BACKGROUND: There has been an increase in incidence of localized scleroderma. However observations on the clinical aspects ot localized scleroderma have been scarce in Korea. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the clinical observations and associated diseases of localized scleroderma METHODS: During a 10-year-period from Jan. 1984 to Dec. 1993, 61 patients were evaluated in regard to age incidence, sex ratio, clinical type, location and distribution of plaque and linear type, and associated conditions. RESULTS: l. Age distribution from 4 to 61 years with mean of 27.6 years. Most patients were between 11 to 30 years of age. 2. Sex distribution of male 14 female 47 with 3: 1 ratio in favor of female. 3. No difference in right and left involvement. 4. Plaque and linear forms were predominant. 5. The plaque form was distributed evenly while the linear form involved mainly the head and neck. The linear form and generalized form appeared most frequently in developement of associated conditions. 6. ANA test results were positive in 14 patients and most of them were of the speckled pattern. 7. Of the 41 patients who were treated with d-penicillamine, 26 patients showed improvement of their lesions.
Age Distribution ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Neck ; Penicillamine ; Scleroderma, Localized* ; Sex Distribution ; Sex Ratio

A clinical study was conducted to compare effectiveness of IV Globulin with that of steriod in childhood acute ITP. We carried out an experiment to 36 patients of acute ITP who recovered over 50.000/mm(3) of platelet count and not to recur in 6 months. Study group consist of 10 children who were treated with steriod only (Group A), 13 children who were treated with IV Globulin (0.4g/kg/d, 5 days, Group B), and 13 children combined with steroid (Group C) Study period was from January 1988 to December 1992, folllowing results were obtained. 1) There were no significant difference in sex ratio. age distribution, pretreatment hemoglobin level, platelet count and prolonged bleeding time among study groups. 2) The days which platelet count reached to 50.000/mm(3), 100,000/mm(3) were 3.7 days (Group A), 2.1 days (Group B), and 2.3 days (Group C), respectively (p<0.05). 3) Complete response rates within 4 weeks did not show significant difference (90% in Group A, 84.6% in Group B, 92.3% in Group C), the complete response rate within 1 week were significantly different among three group (44.4% in Group A, 90.9% in Group B, 83.3% in Group C)(p<0.05). In conclusion, it is more desirable for early treatment of a childhood ITP because IV Globulin is easy to normalize platelet count in a short time.
Age Distribution ; Bleeding Time ; Child ; Humans ; Platelet Count ; Sex Ratio

122 cases of the genitourinary tract tumors admitted to the Department of Urology, National Medical Center, during the period, Aug. 1968 to July 1975 and the followings are the results. 1. 122-cases(12.8%) were tumor patient among 954 (male 702, female 252) Total admitted patients during 7 years. 2. Age distribution was from 5 months to 83 years showing the highest incidence in the 7th decade (30.3%) and cases over 41 years of age were 99(81.1%) 3. Sex ratio of male and female was 5.4:1(103:19) 4. In 122 cases, 42 cases{34.4%) were benign, 77 cases(63. 1%) were malignant and remainders were uncertain pathologically. 5. Among 122 cases, 57 cases(46.7%) were vesical, 35 cases(28.7%) prostatic, 19 cases(15.6%) renal, 5 cases(4.1%) penile. 3 cases(2.5%) testicular and 3 cases(2.5%) were urethral tumors. 6. Operations were performed in 114 patients (93.5%).
Age Distribution ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Sex Ratio ; Urology

During the four-year period from 1954 to 1958, a roentgenological and morphological study of the paranasal sinuses in Koreans, especially of the frontal and maxillary sinuses, was made. In these studies, postero-anterior and lateral radiograph, life-size, of the normal frontal and maxillary sinuses were measured to obtain standard values for the Korean peop1e, together with their sex ratio, age distribution, and septal features of the sinuses.
Age Distribution ; Maxillary Sinus ; Paranasal Sinuses* ; Sex Ratio

