BACKGROUND: Since the first successful kidney transplantation from a brain death donor (BDD) was done in 1979, organ transplantations from BDD have steadily increased. The number of BDDs have been increasing year by year. The purpose of this study is to analyze clinical status of organ donor from BDDs. METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively the status of BDDs registerd for organ transplant program in Asan Medical Center from January, 1992 to March, 1997. RESULTS: The male to female ratio was 3 : 1, and the age distribution was the highest in twenties. The distribution of cause of brain death was the highest in motor vehicle accidents. The distribution of acquired organ was the highest in kidney, heart, liver in order. The distribution of days stayed in ICU before organ donation was the highest in 2 days. The choice of agent for inotropic support of the myocardium is dobutamine. The donors have been transfused with packed red blood cell (PRBC) to maintain the hematocrit between 25~35%. Two units of PRBC should be readily available at all times for transfusion. The failure of organ donation was mainly very poor organ condition. CONCLUSIONS: We wish that these results were made use of bases of status of organ donation from BDDs.
Age Distribution ; Brain Death* ; Brain* ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Dobutamine ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Heart ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Kidney ; Kidney Transplantation ; Liver ; Male ; Motor Vehicles ; Myocardium ; Organ Transplantation ; Retrospective Studies ; Tissue and Organ Procurement ; Tissue Donors* ; Transplants

OBJECTIVE: Retrospective analysis to compare the effect and complication of epidural patient-controlled analgesia (epidural PCA) with intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) for the treatment of the post-operative pain after posterior lumbar instrumented fusion. METHODS: Sixty patients who underwent posterior lumbar instrumented fusion for degenerative lumbar disease at our institution from September 2007 to January 2008 were enrolled in this study. Out of sixty patients, thirty patients received IV PCA group and thirty patients received epidural PCA group. The pain scale was measured by the visual analogue scale (VAS) score. RESULTS: There were no significant difference between IV PCA group and epidural PCA group on the PCA related complications (p=0.7168). Ten patients in IV PCA group and six patients in epidural PCA group showed PCA related complications. Also, there were no significant differences in reduction of VAS score between two groups on postoperative 2 hours (p=0.9618) and 6 hours (p=0.0744). However, postoperative 12 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours showed the significant differences as mean of reduction of VAS score (p=0.0069, 0.0165, 0.0058 respectively). CONCLUSION: The epidural PCA is more effective method to control the post-operative pain than IV PCA after 12 hours of spinal fusion operation. However, during the first twelve hours after operation, there were no differences between IV PCA and epidural PCA.
Analgesia, Patient-Controlled* ; Humans ; Pain, Postoperative ; Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fusion

BACKGROUND: Two dimensional echocardiographic monitoring of left ventricular resional wall motion abnormalities(RWMA) with incremental injection of ergonovine up to 350microg(ErgEcho) is useful for a noninvasive diagnosis of coronary vasospasm(CVS). The prevalence that CVS may evoke unstable angina(UA). However, this theory has not been the subject of any systematic analysis to date. This prospective study was carried out on patients who had been tentatively diagnosed as having UA when they were carried out on patients who has been tentatively diagnosed as having UA when they were admitted to the coronary care unit due to chest pain. The aim was to determine the significance of CVS in the clinical spectrum of UA and the value of Erg Echo when applied to this situation. METHODS: With antianginal medications a diagnostic coronary angiography was done to rule out significant fixed athrosclerotic disease(FD), with more than 70% narrowing of luminal diameter. In patients with normal coronary angiograms of insignificant FD. Erg Echo was performed to diagnose CVS after the discontinuation of all antianginal medications. All patients with postinfarction or secondary angina were excluded in this study. RESULTS: Of 191 patients(135 males, 57+/-9 yrs) enrolled from Mar 1992 to June 1993,71%(135/191) showed significant FD in the angiography. CVS was documented in 18%(34/191) using Erg Echo with mean injected ergonovine dosage of 125+/-89microg. In patients with CVS only 24%(8/34) had mild fixed lesion in the angiography with mean luminal narrowing of 60%(+/-12%). RWMA in the territory of left anterior descending artery was the most common(70%, 24/34). Other causes of chest were esophageal spasm in 3 patient(1%, 3/191) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 2 patients, and 17 patients were diagnosed as having chest pain of unkwnon etiology. One of them redeveloped chest pain 2 months later. when repeated Erg Echo revealed RWMA. Others were symptom free during the follow-up(8+/-4 months) and there were no cardiac events. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that in patients presenting UA in Korea, CVA is the main cause of myocardial ischemia in considerable number of patient, and Erg Echo after the angiography is useful and safe for noninvasive diagnosis of CVS in this situation.
Angina, Unstable* ; Angiography ; Arteries ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Care Units ; Coronary Vasospasm ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography* ; Ergonovine* ; Esophageal Spasm, Diffuse ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Phenobarbital ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: Two dimensional echocardiographic monitoring of left ventricular resional wall motion abnormalities(RWMA) with incremental injection of ergonovine up to 350microg(ErgEcho) is useful for a noninvasive diagnosis of coronary vasospasm(CVS). The prevalence that CVS may evoke unstable angina(UA). However, this theory has not been the subject of any systematic analysis to date. This prospective study was carried out on patients who had been tentatively diagnosed as having UA when they were carried out on patients who has been tentatively diagnosed as having UA when they were admitted to the coronary care unit due to chest pain. The aim was to determine the significance of CVS in the clinical spectrum of UA and the value of Erg Echo when applied to this situation. METHODS: With antianginal medications a diagnostic coronary angiography was done to rule out significant fixed athrosclerotic disease(FD), with more than 70% narrowing of luminal diameter. In patients with normal coronary angiograms of insignificant FD. Erg Echo was performed to diagnose CVS after the discontinuation of all antianginal medications. All patients with postinfarction or secondary angina were excluded in this study. RESULTS: Of 191 patients(135 males, 57+/-9 yrs) enrolled from Mar 1992 to June 1993,71%(135/191) showed significant FD in the angiography. CVS was documented in 18%(34/191) using Erg Echo with mean injected ergonovine dosage of 125+/-89microg. In patients with CVS only 24%(8/34) had mild fixed lesion in the angiography with mean luminal narrowing of 60%(+/-12%). RWMA in the territory of left anterior descending artery was the most common(70%, 24/34). Other causes of chest were esophageal spasm in 3 patient(1%, 3/191) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 2 patients, and 17 patients were diagnosed as having chest pain of unkwnon etiology. One of them redeveloped chest pain 2 months later. when repeated Erg Echo revealed RWMA. Others were symptom free during the follow-up(8+/-4 months) and there were no cardiac events. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that in patients presenting UA in Korea, CVA is the main cause of myocardial ischemia in considerable number of patient, and Erg Echo after the angiography is useful and safe for noninvasive diagnosis of CVS in this situation.
Angina, Unstable* ; Angiography ; Arteries ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Care Units ; Coronary Vasospasm ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography* ; Ergonovine* ; Esophageal Spasm, Diffuse ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Phenobarbital ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Thorax

