• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2006

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen worldwide. The incidence of these infections has recently begun to increase. The mortality rate associated with these infections is high (bacteremia; 52%, pneumonia: 23%~73%) and multidrug resistance has been reported. For the effective control of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii(MDR-AB), the impact of these organisms in clinical practice should be determined. This study compared the clinical characteristics, mortality and morbidity of Acinetobacter nosocomial pneumonia between MDR strain and non-MDR strain. Methods: From Jan. 1, 2002 to Nov. 1. 2004, 47 adult patients with Acinetobacter nosocomial pneumonia in Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital were recruited and analyzed retrospectively. MDR-AB was defined as showing in vitro resistance to all commercially available antibiotics against A. baumannii. Results: There were 47 patients with Acinetobacter nosocomial pneumonia. MDR-AB and non MDR-AB was the cause of the pneumonia in 17 and 30 patients, respectively. Mean age of the former was $69{\pm}11$ years old and the latter was $70{\pm}13$ years old. The mean APCHE II score, ICU days and mortality were not different between the two groups ($16.1{\pm}5.4$ vs. $14.9{\pm}4.8$, P=0.43, $25.1{\pm}13.6$ vs. $39.1{\pm}31.0$, P=0.2, 58.8% vs. 40%, P=0.21). Conclusion: There are no significant differences in mortality and morbidity between MDR and non-MDR Acinetobacter baumannii. The mortality of the two groups is surprisingly high, therefore proper infection control practices are essential.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1104-1120
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• 2020

The chest X-rays are a common way to diagnose lung cancer or pneumonia. In particular, the finding of a lung nodule is the most important problem in the early detection of lung cancer. Recently, a lot of automatic diagnosis algorithms have been studied to find the lung nodules missed by doctors. The algorithms are typically based on segmentation network like U-Net. However, the occurrence of false positives that similar to lung nodules present outside the lungs can severely degrade performance. In this study, we propose a multi-task learning method that simultaneously learns the lung region and nodule-labeled data based on the prior knowledge that lung nodules exist only in the lung. The proposed method significantly reduces false positives outside the lung and improves the recognition rate of lung nodules to 83.8 F1 score compared to 66.6 F1 score of single task learning with U-net model. The experimental results on the JSRT public dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method compared with other baseline methods.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.54-63
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• 1991

Post-thoracotomy pain is so severe that lead to postoperative complications, such as sputum retention, segmental or lobar atelectasis, pneumonia, hypoxia, respiratory failure due to the patient`s inability to cough, deep breathing and movement. Many authors have been trying to reduce the post-thoracotomy pain, but there is no method of complete satisfaction. In 1974, Nelson and associates introduced the intercostal nerve block using the cryoprobe. The application of cold directly to the nerves causes localized destruction of the axons while preserving the endoneurium and connective tissue, thereby introducing a temporary pain block and able to complete regeneration of intercostal nerves. One hundred and two patients, who undergoing axillary or posterolateral thoracotomy at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Korea University Medical Center between April 1990 and August 1990, were evaluated the effects of cryoanalgesia for the post-thoracotomy pain reduction. The patients were divided into two groups: Group A, control, the patients without the cryoanalgesia[No.=50], Group B, trial, the patients with cryoanalgesia[No.=52]. Before the thorax closed, in the group A, local anesthetics, 2% lidocaine 3cc, were injected to the intercostal nerves[one level with the thoracotomy, one cranial and caudal intercostal level and level of drainage tube insertion]. In the group B, cryoprobe was directly applied for 1 minute at the same level. Postoperative analgesic effects were evaluated by the scoring system which made arbitrary by author: The pain score 0 to 4, The limitation of motion score 0 to 3, The analgesics consumption score 0 to 3, The total score, the sum of above score, 0 to 10. For the evaluation of immediate analgesic effects, the score were evaluated at the operative day, the first postoperative day, the second postoperative day, and the seventh postoperative day. The effects of incision type, and rib cut to the post-thoracotomy pain were also evaluated. The results were as follows; 1. The intercostal block with cryoanalgesia reduced the immediate postoperative pain significantly compare with control group. 2. The intercostal block with cryoanalgesia improved the motion of the operation side significantly compare with control group. 3. The intercostal block with cryoanalgesia reduced the analgesics requirements at the immediate postoperative periods significantly. 4. The intercostal block with cryoanalgesia lowered the total score significantly compare with control group. 5. The intercostal block with cryoanalgesia were more effective to the mid-axillary incision than to the posterolateral incision 6. The intercostal block with cryoanalgesia were more effective to the patients without rib cut than to the patients with rib cut. 7. No specific complication need to be treated were not occurred during follow-up.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.88-95
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• 2020

