BACKGROUND: Prick test, a kind of skin test, is most frequently used in clinical procedure because of its simplicity and safety of application and better correlation with clinical history history as well as specificity and highty reproducibility. OBJECTIVE: Studies into the result and clinical significance of the pinprick test with relationship to food allergens as the contributing factor of urticaria. METHODS: We have examined the skin test with extracts of 45 food allergens(Bencard Ltd. In England) in three groups. 10 acute urticaria patients. 30 chronic urticaria patients, and normal controls. RESULTS: Of the 40 patients with urticaria, 23(57.5%) revealed positive reaction to one or more food allergens in comparison with 9(45.0%) of the control, ad there was no statistically significant difference(p>0.05). Positive reaction to food allergens in 15 food correlates was 11(73.3%), Which was higher than 11(44.4%) in 25 patients with no relation to food. and there was a statisticals difference (p>0.05). Food allergen groups which showed frequent positive reaction were fishes(35.0%), shell fishes(30.0%), cereals(27.5%), fruit(20.0%), vegetabies(17.5%), egg & milk(10.0%), and meats(7.5%) in that order. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that food allergen test might not be useful in evaluation the contributing factor of urticaria.
Allergens* ; Humans ; Ovum ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skin Tests ; Urticaria*

Imatinib-mesylate (Gleevec, Glivec) is a protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inhibits the Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase created by the Philadelphia chromosome abnormality in CML. Imatinib is also used to treat patients with c-kit (CD 117)-positive unresectable tumors, or metastatic malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or both. Imatinib is a well- tolerated drug with few side effects. However, it has been associated with gastrointestinal irritation, fluid retention and edema, skin rashes, depigmentation, hepatotoxicity, hemorrhage, and hematological toxicity (anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia). In addition, imatinib has been associated with dyspnea and cough, which are mainly secondary to the pleural effusion and pulmonary edema, which represent local or general fluid retention. These events appear to be dose related and are more common encountered in the elderly. However, there has been no report of hypersensitivity pneumonitis associated with imatinib-mesylate in Korea. We report a case of 51-year old woman who developed hypersensitivity pneumonitis that might have been induced by imatinib-mesylate during the treatment of a gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
Aged ; Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic* ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Edema ; Exanthema ; Female ; Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Neutropenia ; Philadelphia Chromosome ; Pleural Effusion ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Pulmonary Edema ; Imatinib Mesylate

With increasing life expectance and improvement of the overall health of the elderly, the understanding of geriatric disease becomes an important aspect of medical services. In the elderly, the frequencies of hypertension, DM, & anemia are increased according to aging and renal function is decreased progressively. As screening test for cervical cancer Papanicolaou smear is recommended due to its cost-effective benefits in females. In age-adjusted elderly male and female study populations, authors investigated the alterations of the above diseases, hypercholesterolemia, liver disease, obesity, & proteinuria distributions. METHODS: This study included 1,181 aged 40 years (600 males, 581 females) visitors between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 1997 in National Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea. Authors divided these populations into two large groups such as group A and B. Group A was composed of 40-59 years, group B 60 years and older. Group A and B were subdivided into 4 subgroups each other, such as A-1, A-2, A-3 and A-4, B-1, B-2, B-3 and B-4 by means of age-adjusted dividing scale. We used our inclusion criteria to define each disease. RESULTS: Hypertension was the most common disease in males of group B, but obesity was in females. The age-adjusted frequencies of hypertension, anemia, obesity & proteinuria were increased according to aging in the elderly aged 60 years and older. Though hypercholesterolemia revealed non-specific distribution in each group, increased frequency was observed in females compared to males in group B. With increasing their age, abnormal findings of Papanicolaou smear were found in females of group B. CONCLUSIONS: As the frequencies of hypertension, anemia, obestiy, proteinuria & abnormal findings of Papanicolaou smear were increased in the elderly aged 60 years and older as increasing their age. Much more attentions and follow up plans for these disease should be needed in the elderly.
Aged* ; Aging ; Anemia ; Attention ; Female ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Liver Diseases ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Papanicolaou Test ; Proteinuria ; Seoul ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

OBJECTIVE: Annually, the prevalence of indigenous and imported malarial infections is steadily increasing since 1993 in Korea. In order to understand the current characteristics of malarial infections and to prevent, the present research reviewed twenty-seven cases between January and September 1998. METHOD:In this study, all the twenty-seven (twenty- six patients) cases were obtained from admitted patients between January and September 1998. We had performed routine blood chemical studies, peripheral blood thin and thick smear, physical examination and abdominal sonography. Any patient with a previous history of a narcotic drug injection or had blood transfusion was excluded. RESULTS: Twenty cases (74.1%) were indigenous and seven (25.9%) were imported malaria. Yeonchon-Gun (nine cases) was the most prevalent area in the indigenous cases; Cambodia (three cases) were the most one in the imported cases. Peripheral blood thin smear revealed Plasmodium vivax in all (100%) indigenous malaria, while four cases (57.1%) were P. vivax and one (14.3%) was P. falciparum and two (28.6%) were mixed infections with P. vivax and P. falciparum in the imported cases. In a 3-month period between July and September, peak prevalence (80.4%) was observed. The negative conversion of peripheral blood smear was achieved much earlier in the indigenous (3.9+/-1.4day) than in the imported (5.7+/-1.9day) after the treatment but, was not statistically signifcant. CONCLUSION: Plasmodium ovale was the only unique causative species in the indigenous malaria. Also Yeonchon-Gun and Cheolwon-Gun had been the most important endemic areas as previous reports. One relapse case had been occurred in the imported malaria. On the basis of our data, more efforts for control of malaria should be necessary for eradication and prevention of indigenous and imported malarial infections in Korea.
Blood Transfusion ; Cambodia ; Coinfection ; Humans ; Korea ; Malaria ; Physical Examination ; Plasmodium ovale ; Plasmodium vivax ; Prevalence ; Recurrence

