• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2024

Purpose:The acute hospital accreditation program launched in South Korea has shown positive effects on safety culture and quality of care. However, relative weights have not yet been investigated for accreditation criteria with a hierarchical structure. This study aimed to derive the relative weights of acute-care hospital accreditation criteria. Methods: We conducted an online survey using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique to assess the validity, importance, and urgency of acute hospital accreditation criteria. The AHP online survey link was distributed in November 2022 after obtaining informed consent from 10 experts in hospital accreditation. Results: 'Basic value system' ranked highest, while 'patient care system' ranked second in terms of validity, importance, and urgency. 'Performance management system' had the lowest validity and urgency, while 'organizational management system' carried the lowest importance. Within the 'patient care system' domain, 'surgery and anesthesia sedation management' scored highest in validity and importance, and 'patient care' scored highest in urgency. 'Care delivery system and evaluation' received the lowest scores for all three aspects. In the 'organizational management system' domain, infection control ranked highest in terms of validity, importance, and urgency. The lowest validity was observed for 'management and organizational operation' and the lowest importance and urgency were noted for 'human resource management'. Conclusion: The weights for validity, importance, and urgency, as shown in each domain and chapter, and the number of measurable elements included, are largely inconsistent. This study will contribute to the development of the structure and scientific improvement of accreditation standards.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.18.1-18.15
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• 2022

Dysfunction of mitochondrial metabolism is implicated in cellular injury and cell death. While mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with lung injury by lung inflammation, the mechanism by which the impairment of mitochondrial ATP synthesis regulates necroptosis during acute lung injury (ALI) by lung inflammation is unclear. Here, we showed that the impairment of mitochondrial ATP synthesis induces receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase 3 (RIPK3)-dependent necroptosis during lung injury by lung inflammation. We found that the impairment of mitochondrial ATP synthesis by oligomycin, an inhibitor of ATP synthase, resulted in increased lung injury and RIPK3 levels in lung tissues during lung inflammation by LPS in mice. The elevated RIPK3 and RIPK3 phosphorylation levels by oligomycin resulted in high mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) phosphorylation, the terminal molecule in necroptotic cell death pathway, in lung epithelial cells during lung inflammation. Moreover, the levels of protein in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were increased by the activation of necroptosis via oligomycin during lung inflammation. Furthermore, the levels of ATP5A, a catalytic subunit of the mitochondrial ATP synthase complex for ATP synthesis, were reduced in lung epithelial cells of lung tissues from patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the most severe form of ALI. The levels of RIPK3, RIPK3 phosphorylation and MLKL phosphorylation were elevated in lung epithelial cells in patients with ARDS. Our results suggest that the impairment of mitochondrial ATP synthesis induces RIPK3-dependent necroptosis in lung epithelial cells during lung injury by lung inflammation.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.67 no.1
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• pp.94-102
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• 2024

Objective : The spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) remains a significant cause of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. The purpose of this retrospective study is to develop multiple models for predicting ICH outcomes using machine learning (ML). Methods : Between January 2014 and October 2021, we included ICH patients identified by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging and treated with surgery. At the 6-month check-up, outcomes were assessed using the modified Rankin Scale. In this study, four ML models, including Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree C5.0, Artificial Neural Network, Logistic Regression were used to build ICH prediction models. In order to evaluate the reliability and the ML models, we calculated the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR). Results : We identified 71 patients who had favorable outcomes and 156 who had unfavorable outcomes. The results showed that the SVM model achieved the best comprehensive prediction efficiency. For the SVM model, the AUC, accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 0.91, 0.92, 0.92, 0.93, 11.63, 0.076, and 153.03, respectively. For the SVM model, we found the importance value of time to operating room (TOR) was higher significantly than other variables. Conclusion : The analysis of clinical reliability showed that the SVM model achieved the best comprehensive prediction efficiency and the importance value of TOR was higher significantly than other variables.

• Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2023

BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional (3D) transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is the gold standard for the diagnosis of degenerative mitral regurgitation (dMR) and preoperative planning for transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr). TEE is an invasive modality requiring anesthesia and esophageal intubation. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic has limited the number of elective invasive procedures. Multi-detector computed tomographic angiography (MDCT) provides high-resolution images and 3D reconstructions to assess complex mitral anatomy. We hypothesized that MDCT would reveal similar information to TEE relevant to TMVr, thus deferring the need for a preoperative TEE in certain situations like during a pandemic. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data on patients who underwent or were evaluated for TMVr for dMR with preoperative MDCT and TEE between 2017 and 2019. Two TEE and 2 MDCT readers, blinded to patient outcome, analyzed: leaflet pathology (flail, degenerative, mixed), leaflet location, mitral valve area (MVA), flail width/gap, anterior-posterior (AP) and commissural diameters, posterior leaflet length, leaflet thickness, presence of mitral valve cleft and degree of mitral annular calcification (MAC). RESULTS: A total of 22 (out of 87) patients had preoperative MDCT. MDCT correctly identified the leaflet pathology in 77% (17/22), flail leaflet in 91% (10/11), MAC degree in 91% (10/11) and the dysfunctional leaflet location in 95% (21/22) of patients. There were no differences in the measurements for MVA, flail width, commissural or AP diameter, posterior leaflet length, and leaflet thickness. MDCT overestimated the measurements of flail gap. CONCLUSIONS: For preoperative TMVr planning, MDCT provided similar measurements to TEE in our study.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.19-35
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• 2024

Background: This study investigated a safe and effective bolus dose and lockout time for patient-controlled sedation (PCS) with dexmedetomidine for dental treatments. The depth of sedation, vital signs, and patient satisfaction were investigated to demonstrate safety. Methods: Thirty patients requiring dental scaling were enrolled and randomly divided into three groups based on bolus doses and lockout times: group 1 (low dose group, bolus dose 0.05 ㎍/kg, 1-minute lockout time), group 2 (middle dose group, 0.1 ㎍/kg, 1-minute), and group 3 (high dose group, 0.2 ㎍/kg, 3-minute) (n = 10 each). ECG, pulse, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, end-tidal CO₂, respiratory rate, and bispectral index scores (BIS) were measured and recorded. The study was conducted in two stages: the first involved sedation without dental treatment and the second included sedation with dental scaling. Patients were instructed to press the drug demand button every 10 s, and the process of falling asleep and waking up was repeated 1-5 times. In the second stage, during dental scaling, patients were instructed to press the drug demand button. Loss of responsiveness (LOR) was defined as failure to respond to auditory stimuli six times, determining sleep onset. Patient and dentist satisfaction were assessed before and after experimentation. Results: Thirty patients (22 males) participated in the study. Scaling was performed in 29 patients after excluding one who experienced dizziness during the first stage. The average number of drug administrations until first LOR was significantly lower in group 3 (2.8 times) than groups 1 and 2 (8.0 and 6.5 times, respectively). The time taken to reach the LOR showed no difference between groups. During the second stage, the average time required to reach the LOR during scaling was 583.4 seconds. The effect site concentrations (Ce) was significantly lower in group 1 than groups 2 and 3. In the participant survey on PCS, 8/10 in group 3 reported partial memory loss, whereas 17/20 in groups 1 and 2 recalled the procedure fully or partially. Conclusion: PCS with dexmedetomidine can provide a rapid onset of sedation, safe vital sign management, and minimal side effects, thus facilitating smooth dental sedation.

