Purpose: Renal tumors account for approximately 7% of all childhood cancers. These include Wilms tumor (WT), clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK), malignant rhabdoid tumor of the kidney (MRTK), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) and other rare tumors. We investigated the epidemiology of pediatric renal tumors in Korea. Materials and Methods: From January 2001 to December 2015, data of pediatric patients (0–18 years) newly-diagnosed with renal tumors at 26 hospitals were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Among 439 patients (male, 240), the most common tumor was WT (n=342, 77.9%), followed by RCC (n=36, 8.2%), CCSK (n=24, 5.5%), MRTK (n=16, 3.6%), CMN (n=12, 2.7%), and others (n=9, 2.1%). Median age at diagnosis was 27.1 months (range 0-225.5) and median follow-up duration was 88.5 months (range 0-211.6). Overall, 32 patients died, of whom 17, 11, 1, and 3 died of relapse, progressive disease, second malignant neoplasm, and treatment-related mortality. Five-year overall survival and event free survival were 97.2% and 84.8% in WT, 90.6% and 82.1% in RCC, 81.1% and 63.6% in CCSK, 60.3% and 56.2% in MRTK, and 100% and 91.7% in CMN, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusion The pediatric renal tumor types in Korea are similar to those previously reported in other countries. WT accounted for a large proportion and survival was excellent. Non-Wilms renal tumors included a variety of tumors and showed inferior outcome, especially MRTK. Further efforts are necessary to optimize the treatment and analyze the genetic characteristics of pediatric renal tumors in Korea.

Background: Increasing longevity has caused the very old population to become the fastest-growing segment. The number of centenarians (over 100 years old) is increasing rapidly. Fractures in the elderly lead to excessive medical costs and decreased quality of life with socioeconomic burdens. However, little research has thoroughly examined the functional outcomes and mortality of hip fractures in centenarians. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study. Sixty-eight centenarian hip fracture patients were admitted to the 10 institutions from February 2004 to December 2019. Fifty-six patients with 1-year follow-up were finally included. The following data were obtained: sex, age, body mass index, Charlson comorbidity index value on the operation day, Koval’s classification for ambulatory ability, type of fracture, the time interval from trauma to surgery, American Society of Anesthesiologists grade, surgery-related complications, and duration of hospital stay. Postoperative Koval’s classification (at 1 year after surgery) and information about death were also collected. Multivariate analysis was performed to analyze the risk factors affecting mortality 1 year after surgery. Results: Mortality rates were 26.8% at 6 months and 39.3% at 1 year. The 90-day mortality was 19.6%, and one of them (2.1%) died in the hospital. The 1-year mortality rates for the community ambulatory and non-community ambulatory groups were 29% and 52%, respectively. Only 9 (16.1%) were able to walk outdoors 1 year after surgery. The remaining 47 patients (83.9%) had to stay indoors after surgery. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the pre-injury ambulatory level (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.884; p = 0.034) was associated with the risk of mortality. Conclusions We report a 1-year mortality rate of 39.3% in centenarian patients with hip fractures. The risk factor for mortality was the pre-injury ambulatory status. This could be an important consideration in the planning of treatment for centenarian hip fracture patients.

Because of the increasing global trend of patients with mental disorders, orthopedic surgeons are more likely to encounter orthopedic patients with mental disorders in clinical settings. Identifying the characteristics of these patients and implementing psychiatric management can affect the clinical outcome of orthopedic treatment. Thus, orthopedic surgeons need to assess the psychiatric medical history of orthopedic patients with mental disorders before surgery and understand the psychological and behavioral patterns of patients with mental disorders. In addition, appropriate psychiatric consultations and evaluations are necessary to prevent worsening of mental disorders before and after surgery.

Background: Hematologic malignancies have a relatively lower prevalence than major solid cancers, although the incidence of hematologic malignancies has significantly increased in recent years. However, understanding the current status of hematologic malignancy is significantly challenging because basic data regarding this malignancy are insufficient in the Korean population. Methods: From 2005 to 2015, the status of seven codes of hematologic malignancy, containing 24 subcodes defined using a classification defined by the Korean Classification of Disease-6, was analyzed. The number of new patients, crude incidence rate, prevalence rate, and age-standardized incidence rate were also investigated. Results were analyzed based on National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data. Results: The number of new patients showed an overall increase over time and a rate of increase up to 56.7% for 10 years. The number of male patients was higher than that of female patients, with the majority of patients aged greater than 60 years. The incidence and prevalence rates have increased steadily. Conclusions Consistent with the previous studies, this study might be useful to understand the current status of hematologic malignancy and might contribute to the improvement of national public healthcare.

BACKGROUND: The fracture risk induced by anti-estrogen therapy in patients with breast cancer remains controversial. The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis and systematic review to evaluate the risk of osteoporotic fracture in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: A systematic search was performed to identify studies that included any osteoporotic fracture (hip fracture and vertebral fracture) in patients breast cancer. Main outcome measures were occurrence and risk of osteoporotic fractures including hip and vertebral fractures in patients and controls. RESULTS: A systematic search yielded a total of 4 studies that included osteoporotic fracture outcomes in patients with breast cancer. Meta-analysis showed a higher risk of osteoporotic fracture in patients with breast cancer. Analysis of these 4 studies involving a total of 127,722 (23,821 cases and 103,901 controls) patients showed that the incidence of osteoporotic fractures was higher in the breast cancer group than in the control group. The pooled estimate of crude relative risk for osteoporotic fracture was 1.35 (95% confidence interval, 1.29–1.42; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Although studies were limited by a small number, results suggested a possible association between anti-estrogen therapy and increased risk of osteoporotic fractures in patients with breast cancer.

