At the Neurological Department of Maryknoll Hospital in Busan, Korea, a total of 16, 805 cases were treated over a 10 year period, and of these 28 cases were considered to be cases of multiple sclerosis. The cases were classified according to the 1972 Japan National MS Research Committee. As stated in previous literature, MS is an uncommon disease in the orient. The present report gives a review of the clinical characteristics observed in the cases studies. The chief complaints at onset were found to be numbness and paresthesia, visual impairment, gait disturbance, motor weakness, sphincter disturbance and so forth, in that order, which differ slightly from the Asian series. A comparison was made between the present study and that of C.S.Park in 1968, showing a 0.1% decrease in frequency in the present study. The number of ALS and MG cases diagnosed during the same period was also reported.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Busan* ; Gait ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Japan ; Korea* ; Multiple Sclerosis* ; Paresthesia ; Prevalence* ; Vision Disorders

The leukemia of infancy, characterized by a high leukocyte count, massive organomegaly, CNS leukemia at diagnosis, high chromosomal abnormalities and immature phenotype. This is reflected in its poor prognosis. Isolated lesions of the facial nerve have been reported in leukemia patients, but appear to be rare in infancy. We report a case of unilateral facial nerve paralysis occurred in 4-months-old male who had acute lymphoblastic leukemia with review of literature.
Chromosome Aberrations ; Diagnosis ; Facial Nerve* ; Humans ; Infant* ; Leukemia ; Leukocyte Count ; Male ; Paralysis* ; Phenotype ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Prognosis

PURPOSE: To analyze the time and incidence of increased intraocular pressure (IOP) induced by 0.1% fluorometholone used to prevent corneal haze after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). METHODS: The present study included 826 patients (826 eyes) who underwent PRK between November 2012 and October 2013 and were followed up for more than 6 months. After surgery the patients were treated with 0.1% fluorometholone for 3-6 months according to their corneal conditions. The time and incidence was analyzed with the time and incidence when anti-glaucoma eye drops were used. RESULTS: Anti-glaucoma eye drops were used in 312 eyes (38%). The anti-glaucoma eye drops were started before 4 weeks postoperatively in 105 eyes (13%) and postoperatively at 5-8 weeks in 86 eyes (10%), at 9-12 weeks in 83 eyes (10%), at 13-16 weeks in 25 eyes (3%) and after 17 weeks in 13 eyes (2%). CONCLUSIONS: The overall incidence of increased IOP when treated with 0.1% fluorometholone for 3-6 months after PRK was approximately 38%. The incidence of increased IOP in each month for the first 3 months was almost identical implying that the longer 0.1 fluorometholone was used, the higher incidence of increased IOP occurred. These results can be helpful in educating patients regarding the risk of increased IOP and determining the follow-up period after PRK.
Fluorometholone* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Intraocular Pressure* ; Keratectomy, Subepithelial, Laser-Assisted ; Ophthalmic Solutions ; Photorefractive Keratectomy*

PURPOSE: To analyze the time and incidence of increased intraocular pressure (IOP) induced by 0.1% fluorometholone used to prevent corneal haze after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). METHODS: The present study included 826 patients (826 eyes) who underwent PRK between November 2012 and October 2013 and were followed up for more than 6 months. After surgery the patients were treated with 0.1% fluorometholone for 3-6 months according to their corneal conditions. The time and incidence was analyzed with the time and incidence when anti-glaucoma eye drops were used. RESULTS: Anti-glaucoma eye drops were used in 312 eyes (38%). The anti-glaucoma eye drops were started before 4 weeks postoperatively in 105 eyes (13%) and postoperatively at 5-8 weeks in 86 eyes (10%), at 9-12 weeks in 83 eyes (10%), at 13-16 weeks in 25 eyes (3%) and after 17 weeks in 13 eyes (2%). CONCLUSIONS: The overall incidence of increased IOP when treated with 0.1% fluorometholone for 3-6 months after PRK was approximately 38%. The incidence of increased IOP in each month for the first 3 months was almost identical implying that the longer 0.1 fluorometholone was used, the higher incidence of increased IOP occurred. These results can be helpful in educating patients regarding the risk of increased IOP and determining the follow-up period after PRK.
Fluorometholone* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Intraocular Pressure* ; Keratectomy, Subepithelial, Laser-Assisted ; Ophthalmic Solutions ; Photorefractive Keratectomy*

