• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the radiological and clinical outcomes in elderly patients with unstable intertrochanteric femur fractures in accordance with the length of intramedullary nail. Materials and Methods: Between August 2009 and December 2014, a total of 139 patients-older than 65 years of age with AO/OTA classification of 31-A2 unstable intertrochanteric femur fracture-who has been followed-up for at least 1 year after the treatment with internal fixation by using an intramedullary nail were enrolled for this retrospective control study. The subjects were classified into two groups according to the length of intramedullary nail: 106 patients in the short group (group I) and 33 patients in the long group (group II). For radiological assessments, the reduction state, time to union, and implant related complications were examined. The clinical outcomes were assessed by preoperative hemoglobin, operating time, intraoperative bleeding amount, blood transfusion rate, hospitalization period, and Charnley hip pain scoring system at the final follow-up. Results: The postoperative radiographs showed good or acceptable reduction in all cases. The mean time of radiologic bone union was 4.8 months, and there was no difference between the two groups. With respect to surgical time, the group II was found to take longer (57.87 minutes) than the group I (45.65 minutes) (p=0.003). The bleeding amount during surgery of the group II was greater (288.78 ml) than that of the group I (209.90 ml) (p=0.046). The clinical results at the final follow-up were found to be satisfactory in both groups. Conclusion: In cases of good reduction of the fracture from the treatment of unstable intertrochanteric femur fracture accompanying the posteromedial fragment in elderly patients, both groups-long and short intramedullary nails-showed satisfactory radiological and clinical outcomes.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.512-516
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• 1997

We have experienced 66 cases of video assisted thoracic surgery(VATS) of spontaneous pneumothorax. The patients ranged in age from 1 Syears to 46years(mean age, 22.3years) and male patients were sixty three. The indications of video assisted thoracic surgery of spontaneous pneumothorax were recurrence, continuous air leakage, visible blabs on the chest X-ray & others. Infraoperative findings were as follows; blabs, pleural adhesion and pleural effusion. The operation was performed under general anesthesia wit double lumen endobronchial tube. Operative procedures included blebectomy and/or wedge resection of lung, vibramycin Pleurodesis with mechanical abrasion. In most cases, postoperative courses were uneventful and patients were discharged without significant complications. VATS provided the benefits of lesser postoperative pain, rapid recovery, short hospitalization, and smaller scar of wound. Conclusively VATS is a new interesting modality of surgical treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax and also can be extensively applicable in the diagnosis and treatment of other intrathoracic disease.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.30-71
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• 1999

There has been a dramatic increase in public awareness regarding dementia during recent years. However, dementia remains a family affair and patients do not receive adequate care in Korea. This study aims to assist patients and their caregivers by establishing Home and Community based Long-Term Care in a city. The data collected for analysis include five main categories: dementia prevalence, limitations of daily activities of patients, burden of caregivers, the services that patient's family want to utilize, the resources that handle dementia in the community. Major findings can be summarized as follows: 1)The prevalence rate of dementia for elderly people is 13.1 per 100 persons. Alzheimer's disease amount to 38.9% of dementia patients and vascular dementia account for 36.7% of them 2)Eight out of ten patients have mild dementia. Almost all patients have normal ADL. IADL, however, shows different picture. In every items of IADL, about 60% of patients reveals some limitations. 3)The proportion of patients who had medical diagnosis is as low as 20%. Families of patients think dementia as normal aging process and medical doctors in the community do not give special concern to dementia patients. 4)Caregivers does not have proper social support. They suffer from long care time, experience large obstacles in respect of health, daily living, and social activity. 5)Health center and Community welfare center have launched some programs-consultation, home-visiting nursing, day care center, voluntary force mobilization and so on-for dementia patients. But they do not perform expected roles and functions because of lack of skilled personnels and inadequate coordination of relevant organizations for dementia care. 6)Families of dementia patients prefer home helper and home-visiting nurse to hospitalization. For the future, however, demand for institution-based long-term services will increase. We develope community dementia care model based on above findings as follows: 1)Health center execute community cardiovascular control program for the prevention of vascular dementia. 2)Refer to epidemiologic characteristics of patients and preference of family, the most urgent task for dementia care in this city is to expand and organize Home and Community based Long-Term Care. 3)For the continuous and comprehensive care, care plan for a patient must be prepared. Case management team should be builded to prepare this plan and coordinate relevant resources. 4)Special long-term care unit for dementia will be needed in a near future. This unit should have multiple functions, such as day-care center, short stay facility, training center for relevant personnels, besides long-term nursing home considering effective care of dementia and efficient operation of the facility. 5)Voluntary workers deserve their due efforts. Incentive mechanisms must be developed to activate voluntary activities.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the changes in the characteristics of patients with carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, as well as the distinctive differences in intentionally exposed patients. Methods: The medical records of CO poisoning patients, who visited nine emergency departments between January 2010 and December 2011, were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical information including age, gender, hospitalization, type of discharge, cause and location of exposure, site of onset, concentration of initial blood carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), methods of treatment and presence of neurological complications was examined. The subjects were divided into an intentional and non-intentional group and the differences between them was compared. Results: A total 209 subjects were recruited. The median age was 38 years (29~49.5 years). They frequently complained of nausea and vomiting, and the most common exposures occurred in winter, normally in the home. The cause of exposure was usually fire, followed by incomplete combustion of fuels. The median initial blood COHb was 13.15%. The proportion of intentionally exposed patients was 21%. They were significantly younger, more frequently discharged against medical advice, and showed a higher initial blood COHb level (22.85%) than the non-intentional group. Conclusion: This study suggests that those with intentional CO poisoning are normally discharged against medical advice even when they have a higher initial COHb level. An adequate explanation of the delayed neurologic sequelae and short term follow-up observation is recommended for those patients with intentional exposure.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.25-28
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• 2011