PURPOSE: To conduct a nationwide survery on the principles in radiotherapy for rectal cancer, and develop the framework of a database of Korean Patterns of Care Study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A consensus committee was established to develop a tool for measuring the patterns in radiotherapy protocols for rectal cancer. The panel was composed of radiation oncologists from 18 hospitals in Seoul Metropolitan area. The committee developed a survey format to analyze radiation oncologist's treatment principles for rectal cancer. The survey items developed for measuring the treatment principles were composed of 1) 8 eligibility criteria, 2) 20 items for staging work-ups and prognostic factors, 3) 7 items for principles of combined surgery and chemotherapy, 4) 9 patient set-ups, 5) 19 determining radiation fields, 6) 5 radiotherapy treatment plans, 7) 4 physical/laboratory examination to monitor a patient's condition during treatment, and 8) 10 follow-up evaluations. These items were sent to radiation oncologists in charge of gastrointestinal malignancies in all hospitals (48 hospitals) in Korea to which 30 replies were received (63%). RESULTS: Most of the survey items were replied to without no major differences between the repliers, but with the following items only 50% of repliers were in agreement:1) indications of preoperative radiation, 2) use of endorectal ultrasound, CT scan, and bone scan for staging work-ups, 3) principles of combining chemotherapy with radiotherapy, 4) use of contrast material for small bowel delineation during simulation, 5) determination of field margins, and 6) use of CEA and colonoscopy for follow-up evaluations. CONCLUSION: The items where considerable disagreement was shown among the radiation oncologists seemed to make no serious difference in the treatment outcome, but a practical and reasonable consensus should be reached by the committee, with logical processes of agreement. These items can be used for a basic database for the Patterns of Care Study, which will survey the practical radiotherapy patterns for rectal cancer in Korea.
Colonoscopy ; Consensus ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Logic ; Radiotherapy ; Rectal Neoplasms* ; Seoul ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: Despite recent advances in laparoscopic pancreatic surgery, few studies have compared laparoscopic central pancreatectomy (LCP) with open central pancreatectomy (OCP). The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes between LCP and OCP as a single institutional study. METHODS: During the study period (From January, 1998 to December, 2010), we performed central pancreatectomy in 95 cases. Among them, 26 cases of totally LCP and 55 cases of OCP were compared retrospectively. RESULTS: Benign pancreatic neoplasm was the main indication. The mean operation time for the LCP group (350.2 min) was longer than that for the OCP group (283.4 min). And there was no significant difference in mean actual blood loss (477 ml versus 714 ml, p=0.083) between the LCP and OCP groups. Return to a normal bowel movement and resumption of a liquid diet were achieved 5.5+/-2.6 days after the operation in the LCP group and 6.6+/-2.0 days after the operation in the OCP group (p=0.039). The mean duration of postoperative hospital stay was 13.8 days for the LCP group, which was significantly shorter than the 22.5 days for the OCP group (p=0.015). The overall complication rate was 42.3% (11 cases) in the LCP group and 45.5% (25 cases) in the OCP group (p=0.790). CONCLUSION: Use of LCP for benign or low grade malignant lesions of the pancreatic neck portion is feasible and safe. Compared to the open method, the laparoscopic approach to central pancreatectomy appears to provide advantages of early resumption of a normal diet and reduction of postoperative hospital stay without further complications.
Diet ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Neck ; Pancreatectomy ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreatic Neoplasms

Although gastroesophageal reflux disease is not as common in Asia as in western countries, the prevalence has increased substantially during the past decade. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is associated with considerable reductions in subjective well-being and work productivity, as well as increased healthcare use. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are currently the most effective treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease. However, there are limitations associated with these drugs in terms of partial and non-response. Dexlansoprazole is the first PPI with a dual delayed release formulation designed to provide 2 separate releases of medication to extend the duration of effective plasma drug concentration. Dexlansoprazole has been shown to be effective for healing of erosive esophagitis, and to improve subjective well-being by controlling 24-hour symptoms. Dexlansoprazole has also been shown to achieve good plasma concentration regardless of administration with food, providing flexible dosing. Studies in healthy volunteers showed no clinically important effects on exposure to the active metabolite of clopidogrel or clopidogrel-induced platelet inhibition, with no dose adjustment of clopidogrel necessary when coprescribed. This review discusses the role of the new generation PPI, dexlansoprazole, in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Asia.
Asia* ; Blood Platelets ; Delayed-Action Preparations ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dexlansoprazole* ; Efficiency ; Esophagitis ; Gastroesophageal Reflux* ; Healthy Volunteers ; Plasma ; Prevalence ; Proton Pump Inhibitors ; Proton Pumps* ; Protons*

Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Diagnostic Imaging ; methods ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Radiology Department, Hospital ; organization & administration