The Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS) Committee under the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine developed a Korean pre-hospital emergency patient classification tool (Pre-hospital Korean Triage and Acuity Scale [Pre-KTAS]) under contract from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea. The classification tool was developed separately for adults and children. The patient’ s emergency level is classified into five distinct levels and is the same as the KTAS classification system, which is a hospital-level emergency patient classification tool.

While the Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS) was introduced in 2016 as a tool to identify patients at risk of catastrophic events, including death in the ED, the triage system for the pre-hospital stage still lacks evidence. The pre-hospital stage is characterized by time-sensitive and complex scenarios, where rapid and accurate decision-making is paramount to optimize patient outcomes. Despite the vital role of pre-hospital care providers, the invalidated and subjective current triage system consisting of 4-stages is still used at the pre-hospital stage, and hence, it needs to be modified to be more objective, standardized, and reliable. To improve the Korean emergency medical system, the pre-hospital KTAS (Pre-KTAS) was developed in 2020, and then two pilot projects were conducted in 2022 and 2023. This paper not only reveals the results of the first and second pilot projects for Pre-KTAS but also highlights the potential benefits of using this newly developed triage tool in the pre-hospital setting. Furthermore, this paper suggests ways to improve the emergency medical system (EMS) in Korea by improving patient safety, resource allocation, and overall emergency response efficiency.

In February 2018, the Withdrawal of the Life-sustaining Treatment (WLST) Decision Act was legalized in Korea. Donation after circulatory death (DCD) after WLST was classified as DCD category III. We report the first case of successful organ donation after WLST in Korea. A 52-year-old male who experienced cerebral hemorrhage was a potential brain-dead donor with donation consent. During the first brain death examination, Babinski reflex was present, which disappeared two days later. Then, electroencephalography was performed five times at intervals of 2 to 3 days, according to the recommendation of a neurologist.The patient was transferred to the OR at 19:30 July 3, 2020. At 20:00, an intensive care unit specialist performed extubation and discontinued vasopressors. Oxygen saturation fell to < 70% in 1 minute, which signaled the beginning of functional warm ischemia. At 20:15, asystole was confirmed; after 5 minutes of “no-touch time,” circulatory death was declared.Organ procurement surgery was initiated, with surgeons performing the recipient surgery ready in the adjacent OR. Through the first successful DCD case, we expected that DCD will be actively implemented in Korea, saving the lives of patient waiting for transplantation and resolving the imbalance between organ receipt and donation.

In February 2018, the Withdrawal of the Life-sustaining Treatment (WLST) Decision Act was legalized in Korea. Donation after circulatory death (DCD) after WLST was classified as DCD category III. We report the first case of successful organ donation after WLST in Korea. A 52-year-old male who experienced cerebral hemorrhage was a potential brain-dead donor with donation consent. During the first brain death examination, Babinski reflex was present, which disappeared two days later. Then, electroencephalography was performed five times at intervals of 2 to 3 days, according to the recommendation of a neurologist.The patient was transferred to the OR at 19:30 July 3, 2020. At 20:00, an intensive care unit specialist performed extubation and discontinued vasopressors. Oxygen saturation fell to < 70% in 1 minute, which signaled the beginning of functional warm ischemia. At 20:15, asystole was confirmed; after 5 minutes of “no-touch time,” circulatory death was declared.Organ procurement surgery was initiated, with surgeons performing the recipient surgery ready in the adjacent OR. Through the first successful DCD case, we expected that DCD will be actively implemented in Korea, saving the lives of patient waiting for transplantation and resolving the imbalance between organ receipt and donation.

YH4808 is a novel potassium-competitive acid blocker developed for gastric acid-related disorders. Previous studies indicate its potential to improve symptoms of gastric acid-related disorders. The current study was aimed to find the optimal regimen of YH4808 for night time pH control. This study was performed in two parts. Each was a randomized, open-label, active-controlled, multiple-doses, two-treatment, two-period crossover study conducted in 20 healthy Korean volunteers. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the four groups.The three groups received different dosage regimens of YH4808 (100 mg twice a day, 200 mg once a day, or 200 mg twice a day), and the fourth group received esomeprazole 40 mg twice a day. The pharmacokinetic parameters demonstrated that the systemic exposure of YH4808 increased in a dose-proportional manner. The difference in the proportion of time above pH 4 over 24 h from the baseline was the greatest in the group receiving YH4808 200 mg twice a day. The values of the area under the effect curve at night time (12 A.M.–7 A.M.) were higher in all YH4808 groups than in the esomeprazole group. However, the differences among the YH4808 groups were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). YH4808 exhibited potential for better pH control during the night in comparison to esomeprazole. The optimal regimen for night time pH control among all the YH4808 regimens was 200 mg twice a day.

YH4808 is a novel potassium-competitive acid blocker that was developed as a therapeutic agent for gastric acid-related diseases; it may replace proton pump inhibitors, which are widely used in combination with amoxicillin and clarithromycin for Helicobacter pylori eradication. We compared the pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles and safety of amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and YH4808 used as monotherapies or in combination for evaluating potential drug interactions. An open-label, randomized, single-dose, Latin-square (4 × 4) crossover study was conducted in 32 healthy Korean volunteers. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the 4 treatment sequences that consisted of 4 periods separated by 21-day washout intervals. PK parameters of YH4808, amoxicillin and clarithromycin administered in combination were compared with those of the respective monotherapies. The geometric mean ratios of the maximum concentration (Cmax) and the area under the time-concentration curve from time zero to time of the last quantifiable concentration (AUClast) of YH4808 increased during the triple therapy by 48.6% and 29.1%, respectively. Similarly, the Cmax and AUClast of M3 (active metabolite of YH4808) increased by 23.3% and 16.0%, respectively. The Cmax and AUClast of clarithromycin increased by 27.4% and 30.5%, and those of 14-hydroxyclarithromycin were increased by 23.1% and 32.4%, respectively. The corresponding amoxicillin values decreased during the triple therapy by 21.5% and 15.6%, respectively. There was no clinically significant change in safety assessment related to either monotherapies or triple therapy. In conclusion, amoxicillin, clarithromycin and YH4808 administered as triple therapy did not exhibit significant PK interactions and were not associated with safety issues.

