BACKGROUND: Thromboembolism is the major complication in patients with the insertion of cardiac prosthetic valves. The purpose of this study is evaluate the risk factors about the formation of left atrial thrombi after cardiac valve replacement. METHOD: Transesophageal(TEE) and transthoracic echocardiography(TTE) were done to evaluate postoperative cardiac condition in 98 patients with cardiac prosthetic valves from Jan. 1991 to Oct 1991. Several clinical and echocardiographic parameters were analyzied to evaluate the relationship with the formation of left atrial thrombi. RESULT: In univariate analysis, important factors related to the formation of left atrial thrombi are type of operation (p=0.027), postoperative left ventricular function(p=0.003), preoperative(p=0.037) and postoperative systolic ventricular size(p=0.024). However, in multivariate analysis postoperative left ventricular size(p=0.017), presence of previous thrombi(p=0.014), preoperative left atrial size(p=0.014) and postoperative left atrial size(p=0.014) are significant factors. CONCLUSION: Patients with high risk and low risk for the formation of left atrial thrombi after valve replacement can be identified by readily available clinical and echocardiographic variables.
Echocardiography ; Heart Valves ; Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Risk Factors* ; Thromboembolism

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of people undergo periodic health examination but due to its lack of a standardized method of examination and failure meet individual's specific, it has led to a huge wasting of resources. Thus, electrolyte tests performed during a routine health examination were reviewed to determine their significance and usefulness in mass screening. METHODS: We gathered 6,514 healthy cases who had received a periodic health examination at Asan Medical Center in August and December 2002. We reviewed the charts of the people who had abnormal results in electrolyte tests. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 46 years (range 14~82). Abnormal electrolyte results were relatively common. Four hundred and sixty one cases out of 26,056 (1.76%) had abnormal results. Abnormal results in sodium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus were detected in 1.76%, 0.56%, 1.44%, and 3.53%, respectively. Only 16 of the 461 (0.06%) patients with abnormal results were recommended to visit a physician and only one of these cases revealed to have a new disease. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that an electrolyte test is unnecessary as a screening test since only one case was revealed to be beneficial from it. Most of the cases involving abnormal electrolyte results did not need any treatment. Considering the cost benefit effect, a potential increase in false positive rate, and false negative rate, electrolyte tests should be reconsidered as a screening tests in periodic health examination.
Calcium ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Phosphorus ; Potassium ; Prevalence* ; Sodium

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to check the intermuscular fluid collection in a phantom using ultrasound after comparison with the original injected volume of gel and to evaluate interobserver reliability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One orthopedic surgeon injected ultrasonographic gel into the muscle of slaughtered cow meat using a syringe and needle, and recorded the injected volume. The injected volume of gel ranged from 1 ml to 5 ml, and total number of trials was 30 times. The volume was calculated using ultrasound by two experienced radiologists. The ultrasonographic measured volme was assessed and interobserver variability was measured. RESULTS: The mean ultrasonographic measured volume was 71.35% of the original injected volume of gel. Thus, the measured volume using ultrasound showed a tendency to underestimate the injected volume into the muscle. For evaluation of interobserver reliability, interclass correlation using SPSS and consistency using Bland and Altman plot were calculated. Interclass correlation was 0.95, and Bland and Altman plot showed that the differences of mean volume measured by two observers were within ±1.96 standard deviation over 95%. Therefore, it showed good interoberver reliability. CONCLUSION: Ultrasonographic measurement of the intramuscular fluid collection in a phantom showed mean 71.35% of the original injected volume of gel, and it tended to be underestimated in proportion to the increased volume of intermuscular gel. This study showed good interobserver reliability.
Meat ; Needles ; Observer Variation ; Orthopedics ; Syringes ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to present the epidemiological data on patients with a stroke admitted to the severance hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine (YUMC) and to investigate the significant risk factors of stroke. METHODS: We reviewed medical records of 532 patients with a stroke admitted to the hospital of from 1992 to 1996 retrospectively. RESULTS: The incidence was highest in the sixth decade. Ischemic stroke (64.3%) was more common than a hemorrhagic stroke (35.7%) and the thrombotic infarction was the leading type (28.3%) of all kinds of stroke. Middle cerebral arterial territory was the most commonly involved site for the thrombotic and embolic stroke. Of the intracerebral hemorrhages, basal ganglia (48.4%) was the most commonly involved site with was followed by the thalamus (24.2%), lobar (19.3%), and cerebellum (6.5%). In subarachnoid hemorrhages, the aneurysm was most frequently located in the middle cerebral artery (34.4%). The possible contributing factors of stroke were hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, cigarette smoking and diabetes mellitus. The common complications during hospitalization were the frozen shoulders, depression, pneumonia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), and hydrocephalus. CONCLUSION: This study showed the changing trends of stroke in its distribution of subtypes. Multicenter prospective study using stroke registry would be required for the determination of national epidemiologic trends.
Aneurysm ; Basal Ganglia ; Cerebellum ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Depression ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Epidemiology ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Infarction ; Medical Records ; Middle Cerebral Artery ; Pneumonia ; Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Shoulder ; Smoking ; Stroke* ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Thalamus

Brucellosis is a world-wide zoonotic disease. We report the first case of brucellosis in South Korea that is not related to direct contract with intected cattles. The patient had been working in the market of by-product, stock raising for twenty years and complained of 1-month history of fever, chill, and intermittent epistaxis. We confirmed brucellosis by anti-brucella antibody test and PCR. After 6 weeks' treatment with rifampicin and doxycycline, fever and chilling subsided, and, generalized weakness and oral intake improved. We performed seroepidemiology study against workers who were working in the same market as the patient. However, we couldn't find out other cases with seropositivity. We concluded that although the workers of by-product market have a risk of getting brucellosis, the risk is low.
Animals* ; Brucellosis* ; Doxycycline ; Epistaxis ; Fever ; Humans* ; Korea ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rifampin ; Zoonoses

