PURPOSE: We evaluated plasma coagulation parameters sequentially and the influence of antithrombin III adjuvant treatment in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. METHODS: Twenty-nine cases with acute lymhoblastic leukemia who had been treated with L-asparaginase at Pusan National University Hospital were enrolled in this study. The coagulation parameters were checked before and on every week of L-asparaginase administration. The patients whose level of antithrombin III was below normal range were given antithrombin III done adjuvant treatment. RESULTS: In the twenty-nine cycles of chemotherapies, nine cycles were treated with antithrombin III adjuvant therapy and others were not treated with the therapy. The PT and aPTT levels showed no changes during L-asparaginase treatment. After one week of L-asparaginase treatment, the fibrinogen and antithrombin III levels were decreased markedly. Antithrombin III level in patients under antithrombin III adjuvant treatment had increased significantly. On the other hand, antithrombin III level in patients not on antithrombin III adjuvant treatment showed low levels until finishing L-asparaginase. We observed only one case of sudden cerebral thrombosis in the non-antithrombin III adjuvant treatment. CONCLUSION: Antithrombin III adjuvant treatment can correct hemostatic parameters partially and may prevent thromboembolic events in patients with L-asparaginase.
Antithrombin III* ; Busan ; Child* ; Drug Therapy ; Fibrinogen ; Hand ; Humans ; Intracranial Thrombosis ; Leukemia ; Plasma ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Reference Values

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a Critical Pathway for Uterine Artery Embolization patients. METHOD: There were 6 steps that were taken. Step 1 was selecting a diagnosis, and Step 2 was organizing a development team consisting of 7 experts. Step 3 analyzed the medical records, and Step 4 drew up a preliminary Critical Pathway. Step 5 tested the clinical validity of the preliminary Critical Pathway, and Step 6 developed the final Critical Pathway. RESULT: The contents of the medical practices observed in the medical records were investigated in seven areas: monitoring/assessment, treatment, medication, diet, activity, consults, and education/discharge plan; and a total of 73 items was identified. The validity of the 73 items was examined by a group of specialists. 68 items were adopted, 4 items revised, 1 item removed, and 1 item was added. Using the results, a preliminary Critical Pathway was drawn up. According to the results from examining the clinical validity of the preliminary Critical Pathway with five patients for five weeks, 3 items which showed discrepancy were revised and another 3 items were added. Then, the final Critical Pathway was completed. CONCLUSION: This Critical Pathway needs to be clinically applied and continuously to measure its effects in terms of the length of stay, cost?effectiveness, and the patients' and staffs' satisfaction.
Critical Pathways* ; Diagnosis ; Diet ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Specialization ; Uterine Artery Embolization* ; Uterine Artery*

No abstract available.
Pigmentation*

No abstract available.
Pigmentation*

Although some cases of benign positional vertigo are associated with a chronic ipsilateral sensorineural hearing loss, an association with simultaneous ipsilateral sudden deafness is rare. We report a 53-year old woman with sudden deaf-ness with simultaneous positional vertigo in the same ear characterized by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo of pos-terior semicircular canal type. After a modified Epley particle-repositioning maneuver, the patient's vertigo was resolved. Clinical and neuro-otologic evaluations suggested that the lesion responsible for this patient was probably located within inner ear rather than within the vestibulocochlear nerve. (J Korean Neurol Assoc 19(4):410~412, 2001)
Ear ; Ear, Inner ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; Hearing Loss, Sudden* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Semicircular Canals ; Vertigo* ; Vestibulocochlear Nerve

