• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.134-141
• /
• 1998

Primary lung cancer has recently increased progressively in its incidence in Korea. It is clearly evident that surgical resection offers the best offortunity for cure of non-small cell carcinoma. This study was designed to analyse the clinical data of 100 primary non-small cell carcinoma patients who underwent lung resection surgery from January 1992 to July 1995 at the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Sugery, Kyungpook National University Hospital. There were 86 males and 14 females(6:1). In the age distribution, the peak incidence was recorded in the seventh decade(43%). The methods of tissue diagnosis were bronchoscopic biopsy in 53 patients(50.5%), percutaneous needle aspiration in 17 patients(16.2%), transbronchial lung biopsy in 11 patients(10.5%), mediastinoscopic biopsy in 2 patients (1.9%), sputum cytology in 2 patients(1.9%), and thoracotomy in 20 patients(19.0%). Fifty-five lobectomies, 22 pneumonectomies, 15 bilobectomies, 2 segmentectomies, 4 sleeve lobectomies, a sleeve pneumonectomy, and a wedge pneumonectomy were performed. Operative mortality occured in 4 cases(sepsis in 2 cases, respiratory failure in 1 case, and acute myocardiac infarction in 1 case). The histologic types of tumor were 67 squamous cell carcinomas, 26 adenocarcinomas, 6 large cell carcinomas, and an adenosquamous cell carcinoma. Eighteen patients with N2 mediastinal lymph node metastases had 8 squamous cell carcinomas(11.9%), 9 adenocarcinomas(34.6%), and a large cell carcinoma(16.7%). The primary tumors in these patients were in the right upper lobe in 4 patients, the right middle and lower lobe in 9 patients, the left upper lobe in 3 patients, and the left lower lobe in 2 patients. With regard to pathologic stages, 45 patients had stage I disease; 13 patients, stage II; 36 patients, stage IIIa; 5 patients, stage IIIb; and 1 patient, stage IV. The overall actuarial survival rate was 77.5% at 12 months, 56.1% at 24 months and 43.7% at 43 months. The actuarial survival rates at 43 months were 81.3% in Stage I, 20.8% in Stage II, 27.9% in Stage IIIa, 25.0% in Stage IIIb and 33.3% in Stage IV. These facts suggest that early detection and surgical resection are recommended for favorable postoperative survival in non-small cell lung cancer.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.52 no.3
• /
• pp.284-295
• /
• 2020

In December 2019, the first coronavirus disease- 2019 (COVID-19) patient was reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Since then, the number of patients who suffered severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) has increased dramatically in Korea. This new variant virus induces pulmonary diseases, including cough, sore throat, rhinorrhea, dyspnea, and pneumonia. Because SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR has been used widely to diagnose COVID-19. As the Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (KCDC) and Ministry of Food & Drug Safety (MFDS) approved emergency use authorization, clinical specimens collected from COVID-19 patients and even healthy people have been clinically diagnosed by laboratory medicine. Based on a literature search, this paper reviews the epidemiology, symptoms, molecular diagnostics approved by KCDC, a current diagnosis of COVID-19 in the laboratories, the difference between molecular and serological diagnosis, and guidelines for clinical specimens. In addition, the Korean guidelines of biosafety for clinical laboratory scientists are evaluated to prevent healthcare-associated infection. The author's experience and lessons as clinical laboratory scientists will provide valuable insights to protect the domestic and international health community in this COVID-19 pandemic around the world.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.50 no.7
• /
• pp.622-628
• /
• 2007

Purpose : While pediatric observation units (POU) have become a common practice in hospitals throughout developed countries, there has been no report about POUs in Korea so far. The aims of this study were to analyze our one-year's experience of the POU and to decide which disease entities are suitable for the POU. Methods : All children admitted from March 2006 to February 2007 to the POU at the Department of Pediatrics in Our Lady of Mercy Hospital were included in this study. Data were collected from retrospective reviews of their medical records. Results : There were a total of 1,076 POU admissions. Median age of patients was 2.4 years and median length of hospital stay 14.0 hours. The most common diagnoses were gastroenteritis (42.7%), pharyngotonsillitis (19.1%), bronchiolitis (7.8%), pneumonia (5.5%) and febrile seizure (5.2%). Overall, 7.5% of the POU patients required subsequent inpatient admissions due to hospital stays of longer than 48 hours. The disease entities that were most likely to require inpatient admission were pneumonia (17.0%), febrile seizure (12.5%) and asthma (11.5%). Diseases that allowed successful discharge from the POU were gastroenteritis (4.6%), upper respiratory tract infection (5.8%), such as otitis media and pharygnotonsillitis and seizure disorder (6.4%). Compared with the previous year when the POU was not in operation, there was a statistically significant reduction in the average length of hospital stays (from 4.69 to 3.75 days), as well as a rise in the bed turnover rate (from 78.8 to 98.2 patients/bed). Conclusion : Our study shows that the POU is efficient for the management of children with certain acute illnesses. Based on this study, we suggest that the POU be used as a new modality which links between the outpatient, inpatient, and emergency departments in the field of pediatrics in Korea.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.101-111
• /
• 2004

