Esophageal cancers are highly malignant neoplasms. Prognosis of esophageal cancer treated by external irradiation alone is rather poor because of local recurrence and distant metastasis. Recently intracavitary irradiation has been used as a boost therapy after external irradiation to obtain better local control. One case of esophageal cancer has been treated by high dose rate remote-controlled after loading unit as boost therapy after external irradiation. The result was excellent in short term follow up esophagogram but esophageal bleeding and esophagotracheal fistula were noted in further follow up examination after inappropriate posttreatment management including insufficient chemotherapy due to poor general condition. We reviewed possible causes of esophageal bleeding and esophagotracheal fistula after external irradiation and high dose rate ICR.
Drug Therapy ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Tracheoesophageal Fistula

A 19-year-old man had a good neurologic recovery from a severe hypothermia(19 degrees C) and a prolonged coma following active infernal rewarming. From inhaling hydrocarbons, he was left unconscious on the cold floor for 24 hours. As soon as the patient was brought into the emergency medical center, he was early evaluated arid treated aggressively. ECG showed Osborn(J) wave on all leads. The temperature o( patient was increased by 2-3 degrees C per hour through active external rewarming (by heating blankets and warm bag) and active infernal rewarming (by airway rewarming, warmed IV fluids, gastrointestinal tract irrigation, and bladder irrigation). The temperature reached 36 degrees C after 6 hours. Active infernal rewarming provides rapid core rewarming with the additional benefit of circulatory support during the period of cardiac instability.
Coma ; Electrocardiography ; Emergencies ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Heating ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Hydrocarbons* ; Hypothermia* ; Inhalation ; Rewarming ; Unconsciousness* ; Urinary Bladder ; Young Adult

Stomach cancer is the most popular tumor in Korea but the prognosis following extensive surgery and chemotherapy has not improved for many years. Conventional external radiotherapy also has some limitation, namely, a cancerocidal dose cannot be delivered to tumors because of low radiation tolerance of adjacent critical sensitive organs. In order to overcome these limitations of curative surgery and external radiotherapy, intraoperative radiotherapy was proposed in many centers and the results were excellent. We treated two cases of locally advanced gastric cancers with IORT by using NEC 18 MeV Linear Accelerator after standard subtotal resection of the stomach. After treatment, the patients are in good conditions so far, but in order to evaluate the effectiveness of IORT, a study will be performed on the survival rates between patients treated by IORT and those treated by surgery alone.
Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Korea ; Particle Accelerators ; Prognosis ; Radiation Tolerance ; Radiotherapy ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

In 2008, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that about 430,000 children worldwide became infected with HIV, mostly through mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or breast-feeding. The MTCT prevention program proved to be feasible and effective in reduction of perinatal HIV transmission. Three babies born from HIV-infected mothers were admitted to the National Medical Center in 2009. Only two women received antiretroviral (ARV) therapy during pregnancy, labor, and after delivery, and their infants received zidovudine (AZT) for 6 weeks. The outcome, after a follow-up period of 4 months to 16 months, was favorable in all patients. Thus, we emphasize the need for expansion of antenatal HIV screening of pregnant women, implemented for early HIV diagnosis and effective ARV therapy for reduction of perinatal HIV transmission.
Child ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; HIV ; Humans ; Infant ; Joints ; Mass Screening ; Mothers ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; United Nations ; Zidovudine

