Objective: The Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson’s Disease–Cognition (SCOPA-Cog) was developed to assess cognition in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the SCOPACog (K-SCOPA-Cog). Methods: We enrolled 129 PD patients with movement disorders from 31 clinics in South Korea. The original version of the SCOPA-Cog was translated into Korean using the translation-retranslation method. The test–retest method with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were used to assess reliability. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Korean version (MOCA-K) and the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) were used to assess concurrent validity. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.797, and the ICC was 0.887. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation with the K-MMSE and MOCA-K scores (r = 0.546 and r = 0.683, respectively). Conclusion Our results demonstrate that the K-SCOPA-Cog has good reliability and validity.

Background: and PurposeImpulse-control disorder is an important nonmotor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) that can lead to financial and social problems, and be related to a poor quality of life. A nationwide multicenter prospective study was performed with the aim of validating the Korean Version of the Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (K-QUIP-RS). Methods: The K-QUIP-RS was constructed using forward and backward translation, and pretesting of the prefinal version. PD patients on stable medical condition were recruited from 27 movement-disorder clinics. Participants were assessed using the K-QUIP-RS and evaluated for parkinsonian motor and nonmotor statuses and for PD-related quality of life using a predefined evaluation battery. The test–retest reliability of the K-QUIP-RS was assessed over an interval of 10–14 days, and correlations between the KQUIP-RS and other clinical scales were analyzed. Results: This study enrolled 136 patients. The internal consistency of the K-QUIP-RS was indicated by a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.846, as was the test–retest reliability by a Guttman split-half coefficient of 0.808. The total K-QUIP-RS score was positively correlated with the scores for depression and motivation items on the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale, and Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep-Behavior-Disorders Questionnaire. The total K-QUIP-RS score was also correlated with the scores on part II of the UPDRS and the PD Quality of Life-39 questionnaire, and the dopaminergic medication dose. Conclusions The K-QUIP-RS appears to be a reliable assessment tool for impulse-control and related behavioral disturbances in the Korean PD population.

BACKGROUND: AND PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the clinimetric properties of the Korean version of Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale-2 (K-PDSS-2) and whether distinct subtypes of sleep disturbance can be empirically identified in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) using the cross-culturally validated K-PDSS-2. METHODS: The internal consistency, test–retest reliability, scale precision, and convergent validity of K-PDSS-2 were assessed in a nationwide, multicenter study of 122 patients with PD. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to derive subgroups of patients who experienced similar patterns of sleep-related problems and nocturnal disabilities. RESULTS: The total K-PDSS-2 score was 11.67±9.87 (mean±standard deviation) at baseline and 12.61±11.17 at the retest. Cronbach's α coefficients of the total K-PDSS-2 scores at baseline and follow-up were 0.851 and 0.880, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficients over the 2-week study period ranged from 0.672 to 0.848. The total K-PDSS-2 score was strongly correlated with health-related quality of life measures and other corresponding nonmotor scales. LCA revealed three distinct subtypes of sleep disturbance in the study patients: “less-troubled sleepers,”“PD-related nocturnal difficulties,” and “disturbed sleepers.” CONCLUSIONS K-PDSS-2 showed good clinimetric attributes in accordance with previous studies that employed the original version of the PDSS-2, therefore confirming the cross-cultural usefulness of the scale. This study has further documented the first application of an LCA approach for identifying subtypes of sleep disturbance in patients with PD.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Compared with metallic drug-eluting stents (DES), bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) may further improve long-term outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with coronary artery disease. We report our early experience with BVS in Korea. METHODS: We evaluated 105 consecutive patients with BVS implanted at Asan Medical Center, Korea between October 21, 2015 and June 3, 2016. Angiographic results, and in-hospital and 6-month clinical outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 134 BVS were implanted to treat 115 lesions. The mean age was 62 ± 10.5 years; 85 patients (81%) were males, 26 patients (25%) were presented with acute coronary syndrome. Among 115 lesions treated with BVS, 76 (66.1%) were B2/C type, 27 (23.5%) were bifurcation lesions, and four (3.5%) were chronic total occlusion. Pre-dilation and post-dilation using high-pressure non-compliant balloon was performed in 104 lesions (90.4%) and 113 lesions (98.2%), respectively. During the procedure, intravascular imaging was used for all patients (100%; intravascular ultrasound 89 and optical coherence tomography 40 patients). Device success rate was 100%. In-segment and in-scaffold acute again were 1.1 ± 0.6 and 1.3 ± 0.5 mm, respectively. Periprocedural myocardial infraction occurred in four patients (3.8%). No deaths, stent thrombosis, or urgent revascularizations occurred either during hospitalization or the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: In this single-center experience, implantation of BVS with intravascular imaging support was feasible and early clinical outcomes were excellent. Evaluation of long-term efficacy and safety of BVS and its feasibility in clinical use for a broader range of lesions is warranted.
Absorbable Implants ; Acute Coronary Syndrome ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; Endovascular Procedures ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Korea* ; Male ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Stents ; Thrombosis ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Ultrasonography