Purpose : This study was performed to observe the epidemiological pattern of M. pneumoniae pneumonia during the period from 1993 to 2002 and also to see some clinical characteristics of M. pneumoniae pneumonia during recent five years. Methods : We had performed a retrospective analysis of epidemiological pattern of occurrence in 682 patients with M. pneumoniae pneumonia admitted to Department of Pediatrics of Han-il General Hospital from January, 1993 to December, 2002. Results : The annual ratio of M. pneumoniae pneumonia was compared with the total numbers of respiratory tract infection patients. The ratios were 19.1% in 1993, 13.0% in 1994, 5.6% in 1995, 12.8% in 1996, 18.6% in 1997, 22.6% in 1998, 1.1% in 1999, 13.3% in 2000, 9.1% in 2001, 6.0% in 2002, and 19.9% in 2003. The epidemics have occurred in 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2003 years showing 3~4 year intervals. The peak incidence of age was four to six years old(286 cases; 41.9%) and male-to-female ratio was 1 : 1.1. Monthly distribution showed a high frequency from August to December and the major outbreak occurred in November(119 cases; 17.4%), in October(106 cases; 15.5%), and in December(96 cases; 14.1%) in order of frequency. The most common symptoms were cough (660 cases; 96.8%), fever(569 cases; 83.4%), and sputum(522 cases; 76.5%) in that order. Leukocytosis was observed in 31.2% of patients based on a normal range according to the adjusted age. Increased ESR(${\geq}20mm/hr$) was noted in 42.5% of cases and CRP was positive in 37.8% of cases. On the chest X-ray examination, pulmonary infiltration was noted in 557 cases(81.7%), and the patterns of pneumonic infiltration were bronchopneumonia(78.0%), lobar(35.5%), lobular(19.2%), and interstitial pneumonia(28.7%). Complications were paranasal sinusitis(41 cases), acute otitis media(23 cases), pleural effusion(19 cases). cervical lymphadenitis(18 cases), and glomerulonephritis(1 case). Conclusion : The pattern of M. pneumoniae pneumonia from 1997 to 2003 noted 3~4 year interval with peak monthly distribution of October and November compared with 3 year interval and peak incidence of summer period before 1996.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.23-34
• /
• 2012

Purpose: Acute symptomatic seizures are caused by structural changes, inflammation or metabolic changes of brain, such as tumor, stroke, meningitis, encephalitis and metabolic disorders. Inherited metabolic disorders that can cause seizures are organic acidopathies, lysosomal storage disorders, peroxisomal disorders and mineral disorders. We have done this study to find out the importance of organic acidopathies causing seizure disorders in Korean childhood and adolescent patients. Method: Retrograde analysis for 1,306 patients with seizure disorders whose clinical informations are available and have done urine organic acid analysis for 5 years period, between Jan. 1st 2007 to Dec. 31th 2011. Statistical analysis was done with Student's t test using SPSS. Result: Out of 1,306 patients, 665 patients (51%) showed abnormalities on urine organic acid analysis. The most frequent disease was mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders (394, 30.1%), followed by mandelic aciduria (127, 9.7%), ketolytic defects (81, 6.2%), 3-hydroxyisobutyric aciduria (19, 1.4%), glutaric aciduria type II (10, 0.8%), ethylmalonic aciduria (4), propionic aciduria (4), methylmalonic aciduria (3), glutaric aciduria type I (3), pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency (3), pyruvate carboxylase deficiency (3), isovaleric aciduria (2), HMG-CoA lyase deficiency (2), 3-methylcrotonylglycinuria (2), fatty acid oxidation disorders (2), fumaric aciduria (1), citrullinemia (1), CPS deficiency (1), MCAD deficiency (1). Conclusion: On neonatal period, mandelic aciduria due to infection was found relatively frequently. Mitochondrial disorders are most frequent etiologic disease on all age group, followed by ketolytic defects and various organic acidopathies. The number and diversities of organic acidopathies emphasize meticulous evaluation of basic routine laboratory examinations and organic acid analysis with initial sample on every seizure patient.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.477-484
• /
• 2001

