A new balloon dissector, a modification of a Foley catheter, was devised and it can be used either as a dissector or a tissue expander. Since most operating time was spent in balloon manipulation (inflation/deflation), the duct for saline injection was made to be wider than the Foley catheter. As a result, the balloon could be inflated faster than before. In order to reduce the scar at the donor site, harvest of the sural nerve using endoscopic technique is currently applied, but utilization of this method is technically difficult and requires a long operating time. For these reasons, new our method of using a balloon dissector was devised. The balloon dissector can also be used for immediate intraoperative tissue expansion for the reconstruction of small skin defects without distortion. We have found that the advantages of using the new balloon dissector include a reduction in operating time, preservation of the perforating vessels, and primary closure with less tension. In addition, this simple and inexpensive instrument is cost-beneficial to patients.
Catheters ; Cicatrix ; Humans ; Skin ; Sural Nerve ; Tissue Donors ; Tissue Expansion ; Tissue Expansion Devices

Although there are many peri-operative measures to reduce core temperature loss during operation, rapid drop has been experienced in the first sixty minutes following induction of general anesthesia. Recently, preoperative warming has been emphasized to prevent inadvertant hypothermia during operation. The purpose of this study is to find the effect of preoperative warming on reducing rectal temperature drop in surgical patients. With informed consent, 46 female adult patients, scheduled for total abdominal hysterectomy or salpingo-oophorectomy in the Seoul National University Hospital from September 3, 1996 to September 19, 1996 were divided into two groups. The variables of age and body surface were matched between the two groups as possible. Among them, 24 patients were preparatively covered up to the shoulders with a forced-air warming blanket(WARM TOUCHTM). set between 36-40degrees C for prewarming, and the other 22 patients(control group)were not before the induction of anesthesia. Rectal temperature was measured by mercury thermometer for rectum after admission to the operating room and by rectal probe which was inserted in the rectum just before the induction during the operation. The rectal temperature was monitored and recorded at every fifteen minutes for the first sixty minutes after the induction and each step during the surgery(intubation, surgical draping, peritoneum opening, one hour and the end of the operation) Collected data were analyzed by means of t-test, Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance with PC-SAS. The results of this study are as following. (1) There was no significant difference between the two groups in age, weight, height, room temperature, basal rectal temperature, operation time. (2) Temperature gradient of the rectal temperature in the warming group was less steeper than that in the control roup during the first sixty minutes after general anesthesia. (3) The rectal temperature measured at every fifteen minutes for the first sixty minutes and the end of surgery after the general anesthesia showed the difference between the two groups during surgery. (4) There was no rectal temperature difference during the intubation, however there was significant temperature difference between the two groups from draping to the end of surgery. In conclusion, prewarming of the surgical patient before induction resulted in increased the skin temperature and heat content, which relieved the dangerous core temperature drop which is potential to be provoked within one hour after induction of the surgical patients and kept the rectal temperature higher than that of the control group during surgery. The suggestions from this study shown below : First, further study is needed to find the preventive effect of the core temperature drop in the first sixth minutes after anesthetic induction by preoperative warming for gastrorectal, thoracic surgery patients who man have the core temperature drop during the operation. Second, in other to keep patient normothermia during the surgery, it needs to study whether using pre-and peri-operative warming can prevent hypothermia or not. Finally, the study of the peroperative warming effect on surgical patients' relaxation and thermal discomfort before the operation is needed because most patients in the case group said to have felt thermal comfort ; 'comfortable' and 'good'.
Adult ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Female ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Hypothermia ; Hysterectomy ; Informed Consent ; Intubation ; Operating Rooms ; Peritoneum ; Rectum ; Relaxation ; Seoul ; Shoulder ; Skin Temperature ; Thermometers ; Thoracic Surgery

