Congenital hypopituitarism is a rare disorder with absence or reduction of hormones produced by the pituitary gland. The clinical manifestations are hypoglycemia, prolonged jaundice, hyponatremia, micropenis, underdeveloped clitoris, lethargy, convulsion, pallor, cyanosis, apnea, hypotension, temperature instability etc. in neonates and growth failure, delayed or absent puberty in older infants and children. We experienced a case of congenital hypopituitarism who was a 20-year-old male patient with short stature and delayed puberty. Combined pituitary function test revealed panhypopituitarism and magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed anterior pituitary aplasia and ectopic posterior pituitary gland.
Adolescent ; Apnea ; Brain ; Child ; Clitoris ; Cyanosis ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Hyponatremia ; Hypopituitarism* ; Hypotension ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Jaundice ; Lethargy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Pallor ; Pituitary Function Tests ; Pituitary Gland ; Pituitary Gland, Posterior* ; Puberty ; Puberty, Delayed ; Seizures ; Young Adult

Congenital hypopituitarism is a rare disorder with absence or reduction of hormones produced by the pituitary gland. The clinical manifestations are hypoglycemia, prolonged jaundice, hyponatremia, micropenis, underdeveloped clitoris, lethargy, convulsion, pallor, cyanosis, apnea, hypotension, temperature instability etc. in neonates and growth failure, delayed or absent puberty in older infants and children. We experienced a case of congenital hypopituitarism who was a 20-year-old male patient with short stature and delayed puberty. Combined pituitary function test revealed panhypopituitarism and magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed anterior pituitary aplasia and ectopic posterior pituitary gland.
Adolescent ; Apnea ; Brain ; Child ; Clitoris ; Cyanosis ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Hyponatremia ; Hypopituitarism* ; Hypotension ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Jaundice ; Lethargy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Pallor ; Pituitary Function Tests ; Pituitary Gland ; Pituitary Gland, Posterior* ; Puberty ; Puberty, Delayed ; Seizures ; Young Adult

In order to determine its accuracy the authors conducted cytologic examination on patients found to have urothelial carcinoma by cystoscopy, histopathologic and radiological examinations at the Department of Urology, Catholic Medical College, from January 1971 to August 1981. The results were as follows: 1. Age distribution of the urothelial carcinomas is from 33 to 80 years age and the most frequent age group is 40 to 59 years age. The male: female ratio is 4.3:1. 2. Of the 32 patients, 4 cases (12.4%) were negative, 14 (43.8%) suspicious and 14 (43.8%) positive reports. 3. No significant correlations were found between the urine cytology and histologic grade, but the higher cytologic class had tendency to have the higher histologic grade. 4. In the aspect of the tumor size and cytology, large sized tumor had showed positive findings more frequently than that of, smaller one, but it showed high accuracy rate (77.8%) when small sized tumors were multiple.
Age Distribution ; Cystoscopy ; Diagnosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Urology

Urinary retention is a common complication after abdominal surgery. Urinary retention causes infection and damage to the urinary system, prolonging hospital stays and increasing health care costs in the end. Because medical personnel tend to regard urinary retention as not being a serious problem, it is hard to find any method which decrease the postoperative urinary retention. There are few papers reporting the incidence and the factors which influence the postoperative urinary retention. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the incidence of postoperative urinary retention and to identify the factors which affect the postoperative urinary retention. We retrospectively reviewed 296 patients out of 338, who had been undergone laparotomy under spinal or general endotracheal anesthesia during a three month period from January to March 1998. We reviewed nursing, anesthetic and operative records. Among the 296 patients, male were 189(63.9%) and female were 107(36.1%). Postoperative urinary retention occurred in 71 patients(24%). The incidence rate was higher in female patients than in male (M : F=18% : 35%). Factors that in fluence the incidence of postoperative urinary retention were sex, duration of operation, the amount of fluid given the patient, preoperative history of dysuria, and preoperative insertion of a urinary catheter. Among those factors, preoperative urinary catheter insertion is the most effective preventive measure in lowering the incidence of postoperative urinary retention (Spearman correlation coefficient, r=-.462). Shortening the operation time and sparing the fluid which is infused during operation are important in preventing postoperative urinary retention. Preoperative urinary catheter insertion may be helpful in lowering urinary retention in those patients who have a possibility of postoperative urinary retention.
Anesthesia ; Dysuria ; Female ; Health Care Costs ; Humans ; Incidence ; Laparotomy* ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Nursing ; Retrospective Studies ; Urinary Catheters ; Urinary Retention*

