Dr. Allen, the first Protestant missionary in Korea, had an opportunity of saving the life of the queen's nephew shortly after his arrival in Korea in 1884. In gratitude the King established the Royal Korean Hospital (Jejoong Won), the first hospital in Korea, and appointed Dr. Allen in charge of the medical affairs of the hospital. After Dr. Allen's resignation from the mission, the work was successively carried on by Drs. JW Heron, RA Hardie, CC Vinton and OR Avison, the last of whom arrived in 1893. In 1894 the connection of the Hospital with the Korean Government was severed and the work taken over by the Northern Presbyterian Mission. Since then, it has been a distinctly mission institute. In 1900, while attending the Ecumenical Conference of Foreign Missions in Carnegie Hall, New York, Dr. Avison made the acquaintance of a philanthropist LH Severance, who made a gift of $10,000 for a new hospital. This building, the first modern hospital in Korea, was opened and dedicated in 1904. It was named the Severance Hospital. As the new hospital was built, the old hospital building was to be returned to the Korean Government according to the agreement made in 1894. On retaking the old hospital, the Korean Government paid $30,289.99 won for the renovation of the original building and new buildings established in the site during the period of Avison's entire charge of Jejoong Won. The old hospital building was used as an official residence for a diplomatic adviser Stevens, who was assassinated for his pro-Japan activities, and as a social club for Japanese officials.
Christianity/*history ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Hospitals, Public/*history ; Hospitals, Religious/*history ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries/*history ; United States

Medical license is to qualify a person for medical practice and to attribute him/her a privileged right in the practice. This privileged and exclusive right asks for protection from the side of a state and the state in turn needs qualified medical personnel in order to carry out her task of public health, one of the main duties of modern states. In Europe, physicians succeeded in obtaining medical license that guarantees the privileged right in a highly competitive medical market against other practitioners. The first regulation for medical license in Korea was made in 1900 when few Korean doctors trained in Western medicine was in practice. The regulation aimed at controlling traditional medical practitioners who had been practicing medicine without any qualification as a physician. The regulation was very brief, consisting of only seven articles. A newly revised regulation appeared in 1913 when Korea was under the occupation of Japan. The Japanese Government-General enacted a series of regulations about medical personnel, including dentists and traditional medical practitioners. This heralds its full-scale engagement in medical affaires in Korea. Unlike the case of European countries where medical license was obtained after a long struggle with other practitioners, in Korea, medical license was given to doctors too easily from the state. And this experience played a very important role in the formation of identity of Korean doctors.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Korea ; Licensure, Medical/*history

We report a case of a 30 year-old woman who presented with acute scalp hair loss induced by isonicotinic acid hydrazide gap (INH). Considerable hair loss started within 4 weeks of INH administration. There was no evidence of dermatitis, allergic reaction, or any other cause for the hair loss. INH was discontinued, and the hair loss stopped within 4 weeks, with new hair growth seen. There was complete recovery of hair loss after 12 weeks of alopecia. Medication-induced hair loss is an occasional adverse effect of many drugs, however hair loss induced by INH has been reported in only 1 case. The complete recovery from anagen effluvium is difficult to explain, but it could have been due to the early discontinuance of INH.
Adult ; Alopecia ; Dermatitis ; Female ; Hair ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Isoniazid ; Scalp

BACKGOUND: Interferon-alpha2b has already proven to be effective in the clinical treatment of virus-originated diseases such as hairy cell leukemia, condyloma acuminatum, and AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. The use of recombinant interferon-alpha2b may allow various types of wart to be treated relatively atraumatically and with less incidence of recurrence. OBJECTIVE: We tried to compare the effectiveness and safety of intralesional injections of recombinant interferon-alpha2b with natural interferon-alpha2b in the treatment of patients with various types of wart. METHOD: Patients with more than two warts were treated by injecting the different warts with 0.5 to 1.0X105 IU/1mm3 of recombinant and natural interferon-alpha2b, twice per week for 4 to 20 weeks. The response to treatment was followed up at 36 weeks. RESULTS: At the end of treatment, clearing of the treated warts had occurred in 83.3% of the recombinant interferon-alpha2b group and 91.6% of the natural interferon-alpha2b group. A more rapid cure rate was observed in the natural interferon-alpha2b group than in the recombinant interferon-alpha2b group. The rest showed partial improvement. With evaluation for relapse up to 16 weeks after treatment, warts were found to relapse in 11.1% of both the recombinant and natural interferon groups. CONCLUSION: Intralesional natural interferon-alpha2b has a better therapeutic effect than recombinant interferon-alpha2b, and may be considered as a therapeutic modality of recalcitrant verruca or when it can be anticipated that destructive techniques or blistering agents will not be tolerated.
Blister ; Humans ; Incidence ; Injections, Intralesional ; Interferons ; Leukemia, Hairy Cell ; Recurrence ; Sarcoma, Kaposi ; Warts*

