• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.116-121
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• 2008

Unintentional injuries are the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population, and the home is the most common site of injury for children in Korea. The most common cause of injury was slip down. Fall down and burn were frequent in infant/toddlers group, automobile and bicycle accident more frequent in preschool children. Findings from the survey could then be used to provide targets for direct educational efforts by medical services and to direct environmental safety modifications tailored to the unique situation of each family. Pediatric toxic ingestions are treated commonly by pediatricians and emergency physicians. Significant injury after these ingestions is infrequent, but identifying the dangerous ingestion is sometimes a difficult task. By performing a detailed history, focused physical examination, and directed laboratory evaluation, an estimation of risk can be developed. According to recent Korean poison papers, there were bimodal peak of age distribution in poisoned children patient on the whole: infant and adolescents group. Various types of materials belonged the classes of drugs, household products, and industrial solvents. Most of the poisoned children patients had been poisoned accidentally, while most cases of adolescents poisoning had been intentional. More than half of the adolescents group had a suicidal purpose in Korea, so an understanding of the demographic factors associated with self-harm poisoning may provide useful information to improve prevention and treatment strategies.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2008

Methemoglobinemia can be caused by dapsone toxicity. We report a case dapsone induced methemoglobinemia unresponsive to methylene blue successfully treated by exchange transfusion. A 52-year-old male ingested a handful of dapsone. He presented with severe peripheral cyanosis in lips and fingertips and his methemoglobin level was found to be 21.9%. After admission, methylene blue (1%) at 1 mg/kg was injected each time peripheral cyanosis and rising serum methemoglobin occurred. Despite methylene blue therapy, the patient‘s methemoglobin level continued to fluctuate. Five days after the injections of methylene blue, many Heinz bodies were visualized in the peripheral blood, suggestive of hemolytic anemia occurrence. By hospital day 6, serum methemoglobine levels were elevated and not measurable (> 50%) and the patient was constantly in a semi-comatose mental state. An exchange transfusion carried out by utilizing 6 units of packed red blood cells and 4 units of fresh frozen plasma was performed. The patient's methemoglobin levels were subsequently kept up below 20% and his peripheral cyanosis receded. Physicians should recognize the important role of exchange transfusion in refractory dapsoneinduced methemoglobinemia.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 2011

Altered consciousness may be the first clinical sign of a serious medical problem that requires immediate and intensive therapy to maintain life. There are many causes of the loss of consciousness in the dental office setting, such as, vasodepressor syncope, drug administration or ingestion, orthostatic hypotension, epilepsy, hypoglycemic reaction, acute adrenal insufficiency, cerebrovascular accident, hyperglycemic reaction, acute myocardial infarction, acute allergic reaction and hyperventilation. This is a case report of syncope and coma during endodontic treatment of a maxillary third molar under local infiltration anesthesia in multiple medically compromised patient. The main cause was thought to be hypoglycemic reaction. The patient was transferred to the medical emergency room and cared properly by the emergency medical physicians. The prognosis was good.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.119-121
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• 2021

Ketamine is used widely in emergency departments for a variety of purposes, including procedural sedation for facial laceration in pediatric patients. The major benefits are its rapid onset of effects, relatively short half-life, and lack of respiratory depression. The known side effects of ketamine are hallucinations, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Seizure is not a known side effect of ketamine in patients without a seizure history. Here, we present the case of a patient in whom ketamine likely induced a generalized tonic-clonic seizure when used as a single agent in procedural sedation for facial laceration repair. The aim of this article is to report a rare and unexpected side effect of ketamine used at the regular dose for procedural sedation. This novel case should be of interest to not only emergency physicians but also plastic surgeons.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2009

Purpose: In highly doses, endosulfan lowers the seizure threshold and elicits central nervous system stimulation, which can result in seizures, respiratory failure, and death. Management of seizure control is essential for survival and prognosis of intoxicated patients. This study assessed whether seizure time was an independent predictor mortality in patients with endosulfan poisoning. Methods: This retrospective study enrolled patients with endosulfan poisoning presenting to Masan Samsung Hospital and Gyeongsang National University Hospital from January 2003 to December 2008. The data were collected from clinical records and laboratory files. Using a multivariate logistic analysis, data on the total population was retrospectively analyzed for association with mortality. Results: Of the 24 patients with endosulfan poisoning, nineteen (79.1%) experienced seizure. The patients in the seizure group showed significantly lower Glasgow coma scale score, base excess, bicarbonate, and significant existence of mechanical ventilation, as compared to the non seizure group (n=5). Seizure, Glasgow coma scale score, systolic blood pressure, bicarbonate level, need for respiratory support, pulse rate, respiratory rate, pH, base excess, and seizure time were associated with mortality. The fatality rate of endosulfan poisoning was 54.1% with higher mortality among patients experiencing. Longer seizure time was associated with higher mortality. Conclusion: Seizure time can be a significant independent predictor of mortality in patients with acute endosulfan poisoning. Physicians should aggressively treat for seizure control in patients with acute endosulfan poisoning.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2022

