• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 2000

Purpose : With the use of localized, water-suppressed in vivo $^1H$ magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), we evaluated the proton metabolic alterations in patients with chronic alcoholism and healthy normal controls. Material and Methods : Patients with chronic alcoholism (N = 10) and normal control subjects (N = 10) underwent MRS examinations using a stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) pulse sequence with $2{\times}2{\times}2{\;}\textrm{cm}^3$ volume of interest (VOI) in the left cerebellum and basal ganglia. Proton metabolite ratios relative to creative (Cr) were obtained using a Marquart algorithm. Results : The specific feature in patients with chronic alcoholism was a significant decrease of N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/Cr ratio in the left cerebellum, compared with normal controls. No clear correlation of other metabolite ratios such as choline (Cho)/Cr and inositols (Ins)/Cr was established. Conclusion : Our preliminary study suggests that the reduction of NAA/Cr ratio may indicate neuronal loss in patients with chronic alcoholism. Thus, in vivo 1H MRS may be a useful modality in the clinical evaluation of patients with chronic alcoholism based on the proton metabolite ratios.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.10 no.3 s.53
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• pp.87-90
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• 1971

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.239-243
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• 2001

Alcoholism is a chronic behavior disorder that disturbs the health, social, and economical functions by intaking alcohol repeatedly. Alcoholism includes some habituation, dependency, and addiction. It may be clinically silent or severe enough to lead to the rapid development of hepatic, renal and gastrointestinal failure. Alcoholism can also cause death. In this case, we administrated saenggangunbitang and sungjoocheonggantang to a patient suffering from alcohoism and its withdrawal symptoms. After administration of saenggangunbitang-sungjoocheonggantang medication, clinical symptoms, including liver function with diabetes mellitus and splenomegaly improved. saenggangunbitang-sungjoocheonggantang showed desirable effect on alcoholism symptoms.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 1999

Chronic alcoholism often leads to folate deficiency. In recent years it has been reported that mild elevation of plasma homocysteine (Hcy) is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease. In the present study we investigated the effects of chronic ethanol consumption on folate status and the relation between plasma folate and Hcy. A human study was conducted to determine plasma folate, total Hcy, cysteine(Cys), total cholesterol and hemoglobin(Hb) concentrations in 44 Korean alcoholics(men aged 30 to 50yr) and 45 Korean non-alcoholic subjects(men aged 30 to 50 yr). In alcoholic subjects, 52.6% were folate deficient and 34.2% were marginally deficient, which suggested that most alcoholics were subnormal in folate status. Plasma total Hcy concentration of alcoholics was twice as high as in control subjects (p<0.001). We found a negative correlation between plasma folate and plasma total Hcy(r=-0.271, p<0.05) and a positive correlation between plasma folate and plasma Cys(r=0.249, p<0.05) in total subjects. Hb concentrations in alcoholics was significantly lower than in control subjects, but there was no difference in total cholesterol concentration between alcoholics and controls. These results suggest that chronic alcohol consumption may impair the disposal of Hcy by interfering with folate metabolism.

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Health Promotion Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.1-9
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• 2001

Health Insurance System in Korea was introduced in 1977 and expanded health insurance benefits for all people in 1989. The development of medical service and technology takes a growing concerning for public health and medicine. And also, it helps to extend the average life span of Koreans. Therefore, the old people are steadily increased over seven percent of total population and will take more than 14% in 2023. Generally, the old people have the chronic disease such as diabetes and hypertension. Also, smoking, stress, environmental pollution and lack of exercise, leading cause of cancer, cardiovascular disease and respiratory infections have affected to state economy negatively. Therefore, health promotion law was established for a variety of health promotion process, including education, program implementation and community development. The goals and strategies for health promotion are as following: . Practice of healthy life: - Strengthen publicity activities on smoking and exercise. - Program development for nonsmoking and exercise. - Program extent for community health. Strengthen of mental health: - Planning of national survey for mental patient. - Prevention of alcoholism - Setting up special hospital for alcoholism . Constant cancer management under government - Developing medical treatment and prevention program. - Early diagnosis for the whole nation . Management of chronic disease - Strengthen of Prevention Program . Reinforcing of oral health - A national survey of oral health - Oral health education

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.512-516
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• 2011