A Bednar tumor is a rare pigmented subtype of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP). The clinical and histopathological findings of Bednar tumors are identical to DFSP, except for the presence of melanin-containing cells within the lesion. We present a case of a Bednar tumor on the left anterior chest of a 58-years-old woman. It was presented as an asymptomatic, firm, hyperpigmented 1.8x2.7cm sized nodule with surrounding erythematous patch which had been present for over 35 years. The tumor was treated by wide local excision of the lesion. There has been no evidence of recurrence during a 1 year follow-up period.
Dermatofibrosarcoma ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Thorax

The diabetic thick skin syndrome is a common disease in the children of diabetes mellitus. But, it has not been reported in Korea. It is characterized by the stiff joints of hands and the indurated skin of both hands and arms. The simple screening test is prayer sign that patient is unable to bring fingers together because of contractures of proximal and distal interphalangeal joints. We present an 11-year-old Korean child with stiff joints of both hands and waxy, indurated skin of both hands and forearms that had been increasing in extent for the last 4 years.
Arm ; Child ; Contracture ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Fingers ; Forearm ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Religion ; Skin*

We report a case of patient with acute toxic hepatitis induced by weight-loss herbal supplement. A patient took natural extract supplement containing Garcinia cambogia for only two days and visited Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong complaining of abdominal discomfort and jaundice. Serum ceruloplasmin level was decreased and hepatic copper levels on liver biopsy specimen were increased. Although, those were mimicking Wilson's disease, pathological findings and clinical manifestations were consistent with drug-induced acute hepatitis. Genetic test was negative for Wilson's disease. After one month of hospitalization, the patient improved and was discharged home in good condition. She was followed up for four months and her symptoms and signs of hepatitis continued to improve steadily with normal liver function tests. Our case emphasizes the importance of taking a caution when taking herbal supplements for the purpose of weight loss. This case also demonstrates the importance of suspicion of medication-related adverse events, even though the duration of taking the materials seems to be too short to affect the patients.
Biopsy ; Ceruloplasmin ; Copper ; Drug-Induced Liver Injury* ; Garcinia cambogia* ; Hepatitis ; Hepatolenticular Degeneration ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Liver ; Liver Function Tests ; Weight Loss

Exercise-induced left bundle branch block is a rare condition that has been reported along with and without demonstrable cardiac abnormalities. We describe the case of a 73-year-old female with chest pain on execration. Coronary angiography revealed normal findings. She underwent a treadmill stress test. During the exercise left bundle branch block with concomitant chest pain was demonstrated. Chest pain was relieved with cessation of exercise.
Aged ; Bundle-Branch Block* ; Chest Pain* ; Coronary Angiography ; Exercise Test ; Female ; Humans

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Adenotonsillectomy is a commonly performed surgical procedure carried out by otolaryngologists for children. Anatomical changes to the vocal tract occur after the surgery and may alter the patient's voice. This study evaluated the effects of adenotonsillectomy on the voice in Korean children.SUBJECTS AND METHOD: total of 20 children who underwent adenotonsillectomy were enrolled. The speech of patients was recorded before and at one month of the surgery and acoustic features, especially the formant frequency, were analyzed. Perceptual analysis was also carried out and the Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (PVHI) questionnaire was used to assess subjective changes in the children's voice and the effects of these changes on social functions. RESULTS: Acoustic analysis revealed significant decreases in the vowel /i/ in the second formant, compact-diffuse, and grave-acute features of the voice (p=0.026, 0.022, and 0.031, respectively). A significant decrease was also observed in the intensity of the voice for the vowel /u/ (p=0.025). Perceptual analysis revealed that 86.6% of patients' voice recordings had post-operative changes. The mean preoperative PVHI score was 2.70±3.37, which decreased to 1.65±2.21 (p=0.011) after the surgery. CONCLUSION The results suggest that adenotonsillectomy affects Korean children's voices both acoustically and perceptually.

Background and Objectives: Snoring is the most common symptom of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and is caused by turbulent airflow due to narrowing of the upper airways. In patients with positional OSA, a change in sleep posture from supine to lateral is known to reduce snoring and sleep apnea. This study was performed to compare changes in snoring sound intensity and formant frequencies according to sleep position.Subjects and Method A total of 19 patients (male: 18; female: 1) diagnosed with positional OSA by polysomnography (PSG) were enrolled in this study. The snoring sounds recorded during PSG were analyzed acoustically and compared according to sleep position (i.e., supine vs. lateral). Results: Snoring disappeared on changing sleep position in five patients, all of whom had Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) <15. In other patients, the snoring sounds tended to decrease with posture change, and the degree of decrease was inversely proportional to AHI (p=0.015) and respiratory disturbance index (RDI) (p=0.013). Formant frequencies 1, 3, and 4 (F1, F3, and F4, respectively) decreased when sleeping in the lateral position (p=0.02, 0.03, and 0.01, respectively). Conclusion In patients with positional OSA, a change in sleep posture from supine to lateral during sleep reduced the intensity and frequency of snoring sound.