• Archives of Hand and Microsurgery
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2019

Spontaneous rupture of the extensor pollicis longus (EPL) tendon can occur in the 3rd extensor compartment after a distal radius fracture involving Lister's tubercle, steroid injections, or rheumatoid arthritis. We report a case of spontaneous rupture of the EPL tendon in a 26-year-old male patient who played a rhythm game, which requires repetitive wrist motions to play the drums. We also provide a comprehensive literature review along with the case report. From the authors' point of view, excessive and repetitive motion of the wrist, as shown in our case, can be a potential cause of spontaneous rupture of the EPL tendon.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.17-40
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• 1995

Rheumatoid arthritis is the one of the chronic diseases, one of its major symptoms is a chronic pain. Despite developing medical treatment and surgical techniques, it is suggested that to control the pain is the goal of the treatment. But pain is an inner experience and even those closest to the patient cannot truly observe its progress or share in its suffering. The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine's report on Pain and Disability concluded that there is no objective measure of pain-(exactly) no pain thermometer-nor can there ever be one, because the experience of pain is inseparable from personal perception and social influence such as culture. To explore chronic pain experience is to understand the process and property of the patient's perception of pain through the response to pain, the coping with pain, and the adaptation to pain. Therefore a qualitative study was conducted in order to gain an understanding of pain experience of patients with RA in korea. I used naturalistic inquiry as a research methodology, which had 5 axioms, the first is that realities are multiple, constructed, and holistic, the second is that knower and known are interactive, inseparable, the third is only time and context bound working hypotheses(idiographic statements) are possible, the forth is all entities are in a state of mutual simultaneous shaping, so that it is impossible to distinguish causes from effects and the last is that inquiry is value-bound. Purposive sampling was conducted as a sampling. 20 subjects who experienced pain over 10 years, lived in middle-sized city and big city in Korea, and 17 women and 3 men. The subject's age was from 32 to 62 (average 48.8), all were married, living with their spouse and children, except two-one divorced and the other widow before they became ill. I collected data using In depth structured interview. I had interviews two or three times with each subject, and the interviews were conducted at each subject's home. Each interview lasted about two hours an average. A recording was taken with the consent of the subject. I used inductive data analysis-such as unitizing and categorizing. unitizing is a process of coding, whereby raw data are systematically transformed and aggregated into units. Categorizing is a process wherby previously unitized data are organized into categories that provide descriptive or inferential information about the context or setting from which the units were derived. This process is used constant comparative method. The pain controlling process is composed of behavior of pain control. The behaviors of pain control are rearranging of ADL, hiddening role conflict, balancing treatment, and changing social relation. Rearranging of ADL includes diet management, sleep management, and the adjustment of daily life activities. The subjects try to rearrange their daily activities by modified style of motions, rearranging time span & range of activities, using auxillary facilities, and getting help in order to keep on the pace of daily life. Hiddening role conflict means to reduce conflicts between sick role and their role as a family member. In this process, the subjects use two modes, one is to control the pain complaints, and the other is to internalize the value which is to stay home is good for caring her children and being a good mother. To control pain complaints is done by 'enduring', 'understanding' the other family members, or making them undersood in order to reduce pain. Balancing treatment is composed of two aspects. One is to keep the pain within the endurable level, the other is to keep in touch with medical personnel in order to get the information of treatment and emotional support. Changing social relation is made by information seeking and sharing, formation of mutual support relation, and finally simplification of social relationships. The subjects simplify their social relationships by refraining from relations with someone who makes them physically and psychologically strained. In particular the subjects are apt to avoid contact with in-laws, and the change of relation to in-laws results in lessening the family boundary. In the course of this process, they confront the crisis of family confict result in family dissolution. This crisis is related to the threat of self-existence. Findings from this study contribute to understanding the chronic pain experience. To advance this study, we should compare this result with other cases in different cultural contexts. I think to interpret these results, korean cultural background should be considered. Especially the different family concept, more broader family members and kinship network, and the traditional medical knowledge influences patients' behavior.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.721-724
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• 2009

Meningococcal infections can be associated with abnormalities of the complement system, which contains 5 terminal complement proteins. Furthermore, deficiencies in 1 of these 5, complement component 7 (C7), leads to the loss of complement lytic function, and affected patients show increased susceptibility to recurrent meningococcal meningitis and systemic Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection. In September 2003, an 11-year-old female patient presented at our outpatient department with high fever, lower leg pain, headache, and petechiaes. She rapidly progressed to coma but later achieved full recovery due to prompt treatment. Her final diagnosis was meningococcal sepsis and arthritis. Her elder brother also had a similar bacterial meningoencephalitis history, which encouraged us to perform analyses for complement component and gene mutations. Resultantly, both the brother and sister were found to have the same mutation in the C7 gene. Subsequently, vaccinations of the meningococcal vaccine meningococcal vaccine ($Menomune^{(R)}$) were administered. However, in September 2006, the brother expired due to acute micrococcus meningoencephalitis. At present, the 16-year-old female patient is healthy. Here, we report a Korean family with a hereditary C7 deficiency with susceptibility to meningococcal infections due to C7 gene mutation.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.161-168
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• 2016

Purpose: Patients who suffer from rheumatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, other various inflammatory diseases and musculoskeletal disorders, which are all similar to temporomandibular disorders (TMD), have been complaining about changes in the level and type of pain in response to changes in weather conditions for a long time. Through an investigation about pain perception in TMD patients in response to weather conditions, our primary objective was to develop base materials for future studies on change in pain in response to meteorological factors. Methods: Among patients who presented with TMD to Department of Oral Medicine, Pusan National University Dental Hospital from August to October 2016, one hundred consecutive TMD patients diagnosed with TMDs according to Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) were recruited for the study and 28 patients were excluded according to exclusion criteria. Survey was done with the questionnaire and investigated whether there was any difference in incidence and level of pain in TMD patients between non-rainy and rainy days. Results: Among a total of 72 samples, 4 patients reported change in pain on rainy days rather than non-rainy days. Two patients from chronic group (joint and complex subgroup) reported increased pain on rainy days rather than non-rainy days but it was not statistically significant (p>0.05). One patient from chronic/muscle group reported the change in pain characteristics while pain intensity remained unchanged. One patient from acute/complex group reported decreased pain intensity. In comparison of the patients who reported increased pain on rainy days between acute and chronic groups, there were two reported cases and were both from chronic group only. There was a significantly higher chance of reporting increased pain on rainy days in chronic group than acute group (p<0.001). Conclusions: It is considered that TMD patients couldn't perceive the change in pain well in response to weather change on rainy days but some chronic patients could perceive the increase in pain in rainy days.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.175-179
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• 2010

The ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with an unknown etiology. The major symptoms of ulcerative colitis are diarrhea, abdominal pain and hematochezia. However, arthritis, skin disorders, hepatobiliary inflammation and uveitis are occasionally recognized as systemic complications. Although there are few reports of coexistent pulmonary and inflammatory bowel disease, the lung is not generally considered to be a target organ in ulcerative colitis. We report a patient with ulcerative colitis-related bronchilolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia confirmed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, who responded to corticosteroid therapy.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 2003

Objective : There were few reports on the treatment of Adult-onset Still's disease and Diffuse cerebral dysfunction. This oriental medical treatment shows the possibility of healing Adult-onset Still's disease and Diffuse cerebral dysfunction, therefore we announce this. Methods : The acupuncture, herbal medicine, herbal acupucture(Jahageo, Nockyong) therapies were applied for treating this patient's chief symptom(chest discomfort, palpitation, rigidity, mentality change, global aphasia, dysphagia, coughing and sputum) Results : 1. Adult-onset Still's disease is a rare systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology, characterised by salmon-colored rash, intermittent spiking high fever, arthralgia and variety of systemic features. This is one type of Juvenile arthritis. 2. Diffuse cerebral dysfunction is an anoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and most cause of this is the hypoxia caused by hypotention or respiratory distress. 3. After oriental medical treatments, his chief symptoms were improved. Conclusion : The more study about oriental medical treatment on Adult-onset Still's disease and Diffuse cerebral dysfunction is needed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 2015

This study was conducted to develop a severity-adjusted LOS(Length of Stay) model for knee replacement patients and identify factors that can influence the LOS by using the Korean National Hospital Discharge in-depth Injury Survey data. The comorbidity scoring systems and data-mining methods were used to design a severity-adjusted LOS model which covered 4,102 knee replacement patients. In this study, a decision tree model using CCS comorbidity scoring index was chosen for the final model that produced superior results. Factors such as presence of arthritis, patient sex and admission route etc. influenced patient length of stay. And there was a statistically significant difference between real LOS and adjusted LOS resulted from health-insurance type, bed size, and hospital location. Therefore the policy alternative on excessive medical utilization is needed to reduce variation in length of hospital stay in patients who undergo knee replacement.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.65-89
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• 2012

Objective : In order to investigate and improve public Korean medical health service satisfaction level, this study was designed. Method : A questionnaire has been conducted on 212 patients who received treatments at six public health centers in the northern part of Gyeongbuk during 15 days between Sep. 24 and Oct. 8, 2011. Result : 1. An Investigation on the usage of herbal clinics in public health centers reveals that 63.7% have received three times or more medical treatments previously and 61.8% have had their illness treated at other medical institutions. In regard to illness 32.1% have had arthritis or muscle aches. 50.9% have taken insurance medication after having had treatments at the public health centers. 66% have assessed acupuncture and moxa cautery the most satisfying. 2. To a question regarding whether herbal health treatment costs higher than that of physician's, the highest response at 31.6% is 'No'. And to a question regarding whether herbal medicines administered at public health centers have more side effects than that of physician's, the highest response at 39.6% is 'No'. 3. To a question regarding whether herbal treatment of public health centers has little effect against acute disease, 48.1% of responses are 'Fair'. To a question regarding whether herbal treatments, when compared with physician's treatments, boost better recovery of patients, 48.1% of responses are 'Fair'. To a question regarding whether herbal medicine is unscientific, when compared with that of western medicine, 38.2% of responses are 'Fair', To a question regarding whether herbal medicine has faster effect on disease than western medicine, 41.0% of responses are 'Fair'. To a question regarding whether herbal medicine is more effective on disease prevention and promotion of health than disease treatment, 38.2% of responses are 'Fair'. And to a question regarding whether the lack of various types of physical therapy devices in herbal medicine, when compared with western medicine causes inconvenience in herbal treatment, 42.0% of responses are 'Fair'. Those responses take up highest portion at each questionnaire. 4. A comparative study between herbal treatments and physician's treatments has also been conducted. To questions regarding which one of the two considering types of disease is the better, responses are the latter accounted for 43.9% against 'Cancer', the latter accounted for 45.3% against 'Endocrine disorders', the former accounted for 30.7% against 'Psychiatric disorders', the latter accounted for 38.2% gainst 'Otolaryngological(ENT) disease', the former accounted for 47.6% against 'Post traumatic stress disorder', and the former accounted for 52.4% against 'Muscle-skeletal disease'. 5. An investigation on frequency of patients' visits via (p<0.05) of subjects show a statistically significant difference. 6. First, an investigation on frequency of reasons of medical treatments reveal that age, occupation, monthly income, and insurance type (p<0.05) of subjects show a statistically significant difference. Secondly, an investigation on frequency of subjects taking insurance medicines after herbal health treatments reveal that monthly income (p<0.05) of subject shows a statistically significant difference. 7. First, an investigation on frequency of a claim that herbal treatments of public health center does not have great effect on acute disease reveals that age, education, and insurance type (p<0.05) of subjects show a statistically significant difference. Secondly, an investigation on frequency of analysis that herbal treatments has faster effect on disease compared with western treatments reveals that education level, religion, monthly income, and insurance type (p<0.05) of subjects show a statistically significant difference. 8. When herbal clinics of public health centers and general herbal medicine institutions are compared, a survey on additional treatments that herbal clinics need the most reveals that education level, monthly income, and insurance type (p<0.05) of subjects show a statistically significant difference. Secondly, an investigation on frequency of subjects who want various forms of herbal medicines reveals that occupation and insurance type (p<0.05) of subjects show a statistically significant difference. Conclusion : In order to improve efficiency of treatments and enhance patient's satisfaction level, this study suggests measures such as providing a differentiated acupuncture treatments as a whole, streamlining an reception procedure, adopting more elaborated computer system for a patient to get proper medical attention, standardizing a treatment duration in order for a maximum result, keeping regular office hours, and optimizing a consultation time for a patient.

• Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Sports Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical, radiological and histopathological results after microfracture surgery for degenerative arthritis of the knee. Materials and Methods: From Oct. 1997 to Dec. 1998, 48 knees in 46 patients were treated by microfracture technique. Their mean age at the time of operation was 56 years(range, 40-75 years) and mean period of follow-up study was one year(range, 7-20 months). For 24 knees in 22 patients, 'second-look' arthroscopies and biopsies were performed at 6 months following microfracture. At the last follow up clinical results were evaluated with Baumgaertner's scale. The specimens of 24 cases were stained with H-E, Safranin-O, and Masson's trichrome. Eighteen of 24 cases were stained immunohistochemically and the Western blotting test was performed on 12 cases for type II collagen. We analyzed the relationship of the Western blotting for type II collagen with clinical score, preoperative varus deformity, joint space widening in radiological result, extent of repaired articular cartilage in '2nd-look' arthroscopic findings, patient's age and weight. Results: Clinical results were excellent in 90% and good in 10%. Among the 24 knees, more than 80% of areas of chondral defect were covered with regenerated cartilage in 21 knees Histologically, the repaired tissue appears to be a hybrid of hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage. Repaired cartilage contains variable amounts of type II collagen with immunohistochemical staining. The results of the Western blotting test were similar. The amounts of type II collagen formation had positive correlation with the extent of repaired cartilage and preoperative varus deformity. Conclusion: 'Second-look' showed that the chondral defect areas were covered with newly grown grayish white tissue. Articular cartilage repair was confirmed with histological and immunohisto-chemical study qualitatively, and the amount of type II collagen was calculated with the Western blotting test quantitatively. The exact nature and fate of repaired cartilagenous tissues need further long term follow-up study. The results of this study provide the rationale to select osteoarthritic patients indicated for microfracture surgery.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.29-43
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of patients' self-perceived health in traditional Korean medical facilities. Method : This research was conducted based on the survey on patients whom have visited traditional Korean medical facilities in 2011 by the Ministry of Health and Welfares and Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Using a sample of 3,931 (1,180 male and 2,751 female) outpatients' self-perceived health based on the data from usage and consumption of Korean Medicine. 'Healthy', 'Fair', and 'Poor Health' were used to measure patients' self-perceived health status. The data was analyzed by frequency, t-test, cross correlation analysis and multiple logistics regression analysis using the SPSS program package. Results : Sex(P<0.001), age(P<0.001), marital status(P<0.001), education(P<0.001), employment status(P<0.001), occupation(P<0.001), health insurance(P<0.001) and income level(P<0.0001) showed statistical significance. Main Treatment Facilities(P<0.001), experience of taking Korean medicine(P=0.032), experience of receiving acupuncture treatment(P<0.001), number of visits(P<0.001), medical expense (P=0.005), and subjective health status after the treatments showed statistical significance for Korean herbal medicine(P=0.038), acupuncture (P=0.001), cupping therapy(P=0.006), oriental physiotherapy(P=0.003), and treatment satisfaction(P<0.001). For subjective health status based on suffering disorders in the past three months, the response of poor health was higher in the group suffering recent illnesses. Statistical significance was seen in hypertension (P=0.002), arthritis(P<0.001), lumbar pain(P<0.001), diabetes mellitus(P=0.001), stroke(P<0.001), hwa-byung (P=0.001), gastric disorders(P=0.021), common cold(P<0.001), ankle sprain(P<0.001), muscular injury(P<0.001), lumbar sprain(p=0.009) and fracture(P=0.03). Also the number of diseases during the past three months showed statistical significance(P<0.001). Statistical significance was also seen in Level of knowledge(P<0.001), route of information(P<0.001), reliability of Korean medicine(P=0.003), insurance coverage(P=0.005), medical costs(P<0.001), and future willingness to use Korean medicine(P<0.001). As a result of the multiple logistics regression analysis, risks of subjective poor health statistically increased in female population, elderlies, medicaid beneficiaries, less educated, higher medical expense, and more disorders during the past three months. Conclusion : Patients' self-perceived health status has significant differences with each variables such as sex, age, marital status, education, health insurance, medical expense, number of diseases.