BACKGROUND: Vasoplegic syndrome is an increasingly recognized disease in perioperative medicine and is characterized by severe hypotension, normal or elevated cardiac output, and decreased systemic vascular resistance. It occurs commonly after cardiopulmonary bypass but may also occur after other types of surgery.CASE: Vasoplegic syndrome developed in our patient during posterior lumbar interbody fusion because of administering nicardipine after phenylephrine. However, the blood pressure did not increase as expected despite simultaneous use of norepinephrine and vasopressin to increase the reduced systemic vascular resistance.CONCLUSIONS: We present a case of vasoplegic syndrome that developed during posterior lumbar interbody fusion and was treated successfully with methylene blue.
Blood Pressure ; Cardiac Output ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Methylene Blue ; Nicardipine ; Norepinephrine ; Phenylephrine ; Vascular Resistance ; Vasoplegia ; Vasopressins

BACKGROUND: Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) is a heterogeneous group of autosomal recessive liver diseases that present as neonatal cholestasis. Little is known of this disease in Korea. METHODS: The records of five patients histologically diagnosed with PFIC, one with PFIC1 and four with PFIC2, by liver biopsy or transplant were reviewed, and ATP8B1 and ABCB11 mutation status was analyzed by direct DNA sequencing. Clinicopathological characteristics were correlated with genetic mutations. RESULTS: The first symptom in all patients was jaundice. Histologically, lobular cholestasis with bile plugs was the main finding in all patients, whereas diffuse or periportal cholestasis was identified only in patients with PFIC2. Giant cells and ballooning of hepatocytes were observed in three and three patients with PFIC2, respectively, but not in the patient with PFIC1. Immunostaining showed total loss of bile salt export pump in two patients with PFIC2 and focal loss in two. Lobular and portal based fibrosis were more advanced in PFIC2 than in PFIC1. ATP8B1 and ABCB11 mutations were identified in one PFIC1 and two PFIC2 patients, respectively. One PFIC1 and three PFIC2 patients underwent liver transplantation (LT). At age 7 months, one PFIC2 patient was diagnosed with concurrent hepatocellular carcinoma and infantile hemangioma in an explanted liver. The patient with PFIC1 developed steatohepatitis after LT. One patient showed recurrence of PFIC2 after 10 years and underwent LT. CONCLUSIONS: PFIC is not rare in patients with neonatal cholestasis of unknown origin. Proper clinicopathologic correlation and genetic testing can enable early detection and management.
Bile ; Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cholestasis ; Cholestasis, Intrahepatic ; Fatty Liver ; Fibrosis ; Genetic Testing ; Giant Cells ; Hemangioma ; Hepatocytes ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Korea ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Transplantation ; Recurrence ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Because there is a lack of effective biomarkers, we aimed to discover proteomic candidate markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhotic patients at the highest-risk of HCC, and to validate the markers. METHODS: We collected tumor tissue from 5 cirrhotics with HCC, and from 5 cirrhotics without HCC, who underwent liver resection or transplantation. These tissue samples were analyzed by 2-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), and potential markers were validated at the transcriptional and translational levels. We also performed western blot assays using other blood samples from 10 cirrhotics with HCC and 10 without HCC. RESULTS: Among the 66 distinguishable spots on 2-D gel images, we identified 15 proteins overexpressed more than 1.5 fold in terms of volume ratio in the tumors. Ten of the over-expressed proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF MS; of those, only methionine adenosyltransferase 1 (MAT1), a protein specific for liver, and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase were significantly up-regulated in tumors in further immunoblotting analyses (Ps<0.05). There was no between-pair difference in MAT1 mRNA measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (P=0.96). However, in western blots of serum samples, distinct MAT1 bands were observed in all 10 HCC patients, but in only 2 of the non-HCC patients. CONCLUSIONS: MAT1 is a potential marker for surveillance in cirrhotic patients with and without prior HCC.
Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase ; Biomarkers ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Humans ; Immunoblotting ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Mass Spectrometry ; Methionine Adenosyltransferase ; Methionine ; Proteomics ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger ; Two-Dimensional Difference Gel Electrophoresis

Actinomycosis is a chronic, slowly progressive, and suppurative disease caused by filamentous anaerobic bacteria Actinomyces, which results in characteristic sulfur granules. Clinically, actinomycosis can present with a mass-like lesion, and this bacterial nidus has been frequently mistaken for a malignancy. For that reason many patients undergo surgical resection before the correct diagnosis is established. We report a case of a 63-year-old man with a solitary, asymptomatic pancreatic actinomycosis that masqueraded as pancreatic cancer. He did not have any other concurrently infected organs and did not have any signs or symptoms of infection. All radiologic images of the patient favored a malignancy to a great extent rather than an inflammatory mass. He was finally diagnosed with actinomycosis by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy without surgery. After one month of treatment with antibiotics, the pancreatic head mass was completely resolved on the follow-up computed tomography (CT).
Actinomyces ; Actinomycosis* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteria, Anaerobic ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Sulfur ; Ultrasonography