The applicability of the Phoenix criteria and Phoenix Sepsis Score in higher-resource pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) outside the United States requires further validation. A retrospective cohort study analyzed electronic health records of 1,304 PICU admissions under 18 years old with suspected infection between February 2017 and December 2023. The score was calculated using two methods: 24-hour assessment, based on worst sub-scores within 24 hours of admission, and prompt assessment, using values closest to admission within 6 hours before or after. Based on the 24-hour assessment, in-hospital mortality was 8.3% for sepsis and 10.3% for septic shock. The score demonstrated an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.42 (95% confidence interval, 0.31–0.55) for in-hospital mortality. Results were consistent across both assessment methods. The Phoenix criteria and the Phoenix Sepsis Score are reliable predictors of mortality outcomes. Further investigation in diverse clinical settings is warranted.

The applicability of the Phoenix criteria and Phoenix Sepsis Score in higher-resource pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) outside the United States requires further validation. A retrospective cohort study analyzed electronic health records of 1,304 PICU admissions under 18 years old with suspected infection between February 2017 and December 2023. The score was calculated using two methods: 24-hour assessment, based on worst sub-scores within 24 hours of admission, and prompt assessment, using values closest to admission within 6 hours before or after. Based on the 24-hour assessment, in-hospital mortality was 8.3% for sepsis and 10.3% for septic shock. The score demonstrated an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.42 (95% confidence interval, 0.31–0.55) for in-hospital mortality. Results were consistent across both assessment methods. The Phoenix criteria and the Phoenix Sepsis Score are reliable predictors of mortality outcomes. Further investigation in diverse clinical settings is warranted.

The applicability of the Phoenix criteria and Phoenix Sepsis Score in higher-resource pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) outside the United States requires further validation. A retrospective cohort study analyzed electronic health records of 1,304 PICU admissions under 18 years old with suspected infection between February 2017 and December 2023. The score was calculated using two methods: 24-hour assessment, based on worst sub-scores within 24 hours of admission, and prompt assessment, using values closest to admission within 6 hours before or after. Based on the 24-hour assessment, in-hospital mortality was 8.3% for sepsis and 10.3% for septic shock. The score demonstrated an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.42 (95% confidence interval, 0.31–0.55) for in-hospital mortality. Results were consistent across both assessment methods. The Phoenix criteria and the Phoenix Sepsis Score are reliable predictors of mortality outcomes. Further investigation in diverse clinical settings is warranted.

The applicability of the Phoenix criteria and Phoenix Sepsis Score in higher-resource pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) outside the United States requires further validation. A retrospective cohort study analyzed electronic health records of 1,304 PICU admissions under 18 years old with suspected infection between February 2017 and December 2023. The score was calculated using two methods: 24-hour assessment, based on worst sub-scores within 24 hours of admission, and prompt assessment, using values closest to admission within 6 hours before or after. Based on the 24-hour assessment, in-hospital mortality was 8.3% for sepsis and 10.3% for septic shock. The score demonstrated an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.42 (95% confidence interval, 0.31–0.55) for in-hospital mortality. Results were consistent across both assessment methods. The Phoenix criteria and the Phoenix Sepsis Score are reliable predictors of mortality outcomes. Further investigation in diverse clinical settings is warranted.

OBJECTIVES: The escalating burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a critical public health issue worldwide. CVD, especially acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke, is the leading contributor to morbidity and mortality in Korea. We aimed to develop algorithms for identifying AMI and stroke events from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database and validate these algorithms through medical record review. METHODS: We first established a concept and definition of “hospitalization episode,” taking into account the unique features of health claims-based NHIS database. We then developed first and recurrent event identification algorithms, separately for AMI and stroke, to determine whether each hospitalization episode represents a true incident case of AMI or stroke. Finally, we assessed our algorithms’ accuracy by calculating their positive predictive values (PPVs) based on medical records of algorithm- identified events. RESULTS: We developed identification algorithms for both AMI and stroke. To validate them, we conducted retrospective review of medical records for 3,140 algorithm-identified events (1,399 AMI and 1,741 stroke events) across 24 hospitals throughout Korea. The overall PPVs for the first and recurrent AMI events were around 92% and 78%, respectively, while those for the first and recurrent stroke events were around 88% and 81%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS We successfully developed algorithms for identifying AMI and stroke events. The algorithms demonstrated high accuracy, with PPVs of approximately 90% for first events and 80% for recurrent events. These findings indicate that our algorithms hold promise as an instrumental tool for the consistent and reliable production of national CVD statistics in Korea.

