Painful 203 patients with chronic pain were treated with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in the CNS & Pain Management Institute of St. Paul's Hospital, Catholic Medical College, Seoul, Korea. Each patient was instructed on the method of autostimulation with variations in for an initial observation frequency and intensity. The effect were recorded daily period of about 3 weeks. The patients were evaluated at suitable intervals and asked to grade the relief of pain on a percentage scale. Four categories of pain relief were established : 80% to 100%(A), 60% to 80%(B), 30% to 60%(C), 0% to 30%(D). This procedure with modern, solid state devise has been tried enough that it can be recommended as a potentials treatment for most types of pain about 90% of pain problems can be managed in this way. The mode of action of transcutaneous Electrical nerve stimulation is most simple and can not be explained only by gate control theory.
Chronic Pain* ; Humans ; Korea ; Pain Management ; Seoul ; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation*

BACKGROUND: Intensive care units(ICUs) probably represent the single largest identifiable source of infection within the hospital. Although there are several studies on ICU infections in respect to their bacteriology or mortality rate for individual types of ICU, few studies have compared ICU infections between different types of ICU. The aim of this study was to identify clinical differences in bacteremia between medical ICU(MICU) and surgical ICU(SICU) patients. METHODS: 256 patients with bacteremia were retrospectively evaluated. Medical records were reviewed to obtain the clinical and bacteriologic informations. RESULTS: 1) The mean age of the patients with bacteremia of MICU(58.6+/-17.2 yr) was greater than that of all MICU patients(54.3+/-17.1 yr)(p<0.01), but there was no significant difference in SICU patients(patients with bacteremia of SICU: 56.3 +/-18.6 yr, all SICU patients: 62.0+/-16.8)(p>0.05). ICU stay was longer(MICU patients: 23.4 +/-40.8 day, SICU patients: 30.3 +/-26.8 day) than the mean stay of all patients(6.8+/-15.5 day)(p<0.05, respectively). Bacteremia of both ICU patients developed past the average day of ICU stay(all MICU patients: 7.9 day, all SICU patients: 6.0 day, MICU bacteremia: 19th day, SICU bacteremia: 17th day of ICU stay)(p<0.05, respectively). 2) There were no significant differences in mean age, sex, and length of stay of both ICU patients with bacteremia. 3) Use of antibiotics or steroid, use of percutaneous devices and invasive procedures before development of bacteremia were more frequent in SICU patients than in MICU patients(prior antibiotics use: MICU 45%, SICU 63%, p<0.05; steroid use: MICU 14%, SICU 36%, p<0.01; use of percutaneous devices: MICU 19%, SICU 39%, p<0.01; invasive procedures: MICU 19%, SICU 61%, p<0.01). 4) The prevalence of community acquired infections was significantly higher in MICU patients than in SICU patients(MICU 42%, SICU 9%)(p<0.01), whereas SICU patients showed higher prevalence of ICU-acquired infection than MICU patients(MICU 48%, SICU 78%)(p<0.01). 5) There were no differences in causative organisms, primary sites of infection and time interval to bacteremia between both ICUs. 6) There were no significant differences in outcome according to pathogenic organisms or primary sites of infection. 7) The mortality rate was higher in patients with bacteremia than without bacteremia(MICU mortality rate: patients with bacteremia 72.5%, patients without bacteremia 36.0%, p<0.01; SICU mortality rate: patients with bacteremia 40.3%, patients without bacteremia 8.5%, p<0.05), and the mortality rate of MICU bacteremia was significantly higher compared with that of SICU bacteremia(MICU 72.5%, SICU 40.3%)(p<0.01). CONCLUSION: ICU patients with bacteremia stayed longer before the development of bacteremia, and showed higher mortality than the overall ICU population. The incidence of bacteremia was higher in MICU patients than SICU patients. MICU patients with bacteremia showed higher prevalence of liver diseases and acute respiratory failure, community-acquired bacteremia and greater mortality rate than SICU patients with bacteremia. SICU patients with bacteremia, on the other hand, showed higher prevalence of trauma, prior use of immunosuppressive agents, invasive procedures, and ICU-acquired bacteremia, and lower mortality rate than MICU patients with bacteremia.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteremia* ; Bacteriology ; Community-Acquired Infections ; Hand ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Incidence ; Intensive Care Units ; Critical Care* ; Length of Stay ; Liver Diseases ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Osteoarthritis ; Telomerase*