CodeMaster, LiFEGAIN, and HEARTSTART MRx. CodeMaster was the defibrillator used for education and training. In the test room, VF was simulated by use of a simulator (SimMan(R)), and one of the three defibrillators was placed randomly. A checklist, where eight items among a total of 13 items were for device operation, was used for assessment of defibrillation skill. The written exam and clinical practice score for emergency medicine and defibrillation skill score were investigated. In addition, each operation time of device (turn-on, charge, and shock) was calculated with review of video resources containing the entire exam process. RESULTS: Among 65 students enrolled, 59 students were included for analysis. Students were divided according to CodeMaster (n=20), LiFEGAIN (n=15), and HEARTSTART MRx (n=24). No significant difference in the score on the written exam and clinical practice was observed among the groups. In addition, the scores for defibrillation skill and the time intervals did not differ among the groups. CONCLUSION: Unfamiliar devices may not affect defibrillation skill in medical students.
Checklist ; Clinical Competence ; Defibrillators ; Education, Medical ; Emergency Medicine ; Fees and Charges ; Humans ; Korea ; Licensure ; Students, Medical ; Ventricular Fibrillation

BACKGROUND: Effective chest compression may improve the return of spontaneous circulation and neurologic outcome in arrest victims. For fear of rescuer's fatigue, guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) recommended that chest compression (CC) should be switched every 2 minutes, but there is little evidence. We investigated whether health personnel could provide consistent quality of CC for 2 minutes. METHODS: We recruited prospectively health personnel working on one university hospital. On the day assigned randomly, CPR performance data was collected with use of CPR recording technology. Quality of CPR was calculated every 30 seconds interval. To identify the quality decay, we used repeated measure analysis of variance with SPSS 17.0 for analysis. RESULTS: We analyzed 8,485 CCs performed by 41 subjects. Total number of CC decayed between 90 to 120 seconds (51.6 +/- 3.3 to 50.8 +/- 3.5, p = 0.020) within recommended range. The ratio of correct depth CC decayed between 90 to 120 seconds, falling from 83.4 +/- 24.9% to 68.3 +/- 38.4% (p = 0.002). The ratio of low depth CC increased significantly over time (10.2 +/- 20.7% to 31.3 +/- 38.5%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Health personnel may provide adequate number of CC for 2 minutes. But, the number of correct depth CC may decay between 90 to 120 seconds. Also the number of low depth CC may increase over time.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Fatigue ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Manikins ; Prospective Studies ; Quality of Health Care ; Thorax