• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 2012

Purpose: Dental emergencies vary from toothaches to oral and maxillofacial traumas. Because the number of dental emergency cases has increased recently, we analyzed characteristics of patients seen during the last 2 years, in an effort to find a trend. Methods: This study was carried out with emergency room patients visiting the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery from 2009 to 2010. Results: The total number of patients studied was 1,162; the ratio of males to females was 1.73:1. The most frequent age group was 0 to 9 years, followed by 20 to 29 years. Trauma (58.7%) was the most frequent cause followed by acute toothache, oral hemorrhage, infection, and temporomandibular (TMJ) disorder. In the trauma group, injuries of soft tissue and alveolus were prevalent. The most common causes of soft tissue injury were falls, safety violations and assault. The highest incidence of emergencies was seen in patients 0 to 9 years old (41.8%). The most common causes of jaw fracture were falls, assaults, and traffic accidents in that order. In the acute toothache group, most patients had pulpitis (41.2%). In the infection group, most had buccal space abscesses (40.0%). In the hemorrhage group, post-operative bleeding cases (80.5%) were the majority, and hemostasis was obtained mostly by pressure dressings. For the TMJ disorder group, masticatory muscle disorder (65.4%) was more common than TMJ dislocation. Conclusion: In this study, trauma was the most frequent reason for patients who visited the emergency room. However, acute toothache, hemorrhage, infection and TMJ disorders were also seen frequently. Dental emergency patients could be better treated by understanding patterns of dental emergencies and performing proper diagnoses.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2009

Purpose: The goal of this study was to compare the outcome of the after trauma team (AfterTT) group to the before trauma team (BeforeTT) group. Methods: All trauma patients who visited to emergency room (ER) between July 1, 2006 and February 29,2008 based on trauma registry, with systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 90 mmHg or GCS < 9 were included in this study. We compared the amount of packed RBC transfusion, the ER stay time, the ER visit to CT evaluation time, the ER visit to operation time, the length of ICU stay, the length of hospital admission and the survival discharge rate between the AfterTT group and the BeforeTT group. Patients with brain injuries had little chance of survival. Burn patients, who visited the ER 24 hours after injury and patients who were dead on arrival (DOA) were excluded from this study. Results: Total of 93 patients were included in this study: 42 in the AfterTT group and 51 in the BeforeTT group. The AfterTT group and the Before TT group showed no differences in Revised Trauma Score (RTS) and mean age. The amount of packed RBC transfusion was lower in the AfterTT group, but no statistically significant difference was noted (AfterTT 11${\pm}$11units, BeforeTT 16${\pm}$15units, p=0.136). The ER visit to operation time was shorter in the AfterTT group, but there were no statistically significant difference between the groups (AfterTT 251${\pm}$223 minutes, BeforeTT 486${\pm}$460 minutes, p=0.082). The length of ICU stay was shorter in the AfterTT group, but the difference was not statistically significant (AfterTT 11${\pm}$12 days, Before TT 15${\pm}$30 days, p=0.438). The length of Hospital admission was shorter in the AfterTT group (AfterTT 43${\pm}$37 days, BeforeTT 68${\pm}$70 days, p=0.032), but this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Simple Trauma team activation criteria decreased the amount of packed RBC transfusion and the hospital admission duration. Hemodynamic instability (SBP < 90 mmHg) and decreased mental state (GCS<9) are good indices for activating the trauma team.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.104-107
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• 2010

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is difficult to treat and it is often fatal. If the medical treatment for ARDS is not effective, then extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can be applied to the patient. A 22-year-old female who suffered multiple traumatic injuries due to a car accident presented with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Veinarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO) was started to treat her respiratory failure. With the VA ECMO, the systemic oxygen saturation remained at only 84%, and so the ECMO system was switched to V-VA ECMO via an additional venous outflow through the right jugular vein to increase both the systemic and pulmonary oxygen saturation. After conversion to the V-VA type ECMO, the systemic oxygen saturation increased to 94% and the partial pressure of oxygen ($PaO_2$) increased to 65 mmHg. We report here on a successful case of ECMO conversion from the VA type to the V-VA type in a patient with severely hypoxic respiratory failure.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.126-132
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• 2014

Purpose: The field trauma triage for injured patients is essential for trauma care system. In this study, agreement of patient evaluation between by prehospital EMS personnel and by hospital staffs and the appropriateness of prehospital triage were evaluated. Methods: This observational study was conducted from September to October 2012 for 5 weeks. During this period, EMT evaluated patient's severity according to guideline for field triage and recorded. Same guideline was applied in 26 hospitals for patients with EMS use. Kappa statistics were used to measure agreement for each item of guideline. Finally, over-triage and under-triage rate of EMT were calculated. Results: During study period, total 3,106 patients were transferred to 26 hospital emergency departments with EMS use. Kappa statistics for "vital signs" items were 0.45 for mentality lower than V and 0.44 for systolic blood pressure lower than 90 mmHg as a moderate agreement. In "anatomy of injury" items Kappa statistics were very low. In "mechanism of injury" items Kappa statistics were 0.28 for high-rise fall down and 0.27 for high energy traffic accident but in other items Kappa statistics were very low. 362 patients (12.0%) were over-triaged and 281 patients (9.3%) were under-triaged. Conclusion: Field triage can be applied but need to evaluate and modify in order to become accurate and sensitive for decision of transportation.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.33-41
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• 2020