Autism is a developmental, neuropsychiatric disorder that begins in early childhood. A patient with autism seen in the dental office frequently may have many complications. Therefore, it may be needed to consider modified or alternative therapy for dental care of autistic patients. This is the case of a 16-year old boy who have autism. He came to the department of the pediatric dentistry, Yonsei University Dental Hospital, for evaluation and treatment of dentigerous cyst associated with impacted teeth(#33,34,35). Under daily hospitalization and general anesthesia, the cyst was enucleated with surgical extraction of #34 and autotransplantation of #33,35. And during the periodic dental followup, apexification of #33,35 was performed for periapical lesion and root maturity. At 2 year 6 months follow- up, now, bony healing was completed and there are some complications like external resorption of #33 and space loss of #34 area. Generally, the marsupialization has been widely recommended for treatment of dentigerous cyst. However, in this case, there is a little possibility of spontaneous eruption after marsupialization considering of patient's age, location and angulation of the impacted tooth, root maturity. And there is necessity to choose the treatment that has low recurrence risk and needs short-term follow-up for autism. Above all, poor oral hygiene and lack of cooperation for decompression treatment is a matter of primary consideration. Consequently, enucleation of the cyst was chosen for the final treatment plan in this case. It is important to consider the conditions that affect the eruption of a dentigerous cyst-associated tooth to predict the successful eruption and special health care needs of the patient when the treatment plan is settled.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2009

In the past, conservative bypass surgery was usually performed for palliation of malignant obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract. However, endoscopic stenting was developed recently, and technical advances and clinical experience have made it possible to establish stent implantation as one of the main treatment options. There are several advantages in stent implantation over bypass surgery, such as high feasibility and technical success rate, non-invasiveness, rapid symptomatic response, short hospitalization, and cost-effect benefits. Complications, such as stent ingrowth, stent injury by bile or acid, and migration, may occur and early re-insertion is frequently needed. Recently, diverse novel stents which are powered to predict stent migration or ingrowth have been developed and are being used in the clinical setting. In general, stent implantation is known to be beneficial in patients who are expected to survive <6 months, and surgical bypass may be more effective in patients who can survive >6 months. In this review, we have compared the technical feasibility, clinical outcomes, complications, and cost-benefit between stent implantation and bypass surgery, and determined the optimal treatment strategy in malignant upper gastrointestinal obstruction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Health-System Pharmacists
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.409-417
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• 2018

Background : Febrile neutropenia (FN) is one of the side effects in the patients treated with chemotherapy, and the patients who have FN generally need immediate treatment with extended-spectrum antibiotics and hospitalization. Pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim, which are used for the prevention of FN as a granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), have been granted insurance coverage in the Republic of Korea for certain breast cancer patients using doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) from September 2016. Methods : The data of the patients with breast cancer using AC regimen and G-CSF were collected retrospectively. This study involves cost-utility analysis of pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim. In this study, we constructed a simple decision tree model for short-term observation and calculated quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and the direct medical costs from the medical provider's perspective. Results : From September 2016 to May 2017, 15 patients were treated with pegfilgrastim and 15 patients were treated with pegteograstim. As a result of dividing the average cost by QALY for each treatment group, it was observed that pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim were consumed 24,923,384 won and 22,808,336 won per 1QALY, respectively. Consequently, incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) showed 2,115,048 won more per pegfilgrastim than pegteograstim per 1QALY, and the cost per 1QALY of both the drugs was lower than 30,500,000 won; the Koreans were willing to pay this amount. Conclusions : This study suggests that pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim can be used to improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients undergoing AC therapy. Among the two drugs, pegteograstim seems to be more cost-effective. However, since this study was conducted as a retrospective observation method on a small scale, it is associated with many limitations. Therefore, a long-term prospective cohort study is needed to supplement the present findings.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.615-626
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• 2023