We studied the disease status by question-naire in seoul of the pupils in two primary schools on May, 1991 and carried out statistical analysis of their results. The following results were observed: 1) Total number of answered pupil was 2330; 1103 were male and 1227 were female and the ratio of male to female was 1:1.1. Average age was 9.27 years. 2) Number of the pupil with any present described was 499(21.4%) Majority was as follows: (1) Respiratory system diseases; 358(71.1%) (2) Skin & Subcutaneous tissue diseases; 36(7.2%) (3) Circulatory system diseases; 14 (2.8%) (4) Infectious diseases; 11 (2.2%) (5) Trauma; 7 (1.4%) 3) Number of the pupil with any disease on treatment was 225 (9.7%). Majority was as follows: (1) Respiratory system diseases; 108 among 358 (2) Skin & Subcutaneous diseases; 22 among 36 (3) Infectious diseases; 11 among 11 (4) Trauma; 3 among 7 (5) Mental disorders; 1 among 6 4) Number of the pupils with the past history of diseases described was 561 (24.1%). Majority was as follows: (1) Respiratory system diseases; 217 (38.7%) (2) Infectious diseases; 105 (18.7%) (3)Trauma; 74 (13.2%) (4) Nervous system & Sense organ diseases; 39 (7.0%) (5) Digestive system diseases; 27 (4.8%) 5) Number of the pupils with the past hospitalization history was 190 (8.2%). Majority was as follows: (1) Respiratory system diseases; 48 (25.3%) (2) Trauma; 41 (21.6%) (3) Infectious diseases; 18 (9.5%) (4) Genitourinary system diseases; 9 (4.7%) (5) Digestive system diseases; 6 (3.2%) 6) Number of the pupils with the past history fo sugery was 362 (15.5%). The types of surgery of the causative diseases requiring surgery were as follows: (1) Circumcision; 98 (4.2%) (2) Trauma; 73 (3.1%) (3) Tonsillectomy & Adenectomy; 46 (2.0%) (4) Inguinal herniectomy; 25 (1.1%) (5) Appendictomy; 10 (0.4%) (6) Intussusception; 10 (0.4%) 7) Number of the pupils with hearing disturbance was 498 (21.4%), with present illness of otitis media 19 (0.82%) and with the past history of otitis media 15 (0.64). 8) Number of the pupils with visual disturbance was 498 (21.4%), with myopia 233 (10%), with hyperopia 49 (2.1%), with strabismus 16 (0.7%), color blindness 7 (0.3%). 9) Number of the pupils hoping to consult with the physicians were 446 (19.1%). The contents of their consultation were as follows: (1) Dental problems; 81 (18.0%) (2) Extremity pain; 56 (13.0%)(3) Abdominal pain; 52 (12.0%) (4) Skin disease; 34 (7.6%) (5) Headache; 30 (6.7%) 10) Number of the pupil sttended to school inspite of disease was 846 (36.3%). The caustive diseases were as follows: (1) Upper respiratory infection; 217 (25,7%) (2) Abdominal pain; 27 (3.2%) (3) Fever; 24 (2.8%) (4) Trauma; 8 (0.9%) (5) Infection (Measles, Mumps, Chicken pox et.); 6 (0.7%) .
Abdominal Pain ; Chickenpox ; Circumcision, Male ; Color Vision Defects ; Communicable Diseases ; Digestive System Diseases ; Extremities ; Female ; Fever ; Headache ; Hearing ; Hope ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hyperopia ; Intussusception ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; Mumps ; Myopia ; Nervous System ; Otitis Media ; Pupil* ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; Respiratory System ; Sense Organs ; Seoul* ; Skin ; Skin Diseases ; Strabismus ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Tonsillectomy ; Urogenital System

In order to investigate the occurrence characteristics of cancer in terms of industry in Kwangju-Chonnam area, medical utilization records of industrial medical insurance corporations during the period of 1987 to 1988 were reviewed for the identification of neoplastic disease. The cases obtained from the medical records were followed up for the verification and to get additional information. Standardized incidence data were compared by occupational characteristics. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to analyze the difference of incidence or distribution of cancer as a whole or of some selected cancer. Total cases of cancer identified were 242 during the study period. Annual incidence rate was calculated as 123.1 per 100,000 person. The frequent types of cancer were cancers of stomach, liver, lung, colon and rectum, bladder and lymphoma in descending order. Employees of mine and other sand handling industries showed significantly higher risks for cancer of stomach and cancer as a whole. Employees of the transportation industry showed the higher risk for cancer of liver. Workers in small-sized industry (< or = 100) had a higher risk for cancer than who in large-sized industry (>100). These findings suggested the effect of occupational environmental exposure to cancer development.
Colon ; Environmental Exposure ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insurance* ; Liver ; Liver Neoplasms ; Logistic Models ; Lung ; Lymphoma ; Medical Records ; Occupations ; Rectum ; Silicon Dioxide ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Transportation ; Urinary Bladder

No abstract available.
Amikacin* ; Cefuroxime* ; Hysterectomy* ; Sodium*

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy and safety of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) as initial and adjunctive treatment for ocular hypertension and open angle glaucoma. METHODS: Twenty-four eyes with ocular hypertension and 63 eyes with open angle glaucoma were treated with a frequency-doubled, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured prelaser treatment, one week, one, two, three, six, 12, 18, and 24 months after treatment. RESULTS: The average pre-laser IOP of 87 eyes was 21.6 mmHg. The mean IOP percent reductions at 1 week, one, two, three, six, 12, 18, and 24 months were 15.3%, 20.0%, 21.3%, 19.6%, 23.4%, 23.4%, 20.5%, and 20.9%, respectively. The IOP percent reductions in the initial treatment group at one, 12, and 24 months were 21.1%, 24.8%, and 22.8% respectively. The IOP percent reductions in the adjunctive treatment group at 1, 12, and 24 months were 19.6%, 22.9%, and 20.2% respectively. There were no differences in IOP percent reduction between the initial treatment group and the adjunctive treatment group. CONCLUSIONS: Selective laser trabeculoplasty has shown reasonable efficacy in lowering IOP over two-year follow-up period as initial and adjunctive treatment for ocular hypertension and open angle glaucoma.
Eye ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glaucoma, Open-Angle ; Intraocular Pressure ; Ocular Hypertension ; Trabeculectomy

PURPOSE: To assess macular function before and after vitrectomy and membrane removal in epiretinal membranes by means of multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG). METHODS: The mfERGs (RETIscan(R), Roland, Germany) of 28 consecutive patients (28 eyes) with idiopathic epiretinal membranes were recorded before epiretinal membrane surgery and 3 to 6 months after surgery. The average retinal response density and implicit time of each local response were estimated as anatomic macular areas corresponding roughly to 5 rings. Preoperative and postoperative responses of mfERG were compared. The correlation of the change of retinal response density and postoperative macular configuration on optical coherent tomography (OCT) was statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The postoperative value of P1 amplitude and implicit time were not statistically correlated with the preoperative value (p>0.05). There were no significant correlations between the changes of rings 1 and 2 with regard to the retinal response density of the mfERGs and visual acuity. There was no significant correlation between the change of retinal response density and postoperative macular configuration according to OCT. CONCLUSIONS: The use of mfERGs does not seem useful for predicting clinical prognosis after epiretinal membrane surgery. Further studies of influence of internal limiting membrane removal on mfERG response should be conducted.
Epiretinal Membrane ; Humans ; Membranes ; Prognosis ; Retinaldehyde ; Visual Acuity ; Vitrectomy

This survey was conducted to investigate Farmers' Syndrome and its related factors in Chonnam province. 5,920(men 6,148, women 6,722) persons in urban area and 12,870(men 6148, women 6,722) persons in rural area were selected in stratified cluster sampling manner, and interviewed individually with structured questionnaire in April, 1992. The results were summarized as follows: 1. In rural area of Chonnam province, the prevalence of Farmers' syndrome positive was 283 per 1,000 persons(203 in male, 355 in female). In urban area of Chonnam province, control area, the prevalence of Farmers' syndrome positive was 113(72 in male, 145 in female). The prevalence of Farmers' syndrome positive in rural area was 2.5 times higher that of urban area, and the prevalence in female was 1.7 times higher than that of male. The prevalence in total respondents was 256. 2. In rural area of Chonnam province, the age standardized prevalence of Farmers' syndrome positive was 209 per 1,000 persons(140 in male, 267 in female). In urban area of Chonnam province, control area, the age standardized prevalence of Farmers' syndrome positive was 122(79 in male, 158 in female). The age standardized prevalence in total respondents was 194. 3. The associated factors with Farmers' syndrome in univariate analysis were having illness during recent 15 days ,age, sex, occupation, area, monthly income, education, medical security status, family size and duration of farming. 4. When applying multiple logistic regression for Farmers' syndrome, the significant variables were having illness during recent 15 days, area, sex, age, education, medical security status, family size and duration of farming.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education, Medical ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do* ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Humans ; Lichens*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Lichens*