• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.46 no.9
• /
• pp.893-897
• /
• 2003

Purpose : Benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes(BECT) is characterized by an excellent prognosis. Therefore, the necessity for the use of antiepileptic drugs is controversial. The object of this study is to know about the long-term follow-up of BECT, comparing daily treatment with antiepileptic drug(AED) versus no medication. Methods : We retrospectively studied 56 cases of BECTs, examined at Pediatric Neurology Clinic, Korea University Medical Center as reference study time, August 2002. Thirty-eight patients didn't have mediation(group I), while eighteen patients received one or two AED(group II). We evaluated demographics, clinical manifestations at diagnosis, EEG findings and clinical courses in groups I & II. Results : There was no significant differences of sex, age, seizure frequency, seizure type, seizure onset time, family history and EEG findings between group I & II. The reasons to start AED were : parents' anxiety(three cases), frequent seizure(12 cases) and daytime seizure(three cases). There was no evolution of status epilepticus and no difficulty in school performance. Conclusion : AED treatment was of no advantage and long-term prognosis was good regardless of treatment strategy. So it is advisable not to choose AED as the first line of therapy, provided that the patient himself/herself or the family understands the benign nature of BECT.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.1565-1570
• /
• 2016

Background: Central neurocytomas are rare neuronal neoplasms with a favorable prognosis. They are typically located in the lateral ventricles of the brain and mostly histologically correspond to WHO grade II with a Mib 1 labelling index of <2%. Similar tumors located in the cerebral hemispheres and spinal cord, for example, are called "extraventricular neurocytomas". A few tumors histologically show atypia, mitoses, vascular proliferation and/or necrosis and a Mib 1 index >2 % and are designated as "atypical neurocytomas. Aim: The aim of our study was to describe the common as well as unusual morphologic features and the role of various immunohistochemical stains in the diagnosis of these rare tumors. Materials and Methods: We retrieved and reviewed 35 cases diagnosed between 2001 and 2015. Results: Sixty percent of patients were males, and the mean age was 26 years. 31 cases (88.6%) were intraventricular and 4(11.4%) were extraventricular. Histologically, 6 cases (17.1%) were compatible with "atypical neurocytomas". All cases showed the classic morphology comprising nests and sheets of uniform, round cells with uniform round to oval nuclei with finely speckled chromatin and perinuclear cytoplasmic clearing (halos). All cases also showed delicate, fibrillary, neuropil-like matrices. Other common histologic features included capillary-sized blood vessels in a branching pattern in 57.1%, foci of calcification in 34.3% and perivascular pseudorosettes in 20%. Rare findings included Homer-Wright or true rosettes in 8.6% and ganglioid cells in 2.9%. Synaptophysin was the most consistent and valuable marker, being positive in almost all cases. GFAP positivity in tumor cells was seen in 25.7% of cases. Follow up was available in 13 patients. Of these 9 had histologically typical and 4 had atypical tumors. Only 1 (with an atypical neurocytoma) died, probably due to complications of surgery within one month, while 12 (including 3 with atypical neurocytomas) remained alive. Recurrence developed in 1 of these 12 patients (histologically consistent with typical morphology) almost 9 years after surgery. Only 4 patients, including 2 with atypical tumors, received postoperative radiotherapy, all with surgery in 2010 or later. Overall, prognosis was excellent with prolonged, recurrence free survival and most patients, even without receiving radiation therapy, were alive and well for many years, even a decade or more after surgery, without developing any recurrence, indicating the benign nature of these neoplasms.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.42 no.5
• /
• pp.552-558
• /
• 2015

