BACKGROUND: Unexpected deaths of the patients at ED are surprising to the medical staffs as well as the families. It may also increase the possibilities of medico-legal problems. This study was conducted to review the unexpected death in ED and find the predictive factors leading patients to unexpected death. METHODS: A retrospective study with reviewing available medical records of 183 patients who were expired at ED of Shinchon Severance Hospital from Mar. 1997 to Feb. 1998 and 103 patients of Youngdong Severance Hospital from Mar. 1996 to Feb. 1998 was done. Analyses were 4one on 30 variables of physical findings, laboratory results, procedures and therapies. We used univariate analysis, such as t-test and x2-test and multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Of the total 286 deaths in ED, 153 cases were enrolled in this analysis. The number of unexpected deaths were 76. Age, mental status, fraction of neutrophil count, BUN level, whether endotracheal incubation was done, use of inotropics were the factors with statistical ,significance on the univariate analysis, but only comatose mentality, endotracheal incubated case, and use of the inotropics were significant on logistic regression analysis. The longer the ED length of stay, the higher the rate of mortality and unexpected death. CONCLUSION: This result suggest that medical attention is needed on the patients with comatose decreased mental stylus, endotracheally intubated case and needing inotropic agents to prevent unexpected deaths. Shortening the ED length of stay may also be a factor for decrease the unexpected death rate.
Coma ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Medical Staff ; Mortality ; Neutrophils ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: The pediatric CPR is rather uncommon practice than adult CPR in emergency room. Therefore, few interest and studies were focused in pediatric CPR. The object of this study is to make an analysis about pediatric CPR performed within hospital setting. METHOD: From January 1. 1990 to December 31. 1996, a total of 59 patients, less than 15-year-old, who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation were subject of this study. The study was done retrospective chart analysis for sex, age, weight, the place of cardiac arrest, initial EKG rhythms, endotracheal tube size, the causes of arrest, CPR time, ROSC, the amount and types of CPR drugs used during resuscitation. Wilcoxon rank sum test and chi2 test were used to compare the dose of drugs during CPR in each group. RESULTS: There were no statistical difference between ROSC and non-ROSC group in place of arrest, initial EKG rhythms, CPR time, dosage of CPR drugs. CONCLUSION: The uniform reporting guideline of pediatric advanced life support should be used for future pediatric CPR study, such as Utstein style guideline in pediatric CPR.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation* ; Electrocardiography ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Resuscitation ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: Methemoglobinemia(MetHb) induced by dapsone overdose is not uncommon in Korea, especially in rural area. For treatment of dapsone-induced methemoglobinemia, methylene blue(MB) and activated charcoal(AC) should be used. To date, no reports have compared the amount of MB used between MB alone with MB & AC combined group(MB+AC). And also between moderate (MetHb<35%) and severe (MetHb>35%) intoxicated group defined by initial MetHb level. Authors hypothesized that less amount of MB can be used if MB and AC was used together and larger amount of MB is necessary to reduce MetHb level to asymptomatic level in severely intoxicated group. METHODS: From Jan 1990 to Dec 1996, a total of 54 patients who received treatment for dapsone intoxication were subject of study, The study was done retrospective chart analysis for initial MetHb level, total amount of MB and AC. Wilcoxon rank sum test and Chi-sqiare test was used to compare the total dosage of MB used for each group. Linear regression analysis was used between initial MetHb and the total amount of MB. Results were considered statistically significant when p<0.05. RESULTS: For MB alone and MB+AC group, the differences in total amount of MB used were statistically significant with mean dosage of 7.14+/-1.1mg/kg and 4.28+/-0.7mg/kg, respectively. And total amount of MB used between moderate and severe intoxicated group, the differences were statistically significant with mean dosage of 5.16+/-1.1mg/kg vs. 10.98+/-1.9mg/kg, respectively. There was significant correlation between initial MetHb level (X) and the amount of methylene blue (Y), Y=0.3X-2.42 (r2=0.41, p=0.0001) in MB alone, Y=0.186X-1.95(r2=0.21, p=0.034) in MB+AC respectively. CONCLUSION: For methemoglobinemia induced by dapsone, total amount of MB can be reduced especially in severe Intoxicated group if AC use was combined in treatment modality. There was significant correlationship between initial MetHb level and total amount of MB used.
Charcoal* ; Dapsone* ; Humans ; Korea ; Linear Models ; Methemoglobinemia ; Methylene Blue* ; Retrospective Studies

