No Abstract Available.
Humans

An ectopic thyroid occurs when thyroid tissue has not properly migrated from the foramen cecum to the fourth tracheal ring along the midline of the ventral portion of the neck, but instead is located elsewhere. There are some cases of dual-site ectopic thyroid glands, usually involving adolescents or adults. Cases of neonatal dual ectopic thyroid glands are even rarer. We report a case of a dual ectopic thyroid with congenital hypothyroidism found during a neonatal screening of the lingual and upper cervical regions of a patient . The patient had no airway obstruction symptoms, such as dysphagia or grunting. The thyroxine (T4) level was 2.49 microg/dL (normal value: 6.2-22.0 microg/dL) and the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level was 217.85 microIU/mL (normal value: 1.7-9.1 microIU/mL). A dual ectopic thyroid was diagnosed based on a Tc-99m thyroid scan. After receiving thyroid hormone replacement therapy, the child has developed normally.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Airway Obstruction ; Cecum ; Child ; Congenital Hypothyroidism ; Deglutition Disorders ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Neck ; Neonatal Screening ; Thyroid Dysgenesis ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine

Monitoring fetal movement serves as an indirect rneasure of fetal well-being, especially for central nervous system integrity and function. Methods to monitor fetal movement vary from the simple approach of having the mother chart perceived movement to highly specialized methods. However there were no reliable objective monitoring methods in Korea. For development of objective method for evaluating fetal movement, during pregnancy, one-hundred and two pregnant patients were entered to this study. All patients were divided into following 3 groups and each type of monitoring methods were applied. Group 1(N=20): Type I using portable FHR Doppler unit(IFD-100 model, Intermed, Korea). Group 2(N=20): Type II using FHR Microphone(Prenatal Listening Kit, Model FS002, Unisar Inc., US). Group 3(N=62): Type III using conventional ultrasound transducer(Corometric 115 Model, US). In this study, accurate counting of the fetal movementutus were best performed using Type III, because of monitoring fetal movements has its greatest efficiency when using conventional ultrasound transducer of fetal monitor. It was also attractive to doctors and nurses as a convenient methods because it needed only single transducer when compared to Type I and II. Although monitoring fetal body movement permits a general assessment of well-being, no perfect technique is still reliable. Futher techniques would be developed using the results of this study for improvement of several factors such as accuracy and objectiveness
Central Nervous System ; Fetal Monitoring ; Fetal Movement* ; Humans ; Korea ; Mothers ; Pregnancy* ; Transducers ; Ultrasonography

Primary cardiac tumors are rare, with a prevalence of 0.001–0.2%. Among such tumors, cardiac hemangioendotheliomas are some of the most uncommon. In Korea, there have been no reports of hemangioendothelioma occurring in the heart of infants. We herein report a case of an infant that was admitted to our medical center and presented with cough and a runny nose. The initial diagnosis was acute bronchiolitis. Cardiomegaly was observed on chest radiography. Echocardiography revealed a tumor measuring 3.5×4.0 cm in the right atrium. The infant was transferred to a tertiary medical center for tumor excision. The excised lesion was 3.8×3×3.2 cm in size, and biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of hemangioendothelioma. In this case report, we describe our experience with a rare case involving cardiac tumor in an infant with an upper respiratory tract infection.
Biopsy ; Bronchiolitis ; Cardiomegaly ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Heart ; Heart Atria ; Heart Neoplasms ; Hemangioendothelioma ; Humans ; Infant ; Korea ; Nose ; Prevalence ; Radiography ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Thorax ; Twins

BACKGROUND: Early esophageal cancer has a good prognosis compared with advanced esophageal cancer, so early detection of the cancer is emphasized. Early esophageal cancer is considered as esophageal cancer located within the submucosal layer and without metastasis in the operative specimen. Despite this criterion, evidence has accumulated suggesting that submucosal tumors have a very different prognosis from intra-epithelial and intramucosal lesions. The purpose of this study is to define the characteristics of and the appropriate operative method for esophageal cancer. METHODS: Medical records of 19 patients who had received an esophagectomy and who had been diagnosed as having early esophageal cancer between 1981 and 1996 at this hospital were reviewed. RESULTS: There was 17 cases of submucosal lesions and 2 cases of mucosal lesions. 74% of the patients had alcohol or smoking history. When endoscopic findings were classified according to the endoscopic classification of JSED, there were 5 cases of type 0-I, 4 cases of type 0-III, 4 cases of type 1, and others. Type 0-I and 0-III were common. The accuracy of the endoscopic ultrasonographic finding was 39% compared with the postoperative pathologic finding. The mean duration of follow-up was 21 months, and there were 2 recurrences during follow-up. One recurred 13 months after the operation and the other 23 months after the operation. Both of them were submucosal lesions and received a transhiatal esophagectomy. CONCLUSIONS: Annual endoscopic examination with lugol staining may be needed for early detection of esophageal cancer. Submucosal lesions of early esophageal cancer should be managed with an esophagectomy and lymph node dissection. Also, expertness of the endoscopist is very important in deciding on an of operative method.
Classification ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Esophagectomy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Medical Records ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Smoke ; Smoking