Background The Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome (KTS) is characterized by three clinical features, namely cutaneous capillary malformations, venous malformations, and soft tissue and/or bony hypertrophy of the extremities. The varied manifestations are attributed to the unpredictable clinical nature and prognosis of the syndrome. To elucidate the clinical characteristics of this disease, we reviewed a relatively large number of KTS patients who presented to our vascular anomalies center. Methods We conducted a retrospective study with 19 patients who were diagnosed with KTS and treated in our vascular anomalies clinic between 2003 and 2014, and examined their demographic characteristics, their clinical features, and the treatments administered. Results The sex distribution was balanced, with 9 (47%) males and 10 (53%) females. The mean follow-up period was 4.1 years (range, 7 months-9 years). Most of the patients received conservative treatments such as medication or physiotherapy. Compression therapies such as wearing of elastic garments/bandages were also administered, and surgical interventions were considered only when the patients became excessively symptomatic. Other treatments included laser therapy and sclerotherapy, and all the treatments were adjusted according to each case, tailored to the conditions of the individual patients. Conclusions KTS is an extremely rare, multifactorial disorder that induces widely varied symptoms. Because of this unique feature, plastic surgeons, when not careful, tend to attach a one-sided importance to typical symptoms such as limb hypertrophy or capillary malformation and thus overlook other symptoms and clinical features. KTS can be suspected in all infants who show capillary malformations or limb hypertrophy and require a multi-disciplinary approach for comprehensive management.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.57-72
• /
• 2021

Purpose: At present, there are a variety of serious patient safety incidents related to problems in health information technology (HIT), specifically involving electronic medical records (EMRs). This emphasizes the need for an enhanced electronic medical record system (EMRS). As such, this study analyzed both the nature of and potential to prevent incidents associated with HIT/EMRS based on data from the Korea Patient Safety Reporting and Learning System (KOPS). Methods: This study analyzed patient safety incidents submitted to KOPS between August 2016 and December 2019. HIT keywords were used to extract HIT/EMRS incidents. Each case was reviewed to confirm whether the contributing factors were related to HIT/EMRS (HIT/EMRS-related incidents) and if the incident could have been prevented (HIT/EMRS-preventable incidents). The selected reports were summarized for general clarity (e.g., incident type, and degree of harm). Results: Of the 25,515 obtained reports, 2,664 incidents (10.4%) were HIT-related, while 2,525 (9.9%) were EMRS-related. HIT/EMRS-related incidents were the third largest type of incident followed by 'fall' and 'medication incidents.' More than 80% of HIT/EMRS-related incidents were medication-related, accounting for approximately one-third of the total number of medication incidents. Approximately 10% of HIT/EMRS-related incidents resulted in patient harm, with more than 94% of these deemed as preventable; further, sentinel events were wholly preventable. Conclusion: This study provides basic data for improving EMR use/safety standards based on real-world patient safety incidents. Such improvements entail the establishment of long-term plans, research, and incident analysis, thus ensuring a safe healthcare environment for patients and healthcare providers.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.43-46
• /
• 2008

Hypophayngeal cancers are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and in many cases, they need total pharyngocervical esophagectomy and surgical reconstruction. Among many surgical reconstructive methods, jejunal free flap has anatomical and functional advantages such as tubed nature, peristaltic activity, excellent blood supply. In this study we analysed the surgical procedure and complications of jejunal free flap after total pharyngo-cervical esophagectomy. 20 cases performed jejunal free flap from 1995 to 2007 at Severance Hospital were reviewed. According to time of onset, early and late complications were reviewed. Surgical procedure was reviewed with operation record. Oral diet tolerance was reviewed on the basis of pharyngogram and subjective symptoms. The most common complication was stricture, and it occurred in 40% of cases and 63% of them were managed with conservative care. As early complication, fistula formation was all managed with conservative care. Oral feeding tolerance after jejunal free flap was 65% and 7 patients were tolerable to general diet. In our study, stricture was the most common complication and its management is important in post op oral diet tolerance.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2020

Objectives : This study investigated lifetime experiences of trauma, treatment retention, and psychiatric symptoms among outpatients with panic disorder after initiation of pharmacotherapy. Our research hypothesis was that panic patients with childhood trauma would display more severe symptoms and less treatment retention compared to those without such history. Methods : A total of 135 first-visit outpatients with DSM-IV panic disorder were approached during the period from March 2012 to August 2016. Fifty-three patients (39%) either refused or returned incomplete questionnaires, leading to a final sample size of 82. Participants completed the Trauma History Screen, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Abbreviated PTSD checklist. Results : The number of lifetime trauma was significantly correlated with treatment retention (rho=-0.269, p=0.015). Among subtypes of trauma, only childhood physical abuse was significantly correlated with treatment retention (rho=-0.298, p=0.007). Conclusions : Our results indicated that psychological trauma, particularly of an interpersonal nature from childhood, can affect pharmacotherapy treatment retention in panic disorder. This may be mediated by poor patient-doctor relationships originating from trust issues among childhood trauma survivors or lack of perceived improvement due to the more severe symptoms and unfavorable course experienced by those with childhood trauma. Further studies are needed to explore the reasons for poor treatment adherence in this population.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.483-487
• /
• 2012