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze complications of complete hip arthroplasty through systematic review and network meta-analysis of comparative studies of direct anterior approach (DAA), anterolateral approach (LA), and posterolateral approach (PA). Methods: Prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-experimental designs evaluating clinical outcomes of DAA, LA, and PA for complete hip arthroplasty are valid if they meet the following criteria: 1) Comparison of clinical outcomes between the three methods for main complete hip arthroplasty (total hip arthroplasty, THA); 2) Compared at least one of the following outcomes: blood loss, operating time, and transfusion volume; 3) Sufficient data were available to extract and pool, i.e., mean reported, standard deviation and number of subjects. A network meta-analysis was used to determine the results of treatment across various surgical approaches. Indirect comparisons between the two surgical approaches was made by borrowing details from the standard comparator (i.e., the posterior approach). Results: Eight prospective RCTs were included in the meta-analysis of the network. The operation time of the LA was longer than that of PA (standardized mean difference [SMD], 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74–1.18; P < 0.001). DAA also had significantly longer operation time than PA (SMD, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.24–0.66; P < 0.001). However, blood loss of the DAA was the highest compared to other approaches (SMD, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.39–0.82; P = 0.002). Conclusion When performing THA with DAA, we should pay attention to increased operation time and blood loss.

Background: Except for data in the Korea Hemophilia Foundation Registry, little is known of the epidemiology of congenital bleeding disorders in Korea. Methods: Data were obtained from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) database. Results: From 2010 to 2015, there were 2,029 patients with congenital bleeding disorders in the Korean HIRA database: 38% (n = 775) of these patients had hemophilia A (HA), 25% (n = 517) had von Willebrand disease (vWD), 7% (n = 132) had hemophilia B (HB), and 25% (n = 513) had less common factor deficiencies. The estimated age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) of HA and HB was 1.78–3.15/100,000 and 0.31–0.51/100,000, respectively. That of vWD was 1.38–1.95/100,000. The estimated ASR of HA showed increase over time though the number of new patients did not increase. Most patients with congenital bleeding disorders were younger than 19 years old (47.8%), and most were registered in Gyeonggi (22.1%) and Seoul (19.2%). Conclusion This is the first nationwide population-based study of congenital bleeding disorders in Korea. This study provides data that will enable more accurate estimations of patients with vWD. This information will help advance the comprehensive care of congenital bleeding disorders. We need to continue to obtain more detailed information on patients to improve the management of these diseases.

Background: This nationwide study aimed to investigate the blood transfusion status of elderly hip fracture patients and to examine the effect of packed red blood cell transfusion on all-cause mortality. Methods: From the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Senior cohort consisting of 588,147 participants aged over 60 years in 2002, a total of 14,744 new-onset hip fracture patients aged 65–99 years were followed up for 11 years. The adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs), risk ratios, and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated by the Cox proportional hazard model and Poisson regression model. Results: There were 10,973 patients (74.42%) in the transfusion group and 3,771 (25.58%) patients in the non-transfusion group. The mean volume of blood transfusion was 1,164.51 mL (± 865.25; median, 800 mL; interquartile range, 640–1,440). In the multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard model, the transfusion group had 1.34-fold more risk of all-cause mortality than the non-transfusion group (aHR, 1.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26–1.42). In the multivariate-adjusted Poisson regression model, hip fracture patients in the transfusion group were 1.43 (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 1.43; 95% CI, 1.09–1.87; p = 0.009) folds more likely to die within 30 days than those in the non-transfusion group. The mortality risk was highest at 90 days (aRR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.40–1.93; p < 0.001) and slightly decreased at 180 days (aRR, 1.58;95% CI, 1.40–1.79; p < 0.001) and 1 year (aRR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.31–1.58; p < 0.001). Conclusion In this nationwide representative cohort study, blood transfusion was performed in 75% of hip fracture patients. Even after adjusting for comorbidity and anticoagulant use, the postoperative results (hospitalization, mortality) of the transfusion group did not show significantly worse results than the non-transfusion group. Therefore, adequate patient blood management can only improve the patient's outcome after hip fracture surgery.

PURPOSE: Studies on the incidence and mortality of refractures after primary osteoporotic fracture are limited by the relatively rare incidence of such refractures and small sample sizes. The objectives of this research were: 1) to determine the incidence of osteoporotic refractures and fracture locations and 2) to assess mortality rates associated with osteoporotic refracture over a median follow up of 3 years using nationwide claim database. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients over 50 years of age who had an osteoporotic fracture that was confirmed operationally were enrolled. Refracture was defined as that after 6 months of an untreated period. Mortality rate was calculated using the Charlson comorbidity index and was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 18956 first-time instances of osteoporotic fracture were reported between 2007 and 2012 after a median follow up of 3.1 years (range, 1 to 7 years). Among 18956 patients, 2941 (15.50%) experienced refracture. After follow up for 1 year, cumulative mortality rates for re-fracture and non-refracture groups were 9.1% and 7.2%, respectively. After adjusting for covriates, mortality rate was 1.2 times greater in patients with re-fracture than in patients without re-fracture over a median follow up of 3 years (hazard ratio: 1.20, 95% confidence interval: 1.08–1.34, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The incidence of osteoporotic re-fracture in this nationwide study was 15.5%, and the mortality rate of re-fracture patients was 1.2 times higher than that of non-refracture patients over a median follow up of 3 years.
Comorbidity ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mortality ; Osteoporotic Fractures ; Sample Size