Purpose: The present study will identify risk factors for aspiration in severe trauma patients by comparing patients who showed a sign of aspiration lung disease on chest computed tomography (CT) and those who did not. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of the Korean Trauma Data Bank between January 2014 and December 2019 in a single regional trauma center. The inclusion criteria were patients aged ≥18 years with chest CT, and who had an Injury Severity Score ≥16. Patients with Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS)-chest score ≥1 and lack of medical records were excluded. General characteristics and patient status were analyzed. Results: 425 patients were included in the final analysis. There were 48 patients showing aspiration on CT (11.2%) and 377 patients showing no aspiration (88.7%). Aspiration group showed more endotracheal intubation in the ER (p=0.000) and a significantly higher proportion of severe Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) (p=0.000) patients than the non-aspiration group. In AIS as well, the median AIS head score was higher in the aspiration group (p=0.046). Median oxygen saturation was significantly lower in the aspiration group (p=0.002). In a logistic regression analysis, relative to the GCS mild group, the moderate group showed an odds ratio (OR) for aspiration of 2.976 (CI, 1.024-8.647), and the severe group showed an OR of 5.073 (CI, 2.442-10.539). Conclusions: Poor mental state and head injury increase the risk of aspiration. To confirm for aspiration, it would be useful to perform chest CT for severe trauma patients with a head injury.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.44-60
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• 2011

Background : Surgical site infection(SSI) is one of the important nosocomial infections with pneumonia, urinary tract infection. SSI increases mortality, morbidity, length of stay, and costs for postoperative patients. The purpose of this study was to estimate length of stay(LOS) and health care costs from SSI using the large observational data. The ultimate objective was to show the effect of prevention of SSI. Method : This study used antibiotic prophylaxis evaluation data and claims data of the HIRA(Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service). The study population included 18,361 patients who underwent gastric surgery, endoscopic cholecystectomy, colon surgery, hysterectomy, cesarean section in nationwide hospitals from August to October 2007. SSI group and non-SSI group were matched according to propensity score resulted from logistic regression. The paired t-test was used to compare the difference of the LOS and health care costs between SSI group and non-SSI group. Results : The 598 cases of SSI were detected of total subjects, and the crude SSI rate was 3.3%. For each surgery, SSI rates were 5.5% for gastric surgery, 4.7% for cholecystectomy, 6.6% for colon surgery, 2.6% for hysterectomy, and 1.6% for cesarean section. The 596 cases of SSI and the 596 cases of non-SSI were matched by propensity score. The LOS of SSI group was longer than that of non-SSI group, and the difference was statistically significant. Health care costs of SSI group was more than that of non-SSI group which was significant. Conclusions : SSI increased apparently the LOS and healthcare costs. The economic loss might affect the cost of national healthcare as well as patients and hospitals. This study provided the evidence that the healthcare expenditure could be reduced by preventing SSI.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2018

Purpose: The standard treatment of esophageal cancer is the Ivor-Lewis operation, which consists of an abdominal phase involving gastric tube formation, and a chest phase involving esophagectomy and anastomosis. We aimed to report our experience of performing thoracic esophagectomy with the laparoscopic gastric pull up (LGPU) technique and its surgical outcomes. Methods: Clinicopathologic data and short-term surgical outcomes of 14 patients who underwent LGPU for thoracic esophageal cancer from August 2008 to May 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Mean age of the patients was 62.3 years and mean body mass index was $21.7kg/m^2$. Eleven patients had medical comorbidities. Patients' mean American Society of Anesthesiologists score was 2. Mean operation time was 428.5 minutes, with the mean abdominal operation time being 138.9 minutes. There was no open conversion case. Three patients had pneumonia, three patients had surgical site infection, and one patient had subcutaneous emphysema within 30 days after surgery. One patient had minor anastomosis site leakage. There was one 30-day mortality case. One patient with postoperative aspiration pneumonia developed acute respiratory distress disease, and died due to sepsis. Mean postoperative intensive care unit stay was 3.5 days, and mean postoperative hospital stay was 20.6 days. Nasogastric tubes were removed on average at 3.4 days, and mean oral intake time was 3.4 days. Conclusion: If the gastrointestinal surgeon has extensive experience in laparoscopic procedures, LGPU will be a safe and feasible technique for thoracic esophagectomy in patients with intrathoracic esophageal cancer.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2020

Purpose: This study examined the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of intensive care unit (ICU) patients admitted or died in the emergency medical center with acute-poisoning to investigate the variables related to the prognosis. Methods: The data were collected from poisoning patients admitted or died in the emergency medical center of a general hospital located in Seoul, from January 2014 to February 2020. The subjects of this study were 190 patients. The medical records were screened retrospectively, and the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the patients in the emergency room (ER) and ICU were examined to investigate the contributing factors that influence the poor prognosis. Results: The study analyzed 182 patients who survived after being admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The results are as follows. The mental change (87.4%) was the most common symptom. Sedative poisoning (49.5%) was the commonest cause. For most patients, pneumonia (26.9%) was the most common complication. Hypotension (23.7%), tachycardia (42.1%), fever (15.8%), seizures (10.5%), dyspnea (2.6%), high poisoning severity score (PSS), type of toxic material, mechanical ventilator application (39.5%), inotropes application (39.5%), and pneumonia (55.3%) were correlated the LOS over 5 days in the ICU. 8 patients died. In the case of death pesticides and carbon monoxide were the main toxic materials; tachycardia, bradycardia, and hypotension were the main symptoms, and a mechanical ventilator and inotropes were applied. Conclusion: Patients with unstable vital signs, high PSS, and non-pharmaceutical poisoning had a prolonged LOS in the ICU and a poor prognosis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2022

