• Title/Summary/Keyword: Heart Age

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A Study on Self-medication Beharior of Four Cautious Drugs. (특정의약품의 자가투약행위에 관한 연구)

  • 황미숙
    • Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.46-70
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    • 1987
  • The survey with questionnaire were conducted to grasp the actual condition of four cautious drugs-antibiotics, sedative hypnctics, mincr tranquilizer, analeptics-self -medication behavior through drugstore use and to analyze the primary factors connected with it. The following six objectives were established. 1) To catch the reason why the man who medicate himself buy four cautious drugs at a drugstore, and to know the choice motive of each drug purchased. 2) To grasp the distribution of four cautious drug taken by the man who medicate himself and to analyse the reason of taking the drug. 3) To find out whether the buyer has taken the same drug past and to know the duration and the frequency. 4) To grasp the degree of recognition about four cautious drugs and the attitude toward continuous taking them. 5) To analyze the degree of recognition about the influence on human body and the attitude of medication behavior. 6) To know "the experience of side-effects" and to grasp the kind of the side-effects. The data were collected from 15 drugstores with 677 respondents in seoul from August 17 to september 21, 1987. The following results were obtained. 1) The reasons for drugstore use were first, "for easy access and convenience" (53.7%) second, "for the slightness of illness" (19.9%) third "for the cheap price" (13.2%). According to that result, the factor of "the easy access of drugstore" was most influential. In case of the poor, the factor "for the cheap price "was revealed second (37.3%). And "for the slightness of illness" was second reason in the medically insured (22. 9%), "for the cheap price" was second reason in the others (29%). 2) The kind of drugs purchased were antibiotics (62.8%), analeptics(17.2%), minor tranquilizer(13.3%) and sedative hypnotics (6.7%) on the whole. In teenagers, besides antibiotics the percentage of taking analepits came second (42.4%) and it was revealed that the percentage of sedative hypnotics, minor tranquilizer increase with age. But in proportion to the increase of age, the taking of analeptis decreased. 3) The choice motives of each drug purchased were all different. In case of antibiotics "recommendation of pharmacist" was 39.6%, sedative hypnotics "recommendation of pharmacist" and "my own judgement", 28.9%, respectively, minor tranquilizer "my own judgement", 35.2%. and in case of analeptics "my oun judgement" was most common with 53.5%. 4) The reasons for taking drugs were as follows. antibiotics was taken for the inflammation mitigation of a wound and a swelling (38.5%), sedative hypnotics for the removal of insomnia (97.5%), minor tranquilizer because of restlessness and qloominess(39.3%), and analeptics for the shortening of sleeping hours (35.1%). 5) Those experienced in taking four cautious drugs were 78.2% on the average. It was revealed that antibiotics use duration was "from one week to one month" (38.9%), the frequency was "rarely" (62.1%), sedative hypnotics and minor tranquilizer; "More than three years", (35.7%, 30.4%), respectively, "Somtimes", (43.8%, 35%), respectively. analeptics ; "from one year to three years", (27.6%), "Sometimes", (42.7%). 6) In regard to the source of information in taking drugs, 35.3 percent of male were relied on "recommendation of pharmacist", 32.6 percent of female "my own judgement", There was a difference between below the middle school graduates and over the high school graduates Thease were relied on "recommendation of pharmacist" first, those "my own judgement" first. And "my own judgement" was the first source of specialist(40%), labours(41.4%), salesman(43.5%), and jobless men(36.8%), "recommendation of ralatives on friends" was the first source of students (30.4%), "recommendation of pharmacist" was the first soure of teachers, administrative office workers (39%) and housewives (40.7%). 7) The degree of recognition about four cautious drugs was as follows. "know a little" was (43.0%), "don't know" (30.2%), "know" (26.8%), respectively. In regard to the attitude toward continuous taking them, it was revealed that "I will take it according to circumstamces" was first (56.2%), " I will not take it as possible" was first(56.2%), "I dont know well" (12.9%), "I will take it continuously" (8.3%). 8) About the influence on human body, "if proper, it is effect" was common attitude toward antibiotics (43.6%), "Probably bad influence on the health" was first toward the other drugs (46.2%), In terms of the degree of observance to taking-time and dose of drugs, "suitably" was first (37.3%), "relatively correctly" second (27%), "correctly" (17%). 9) The percentage of four cautious drugs side-effects was 27.5 on the average. The kind of side-effects were eruption and urticaria (28.5%), heart acceleration and so forth. (25.4%), headache and Giddiness, dyspepsia (23%), respectively.

