BACKGROUND: Although blood is very important therapeutic agent in bleeding patients, it may transmit disease, cause an adverse reaction in the recipients, raise the cost of patient care. Since the misuse and inappropriate use of blood is common, we are to review the transfusion practice in our hospital and to reduce unnecessary blood transfusion. METHODS: During a 10-month period from June 1994 through March 1995, 347 patients received blood transfusion during the operation. Among them, we reviewed retrospectively the charts of 211 patients available. We analyzed the transfusion pattern of 47 patients whose postoperative hematocrit exceeded 32 percent to determine the magnitude and cause of unnecessary blood transfusion. RESULTS: The patients of postoperative hematocrit over 32 percent were 119 patients out of 211 patients(56.4%). The main cause of overtransfusion was no reevaluation of the patients hematocrit after the prior unit was given. CONCLUSIONS: Guidelines for transfusing patients must be constructed based on acceptable intraoperative hematocrits. Unnecessary transfusion can be decreased when the transfusion done according to the guidelines, insisting on each reevaluation of the hematocrit prior to the administration of unit of blood.
Blood Transfusion ; Hematocrit ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Patient Care ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: During one-lung anesthesia in thoracic surgery, accurate placement of double lumen endobronchial tube(DLT) is essential. We have only a few data regarding adequate depth of DLT, especially after position change. We measured the depth of DLT and the change of depth after position change in 50 adult patients. METHODS: After endotracheal intubation with left-sided Robertshaw type polyvinyl chloride(PVC) endobronchial tube, fiberoptic bronchoscope was inserted through tracheal lumen and we positioned the proximal end of the bronchial cuff just below the carinal bifurcation. The depth of the DLT from the upper incisor was recorded, and was rechecked after position change to lateral position. RESULTS: The depth of the DLT was 29.4 +/-1.3 cm(male: 30.2+/- 0.9, female: 28.2+/- 0.8) and this was related with height. But in female group depth of DLT was not related with height. Within the same height group, the depth of DLT differ up to 3.5 cm. The change of depth more than 0.5 cm after position change ocurred in 21 out of 50 patients. CONCLUSION: The adequate depth of DLT in Korean patients, in total patients and in male group seems to related with their height, but in female group the depth of DLT was not related with their height. Within same height group, the depth of DLT may differ greatly. So, the depth of DLT must be adjusted individually. After position change, the head and neck should be kept in neutral position and the adequacy of the depth of DLT must be rechecked.
Adult* ; Anesthesia ; Bronchoscopes ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Incisor ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Male ; Neck ; Polyvinyls ; Thoracic Surgery ; Ventilation

No abstract available.
Preoperative Period*

We have reviewed 9009 pediatric age group patiests visiting the emergency room in Busan National University Hospital during the last 8 years and 8 months period from Jan. 1st., 1970 to Aug. 31st.,1978. The clincal and statistical results were obtained in this stydy as following: 1. Of the total 40406 patients visiting the emergency room, the patients under 15years of age occupied 22.3%, with the sex ratio male to female,3:2. 2. The yearly distribution of patients showed little significant change until 1975 because of dconomic stagnation. There after the incidence began to increase and a mareakly sudden increase from 1977 due to medical insurance and medical protection. The monthly distribution revealed a sightly higher incidence in Summer seasin(June. July and August). 3. Preschool childres between one year anad six years of age occupied 42% of all pediatric patients. The most popular rime 27.0% of all pediatric patients were seen. 4. The most common disease was accident (24.2%), the second common was respiratory disease (16.3%), which was followde by vernous disease (13.4%), gastroinestinal disease (8.8%), infectious disease (6.3%), poisonings (5.4%), neonatal disease(4.4%), and surgical disease (4.3%) and the like in order of frequency. 5. The admission rate through the emrgency room was 43.2% of total pediatric emergency patieats.
Busan ; Communicable Diseases ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insurance ; Male ; Poisoning ; Sex Ratio ; Statistics as Topic*

We report a case of pure spinal epidural cavernous hemangioma and discuss the relationships among its clinical manifestation, diagnosis and treatment. A 35-year-old woman was admitted to our department with a six-month history of severe headache, nausea and back pain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the thoracic spine showed a spindle-shaped epidural lesion extending into the neural foramen, with compression of the spinal cord at the T8-12 levels and multifocal mass lesions on the paravertebral muscles. The patient underwent microsurgery, the lesion was completely removed, and the patient recovered fully. The lesion in the spinal canal was dark-reddish and was located in the posterolateral epidural space. Histopathologic examination revealed a cavernous hemangioma. Pure spinal epidural cavernous hemangiomas have characteristic MRI findings; however, their differential diagnoses requires careful initial examination and a corresponding clinical correlation.
Adult ; Back Pain ; Caves ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Epidural Space ; Female ; Headache ; Hemangioma, Cavernous ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Microsurgery ; Muscles ; Nausea ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Compression ; Spine

OBJECTIVE: Traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD) results from high energy trauma and is an uncommon and usually fatal injury due to an injury to the cervicomedullary junction. Recently, improved prehospital management, early diagnosis and effective treatment led to increasing reports of survival. This study of patients with AOD initial imaging modalities recognizes the clinical features and diagnostic considerations for a quick diagnosis. METHODS: In this article, five survived adult patients with traumatic AOD are presented and retrospectively reviewed. Diagnosis was made by lateral cervical spine x-ray, cervical computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). Treatment consisted of early immobilization, respiratory support, and subsequent occipitocervical fusion. RESULTS: Four patients were male and the other one was female. Three were diagnosed early and the others were delayed in confirmations. One was type I AOD and four were type II AOD. All patients were applied occipitocervical fusion. Two cases were worse; neurological states and the other three that showed no change. Lateral X-ray film of all patients in the prevertebral soft tissue swelling at the C2 level was noted. The mean thickness of prevertebral soft tissue C2 level was 17.88 mm(15.18 to 20.17mm). Two were in the normal range of dens-basion index(DBI), three showed abnormalities, and Power's ratio was abnormal in 3 patients. CONCLUSION: As for damages caused by a strong external force in patients with severe prevertebral soft tissue swelling at C2 level abnormaly, the doctor determines whether more should be carefully AOD and considers 3D CT or MRI to confirm AOD in these patients.
Adult ; Atlanto-Occipital Joint ; Dislocations ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Male ; Reference Values ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine ; X-Ray Film

OBJECTIVE: Traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD) results from high energy trauma and is an uncommon and usually fatal injury due to an injury to the cervicomedullary junction. Recently, improved prehospital management, early diagnosis and effective treatment led to increasing reports of survival. This study of patients with AOD initial imaging modalities recognizes the clinical features and diagnostic considerations for a quick diagnosis. METHODS: In this article, five survived adult patients with traumatic AOD are presented and retrospectively reviewed. Diagnosis was made by lateral cervical spine x-ray, cervical computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). Treatment consisted of early immobilization, respiratory support, and subsequent occipitocervical fusion. RESULTS: Four patients were male and the other one was female. Three were diagnosed early and the others were delayed in confirmations. One was type I AOD and four were type II AOD. All patients were applied occipitocervical fusion. Two cases were worse; neurological states and the other three that showed no change. Lateral X-ray film of all patients in the prevertebral soft tissue swelling at the C2 level was noted. The mean thickness of prevertebral soft tissue C2 level was 17.88 mm(15.18 to 20.17mm). Two were in the normal range of dens-basion index(DBI), three showed abnormalities, and Power's ratio was abnormal in 3 patients. CONCLUSION: As for damages caused by a strong external force in patients with severe prevertebral soft tissue swelling at C2 level abnormaly, the doctor determines whether more should be carefully AOD and considers 3D CT or MRI to confirm AOD in these patients.
Adult ; Atlanto-Occipital Joint ; Dislocations ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Immobilization ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Male ; Reference Values ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine ; X-Ray Film