Background: No consensus exists regarding whether volatile anesthetics are superior to intravenous anesthetics for reducing postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) in patients undergoing general anesthesia for surgery. Studies of this issue focused on anatomic pulmonary resection are lacking. This study compared the effects of total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) versus volatile anesthesia on PPCs after anatomic pulmonary resection in patients with lung cancer. Methods: This retrospective study examined the medical records of patients with lung cancer who underwent lung resection at our center between January 2018 and October 2020. The primary outcome was the incidence of PPCs, which included prolonged air leak, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, empyema, atelectasis requiring bronchofiberscopy (BFS), acute lung injury (ALI), bronchopleural fistula (BPF), pulmonary embolism, and pulmonary edema. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance the 2 groups. In total, 579 anatomic pulmonary resection cases were included in the final analysis. Results: The analysis showed no statistically significant difference between the volatile anesthesia and TIVA groups in terms of PPCs, except for prolonged air leak. Neither of the groups showed atelectasis requiring BFS, ALI, BPF, pulmonary embolism, or pulmonary edema after PSM. However, the length of hospitalization, intensive care unit stay, and duration of chest tube indwelling were shorter in the TIVA group. Conclusion: Volatile anesthetics showed no superiority compared to TIVA in terms of PPCs after anatomical pulmonary resection in patients with lung cancer. Considering the advantages of each anesthetic modality, appropriate anesthetic modalities should be used in patients with different risk factors and situations.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2024

Background: This study aimed to assess the outcomes of patients with complex rib fractures undergoing operative or nonoperative management at our major trauma center. Methods: A retrospective review of all patients who were considered for surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) at a single major trauma center from May 2016 to September 2022 was performed. Results: In total, 352 patients with complex rib fractures were identified. Thirty-seven patients (11%) fulfilled the criteria for surgical management and underwent SSRF. The SSRF group had a significantly higher proportion of patients with flail chest (32 [86%] vs. 94 [27%], p<0.001) or Injury Severity Score (ISS) >15 (37 [100%] vs. 129 [41%], p<0.001). No significant differences were seen between groups for 1-year mortality. Patients who underwent SSRF within 72 hours were 6 times less likely to develop pneumonia than those in whom SSRF was delayed for over 72 hours (2 [18%] vs. 15 [58%]; odds ratio, 0.163; 95% confidence interval, 0.029-0.909; p=0.036). Prompt SSRF showed non-significant associations with shorter intensive care unit length of stay (6 days vs. 10 days, p=0.140) and duration of mechanical ventilation (5 days vs. 8 days, p=0.177). SSRF was associated with a longer hospital length of stay compared to nonoperative patients with flail chest and/or ISS >15 (19 days vs. 13 days, p=0.012), whilst SSRF within 72 hours was not. Conclusion: Surgical fixation of complex rib fractures improves outcomes in selected patient groups. Delayed surgical fixation was associated with increased rates of pneumonia and a longer hospital length of stay.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.78 no.3
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• pp.196-202
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• 2015

Background: Viridans streptococci (VS) are a large group of streptococcal bacteria that are causative agents of community-acquired respiratory tract infection. However, data regarding their clinical characteristics are limited. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the clinical and radiologic features of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) with or without parapneumonic effusion caused by VS. Methods: Of 455 consecutive CAP patients with or without parapneumonic effusion, VS were isolated from the blood or pleural fluid in 27 (VS group, 5.9%) patients. Streptococcus pneumoniae was identified as a single etiologic agent in 70 (control group) patients. We compared various clinical parameters between the VS group and the control group. Results: In univariate analysis, the VS group was characterized by more frequent complicated parapneumonic effusion or empyema and bed-ridden status, lower incidences of productive cough, elevated procalcitonin (>0.5 ng/mL), lower age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index score, and more frequent ground glass opacity (GGO) or consolidation on computed tomography (CT) scans. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that complicated parapneumonic effusion or empyema, productive cough, bed-ridden status, and GGO or consolidation on CT scans were independent predictors of community-acquired respiratory tract infection caused by VS. Conclusion: CAP caused by VS commonly presents as complicated parapneumonic effusion or empyema. It is characterized by less frequent productive cough, more frequent bed-ridden status, and less common CT pulmonary parenchymal lesions. However, its treatment outcome and clinical course are similar to those of pneumococcal pneumonia.