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Clinical and Bacteriologic Efficacy of Cefprozil on Pharyngitis and Pharyngotonsilitis caused by Group A Beta Hemolytic Streptococci in Children (Group A-beta Hemolytic Streptococci에 의한 소아 인두편도염에 있어서 Cefprozil의 항균력과 임상적 및 세균학적 효과에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Min-Woo;Ahn, Young-Min;Jang, Seong-Hee;Ma, Sang-Hyuk;Ahn, Byung-Moon;Kim, Jong-Duk;Lee, Jong-Kook;Kim, Mi-Lan;Chang, Jin-Kun;Park, Jin-Young;Bae, Jong-Woo;Cha, Sung-Ho
    • Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.206-212
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    • 2001
  • Objective : To determine the clinical and bacteriologic efficacy and safety of Cefprozil in acute pharyngitis and pharyngotonsilitis caused by Group A beta hemolytic streptococci in pediatric patients. Methods : Any patient of 3 to 14 age who visited the hospitals enrolled in this study with the signs and symptoms of pharyngitis or pharyngotonsilitis since July, 2000 to March, 2001, was taken throat culture and given Cefprozil(15 mg/kg/day, in two divided doses) for 10 days. 138 patients of whom showed positive culture results were followed up for the signs and symptoms during the treatment to determine clinical efficacy. Any undesirable effect was reported to determine the safety of the drug. Follow up cultures were done at the end of the study and bacteriologic efficacy was determined. Results : 138 of 256 patients who visited the hospitals with the signs and symptoms of pharyngitis or pharyngotonsilitis showed positive growth on throat culture. Mean age of the patients was $6.1{\pm}2.5$ and males and females were equally numbered. 129 of them complained fever on the first visit and 112(86.6%) of them were improved at the end of the study. Cervical lymphadenitis was seen in 58 patients and 44(75.9%) of them improved at the end of the study. Exudative pharyngitis was seen in 96 patients and 81(84.3%) of them improved. The overall clinical effcacy based on this results showed that 110(79.7%) of the patients were cured and 17(12.3%) of them improved. On the cultures and bacteriologic efficacy, 24.6% of them showed documented eradication after treatment and 62.3% of them showed presumptive eradication. Sensitivity test was done by agar dilution method and Cefprozil showed 100% sensitivity. Erythromycin, Clarithromycin and azithromycin showed 87%, 85.6 %, 90.6% sensitivity, respectively. Conclusion : Cefprozil is proved to be effective in controlling group A streptococcal pharyngitis and pharyngotonsilitis in children and showed good sensitivity. Cefprozil can be used as an effective oral cephalosporin in the patients showing penicillin hypersensitivity or patients who other drugs have failed.

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Long-term Results of Modified Lecompte Procedure for the Anomalies of Ventriculoarterial Connection (심실대혈관 연결 이상에 대한 변형된 Lecompte 술식의 장기 성적)

  • 임홍국;한국남;김웅한;이정렬;노준량;김용진
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.37 no.9
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    • pp.727-734
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    • 2004
  • The Lecompte procedure for transposition of the great arteries has an advantage because it obviates the need for an extracardiac conduit for the reconstruction of the pulmonary outflow tract. We evaluated the effectiveness and the application of the Lecompte procedure. Material and Method: A retrospective review was conducted of the records of 46 patients who underwent the Lecompte procedure during the past 15 years. Mean age at operation was 29.2$\pm$20.3 (range: 3∼83) months. The diagnoses involved anomalies of the ventriculoarterial connection with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary outflow tract obstruction, such as transposition of the great arteries, double-outlet right ventricle, and double-outlet left ventricle. Result: Early mortality was 4.4% (2 of 46 patients) and late mortality was 6.8% (3 of 44). The mean follow-up was 11.2$\pm$6.9 years. Eighteen patients (43.9% of survivors, n=41) had pulmonary stenosis (pressure gradient above 30 mmHg), the main reason for which was a calcified monocusp valve (n=15, 83.3%). Seventeen of 46 patients (37.0%) underwent reoperation: 15 for pulmonary stenosis, 5 for residual ventricular septal defect, 4 for left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, 3 for pulmonary insufficiency, and 4 for other causes. The cumulative survival rates were 91.3$\pm$4.2%, and 87.0$\pm$5.8% at 10 and 15 years, respectively. The actuarial probabilities of freedom from reoperation for pulmonary stenosis were 90.6$\pm$4.5%, 73.9$\pm$7.3%, and 54.0$\pm$10.4% at 5, 10, and 15 years, respectively. Conclusion: The Lecompte procedure is an effective treatment modality. Repair in early age is possible with acceptable morbidity and mortality, but recurrent right ventricular outflow tract obstruction caused by degeneration of the monocusp valve is a problem that needs resolution.