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of half-dose chest CT using an iterative reconstruction technique in patients with lung malignancies. METHODS: The Dual-source CT scans were obtained and half-dose datasets were reconstructed with 5 different strengths in 38 adults with lung malignancies. Two radiologists graded subjective image quality; noise, contrast and sharpness at the central/peripheral lung, mediastinum and chest wall of the reconstructed half-dose images, compared with those of standard-dose images, using a three-point scale. A lesion assessment; lesion conspicuity and diagnostic confidence, was also performed. The quantitative image noises; contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were measured and compared with those of standard-dose images. RESULTS: The subjective image noise in the half-dose images was less than that of the standard-dose images. The contrast in strengths 2 to 5 was superior, the sharpness of the lung parenchyma in strengths 3 to 5 was inferior, and the CNR/SNR in all strengths were higher than those of standard-dose images (P < 0.05). The improvement of subjective image noise and contrast, the decrease in sharpness, were correlated with strength level (P < 0.05). The lesion conspicuity in half-dose images of strengths 4 and 5 was decreased. The diagnostic confidence of the half-dose images of all strengths was comparable to that of the standard-dose images (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Half-dose chest CT images using an iterative reconstruction technique show decreased image noise, increased contrast, and diagnostic confidence comparable to standard-dose images. Images reconstructed with strength 2 and 3 appear to be the optimal choice in clinical practice.
Adult ; Dataset ; Humans ; Lung* ; Mediastinum ; Noise ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: This study determined the prenatal and postnatal factors associated with complications and prognosis in premature infants with leukemoid reaction. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of premature infants with gestational ages <37 weeks and low birth weights (<2,500 g) who were admitted immediately after birth to the neonatal intensive care unit at the Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital between June 2005 and July 2006. A leukemoid reaction was defined as an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >30,000/mm3. The infants who had leukemoid reaction comprised the study group, while the remainder of infants made up the control group. The relationships between maternal and neonatal variables and ANC were studied. RESULTS: Leukemoid reaction was detected in 3.1% of the study infants (8 of 252). Factors more frequently associated with infants with leukemoid reaction were as follows: maternal chorioamnionitis, high levels of maternal and infant C-reactive protein, gestational age <37 weeks, birth weight <2,500 g, low Apgar score, prolonged ventilator support, and a high incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). However, there were no significant differences with respect to the antenatal usage of steroids, the incidences of patent ductus arteriosus, necrotizing enterocolitis, intraventricular hemorrhage, retinopathy of prematurity, and mortality between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Leukemoid reaction in premature infants was associated with chorioamnionitis and high levels of serum C-reactive protein in mothers and infants, and BPD in infants. These findings suggest that leukemoid reaction is secondary to inflammation caused by infection.
Apgar Score ; Birth Weight ; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia ; C-Reactive Protein ; Chorioamnionitis ; Ductus Arteriosus, Patent ; Enterocolitis, Necrotizing ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Inflammation ; Intensive Care, Neonatal ; Leukemoid Reaction ; Medical Records ; Mothers ; Neutrophils ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Prognosis ; Retinopathy of Prematurity ; Retrospective Studies ; Steroids ; Ventilators, Mechanical

Herpes virus entry mediator (HVEM) is a newly discovered member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily that has a role in herpes simplex virus entry, in T cell activation and in tumor immunity. We generated mAb against HVEM and detected soluble HVEM (SHVEM) in the sera of patients with various autoimmune diseases. HVEM was constitutively expressed on CD4(+)and CD8(+)T cells, CD19(+)B cells, CD14(+)monocytes, neutrophils and dendritic cells. In three-way MLR, mAb 122 and 139 were agonists and mAb 108 had blocking activity. An ELISA was developed to detect sHVEM in patient sera. sHVEM levels were elevated in sera of patients with allergic asthma, atopic dermatitis and rheumatoid arthritis. The mAbs discussed here may be useful for studies of the role of HVEM in immune responses. Detection of soluble HVEM might have diagnostic and prognostic value in certain immunological disorders.
Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/immunology ; Antibody Specificity ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/blood/immunology ; Asthma/blood/immunology ; Autoimmune Diseases/*blood/immunology ; Cell Division ; Cell Line ; Dermatitis, Atopic/blood/immunology ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity/*blood/immunology ; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor/*blood/immunology ; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Member 14 ; Receptors, Virus/*blood/immunology ; Solubility

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop an eye care protocol for intensive care unit (ICU) patients. METHOD: A systematic review was conducted to develop an eye care protocol for ICU patients. Searches were performed using computerized databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, EBM Review) and citation search from 1996 to January 2007. For the keywords, "eye care", and "randomized controlled trial" were used to identify experimental studies regarding eye care for ICU patients. After reviewing the collected studies, a preliminary eye care protocol algorithm was created. Then, content validity was examined with ophthalmologists and ICU nurses. RESULTS: Six studies were included to serve as a basis for framing of the preliminary algorithm. The final eye care protocol was completed after verifying the preliminary algorithm's content validity. The final eye care protocol was organized in the following manner: 3 items in the assessment stage, 7 items in the no-risk stage, 4 items in the low-risk stage, and 5 items in the high-risk stage. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that, for ICU patients, nurses can broaden their knowledge regarding ocular diseases, as well as improve their practice-based eye care nursing performance.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Clinical Protocols ; Cytarabine ; Etoposide ; Eye ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Methotrexate

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify levels of knowledge, perception, and practice of eye care as part of nursing care in the ICU. METHOD: A descriptive, cross-sectional study design was used. The participants in this study were 269 registered nurses working in the ICUs of five university hospitals in Seoul, Korea. Between November 2005 and December 2005, data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire developed by the researchers, and analyzed using the SPSS Program. RESULTS: In general, levels of knowledge of nursing care for the eyes were moderate among ICU nurses, but levels of perception of nursing care for the eyes were very high. Of the respondents, 61.7% reported that they would consult a doctor whenever they found an eye problem. Only 42.4% nurses answered that they provide eye care as part of the daily routine and 43.9% nurses responded that they cleanse the eye lids with wet saline gauze. In regression analysis, the practice of eye care as part of nursing was significantly influenced by perception of nursing care for the eyes, and knowledge of interventions for nursing care for the eyes. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that education on care of the eyes for ICU nurses and the development of a standardized eye care protocol should be done to improve quality of nursing care in the ICU.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education ; Hospitals, University ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Korea ; Nursing Care ; Nursing* ; Seoul