Amyloidosis may be defined as a group of disorders of extracellular deposition of the fibrous protein amyloid in one or more sites of body with variable causes and pathogenesis which have in common characteristic histopathologic features. Primary localized corneal amyloidosis is confined in the cornea and has not the evidence of apparent preexisting disorder or systemic involvement. The incidence has been reported rare. We have experienced one case of corneal amyloidosis which is confirmed by the histopathologic evaluation. We report this rare case with literatures reviews.
Amyloid ; Amyloidosis* ; Cornea ; Incidence ; Preexisting Condition Coverage

In-flight medical emergencies are likely to increase as air travel continues to grow and as more elderly passengers with preexisting diseases fly long distances. Unscheduled landing for a medical reason is a serious situation for commercial air carriers. The common causes of unscheduled landings are cardiac and neurological problems. Physician passengers might be called upon to help ill or injured passengers at any time. Physicians play an important role in in-flight medical emergencies. Most airlines have installed the emergency medical kits and automated external defibrillator (AED), ambu bag, intubation set, etc. The management of in-flight medical emergences requires the assistance from welltrained crew, adequate medical equipments and medications, availability of physician passengers, and ground medical communications. This article summarizes the in-flight resources available for physician passengers when called upon for medical emergencies while on board.
Aged ; Defibrillators ; Diptera ; Emergencies* ; Humans ; Intubation ; Preexisting Condition Coverage

Systemic illnesses and preexisting disorders affecting the brain may decrease the seizure threshold in some conditions. For the non-neurologist, patient with new-onset seizure (NOS) is troublesome problem to manage properly. To verify the characteristics of patients with NOS, we analyzed their clinical features. From Jan. 1991 to Jul. 1995, 47 patients were consulted to the neurological department because of their NOS during the admission. We retrieved the medical records, laboratory data and consultation sheets. The most common cause of the NOS was a metabolic disorder (18 patients, 38.3%) and was followed by a previous cerebrovasular disease (6 patients, 12.8%). Ceneralized tonic-clonic seizure occurred in more than half of the patients (55.3%). Fifteen out of 26 initial EEGs revealed diffuse slowings only, whereas only four patients showed focal epileptiform discharges. Status epileptics occurred in seven patients and five of them died. Six patients out of 17 patients with metabolic causes died, comparing five patients out of 27 patients with other causes. It is suggested that the NOS associated with metabolic causes are most common in hospitalized patients and were associated with poor prognosis.
Brain ; Electroencephalography ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Prognosis ; Seizures*

Recreational diving is an exciting and adventurous sport, but is also potentially hazardous. Despite its inherent hazards, an increasing number of people enjoy SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving; the number of diving-related accidents is therefore also likely to increase. Divers might face physical or psychological stresses from the unfamiliar or hostile underwater environment, which can lead to fatal accidents. To investigate deaths related to SCUBA diving, a forensic pathologist should understand the types and mechanisms of injuries and illnesses unique to SCUBA diving. Postmortem examination of diving fatalities is therefore a formidable task for most forensic pathologists because cases are sparse and the process requires an understanding of diving physiology, diving equipment, and the underwater environment. The primary aim of autopsies in SCUBA diving fatalities is to detect evidence of pulmonary barotrauma, intravascular gas, or pre-existing illnesses. Standard autopsy protocol for SCUBA diving-related deaths should include methods to detect intravascular gas and gas accumulation in the tissue or body cavity through plain radiographs or Computerized Tomography (CT) scans. Analysis of the gas components is also helpful for determining the origin of the gas. Here, the author proposes a practical method for performing an autopsy on a person who died while SCUBA diving.
Autopsy* ; Barotrauma ; Diving* ; Humans ; Methods ; Physiology ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Respiration ; Sports ; Stress, Psychological

To evaluate trends, if any, anesthetic experiences of 10,000 cases in the total performed at the department of Anesthesiology, Han Kang Sung Shim Hospital, Choong Ang University, School of Medicine from Dec. 197I through Nov. 1976 were analyzed statistically according to anesthetic method, age, sex, department, anesthetic agent, anesthetic duration, physical status and cause of death. The results are as follows; 1. About forty-five percent of all surgical patients were emergency cases. 2. The spinal and regional blocks tended to increase compared with inhalation anesthesia. 3. The patients under 1 year and over 60-years of age also tended to increase. 4. In almost all cases, post-operative and post-anesthetic cause of death was due to the severity of preexisting disease itself and overall death rate of surgical patients who received anesthesia was 0.16% 5. Through this statistical study, we can perform anesthesia with more safety and ease, and also eliminate post-operative and post-anesthetic complications, with further study of new agents and techniques.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Inhalation ; Anesthesiology ; Cause of Death ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Methods ; Mortality ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Statistics as Topic

Charcot spinal arthropathy is a rare, progressive type of vertebral joint degeneration that occurs in the setting of any preexisting condition characterized by decreased afferent innervation to the extent that normal protective joint sensation in the vertebral column is impaired. The authors report on a case of Charcot arthropathy of the lower lumbar spine mimicking a spinal tumor following cervical cord injury.
Joints ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Sacrum ; Sensation ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord* ; Spine*

