BACKGROUND: The burden of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) pulmonary disease (PD) is increasing globally. To understand the treatment outcomes and prognosis of NTM-PD, a unified registry is needed. In this project, we aim to construct a multicenter prospective observational cohort with NTM-PD in South Korea (NTM-KOREA).METHODS: The primary objective of this study is to analyze treatment outcomes according to the species. In addition, recurrence rate, adverse events, the impact of each drug on treatment outcomes as well as the impact of characteristics of mycobacteriology will be analyzed. The inclusion criteria for the study are as follows: fulfilling the criteria for NTM-PD having one of the following etiologic organisms: Mycobacterium avium complex, M. abscessus subspecies abscessus, M. abscessus subspecies massiliense, or M. kansasii; receiving the first treatment for NTM-PD after enrollment; age >20 years; and consenting to participate in the study. Seven institutions will participate in patient enrollment and about 500 patients are expected to be enrolled. Participants will be recruited from 1 March 2020 until 19 March 2024 and will be observed through 19 March 2029. During the follow-up period, participants' clinical course will be tracked and their clinical data as well as NTM isolates will be collected.CONCLUSION: NTM-KOREA will be the first nationwide observational cohort for NTM-PD in South Korea. It will provide the information to optimize treatment modalities and will contribute to deeper understanding of the treatment outcomes and long-term prognosis of patients with NTM-PD in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: The burden of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) pulmonary disease (PD) is increasing globally. To understand the treatment outcomes and prognosis of NTM-PD, a unified registry is needed. In this project, we aim to construct a multicenter prospective observational cohort with NTM-PD in South Korea (NTM-KOREA). METHODS: The primary objective of this study is to analyze treatment outcomes according to the species. In addition, recurrence rate, adverse events, the impact of each drug on treatment outcomes as well as the impact of characteristics of mycobacteriology will be analyzed. The inclusion criteria for the study are as follows: fulfilling the criteria for NTM-PD having one of the following etiologic organisms: Mycobacterium avium complex, M. abscessus subspecies abscessus, M. abscessus subspecies massiliense, or M. kansasii; receiving the first treatment for NTM-PD after enrollment; age >20 years; and consenting to participate in the study. Seven institutions will participate in patient enrollment and about 500 patients are expected to be enrolled. Participants will be recruited from 1 March 2020 until 19 March 2024 and will be observed through 19 March 2029. During the follow-up period, participants' clinical course will be tracked and their clinical data as well as NTM isolates will be collected. CONCLUSION NTM-KOREA will be the first nationwide observational cohort for NTM-PD in South Korea. It will provide the information to optimize treatment modalities and will contribute to deeper understanding of the treatment outcomes and long-term prognosis of patients with NTM-PD in South Korea.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to develop quality outcome indicators for nursing homes and community-based home care that would contribute to an appropriate evaluation and improvement of quality of long term care in Korea. METHODS: The preliminary quality indicators of long term care were developed from a literature review and clinical expert panel. A content validity testing was done using a panel of experts who were selected from academic and clinical field of long-term care. The final quality indicators were confirmed after application in four nursing homes and four home care agencies to test clinical validity. RESULTS: The preliminary quality indicators consisted of 3 domains and 19 indicators. The final quality indicators were composed of 4 domains and 17 indicators. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the feasibility of outcome quality indicators in long term care. These quality indicators can be effectively used to evaluate the quality of nursing home and home care and to improve the quality of care in the Korean long-term care system.
Home Care Agencies ; Home Care Services ; Long-Term Care ; Nursing Homes ; Quality Indicators, Health Care