Purpose: Despite previous studies reporting the development of rhabdomyolysis (RM), this affliction tends to be neglected as an envenomation sign in South Korea. The current retrospective study investigates the prevalence and prognosis of RM after a snakebite. We further searched for predictors of snakebite-induced RM, which can be observed at presentation. Methods: This study included 231 patients who presented to the ED within 24 hours after a snakebite. The patients were classified according to the severity of RM, and the data, comprising baseline characteristics and clinical course including the level of creatine kinase (CK), were collected and compared according to the severity of RM. Results: The prevalence of RM and severe RM were determined to be 39% and 18.5%, respectively. Compared to the group without RM or with mild RM, the group with severe RM had a higher grade of local swelling, a higher frequency of acute kidney injury and neurotoxicity, and a greater need for renal replacement therapy and vasopressor administration. However, the incidence of acute renal injury in the RM group was 7.7%, with two patients needing renal replacement therapy. No mortalities were reported at discharge. Results of the multinomial logistic regression model revealed that the WBC levels are significantly associated with the risk of severe RM. Conclusion: RM should be considered the primary clinical sign of snake envenomation in South Korea, although it does not seem to worsen the clinical course. In particular, physicians should pay attention to patients who present with leukocytosis after a snakebite, which indicates the risk of developing RM, regardless of the CK level at presentation.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 2010

Purpose: It is not always easy to determine the existence of tendon injuries when it comes to patients with finger lacerations. Thus, we tried to find the difference in effectiveness and in compliance of patients when we employed two different types of diagnosis, conventional gross confirmation and ultrasonographic confirmation. Methods: From December 2009 to March 2010, we enrolled 14 patients with finger tendon injury at Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital. The median age of the patients was $35.9{\pm}14.4$, and the ratio of females to males was 1:2.5 We evaluated the compliance of each patient by measuring four different categories (level of cooperativeness in showing their wound and in following the instructions, level of movement of their fingers during the diagnosis and total number of attempts to diagnose) by using a score from 1 to 3 for each category, for a total possible score of 12 for each patient. We also measured the painfulness of each patient by using a score of 1 to 10 and the time required for each diagnosis. Results: The levels of patients' compliance was $8.9{\pm}2.1$ when diagnosed with gross confirmation and $9.8{\pm}2.1$ when diagnosed with ultrasonographic confirmation (p value=0.042). The pain score of the patients was $3.7{\pm}1.7$ with gross confirmation and $2.9{\pm}1.2$ with ultrasonographic confirmation (p value=0.020). The median duration of time in each test was $6.7{\pm}4.8$ minutes with gross confirmation and $10.5{\pm}4.2$ minutes with ultrasonography (p value=0.006). Conclusion: Comparing gross confirmation and ultrasonographic confirmation, gross confirmation is a better method than ultrasonography because of time efficiency. However, ultrasonographic confirmation has advantages over gross confirmation in pain scale and better compliance of patients. Emergency physicians generally employ gross confirmation rather than ultrasonography in determining the existence of tendon injury in patients. In patients with finger lacerations without bone injury, ultrasonography can be considered as a secondary diagnostic tool, especially when patients have much pain.

• The Korean Journal of Blood Transfusion
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.162-168
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• 2012

Background: Potassium, the most common cation in the intracellular space, plays a critical role in our physiology. Potassium imbalance may cause life-threatening problems, ranging from general weakness to cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. For emergency physicians, detection of such derangement within a short period of time is of critical importance. In this study, we wanted to determine whether analysis of whole blood samples can be used as a screening tool for potassium imbalance by comparative analysis of whole blood and serum samples. Methods: Two samples were drawn from 227 patients. The whole blood sample was taken from the radial artery and contained in a commercially available arterial blood collection syringe with a lithium-heparin coating. The serum sample was contained in a commercially available vacuum bottle in a non-additive silicone coated tube and transported to the laboratory. The study population was divided into three groups, patients with normal whole blood potassium, patients with decreased whole blood potassium, and patients with elevated whole blood potassium. Potassium levels for each group were coupled with serum potassium levels and compared. Results: No significant difference in potassium values was observed between whole blood and serum samples (P<0.05). Strong associations were observed among the three groups (normal range, hypokalemia, and hyperkalemia group). Compared to the normal group (r=0.851), the hyperkalemia group showed a stronger association between variables (r=0.897), and the hypokalemia group showed a weaker association (r=0.760). Their correlation coefficients were highly significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Our study illustrates that point-of-care testing using whole blood with whole blood can be a reliable screening tool when treating patients with suspicious potassium abnormality, especially in hyperkalemia patients.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.659-660
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• 2017

Biliary ascariasis is still the leading cause of surgical complication of ascariasis, though its incidence has been dramatically reduced. Herein, we report a case of biliary ascariasis for the purpose of enhancing awareness of parasitic infections as a possible cause. A 72-year-old male visited the emergency room of Dankook University Hospital on 12 July 2015, complaining of right-upper-quadrant pain. By endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), a tubular filling defect in the right hepatic duct was detected. The defect was endoscopically removed and diagnosed as an adult female of Ascaris lumbricoides worm, of 30 cm length. Upon removal of the worm, the pain subsided, and the patient was discharged without any complication. When treating cases of biliary colic, physicians should not neglect biliary ascariasis as the possible cause.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.609-613
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• 2018

Babesiosis, caused by Babesia microti and B. divergens, is transmitted by Ixodid ticks. Symptoms of babesiosis vary from a mild flu-like illness to acute, severe, and sometimes fatal and fulminant disease. In Korea, 7 imported babesiosis cases and 1 endemic case have been reported. We report 2 cases of severe babesiosis initially mistaken as malaria. The first patient was complicated by shock and splenic infarction, the other co-infected with Lyme disease. As the population traveling abroad increases every year, physicians should be aware of babesiosis which mimics malaria, co-infection with other diseases, and its complications.