No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Mesenteric Artery, Superior

A 36-year-old primivida, at 29 weeks of pregnancy with no smoking history, was admitted to the hospital complaining of cough for 3 days. Chest X-rays revealed atelectasis of the right upper lobe, and a transbronchial lung biopsy confirmed primary lung adenocarcinoma. After consulting with obstetricians and neonatologists, we wanted to deliver the child and treat the mother with chemoradiotherapy. But as she was adamantly opposed to treatment until fetal lung maturation was complete, we planned to delay the birth until 34 weeks, deliver the baby by caesarian section, and then treat the mother. However, maternal hypoxia and fetal distress resulted in an emergency delivery at 30 weeks. After delivery, we treated the mother's brain metastases with radiation therapy and systemic cisplatin-pemetrexed, but she deteriorated and expired 95 days after the diagnosis. Lung cancer during pregnancy is a rare disease and raises many medical and ethical issues in deciding the best course of therapy. We describe our clinical approach and review the potentially challenging features of managing a pregnant patient with lung cancer.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adult ; Anoxia ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Child ; Cough ; Emergencies ; Fetal Distress ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mothers ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Rare Diseases ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thorax

A pancreatic arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a very rare disease entity that is usually asymptomatic; however, it may present with a massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Recent advances in cross-sectional imaging and the widespread availability of angiography have contributed to the diagnosis of this condition. A patient was transferred to our clinic due to unknown origin gastrointestinal bleeding and upper abdominal pain. Double balloon enteroscopy and duodenoscopy revealed a bleeding pancreatico-cholangio-duodenal fistula. We were able to diagnose an arteriovnous malformation with a pancreatico-cholangio-duodenal fistula by the use of angiography and from the post-operative pathological findings.
Abdominal Pain ; Angiography ; Arteriovenous Malformations* ; Diagnosis ; Double-Balloon Enteroscopy ; Duodenoscopy ; Fistula ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Pancreas ; Rare Diseases

A 36-year-old primivida, at 29 weeks of pregnancy with no smoking history, was admitted to the hospital complaining of cough for 3 days. Chest X-rays revealed atelectasis of the right upper lobe, and a transbronchial lung biopsy confirmed primary lung adenocarcinoma. After consulting with obstetricians and neonatologists, we wanted to deliver the child and treat the mother with chemoradiotherapy. But as she was adamantly opposed to treatment until fetal lung maturation was complete, we planned to delay the birth until 34 weeks, deliver the baby by caesarian section, and then treat the mother. However, maternal hypoxia and fetal distress resulted in an emergency delivery at 30 weeks. After delivery, we treated the mother's brain metastases with radiation therapy and systemic cisplatin-pemetrexed, but she deteriorated and expired 95 days after the diagnosis. Lung cancer during pregnancy is a rare disease and raises many medical and ethical issues in deciding the best course of therapy. We describe our clinical approach and review the potentially challenging features of managing a pregnant patient with lung cancer.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adult ; Anoxia ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Child ; Cough ; Emergencies ; Fetal Distress ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mothers ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Rare Diseases ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thorax

OBJECTIVE: Red cell distribution width (RDW) is associated with mortality in patients with community- acquired pneumonia (CAP). However, little is known about the effect of changes in RDW during treatment on mortality. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the association between RDW changes and mortality in hospitalized patients with CAP. METHODS: Retrospective analyses were performed using medical records of patients hospitalized for CAP from April 2008 to February 2014. The abstracted laboratory values included RDW (from days one to four), clinical variables, and pneumonia severity index (PSI) scores. The ΔRDW(n-1) was defined as the change in RDW calculated as: (RDW(day1)-RDW(day-n))/RDW(day1)×100 (%), where ‘day n’ refers to hospital day. RESULTS: During the study period, a total of 1,069 patients were hospitalized for CAP. The 30-day mortality was 100/1,069 (9.4%). The median RDW at baseline was 14.1% (range, 11.1 to 30.2) and differed significantly between survivors and non-survivors (P<0.05). There were 470 patients with available serial RDW data (30-day mortality 58/470 [12.3%]). Of those, age, PSI score, blood urea nitrogen level, total protein concentration, albumin level, RDW at day 1, and the ΔRDW₄₋₁ differed significantly between survivors and non-survivors. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the significance of the relationship between ΔRDW₄₋₁ and 30-day mortality risk remained after adjusting for age, PSI score, RDW at day 1, total protein concentration, and initial albumin level. CONCLUSION: RDW change from day 1 to day 4 was an independent predictor of mortality in patients with CAP.
Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Erythrocyte Indices ; Erythrocytes* ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Pneumonia* ; Retrospective Studies ; Survivors