Brucellosis is a world-wide zoonotic disease. We report the first case of brucellosis in South Korea that is not related to direct contract with intected cattles. The patient had been working in the market of by-product, stock raising for twenty years and complained of 1-month history of fever, chill, and intermittent epistaxis. We confirmed brucellosis by anti-brucella antibody test and PCR. After 6 weeks' treatment with rifampicin and doxycycline, fever and chilling subsided, and, generalized weakness and oral intake improved. We performed seroepidemiology study against workers who were working in the same market as the patient. However, we couldn't find out other cases with seropositivity. We concluded that although the workers of by-product market have a risk of getting brucellosis, the risk is low.
Animals* ; Brucellosis* ; Doxycycline ; Epistaxis ; Fever ; Humans* ; Korea ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rifampin ; Zoonoses

Although pharmacological treatment constitutes the main therapeutic approach for depression, non-pharmacological treatments (self-care or psychotherapeutic approach) are usually regarded as more essential therapeutic approaches in clinical practice. However, there have been few clinical practice guidelines concerning self-care or psychotherapy in the management of depression. This study introduces the 'Evidence-Based, Non-Pharmacological Treatment Guideline for Depression in Korea.' For the first time, a guideline was developed for non-pharmacological treatments for Korean adults with mild-to-moderate depression. The guideline development process consisted of establishing several key questions related to non-pharmacologic treatments of depression, searching the literature for studies which answer these questions, assessing the evidence level of each selected study, drawing up draft recommendation, and peer review. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network grading system was used to evaluate the quality of evidence. As a result of this process, the guideline recommends exercise therapy, bibliotherapy, cognitive behavior therapy, short-term psychodynamic supportive psychotherapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy as the non-pharmacological treatments for adult patients with mild-to-moderate depression in Korea. Hence, it is necessary to develop specific methodologies for several non-pharmacological treatment for Korean adults with depression.
Adult ; Bibliotherapy/*methods ; Clinical Protocols ; Cognitive Therapy/*methods ; Combined Modality Therapy/*methods ; Depression/*drug therapy/psychology/*therapy ; Exercise Therapy ; Humans ; Placebos/therapeutic use ; Questionnaires ; Republic of Korea

We report her on a rare case of a renal stent that migrated into the right ventricle in a patient with nutcracker syndrome. A 29-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital and she was suffering from flank pain. The computed tomography of the abdomen demonstrated that the left renal vein was compressed between the abdominal aorta and the superior mesenteric artery (nutcracker syndrome). A self expandable stent was placed across the left renal vein for treating her nutcracker syndrome. The next day after the procedure, the follow up chest radiograph showed that the displaced stent had migrated into the right ventricle. After percutanous endovascular stent removal had failed, the stent was ultimately removed by performing cardiac surgery. At the 6th postoperative month, there have been no abdominal or cardiac symptoms.
Abdomen ; Adult ; Aorta, Abdominal ; Blood Vessel Prosthesis ; Female ; Flank Pain ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; Prosthesis Failure ; Renal Veins ; Stents ; Stress, Psychological ; Thoracic Surgery ; Thorax ; Vascular Diseases

This article provides an annual update of Korean breast cancer statistics, including the incidence, tumor stage, type of surgical treatment, and mortality. The data was collected from the Korean Breast Cancer Society registry system and Korean Central Cancer Registry.In 2019, 29,729 women were newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer has continued to increase in incidence since 2002 and been the most common cancer in Korean women since 2019. Of the newly diagnosed cases in 2019, 24,820 (83.5%) were of invasive carcinomas, and 4,909 (16.5%) were of carcinoma in situ. The median age of women with breast cancer was 52.8 years, and breast cancer was most commonly diagnosed in the age group of 40–49 years. The number of patients who have undergone breast conserving surgery has continued to increase since 2016, with 68.6% of patients undergoing breast conserving surgery in 2019. The incidence of early-stage breast cancer continues to increase, with stage 0 or I breast cancer accounting for 61.6% of cases. The most common subtype of breast cancer is the hormone receptor-positive human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative subtype (63.1%). The 5-year relative survival rate of patients with breast cancer from 2015 to 2019 was 93.6%, with an increase of 14.3% compared to that from 1993 to 1995. This report improves our understanding of breast cancer characteristics in South Korea.

PURPOSE: Although Pokeweed intoxication is relatively less severe, thereis little data onthe clinical presentation ofPokeweed intoxication in Korea. This study examined the clinical aspectsto providebasic data for evaluating Pokeweed intoxication. METHODS: A retrospective study by a chart review was performedon 19 patients who ingested Pokeweed and presented to anacademic emergency department with an annual census of 40,000 between March 2012 and May 2012. RESULTS: Nineteen patients were identified. All patients wereintoxicated unintentionally. The most common symptoms were vomiting with diarrhea and abdominal pain. The onset time varied, but occurs 30 minutes to 5 hours post ingestion of Pokeweed. All patients were discharged without fatal complications. CONCLUSION: Compared to previous reports, mostpokeweed poisoning patients complain of gastrointestinal symptoms. Supportive care is the mainstay of the management of pokeweed intoxication. All symptoms were resolved over a 24 to 48 hour period.
Abdominal Pain ; Censuses ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Korea ; Phytolacca americana ; Plant Poisoning ; Retrospective Studies ; Vomiting