PURPOSE: Most technical difficulties in intracranial stenting are derived from the vascular resistance caused by the severe tortuousness of intracranial arteries. The purpose of this study was to develop a practical method for measuring vascular tortuousness so that it would be possible to predict technical difficulties requiring further technical support. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a best-fit circle metrics which made measurement of vascular tortuousness feasible, which was called "curve index (CI)". We compared the curve index in 56 consecutive patients who underwent M1 stenting for symptomatic severe stenosis. The difference in the CI between the successful and the aborted groups was statistically compared by using the Mann-Whitney U test. ROC curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the best-fit circle metrics. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between the successful and the aborted cases in the CIs of each curve segment. However, the sum of all CIs of the aborted group was significantly larger (3.49) than that of the successful group (2.53) (p=0.013). On ROC curve analysis, the area under the curve was 0.806. When we took the cut-off value to be 3, the sensitivity was 75% and the specificity 85%. CONCLUSION: We developed a practical method for measuring the CI of vessel curves in order to estimate the tortuousness of the internal carotid artery. A CI less than 3, therefore, indicates a favorable vascular curvature for the intracranial stenting procedure. A vessel having a higher curve index was more likely to be aborted.
Arteries ; Carotid Artery, Internal* ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Humans ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stents ; Vascular Resistance

Condyloma acuminatum, commonly known as anogenital warts, is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). The most common location of condyloma acuminatum in women is the vulva. Other locations are the vagina, anus and perianal area, perineum and cervix. Condyloma acuminatum most commonly occur due to receptive anal intercourse, and can enlarge to form exophytic masses on the perianal skin, but rarely involve the rectum. We experienced an occurrence of a 12 mm polypoid lesion in the rectum of a heterosexual woman detected during a colonoscopy. The polypoid lesion was excised and was diagnosed as condyloma acuminatum. The lesion was positive for HPV type 11 based on the use of an HPV DNA chip test.
Anal Canal ; Cervix Uteri ; Colonoscopy ; Female ; Heterosexuality ; Humans ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Perineum ; Polyps ; Rectum ; Skin ; Vagina ; Vulva ; Warts

Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome involving the breakdown of skeletal muscle, and this causes myoglobin and other intracellular proteins and electrolytes to leak into the circulatory system. We report here on a case of rhabdomyolysis associated with statin, exercise and sauna exposure. A 63-year-old woman presented to our hospital, and she had been taking simvastatin for over 6 years due to dyslipidemia. She complained of developing myalgia and weakness of the lower extremities over the previous 5 days. She had used a sauna more than 4 hours daily for 20 years, and she had started unaccustomed exercise in the sauna 1 week prior to admission. Her serum creatine kinase concentration was 45,990 IU/L. Conservative treatment was started with the discontinuation of her statin medication, exercise and use of the sauna. Her symptoms and serum creatine kinase level decreased 1 week after admission and she was discharged with minimal residual muscle weakness.
Creatine Kinase ; Dyslipidemias ; Electrolytes ; Female ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors ; Lower Extremity ; Middle Aged ; Muscle Weakness ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Myoglobin ; Proteins ; Rhabdomyolysis ; Simvastatin ; Steam Bath

BACKGROUND: Donors with acitretin medication history are deferred for three years in Korea, because acitretin has teratogenic effect. Authors tried to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the donor screening measures for acitretin medication. METHODS: From January 2006 to May 2007, the numbers of screened donors and accepted donors were 10,098,868 and 7,867,019, respectively. Although there was no single case of reported congenital malformation due to transfusion of blood donated by donors on acitretin medication, we assumed one case had occurred to contect the cost-effectiveness analysis. Also, the quality of life (QOL) of fetus with congenital malformation was assumed to be 0. The expected life-span of average Korean people was 78.6 years. RESULTS: The cost-effectiveness of electronic inquiry of computer database and blood test for acitretin were calculated to be 173,453,840 won/QALY and 8,780,333,865/QALY, respectively. They equaled $188,537/QALY and $9,543,841/QALY, respectively. CONCLUSION: The cost-effectiveness of electronic inquiry of computer database and blood test for acitretin were 3.8 and 190 times of $50,000/QALY, which is usually accepted to be reasonable in medical field. Electronic inquiry of computer database could be reasonable measure, if we deal with the problem protecting donor privacy, while blood test for acitretin could not be enforced because of unacceptably expensive cost.
Acitretin ; Blood Donors ; Donor Selection ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Fetus ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Korea ; Privacy ; Quality of Life ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: Donors with acitretin medication history are deferred for three years in Korea, because acitretin has teratogenic effect. Authors tried to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the donor screening measures for acitretin medication. METHODS: From January 2006 to May 2007, the numbers of screened donors and accepted donors were 10,098,868 and 7,867,019, respectively. Although there was no single case of reported congenital malformation due to transfusion of blood donated by donors on acitretin medication, we assumed one case had occurred to contect the cost-effectiveness analysis. Also, the quality of life (QOL) of fetus with congenital malformation was assumed to be 0. The expected life-span of average Korean people was 78.6 years. RESULTS: The cost-effectiveness of electronic inquiry of computer database and blood test for acitretin were calculated to be 173,453,840 won/QALY and 8,780,333,865/QALY, respectively. They equaled $188,537/QALY and $9,543,841/QALY, respectively. CONCLUSION: The cost-effectiveness of electronic inquiry of computer database and blood test for acitretin were 3.8 and 190 times of $50,000/QALY, which is usually accepted to be reasonable in medical field. Electronic inquiry of computer database could be reasonable measure, if we deal with the problem protecting donor privacy, while blood test for acitretin could not be enforced because of unacceptably expensive cost.
Acitretin ; Blood Donors ; Donor Selection ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Fetus ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Korea ; Privacy ; Quality of Life ; Tissue Donors