Purpose : Conventional Balance Measurement can only measure the center of gravity and the shaking movement of the body. As a result, it has the disadvantages of not responding to visual changes and blocking functions of variables. This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of new equipment that measures the balance of the body using changes in body segment and pressure using the acceleration sensor to compensate for the disadvantages of the existing equipment. Methods : To this end, balance ability was measured in 43 healthy male/female adults without orthopedic injuries and nervous system damage in the last 6 months. in a situation where the visual information was restricted by Virtual Reality (VR) gear, all subjects measured and evaluated the balance ability utilizing the new equipment. Balance measurement (Prime Medilab, Korea) and Wii fit (Nintendo, Japan) were used to measure the balance ability of the subjects, and the balance ability test was performed in 4 postures using each device for data acquisition. The test duration for each posture was 30 seconds. For data acquisition, the average value of three experiments measured using each equipment was analyzed, and the statistical test was performed using the independent sample and the corresponding sample t-test, and the significance level was set to α=.05. Results : As a result of measuring the balance ability using individual equipment, blocking visual information using VR gear, the average speed, maximum speed, and moving area of the COP increased equally. It was found that the obtained absolute size of the result in Wii was somewhat larger than that of BM. Conclusion : It is considered that in the future research, it is necessary to measure changes in the body's center of gravity through image analysis, etc., to make clear comparison and evaluation of the usability.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.27-36
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• 2012

In Korea, 28,641 cases of traffic accidents were caused by drunk driving in 2010. These statistics accounted for 12.62% of total number of traffic accidents. Moreover, the percentages of deaths and injuries from them were nearly 15% of those from whole traffic accidents. While police has emphasized enforcement efforts in order to reduce drunk driving, culture generous to drunk driving in addition to the absence of an appropriate intervention system for habitual drunk drivers have contributed to the increasing number of the drunk driving accidents in Korea. This study examined specific behavioral changes in drunk driving by comparing drivers' behavior pattern in non-alcoholic condition to those in alcoholic condition, using a psychomotor test and a driving simulator. In the psychomotor test measuring participants' reactions to the target stimulus, it was revealed that participants' correct responses were decreased, false responses were increased, and no responses also were increased after drinking. Furthermore, in the driving simulator performance after drinking, not only driving speed was faster but also the deviation of an accelerator pedal pressure and of the vehicle's lateral position were much increased. These results indicated that alcohol consumption would impair visio-cognitive ability and deteriorate driving safety. Finally, the implications and limitations of our findings and suggestions for the future research were discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.417-422
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• 2019

Hemodynamically unstable pelvic fractures show a remarkably high mortality rate of 40% to 60%. However, their standard of care remains controversial. We report here a case of a 78-year-old woman who was admitted to the Emergency Department with pelvic pain following a fall. Based on pelvic radiography, she was diagnosed with an unstable pelvic fracture. Her blood pressure was 60/40 mmHg, and owing to her unstable vital signs, emergency angiography was performed without computed tomography (CT). Both internal iliac arteries were embolized without sub-branch selection for prompt control of pelvic bleeding. Following embolization, her vital signs were stabilized. Subsequent CT revealed free intra-abdominal air, suggesting bowel perforation had occurred and necessitating emergency laparotomy. An approximately 1 cm-sized free perforation of the small intestine was identified intraoperatively, and primary closure was performed. A retroperitoneal hematoma identified intraoperatively was not explored further because it was a non-expanding and non-pulsatile mass. The patient was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit and transferred to the general ward on postoperative day 3. In this case, the hemodynamically stable pelvic fracture with bowel perforation was successfully and safely treated by prompt angioembolization without conducting CT.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.415-422
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• 2018

Objective: This study compared the prognosis of patients who visited the trauma center directly (direct visit group) with those transferred from the non-trauma center (transferred group). Methods: The patients, who were 18 or older with Injury Severity Score of 15 or more in the trauma center at Busan, were studied from October 2015 to October 2016. To compare the treatment time between the direct visit and transferred group, first treatment time, final treatment time, and time to visit the trauma center were examined. To compare the prognosis, this study compared the 48-hour, 7-day, and in-hospital mortality rate as well as the duration of intensive care unit (ICU) and total hospital stay. To analyze the factors affecting the outcome of transferred group, the physician's level and procedures that had been performed at the non-trauma center were examined. Results: The mortality was similar in the direct visit and transferred group (48-hour 7.6% vs. 4.6%, P=0.111; 7-day 11.1% vs. 7.2%, P=0.89; and in-hospital 14.6% vs. 11.3%, P=0.214). The length of ICU and total hospital stay were similar in the two groups. The mortality was higher in the patients in the transferred group when using intubation, transfusion, and pressure intensifier. The intubated patients showed higher mortality according to logistic regression. Conclusion: The mortality, length of ICU, and hospital stay were similar but the time to visit the trauma center and the final treatment time were longer in transferred group. Stabilizing the patient at the near non-trauma center may be more helpful for some patients.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.332-339
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• 2023

