Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a rarely reported clinical manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Although the exact pathogenesis is still unclear, several reports suggest that circulatory immune complexes or anti-phospholipid antibodies might play a pathological role in hearing impairment in patients with SLE. We describe a 28-year-old female with SLE who presented with sudden SNHL. She was treated with highdose methylprednisolone and plasmapheresis. After 5 times of the plasmapheresis, her hearing ability was improved from 56 dB to 46 dB by measured of pure tone audiometery.
Adult ; Antibodies ; Antigen-Antibody Complex ; Female ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Methylprednisolone ; Plasmapheresis

The best treatment modality for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage still remains to be controversial. Stereotactic surgery can be performed safely and easily but its indication and optimal timing of operation have to be determined. We treated 80 patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage by stereotactic surgery from October 1994 to December 1997. We investigated clinical status of the patients before and after surgery, amount of hematoma, evacuation rate, timing of operation, transcranial Doppler sonography(TCD), and computerized tomography(CT) findings. The results were as follows: 1) The outcome of early surgery(within 24 hours of bleeding) was better than that of late surgery(after 24 hours of bleeding)(p=0.034). 2) The outcome was better in the patient with higher evacuation rate(p=0.014). 3) TCD monitoring showed beneficial effect of surgery on hemodynamic status. We conclude that the early surgery within 24 hours after bleeding is correlated with the better outcome, and TCD monitoring is useful for evaluation of perioperative hemodynamic change.
Cerebral Hemorrhage* ; Hematoma ; Hemodynamics ; Hemorrhage ; Humans

BACKGROUND: Hand eczema is one of the most common skin disorders and negatively affects quality of life. However, a large-scale multicenter study investigating the clinical features of patients with hand eczema has not yet been conducted in Korea. OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of various hand diseases, which is defined as all cutaneous disease occurring in hands, and to investigate the clinical features of patients with hand eczema and the awareness about hand eczema in the general population and to compare the prevalence of hand eczema between health care providers and non-health care providers. METHODS: To estimate the prevalence of hand diseases, we analyzed the medical records of patients from 24 medical centers. Patients were assessed by online and offline questionnaires. A 1,000 from general population and 913 hand eczema patients answered the questionnaire, for a total of 1,913 subjects. RESULTS: The most common hand disease was irritant contact dermatitis. In an online survey, the lifetime prevalence of hand eczema was 31.2%. Hand eczema was more likely to occur in females (66.0%) and younger (20~39 years, 53.9%). Health care providers and housewives were the occupations most frequently associated with hand eczema. Winter (33.6%) was the most common season which people experienced aggravation. The 63.0% and 67.0% answered that hand eczema hinders their personal relationship and negatively affects daily living activities, respectively. CONCLUSION: Hand eczema is a very common disease and hinders the quality of life. The appropriate identification of hand eczema is necessary to implement effective and efficient treatment.
Activities of Daily Living ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Eczema* ; Female ; Hand* ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Korea* ; Medical Records ; Occupations ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Seasons ; Skin ; Surveys and Questionnaires