Objective: This study aimed 1) to investigate the clinical characteristics of amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) cases clinically diagnosed by maternal fetal medicine (MFM) specialists in Korea, 2) to check the disagreement with 4 recently proposed criteria by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) for research purpose, and 3) to compare maternal outcomes between cases satisfying all 4 criteria and cases with at least 1 missing criterion. Methods: This study included 12 patients clinically diagnosed with AFE from 7 referral hospitals in Korea. We collected information, including maternal age, symptoms of AFE, the amount of transfusion, and maternal mortality. Results: The median maternal age was 33 years (range, 28–40 years). Regarding symptoms, cardiovascular arrest, hypotension, respiratory compromise, clinical coagulopathy, and neurologic signs were observed in 41.7%, 83.3%, 83.3%, 100%, and 66.7% of the cases, respectively. Among the 12 cases, 5 women died and 2 suffered severe neurologic disability, showing an intact survival rate of 41.7%. Disagreement with all 4 criteria proposed by the SMFM was found in 66.7% of the cases, due to the lack of criteria for disseminated intravascular coagulation or strict onset time (<30 minutes after delivery). There was no difference in maternal mortality and the amount of transfusion between cases satisfying all 4 criteria and cases with at least 1 missing criterion. Conclusion Two-thirds of clinically confirmed AFE cases did not satisfy all 4 criteria proposed by the SMFM, despite similar rates of maternal mortality with cases satisfying all 4 criteria. Our study suggests that there may be some discrepancy between the clinical diagnosis of AFE and the recent diagnostic criteria proposed by the SMFM for research purpose.

Objective: This study aimed 1) to investigate the clinical characteristics of amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) cases clinically diagnosed by maternal fetal medicine (MFM) specialists in Korea, 2) to check the disagreement with 4 recently proposed criteria by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) for research purpose, and 3) to compare maternal outcomes between cases satisfying all 4 criteria and cases with at least 1 missing criterion. Methods: This study included 12 patients clinically diagnosed with AFE from 7 referral hospitals in Korea. We collected information, including maternal age, symptoms of AFE, the amount of transfusion, and maternal mortality. Results: The median maternal age was 33 years (range, 28–40 years). Regarding symptoms, cardiovascular arrest, hypotension, respiratory compromise, clinical coagulopathy, and neurologic signs were observed in 41.7%, 83.3%, 83.3%, 100%, and 66.7% of the cases, respectively. Among the 12 cases, 5 women died and 2 suffered severe neurologic disability, showing an intact survival rate of 41.7%. Disagreement with all 4 criteria proposed by the SMFM was found in 66.7% of the cases, due to the lack of criteria for disseminated intravascular coagulation or strict onset time (<30 minutes after delivery). There was no difference in maternal mortality and the amount of transfusion between cases satisfying all 4 criteria and cases with at least 1 missing criterion. Conclusion Two-thirds of clinically confirmed AFE cases did not satisfy all 4 criteria proposed by the SMFM, despite similar rates of maternal mortality with cases satisfying all 4 criteria. Our study suggests that there may be some discrepancy between the clinical diagnosis of AFE and the recent diagnostic criteria proposed by the SMFM for research purpose.

Background: The clinical features of pediatric rhabdomyolysis differ from those of the adults with rhabdomyolysis; however, multicenter studies are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of pediatric rhabdomyolysis and reveal the risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in such cases. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the medical records of children and adolescents diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis at 23 hospitals in South Korea between January 2007 and December 2016. Results: Among 880 patients, those aged 3 to 5 years old composed the largest subgroup (19.4%), and all age subgroups were predominantly male. The incidence of AKI was 11.3%. Neurological disorders (53%) and infection (44%) were the most common underlying disorder and cause of rhabdomyolysis, respectively. The median age at diagnosis in the AKI subgroup was older than that in the non-AKI subgroup (12.2 years vs. 8.0 years). There were no significant differences in body mass index, myalgia, dark-colored urine, or the number of causal factors between the two AKI-status subgroups. The multivariate logistic regression model indicated that the following factors were independently associated with AKI: multiorgan failure, presence of an underlying disorder, strong positive urine occult blood, increased aspartate aminotransferase and uric acid levels, and reduced calcium levels. Conclusions Our study revealed characteristic clinical and laboratory features of rhabdomyolysis in a Korean pediatric population and highlighted the risk factors for AKI in these cases. Our findings will contribute to a greater understanding of pediatric rhabdomyolysis and may enable early intervention against rhabdomyolysis-induced AKI.