Mitral valve Replacement (승모판막 치환술)

  • Sin, Dong-Geun;Kim, Min-Ho;Jo, Jung-Gu
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.137-145
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    • 1997
  • From July 1983 to December 1993, total 112 consecutive mitral valve replacements in 107 patients were performed in patient with mitral valvular abnormalities. To estimate the risk factor related to operative death, all patient's perioperative data were reviewed retrospectively. Except 20 patients received concomitant aortic valve replacement and 2 patients had incomplete data, 85 patients were included in this study. Mean age were $37.3\pm$ 13.1 years ranging from 13 to 72 years. Thirty-seven patients were male and fourty-eight patients were female. Mean follow-up durations were $51.1\pm33.8$ months ranging from 6 months t 11 years. Patients in this study showed improvement in mean NYHA functional clssification, from $3.02\pm0.73$ to 1 $78\pm0.55,$ and also in cardiothoracic ratio, from 0.61 $\pm0.09$ to $0.58\pm0.08$ at 6 months follow-up after operation. Operative complications were detected in 23 patients(27.1 %) and common postoperative complications were rhythm disturbance in 7 cases, pulmonary complications in 6 cases and low cardiac output syndrome in 6 cases. Early mortality was 10.6%(n=9) and the most common cause of death was a congestive heart failure due to low cardiac output syndrome. Main cause of our higher operative mortality than other study was that operative mortality in the initial period of our mitral surgery was high(5 operative deaths among 19 mitral valve replacement from July 1983 to December 1985). Actuarial survival was 80.8% at 5 years, 71.8% at 11 years including operative deaths. Actuarial freedom from anticoagulant-related bleeding was 85.3% at 5 years, 78.3% at 11 years. 95.1% at 5 years and 88.8% at 11 years among the patient in this study were free from thromboembolism, and 97.5% at 5 years and 75.1% at 11 years were free from reoperation. Preoperative cardiothoracic ratio and patient's age were statistically significant operative risk factors.

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Clinical observation for the Geriatric C.V.A. (노인(老人) 뇌졸중(腦卒中)에 대(對)한 임상적(臨床的) 고찰(考察))