• Hip & pelvis
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2022

Purpose: Mortality rates following hip fracture surgery have been well-studied. This study was conducted to examine mortality rates in asymptomatic patients presenting for treatment of acute hip fractures with concurrent positive COVID-19(+) tests compared to those with negative COVID-19(-) tests. Materials and Methods: A total of 149 consecutive patients undergoing hip fracture surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic at two academic medical centers were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups for comparative analysis: one group included asymptomatic patients with COVID-19+ tests versus COVID-19- tests. The primary outcome was mortality at 30-days and 90-days. Results: COVID-19+ patients had a higher mortality rate than COVID-19- patients at 30-days (26.7% vs 6.0%, P=0.005) and 90-days (41.7% vs 17.2%, P=0.046) and trended towards an increased length of hospital stay (10.1±6.2 vs 6.8±3.8 days, P=0.06). COVID-19+ patients had more pre-existing respiratory disease (46.7% vs 11.2%, P=0.0002). Results of a Cox regression analysis showed an increased risk of mortality at 30-days and 90-days from COVID-19+ status alone without an increased risk of death in patients with pre-existing chronic respiratory disease. Conclusion: Factors including time to surgery, age, preexisting comorbidities, and postoperative ambulatory status have been proven to affect mortality and complications in hip fracture patients; however, a positive COVID-19 test result adds another variable to this process. Implementation of protocols that will promote prompt orthogeriatric assessments, expedite patient transfer, limit operating room traffic, and optimize anesthesia time can preserve the standard of care in this unique patient population.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.227-243
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• 2024

This study aimed to evaluate pain assessment strategies and factors associated with outcomes after microvascular decompression for the treatment of primary trigeminal neuralgia in adults. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of English, Spanish, and French literature. We searched three databases, PubMed, Ovid, and EBSCO, from 2010 to 2022 and selected studies including patients with primary trigeminal neuralgia, clear pain assessment, and pain outcomes. Population means and standard deviations were calculated. Studies that included factors associated with postoperative outcomes were included in the meta-analysis. A total of 995 studies involving 5673 patients with primary trigeminal neuralgia following microvascular decompression were included. Patients with arteries compressing the trigeminal nerve demonstrated optimal outcomes following microvascular decompression (odds ratio [OR]= 0.39; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.19-0.80; X² = 46.31; Dof = 15; I² = 68%; P = < 0.0001). Conversely, when comparing arterial vs venous compression of the trigeminal nerve (OR = 2.72; 95% CI = 1.16-6.38; X² = 23.23; Dof = 10; I² = 57%; P = 0.01), venous compression demonstrated poor outcomes after microvascular decompression. Additionally, when comparing single-vessel vs multiple-vessel compression (OR = 2.72; 95% CI = 1.18-6.25; X² = 21.17; Dof = 9; I² = 57%; P = 0.01), patients demonstrated unfavorable outcomes after microvascular decompression. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated factors associated with outcomes following microvascular decompression (MVD) for primary trigeminal neuralgia (PTN). Although MVD is an optimal treatment strategy for PTN, a gap exists in interpreting the results when considering the lack of evidence for most pain assessment strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.557-566
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• 2024

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia is one of the most common techniques used in peripheral nerve blockade by enhancing pain control and recovery time. However, accurate Brachial Plexus (BP) nerve detection and identification remains a challenging task due to the difficulty in data acquisition such as speckle and Doppler artifacts even for experienced anesthesiologists. To mitigate the issue, we introduce a BP nerve small target segmentation network by incorporating BP object detection and U-Net based semantic segmentation into a single deep learning framework based on the multi-scale approach. To this end, the current BP detection and identification was estimated: 1) A RetinaNet model was used to roughly locate the BP nerve region using multi-scale based feature representations, and 2) U-Net was then used by feeding plural BP nerve features for each scale. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed model produces high quality BP segmentation by increasing the accuracies of the BP nerve identification with the assistance of roughly locating the BP nerve area compared to competing methods such as segmentation-only models.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.12 s.257
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• pp.807-814
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• 2005