Background: The advancement of information technology has immensely increased the quality and volume of health data. This has led to an increase in observational study, as well as to the threat of privacy invasion. Recently, a distributed research network based on the common data model (CDM) has emerged, enabling collaborative international medical research without sharing patient-level data. Although the CDM database for each institution is built inside a firewall, the risk of re-identification requires management. Hence, this study aims to elucidate the perceptions CDM users have towards CDM and risk management for re-identification. Methods: The survey, targeted to answer specific in-depth questions on CDM, was conducted from October to November 2020. We targeted well-experienced researchers who actively use CDM. Basic statistics (total number and percent) were computed for all covariates. Results: There were 33 valid respondents. Of these, 43.8% suggested additional anonymization was unnecessary beyond, “minimum cell count” policy, which obscures a cell with a value lower than certain number (usually 5) in shared results to minimize the liability of re-identification due to rare conditions. During extract-transform-load processes, 81.8% of respondents assumed structured data is under control from the risk of re-identification. However, respondents noted that date of birth and death were highly re-identifiable information. The majority of respondents (n = 22, 66.7%) conceded the possibility of identifier-contained unstructured data in the NOTE table. Conclusion Overall, CDM users generally attributed high reliability for privacy protection to the intrinsic nature of CDM. There was little demand for additional de-identification methods. However, unstructured data in the CDM were suspected to have risks. The necessity for a coordinating consortium to define and manage the re-identification risk of CDM was urged.

BACKGROUND: Although nutritional problems associated with dialysis are well described, nutritional problems after renal transplantation have received little attention. Nutrition interventions play an important role in prevention and management of common health problems associated with renal transplantation such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: Sixty-four kidney transplant recipients who received post-transplant management at our hospital replied to the questionnaire. The questionnaire included 102 questions on the amount and types of Korean foods that they consumed last week. Nutritional elements of diet in renal transplant patients who consume Korean food were analyzed on the basis of the survey. RESULTS: The mean energy and protein of daily intake were 2,088+/-1,016 kcal and 75.5+/-38.2 g. Patients' diets were generally sufficient, but characterized by deficiencies in vitamin B2, vitamin D, niacin, calcium, and magnesium intake. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary advice is required with regard to intake of some nutritional elements for kidney transplant recipients who consume Korean foods. Their main nutritional problem is obesity after transplantation. Attention should be paid to prevention of nutritional imbalance.
Calcium ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Dialysis ; Diet ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Kidney Transplantation ; Kidney* ; Magnesium ; Niacin ; Obesity ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Riboflavin ; Transplantation ; Vitamin D

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare clinical findings and outcomes of Enterprise and Solitaire stent-assisted coiling (SAC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2012 and March 2014, 86 patients (mean age, 60.3 years) harboring 89 aneurysms were treated with Enterprise (n = 57) or Solitaire (n = 32) SAC. The patients' demographics, angiographic results, and clinical outcomes were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: There were no cases of stent navigation, deployment failure, arterial dissection, or intraoperative aneurysmal rupture. Angiographic follow-up imaging was available for 86 (96.6%) aneurysms (Enterprise group, n = 55; Solitaire group, n = 31). Immediate postoperative and follow-up angiographic results showed no flow or only minimal flow into the neck in 83% (Enterprise group, 77.2%; Solitaire group, 93.8%) and 95.3% (Enterprise group, 92.7%; Solitaire group, 100%) of SAC-treated aneurysms, respectively. Both stent groups showed good immediate postoperative and follow-up clinical outcomes. Excepting 2 cases, all patients achieved modified Rankin Scale scores of 0. Coil loop or tail protrusion into the parent artery was observed in 17 (29.8%) and 7 (21.9%) cases in the Enterprise and Solitaire groups, respectively. No statistically significant difference in terms of angiographic results or clinical outcomes was observed between the groups. CONCLUSION: Excellent and comparable clinical and angiographic outcomes for wide-neck intracranial aneurysms were achieved using both stents. Because of its higher radial strength and better vessel wall apposition, we cautiously propose that the Solitaire stent may be more effective for SAC of aneurysms harboring a large or severe tortuous parent artery.
Aneurysm* ; Arteries ; Demography ; Endovascular Procedures ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; Neck ; Parents ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Stents* ; Tail

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare clinical findings and outcomes of Enterprise and Solitaire stent-assisted coiling (SAC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2012 and March 2014, 86 patients (mean age, 60.3 years) harboring 89 aneurysms were treated with Enterprise (n = 57) or Solitaire (n = 32) SAC. The patients' demographics, angiographic results, and clinical outcomes were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: There were no cases of stent navigation, deployment failure, arterial dissection, or intraoperative aneurysmal rupture. Angiographic follow-up imaging was available for 86 (96.6%) aneurysms (Enterprise group, n = 55; Solitaire group, n = 31). Immediate postoperative and follow-up angiographic results showed no flow or only minimal flow into the neck in 83% (Enterprise group, 77.2%; Solitaire group, 93.8%) and 95.3% (Enterprise group, 92.7%; Solitaire group, 100%) of SAC-treated aneurysms, respectively. Both stent groups showed good immediate postoperative and follow-up clinical outcomes. Excepting 2 cases, all patients achieved modified Rankin Scale scores of 0. Coil loop or tail protrusion into the parent artery was observed in 17 (29.8%) and 7 (21.9%) cases in the Enterprise and Solitaire groups, respectively. No statistically significant difference in terms of angiographic results or clinical outcomes was observed between the groups. CONCLUSION: Excellent and comparable clinical and angiographic outcomes for wide-neck intracranial aneurysms were achieved using both stents. Because of its higher radial strength and better vessel wall apposition, we cautiously propose that the Solitaire stent may be more effective for SAC of aneurysms harboring a large or severe tortuous parent artery.
Aneurysm* ; Arteries ; Demography ; Endovascular Procedures ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intracranial Aneurysm ; Neck ; Parents ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Stents* ; Tail

Dural arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are uncommon, representing only 10% to 15% of all intracranial AVFs. Here we present the case of a patient with cerebral infarction who experienced a dural AVF after craniotomy for superficial temporal artery (STA) to middle cerebral artery (MCA) bypass surgery. A 48-year-old man presented with dysarthria and right side hemiparesis. A brain magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed multiple acute infarctions and severe stenosis of the left MCA. Therefore, STA-MCA bypass surgery was performed. A follow-up angiography performed 2 weeks after the surgery showed an abnormal vascular channel from the left middle meningeal artery (MMA) to the middle meningeal vein (MMV) just anterior to the border of the craniotomy margin. This fistula originated from a screw used for cranial fixation. The screw injured the MMA and MMV, and this resulted in the formation of a fistula. The fistula was successfully treated with transarterial embolization. Surgeons should be careful when fixing bones with screws and plates as fistulas can develop if vessels are injured.
Angiography ; Brain ; Central Nervous System Vascular Malformations* ; Cerebral Infarction ; Cerebral Revascularization ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Craniotomy ; Dysarthria ; Fistula ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infarction ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Meningeal Arteries ; Middle Aged ; Middle Cerebral Artery* ; Paresis ; Temporal Arteries* ; Veins