Cerebrovascular accident remains the second most common cause of death in Korea, following combined cancer mortality. It is one of the most common causes of disability, and atherothromboembolic ischemic infarction accounts for nearly half of stroke in Korea. Carotid endarterectomy is proven to be effective in preventing stroke from internal carotid artery stenosis. The authors report the results of prospective study of 63 carotid endarterectomies, performed from September, 1995 to November, 1997 at our institution, to clarify the persisting diversity of opinions as to ideal preoperative diagnostic tests, anesthetic management, intraoperative monitoring techniques for cerebral protection, type of arterial repair, and postoperative evaluation for cerebral function. We confirmed that preoperative diagnostic tests of duplex scanning and magnetic resonance angiogram can replace the invasive conventional cerebral angiography, and observation of consciousness under regional anesthesia is the most reliable and safe method for carotid endarterectomy utilizing selective shunting, if needed.
Anesthesia, Conduction ; Carotid Stenosis ; Cause of Death ; Cerebral Angiography ; Consciousness ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Endarterectomy, Carotid* ; Infarction ; Korea ; Monitoring, Intraoperative ; Mortality ; Prospective Studies* ; Stroke

No Abstract Available.
Blepharoptosis* ; Silicones*

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to describe the current tends of emergency tracheal intubation and predict difficult airway intubations in emergency department (ED) at a teaching hospital in Korea. METHODS: All patients who was taken endotracheal incubation in ED during a 1-year period (Mar 1997 through Feb 1998) were included in the study population. Medical records of the patients were retrospectively reviewed. Among them, 56 patients were prospectively evaluated parameters to predict difficult airway intubations. RESULTS: During the study period, a total of 413 patients(1.5%) required endotracheal intubation. Except far 2 cases, all patients intubated orotracheally, and 298(72%) patients were intubated by emergency medicine resident. Pharmacologic adjuncts were used in 200(48%) patients, the neuromuscular blocking agent(NMBA) was used in 16(3.8%) Commonly used drugs were thiopental and vecuronium. The difficult incubation was not associated with presence of denture, length and circumference of neck, and mental status. The visibility of vocal cord on laryngoscopy significantly correlated to the difficult airway. CONCLUSION: At this institution, the majority of ED incubation were performed by emergency physicians and NMBA was not routinely used. The visibility of vocal cord during the direct laryngoscopy could be a predictor of difficult incubation in ED.
Dentures ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Medicine ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Intubation* ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Korea ; Laryngoscopy ; Medical Records ; Neck ; Neuromuscular Blockade ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Thiopental ; Vecuronium Bromide ; Vocal Cords

OBJECTIVE: The changes of the production of nitric oxide in preeclampsia are still controversial. To determine the changes of nitric oxide production in preeclamptic pregnancies, NOS activity and eNOS and iNOS expression in preeclamptic placentae were compared with those in normal placentae, and to determine the changes of nitirc oxide production according to the sites of placenta, NOS activity and eNOS expression in preeclamptic placentae were also compared with those in normal placentae. METHODS: Human placentae were obtained from 15 normal and 15 preeclamptic pregnant women at the time of cesarean section. NOS activity was assessed by measuring the conversion of [3H]-arginine into [3H]-citrulline. The eNOS and iNOS expression were assessed by using western blot analysis. Data were analyzed by Student t-test and paired t-test where appropriate. RESULTS: The NOS activity(judged by measurement of [3H]-citrulline production) was significantly increased in preeclamptic placentae compared to normal(P<0.05). In normal and preeclamptic pregnant placentae, the NOS activity in main stem villi was increased compared to that in terminal villi. However, the difference of NOS activity between main stem villi and terminal villi was not significant(P>0.05). Quantification of the autoradiographic images demonstrated that the integrated optical density of the immunoreactive bands of eNOS were significantly lower in preeclamptic placentae compared to normal(p<0.05). Conversely, the integrated optical densities of the bands of iNOS were significantly higher in preeclamptic placentae compared to normal(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Although the eNOS expression in preeclamptic placentae was lower than that in normal placentae, the NOS activity was significantly higher in preeclamptic placentae than that in normal in this study. These are result from increased production of iNOS in the compensatory mechanisms for the decreased nitric oxide production in pre-eclamptic placentae.
Blotting, Western ; Cesarean Section ; Female ; Humans* ; Nitric Oxide Synthase* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Placenta* ; Pre-Eclampsia ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnant Women