Purpose: The present study aims to determine the clinical outcome of kidney transplantation and to provide data of long-term graft and patient survival. Methods: Between 1969 and 2005, 1,500 kidney transplants were performed at the Kangnam st. Mary's hospital. We analyzed the clinical characteristics and outcomes of kidney transplant recipients retrospectively. Results: The mean follow-up period was 112 months. Chronic glomerulonephritis was the leading cause of primary renal diseases, but the proportion of has increased from 1 % before 1985 to 6% afterwards. First renal transplantation was 94.5% (n=1418), and retransplantation was 5.4% (n=82). Type of donor source was mostly living-related, with the recent decrease in the number of living- unrelated donors. Currently, 72l patients are alive with functioning grafts, 297 cases had graft failure, 277 cases died, 205 cases were transferred or lost during follow-up. Main cause of graft failure was chronic allograft nephropathy (n=316). Overall, 1-, 5-, 10-, and 20-year graft survival were 92%, 81%, 66%, and 29% respectively. 1-, 5-, 10-, and 20-year patient survival were 93%, 88%, 81%, and 69% respectively. Conclusion: This review of 36-years experience in a single center showed that the graft survival has improved compared to the initial transplantation era.
Allografts ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glomerulonephritis ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation ; Kidney* ; Korea* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation ; Transplants ; Unrelated Donors

PURPOSE: Febrile seizures affect 2-5% of all children younger than 6 years old. A small proportion of children with febrile seizures later develop epilepsy. Generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus(GEFS+) is an important childhood genetic epilepsy syndrome with heterogeneous phenotypes, including febrile seizures(FS) and generalized epilepsies of variable severity. It was reported that the gene locus for GEFS+ exists in the chromosome 19q13.1, and has relationship with a 387 C->G mutation in the voltage- gated sodium channel beta1 subunit(SCN1B) gene. This study is to determine whether there are mutations in children with GEFS+ and FS. METHODS: Eighteen GEFS+ and thirteen FS patients were screened for mutations in the sodium channel beta-subunits SCN1B. The primer pairs used to amplify the exons of SCN1B are given in the supplementary data on the Neurology web site. All exons were amplified by PCR and PCR products were subsequently sequenced. Single-stranded conformation polymorphism(SSCP) was carried out using 8% polyacrylamide gel. RESULTS: Twenty four patients(77%) were younger than 10 years old, three(10%) were between 10 and 14 years old, and four(13%) older than 14 years old. The ratio of female to male was 0.55:1.0. In phenotypes of GEFS+, fourteen patients(88%) had generalized tonic-clonic seizures, one patient(6%) myoclonic seizures and one patient(6%) atonic seizures. In EEG findings of GEFS+, eleven(78%) patients had normal findings, five(28%) patients generalized spike waves and two patients(11%) diffuse slowings. In sequencing and SSCP of PCR products, we could observe added C mutations between 224G and 225C of exon 3 in two unrelated patients with GEFS+. CONCLUSION: We proved the existence of a new mutation of SCN1B in two unrelated patients with GEFS+.
Adolescent ; Child ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy ; Epilepsy, Generalized* ; Exons ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neurology ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Seizures ; Seizures, Febrile* ; Sodium Channels