Background: Initial symptoms for esophageal perforation have not been clarified, but when there is no early diagnosis and proper treatment to follow immediately after the diagnosis, it is fatal for the patients. Therefore, this study attempted to discover the factors that influence the prognosis of esophageal perforation to contribute to the improvement of the treatment result. Material and Method: The subjects of this study are 32 patients who came to the hospital with esophageal perforation from October, 1984 to June, 2000. This study examined the items for clinical observation such as patients' sex, age, cause of the perforation, perforation site, the time spent until the beginning of the treatment, symptoms caused by the perforation and its complication, and treatment methods. This study tried to find out the relationship between the survival of patients and each item. Result: There were 24 male and 8 female patients and their mean age was 49.7+16.4. For the causes of perforation, there were 14 cases(43%) of iatrogenic perforation, which ranked first, caused by the medical instrument operation and surgical damage. As for the perforation sites, thoracic esophagus was the most common site(26 cases of 81.2%) and chest pain was the most frequent symptom. The complication caused by esophageal perforation showed the highest cases in the order of mediastinitis, empyema, sepsis and peritonitis. After the treatment, there were 23 cases of survival and 9 cases of mortality. The total mortality rate was 28.1% and the main causes of mortality were sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS). As for the treatment, 8 cases(25.0%) treated the perforation successfully using conservative treatment only. As for the surgical treatment, there were 5 cases(15.6%) of cervical drainage, 7 cases (21.8%) of primary repair and 12 cases(37.5%) of esophageal reconstruction after performing an exclusion-diversion. There were 18 cases(56.2%) of complete treatment of esophageal perforation at its initial treatment and in 14 cases(43.8%) of treatment failure at its initial treatment, patients were completely cured in the next treatment stage or died during the treatment. The cases of perforation in thoracic esophagus, complication into severe mediastinitis or sepsis and the cases of failure at initial treatment showed a statistically significant mortality rate (p<0.05).

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.481-489
• /
• 2005

Lonicerae Flos has antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus, streptococci, pneumococci, Bacillus dysenterii, Salmonella typhi, and paratyphoid. It is an antiviral agent. The herb has a cytoprotective effect against $CCl_{4}-induced$ hepatic injury. It has antilipemic action, interfering with lipid absorption from the gut. Nowadays this herb is used mainly in the treatment of upper respiratory infections, such as tonsillitis and acute laryngitis. It is also used in the treatment of skin suppurations, such as carbuncles, and to treat viral conjunctivitis, influenza, pneumonia, and mastitis. Lonicerae Flos is dried flower buds of Lonicera japonica, L. hypoglauca, L. confusa, or L. dasystyla. But, for the most part, we use whole plant of Lonicera japonica, as a flower bud of it. And, little is known of the original copy of effects of whole plant, except for the 'Bon-Cho-Gang-Mok', which is written the effects of flower of Lonicera japonica are equal to effects of leaves and branch of it. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of flower and whole plant of Lonicera japonica on the regulatory mechanism of cytokines, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX-2) for the immunological activities in Raw 264.7 cells. In Raw 264.7 cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic inflammation, flower and whole plant of Lonicera japonica water extracts inhibited nitric oxide production in a dose-dependent manner and abrogated iNOS and COX-2. Flower and whole plant of Lonicera japonica water extract did not affect on cell viability. To investigate the mechanism by which flower and whole plant of Lonicera japonica water extract inhibits iNOS and COX-2 gene expression, we examined the on phosphorylation of inhibitor ${\kappa}B{\alpha}$ and assessed production of $TNF-{\alpha}$, $interleukin-1{\beta}$ $(IL-1{\beta})$ and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Results provided evidence that flower and whole plant of Lonicera japonica inhibited the production of $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6 and activated the phosphorylation of inhibitor ${\kappa}B{\alpha}$ in Raw 264.7 cells activated with LPS. These findings suggest that flower and whole plant of Lonicera japonica can produce anti-inflammatory effect, which may play a role in adjunctive therapy in Gram-negative bacterial infections, respectively.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.2-8
• /
• 2021

Since the first reported case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in December 2019, the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths have continued to increase exponentially despite multi-factorial efforts. Although various attempts have been made to improve the level of evidence for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment over the past 10 years, most experts still hesitate to take an active position on whether to apply ECMO in COVID-19 patients. Several ECMO management guidelines have been published recently, but they reflect some important differences from the Korean medical system and aspects of real-world medical practice in Korea. We aimed to find evidence on the efficacy of ECMO for COVID-19 patients by reviewing the published literature and to propose expert recommendations by analyzing the Korean COVID-19 ECMO registry data.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.45 no.12
• /
• pp.896-910
• /
• 2022

