BACKGROUND: Emergency Medical Technicians can do emergency care only under the control of the physicians. Emergency medical services system(EMSS) in Korea is now extended from the level of basic life support(BLS) to advanced life support(ALS). Unfortunately we don't have any official medical control system yet. We and regional EMSS, 119 rescue team(BLS), have had monthly joint meeting to validate and improve the prehospital care since August, 1998. METHODS: From August, 1998 to February, 1999, 1,708 patients were transported to Ewha Mokdong Hospital by regional 119 rescue team. Eight hundred and six(47.2%) run record were collected and analyzed. The appropriateness of the prehospital care were evaluated based on the comparison of assessment data and treatment data in each run record. The run record were divided into 5 groups; 1) necessary-adequate, 2) necessary-inadequate, 3) necessary-undo, 4) unnecessary-done, and 5) unnecessary-undo. 1) and 5) were judged as acceptable, and 2), 3), and 4) as unacceptable. RESULTS: Among 806 transported patients, 60.8% required one or more emergency care. 21.0% of required care were not provided, and 20.7% of provided care were not adequate. 78.8% of unprovided and 75.9% of inadequate care were 'airway and oxygen supply'. Overall unacceptable rate was decreased from 31.7% to 17.0% during first 5 months, but it rose up again to 24.7% after 2 months. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) was performed in 29 prehospital cardiac arrest victims and admitted to ICU in 5 cases. CPR was not provided in 8 necessary situations, and unnecessary CPR was done in 3 cases. CONCLUSION: EMSS in Korea also need a kind of medical control system, even for BLS level. Major portion of the quality assurance program could be 'airway and oxygen supply', but attention should be focused in cardiac arrest victims and CPR. Record keeping and reliance of run record data are now pending problems. Fire department should develop a formal medical control system and the referring hospital should have an organization for maintaining the quality of prehospital care.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Emergency Medical Services* ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Fires ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Joints ; Korea ; Oxygen ; Retrospective Studies*

No abstract available.
Erythema Infectiosum*

No abstract available.
alpha-Fetoproteins* ; Humans ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn*

Eosinophilic fasciitis is a syndrome which is characterized by scleroderma-like skin involvement, eosinophilia and hypergammaglobulinemia without significant systemic changes. The primary pathological alterations are thickening and inflammation of the deep fascia. The majority of the cases that have been reportecd respond to systemic corticosteroids. We describe a 19-year-old male patient with eosinophilic fasciitis. On physical examination, he showed tender, edematous, indurated and tight skin in the back and both lower legs, and the laboratory findings showed eosinophilia and mild hypergammaglobulinemia. He also had Raynaud phenomenon, mild dyspnea, abdominal pain, pulmonary function abnormalities and roentgenographic evidence of pulmonary fibrosis. Result of a biopsy showed sclerosis of dermia and intense infiltrations of eosinophils, lymphocytes and histiocytes and fibroais of panniculus and fascia. Treatment with systemic corticosteroids showed complete resolution of the skin lesions, but after withdrawal new scleroderma-like skin lesions developed in the dorsum of feet.
Abdominal Pain ; Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Biopsy ; Dyspnea ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils ; Fascia ; Fasciitis* ; Foot ; Histiocytes ; Humans ; Hypergammaglobulinemia ; Inflammation ; Leg ; Lymphocytes ; Male ; Physical Examination ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; Raynaud Disease ; Sclerosis ; Skin ; Young Adult

We report a case of inflammatory linear verrucous epidermal nevus which was treated with an aromatic analog of vitamin A acid, Ro 10-9359, with significant effect, The patient is a 17-year-old woman who has had linear verrucous patches involving the entire length of the extensor surface of the right arm, right scapular area and anterior upper part of the right chest with persistent itching sensation of 10 years' duration. The patient was treated with oral Ro 10-9359 75mg daily, and showed marked improvement of the skin lesions after seven days of treatment, but the patient was lost to follow up.
Adolescent ; Arm ; Etretinate ; Female ; Humans ; Lost to Follow-Up ; Nevus, Sebaceous of Jadassohn* ; Pruritus ; Sensation ; Skin ; Thorax ; Tretinoin

No abstract available.
Growth and Development*

Lipodystrophia centrifugalis abdominalis infantilis, an typical form of progressive lipodystrophy, is a disease mainly decribed in japanese infants. We report a case of lipodystrophia centrifugalis abdominals infantilis in Korean infant. The patient is a 2 year-old-girl with a coin sized well defined depressed lesion with surrounding redness and scaly changes in the right inguinal region. The skin from the depressed lesion revealed changes similar to those originally described by Imamura et al.
Infant ; Male ; Female ; Humans

Atypical condyloma is a variant of flat condyloma characterized by the presence of atypical koilocytes having large hyperchromatic, smudged and often bizarre nuclei. Atypical condyloma can be frequently misdiagnosed on cytologic smear and on tissue sections by its marked cellular atypia, as high grade dysplasia, in situ or even invasive squamous cell carcinoma. We described two cases of atypical condyloma of the female genital tract. The cytologic features and histologic changes were reminiscent of those of invasive squamous cell carcinoma and severe degree of dysplasia of the uterine cervix. The differential findings between atypical condyloma and squamous cell carcinoma were discussed in detail.
Female ; Humans

Sclerosing lymphangitis of the penis is a peculiar disorder characterized by painless, firm, cord-like lesion in the coronary sulcus of the penis. Histologic findings include thickened lymphatic collecting vessels, fibrin thrombi and few inflammatory changes. The etiology is unknown, but the condition is benign and self-limited. We describe herein a 27-year-old man who had a typical painless, tender, firm, cord-like lesion in the coronary sulcus. Histologic findings disclosed a markedly thickened and fibrosed lymphatic vessel with a organizing thrombus. Whatever the cause of thrombi formation, it is prohable that the thrombi formation would be a main pathologic process, followed by the thickening of the vessel wall.
Adult ; Fibrin ; Humans ; Lymphangitis* ; Lymphatic Vessels ; Male ; Penis* ; Thrombosis

Eosinophilic cellulitis is a rare dermatosis originally described by Wells as "recurrent granulomatous dermatitis with eosinophilia", then called Wells' syndrome. The etiology is unknown, although a hypersensitivity mechanism is suspected. Flame figures are considered as a characteristic histologic feature of Wells' syndrome. To clarify the nature of eosinophilic cellulitis and its flame figures, the authors have reviewed five cases of eosinophilic cellulitis with its clinical and histopathologic findings. Cutaneous lesions were variable in appearance and was confused with angioedema, urticarial vasculitis, erydiema multiforme, morphea or granuloma annulare. Microscopically, early lesions (2-7 days) showed diffuse dermal eosinophilic infiltration with widespread degranulation, sometimes extended into the underlying muscle. Subepidermal bulla was present in one case. Subsequently, granulomatous features with characteristic "flame figures" became apparent (several months). Collagen alteration by eosinophilic granules resulted in flame figure formation and a granulomatous response. In two patients, there were possible relationships between drug and flare-ups of eosinophilic cellulitis, but the others, no contributory precipitating factors were found. We think that eosinophilic cellulitis represents a severe anaphylactic hypersensitivity reaction to various stimuli showing characteristic histopathology with recurrent episodes and frequent hypereosinophilia in the peripheral blood.