  • Seo, Un-Kyo;Jeong, Ji-Cheon;Lee, Won-Chul
    • The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.50-70
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    • 1993
  • Clinical observation was done on 92 cases of Occlusive CVD, Cerebral hemorrhage (Subarachnoid hemorrhage) which were confirmed by Brain CT scan and observed for over 4 weeks, among the 121 cases which were more than 65 years of age. they admitted to the Dept. of Internal Medicine, Oriental Medical Hospital in Dong Guk Univ. from July 1992 to June 1993. The result were as follows; 1. In this study, Occlusive CVD was 74 cases, Cerebral hemorrhage (Subarachnoid hemorrhage was 2 cases) was 18 cases. 2. The ratio of male to female was 1.09:1. The age distribution showed the large number in the 65-69 year group(52.2%), 7th decade was 44.5% over 8th decade was 3.3% in ratio. 3. The site of Occlusive CVD was most common at MCA. the site of Cb-hemorrhage was most common at Basal ganglia. 4. The most common preceding disease was hypertension(47.8%) and the next were diabetes mellitus(14.1%), heart desease(14.1%). 5. Recurrence rate was 33.7% and 2nd attack was 20.7%, 3rd attack was 8.7%, 4th attack was 4.3% 6. Predisposing factors in Occlusive CVD were initiated usually during resting and sleeping, and that in Cb-hemorrhage were represented chiefly exercising(66.6%). 7. The smoker was 52.2%, the drinker was 32.6% in whole group. the drinker was 61.1% by the Cb-hemorrhage. 8. The ratio of the season distribution was as follow, fall 35.8%, winter 29.3%, spring 19.6%, summer 15.3%, that of the month distribution was november 15.2%. 9. Duration from on set in Occlusive CVD, 60.8% was within 5 days, that in Cb-hemorrhage, 77.8% was within 5 days. 10. Level of consciousness on attack was clear 42.2%, lethargy and mental change(dull, stupid etc.) 41.3%. The common symptoms were motor disturbance(90.2%), verbal disturbance(65.2%), headache(43.5%). 11. The physical theraphy of Occlusive CVD has been performed 75.7% in whole group and the average beginning time was 6.4 days, and that of Cb-hemorrhage has been performed 61.1% in whole group and the average beginning time was 13 days. 12. Duration of hospitalization was noted 11-20 days was 31.5%, over 21 days was 46.8%, and the average admission was 22.7 day(Occlusive CVD), 32days (Cb-hemorrhage). 13. The main complication were observed in the studies; urinary tract infection and pneumonia were noted in 6.5%, bed sore in 5.4%. 14. The ratio of systolic blood pressures in admission and discharge decreased from 58.7% to 28.3% in over 160 mmHg, that of diastolic blood pressures in admission and discharge decreased from 72.8% to 51.1% in over 90 mmHg. In 31(33.7%) of the 92 cases it showed the glucose levels of more than normal. 15. The patients have done family history of hypertension and C.V.A were 32.6% of all 16. Occlusive CVD In 83.8% and Cb-hernorrhage in 72.2% were improved 17. The herb medications were various Sunghyanggeonggisan, Sopungtang, CHunmagudeungeum were used most frequently and Gamidaebotang, Boyangwhanotang, Gagamyunjotang, Mangeumtang etc. were used as discharge.

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Outcome of Staged Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia and a Ductus-dependent Pulmonary Circulation: Should Primary Repair Be Considered?

  • Kim, Hyung-Tae;Sung, Si-Chan;Chang, Yun-Hee;Jung, Won-Kil;Lee, Hyoung-Doo;Park, Ji-Ae;Huh, Up
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.44 no.6
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    • pp.392-398
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    • 2011
  • Background: The tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with pulmonary atresia (PA) and a ductus-dependent pulmonary circulation (no major aorto-pulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCAs)) has been treated with staged repair or primary repair depending on the preference of surgeons or institutions. We evaluated the 19-year outcome of staged repair for this anomaly to find out whether our surgical strategy should be changed. Materials and Methods: Forty-four patients with TOF/PA with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) who underwent staged repair from June 1991 to October 2010 were included in this retrospective study. The patients with MAPCAs were excluded. The average age at the first palliative shunt surgery was $40.8{\pm}67.5$ days (range: 0~332 days). Thirty-one patients (31/44, 70%) were neonates. The average weight was $3.5{\pm}1.6$ kg (range: 1.6~8.7 kg). A modified Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt was performed in 38 patients, classic BT shunt in 4 patients, and central shunt in 2 patients. Six patients required concomitant procedures: pulmonary artery angioplasty was performed in 4 patients, pulmonary artery reconstruction in one patient, and re-implantation of the left pulmonary artery to the main pulmonary artery in one patient. Four patients required a second shunt operation before the definitive repair was performed. Thirty-three patients underwent definitive repair at $24.2{\pm}13.3$ months (range: 7.3~68 months) after the first palliative operation. The average age at the time of definitive repair was $25.4{\pm}13.5$ months (range: 7.6~68.6 months) and their average weight was $11.0{\pm}2.1$ kg. For definitive repair, 3 types of right ventricular outflow procedures were used: extra-cardiac conduit was performed in 30 patients, trans-annular patch in 2 patients, and REV operation in 1 patient. One patient was lost to follow-up after hospital discharge. The mean follow-up duration for the rest of the patients was $72{\pm}37$ months (range: 4~160 months). Results: Ten patients (10/44, 22.7%) died before the definitive repair was performed. Four of them died during hospitalization after the shunt operation. Six deaths were thought to be shunt-related. The average time of shunt-related deaths after shunt procedures was 8.7 months (range: 2 days~25.3 months). There was no operative mortality after the definitive repair, but one patient died from dilated cardiomyopathy caused by myocarditis 8 years and 3 months after the definitive repair. Five-year and 10-year survival rates after the first palliative operation were 76.8% and 69.1%, respectively. Conclusion: There was a high overall mortality rate in staged repair for the patients with TOF/PA with PDA. Majority of deaths occurred before the definitive repair was performed. Therefore, primary repair or early second stage definitive repair should be considered to enhance the survival rate for patients with TOF/PA with PDA.