BACKGROUND: Sleep problems commonly occur in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and are associated with a lower quality of life. The aim of the current study was to translate the English version of the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's Disease-Sleep (SCOPA-S) into the Korean version of SCOPA-S (K-SCOPA-S), and to evaluate its reliability and validity for use by Korean-speaking patients with PD. METHODS: In total, 136 patients with PD from 27 movement disorder centres of university-affiliated hospitals in Korea were enrolled in this study. They were assessed using SCOPA, Hoehn and Yahr Scale (HYS), Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale 2nd version (PDSS-2), Non-motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS), Montgomery Asberg Depression Scale (MADS), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ39), Neurogenic Orthostatic Hypotension Questionnaire (NOHQ), and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder Questionnaire (RBDQ). The test-retest reliability was assessed over a time interval of 10–14 days. RESULTS: The internal consistency (Cronbach's α-coefficients) of K-SCOPA-S was 0.88 for nighttime sleep (NS) and 0.75 for daytime sleepiness (DS). Test-retest reliability was 0.88 and 0.85 for the NS and DS, respectively. There was a moderate correlation between the NS sub-score and PDSS-2 total score. The NS and DS sub-scores of K-SCOPA-S were correlated with motor scale such as HYS, and non-motor scales such as UPDRS I, UPDRS II, MADS, NMSS, PDQ39, and NOHQ while the DS sub-score was with RBDQ. CONCLUSION: The K-SCOPA-S exhibited good reliability and validity for the assessment of sleep problems in the Korean patients with PD.
Depression ; Humans ; Hypotension, Orthostatic ; Korea ; Movement Disorders ; Parkinson Disease ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sleep, REM ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVE: Autonomic symptoms are commonly observed in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and often limit the activities of daily living. The Scale for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease-Autonomic (SCOPA-AUT) was developed to evaluate and quantify autonomic symptoms in PD. The goal of this study was to translate the original SCOPA-AUT, which was written in English, into Korean and to evaluate its reliability and validity for Korean PD patients. METHODS: For the translation, the following processes were performed: forward translation, backward translation, expert review, pretest of the pre-final version and development of the final Korean version of SCOPA-AUT (K-SCOPA-AUT). In total, 127 patients with PD from 31 movement disorder clinics of university-affiliated hospitals in Korea were enrolled in this study. All patients were assessed using the K-SCOPA-AUT and other motor, non-motor, and quality of life scores. Test-retest reliability for the K-SCOPA-AUT was assessed over a time interval of 10−14 days. RESULTS: The internal consistency and reliability of the K-SCOPA-AUT was 0.727 as measured by the mean Cronbach's α-coefficient. The test-retest correlation reliability was 0.859 by the Guttman split-half coefficient. The total K-SCOPA-AUT score showed a positive correlation with other non-motor symptoms [the Korean version of non-motor symptom scale (K-NMSS)], activities of daily living (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part II) and quality of life [the Korean version of Parkinson's Disease Quality of Life 39 (K-PDQ39)]. CONCLUSION: The K-SCOPA-AUT had good reliability and validity for the assessment of autonomic dysfunction in Korean PD patients. Autonomic symptom severities were associated with many other motor and non-motor impairments and influenced quality of life.
Activities of Daily Living ; Humans ; Korea ; Movement Disorders ; Parkinson Disease ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results

PURPOSE: To identify the differential MRI findings between myxoid tumors and benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors (BPNSTs) in the musculoskeletal system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study participants included a total of 35 consecutive patients who underwent MRI between September 2011 and December 2013. The patients were pathologically diagnosed with myxoid tumors (22 patients) or BPNSTs (13 patients). Evaluation was done by two radiologists, based on the following characteristics: size, margin, degree of signal intensity (SI) on T2-weighted images (T2WI), homogeneity of SI on T2WI, enhancement pattern, enhancement homogeneity, presence of cystic portion, internal fat component, presence of fat split sign, presence of target sign, presence of continuation with adjacent neurovascular bundle, and presence of surrounding halo. RESULTS: Large size, high SI on T2WI, heterogeneous enhancement, and internal fat component were commonly observed in myxoid tumors, while homogenous enhancement, fat split sign, target sign were common in BPNSTs. The differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Other findings, such as margin, homogeneity of SI on T2WI, enhancement pattern (peripheral or solid), internal cystic portion, continuation with neurovascular bundle, and surrounding halo, did not show significant difference between myxoid tumors and BPNSTs (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In the differential diagnosis of myxoid tumors and BPNSTs involving the musculoskeletal system, several MRI findings such as degree of SI on T2WI, enhancement homogeneity, internal fat component, fat split sign, and target sign, may be helpful in establishing the diagnosis.
Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Musculoskeletal System* ; Nerve Sheath Neoplasms* ; Peripheral Nerves*