No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features and factors contributing to treatment outcome for chronic functional constipation in children. METHODS: We analyzed the medical records of patients with constipation, who visited the inpatient or outpatient clinic of the Department of Pediatrics of Pusan National University Hospital, between January 1998 and December 2007. The clinical features, outcomes, and factors affecting the treatment response according to the main drug (lactulose vs. PEG 4000) were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Two hundred forty children (142 males and 98 females) were enrolled in this study. The mean age was 51.2+/-37.9 months. The duration of symptoms was 32.6+/-33.7 months. The accompanying symptoms were as follows: encopresis, 91 (30.4%); abdominal pain, 76 (31.6%); and blood-tinged stool, 37 (15.4%). The treatment response was achieved earlier in females (p<0.001), patients with accompanying symptoms (p<0.05), and patients treated with PEG 4000 (p=0.001). The duration of symptoms (p<0.05) and stool frequency before treatment (p<0.05) were related to a delayed treatment response. Relapse occurred in 7 children, all of whom were treated successfully later. CONCLUSION: Factors contributing to treatment response are female gender, accompanying symptoms, duration of symptoms, and stool frequency before treatment. PEG 4000 is superior to lactulose in response time and taken into consideration as a primary drug for the treatment of functional constipation of children. Early treatment and sufficient treatment time may also be important factors to achieve an early response and prevent relapse.
Abdominal Pain ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Child ; Constipation ; Encopresis ; Female ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Lactulose ; Male ; Medical Records ; Pediatrics ; Reaction Time ; Recurrence ; Treatment Outcome

Intracranial aneurysmal rupture causes subarachnoid hemorrhage which usually leads to fatality or severe disability. Treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) can substantially reduce the risk of rupture and prevent the grave consequences, but the risk of prophylactic treatment cannot be ignored. UIAs have diverse characteristics and management strategy needs to be tailored according to their location, size and clinical status. In the absence of level I evidence, the treatment guidance often relied on expert's opinions and experience. Knowledge of the natural course and management risks of individual aneurysms can help to guide treatment decision, but the natural history is still controversial and risks are not clearly defined. The Korean Society of Cerebrovascular Surgeons (KSCVS) decided to issue a Korean version of UIA management guideline as a framework for the treatment decision and as a basis for future studies, following 'Guideline Development Manual' of the Clinical Research Center for Stroke (CRCS). The organized committee systematically reviewed relevant literature and major guidelines published between January 2000 and July 2010 and took a developmental strategy of adaptation rather than de novo methods. On the basis of interpretation of the published evidences, recommendations were synthesized, and the level of evidence and the grade of recommendation were determined using the methods adapted from those of the US Agency for Healthcare Policy and Research and CRCS. The current guideline focuses on three domains of natural history, diagnosis and treatment of UIAs. The hierarchy of evidence and the recommendation grading indicate the current level by the literature and do not indicate the necessity or the prohibition of a certain clinical practice. Accordingly, this guideline cannot provide the answer for every clinical situation and should not take precedence over the clinical judgment of responsible physicians for individual patients. The final judgment regarding the care of a particular patient must be made by the physician and patient in light of circumstances specific to that patient. This is the first version of the UIA management guideline in Korea and new evidences will be timely and continuously updated in the future guidelines.
Aneurysm ; Calcium Hydroxide ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; Judgment ; Korea ; Light ; Natural History ; Risk Management ; Rupture ; Stroke ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Zinc Oxide

OBJECTIVE: To compare the image quality of low-tube-voltage and low-iodine-concentration-contrast-medium (LVLC) computed tomography urography (CTU) with iterative reconstruction (IR) with that of conventional CTU. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, multi-institutional, randomized controlled trial was performed at 16 hospitals using CT scanners from various vendors. Patients were randomly assigned to the following groups: 1) the LVLC-CTU (80 kVp and 240 mgI/mL) with IR group and 2) the conventional CTU (120 kVp and 350 mgI/mL) with filtered-back projection group. The overall diagnostic acceptability, sharpness, and noise were assessed. Additionally, the mean attenuation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and figure of merit (FOM) in the urinary tract were evaluated. RESULTS: The study included 299 patients (LVLC-CTU group: 150 patients; conventional CTU group: 149 patients). The LVLC-CTU group had a significantly lower effective radiation dose (5.73 ± 4.04 vs. 8.43 ± 4.38 mSv) compared to the conventional CTU group. LVLC-CTU showed at least standard diagnostic acceptability (score ≥ 3), but it was non-inferior when compared to conventional CTU. The mean attenuation value, mean SNR, CNR, and FOM in all pre-defined segments of the urinary tract were significantly higher in the LVLC-CTU group than in the conventional CTU group. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic acceptability and quantitative image quality of LVLC-CTU with IR are not inferior to those of conventional CTU. Additionally, LVLC-CTU with IR is beneficial because both radiation exposure and total iodine load are reduced.
Commerce ; Contrast Media* ; Humans ; Iodine ; Noise ; Prospective Studies ; Radiation Exposure ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Urinary Tract ; Urography*

PURPOSE: With the emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, profiling a wide range of genomic alterations has become a possibility resulting in improved implementation of targeted cancer therapy. In Asian populations, the prevalence and spectrum of clinically actionable genetic alterations has not yet been determined because of a lack of studies examining high-throughput cancer genomic data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To address this issue, 1,071 tumor samples were collected from five major cancer institutes in Korea and analyzed using targeted NGS at a centralized laboratory. Samples were either fresh frozen or formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) and the quality and yield of extracted genomic DNA was assessed. In order to estimate the effect of sample condition on the quality of sequencing results, tissue preparation method, specimen type (resected or biopsied) and tissue storage time were compared. RESULTS: We detected 7,360 non-synonymous point mutations, 1,164 small insertions and deletions, 3,173 copy number alterations, and 462 structural variants. Fifty-four percent of tumors had one or more clinically relevant genetic mutation. The distribution of actionable variants was variable among different genes. Fresh frozen tissues, surgically resected specimens, and recently obtained specimens generated superior sequencing results over FFPE tissues, biopsied specimens, and tissues with long storage duration. CONCLUSION: In order to overcome, challenges involved in bringing NGS testing into routine clinical use, a centralized laboratory model was designed that could improve the NGS workflows, provide appropriate turnaround times and control costs with goal of enabling precision medicine.
Academies and Institutes ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; DNA ; Humans ; Korea ; Methods ; Paraffin ; Point Mutation ; Precision Medicine ; Prevalence