Primary and metastatic tumors involving the heart are relatively uncommon in dogs. In this study, we provide the echocardiographic diagnosis of intracardiac masses in 2 Yorksire terrier dogs. In the first case, the mass was attached between ascending aorta and pulmonary artery and caused moderate aortic regurgitation and moderate left ventricular dilation. The case was graded into ISACHC II heart failure. The dog was treated with common cardiac medications (i.e. furosemide, enalapril, pimobendan) and oral chemotherapeutic agent (i.e. lomustine). In the second case, the mass was occupied 2/3 of the left atrium and caused marked dilation of left atrium and severe mitral regurgitation (~5 m/s), but not severe congestive heart failure (ISACHC Ib). Although the nature of progression of the mass was likely to cardiac myxoma, the biopsy was not performed due to the owner's refusal. The dog was currently treated with cardiac medications (i.e. ramipril, clopidogrel) and bronchodilator (i.e. aminophylline). Those two dogs are still survived and are currently regularly checked.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 1996

The Sasang Constitutional Medicine seeks the psychosomatic balance, and the Basic principle of treatment according to the symptom(病證藥理) in Sasang Constitutional Medicine could be summarize as follows. 1. The pursuit of Shape-Image Medicine (形象醫學) and the Symptoms of shape - Symptoms of disease (形置病證). It established emotion, symptoms of constitution, and symptoms of constitutional disease on the base of Shape-Image Medicine (形象醫學) which means qi (氣) is inside and shape is outside (氣裡形表). 2. The inductive medicine and positive medicine. It systematized the Symptoms of shape - Symptoms of disease (形證病證) on the base of the medical practice of the ancients and Lee Jae-Ma (李濟馬)'s own experience inductively, and it present show to control the psychosomatic balance practically. 3. The pathology centering on human. Oriental medicine is based on Yin-Yang (陰陽) and Five elements (五行) and the harmony of nature and human (天人相應) of Taoism, but Sasang Constitutional Medicine is based on emotional and ethical pathology of Confucianism (儒學). 4. The treatment according to the symptom (病證藥理) in Sasang Constitutional Medicine centering on clear qi (正氣). The promotion and demotion (補瀉) which is based on clear qi (正氣) and evil qi (邪氣) is a basic principle in Oriental medicine, but In Sasang Constitutional Medicine it is attached importance to control of clear qi and classify obedience symptom and disobedience symptom (順 逆症) as the type to oppose disease. 5. The treatment according to the psychomatic symptoms. It takes importances to control of one-sided emotion as well as the treatment of psychical symptoms, and also to remedy disease as keeping under control one's mind. 6. The preventive medicine and the medicine to develop one's health. It is in pursuit of social health to develop personality through clear qi (正氣) in real life, to prevent disease, and to spread the sickness control of individual person. Sasang Constitutional Medicine pursuits the psychosomatic balance through 'Balance', 'Control', 'Self regulating Control' of the 'Golden Mean (中庸)' with the treatment according to the symptom (病證藥理) in Sasang Constitutional Medicine.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.81-99
• /
• 1998