Association between Type D Personality and the Somatic Symptom Complaints in Depressive Patients (우울증 환자에서 D형 인격과 신체 증상 호소와의 관련성)

  • Park, Wu-Ri;Jeong, Seong-Hoon
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.18-26
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    • 2013
  • Objectives : Type D personality was originally introduced to study the role of personality in predicting outcomes of heart disease. However, researches showed that other medical conditions are also affected by this personality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between type D personality and somatic symptom complaints in depressive patients. Methods : Eighty-two individuals diagnosed with depressive disorder were included. Type D personality was measured with DS14. Patient Health Questionnaire(PHQ) 9 and 15 were used to measure depression severity and somatization tendencies. For alexithymia, TAS-20 was used. Student T-test and linear regression analysis were performed. The best regression model was determined by stepwise variable selection. Results : More than half of the subjects(56%) complained at least medium degree somatic symptoms according to PHQ-15 criteria. Two-thirds of the subjects were classified as Type D personality(63.4%). The mean PHQ-15 score of the Type D individuals was significantly higher than the remaining subjects(PHQ-15 mean=12.7, $p=8.2{\times}10^{-7}$). The best regression model included age, PHQ-9 score and NA subscale score as predictor variables. Among these, only the coefficients of age($p=1.5{\times}10^{-3}$) and NA score($p=1.5{\times}10^{-7}$) were found to be statistically significant. Conclusions : The result showed that Type D personality was one of the strong predictors of somatic complaints among depressive individuals. The finding that negative affectivity rather than social inhibition was more closely associated with somatization tendencies does not fully agree with the traditional explanation that inability to express negative emotion predispose the individuals to somatic symptoms. The finding that alexithymia was not shown to be a significant predictors also substantiated this discrepancy. However, it might be possible that the high correlation between NA and SI subscore(r=0.65) and between NA and TAS-20 score(r=0.44) hid the additional effects of social inhibition and alexithymia. Further research with a larger sample would be needed to investigate the effects of the latter two components over and above the effect of negative affectivity on the somatic complaints in depressive patients.

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The Prevalence of Chronic Degenerative Disease and Utilization of Medical Facility in Rural Population (농촌지역(農村地域) 주민(住民)의 만성퇴행성질환(慢性退行性疾患) 유병률(有病率) 및 이용의료기관(利用醫療機關))

  • Ann, Kil-Soo;Chun, Byung-Yeol;Yeh, Min-Hae
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.21 no.2
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    • pp.209-220
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    • 1996
  • This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of chronic disease and utilization of medical facility in rural area. 5,797 persons were randomly selected from 28,883 rural residents who were over 30 years old and living in Moonkyung city in Kyungsangpook Province during the period October 1 1983 to February 28 1994. The person prevalence rate was 336 per 1,000. The prevalence rate in men(278 per 1,000) was higher than that(388 per 1,000) in women. The spell prevalence rate in men(367) was significantly higher than that(429) in women (p<0.05). The prevalence was increased with the age, 106 in the 30's. 223 in the40's, 336 in the 50's, 407 in the 60's, and 457 in the age group of 70 above. Of all chronic diseases, the prevalence of neuralgia ranked first(128), chronic gastrointestinal disorders(64), degenerative arthritis(54). hypertension (44) and diabetes (14) were followed in descending order. In men, the prevalence of neuralgia ranked first, chronic gastrointestinal disorders, degenerative arthritis, hypertension and bronchial asthma were followed in descending order. In women, the prevalence of neuralgia ranked first, degenerative arthritis, chronic gastrointestinal disorders, hypertension and diabetes were followed in descending order. The prevalences of neuralgia, degenerative arthritis and hypertension were significantly higher in women than those in men, however, those of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary tuberculosis and liver cirrhosis in men were significantly higher than those in women(p<0.05). Most patients with chronic diseases were more likely to utilize hospital and/or local clinics than public health facility or community health providers. Patients with neuralgia, degenerative arthritis and bronchial asthma tended to utilizing local clinics initially, however, they were changed to visit public health facility or community health providers afterwards. Patients with hypertension or pulmonary tuberculosis were more likely to visit public health facility, however, those with diabetes, cancer, heart failure, CVD, liver cirrhosis were more likely to visit hospital.