PURPOSE: This study aimed to reveal the benefits and the safety of surgical treatment in children with refractory epilepsy by reviewing our experiences on a case-by-case basis. METHODS: Twenty one patients who underwent epilepsy surgeries from September, 2003 to March, 2005 at Sanggye Paik Hospital were included. Data including clinical features and surgical outcomes were filed up through 2 years. RESULTS: The profiles of the 15 patients who underwent curative epilepsy surgeries were as follows. Characteristically, one patient had dual epilepsy including mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Two patients had infantile spasms with cortical dysplasia, both of whom underwent epilepsy surgeries in early infancy. Also, there is a patient who underwent a re-operation, while another one patient had an epileptic focus in the insular lobe. Two patients were diagnosed Sturge-Weber syndrome, and three patients had nonlesional or lesional multilobar epilepsies. Furthermore, the surgical outcomes can be classified such as Engel class I in 10(66.7%) patients, class II in 3(20.0%) patients while one patient failed to obtain any seizure reduction after surgical treatment. In addition, palliative total corpus callosotomies were tried in 6 patients. But only one patient showed seizure reduction of more than 90%, while 4 patients exhibited 50-75% seizure reduction and the other one did not have any changes in seizure frequency. We also experienced various kinds of unwanted events such as memory deterioration (1), vascular infarction (1), hypoxic insult (1), transient hemiparesis (2), dysinhibition (1) and visual field defects (3). Most of neuroimaging studies were highly concordant to the ictal scalp and intracranial EEGs. CONCLUSION: Epilepsy surgery can be an effective therapeutic modality in localization related intractable childhood epilepsies. However, we should consider various surgical complications and carefully evaluate the epileptogenic and functionally eloquent areas.
Child ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy* ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infarction ; Malformations of Cortical Development ; Memory ; Neuroimaging ; Paresis ; Scalp ; Seizures ; Spasms, Infantile ; Sturge-Weber Syndrome ; Visual Fields

We evaluated the long-term outcome of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in 28 children with refractory epilepsy. Of these 28 children, 15 (53.6%) showed a >50% reduction in seizure frequency and 9 (32.1%) had a >75% reduction. When we compared seizure reduction rates according to seizure types (generalized vs. partial) and etiologies (symptomatic vs. cryptogenic), we found no significant differences. In addition, there was no correlation between the length of the stimulation period and treatment effect. The seizure reduction rate, however, tended to be inversely related to the seizure duration before VNS implantation and age at the time of VNS therapy. VNS also improved quality of life in this group of patients, including improved memory in 9 (32.1%), improved mood in 12 (42.9%), improved behavior in 11 (39.3%), improved altertness in 12 (42.9%), improved achievement in 6 (21.4%), and improved verbal skills in 8 (28.6%). Adverse events included hoarseness in 7 patients, dyspnea at sleep in 2 patients, and wound infection in 1 patient, but all were transient and successfully managed by careful follow-up and adjustment of parameters. These results indicate that VNS is a safe and effective alternative therapy for pediatric refractory epilepsy, without significant adverse events.
Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Electric Stimulation Therapy/*methods ; Epilepsy/*therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Quality of Life ; Seizures/therapy ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome ; Vagus Nerve/*pathology

PURPOSE: Asthma-related morbidity and mortality are increasing, and the financial burden imposed by this condition will substantially increase. Nevertheless, little information is available regarding the nature and magnitude of the burden due to asthma at the national level. This study was conducted to characterize the financial burden imposed by asthma in the Republic of Korea at the national level. METHODS: The overall prevalence of asthma and the costs of related medical services were determined using data from the National Health Insurance Corporation, which is responsible for the National Health Insurance scheme. Indirect costs, including expenditures on complementary and alternative medicines, and the economic impact of an impaired quality of life (intangible costs) were estimated by surveying 660 asthmatics, and these estimates were transformed to the national level using the prevalence of asthma. RESULTS: The prevalence of asthma and total costs related to the disease in 2004 were 4.19% and $2.04 billion, respectively. Direct costs and indirect costs contributed equally to total costs (46.9% and 53.1%, respectively). However, when intangible costs were included, total costs rose to $4.11 billion, which was equivalent to 0.44% of the national gross domestic product in 2004. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence that asthma is a major health cost factor in the Republic of Korea and that intangible costs associated with asthma are significant cost drivers.
Asthma ; Gross Domestic Product ; Health Care Costs ; Health Expenditures ; National Health Programs ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Republic of Korea

BACKGROUND: Metformin, sulfonylurea, and dietary fiber are known to affect gut microbiota in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This open and single-arm pilot trial investigated the effects of the additional use of fiber on glycemic parameters, insulin, incretins, and microbiota in patients with T2DM who had been treated with metformin and sulfonylurea. METHODS: Participants took fiber for 4 weeks and stopped for the next 4 weeks. Glycemic parameters, insulin, incretins during mixed-meal tolerance test (MMTT), lipopolysaccharide (LPS) level, and fecal microbiota were analyzed at weeks 0, 4, and 8. The first tertile of difference in glucose area under the curve during MMTT between weeks 0 and 4 was defined as ‘responders’ and the third as ‘nonresponders,’ respectively. RESULTS: In all 10 participants, the peak incretin levels during MMTT were higher and LPS were lower at week 4 as compared with at baseline. While the insulin sensitivity of the ‘responders’ increased at week 4, that of the ‘nonresponders’ showed opposite results. However, the results were not statistically significant. In all participants, metabolically unfavorable microbiota decreased at week 4 and were restored at week 8. At baseline, metabolically hostile bacteria were more abundant in the ‘nonresponders.’ In ‘responders,’ Roseburia intestinalis increased at week 4. CONCLUSION: While dietary fiber did not induce additional changes in glycemic parameters, it showed a trend of improvement in insulin sensitivity in ‘responders.’ Even if patients are already receiving diabetes treatment, the additional administration of fiber can lead to additional benefits in the treatment of diabetes.
Bacteria ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Dietary Fiber ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Glucose ; Humans ; Incretins ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Metformin ; Microbiota ; Sulfonylurea Compounds