PURPOSE: Nowadays, concern about the care of one's offspring has been increasing due to increased active participation of wornen in society and having fewer children than in the past. Therefore, we performed a study to evaluate the rnajor fields of child care counselling and establish effective child care counselling. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 2,754 cases of child care counselling about sex ratio, distribution of age, major fields of concern and major questions of each field using personal computer communication from April 1994 to March 1999. RESULTS: Sex distribution was usually unknown. The most frequent questions concerned the infantile period, especially less than 6 months of age. Nutrition, digestive system, development and psychology were the major fields of child care counsellng. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the major period of child care counselling was during the infantile period, and there was a major concern about nutrition, development and psychology. But, more efforts and studies are needed to establish effective child care counselling.
Child ; Child Care* ; Child* ; Digestive System ; Humans ; Microcomputers* ; Psychology ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Distribution ; Sex Ratio

BACKGROUND: The clinical study of Sweets syndrome has never been reported in Korea. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the clinical observations and associated diseases of Sweets syndrome. METHODS: During a 5-year-period from Jan. 1990 to Dec. 1994, 32 patients were evaluated in regard to age incidence, sex ratio, location of skin lesions, and associated diseases. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS : 1, The age distribution was in the range of 21-70 years. Most patients were between 31 to 40 years of age. There were 12 male patients and 20 female giving a sex distribution of 1.7: 1 ratio in favor of the fernale. 2. The most cornmon site of iavolvement was the arm(37.5%). 3. ESR was increased in 21 patients(65.6%) and leukocytosis was present in 13 patients(40.6) 4. The most common associated disease was Behcets disease(31.2%). 5. Steroids were used mos frequently for treatment of Sweets syndrome with 12 patients(37.5%). Recurrence occurred in 7 patients(21.9%). The results show that the iniidence of Sweets syndrome in men in Korea is not as rre as was previously thought and tfiat there are many associated diseases especially Behcets disease.
Age Distribution ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Leukocytosis ; Male ; Recurrence ; Sex Distribution ; Sex Ratio ; Skin ; Steroids ; Sweet Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Superficial fungal infections are common diseases in the dermatologic conditions. The prevalence of superficial fungal diseases is not static but change under the influence of various factors such as climate, migration of people, and development in prophylaxis and therapy. OBJECTIVE: The authors performed this study to investigate the present status of superficial dermatophytoses and some changes on the frequency of the diseases, sex distributions and varieties of the causative organisms. METHODS: The clinical and mycological study of superficial fungal diseases on 2,115 patients who had visited Department of Dermatology, University Hospital and Yongsan Hospital, College of Medicine, Chung Ang University between July 1992 and June 1994 were performed. RESULTS: 1) The incidence of superficial fungal diseases to total number of outpatients(8,048) was 26.3%(2,115 cases). 2) Superficial fungal diseases showed high incidence in fourth (22.3%), third(22.2%), and fifth decade(17.9%). 3) The ratio of male to female was 2.3:1(1,478:637). Especially in patients with tinea(T.) cruris, which was the most prominent disease showing male predominance, the sex ratio was 15.9:1. 4) The monthly prevalences of superficial fungal diseases were high in July(16.5%), June(13.1%), and August(12.3%), respectively 5) The incidence of each type of superficial fungal disease was the highest in T. pedis(21.4%), followed by T. cruris(17.6%), candidiasis(17.6%), T. corporis(13.5%), T. unguium(13.3%), T. versicolor(9.6%), T. manus(5.1%), and T. capitis(1.9%). 6) There were coexisting fungal infections in 426 patients(20.1%), and the case of T. pedis with T. unguium was the most common. 7) The positive rate of KOH scraping was 57.4% and the positive rate of culture on ordinary Sabouraud's dextrose agar media was 48.6%. 8) The most common cultured organism was Trichophyton(T.) rubrum(39.1%), followed by Candida species(34.6%), T. mentagrophytes(23.0%), Microsporum canis(2.0%), Epidermophyton floccosum(1.2%), and T. ferrugineum(0.2%). CONCLUSION: These results are not significantly different from those of previous studies. But the incidence of the superficial fungal diseases(26.3%) was higher than previous studies and showed a high incidence in young male patients and in warm season. The positive rate of KOH scraping(7.4%) was lower than previous studies. The most common causative organism was T. rubrum.
Agar ; Candida ; Climate ; Dermatology ; Epidermophyton ; Female ; Glucose ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Microsporum ; Prevalence ; Seasons ; Sex Distribution ; Sex Ratio ; Tinea