BACKGROUND: The end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) is defined as a partial pressure of carbon dioxide at the end of an exhaled breath. And it has been found to correlate with cardiac output during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in animal model. The purpose of this study is to determine that the assessment of ETCO2 could provide a highly sensitive predictor of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) during CPR. METHODS: Prospective, observational study was performed from Oct 1996 to Mar 1997 at the Severance hospital. All patients were endotracheally intubated and connected immediately to mainstream capnography sensor. We measured ETCO2 with Escort II model 20100 monitor(Medical Data Electronics, Inc, USA). It works on the principle of nondispersed infrared absorption with radiometric single beam optics. RESULTS: This study included 70 patients (52 were men) with a mean age of 54+/-15 years. ROSC was obtained in 43 patients. The initial ETCO2 averaged 15.5 +/-8.2 mmHg in survivors and 6.5+/-5.3 mmHg in nonsurvivors (p<0.01), and during the first 20 minutes of CPR, the maximal ETCO2 averaged 29.7+/-10.3 mmHg in survivors and 10.2+/-8.9 mmHg in nonsurvivors (p<0.01). ETCO2 was not significantly different in relation to initial rhythm, survival time after ROSC and possible cause of arrest. There is no cutoff value of ETCO2 satisfying greater than 90% of both sensitivity and specificity in predict ROSC. When maximal ETCO2 was less than 12 mmHg, we observed sensivity of 100% in predicting ROSC. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that ETCO2 measurement represents a valuable, noninvasive, and clinical tool for monitoring patients during CPR.
Absorption ; Capnography ; Carbon Dioxide* ; Carbon* ; Cardiac Output ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation* ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Observational Study ; Partial Pressure ; Prospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Survivors

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence of the opacification of paranasal sinuses and to correlate the prevalence and severity of the sinus opacification with presence of upper respiratory infection (URI) in infants and children using CT. MATERIALS & METHODS: We analyzed CT scans of 162 children aged under 16 who have no signs and symptoms of paranasal sinusitis. Both sides of maxillary and ethmoidal sinuses were evaluated. We scored from 0 to 3 according to the degree of soft tissue opacification of each sinus and then summed up the scores of each sinus. We divided the children into 5 groups according to their age. We paid particular attention to the following respects: 1) the prevalence of the opacification of the paranasal sinuses in each group; 2) the difference in the prevalence between the children with and without URI ;3) the correlation between the severity of the sinus opacification and the presence of URI. RESULTS: Of 162 children, one or more paranasal sinus opacification was noted in 76(47 %):31(65%) less than 1 year old;11(52%) between 1 and 2 years old;16(53%) between 2 and 6 years old ;15(28%) between 6 and 12 years old;and 3(33%) above 12 years old. In children less than 1 year old, no significant difference in the prevalence of the sinus opacification was found between URI-positive(71%) and URI-negative(58%) subgroups. In chilren between 1 and 12 years old, although the prevalence of the sinus opacification in URI-positive subgroups was much greater than that in URI-negative subgroup, statistically significant difference was noted only in children between 2 and 6 years old. As to the correlation between the severity of the sinus opacification and the presence of URI, these was a statistically significant difference in children between 2 and 6 years old and between 6 and 12 years old. CONCLUSION: Although the exact pathophysiology is not fully understood, the opacification of the paranasal sinuses is not an uncommon finding at CT in children without the signs and symptoms of sinusitis. We think that the clinical correlation is essential in determining the diagnosis and treatment plan in cases that the sinus radiographs or CT scans show the abnormal findings.
Child* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Infant* ; Paranasal Sinuses ; Prevalence* ; Sinusitis* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed