Cefepime is an extended-spectrum, fourth-generation cephalosporin that has been widely used for approved indications such as febrile neutropenia. Common adverse events of cefepime include headache, skin rash, gastrointestinal problems, and fever. However, encephalopathathy caused by cefepime has been sporadically reported worldwide over the last decade. We experienced a rare case of cefepime-induced encephalopathy. A 75-year-old man with a 30-year history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was admitted to the medical intensive care unit under a diagnosis of pneumonia. Initial antibiotic therapy was started with piperacillin/sulbactam and ciprofloxacin. His condition was improved with this treatment. About 2 months later, his condition was aggravated again, with mild fever and purulent sputum. Intravenous cefepime was selected on the basis of antibiotic susceptibility to Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from his sputum. However, his mentality became drowsy 48 hours after cefepime adminstration. He showed tremors and right facial paralysis. Neurologic examination for motor power and sensory function revealed normal findings. Laboratory tests, including serum electrolytes, glucose, osmolality, and ammonia, gave normal results. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed chronic ischemic and atropic changes, and an electroencephalography revealed triphasic waves. The administration of cefepime was stopped, and his symptoms started to improve within 48 hours. Electroencephalography results became normalized, and he completely recovered within 48 hours after discontinuation of cefepime.
Aged ; Ammonia ; Brain ; Ciprofloxacin ; Diagnosis ; Electroencephalography ; Electrolytes ; Exanthema ; Facial Paralysis ; Febrile Neutropenia ; Fever ; Glucose ; Headache ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Nervous System Diseases ; Neurologic Examination ; Osmolar Concentration ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Sensation ; Sputum ; Tremor

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to analyze the relationship between clinical status and work characteristics of firefighters and other public officers who engaged on collection duties in the site of the hydrogen fluoride spill that occurred on September 27, 2012, in Gumi City, South Korea. METHODS: We investigated the clinical status, personal history, and work characteristics of the study subjects and performed physical examination and several clinical examinations, including chest radiography, echocardiography, pulmonary function test, and blood testing in 348 firefighters, police officers, volunteer firefighters, and special warfare reserved force who worked at the hydrogen fluoride spill area. RESULTS: The subjects who worked near the accident site more frequently experienced eye symptoms (p = 0.026), cough (p = 0.017), and headache (p = 0.003) than the subjects who worked farther from the accident site. The longer the working hours at the accident area, the more frequently the subjects experienced pulmonary (p = 0.027), sputum (p = 0.043), and vomiting symptoms (p = 0.003). The subjects who did not wear respiratory protective devices more frequently experienced dyspnea than those who wore respiratory protective devices (p = 0.013). In the pulmonary function test, the subjects who worked near the accident site had a higher decease in forced vital capacity than the subjects who worked farther from the site (p = 0.019); however, no statistical association was found between serum calcium/phosphate level, echocardiography result, chest radiographic result, and probation work characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: The subjects who worked near the site of the hydrogen fluoride spill, worked for an extended period, or worked without wearing respiratory protective devices more frequently experienced upper/lower respiratory, gastrointestinal, and neurological symptoms. Further follow-up examination is needed for the workers who were exposed to hydrogen fluoride during their collection duties in the chemical plant in Gumi City.
Chemical Hazard Release ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Echocardiography ; Firefighters* ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Headache ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Hydrofluoric Acid* ; Hydrogen* ; Physical Examination ; Plants ; Police ; Radiography ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Republic of Korea ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Respiratory Protective Devices ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Vital Capacity ; Vomiting

In most cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), respiratory muscle involvement is a late complication. Only 2.7% of ALS patients presenting with their first clinical symptoms in the extremities also experience respiratory symptoms. We report a case of an 81-year-old man with ALS, diagnosed by an unexplained failure to wean from mechanical ventilation. The patient was presented with acute respiratory failure, tachypnea and respiratory acidosis. Computed tomography of the chest showed large amounts of sputum in the trachea. An endotracheal tube was inserted, and the patient was placed on volume-controlled ventilation. However, in the course of recovery, he could not be weaned from mechanical ventilation, despite the absence of cardiopulmonary impairment. Having considered other causes of respiratory failure, wediagnosed ALS after a physical and neurologic examination and electrodiagnostic testing.
Acidosis, Respiratory ; Aged, 80 and over ; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ; Extremities ; Humans ; Neurologic Examination ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Respiratory Muscles ; Sputum ; Tachypnea ; Thorax ; Trachea ; Ventilation

Congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM) is an uncommon, nonhereditary anomaly caused by arrest of lung. Patients with CCAM may present with respiratory distress as newborns, or may remain asymptomatic until later in life. CCAM type I is rarely found in association with bronchial atresia (BA) in adults; we present such a case. Case: A 54-year-old female presented with chronic cough and blood-tinged sputum. Physical examination and laboratory tests were unremarkable. Chest radiographs and a CT scan of the chest showed multiple large air-filled cysts consistent with a CCAM in the right lower lobe, and an oval-shaped opacity in the distal right middle lobal bronchus. Based on the radiologic findings, right middle lobectomy and a medial basal segmentectomy of the right lower lobe were performed via a thoracotomy. These lesions were consistent with Stocker's Type I CCAM and BA in the different lobes.
Aged ; Bronchi ; Cough ; Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation of Lung, Congenital ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Lung ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Middle Aged ; Physical Examination ; Sputum ; Thoracotomy ; Thorax

Neutrophils play an important role in immunological function. Neutropenic patients are vulnerable to infection, and except fever is present, inflammatory reactions are scarce in many cases. Additionally, because infections can worsen rapidly, early evaluation and treatments are especially important in febrile neutropenic patients. In cases in which febrile neutropenia is anticipated due to anticancer chemotherapy, antibiotic prophylaxis can be used, based on the risk of infection. Antifungal prophylaxis may also be considered if long-term neutropenia or mucosal damage is expected. When fever is observed in patients suspected to have neutropenia, an adequate physical examination and blood and sputum cultures should be performed. Initial antibiotics should be chosen by considering the risk of complications following the infection; if the risk is low, oral antibiotics can be used. For initial intravenous antibiotics, monotherapy with a broad-spectrum antibiotic or combination therapy with two antibiotics is recommended. At 3 5 days after beginning the initial antibiotic therapy, the condition of the patient is assessed again to determine whether the fever has subsided or symptoms have worsened. If the patient's condition has improved, intravenous antibiotics can be replaced with oral antibiotics; if the condition has deteriorated, a change of antibiotics or addition of antifungal agents should be considered. If the causative microorganism is identified, initial antimicrobial or antifungal agents should be changed accordingly. When the cause is not detected, the initial agents should continue to be used until the neutrophil count recovers.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Antibiotic Prophylaxis ; Antifungal Agents ; Fever ; Humans ; Korea ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Physical Examination ; Sputum

The bronchus-asociated lymphoid tissue(BALT) lymphoma is a low-grade primary malignant lymphoma that originates from bronchus associated lymphoid tissue. A 67-year-old woman was admitted for evaluation of cough, sputum, rhinorrhea which had persisted for one month. Physical examination showed decreased breathing sound on the left upper lung field. High resolution chest computed tomography demonstrated consolidation which showed air-bronchogram and surrounding ground glass opacity in left upper lobe. These findings implicated inactive tuberculosis, organizing pneumonia, or bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma. The histologic findings from percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy revealed aggregated atypical small lymphoid cells with lymphoepithelial lesions. With immunohistochemical staining, the atypical lymphoid cells reacted positively with CD 20 antibody and negatively with CD 3 antibody. Thus, we could diagnosed her as a patient with BALT lymphoma. After left upper lobectomy, she has been well without recurrence of the disease for 14 months. In this country of Republic of Korea, it was the 1st case of BALT lymphoma surgically treated when histological diagnosis had been done. Based on this case, we wanted to demonstrate the importance of early histological diagnosis and treatment of BALT lymphoma.
Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar ; Aged ; Biopsy, Needle ; Bronchi ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Glass ; Humans ; Lung ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphoid Tissue ; Lymphoma* ; Needles ; Physical Examination ; Pneumonia ; Recurrence ; Republic of Korea ; Respiratory Sounds ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis

A 13-year-old girl was admitted with massive hemoptysis and hematemesis. An estimated volume was about 400 cc. The blood was frothy and mixed with sputum and food. She had no history of epistaxis, choking, joint pain or trauma. Her vital sign was stable and physical examination was normal except for bilateral crackles and ronchi on auscultation of the lungs. Laboratory data on arrival including blood counts, liver enzyme, urinalysis and electrolytes were all normal. Chest CT showed bilateral extensive centrilobular ground glass opacity nodules and there were suspicious blood clots in the right bronchus. There was no evidence of pleural effusion, increased vascular markings, abscess or brochiectasis. We performed an upper GI endoscopy and bronchoscopy, it was all normal. On cytology from bronchoalveolar lavage, cell count was 1,660/microL with 63% of macrophages laden with erythrocytes and 35% lymphocytes. Tuberculosis PCR from this fluid was negative and AFB stain, Gram stains were all negative. She has had a second attack on day seven, emergency bronchial angiography was performed. There was dysplastic bronchial artery with a tortuous change, shunting to the pulmonary artery. Bronchial artery embolization was performed successfully using embolization particles. Follow-up blood counts, electrolytes and chest radiogram were all normal. There was no further episode of hemoptysis twelve months after embolization.
Abscess ; Adolescent ; Airway Obstruction ; Angiography ; Arthralgia ; Auscultation ; Bronchi ; Bronchial Arteries* ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Bronchoscopy ; Cell Count ; Child ; Coloring Agents ; Electrolytes ; Emergencies ; Endoscopy ; Epistaxis ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glass ; Hematemesis ; Hemoptysis* ; Humans ; Liver ; Lung ; Lymphocytes ; Macrophages ; Physical Examination ; Pleural Effusion ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Respiratory Sounds ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tuberculosis ; Urinalysis ; Vital Signs

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is defined as an acute infection of pulmonary parenchyma in a patient who has contracted the infection in the community. Diagnostic process includes history taking, physical examination, chest radiograph, blood tests, and microbiologic tests. Common clinical features are cough, sputum, fever, pleuritic chest pain, and dyspnea. There are systemic symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and changes of mental status. The presence of an infiltrate on chest X-ray is the mainstay for the diagnosis of CAP, although exceptions are early CAP, dehydration, and neutropenia. Prevalent radiographic findings are lobar pneumonia, interstitial infiltrates, and cavitation. Performing diagnostic testing for the microbiologic etiology remains controversial particularly in outpatient settings. The tests are recommended only when pathogens that would not respond to usual empirical antibiotic regimens are suspected. However, for hospitalized patients, routine pursuit of etiologic agents should be done for all occasions. Apart from Gram stain and culture of sputum, blood culture, serologic tests, urine antigen tests, and polymerase chain reactions are being performed in hospitalized patients. Among these, the combination of a good sputum specimen for Gram stain and culture plus urinary antigen testing is most useful for the rapid diagnosis of CAP. The positivity rate of blood culture is relatively low, which makes the test less dependable. We should always consider Mycobacterium as an unpredicted cause of pulmonary infiltrates in Korea. We should also bear in mind unusual pathogens that have an epidemiologic significance or need different regimens from empirical antibiotics. These include Influenza, Legionella, communityacquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and agents of bioterrorism. In conclusion, any diagnostic tests should not delay the administration of proper antibiotics. Comprehensive knowledge regarding the relevant diagnostic tests is required for the appropriate implementation of diagnostic procedures and empirical antibiotics.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bioterrorism ; Chest Pain ; Cough ; Dehydration ; Diagnosis* ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Diarrhea ; Dyspnea ; Fever ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Korea ; Legionella ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Mycobacterium ; Nausea ; Neutropenia ; Outpatients ; Physical Examination ; Pneumonia* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Serologic Tests ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: Distant metastases, as the initial sign of a differentiated thyroid carcinoma, are extremely rare. The clinical characteristics for such cases remain to be established. This study was performed to characterize the clinical presentation, treatments, and outcome in such patients. METHODS: Between January 1986 and February 2005, of 4,525 differentiated thyroid cancer patients, 18 presented with distant metastases as the initial sign (0.4%). These comprised of 6 men and 12 women, with a median age of 49 years (range 9~66). Of the 18 patients, 8 (44.4%), 7 (38.9%), and 3 (16.7%) disclosed symptoms from lung, bone, and brain (16.7%) metastases, respectively. The median follow-up was 92 months, ranging from 18 to 198. RESULTS: The symptoms included cough and sputum (n=5), hemoptysis (n=2) and a lung mass (n=1) from lung metastases, back pain (n=3), a palpable mass (n=2) and a pathologic fracture (n=2) from bone metastases, as well as a headache with nausea (n=3) in all cases with brain metastases. The sites of metastases were the lung only in 7 (38.9%), bone only in 7 (38.9%) and multi-organ in 4 (22.2%). The histological diagnoses were a papillary carcinoma in 10 and a follicular carcinoma in 8. All patients underwent a total thyroidectomy followed by therapeutic radio-iodine therapy (RAI) and TSH suppressive treatment. For the metastatic lesions, aggressive treatment modalities, including surgical resection (n=9), external beam radiation (n=11), gamma-knife surgery (n=1) and a combination of these, were performed. The 10 year overall and disease-free survivals were 91.7 and 51.4%, respectively. There was only one disease-related death (1.6%). Tumor multiplicity (p=0.023) and multi-organ metastasis (p=0.009) were significant predictors of a poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: Clinical symptoms, history, physical examination, imaging studies and histological confirmation of distant metastatic lesions are important in the initial diagnostic approach. Even though distant metastasis presented as the initial sign, a 10-year disease-free survival rate of 50% was obtained. Radical resection of primary and metastatic lesions combined with high dose RAI treatment and/or external irradiation lead to long-term survival.
Back Pain ; Brain ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Headache ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Nausea ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Physical Examination ; Prognosis ; Sputum ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Thyroidectomy

Patients with COPD typically present when they are older than 50 years of age, and about 80% of them are male. Clinically the patients with COPD present with cough, sputum, and dyspnea that are gradually progressive over years. Other symptoms are wheezing, hemoptysis, and chest tightness. In many patients with COPD, physical examination reveals no significant findings especially during quiet breathing. As the disease becomes more severe, patients demonstrate more apparent physical signs. The assessment of the lung function is essential to establish the diagnosis and to determine the severity of COPD. The spirometry is the most important test for diagnosing and staging COPD. Office spirometry is a feasible testing strategy to diagnose patients with the early stage of COPD and may be used to encourage smoking cessation. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (GOLD) recommends to define the severity of COPD and a stepwise approach for the management of COPD.
Cough ; Diagnosis* ; Dyspnea ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Physical Examination ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Respiration ; Respiratory Sounds ; Smoking Cessation ; Spirometry ; Sputum ; Thorax