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly transmissible and potentially fatal virus. So far, most comprehensive analyses encompassing clinical and transcriptional manifestation have concentrated on the lungs. Here, we confirmed evident signs of viral infection in the lungs and spleen of SARS-CoV-2-infected K18-hACE2 mice, which replicate the phenotype and infection symptoms in hospitalized humans. Seven days post viral detection in organs, infected mice showed decreased vital signs, leading to death. Bronchopneumonia due to infiltration of leukocytes in the lungs and reduction in the spleen lymphocyte region were observed. Transcriptome profiling implicated the meticulous regulation of distress and recovery from cytokine-mediated immunity by distinct immune cell types in a time-dependent manner. In lungs, the chemokine-driven response to viral invasion was highly elevated at 2 days post infection (dpi). In late infection, diseased lungs, post the innate immune process, showed recovery signs. The spleen established an even more immediate line of defense than the lungs, and the cytokine expression profile dropped at 7 dpi. At 5 dpi, spleen samples diverged into two distinct groups with different transcriptome profile and pathophysiology. Inhibition of consecutive host cell viral entry and massive immunoglobulin production and proteolysis inhibition seemed that one group endeavored to survive, while the other group struggled with developmental regeneration against consistent viral intrusion through the replication cycle. Our results may contribute to improved understanding of the longitudinal response to viral infection and development of potential therapeutics for hospitalized patients affected by SARS-CoV-2.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.85-104
• /
• 1969

This experiment was carried out to study the effect of rapid hemorrhage on cardiopulmonary hemodynamics of the cooled dogs. Hypothermia was induced by means of body surface cooling with ice water. Lowest esophageal temperatures ranged from 24 to 26 degree. Dogs were bled via the femoral artery into a reservoir in amount of the equivalent blood volume of 3% of body weight of the dogs. Some dogs were reinfused with the same amount of blood which they lost and others infused with 5% dextrose solution. Fourty adult mongrel dogs were divided into three groups: group I[15 dogs]; dogs were bled in normothermic state. Five dogs had no further treatment, but five dogs were reinfused with blood and five infused with 5% dextrose solution 30 minutes after bleeding. GroupII[10 dogs]; dogs were bled as group I after having been cooled. Five dogs were reinfused with blood as group I. Group III[15 dogs]; dogs were first bled and then cooled. Reinfusion procedures were the same as in group l Results were as follow: 1. The heart rate showed a slight decrease after bleeding in group I and then increased over the control level after 60 minutes. After reinfusion and infusion, the heart rate was also increased gradually and after three hours almost returned to the control level. In group II and groupIll, the heart rate decreased remarkably and after reinfusion showed a light increase but after infusion tended to decrease cotinually. 2. The stroke volume showed remarkable decrease after bleeding in group I., and recovered to control level after reinfusion and infusion,and then gradually decreased again. In group III, the stroke volume showed no remarkable change after hypothermia, and tended to decrease after reinfusion. In group III, the stroke volume decreased remarkably after bleeding and hypothermia,and clearly increased after reinfusion and infusion and then returned to control level. 3. Femoral mean pressure declined very rapidly and significantly right after bleeding and showed a remarkable prompt rise after reinfusion and infusion in group I [67% recovery]. On the other hand, it declined remarkably after hypothermia and bleeding and showed a slight rise after reinfusion and infusion in group II[46% recovery] and III [41% recovery]. 4. Venous pressure declined slightly after bleeding and tended to return to the control level after reinfusion and infusion,in group I. In group II, it did not change significantly during hypothermia but showed a slight decline after bleeding and returned toward control level after reinfusion. In group III, it declined slightly after bleeding and showed no significant change after hypothermia and rose over the control level after reinfusion and infusion. 5. Right ventricular systolic pressure decreased markedly after bleeding and then increased progressively after 30 minutes. It increased after reinfusion and infusion as well, approaching the control level in group I. In group II, it showed no significant change during hypothermia, but decreased remarkably after bleeding and then returned to near control level after reinfusion. In group III, it was decreased markedly after bleeding but did not change significantly during hypothermia and showed a slight increase after reinfusion. 6. The respiratory rate increased gradually after bleeding and decreased gradually after reinfusion but did not return to the control level, whereas it decreased near to the control level after infusion,and tended to increase in group I. In group II, it decreased significantly after hypothermia and bleeding but returned near to the control level after reinfusion. In group III, it showed a remarkable decrease after hypothermia and increased slightly after reinfusion and infusion but did not returned to the control level. In group I, the tidal volume decreased slightly after hemorrhage, and increased gradually to near the control level after 3 hours following reinfusion.