PURPOSE: To determine the effectiveness of the method for preventing corneal opacity and minimizing the intraocular pressure (IOP) increase after photorefractive keratectomy treated with 0.1% fluorometholone and tranilast (0.5% tranilast, Krix®, JW pharmaceutical, Seoul, Korea), especially in cases with elevated IOP. METHODS: The patients who underwent photorefractive keratectomy from May 2014 to May 2015 were enrolled in the present study. The data of 49 patients (49 eyes) with elevated IOP at 1 month postoperatively and who used 0.1% fluorometholone and tranilast eye drops (tranilast group) were analyzed and compared with the control group consisting of patients who underwent the same surgery from December 2012 to October 2013 but used only 0.1% fluorometholone. RESULTS: The visual acuity at postoperative 6 months was log MAR -0.08 ± 0.05 and log MAR -0.08 ± 0.04 in the tranilast group and control group, respectively. The eye drops were used postoperatively for 17.7 ± 3.3 weeks in the tranilast group and for 20.5 ± 3.7 weeks in the control group (p < 0.01). Anti-glaucoma eye drops were used for 18.4 ± 3.2 weeks and 20.9 ± 3.7 weeks postoperatively in the tranilast group and control group, respectively (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Adding tranilast eye drops to patients whose IOP was elevated because of 0.1% fluorometholone use after photorefractive keratectomy is an effective method for preventing corneal haze and minimizing IOP elevation.
Corneal Opacity ; Fluorometholone* ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Ophthalmic Solutions* ; Photorefractive Keratectomy* ; Seoul ; Visual Acuity

PURPOSE: To evaluate the vault change after implantable collamer lens (ICL) size exchange according to the preoperative vault. METHODS: In 14 eyes of 13 patients, the vault change after ICL exchange operation due to unideal vault was compared in 2 groups, the smaller ICL exchanged group and larger ICL exchanged group. RESULTS: In 6 out of 14 eyes, the ICL was exchanged to a 0.5 mm smaller size and the vault was changed from 1.38 mm (1.18-1.70) to 0.71 mm (0.51-0.92) (p = 0.03). In 8 eyes, the ICL was exchanged to a 0.5 mm bigger size and the vault was changed from 0.07 mm (0.03-0.13) to 0.50 mm (0.12-1.01) (p < 0.01). The exchange operation was performed at 3.5 postoperative days (1-6) if the ICL was exchanged to 1 step smaller size, but the exchange operation was performed at 135 postoperative days (90-660) if the ICL was exchanged to 1 step bigger size (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: ICL exchange to 1 step smaller or bigger size is an effective method to correct unideal postoperative vault to a more ideal vault size. The exchange to 1 step smaller size ICL tended to be performed sooner.
Humans ; Phakic Intraocular Lenses*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical effects of early topical steroid treatment on corneal epithelium healing and postoperative corneal haziness after trans-epithelial photorefractive keratectomy (Trans PRK). METHODS: A total of 400 eyes from 200 patients who received Trans PRK with the Schwind Amaris laser platform (SCHWIND eye-tech solutions, Kleinostheim, Germany) were included in the present study. In 200 eyes (100 patients, early treated group) topical steroid was used from operation day but in the other 200 eyes (100 patients, late treated group) topical steroid was not used until therapeutic contact lenses were removed. The epithelial healing time, corneal haziness and visual acuity at postoperative 3, and 6 months were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS: The therapeutic contact lenses could be removed at postoperative 3.50 +/- 1.46 days and 3.14 +/- 0.50 days in the early treated group and late treated group, respectively (p < 0.01). Breakdown of the epithelium after removal of therapeutic contact lenses occurred in 8 eyes, which were all in the early treated group. The difference of the visual acuity at postoperative 3 and 6 months between the 2 groups was not statistically significant. However, at postoperative 6 months, the corneal opacity developed in 12 eyes (6%) in the late treated group and 2 eyes (1%) in the early treated group (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Early treatment with topical steroid can delay corneal epithelial healing, especially the attachment of epithelium to stroma. However, the treatment can reduce the prevalence of corneal opacity after Trans PRK.
Composite Resins ; Contact Lenses ; Corneal Opacity ; Epithelium ; Epithelium, Corneal ; Eye ; Humans ; Photorefractive Keratectomy ; Prevalence ; Visual Acuity