BACKGROUND: Acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura(ITP) in children has a low morbidity and mortality, and most of cases are self limited illness. But some of them are not responsive to treatment and finally progress to chronic disease. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors which influence the outcome in childhood idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. METHOD: From January 1990 to December 1995, patients with ITP who were admitted to the Pediatric department of Pusan National University Hospital were divided into acute and chronic form depending on whether the platelet count had returned to normal(150 x 10(9)/1) by six months after diagnosis. Between two groups, the clinical and laboratory characteristics, response to treatment were compared. RESULT: 1) Out of 55 patients with ITP, 36 cases(65.5%) were acute and 19 cases(34.5%) were chronic ITP. 2) Sex, previous viral infection history, clinical manifestations were not significantly different between two groups, but the chronic ITP was rare in less than 1 year of age. 3) The duration of symptoms over >2 weeks at presentation was strongly predictive of chronic ITP. 4) Most of chronic disease (87.5%) showed platelet counts below 150 x 10(9)/1 at 28 days after diagnosis as compared with acute disease(25.0%). 5) Among 19 cases of chronic disease, 6 cases responded completely to treatment, but 11 cases(57.9%) did not respond to any treatments, 2 cases improved spontaneously. CONCLUSION: A history of symptoms over 2 weeks at presentation and platelet counts below 150 x 10(9)/1 at 28 days after diagnosis were strong predictors of chronic ITP in children.
Busan ; Child ; Chronic Disease ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Mortality ; Platelet Count ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic*

Complications related to a broken stylet during endotracheal intubation have been infrequently reported. In most cases, broken stylets have been recognized by chest radiography. We report a case of unrecognized iatrogenic aspiration of a broken stylet. A 37-year-old man, who underwent explo-laparotomy two days previously, was reintubated with an uncoated stylet in the intensive care unit because of dyspnea and pulmonary congestion. He was on artificial ventilation for one day and was extubated one week later. We could not find the broken stylet on serial chest x-ray films until a metallic substance was expectorated while the patient was coughing 28 days after extubation. During the intervening period the patient did not complain of any chest discomfort and we did not realize that the broken stylet remained. The use of a plastic coated stylet and its careful observation after intubation are recommended to avoid this complication.
Adult ; Cough* ; Dyspnea ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Plastics ; Radiography ; Thorax ; Ventilation ; X-Ray Film

PURPOSE: This analysis was conducted to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of gemcitabine-cisplatin chemotherapy for non small-cell lung cancer patients in an outpatient setting compared with the traditional inpatient setting. METHODS: A cost-effective analysis was conducted from a societal perspective. The effects of treatment, which was measured as an adverse event rate, were abstracted from a published literature search and empirical data from one university hospital. The costs included both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs included hospitalizations, outpatient visits, and lab tests. Pharmaceutical costs were excluded in analysis because they were same for both options. Indirect costs included productivity loss of patients as well as care-givers. In order to determine the robustness of the results, sensitivity analysis on treatment protocol was conducted. RESULTS: Literature search showed no difference in adverse effect rates between inpatient treatment protocol and outpatient treatment protocol. Therefore, this analysis is a cost-minimization analysis. Cost-savings in the outpatient setting was 555,936 won for one treatment cycle. Our sensitivity analysis indicated that the outpatient chemotherapy still showed cost-savings, regardless of changes in treatment protocol. CONCLUSION: The outpatient gemcitabine-cisplatin chemotherapy for non small-cell lung cancer resulted in cost savings compared to inpatient chemotherapy. More importantly, outpatient chemotherapy could improve the utilization of health service resources in terms of available beds.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/*economics/therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/*drug therapy/*economics ; Cisplatin/*economics/therapeutic use ; Cost Allocation ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Deoxycytidine/*analogs & derivatives/economics/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms/*drug therapy/*economics ; Outpatients

Acute airway obstruction after anterior cervical surgery is rare, but does occur. Airway obstruction due to prevertebral soft tissue swelling is unpredictable, but potentially lethal. We managed a 67-year-old male who developed acute airway obstruction caused by marked prevertebral soft tissue swelling on the first day after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at the C4-C5 level.
Aged ; Airway Obstruction ; Diskectomy ; Humans ; Male

No abstract available.
Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Headache*

BACKGROUND: Because primary care is the cornerstone of an effective health care system, many developed countries have striven to establish and strengthen their primary care systems. However, the primary care system in South Korea is not well established, and primary care research is still in its infancy. This study aimed to show the benefits of regular doctors as primary care providers in South Korea by analyzing the effect of regular doctor visits on emergency room (ER) visits. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional data on 11,293 adults aged 18 years and over collected from the 2013 Korea Health Panel Survey (beta version 1.0). We classified those participants with and without regular doctors into the treatment and control groups, respectively, and estimated the average treatment effect (ATE) of having a regular doctor on ER visits. We used counterfactual framework and propensity score analysis to adjust for unevenly distributed confounding covariates between treatments and control groups. RESULTS: The estimated conditional ATE of a regular doctor on ER visits was statistically insignificant in the general population (-0.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI], -2.0 to 1.2) and in the subgroup of patients with hypertension (-1.8%; 95% CI, -4.5 to 0.9). However, in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), the estimated ATE was statistically significant (-5.0; 95% CI, -9.2 to -0.7). CONCLUSION: In the total study population, having a regular doctor did not result in a significant difference in ER visits. However, there was a decrease in ER visits in patients with DM in South Korea.
Adult ; Delivery of Health Care ; Developed Countries ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea* ; Primary Health Care* ; Propensity Score ; Treatment Outcome