OBJECTIVE: In Korea, early vertebroplasty (EVP) or delayed vertebroplasty (DVP, which is performed at least 2 weeks after diagnosis) were performed for the treatment of acute osteoporotic compression fracture (OCF) of the spine. The present study compared the outcomes of two surgical strategies for the treatment of single-level acute OCF in the thoracolumbar junction (T12-L2). METHODS: From 2004 to 2010, 23 patients were allocated to the EVP group (EVPG) and 27 patients to the DVP group (DVPG). Overall mean age was 68.3+/-7.9 and minimum follow-up period was 1.0 year. Retrospective study of clinical and radiological results was conducted. RESULTS: No significant differences in baseline characteristics were observed between the two groups. As expected, mean duration from onset to vertebroplasty and mean duration of hospital stay were significantly longer in the DVPG (17.1+/-2.1 and 17.5+/-4.2) than in the EVPG (3.8+/-3.3 and 10.8+/-5.1, p=0.001). Final clinical outcome including visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index, and Odom's criteria did not differ between the two groups. However, immediate improvement of the VAS after vertebroplasty was greater in the EVPG (5.1+/-1.3) than in the DVPG (4.0+/-1.0, p=0.002). The proportion of cement leakage was lower in the EVPG (30.4%) than in the DVPG (59.3%, p=0.039). In addition, semiquantitative grade of cement interdigitation was significantly more favorable in the EVPG than in the DVPG (p=0.003). Final vertebral body collapse and segmental kyphosis did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that EVP achieves a better immediate surgical effect with more favorable cost-effectiveness.
Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Compression* ; Humans ; Korea ; Kyphosis ; Length of Stay ; Osteoporosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine ; Vertebroplasty*

OBJECTIVE: Although there is no consensus on the ideal treatment of the craniocervical instability, biomechanical stabilization and bone fusion can be induced through occipito-cervical fusion (OCF). The authors conducted this study to evaluate efficacy of OCF, as well as to explore methods in reducing complications. METHODS: A total of 16 cases with craniocervical instability underwent OCF since the year 2002. The mean age of the patients was 51.5 years with a mean follow-up period of 34.9 months. The subjects were compared using lateral X-ray taken before the operation, after the operation, and during last follow-up. The Nurick score was used to assess neurological function pre and postoperatively. RESULTS: All patients showed improvements in myelopathic symptoms after the operation. The mean preoperative Nurick score was 3.1. At the end of follow-up after surgery, the mean Nurick score was 2.0. After surgery, most patients' posterior occipito-cervical angle entered the normal range as the pre operation angle decresed from 121 to 114 degree. There were three cases with complications, such as, vertebral artery injury, occipital screw failure and wound infection. In two cases with cerebral palsy, occipital screw failures occurred. But, reoperation was performed in one case. CONCLUSION: OCF is an effective method in treating craniocervical instability. However, the complication rate can be quite high when performing OCF in patients with cerebral palsy, rheumatoid arthritis. Much precaution should be taken when performing this procedure on high risk patients.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Atlanto-Occipital Joint ; Cerebral Palsy ; Consensus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Postoperative Complications ; Reference Values ; Reoperation ; Vertebral Artery ; Wound Infection

OBJECTIVE: Anterior cervical corpectomy with fusion (ACF) or laminoplasty may be associated with substantial number of complications for treating multilevel cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) with significant cord compression. For more safe decompression and stabilization in multilevel cervical OPLL with prominent cord compression, we propose circumferential cervical surgery (selective ACF and laminoplasty) based on our favorable experience. METHODS: Twelve patients with cervical myelopathy underwent circumferential cervical surgery and all patients showed multilevel OPLL with signal change of the spinal cord on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A retrospective review of clinical, radiological, and surgical data was conducted. RESULTS: There were 9 men and 3 women with mean age of 56.7 years and a mean follow up period of 15.6 months. The average corpectomy level was 1.16 and laminoplasty level was 4.58. The average Japanese Orthopedic Association score for recovery was 5.1 points and good clinical results were obtained in 11 patients (92%) (p < 0.05). The average space available for the cord improved from 58.2% to 87.9% and the average Cobb's angle changed from 7.63 to 12.27 at 6 months after operation without failure of fusion (p < 0.05). Average operation time was 8.36 hours, with an estimated blood loss of 760 mL and duration of bed rest of 2.0 days. There were no incidences of significant surgical complications, including wound infection. CONCLUSION: Although the current study examined a small sample with relatively short-term follow-up periods, our study results demonstrate that circumferential cervical surgery is considered favorable for safety and effectiveness in multilevel OPLL with prominent cord compression.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bed Rest ; Decompression ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Longitudinal Ligaments ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Orthopedics ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; Spinal Cord Ischemia ; Wound Infection