BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Previous studies have reported conflicting results about the prevalence of seizures in Alzheimer's disease (AD). There are few epidemiological studies on this topic in Asia. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine demographic and clinical characteristics as well as incidence for seizures in AD patients compared to non-AD patients in a prospective, longitudinal, community-based cohort with a long follow-up. METHODS: Data were collected from National Health Insurance Service-National Elderly Cohort (NHIS-elderly) Database to define patients with AD from 2004–2006 using Korean Classification Diseases codes G30 and F00. We performed a 1:5 case-control propensity score matching based on age, sex, and household income. We conducted Cox proportional hazards regression analysis to estimate the risk of epilepsy in AD patients. RESULTS: In the cohort study, patients with AD had higher risk for epilepsy than those without AD, with hazard ratio of 2.773 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.515–3.057). This study also showed that male gender and comorbidities such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease increased the risk of developing epilepsy. Patients with AD had 1.527 (95% CI, 1.375–1.695) times higher mortality rate than those in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: AD patients have significantly higher risk of developing epilepsy than non-AD patients.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Asia ; Case-Control Studies ; Classification ; Cohort Studies* ; Comorbidity ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epilepsy* ; Family Characteristics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Male ; Mortality ; National Health Programs ; Prevalence ; Propensity Score ; Prospective Studies ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Seizures

Impalement injury is the subset of penetrating trauma, defined as fixed, elongated objects penetrate and remain in the human body cavity or region by relatively low velocity. We report an unusual case of facial and neck impalement where two dirty rusted iron bars penetrated forehead bilaterally and exited neck and ear respectively without causing major organ injuries. After thorough radiologic and physical evaluation, the patient got medical and surgical treatment. The patient was discharged without complication after four day of delayed wound closure. There have been no complications and sequelaes related with trauma, wound infection and scar contracture at 3-year follow-up. According to affected organs and pattern of impalement, individualized and multidisciplinary surgical approach should be considered. Following these guidelines as in this case, it was possible to achieve excellent clinical outcome in impalement injury.
Cicatrix ; Contracture ; Ear ; Follow-Up Studies ; Forehead ; Foreign Bodies ; Human Body ; Humans ; Iron* ; Neck* ; Wound Infection ; Wounds and Injuries

This study intended to review the precedents on plastic surgery medical malpractice lawsuits in lower-court trials, classify the reasons of 'limitation of liability' by type, and suggest a standard in the acknowledgement of limitation of liability ratio. The 30 lower-court's rulings on the cases bearing the medical negligence of the defendants acknowledged the liability ratio of the defendants between 30% and 100%. Ten cases ruled that the defendants were wholly responsible for the negligence or malpractice, while 20 cases acknowledged the limitation of liability principle. In the determination of damage compensation amount, the court considered the cause of the victim side, which contributed in the occurrence of the damage. The court also believed that it is against the idea of fairness to have the assailant pay the whole compensation, even there is no victim-side cause such as previous illness or physical constitution of the patient, and applies the legal doctrine on limitation of liability, which is an independent damage compensation adjustment system. Most of the rulings also limited the ratio of responsibility to certain extent. When considering that the legal doctrine on limitation of liability which supports concrete validity for the fair sharing of damage, the tangible classification of causes of limitation of liability suggested in this study would be a useful tool in forecasting the ruling of a plastic surgery medical malpractice lawsuit.
Humans ; *Liability, Legal ; Malpractice/*legislation & jurisprudence ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures/adverse effects/legislation & jurisprudence ; Republic of Korea ; Surgery, Plastic/*adverse effects/*legislation & jurisprudence

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical results of patients with scaphoid nonunions treated with arthroscopically assisted bone grafting and percutaneous K-wires fixation. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 20 patients with a scaphoid nonunions which was treated with arthroscopically assisted bone grafting and percutaneous K-wires fixation from November 2008 to July 2012. Time from injury to treatment was 74 months (range, 3-480 months) in average. Functional outcome was evaluated using the modified Mayo wrist score and visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, which were measured before operation and at the last follow up. RESULTS: All nonunions were healed successfully. The average radiologic union time was 9.7 weeks (range, 7-14 weeks). The average VAS score improved from 6.3 (range, 4-8) preoperatively to 1.6 (range, 0-3) at the last follow up. The average modified Mayo wrist score increased from 62.5 preoperatively to 85.7 at the last follow-up. CONCLUSION: Arthroscopically assisted bone grafting and percutaneous K-wires fixation is an effective treatment method for a scaphoid nonunion. It may provide more biological environment than open surgery as a minimally invasive procedure.
Arthroscopy ; Bone Transplantation* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Wrist

PURPOSE: To report a case of rapid progression of the epiretinal membrane following intravitreal aflibercept injection in a patient with exudative age-related macular degeneration. CASE SUMMARY: An 82-year-old female presented with a complaint of decreased visual acuity in her left eye for 1 month. The initial best-corrected visual acuity was 0.2 in the left eye. Fundus examination and optical coherence tomography revealed soft drusen with retinal hemorrhage of the macula and a transparent epiretinal membrane in the left eye. Fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography showed retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP) of the left eye, so intravitreal aflibercept injection was performed. One month after the first injection, intraretinal cystic macular edema decreased, while transparency of the epiretinal membrane decreased and reflectivity and thickness of the membrane increased. After two additional injections of aflibercept, RAP showed improvement, whereas the epiretinal membrane progressed. Visual acuity of the left eye decreased to 0.1 and vitrectomy of the membrane was performed. CONCLUSIONS: Careful observation for potentially rapid progression of epiretinal membrane is needed after intravitreal aflibercept injection in the management of exudate age-related macular degeneration accompanied by epiretinal membrane.
Aged, 80 and over ; Angiography ; Epiretinal Membrane ; Exudates and Transudates ; Female ; Fluorescein Angiography ; Humans ; Indocyanine Green ; Macular Degeneration ; Macular Edema ; Membranes ; Retinal Hemorrhage ; Retinaldehyde ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Visual Acuity ; Vitrectomy