Objective : Patients with asymptomatic chronic subdural hematoma (SDH) are prone to fall or slip. Acute trauma on these patients may develop acute subdural bleeding over the chronic SDH. We recently experienced 9 patients with acute-on-chronic SDH. We report the clinical and radiological features of this lesion. Methods : We retrospectively examined the computed tomographic (CT) scans of 107 consecutive patients who diagnosed as chronic SDH from January 2008 to December 2010. All cases of CSDH were diagnosed on CT with or without MRI scan. Results : Acute-on-chronic SDH is not rare, being 8% of chronic SDH. The most common cause of trauma was a slip in drunken state. Alcoholism with multiple episodes of trauma was one of the prominent histories. Acute-on-chronic SDH appeared as a hyperdense layer of clot with irregular blurred margin or lumps in liquefied hematoma. Single or two burr holes was usually effective to remove the hematoma. Conclusion : Repeated trauma may cause acute bleeding over the chronic SDH. It will be helpful to understand the role of repeated trauma as a mechanism of hematoma enlargement.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2009

Marchiafava-Bignami disease(MBD) is a rare complication of chronic alcoholism characterized by symmetrical demyelination of the corpus callosum. We report a case of MBD in a Korean patient having chronic alcohol dependence. The patient exhibited mental depression, weakness of all four limbs and dysarthria. Laboratory data showed mild hyponatremia. Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) revealed unusual symmetrical resolving lesions of the putamen in addition to the typically observed lesion of the corpus callosum. The neurologic disturbances were gradually improved with the normalization of low plasma sodium levels. Marked improvement of abnormal MRI findings was noted after thiamine supplement, though the patient still exhibited severe cognitive impairment.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.130-134
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• 2005

Lithium is mainly prescribed for manic and depressive disorder, also frequently prescribed for the other diseases such as migraine, cluster headache, alcoholism, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. An acute lithium intoxication occurs in cases of patients ingesting large amount lithium at a time, a chronic lithium intoxication occurs in patients on chronic lithium therapy. Acute or chronic lithium poisoning occurs frequently in case of patients on chronic lithium therapy ingesting larger dose than prescribed. Manifestations of lithium poisoning are various. It is possible nervous, cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal and endocrine systems to be involved. Due to intracellular high concentration, mortality rate is high in acute lithium intoxication patients on chronic lithium therapy. We report a case of acutely intoxicated 40-year-old male on chronic lithium therapy. His chief complaints were deterioration and high fever. On his arrival to an emergency department, he was in cardiac arrest. He restored return of spontaneous circultion (ROSC) 5 minutes later after cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation (CPCR) and referred to department of internal medicine for hemodialysis. Vigorous treatment was given to the patient, but he was expired at 4th hospital day.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society Conference
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• 2000.01a
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• pp.9-11
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• 2000

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2857-2860
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• 2016

Background: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection is one of the important causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Thailand, involved in the pathogenesis and leading to a development of HCC with or without cirrhotic changes of the liver. This study was aimed to investigate the predictive factors for HCC among CHB patients in a tertiary care center in Thailand. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of CHB patients with or without HCC during the period of January 2009 and December 2014 at Thammasat University Hospital, Pathumthani, Thailand. Data on clinical characteristics, biochemical tests and radiologic findings were collected from review of medical records. Results: A total of 266 patients were diagnosed with CHB in Thammasat university hospital during the study period. However, clinical information of only 164/266 CHB patients (98 males, 66 females with mean age of 49.4 years) could be completely retrieved in this study. The prevalence of HCC in CHB infection in this study was 38/164 (23.2%). CHB patients with HCC had a mean age older than those without HCC (59.5 vs 47 years, P-value = 0.01). Furthermore, history of upper GI bleeding, tattooing, blood transfusion, and chronic alcoholism were significantly more common in CHB patients with HCC than patients without HCC (13.2% vs 3.2% P-value 0.03, OR = 4.6, 95%CI = 1.2-18.1, 20% vs 3.9%, P-value = 0.01, OR= 6.1, 95% CI= 1.6-23.6, 20% vs 6.3%, P-value = 0.03, OR = 3.8, 95%CI =1.1-12.7, 62.2% vs 30.3%, P-value <0.0001, OR = 3.7, 95%CI= 1.7-8.1 respectively). Interestingly, more CHB patients with HCC had evidence of cirrhosis than those without HCC (78.9% vs 20.4%, P-value <0.0001, OR = 14.6, 95%CI = 5.8-36.7). In CHB patients with HCC, surgical therapy provided longer survival than radiofrequency ablation (RFA) (72 vs 46.5 months, P-value= 0.04). The mean survival time after HCC diagnosis was 17.2 months. Conclusions: HCC remains a major problem among patients with CHB infection in Thailand. Possible risk factors are male gender, history of upper GI bleeding, chronic alcoholism, tattooing, blood transfusion and evidence of cirrhosis. For early stage HCC patients, surgical treatment provided longer survival time than RFA. Most HCC patients presented with advanced disease and had a grave prognosis. Appropriate screening of CHB patients at risk for HCC might be an appropriate approach for early detection and improvement of long-term outcomes.