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative collection of bile and a bile culture are of use in predicting bacterial infection in the biliary system. The aim of this study was to identify chronological changes in the bacteriology of the bile in the age and sex distributions for biliary tract disease of the patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 722 patients who had been operated on for biliary tract disease at the Department of Surgery Ewha Womans University Hospital, from Jan. 1979 to July 1998 and on whom intraoperative bile culture had been performed. We divided the 722 patients into two group based on the time of their treatment, period A being 1979-1988 and period B being 1989-1998. The statistical analysis was done by using the Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square test. RESULTS: The overall bile culture positive rate was 56% (404 cases), and the male-to-female ratio was 1:1.64. There was no significant statistical difference in the sex ratio between the two periods (period A: 1:1.78, period B: 1:1.55) (p>0.05). Overall, the most commonly isolated organism in the bile was Escherichia coli (137 cases, 30%). Comparing the two periods, we found that the Enterococcus species was an organism found increasingly in biliary tract infections (period A: 0%; period B: 17%) whereas infection by Escherichia coli was significantly decreased in the latter period (period A: 43%; period B: 28%) (p<0.05). The sixth decade (29.1%) was the most prevalent age overall. The age distribution for period A showed no statistical difference between the 5th (21.58%) and the 7th decades (21.94%), but there was significant difference between the 7th (29.95%) and the 5th decades (16.89%) in the age distribution for period B (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: According to the above results, we concluded that there were significant chronological changes in the bacteriology of the bile & in the age distributions between the two periods, but no such difference was observed between the sex distribution.
Age Distribution ; Bacterial Infections ; Bacteriology* ; Bile* ; Biliary Tract ; Biliary Tract Diseases ; Enterococcus ; Escherichia coli ; Female ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Distribution ; Sex Ratio

There have been some differences between the manifestations of biliary tract diseases in the Korean population and those in the populations of western countries, and these differences have been varying recently. A clinical analysis of 1000 patients who had been treated surgically for biliary diseases at the Department of General Surgery, St. Benedict Hospital, during the period of 10 years from January 1986 to December 1995 was done, and the results were compared with those of previous reports. The following subjects emerged as points of variance : 1) The incidence of the each biliary tract disease, 2) In calculous biliary disease, the location of the stone and the chemical composition of the stone, 3) Parasitic biliary disease, 4) The sex ratio and the age distribution, 5) The duration of illness, 6) Common symptoms and signs and their frequency, 7) Positive laboratory findings and the availability of radiologic diagnoses, 8) Common organisms in the bacterial culture, 9) The management of biliary diseases, and 10) Postoperative complications and the mortality rate. The clinical manifestations of biliary diseases have changed gradually and have been influenced by multiple factors: improvements inf living, education, and the environment, advances in diagnostic and therapeutic methods, etc.. Although these changes are due to the influences of westernization, they should also exhibit Korean-unique charecteristics. Also, we l expect further improvements in the future, and keep in mind those different points, there should be further suitable management, depending on changing features.
Age Distribution ; Biliary Tract Diseases* ; Biliary Tract* ; Diagnosis ; Education ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Postoperative Complications ; Sex Ratio

BACKGROUND: Lichen planus is a papulosquarnous disease characterized by pruritic violaceous papules most commonly an the extremities of middle-aged adults. It may or may not be accompanied by oral and genital mucous membrane involvement. Its course is generally self-limited for a period of several months to years, but it may last indefinitely. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to find the clinical characteristics of lichen planus. METHODS: Thirty-five cases of lichen planus comfirrned clinically and histopathologically were analyzed. RESULTS: The incidenc of lichen planus was 0.073% of the total number of dermatologic patients. The age distribution was in the range of 14-63 years old being most prevalent in the 6th decade and there was ariequal sex ratio. The most common site of involvement was the mucous membrane, and the extremities were more common than the trunk. Pruitus or pain and discomfort developed in 28 pat,ients(80% ). In most cases, the treatment was topical corticosteroid and antihistamine. Sixteen cses improved within 1 month to 2 years. Five cases recurred in the improved cases. CONCLUSION: The clinical analysis of 35 patients with lichen planus was performed. The incidence of lichen planus was 0.073% of the total number of dermatologic patients. Males and females were equally affected Mucous membrane involvement was detected in 21 patients(60%).
Adult ; Age Distribution ; Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lichen Planus* ; Lichens* ; Male ; Mucous Membrane ; Sex Ratio