PURPOSE: Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has a wide spectrum of clinical features. Especially, disseminated disease has been associated with a chronic course, high rate of morbidity and possible mortality. The purpose of our study was to investigate the clinical features, subsequent disease course, survival and late sequelae in multisystem LCH (ms-LCH). METHODS: Fourteen cases diagnosed to histologically proven ms-LCH at Pusan National University Hospital between January 1991 and December 1997 were enrolled in this study. All patients received combination chemotherpy. The medical records were retrospectively reviewed for organ involvement at diagosis, disease course, and late sequelae. RESULTS: 1) The peak incidence was between 6 months and 2 years and sex distribution revealed female predominance with the ratio of 1.8:1. 2) Mean number of involved organs was 4.4 and the most frequently involved organ was liver (85.7%) followed by bone, middle ear, skin and spleen. 3) The mean duration of follow up was 41.6 27.5 months. And the overall estimated survival rate at 5 years was 75.9%, with an estimated disease free survival rate of only 40.8% at 5 years. 4) Three patients died and the causes of death were respiratory failure due to pneumonia, gastrointestinal bleeding due to hepatic failure and septicemia. 5) Late sequelae were seen in 42.8% among 14 patients. The most common sequelae were skeletal defects in 21.4% and diabetes insipidus in 21.4%. 6) Among the late sequelae, 3 patients had vertebra plana. Conservative treatment was done and long term follow up of 28.7 7.0 months demonstrated partial healing of the vertebra plana in two cases and no improvement in one. 7) The diabetes insipidus developed in 3 cases, at diagnosis, at 14 months and 20 months after diagnosis respectively. None of the cases received radiation therapy. All of them responded to anti-diuretic CONCLUSION: These data show that, despite the favorable survival, about half of ms-LCH patients had further dissemination of disease or late sequelae. Further treatment needs to be designed to prevent disease progression and late sequelae. hormone replacement therapy.
Busan ; Cause of Death ; Diabetes Insipidus ; Diagnosis ; Disease Progression ; Disease-Free Survival ; Ear, Middle ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell* ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver ; Liver Failure ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Pneumonia ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Sex Distribution ; Skin ; Spine ; Spleen ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: The Technicon Immuno I utilizes various enzymatic kinetic analysis with colorimetric detection and magnetic particles. We evaluated this fully automated random-access immunoassay system which can perform latex agglutination and magnetic-separation sandwich/ competitive immunoassay. METHODS: We evaluated the assay precision, lower limits of detection, linearity, recovery, sample to sample carry-over, analytical interferences and comparison with other various methods for the following analytes: thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), prostate specific antigen (PSA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), CA 19-9, and digoxin. RESULTS: Satisfactory results were obtained for within-run and between-day precision in most analytes. Lower limits of detection were slightly higher than claimed by the manufacturer. The linearity was acceptable, but there were proportional errors for CEA and FT4. The recovery rates were also good except for PSA. Sample to sample carry-over was not detected. No significant analytical interference was caused by hemoglobin (up to 2,000 mg/L), lipid (up to 85 mmol/L) and bilirubin (up to 325 mol/L) except for digoxin, FT4 and PSA. The Technicon Immuno I assay correlated well with the comparison methods in most analytes, but the proportional biases were found for PSA and LH. CONCLUSIONS: The Technicon Immuno I is a satisfactory system for clinical use in most cases but more study would be requried for FT4. Especially, this system can replace the radioimmunoassay for FSH and LH.
Agglutination ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Bilirubin ; Digoxin ; Immunoassay* ; Latex ; Limit of Detection ; Luteinizing Hormone ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Radioimmunoassay ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine

