The goal of treatment of fracture of the patella is to gain accurate fracture reduction, secure fracture fixation, and early range of motion. In severely comminuted fractures of patella, open reduction requires extensive soft tissue dissection and high risk of infection. Furthermore, it is very difficult to get rigid fixation enough to allow early joint motion. An alternative in the management of severely comminuted patellar fractures is the technique of indirect reduction, in which the soft-tissue attachments of the individual fragments are preserved and used to reduce the fracture. Thirteen patients with fracture of the patella were treated by indirect method. Clinical analysis was done by using anterior knee pain score by Shelboume, Lysholm score, and radiological finding. The average Lysholm score was 88.3 and average anterior knee pain score 87.3. Nearly anatomic reduction was obtained in all cases. Indirect reduction seemed to be useful for the treatment of comminuted patella fracture due to minimal soft tissue damage, moderate rigid fixation to allow early joint motion.
Fracture Fixation ; Fractures, Comminuted ; Humans ; Joints ; Knee ; Patella ; Range of Motion, Articular

PURPOSE: Among the materials for cranioplasty, autogenous bone is ideal because it is less susceptible to infection and has lower rates of subsequent exposure. However, the procedure is technically demanding to perform and requires a donor site. Disadvantages further exist when the defect is large and there are attendant limitations in donor site. The authors present their experience with reconstruction of large skull defect using right-angled zigzag osteotomized outer table of autogenous calvarial bone, overcoming the limitation in donor site. METHODS: From 2000 to 2006, 9 patients were retrospectively reviewed, who had undergone reconstruction with right angled zigzag osteotomized outer table of autogenous calvarial bone. RESULTS: Aesthetically satisfactory skull shape was achieved. Major complications of infection, hematoma, plate exposure, and donor site complications of dural tear with bleeding, cerebrospinal fluid leak, and meningitis were not seen. One patient had delayed wound healing and was successfully managed conservatively. CONCLUSION: Autogenous bone is the material of choice for cranioplasty, especially in complicated cases. Right angled zigzag osteotomy is a useful method in reconstruction of large skull defects with less donor site morbidity.
Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Hematoma ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Meningitis ; Osteotomy* ; Retrospective Studies ; Skull* ; Tears ; Tissue Donors ; Wound Healing

PURPOSE: Despite the reduced incidence and mortality of gastric cancer, this illness still remains the second leading cause of cancer death in Korea. Various adjuvant chemotherapies have been proposed for patients with advanced gastric cancer. Randomized trials comparing chemotherapies with best supportive care have consistently shown that cytotoxic treatment is of some benefit. Nevertheless, there has been no major improvement in the overall prognosis of advanced gastric cancer. METHODS: We have examined the chemotherapy sensitivity of advanced gastric cancer specimens by using an ex vivo ATP based chemosensitivity assay (ATP-TCA). A variety of chemotherapeutic agents were tested. The one hundred and forty specimens we tested were from resection specimens. RESULTS: The histological tumor classification, lymphatic invasion, neural invasion and venous invasion affected the chemosensitivity of some drugs. 5-FU was a more potent drug than cisplatin, doxorubicin, iriontecan and methotrexate. The chemosensitivity of differentiated cancer was different compared to that of undifferentiated cancer. Doxorubicin and iriontecan were more effective in poorly differentiated, signet ring cell and diffuse type cancers. The manner of tumor invasion affected the chemosensitivity to some drugs. CONCLUSISON: Further study is necessary to assess the effectiveness of some chemotherapy drugs on advanced gastric cancer, including their effect on tumor recurrence and patient survival.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Cisplatin ; Doxorubicin ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Methotrexate ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Stomach Neoplasms

Dentists often sedate patients in order to reduce their dental phobia and stress during dental treatment. Sedatives are administered through various routes such as oral, inhalation, and intravenous routes. Intravenous administration has the advantage of rapid onset of action, predictable duration of action, and easy titration. Typically, midazolam, propofol or dexmedetomidine are used as intravenous sedatives. Administration of these sedatives via infusion by using a syringe pump is more effective and successful than infusing them as a bolus. However, during intravenous infusion of sedatives or opioids using a syringe pump, fatal accidents may occur due to the clinician's carelessness. To prevent such risks, smart syringe pumps have been introduced clinically. They allow clinicians to perform effective sedation by using a computer to control the dose of the drug being infused. To ensure patient safety, various alarm features along with a drug library, which provides drug information and prevents excessive infusion by limiting the dose, have been added to smart pumps. In addition, programmed infusion systems and target-controlled infusion systems have also been developed to enable effective administration of sedatives. Patient-controlled infusion, which allows a patient to control his/her level of sedation through self-infusion, has also been developed. Safer and more successful sedation may be achieved by fully utilizing these new features of the smart pump.
Administration, Intravenous ; Analgesics, Opioid ; Dental Anxiety ; Dentists ; Dexmedetomidine ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Infusion Pumps ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Inhalation ; Midazolam ; Patient Safety ; Propofol ; Syringes*

PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate the effects of information sharing between students on results of clinical performance examination (CPX). METHODS: 143 third-year students, who completed their core clinical clerkship, were randomly assigned to one day of a 3-day, 6 station CPX. Station checklists, scored by the SP(s), consisted of history taking, physical examination, information sharing, clinical courtesy and patient-physician interaction. We compared the CPX station scores, CPX domain scores, self assessment scores and GPA of the three groups tested on different days with ANOVA, and analyzed the differences in CPX scores, after controlling for GPA, with ANCOVA. The correlations among the CPX total and domain scores, self assessment and the GPA of the 3rd year students were calculated. Data regarding information sharing between students and self-assessment were obtained through student questionnaires. RESULTS: CPX total scores, self assessment scores and GPA of 3rd year students from day-2 were significantly higher than scores from day-1 or day-3. Checklist analysis showed that PE, CC and PPI scores were significantly higher on day-2, but Hx and IS scores were not significantly different. Results from questionnaires showed that 43% of students shared evaluation information. And CPX total scores had little correlation with self assessment scores. GPA of 3rd year students showed a similar pattern with the CPX totalscore. CONCLUSION: There is information sharing occurring between students during clinical performance examinations. Although there are significant differences in CPXscores for the treatment group, it seemed that CPX scores are not affected by information sharing between students. Reliability of information sharing from other students is low. The generalization of this study should be interpreted carefully.
Checklist ; Clinical Clerkship ; Generalization (Psychology) ; Humans ; Information Dissemination* ; Physical Examination ; Self-Assessment ; Surveys and Questionnaires

This report is a clinical review of 298 cases of early gastric cancer that were treated at Kosin Medical Hospital during 8 years from 1984 to 1992. In 1962, the Japanese Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society defined early gastric cancer as a lesion confined to the mucosa or submucosa and not related to the presence of lymph-node metastasis. The prognosis for early gastric cancer (EGC) is generally excellent, but the proportion of EGC cases progressing to advanced gastric cancer is steadily increasing nowadays. The presence or absence of lymph-node metastasis in EGC is an important prognostic factor; in other words, the survival rate or recurrence rate of node-negative EGC is known to be much better than that of node-positive EGC. The incidence of EGC among resected gastric cancers was 14.7%, and has been increasing annually. The mean age of the EGC patient was 52.4 years, and the most common type was IIc. The size of the lesion was variable, but the most common range was 1~3 cm. Lymph-node metastasis accurred more frequently with the larger sized lesions. In this study, several factors such as age, sex, tumer location, tumer size, depth of invasion, macroscopic and histologic type were evaluated to determine frequency of lymph node metastasis. In the analysis of these eight facters, sex, tumer size, depth of invasion and Lauren type were statistically correlated with lymp node metastasis.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Endoscopy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Nodes* ; Mucous Membrane ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