PURPOSE: Nurses' resilience plays an important role in overcoming the challenges that nurses often encounter at clinic, and many factors have been examined which influence on nurses' resilience levels. Through this study, those factors were systematically searched and quantitatively synthesized. METHODS: In order to find relevant studies, both English and Korean academic databases were searched, and, finally, a total of 33 articles were identified and included in this analysis. RESULTS: The effect size on the protective variables was large and that of the risk variables was medium. In the protective variable group, the job variable group showed a larger effect size compared to the organizational variable group. Among the protective variables, compassion satisfaction showed the highest contribution on enhancing the resilience level of nurses. In the risk variable group, the personal variable group showed the highest effect size, which was followed by the organizational and job variables. Among the risk variables, the personal stress response showed the highest contribution to decreasing the level of resilience of nurses. CONCLUSION: This study provides a meaningful data for future studies in terms of developing evidence-based interventions to enhance the levels of resilience among Korean nurses.
Empathy ; Humans

This study investigated the trends of gastric cancer in Korea by adding the latest updated gastric cancer data from 2019. Gastric cancer incidence between 1999 and 2019 was reviewed using data from the Korea Central Cancer Registry. The study period was divided into 3 periods: period I (1999–2005), period II (2006–2012), and period III (2013–2019). The incidence, mortality, tumor location, histology, stage, and treatment were analyzed.Between 1999 and 2019, 577,502 patients were newly diagnosed with gastric cancer in Korea, accounting for 33.2% of patients aged ≥70 years. The age-standardized incidence rate (per 100,000) significantly decreased from 2011 (43.0) to 2019 (29.6), with an annual percent change of −4.50. Additionally, the age-standardized mortality rate (per 100,000) markedly decreased from 1999 (23.9) to 2019 (6.7). The proportions of patients with cardia and fundus cancers remained consistent. The proportion of localized stage cases increased, while those of regional and distant stages decreased. The rate of surgical treatment increased in localized and regional stages from 2006 to 2019. The overall 5-year relative survival (5YRS) rate of gastric cancer (per 100,000) increased from 55.7% in period I to 77.0% in period III. From 2013 to 2019, the 5YRS rates of patients (per 100,000) who underwent surgical treatment were 100.6% and 70.5% in the localized and regional stages, respectively. The results of this study demonstrated several changes in the epidemiology of gastric cancer in Korea. This study provides information to help understand the current trends in gastric cancer in Korea.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate thyroid dysfunction in obese children in Korea. METHOD: We measured body mass index and thyroid hormone in obese, overweight, and normal weight children who visited a pediatric clinic in Jeonju, Korea, from January 2009 to September 2012. RESULTS: The free thyroxoine (FT4) level of the obese group (16.35 +/- 2.79 pmol/L) was lower than levels of the overweight (17.65 +/- 2.31 pmol/L) and normal weight (17.28 +/- 2.35 pmol/L; P=0.012) groups. The average value of FT4 in severely obese children (15.71 +/- 1.68 pmol/L) was lower than those of mildly and moderately obese children (16.40 +/- 2.88 pmol/L). We found no significant difference in thyroid stimulating hormone level between the obese group and normal weight group. CONCLUSION: The FT4 level is lower in obese children than in normal weight children.
Body Mass Index ; Child ; Humans ; Korea ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Hormones ; Thyrotropin

BACKGROUND: Liver cirrhosis causes substantial socio-economic burden and is one of the major severe liver diseases in Korea. Nonetheless, there is only a few studies that analyzes disease burden of liver cirrhosis in Korea. Such study must be carried out due to its increasing need from the invention of new drugs for chronic hepatitis and demand for cost-effectiveness analyses. METHODS: Patient sample data with ensured representativeness was analyzed retrospectively to compare the medical costs and uses for patients with compensated cirrhosis and decompensated cirrhosis. Patient claims data that include K74 and K703 from the year of 2014 were selected. Within the selected data, decompensated cirrhosis patient was identified if complications such as ascites (R18), encephalopathy (B190), hepatic failure (K72), peritonitis (K65), or esophageal varices (I85) were included, and they were compared to compensated cirrhosis patients. RESULTS: 6,565 patients were included in the analysis. The average cost per patient was 6,471,020 (SD 8,848,899) KRW and 2,173,203 (4,220,942) KRW for decompensated cirrhosis and compensated cirrhosis, respectively. For inpatients, the average hospitalized days was 38.0 (56.4) days and 27.2 (57.2) days for decompensated cirrhosis and compensated cirrhosis, respectively. For outpatients, the average number of visits was 8.7 (9.1) days and 5.3 (7.5) days for compensated cirrhosis and decompensated cirrhosis, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared to compensated cirrhosis patients, decompensated cirrhosis patients had higher costs, especially for hospitalization, injection, examination, and drugs administrated within medical institutions.
Ascites ; Brain Diseases ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; Fibrosis ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Inventions ; Korea ; Liver Cirrhosis* ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Failure ; Liver* ; Outpatients ; Peritonitis ; Retrospective Studies