Objective : The present study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of electrolyte imbalance in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) who underwent craniotomy and its influence on prognosis. Methods : A total of 156 patients with moderate to severe TBI were prospectively collected from June 2019 to June 2021. All patients underwent craniotomy and intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring. We aimed to explore the clinical characteristics of electrolyte disturbance and to analyze the influence of electrolyte disturbance on prognosis. Results : A total of 156 patients with moderate and severe TBI were included. There were 57 cases of hypernatremia, accounting for 36.538%, with the average level of 155.788±7.686 mmol/L, which occurred 2.2±0.3 days after injury. There were 25 cases of hyponatremia, accounting for 16.026%, with the average level of 131.204±3.708 mmol/L, which occurred 10.2±3.3 days after injury. There were three cases of hyperkalemia, accounting for 1.923%, with the average level of 7.140±1.297 mmol/L, which occurred 5.3±0.2 days after injury. There were 75 cases of hypokalemia, accounting for 48.077%, with the average level of 3.071±0.302 mmol/L, which occurred 1.8±0.6 days after injury. There were 105 cases of hypocalcemia, accounting for 67.308%, with the average level of 1.846±0.104 mmol/L, which occurred 1.6±0.2 days after injury. There were 17 cases of hypermagnesemia, accounting for 10.897%, with the average level of 1.213±0.426 mmol/L, which occurred 1.8±0.5 days after injury. There were 99 cases of hypomagnesemia, accounting for 63.462%, with the average level of 0.652±0.061 mmol/L, which occurred 1.3±0.4 days after injury. Univariate regression analysis revealed that age, Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score at admission, pupil changes, ICP, hypernatremia, hypocalcemia, hypernatremia combined with hypocalcemia, epilepsy, cerebral infarction, severe hypoproteinemia were statistically abnormal (p<0.05), while gender, hyponatremia, potassium, magnesium, intracranial infection, pneumonia, allogeneic blood transfusion, hypertension, diabetes, abnormal liver function, and abnormal renal function were not statistically significant (p>0.05). After adjusting gender, age, GCS, pupil changes, ICP, epilepsy, cerebral infarction, severe hypoproteinemia, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that hypernatremia or hypocalcemia was not statistically significant, while hypernatremia combined with hypocalcemia was statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion : The incidence of hypocalcemia was the highest, followed by hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, hypernatremia, hyponatremia and hypermagnesemia. Hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, and hypokalemia generally occurred in the early post-TBI period, hypernatremia occurred in the peak period of ICP, and hyponatremia mostly occurred in the late period after decreased ICP. Hypernatremia combined with hypocalcemia was associated with prognosis.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2024

Purpose: Trauma is an important public health concern, and it is important to increase the survival rate of patients with trauma and enable them to return to society in a better condition. Initial treatment in the emergency department (ED) is closely associated with the prognosis of patients with trauma. However, studies regarding laboratory biomarker tests that can help predict the prognosis of trauma patients are limited. Presepsin is a novel biomarker of inflammation that can predict a poor prognosis in patients with sepsis. This study aimed to determine whether presepsin could be used as a prognostic indicator in patients with polytrauma. Methods: The study included patients with trauma who had visited a single regional ED from November 2021 to January 2023. Patients who had laboratory tests in the ED were included and analyzed retrospectively through chart review. Age, sex, injury mechanism, vital signs, surgery, the outcome of ED treatment (admission, discharge, transfer, or death), and trauma scores were analyzed. Results: Overall, 550 trauma patients were enrolled; 59.1% were men, and the median age was 64 years (interquartile range, 48.8-79.0 years). Patients in a hypotensive state (systolic blood pressure, <90 mmHg; n=39) had higher presepsin levels (1,061.5±2,522.7 pg/mL) than those in a nonhypotensive state (n=511, 545.7±688.4 pg/mL, P<0.001). Patients hospitalized after ED treatment had the highest presepsin levels (660.9 pg/mL), followed by those who died (652.0 pg/ mL), were transferred to other hospitals (514.9 pg/mL), and returned home (448.0 pg/mL, P=0.041). Conclusions: Serum presepsin levels were significantly higher in trauma patients in a hypotensive state than in those in a nonhypotensive state. Additionally, serum presepsin levels were the highest in hospitalized patients with trauma, followed by those who died, were transferred to other hospitals, and returned home.