When treating trauma patients with severe hemorrhage, massive transfusions are often needed. Damage control resuscitation strategies can be used for such patients, but an adequate fresh frozen plasma: packed red blood cell (FFP:PRBC) administration ratio must be established. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 100 trauma patients treated with massive transfusions from March 2010 to October 2012. We divided the patients into 2 groups according to the FFP:PRBC ratio: a high-ratio (> or =0.5) and a low-ratio group (<0.5). The patient demographics, fluid and transfusion quantities, laboratory values, complications, and outcomes were analyzed and compared. There were 68 patients in the high-ratio and 32 in the low-ratio group. There were statistically significant differences between groups in the quantities of FFP, FFP:PRBC, platelets, and crystalloids administered, as well as the initial diastolic blood pressure. Bloodstream infections were noted only in the high-ratio group, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.028). Kaplan-Meier plots revealed that the 24-hr survival rate was significantly higher in the high-ratio group (71.9% vs. 97.1%, P<0.001). In severe hemorrhagic trauma, raising the FFP:PRBC ratio to 0.5 or higher may increase the chances of survival. Efforts to minimize bloodstream infections during the resuscitation must be increased.
Acute Lung Injury/epidemiology/etiology ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Bacterial Infections/epidemiology ; *Blood Transfusion/adverse effects ; *Erythrocyte Transfusion/adverse effects ; Female ; Hemorrhage/etiology/*prevention & control ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patients ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult/epidemiology/etiology ; Resuscitation ; Retrospective Studies ; Wounds and Injuries/complications/mortality/*therapy ; Young Adult

Surgeons occasionally encounter a patient with a gastric cancer invading an adjacent organ, such as the pancreas, liver, or transverse colon. Although there is no established guideline for treatment of invasive gastric cancer, combined resection with radical gastrectomy is conventionally performed for curative purposes. We recently treated a patient with a large gastric cancer invading the abdominal wall, which was initially diagnosed as a simple abdominal wall abscess. Computed tomography showed that an abscess had formed adjacent to the greater curvature of the stomach. During surgery, we made an incision on the abdominal wall to drain the abscess, and performed curative total gastrectomy with partial excision of the involved abdominal wall. The patient received intensive treatment and wound management postoperatively with no surgery-related adverse events. However, the patient could not receive adjuvant chemotherapy and expired on the 82nd postoperative day.
Abdominal Wall* ; Abscess* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Colon, Transverse ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Liver ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Pancreas ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Stomach Rupture ; Surgeons ; Wounds and Injuries

Gastric necrosis due to gastric outlet obstruction is a very rare condition, but it might be fatal if missed or if diagnosis is delayed. Our patient was a 73-year-old male complaining of abdominal pain, distension and dyspnea for 1 day. In plain radiography and computed tomography, a markedly distended stomach and decreased enhancement at the gastric wall were noted. He underwent explo-laparotomy, and near-total gastric mucosal necrosis accompanied by sludge from the soaked laver was noted. A total gastrectomy with esophagojejunostomy was performed, and he recovered without sequelae. Final pathologic examination revealed advanced gastric cancer at the antrum with near-total gastric mucosal necrosis.
Abdominal Pain ; Aged ; Dyspnea ; Gastrectomy ; Gastric Outlet Obstruction ; Humans ; Male ; Necrosis ; Sewage ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms

PURPOSE: The postoperative treatment after appendectomy is usually decided on the basis of the surgeons' intraoperative findings. Comparatively, the pathologic diagnosis of appendicitis is confirmed several days after the surgery; therefore, it usually does not affect the postoperative treatment strategy. The aim of this study was to investigate the discrepancies between the surgical and pathologic diagnoses of appendicitis and to identify their clinical implication. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was performed in 1,817 patients who underwent 3-port laparoscopic appendectomy for the final diagnosis of appendicitis. The clinical variables that could estimate the severity of appendicitis and the intensity of postoperative treatment were analyzed and compared according to the surgical and pathologic diagnoses. RESULTS: Of 1,321 cases of surgically simple appendicitis, 254 (29.3%) were pathologically complicated appendicitis. On the other hand, 221 of 496 cases (44.5%) of surgically complicated appendicitis were pathologically simple. Neither the surgical nor the pathologic diagnosis of appendicitis affected the development of postoperative intra-abdominal abscess (P = 0.079 for surgical diagnosis; P = 0.288 for pathologic diagnosis); however, the surgical diagnosis showed more correlation with the severity of disease and the intensity of the treatment pathway than did the pathologic diagnosis. CONCLUSION: There were discrepancies between the surgeons' intraoperative assessment and the pathologists' final histologic diagnosis of appendicitis. The surgeon's classification might be more predictive of the outcome than the pathologist's because only the surgeon's findings are available immediately after surgery.