PURPOSE: To report a case of corneal and lenticular pigmentation after prolonged clozapine therapy. CASE SUMMARY: A 56-year-old male visited our hospital with a progressive decline in vision that affected both eyes. He had a history of schizophrenia. He was being treated with 200 mg clozapine and 1 mg lorazepam daily, and had been treated with clozapine for 5 years. At the first visit, his best-corrected-visual acuity was 20/32 in both eyes. Slit lamp examination of the corneas showed bright, fine, grayish-brown deposits on the endothelium, and on dilation, bilateral central stellate opacity of the anterior portion of the lens capsule was revealed. CONCLUSIONS: Clozapine may induce corneal and lenticular pigmentation and thus may lead to a decline in vision. Patients on long-term clozapine therapy should be considered for regular ophthalmic review.
Clozapine ; Cornea ; Endothelium ; Humans ; Lorazepam ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pigmentation ; Schizophrenia ; Slit Lamp

Purpose: To evaluate the one-year efficacy of intravitreal aflibercept injection in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 20 / 40 or better. Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective study. The medical records of patients diagnosed with treatment-naïve PCV were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with an initial BCVA of 20 / 40 or better and who had undergone intravitreal aflibercept injection were included. Patients were treated with three consecutive monthly injections, followed by pro re nata regimen according to the clinician’s discretion at variable interval visits. The proportions of eyes for which BCVA was maintained (≤ 0.2 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution change) or improved at 12 months were evaluated. The changes of BCVA, central subfield macular thickness (CSMT), pigment epithelial detachment, and subretinal fluid also were assessed. Results: A total of 86 eyes were included. The mean number of injections for 12 months of treatment was 5.4 ± 1.7. BCVA was maintained or improved in 94.2% (81 / 86) of cases. Mean BCVA (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) had changed from the baseline (0.23 ± 0.09) at 3 months (0.21 ± 0.14), 6 months (0.24 ± 0.22), and 12 months (0.20 ± 0.18), but with no statistical significance. CSMT had improved significantly from the baseline (336.1 ± 97.3 μm) at 3 months (223.6 ± 47.22 μm), 6 months (239.6 ± 64.2 μm), and 12 months (223.8 ± 47.9 μm). Pigment epithelial detachment was observed in 93% of cases at the baseline, 72.1% at 3 months, and 69.8% at 12 months, showing a significant decrease at all observation points. Subretinal fluid was observed in 91.9% of cases at the baseline, 20.9% at 3 months, and 29.1% at 12 months, showing a significant decrease at all observation points. Conclusions In cases of PCV with good visual acuity, intravitreal aflibercept injections decreased CSMT and were effective in maintaining visual acuity.

Purpose: Considering the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) transmission through infected droplets, emergency department (ED) operations in response to febrile patients should be planned. We investigated the general and clinical characteristics of febrile patients visiting the ED and changes in admission rates via the ED during the COVID-19 outbreak. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected patients who visited 402 EDs in the Republic of Korea with febrile symptoms between January 27 and May 31, 2020 and compared them to those enrolled before the COVID-19 outbreak. The primary outcome was admission rate; the secondary outcome was length of stay (LOS) in the ED. Results: In total, 266519 patients had febrile symptoms at ED presentation after the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2019, before the outbreak, there were 437762 patients. The rate of ED visits among pediatric patients (aged <15 years) decreased to 21.4% after the COVID-19 outbreak, compared with 41.8% in 2019. The proportion of patients admitted after ED management was higher after the outbreak (31.3%) than before (25.2%). The adjusted odds ratio for admission was 1.04 (95% confidence interval: 1.02–1.05) after the outbreak. Compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak, the median ED LOS increased by 16 min after the outbreak. Conclusion This study confirmed that admission rates and ED LOS increased for febrile patients visiting the ED after the COVID-19 outbreak. This could provide evidence for developing ED-related strategies in response to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and other infectious disease pandemics.

Purpose: To report a modified rectangular loop suture technique for patients with refractory pupillary optic capture after intraocular lens scleral fixation. Methods: A modified rectangular loop suture was performed in four patients with persistent pupillary capture despite medication and laser iridotomy. A loop suture pattern was designed in the two quadrants without the scleral fixation knot. A 2 mm loop suture point was marked 2 mm away from the corneal limbus. The suture point was similarly marked in the opposite quadrants. Small conjunctival incisions were made at a marked point and a non-absorbable 10-0 prolene long needle was passed. The needle was inserted at the 1 o’clock position through the conjunctival incision and passed between the intraocular lens and the iris plane. Then it was withdrawn using a 26-gauge (G) syringe from the 8 o’clock position in the opposite quadrant. Similarly, the needle was passed from the 7 o’clock position under the conjunctiva, and pulled out of the sclera at the 2 o’clock position. It was then passed to the 1 o’clock position under the conjunctiva and a knot was made and buried. The operation was completed without closure of the conjunctival incision. Results: In all four eyes, pupillary optic capture was corrected and remained stable without recurrence for an average of 7.25 months. Conclusions The modified rectangular loop suture may be useful for refractory pupillary capture cases. The procedure is relatively simple and minimizes scleral exposure to the conjunctival suture. It is expected that this may reduce patient discomfort.

No abstract available.
Acupuncture* ; Hand* ; Tenosynovitis* ; Tuberculosis*