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Congenital Anomaly of Urinary Tract in Children (소아 선천성 요로계 기형에 관한 고찰)

  • Shin Weon Hye;Ko Cheol Woo;Koo Ja Hoon;Chung Sung Kwang
    • Childhood Kidney Diseases
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.88-94
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    • 1999
  • Purpose : Malformation of urinary tract is among the most common of all congenital anomalies and can progress to irreversible renal damage before diagnosis due to difficulty of early diagnosis. Present study was undertaken to determine the clinical characteristics of urinary tract anomaly and to find out the most appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic measures for children with these anomalies. Methods : During the past 10 years from 1987 to 1998, review of medical records revealed 65 children with congenital anomaly of urinary tract and the following results were obtained. Results : The most common anomalies were ureteropelvic junction obstruction occuring in 26 cases ($36\%$), followed by ureteral duplication in 11 cases, renal agenesis in 10 cases and ureterovesical function obstruction in 7 cases. Complex anomaly of urinary tract was found in 8 cases and anomaly of other systems such as congenital heart disease was detected in 11 cases. The most frequent age group at the time of diagnosis was below 1 year of age constituting 39 cases ($60\%$) and male preponderance was noted as male to female ratio being 2.25:1. Presenting symptoms were urinary tract infection in 25 cases, followed by hematuria, abdominal mass, abdominal pain and voiding difficulty, etc, and in 11 cases, the anomaly was picked up by routine prenatal ultrasonography. Azotemia was noted in 9 cases and the underlying anomaly was obstructive uropathy in 4 out of these 9 cases. Surgical correction was undertaken in 38 cases (most frequently in cases of obstructive uropathy) and in 2 out off cases with obstructive uropathy in whom surgical correction was done, azotemia disappeared during follow up period of 1-5years. No new cases of deteriorating renal function appeared during follow-up period. Conclusion : In spite of high incidence of congenital malformation of urinary tract, early diagnosis is still hampered by nonspecific symptoms and signs. Therefore, in patients with symptoms such as urinary tract infection, abdominal pain and voiding problems, etc, it Is advisable to take various diagnostic tests promptly to pick up any urinary tract anomaly and to apply proper therapy in order to avoid progression to irreversible renal damage. In this regard, prenatal ultrasonography should be utilized more widely as a routine procedure to detect any urinary tract anomalies before birth.

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Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery(VATS) of Pericardial Window Operation (비디오 흉강경을 이용한 심낭막 개창술)

  • 윤석원;김동관;김정원;박창률;김용희;박기성;박승일
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.35 no.11
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    • pp.812-816
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    • 2002
  • Pericardial effusions result from various conditions such as inflammation, malignancies, open heart surgery and uremia. Recently, video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has been used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in the management of pericardial effusion and intrathoracic lesions due to its ability to provide outstanding visibility of intrathoracic structures with less pain, superior cosmetic effects, and shorter hospital stay Material and Method: From April 1995 to October 2001, 51 patients received pericardial window operation via either thoracoscopic(Group A, n=37, m:f=18:19, mean age=56.4 yrs)or thoracotomy approach(Group B, n=14, m:f=8:6, mean age=58.4 yrs). Result: In group A, the operation time, duration of chest tube insertion, recurrence rate of pericardial effusion, and postoperative hospital stay were 61.2 minutes, 9.3 days, 2.7%, 16.2 days, respectively while in group B these values were 58.4 minutes, 12.2 days, 7.1, and 17.3 days. The number of injections for pain control in group A were 4.2 times, whereas in group B it was 6.3 times. Although there was a tendency for the mean hospital stay and duration of chest tube insertion to be shorter in group A than in group B, these differences did not reach statistical significance. There was also no significant difference in the operation time and recurrence rate between the two groups. Conclusion: The safety and effectiveness of VATS in the management of pericardial effusion is comparable to the open thoracotomy method. It allows for a shorter hospital stay, duration of chest tube insertion, lesser postoperative pain and a smaller skin incision.