1. Background : Sasang Constitutional Medicine divides mankind into Taeyangin(太陽人), Taeumin(太陰人), Soyangin(少陽人) and Soeumin(少陰人) according to appearance, moral nature and characteristic of constitutional symptoms, and it is a medical science to study about different treatment for each constitution. In Sasang Constitutional Medicine, diagnosis of constitution was so important that we had the necessity of studying constitutional diagnostic method which had presented wholly and intuitively in Dongyi Soose Bowon(東醫壽世保元) with objective and analytic thinking. There were several attempts to classify Sasang Constitutional Types through morphological investigation of each parts of body. The one of them was to use measuring the body. In this study, we purposed to make clear whether the analysis of fingerprints and palm, one of the physical anthropologic methods would be helpful to classify Sasang Constitution. 2. Method : After practicing Questionnaire I and QSCC(Questionnaire of Sasang Constitution) II from 347 healthy Korean adults(242 males and 106 females), we analyzed fingerprints and palm prints of 208 people(142 males and 66 females) who were classified same constitution from two questionnaires. We analyzed the types of fingerprints according to the number of triradius and counted the number of dermal ridges from fingerprint center to triradius. We found triradius in the lower part of each finger and analyzed the courses of dermal ridges and counted the number of dermal ridges between each triradius. We mesured angle atd, and then researched relationship between fingerprints, palm prints and Sasang Constitution. 3. Result and Conclusion : The results of Sasang Constitution analysis of 208 Korean adults showed 76 Taeumin(36.5%), 81 Soeumin(39.0%) and 51 Soyangin(24.5%). The analytic results of fingerprints and palm prints are as follows : The types of fingerprints were helpful to sort Taeumin and the types of palm prints were helpful to sort Soyangin and Soeumin especially. In addition, the number of dermal ridges in fingerprints and palm prints were helpful to sort Soyangin. Fingerprints and palm prints have characteristic in each constitutions, so the investigation of fingerprints and palm prints seems to helpful to classify Sasang Constitution. We are planning to report fingerprints and palm prints of more subjects.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.766-783
• /
• 2006

This study describes philosophical background regarding '虛' in oriental medicine in an effort to understand the relationships among some of the Eastern philosophy in accordance with differentiated meanings in several resources by analyzing examples of '虛' in Huang Di Nei Jing. The various usages of '虛' used in Huang Di Nei Jing are as follows: naming; condition of pulse; emptiness; '太虛' which was referred universal space by Chinese ; insufficiency, lack or scarcity, deficiency ; and the description of vitality, mental faculties. 外丹修煉(training by external substances) had the attitude do that withdraw the death by taking external materials. The meaning of '虛'in 外丹修煉 is similar to that in oriental medicine in terms of deficiency. That is, both 外丹修煉 and the oriental medicine consider that the death and disease are caused by the deficiency of something. However, there also exists difference between 外丹修煉 and the oriental medicine. 外丹修煉 supplements through withdrawal prohibition due to the characteristic of unchangeability and stern or immortal while oriental medicine provides concrete object of deficiency. 精(essence of life), 氣(ki, functional activity), and fe(vitality) not only have been considered as basic component of human body, but they also have been an important subject of health preservation for longevity with health in Taoism and oriental medicine. In oriental medicine, 精 and 氣 have been perceived as physical basis of human body and 神 as controller. 內丹修煉(Training of internal active substances) 掠nds to return to '虛', the early state of life through individual training, and attempts to withdraw death through continuous recurrence. The oriental medicine and 內丹修煉 held great value of 神 among health preservation of 精, 氣, and 神. They seek theoretical basis from philosophical Taoism. However, '虛' in Taoism is different from that in training by internal substances and oriental medicine: '虛' in philosophical Taoism has metaphysical concept which refers overcome of life and death, but '虛' in 內丹修煉 and oriental medicine have empirical concept. '太虛' is considered as formless space where it is emp Dut filled with 氣. It is conceptualized with the premise of the relevant adaptation of human body to natural environment theory referring that the interaction between the heaven and the earth makes changes; all creation is originated , and human is affected by the interaction of the heaven and the earth. Furthermore, in $\ulcorner$運氣七篇$\lrcorner$ (Seven chapters described about the five circuit phases and the six atmospheric influences), the expression that the earth is in the center of '太虛' and huge amount of 氣 supports it proves that $\ulcorner$運氣七篇$\lrcorner$ adapts '渾天設'(Chaotic universe thee). In Taoism, '虛' is the grounds where all creation is generated in the optimal condition of Tao. As regards the aspect of mentality, it is the condition in which one can free from the dualistic concepts such as right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, life and death, and so on. Although the ultimate goal of oriental medicine, the achievement of longevity without sickness, might contrast with the Taoist belief that perceives life and death as the natural phenomena or the flowing of the 氣, and eliminates all international, the idea of Taoism that one should live substantial life with naivety, and make Harmony with the nature might be influential to the oriental medicine.