Purpose To assess the outcomes of single-stage surgery following fluoroscopic stent placement for malignant colorectal obstruction. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included 46 patients (28 male and 18 female; mean age, 67.2 years) who had undergone fluoroscopic stent placement followed by laparoscopic resection (n = 31) or open surgery (n = 15) for malignant colorectal obstruction. The surgical outcomes were analyzed and compared. After a mean follow-up of 38.9 months, the recurrence-free and overall survival were estimated, and prognostic factors were evaluated. Results The mean interval between stent placement and surgery was 10.2 days. Primary anastomosis was possible in all patients. The mean postoperative length of hospitalization was 11.0 days. Bowel perforation was detected in six patients (13.0%). During the follow-up, ten patients (21.7%) developed recurrence; these included five of the six patients with bowel perforation. Bowel perforation had a significant effect on recurrence-free survival (p = 0.010). Conclusion Single-stage surgery following fluoroscopic stent placement may be effective for treating malignant colorectal obstruction. Stent-related bowel perforation is a significant predictive factor for tumor recurrence.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.768-781
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• 1996

The problem of care of patients and families with Alzheimer's disease has become a conscious raising social policy issue in Korea. The government of the Republic of Korea has become cognizant of the situation and has begun searching for ways to remedy it. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive under-standing of the situation in which patients and their families are struggling and the enormous problems of care. With a realization of the urgent need, this study was done to investigate the situation and the care needs of families with patients with Alzheimer's Disease, and to compare the effectiveness of services utilized by the families in terms of cost and effects on patient's conditions and on family live. The Subjects for the study were 29 families with hospitalized patients, 25 families utilizing hospital outpatient clinics, 14 families utilizing day care facilities, and 16 families with homebound patients. A total of 84 families were interviewed by four trained interviewers using structured and semistructured questionnaires. The data produced from these interviews included : the patient's stage of Alzheimer's disease, patient's bizarre behavior, hours spent on patient care per day, family burden and quality of life, direct and indirect costs encountered in the care of patients, and the families' evaluation of the effectiveness of the services received. The data were analyzed to determine the relationships between family charactersistics, patient's conditions and services utilization. The effectiveness of each of the service entities was assessed through families evaluation and hoped for service and comparisons were made between services in terms of the cost-effectiveness ratios. After initial comparison of cost-effectiveness ratios, further analysis was done to compare between groups for incremental effectiveness for each incremental unit of cost to determine the most cost-effective service entities. The findings of the study are as fellows : 1. The choice of living arrangement and the types of services are a function of the stage of Alzheimer's condition and the economic status of the family. 2. Comparision of the cost of care showed that most expenses were encountered in by families with hospitalization, families using outpatient services, and families using day care services in that order. The least expense was involved in the care of homebound patients. The economic burden felt by families was in the same order as expenses. 3. The average number of hours spent on daily patient care was 9.9 hours for the outpatient clinic users, 9.7 hours for homebound patients, and 5.4 hours for day care users. 4. There were significant differences in the patient's conditions (CDRL), bizarre behaviors and the families's burden by living arrangement and /or types of service. However, no significant difference was found between groups in the family's quality of life. 5. The families rated the services of day care center as most effective for the care of the patients and families, except for a few families who had experienced some improvement in the patient's conditions. The outpatient clinic users expressed psychological comforts mainly in that the patient was being taken care of. For those hospitalized patients, families expressed the comfort of being relieved of the burden of care and that the patient is being professionally cared for. Form the analysis of the costs, hours of patient care, patient's bizarre behaviors, family's quality of life and burdens, and family's evaluation of services, it is concluded that up to the mid stage of Alzheimer's condition, the utilization of day care center services is found to be the most cost-effective, and toward the end stage of the Alzheimer's disease, it is hoped that there will be a establishment of long term or short term in-patient facilities for the protection of patients and preservation of the integrity of families for less cost. Thus. it was concluded that the family centered system of care is the most effective for Korea with systematic support systems developed for the care of patients and their families according to the needs of families as the patient's condition deteriorates.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.134-141
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• 2008

Purpose : This study examined the occurrence of oxygen desaturation events during nutritive sucking in premature infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and its effects on feeding and growth outcomes until 4 months of corrected age (CA). Methods : Thirty-four premature infants with BPD free from major cardiac, gastrointestinal, respiratory anomalies were included. By reviewing medical records, clinical characteristics, feeding conditions at 36 weeks of postmenstrual age (PMA), we focused on oxygen desaturation, and short-term outcomes in 14 infants with no or mild desaturation (group A) and in 20 infants with moderate or severe desaturation (group B). Results : Group B had lower birth weight and shorter gestational age at birth, longer duration of hospitalization, was discharged at higher weeks of PMA, and needed ventilatory assist and oxygen supplementation longer than group A (P<0.05). Group B started nutritive sucking later, with a greater decrease in $SpO_2$ during sucking, being more indicative of feeding problems at 40 weeks of PMA, but not at 4 months of CA. Percent of infant needing oxygen supplementation and percent of infants with growth failure were not different between groups at 40 weeks of PMA and 4 months of CA. Body weight and growth velocity differences noted at 40 weeks of PMA became insignificant at 4 months of CA. Conclusion : The severity of desaturation during nutritive sucking in premature infants with BPD influenced the infant's feeding and growth at 40 weeks of PMA. However, it disappeared at 4 months of CA.