The authors have studied on the effect of digital pressure on eyeball under the surface anesthesia instead of other reducing agents of intraocular pressure and retrobulbar anesthesia in order to lower the intraocular pressure as a preoperative procedure of cataract extraction in 26 eyeballs of 24 patients and following results were obtained: 1. The authors had intraocular pressure lowered till averaging 10.8 mmHg (average 13.5 ~ 8.0 mmHg) of original pressure by ocular massage. 2. Massage on eyeball was thought to be a satisfactory preoperative procedure to perform cataract extractIon. 3. In operative complications, loss of vitreous and rupture of capsule were noticed 11.5% and 60% respectively. and it was thought to be caused by technical failure in surgeons. In view of this fact we could not find that the loss of vitreous was caused by intraocular pressure below 13.5 mmHg.
Anesthesia ; Cataract Extraction* ; Cataract* ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Massage* ; Preoperative Care ; Reducing Agents ; Rupture

BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid cancer has a high frequency of lymph-node metastasis, but the methods for detecting and treating of lymph-node metastases remains controversial. We reviewed clinical analyses for lymph-node metastases. METHODS: Were retrospectively reviewed charts of 120 patients with papillary thyroid cancer who were treated from July 1994 to February 1997. Clinical aspects and the relationship between age, sex, tumor size, extracapsular invasion, multicentricity of the tumor and lymphadenopathy and the rate of lymph-node metastasis were investigated. RESULTS: Modified neck dissection was done in 97 patients, and lymph node metastases were detected in 72 patients (74.2%). Lymph-node meatastases were detected in 3 patients during routine central compartment neck dissection. The overall lymph-node metastasis was 62.5% (75 of 120). The mean number of metastastic nodes was 5.67, and the most frequent site was level VI. Lymph-node metastases were more frequent at a young age and for large sized tumors, extracapsular invasion and preoperatively palpable lymphadenopathy. CONCLUSIONS: The lymph-node metastatic rate is high for preoperatively palpable lymph node, tumor sizes over 4 cm, and extracapsular invasion (p<0.05). To reduce the recurrence rate, the surgeon shoud do a modified neck dissection on such above patients.
Humans ; Lymph Nodes* ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Neck Dissection ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms*

In spite of vigorous efforts to enhance appropriateness of blood usage in surgery, it is recognized that there are still not a few overuse and misuse of blood products in Korean hospitals. To assure appropriate use of blood, continuous monitoring and controlfling blood orders, particularly for surgical operations, should be implemented. The indicator of 'ratio of crossmatching to transfusion' (C/T ratio) has been focalized on in this regard. The authors investigated C/T ratio for eight hospitals, evenly distributed in their geographical location as well as size. Only elective surgeries operated from March 1 to May 31, 1995 were included for analysis. Standardized survey format was distributed, and retrospective reviews of medical records were performed by volunteer surveyors from each hospital after two sessions of pre- survey education. The results were as follows. Average C/T ratio, for all hospitals and all surgeries, was 1.76. Differences in C/T ratio by sex, months, clinical departments, blood components were not significant. However, the ratio showed increasing tendency with ages. The C/T ratio on the average was not higher, compared with the recommended guideline. However, due to study' s limitations ini standardization of survey method and verification of data, we could not conclude that current status of appropriateness of blood use is satisfactory. In addition, to pervasively use the C/T ratio as a quality indicator for blood use management, supplementary measures, such as standardization of data, should be adopted.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education ; Medical Records ; Quality Indicators, Health Care* ; Retrospective Studies ; Volunteers

In the literature, Terson's syndrome most commonly co-occurs with subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH) secondary to rupture of an A-com or ICA aneurysm. It is usually observed bilaterally and the prognosis is poor. The authors report two rare cases of unilateral Terson's syndrome after rupture of MCA bifurcation aneurysm rupture. In both cases, retinal hemorrhage was noticed after early aneurysmal clipping ; after these were conservatively treated, the visual acuity of one patient improved slightly and that of the other showed no change. For early detection and proper management of retinal hemorrhage after subarachnoid hemorrhage, early and periodic fundoscopic examination appears to be important.
Aneurysm* ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Retinal Hemorrhage ; Rupture* ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage* ; Visual Acuity

Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis is a rare skin disease and characterized with recurrent sterile pustules, peripheral eosinophilia. The pathogenesis of this disease is not clear yet, but immunologic factors are assumed to be important. The treatment of this skin disorder includes systemic glucocorticoids, dapsone, NSAIDs etc. We herein report a case of eosinophilic pustular folliculitis treated with dapsone for promoting futher research of this rare disease.

Acitretin, the principal and free acid metabolite of etretinate, is used to treat patients with several types of psoriasis. The common side effects encountered with acitretin therapy are cheilitis, conjunctivitis, xerosis, dryness of the nasal mucosa with minor nosebleeds, pruritis, and desquamation of the palms and soles. Granulation tissue is a well recognized side effect of oral acitretin. This reaction is characterized by ulceration, hemorrhagic crusting and excess granulation tissue. It occurs between the third and 12th weeks of therapy, most commonly affects the hands and feet. We present a case of multiple granulation tissues associated with acitretin therapy.

Hematocrit is an important determinant of oxygen delivery. Of particular interest, its target level is very wide for different kinds of shock: from 30% for hemorrhagic or septic shock to 56% for secondary polycythemia. This range is not only wide but also deviated to the higher level from the optimal value of 40%. In this letter, the authors determine the mathematical basis of the wide and deviated range of hematocrit starting from the Hagen-Poisseuille equation.
Hematocrit ; Hemoglobins ; Oxygen ; Polycythemia ; Shock ; Shock, Septic

No abstract available.
Arteriovenous Fistula* ; Renal Dialysis*

No abstract available.
Aortic Rupture*

OBJECTIVES: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and disabling psychiatric disorder. The duration of untreated illness (DUI) has been suggested as one of the predictors of clinical course and outcome in various psychiatric disorders. There is increasing evidence that cognitive dysfunction is associated with the prognosis of OCD. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of DUI on the neurocognitive functions in patients with OCD. METHODS: Sixty-two patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of OCD from the outpatient clinic were included in this study. We defined the short DUI if the DUI was 2-year or less and the long DUI if it was longer than 2-year. Neurocognitive functions were assessed by visuospatial memory function test and 4 subsets of K-WAIS such as vocabulary, arithmetic, block design and picture arrangement. Differences in neurocognitive functions as well as clinical variables between OCD patients with short DUI and those with long DUI were investigated. Correlation analyses were also performed to determine the correlation between DUI and neurocognitive functions. RESULTS: Compared with the short DUI group, the long DUI group performed worse in the block design test, which measures executive function. The long DUI group also had a higher level of compulsive symptom severity than the short DUI group. However, the DUI was not correlated with neurocognitive functions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings in this preliminary study suggest that the long DUI in patients with OCD is associated with more severe executive dysfunction. Studies with larger samples and longitudinal design are needed to further confirm the prognostic role of the DUI in OCD.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Memory ; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* ; Prognosis ; Vocabulary