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of transient prone position on vault and anterior chamber angle parameters in ICL implanted patients. METHODS: 40 eyes of 20 ICL implanted patients with at least 1 month of follow-up were included in the present study. The central ICL vault and anterior chamber parameters including angle opening distance at 500 (AOD500) were measured with the Visante anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Carl Zeiss, Dublin, CA) in both the sitting and prone positions by tilting the OCT 90 degrees in the vertical axis and having the patient fixate downwards towards the floor. RESULTS: The mean central vault was 0.55 +/- 0.21 mm (SD) and 0.59 +/- 0.21 mm (SD) in the sitting and prone positions, respectively (p < 0.0001). The nasal and temporal AOD500 were 0.26 +/- 0.11 mm and 0.28 +/- 0.08 mm, respectively in the sitting position, which decreased to 0.24 +/- 0.10 mm and 0.26 +/- 0.08 mm in the prone position, however, both were not statistically significant (p = 0.08, p = 0.09). AOD500 was inversely correlated with vault (r = -0.47; p = 0.0024). There were no significant correlations between increase of vault and anterior chamber depth or white to white nor ICL vault. CONCLUSIONS: Transient prone positioning of ICL implanted patients can induce a significant increase in ICL vault.
Anterior Chamber ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Eye ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Phakic Intraocular Lenses ; Prone Position ; Tomography, Optical Coherence

PURPOSE: The necessity of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEpo) as a therapeutic agent in pediatric cancer patients has been challenged. Before clinical trials of the rhEpo, we evaluated the relationship of endogenous eythropoietin (Epo) level and hemoglobin (Hgb) in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and solid tumors. METHODS: Twenty eight children (20 ALL and 8 solid tumor) were involved in this study in Korea University Medical Center from January 1999 to June 1999. Epo and Hgb were measured simultaneously several times in the course of their diseases, and a simple regression analysis was performed to describe the Epo-Hgb relationship. RESULTS: 1) There was no inverse linear relationship between Log10Epo (LogEpo) and the variable Hgb of the control group (n=7). 2) There was a significant inverse linear relationship between LogEpo and the variable Hgb at the induction and consolidation phase of the childhood ALL patients (n=14) (r=0.73, P<0.05). 3) There was a significant inverse linear relationship between LogEpo and the variable Hgb at the reinduction phase of the childhood ALL patients (n=15) (r= 0.72, P<0.05). 4) There was a significant inverse linear relationship between LogEpo and the variable Hgb at the maintenance phase of the childhood ALL patients (n=19) (r= 0.74, P<0.05). 5) There was a significant inverse linear relationship between LogEpo and the variable Hgb during the chemotherapy of the childhood solid tumors patients (n=15) (r= 0.76, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: There was a significant inverse relationship between Epo and Hgb in pediatric cancer patients, suggesting that the negative feedback mechanism for endogenous production of Epo is intact.
Academic Medical Centers ; Anemia ; Child* ; Drug Therapy ; Erythropoietin* ; Humans ; Korea ; Pediatrics ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma*

PURPOSE: We evaluated the frequency and clinical characteristics of the side effects of L-asparaginase during treatment of childrens with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) & Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). METHODS: Medical records of children who were treated as 37 ALL and 3 NHL in Korea University Medical Center from January 1995 to June 1998 were reviewed. RESULTS: 1) The 40 patients (21 males and 19 females) had a mean age of 6.2+/-3.3 (range, 0.4~12.8). 2) Nine (7 ALL, 2 NHL) of these 40 patients (median: 5.0 years, range: 3.8~11.5 years) had side reactions (5 hypersensitivity, 2 hyperglycemia, 1 pancreatitis, 1 CNS abnormality) to Escherichia coli L-asparaginase. 3) The hypersensitivity reactions to E. coli asparaginase were the most common side effects. Erwinia asparaginase administered to those patients without side reactions. 4) The range of doses of E. coli asparaginase received prior to experiencing any hypersensitivity was 10 to 22 times. 5) Other reactions (hyperglycemia, pancreatitis and CNS abnormality) were developed at early diseases state and completely recovered. CONCLUSION: We found Erwinia asparaginase to be an acceptable substitute for E. coli asparagianse for childrens who had hypersensitivity reactions. In our experience, hypersensitivity reactions are do not detected in inducton therapeutic period. But, We recommend that you should carefully observe your patients during the early induction period.
Academic Medical Centers ; Asparaginase ; Child ; Erwinia ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea ; Leukemia ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Male ; Medical Records ; Pancreatitis ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma