• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.223-229
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• 2003

Purpose: To compare the effects of the conservative treatment and operative treatment by observation of osseous changes of the TMJ and mandibular asymmetry in condylar fracture patients. Materials and Methods: 33 condylar fracture patients (17 with conservative and 16 with operative treatment) were included in this study. After a minimum of 6 months after the surgical procedure, patients were given a follow up examination of the osseous changes using a transcranial view. Differences in the osseous changes of both groups were compared and the asymmetry indices were calculated on a postero-anterior skull view. Results: The TMJ of the operative treatment group showed more significant osseous changes than the conservative treatment group. The affected TMJ showed more significant osseous changes than the unaffected TMJ in the both groups. The unaffected TMJ of the conservative group and the affected TMJ of the operative group showed significant osseous changes. The mandibular asymmetry indices in the conservative and operative group were 5.12 and 7.30 respectively at the time of treatment, and 2.39 and 3.41 respectively at the follow-up. But the mandibular asymmetry between the both groups showed no statistical differences. Conclusion: The TMJ of the operative group showed more significant osseous changes than the conservative group, but the mandibular asymmetry between the both groups showed no statistical difference.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.39-46
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• 2013

Purpose: Non-invasive blood pressure measurement is widely used as a pre-hospital triage tool for blunt trauma patients. However, scant data exits for using the mean arterial pressure (MAP), compared to the systolic blood pressure, as a guiding index. The aim of this study was to determine the association between adverse outcomes and mean arterial pressure (MAP) and to exhibit the therapeutic range of the MAP in adult blunt trauma patients. Methods: The electronic medical records for all trauma patients in a single hospital from January 2010 to September 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients below 17 years of age, patients with penetrating injuries, and patients with serious head trauma (injuries containing any skull fractures or any intracranial hemorrhages) were excluded. Adverse outcomes were defined as one of the following: death in the Emergency Department (ED), admission via operating theater, admission to the intensive care unit, transfer to another hospital for emergency surgery, or discharge as hopeless. Results: There were 14,537 patients who met entry criteria. Adverse outcomes occurred for MAPs in range from 90 to 120 mmHg. Adverse outcomes were found, after adjusting for confounding variables, to occur increasingly as the MAP declined below 90 mmHg or rose above 120 mmHg. Conclusion: Not only lower but also higher mean arterial pressure is associated with increased adverse outcomes in adult blunt trauma patients. Thus, patients with a MAP above 120 mmHg should be considered as a special group requiring higher medical attention, just as those with a MAP below 90 mmHg are.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.584-590
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• 2017

Objective : Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children under age 24 months has characteristic features because the brain at this age is rapidly growing and sutures are opened. Moreover, children this age are completely dependent on their parents. We analyzed the demographic data and risk factors for outcomes in TBI patients in this age group to elucidate their clinical characteristics. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and radiological films of children under 24 months who were admitted to Kyungpook National University Hospital from January 2004 to December 2013 for TBI. Specifically, we analyzed age, cause of injury, initial Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score, radiological diagnosis, seizure, hydrocephalus, subdural hygroma, and Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) score, and we divided outcomes into good (GOS 4-5) or poor (GOS 1-3). We identified the risk factors for post-traumatic seizure (PTS) and outcomes using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results : The total number of patients was 60, 39 males and 21 females. Most common age group was between 0 to 5 months, and the median age was 6 months. Falls were the most common cause of injury (n=29, 48.3%); among them, 15 were falls from household furniture such as beds and chairs. Ten patients (16.7%) developed PTS, nine in one week; thirty-seven patients (61.7%) had skull fractures. Forty-eight patients had initial GCS scores of 13-15, 8 had scores of 12-8, and 4 had scored 3-7. The diagnoses were as follows : 26 acute subdural hematomas, 8 acute epidural hematomas, 7 focal contusional hemorrhages, 13 subdural hygromas, and 4 traumatic intracerebral hematomas larger than 2 cm in diameter. Among them, two patients underwent craniotomy for hematoma removal. Four patients were victims of child abuse, and all of them had PTS. Fifty-five patients improved to good-to-moderate disability. Child abuse, acute subdural hematoma, and subdural hygroma were risk factors for PTS in univariate analyses. Multivariate analysis found that the salient risk factor for a poor outcome was initial GCS on admission. Conclusion : The most common cause of traumatic head injury in individuals aged less than 24 months was falls, especially from household furniture. Child abuse, moderate to severe TBI, acute subdural hematoma, and subdural hygroma were risk factors for PTS. Most of the patients recovered with good outcomes, and the risk factor for a poor outcome was initial mental status.

• Journal of The Korean Ophthalmological Society
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• v.58 no.11
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• pp.1313-1316
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• 2017

Purpose: To report fundus photography using a smartphone in an infant with abusive head trauma. Case summary: An 8-month-old male infant presented to the emergency room with decreased consciousness and epileptic seizures that the parents attributed to a fall from a chair. He had no external wounds or fractures to the skull or elsewhere. However, computerized tomography of the brain revealed an acute subdural hematoma in the right cranial convexity and diffuse cerebral edema, leading to a midline shift to the left and effacement of the right lateral ventricle and basal cistern. The attending neurosurgeon promptly administered a decompressive craniectomy. Immediately after the emergency surgery, a fundus examination revealed numerous multi-layered retinal hemorrhages in the posterior pole extending to the periphery in each eye. He also had white retinal ridges with cherry hemorrhages in both eyes. We acquired retinal photographs using the native camera of a smartphone in video mode. The photographer held the smartphone with one hand, facing the patient's eye at 15-20 cm, and held a 20 diopter condensing lens at 5 cm from the eye in the other hand. Our documentation using a smartphone led to a diagnosis of abusive head trauma and to obtain the criminal's confession, because the findings were specific for repetitive acceleration-deceleration forces to an infant's eye with a strong vitreoretinal attachment. Conclusions: This ophthalmic finding had a key role in the diagnosis of abusive head trauma. This case presented the diagnostic use of a smartphone for fundus photography in this important medicolegal case.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.436-442
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• 2007

Purpose : To promote awareness and efforts by pediatricians to identity and prevent child abuse by investigation of characteristics of victim and types of injury caused by abuse. Methods : A retrospective study was performed with 20 patients who had been diagnosed or suspected as child abuse at Hallym University Hospital from January 1999 to December 2005. The medical records, radiologic documents, and social worker's notes were reviewed to investigate age, sex, visiting time, form of abuse, perpetrator, risk factor, and type of injury. Results : The mean age of the subjects was 2.8 years. Fourteen patients were between 0-1 years old, 2 patients between 1-6 years old, 3 patients between 7-12 years old, and 1 case over 13 years old. The ratio of male to female was 1:1. The majority of these patients (70%) visited via emergency department. Eight five percent of these patients reported with physical abuse, 5% psychological abuse, 5% sexual abuse, and 5% neglect respectively. The suspected perpetrator was the biological father in six cases, the biological mother in three cases, the stepmother in two cases, caregiver in one case, relatives in one case and "unknown" in six cases. Bruise and hematoma (80%) were the most common physical findings. Skull fractures were diagnosed in six cases, long bone fractures in two cases, hemoperitoneum in two cases, subdural hemorrhage in 10 cases, epidural hemorrhages in two cases, subarachnoidal hemorrhages in two cases, and retinal hemorrhages in five cases respectively. Seventeen cases required hospitalization and surgical operations performed were in nine cases. Four patients died and three patients had sequalae such as developmental delay and quadriplegia. Conclusion : Child abuse results in high mortality and morbidity in victims. Therefore early recognition and prevention is very important. Pediatricians should always suspect the possibilities of abuse in cases of fracture, intracranial hemorrhage, abdominal injury, or even any injury to the body. We recommend that the clinical investigation of suspicious children should include a full multidisciplinary social assessment, a skeletal survey and CT or MRI.