Objective: To evaluate the impact of surgical simulation training using a three-dimensional (3D)-printed model of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) on surgical skill development. Materials and Methods: A life-size congenital heart disease model was printed using a Stratasys Object500 Connex2 printer from preoperative electrocardiography-gated CT scans of a 6-month-old patient with TOF with complex pulmonary stenosis.Eleven cardiothoracic surgeons independently evaluated the suitability of four 3D-printed models using composite Tango 27, 40, 50, and 60 in terms of palpation, resistance, extensibility, gap, cut-through ability, and reusability of. Among these, Tango 27 was selected as the final model. Six attendees (two junior cardiothoracic surgery residents, two senior residents, and two clinical fellows) independently performed simulation surgeries three times each. Surgical proficiency was evaluated by an experienced cardiothoracic surgeon on a 1–10 scale for each of the 10 surgical procedures. The times required for each surgical procedure were also measured. Results: In the simulation surgeries, six surgeons required a median of 34.4 (range 32.5–43.5) and 21.4 (17.9–192.7) minutes to apply the ventricular septal defect (VSD) and right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) patches, respectively, on their first simulation surgery. These times had significantly reduced to 17.3 (16.2–29.5) and 13.6 (10.3–30.0) minutes, respectively, in the third simulation surgery (p = 0.03 and p = 0.01, respectively). The decreases in the median patch appliance time among the six surgeons were 16.2 (range 13.6–17.7) and 8.0 (1.8–170.3) minutes for the VSD and RVOT patches, respectively. Summing the scores for the 10 procedures showed that the attendees scored an average of 28.58 ± 7.89 points on the first simulation surgery and improved their average score to 67.33 ± 15.10 on the third simulation surgery (p = 0.008). Conclusion Inexperienced cardiothoracic surgeons improved their performance in terms of surgical proficiency and operation time during the experience of three simulation surgeries using a 3D-printed TOF model using Tango 27 composite.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of surgical simulation training using a three-dimensional (3D)-printed model of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) on surgical skill development. Materials and Methods: A life-size congenital heart disease model was printed using a Stratasys Object500 Connex2 printer from preoperative electrocardiography-gated CT scans of a 6-month-old patient with TOF with complex pulmonary stenosis.Eleven cardiothoracic surgeons independently evaluated the suitability of four 3D-printed models using composite Tango 27, 40, 50, and 60 in terms of palpation, resistance, extensibility, gap, cut-through ability, and reusability of. Among these, Tango 27 was selected as the final model. Six attendees (two junior cardiothoracic surgery residents, two senior residents, and two clinical fellows) independently performed simulation surgeries three times each. Surgical proficiency was evaluated by an experienced cardiothoracic surgeon on a 1–10 scale for each of the 10 surgical procedures. The times required for each surgical procedure were also measured. Results: In the simulation surgeries, six surgeons required a median of 34.4 (range 32.5–43.5) and 21.4 (17.9–192.7) minutes to apply the ventricular septal defect (VSD) and right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) patches, respectively, on their first simulation surgery. These times had significantly reduced to 17.3 (16.2–29.5) and 13.6 (10.3–30.0) minutes, respectively, in the third simulation surgery (p = 0.03 and p = 0.01, respectively). The decreases in the median patch appliance time among the six surgeons were 16.2 (range 13.6–17.7) and 8.0 (1.8–170.3) minutes for the VSD and RVOT patches, respectively. Summing the scores for the 10 procedures showed that the attendees scored an average of 28.58 ± 7.89 points on the first simulation surgery and improved their average score to 67.33 ± 15.10 on the third simulation surgery (p = 0.008). Conclusion Inexperienced cardiothoracic surgeons improved their performance in terms of surgical proficiency and operation time during the experience of three simulation surgeries using a 3D-printed TOF model using Tango 27 composite.

Menetrier's disease is a rare illness that is characterized by diffuse tremendous thickening of the gastric wall caused by excessive proliferation of the mucosa of unknown cause. An exact diagnosis is crucial due to the excellent prognosis as compared to other malignant lesions such as a gastric lymphoma and infiltrative gastric carcinoma. A 23-year-old woman presented with epigastric discomfort and dyspepsia. A rapid urease test, a test for H. pylori using serum IgG antibody, and a (13)C-urea breath test were all negative. A gastroscopic examination revealed a wide lesion encircling the lumen, which showed diffusely hard and thickened folds from an angle to the upper body near the cardia. Endoscopic ultrasonography showed diffusely hypoechoic thickness of the second wall layer, but the other wall layers were well preserved. The patient was diagnosed with Menetrier's disease without H. pylori infection, and the patient rapidly improved after short-term treatment with a proton pump inhibitor.
Breath Tests ; Cardia ; Dyspepsia ; Endosonography ; Female ; Gastritis, Hypertrophic ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Mucous Membrane ; Prognosis ; Proton Pumps ; Protons ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Urease ; Young Adult