Background: Cardiopulmonary bypass is an essential process to maintain circulation for saving life during the cardiac surgery, But it is a process in which systemic inflammation was evoked inevitably because of the exposure of blood to foreign surface. The injuries to distal organs during the cardiopulmonary bypass were resulted from systemic inflammation and the disturbances of micro-circulations in the organs. We designed this study to research the effects of leukocyte depletion from pump-oxygenator priming solution on the systemic inflammation, and the micro-circulation of gastric mucosa that is suggested by the gastric mucosal $CO_{2}$ partial pressure and acidity. Material and Method: The dogs were divided into three groups according to the different pump-oxygenator priming solutions; non-hemic crystalloid solution; leukocyte-depleted homologous blood; and non leukocyte-depleted homo-logous blood. Each priming solution group contained five dogs. In all three groups, 2 hours of cardiopulmonary bypass, and 4 consecutive hours of general anesthesia was maintained on the mechanical ventilation. Each dog was evaluated for the gastric mucosal pH, $CO_{2}$ partial Pressure, arterial pH, $CO_{2}$ partial pressure, the exhaled air $CO_{2}$ partial pressure and the level of IL-8 on before the cardiopulmonary bypass, 1 hour after the cardiopulmonary bypass, 2 hours after the cardiopulmonary bypass, 2 hours after the restoration of normal circulation, and 4 hours after the restoration of normal circulation after the cardiopulmonary bypass. The levels of IL-8 were measured with ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) technique. Result: 1. There were significant differences of gastric mucosal $CO_{2}$ partial pressure between the leukocyte-depleted homologous blood group and other two groups(vs non leukocyte-depleted homologous blood group; P=0.02, vs non-hemic crystalloid solution group; P=0,01). 2. The gastric mucosal pH of leukocyte-depleted homologous blood group was significantly different from non leukocyte-depleted homologous blood group (p=0.01). 3. The levels of IL-8, which examine the systemic inflammation, showed signi- ficantly better results in leukocyte-depleted homologous blood group and non-hemic crystalloid solution group than non leukocyte-depleted homologous blood group (p=0.01, 0.01). Conclusion: Based upon these results, we concluded that the leukocyte depletion from the pump-oxygenator priming solution has a beneficial effects in reducing systemic inflammation and the preserving of gastric mucosal micro-circulation.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 1987

The effect of intravesical formalin instillation as a therapeutic modality for intractable bladder hemorrhage is well known. And despite clear evidence of therapeutic efficacy of intravesical cytotoxic drugs and/or BCG immunotherapy, there have been substantial recurrences during followup after transurethral resection for superficial bladder tumor. If formalin injected at the bed of superficial bladder tumor is able to coagulate and necrotize the tumor, it will be greatly helpful to the patients With recurrent bladder tumor developed during followup. Since this technique is applicable on outpatient basis, an economical as well as a psychological burden of the patients can be reduced considerably. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of submucosal formalin injection on rat bladder wall, 36 healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (weighing 350gm in average) were divided into 3 groups: In Group I (control group), 0.01ml of normal saline was injected submucosally at the left posterolateral wall of the bladder opened under intraperitoneal Nembutal anesthesia ; In Group II and III, 0.01 ml of 10% and 4% formalin, respectively, were administered at the same site as in the Group I, two rats in each group were sacrificed at day 1, 2, and 3, and week 1, 2 and 4 after injection, respectively. Gross and microscopic examination of the cystectomized specimen were done in each group. In the Group II, bladder stones were formed at week I, and in both the Group I and III, stones were seen at week 2 post injection. There was no significant difference III histologic findings of the bladder between the group II and III. Mucosal ulcer and/or prominent mucosal disruption was observed at 24 hours after injection in both Group II and III. Epithelial regeneration began at day 2, and was marked at day 3, and epithelial lining was almost normalized one week after injection. Subepithelial edema, telangiectasia and inflammatory reaction were prominent at 24 hours post formalin injection. Subepithelial edema persisted in moderate degree for 1 week. Telangiectasia and inflammatory reaction were noted for 4 weeks. Mild degree of these findings also appeared In the control group. Fibroblastic proliferation appeared at day 2 and persisted in moderate degree for 4 weeks. There has been no mortality or bladder perforation. These results suggest that clinical application of this technique is feasible for the selected cases of recurrent, solitary superficial bladder tumor. However, optimal dosage of formalin in relation to the size of the lesion remains to be investigated.