Disease identity of dysmorphophobia and olfactory reference syndrome which used to be manifested by a kind of monosymptomatic somatic delusion is not yet established definitely. So many issues such as whether it be regarded as separate disease, or a spectrum of preexisting diseases such as schizophrenia or obsessive compulsive disorder and whether the monosymptom should be considered as a delusion or not are still on debate and the results are controversial. Consequently few is known about the etiology of the disorder.Obvioulsy, somatic delusion in dysmorphophobia and olfactory reference syndrome is the result of cognitive distortion of body image of the self. It reflects symbolic meaning of unresolved psychological conflict by defense mechanisms such as repression, dissociation, symbolization, projection, and so on. Though psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment modality has been reported, the treatment efficacy is unclear. Prognosis has been reported unfavorable and one of the leading causes has been thought to be treatment noncompliance. The authors experienced 2 cases of olfactory reference syndrome, so reported with literature review.
Body Image ; Defense Mechanisms ; Delusions ; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Prognosis ; Repression, Psychology ; Schizophrenia ; Treatment Outcome

A clinical study was made on 32 cases of benign prostatic hypertrophy admitted to the Department of Urology. Chungnam National University Hospital during the period from June, 1974 to July, 1976. The results are summarized as follows: 1) During this period, 225 patients hospitalized, 32 cases were B.P.H., giving a rate of 14.2 % revealed the increasing tendency in incidence than other previous reports in Korea. 2) Mean amount of residual urine was 290 ml. 3) In urine culture, bacteriuria more than 100,000 colonies/cc. was presented in 21 cases(65.5%). Most common organisms were E. Coli(21.9%), Staph, aureus(12.5 %) and Staph, albus(12.5%). 4) Pre-existing diseases before operation were discovered in 19 cases(59.4%), related to senility. 5) Mean weight of removed prostatic tissue was 34.1gm. 6) Post-operative gross hematuria was disappeared average 4.2 days on retropubic prostatectomy and average 5.4 days on suprapubic prostatectomy. 7) Indwelling catheter was earlier removed on retropubic prostatectomy than on suprapubic prostatectomy. The average duration of indwelling catheterization was 7.2 days on retropubic prostatectomy and 11.3 days on suprapubic prostatectomy. 8) Post-operative complication were acute epididymitis on 1 case(4.2%), acute pyelonephritis on 2 cases(8.3%) and temporary incontinence on 11 cases (45.8%).
Bacteriuria ; Catheters, Indwelling ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Epididymitis ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Hyperplasia* ; Pyelonephritis ; Urology

In oder to evaluate the efficacy of low vision aids in patients with optic atrophy, we analyzed sex, age distribution, preexisting conditions, visual acuities before and after low vision aids use. The sorts and magnifications of prescribed low vision aids were studied in patients with optic nerve atrophy whose visual acuities were not corrected with conventional glasses or contact lens. Our results indicate that distant and near visual acuities with low vision aids were significantly improved in patients with optic atrophy(p<0.01, paired ttest). We think that low vision aids are required to rehabilitate the visually impaired patients caused by optic atrophy because of high probability of visual rehabilitation.
Age Distribution ; Atrophy ; Eyeglasses ; Glass ; Humans ; Optic Atrophy* ; Optic Nerve ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Rehabilitation* ; Vision, Low* ; Visual Acuity

OBJECTIVE: The authors analyze the clinical characteristics of the geriatric brain tumors and suggest the treatment modality. METHODS: Patients older than 65years, managed between Jan 1980 and Feb 2002 in our department, were included in this study and the number of patients was 315. Age, sex, medical history, performance scale, treatment modality, morbidity and mortality as well as the incidence of brain tumor in this age group were analyzed. RESULTS: Geriatric brain tumors were comprised of 7.8% of the adult brain tumors. The mean age was 68.7 years and male to female ratio was 1 : 1.3. The most common one was meningioma(114, 36.2%), followed by metastatic tumor(49, 15.6%), high grade glioma(39, 12.4%), schwannoma(38, 12%) and pituitary adenoma(35, 10.5%) in the order of frequency. The incidence of pre-existing disease, such as hypertension(25%), caridiovascular disease(15%), diabetes melitus(12%) was high. Surgical outcome was good with acceptable operative morbidity and mortality rate 26% and 3% respectively. Frequent postoperative surgical complications were tumor bed bleeding and wound infection. During perioperative course, medical complications such as cardiovascular problem, delirium, pneumonia and sepsis were common. CONCLUSION: Incidence of combined medical problem in the geriatric patients was considerablly high. However, in the case of surgically accesible benign tumor or even malignant tumor, surgical treatment should be considered.
Adult ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Delirium ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mortality ; Pneumonia ; Preexisting Condition Coverage ; Sepsis ; Wound Infection