Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronically painful and disabling disorder. However, no data are available even on the epidemiology of CRPS in Korea. This study was undertaken to retrospectively assess the epidemiologic characteristics of CRPS in 150 consecutive patients at a tertiary chronic pain center from March 2002 to February 2006. Information was obtained regarding patients' demographics, nature of injury, and treatment modalities. Seventy-one percent of patients had CRPS type I. The mean 11-point verbal numerical rating scale score at initial examinations and at the time of study were 8.0 and 5.7, respectively. Thirty-two percent of patients showed no change or increase in pain intensity during follow-up at our pain center. The mean duration of CRPS symptoms prior to our pain center evaluation and prior to the time of study were 27 months and 50 months, respectively. These patients had seen on average 5 different physicians before being referred to our center. This study shows that the majority of CRPS patients were referred to our center after more than 2 yr of symptoms. The clinical implication of such delayed transfer and strategies to avoid this problem are discussed.
Adult ; Complex Regional Pain Syndromes/*diagnosis/*epidemiology/therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pain/epidemiology ; Pain Clinics ; Pain Measurement/methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Time Factors ; Wounds and Injuries/complications

OBJECTIVETo preliminarily research the formular about the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndrome of adolescent neck pain.

METHODSAn observation table of adolescent neck pain syndromes was formulated,and 1 397 patients with adolescent neck pain were investigated to establish a database of adolescent neck pain. The Descriptive Statistical Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were performed by statistical software.

RESULTSTotally 60 TCM symptoms was clustered into 4 TCM syndromes by Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. The expert panel of TCM syndromes preliminarily formulate 4 TCM syndromes of adolescent neck pain by analyzing the result of Cluster Analysis and discussing their clinical experience.

CONCLUSIONAdolescent neck pain is a category of Tendon Trauma's Bi-syndrome of TCM. Ying, Wei, Qi and blood block caused by exopathy, strains, and internal injury is considered as the main pathogenesis of adolescent neck pain. Base on statistical result and expert's opinions, 4 TCM syndromes about adolescent neck pain were formulated: cold-dampness syndrome, dampness-heat blockage syndrome, liver-stagnation and spleen-deficiency syndrome, Qi and Yin deficiency of both heart and kidney syndrome.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; epidemiology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Neck Pain ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Sacroiliac fixation using iliac screws for highly unstable lumbar spine has been reported with an improved fusion rate and clinical results. On the other hand, there is a potential for clinical problems related to iliac fixation, including late sacroiliac joint arthritis and pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty patients were evaluated. Degenerative scoliosis was diagnosed in 7 patients, failed back syndrome in 6 patients, destructive spondyloarthropathy in 4 patients, and Charcot spine in 3 patients. All patients underwent posterolateral fusion surgery incorporating lumbar, S1 and iliac screws. We evaluated the pain scores, bone union, and degeneration of sacroiliac joints by X-ray imaging and computed tomography before and 3 years after surgery. For evaluation of low back and buttock pain from sacroiliac joints 3 years after surgery, lidocaine was administered in order to examine pain relief thereafter. RESULTS: Pain scores significantly improved after surgery. All patients showed bone union at final follow-up. Degeneration of sacroiliac joints was not seen in the 20 patients 3 years after surgery. Patients showed slight low back and buttock pain 3 years after surgery. However, not all patients showed relief of the low back and buttock pain after injection of lidocaine into the sacroiliac joint, indicating that their pain did not originate from sacroiliac joints. CONCLUSION: The fusion rate and clinical results were excellent. Also, degeneration and pain from sacroiliac joints were not seen within 3 years after surgery. We recommend sacroiliac fixation using iliac screws for highly unstable lumbar spine.
Aged ; Arthritis/*surgery ; Bone Screws ; Female ; Humans ; Low Back Pain/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Lumbar Vertebrae/*surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pain/diagnosis/*epidemiology ; Sacroiliac Joint/*immunology/*pathology

Bruxism is defined as 'diurnal or nocturnal parafunctional activity including clenching, bracing, gnashing, and grinding of the teeth'. Bruxism and clenching are two of the most common contributing factors in patients with temporomandibular disorders and craniofacial pain disorders. Even though many studies report the high prevalence of bruxism, its cause is still not clear. Occlusal interference has been regarded as a major etiologic factor. Nowadays, psychological stress and sleeping disorders are generally regarded as major possible etiologic factors. More than likely, the cause is multifactoral and overlapping, which makes it difficult for the practitioner to apply comprehensive and effective management strategies. Although dentists and psychologists generally believe that effective treatment is best achieved with a better understanding of the etiology of a given disorder, for now treatment for this type of disorder must proceed without a clear understanding of etiology. To overcome this obstacle, evidence-based comprehensive management protocols based on accumulated scientific findings should be provided. In this presentation, epidemiology, etiology, and the characteristics of bruxism are reviewed. Diagnostic procedures and management strategies focused on occlusal appliances and behavioral approaches are also discussed.
Braces ; Bruxism* ; Dentists ; Diagnosis* ; Epidemiology ; Facial Pain ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Psychology ; Stress, Psychological ; Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the feasibility and superiority of machine learning (ML) methods to predict the risk of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACEs) in chest pain patients with NSTE-ACS. METHODS: Enrolled chest pain patients were from two centers, Beijing Anzhen Emergency Chest Pain Center Beijing Bo'ai Hospital, China Rehabilitation Research Center. Five classifiers were used to develop ML models. Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F-Measure and AUC were used to assess the model performance and prediction effect compared with HEART risk scoring system. Ultimately, ML model constructed by Naïve Bayes was employed to predict the occurrence of MACEs. RESULTS: According to learning metrics, ML models constructed by different classifiers were superior over HEART (History, ECG, Age, Risk factors, & Troponin) scoring system when predicting acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and all-cause death. However, according to ROC curves and AUC, ML model constructed by different classifiers performed better than HEART scoring system only in prediction for AMI. Among the five ML algorithms, Linear support vector machine (SVC), Naïve Bayes and Logistic regression classifiers stood out with all Accuracy, Precision, Recall and F-Measure from 0.8 to 1.0 for predicting any event, AMI, revascularization and all-cause death ( vs. HEART ≤ 0.78), with AUC from 0.88 to 0.98 for predicting any event, AMI and revascularization ( vs. HEART ≤ 0.85). ML model developed by Naïve Bayes predicted that suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS), abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG), elevated hs-cTn I, sex and smoking were risk factors of MACEs. CONCLUSION Compared with HEART risk scoring system, the superiority of ML method was demonstrated when employing Linear SVC classifier, Naïve Bayes and Logistic. ML method could be a promising method to predict MACEs in chest pain patients with NSTE-ACS.
Humans ; Acute Coronary Syndrome/epidemiology* ; Bayes Theorem ; Feasibility Studies ; Risk Assessment/methods* ; Chest Pain/etiology* ; Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis*

To establish guidelines to diagnosis and treatment for distending pain in breasts during menstruation in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). With Delphimethod, sent to the second survey questionnaires to 40 gynecology experts in TCM and integrated traditional and western medicine and recovery 35 experts, and the questionnaires were analyzed with SPSS11. 5. The experts' activity and professional level is high. The experts are from all over China and express the typical opinions of all experts in this field. The items in the frame of the guidelines to diagnosis and treatment for distending pain in breasts during menstruation in traditional Chinese medicine are generally recognized. First draft of the guidelines has basically been formed.
Breast ; physiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Data Collection ; methods ; Female ; Guidelines as Topic ; standards ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Menstruation ; physiology ; Pain ; diagnosis ; Pain Management ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Although patients may present with typical chest pain and exhibit ischemic changes on the cardiac stress test, they are frequently found to have a normal coronary angiogram. Thus, we wanted to determine which procedures should be performed in order to make an adequate diagnosis of the cause of chest pain. METHODS: 121 patients (males: 42, 34.7%) who had a normal coronary angiogram with typical chest pain were included in this study. All the patients underwent upper endoscopy, Bernstein's test and esophageal manometry. RESULTS: Among the 121 patients, clinically stable angina was noted in 107 (88.4%). Stress testing was done in 82 (67.8%); it was positive in 52 (63.4%). Endoscopic findings were erosive gastritis in 18 (14.8%), gastric ulcer in 4 (3.3%), duodenal ulcer in 5 (4.1%), and reflux esophagitis in 16 (13.2%). Positive results were observed on Berstein's test for 68 patients (56.2%); 59 (86.8%) of them had non-erosive reflux disease. On the esophageal manometry, 35 (28.9%) of these patients had motility disorders. Nutcracker esophagus was observed in 27 patients (22.3%), nonspecific esophageal motility disorder was observed in 5 (4.1%), and hypertensive lower esophageal sphincter was observed in 3 (2.5%). Among the 52 patients with positive cardiac stress testing and a negative coronary angiogram (this clinically corresponded to microvascular angina), 46 patients (85.1%) showed abnormal findings on the gastro-esophageal studies. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, 85.1% of the patients with microvascular angina revealed positive results of gastric or esophageal disease. In spite of any existing evidence of microvascular angina or cardiac syndrome X, it would be more advisable to perform gastro-esophageal studies to adequately manage chest pain.
Stomach Diseases/*complications/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Incidence ; Humans ; Female ; Esophageal Diseases/*complications/epidemiology ; Coronary Angiography ; Chest Pain/diagnosis/*etiology/radiography ; Aged ; Adult

Adult ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; epidemiology ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Joint Diseases ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Shoulder Dislocation ; epidemiology ; pathology ; surgery ; Shoulder Fractures ; epidemiology ; pathology ; surgery ; Shoulder Joint ; pathology ; surgery ; Shoulder Pain ; epidemiology ; pathology ; surgery

INTRODUCTIONDoor-to-balloon (DTB) time is critical to ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients' survival. Although DTB time is reduced with direct cardiovascular laboratory (CVL) activation by emergency physicians, concerns regarding false-positive activation remain. We evaluate false-positive rates before and after direct CVL activation and factors associated with false-positive activations.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThis is a retrospective single centre study of all emergency CVL activation 3 years before and after introduction of direct activation in July 2007. False-positive activation is defined as either: 1) absence of culprit vessel with coronary artery thrombus or ulceration, or 2) presence of chronic total occlusion of culprit vessel, with no cardiac biomarker elevations and no regional wall abnormalities. All false-positive cases were verified by reviewing their coronary angiograms and patient records.

RESULTSA total of 1809 subjects were recruited; 84 (4.64%) identified as false-positives. Incidence of false-positive before and after direct activation was 4.1% and 5.1% respectively, which was not significant (P = 0.315). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, factors associated with false-positive were: female (odds ratio (OR): 2.104 [1.247-3.548], P = 0.005), absence of chest pain (OR: 5.369 [3.024-9.531], P <0.0001) and presence of only left bundle branch block (LBBB) as indication for activation (OR: 65.691 [19.870-217.179], P <0.0001).

CONCLUSIONImprovement in DTB time with direct CVL activation by emergency physicians is not associated with increased false-positive activations. Factors associated with false-positive, especially lack of chest pain or LBBB, can be taken into account to optimise STEMI management.

Bundle-Branch Block ; epidemiology ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Chest Pain ; epidemiology ; Coronary Angiography ; Disease Management ; Emergency Medicine ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Multivariate Analysis ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Physicians ; Retrospective Studies ; ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; therapy ; Sex Factors ; Singapore ; epidemiology ; Time-to-Treatment

Disability questionnaires are used for clinical assessment, outcome measurement, and research methodology. Any disability measurement must be adapted culturally for comparability of data, when the patients, who are measured, use different languages. This study aimed to conduct cross-cultural adaptation in translating the original (English) version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) into Korean, and then to assess the reliability of the Korean versions of the Oswestry Disability Index (KODI). We used methodology to obtain semantic, idiomatic, experimental, and conceptual equivalences for the process of cross-cultural adaptation. The KODI were tested in 116 patients with chronic low back pain. The internal consistency and reliability for the KODI reached 0.9168 (Cronbach's alpha). The test-retest reliability was assessed with 32 patients (who were not included in the assessment of Cronbach's alpha) over a time interval of 4 days. Test-retest correlation reliability was 0.9332. The entire process and the results of this study were reported to the developer (Dr. Fairbank JC), who appraised the KODI. There is little evidence of differential item functioning in KODI. The results suggest that the KODI is internally consistent and reliable. Therefore, the KODI can be recommended as a low back pain assessment tool in Korea.
Sensitivity and Specificity ; Risk Factors ; Risk Assessment/methods ; Reproducibility of Results ; *Questionnaires ; Pain Measurement/*methods ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Low Back Pain/classification/*diagnosis/*epidemiology/psychology ; Korea/epidemiology ; Humans ; Female ; *Disability Evaluation ; *Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Aged ; Adult ; *Activities of Daily Living