• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.141-150
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• 2024

Background: Computed tomography (CT) scans in the Republic of Korea have spiked, reaching approximately 9 million examinations annually in 2017. CT provides significant medical benefits, but radiation exposure remains a concern. This study aims to analyze CT scans in Korea, as a basis study for radiation safety management. Materials and Methods: The raw data of total CT scans was obtained from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service and analyzed by CT scan type, patients' age and sex, and medical facility type. CT scans trends were analyzed considering the disease incidence. Results and Discussion: In 2017, CT scans accounted for 8,977,300. Usage per capita was 0.18 in males and 0.17 in females. CT scans increased with age until the 50- to 59-year-old groups, then decreased. CT scans were high in abdominal/pelvic (35%), chest (26%), and head (22%) regions due to higher disease rates. Head CT was most frequently used for infants and children. Abdominal/pelvic, chest, and spine CT were more frequent for older groups. The CT scans in the upper and lower extremities was high in child and juvenile groups. Chest and abdominal/pelvic CTs were higher in males, whereas spine, whole spine, and CT densitometry were higher in females. The proportion of CT scans of tertiary and general hospitals, hospitals, and clinics accounted for ≥80%, 13%, and 5%, respectively. Abdomen/pelvis, chest, and head/neck CTs were mostly conducted in tertiary and general hospitals, spine CT in hospitals and clinics, extremity CT in hospitals, and CT densitometry in clinics. Conclusion: The trend of CT scans varied based on the incidence rate for each patient's sex and age, and serious illness diagnosis by medical facility type. The results of this study provide data and guidance for evaluating the radiation exposure of the Korean population by CT and developing management policies for medical radiation safety.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.50-56
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• 2007

Background and Objectives: Laryngotracheal stenosis and its reconstruction in children is a highly challenging field to airway surgeons, and the way of stenting after a reconstructive surgery is still controversial. The aims of this study were to analyze the single institutional experiences of laryngotracheal reconstruction (LTR) in the pediatric patients with laryngotracheal stenosis and to compare the outcomes of single-stage LTR (SSLTR) with conventional two-stage LTR (TSLTR) in these patients. Materials and Methods: Medical records of 14 children (mean age 4.1 years) were reviewed, who received 20 LTR including 6 revisions for their moderate to severe subglottic stenosis and/or combined posterior glottic stenosis. Of these 20 LTR, tracheostoma was temporarily maintained after LTR in 12 cases (TSLTR) or not in the other 8 cases (SSLTR). Results: Overall decannulation rate of LTR that were performed before and after the year of 2003 was 40% (4/10) and 70% (7/10) respectively. Decannulation rate was 42% (5/12) in TSLTR group and 75% (6/8) in SSLTR group (P = 0.197). Mean interval to decannulation after LTR was 9.8 months and 7.2 days in TSLTR and SSLTR groups respectively (P = 0.004). A number of additional touch-up procedures that were required after LTR was 4 in TSLTR and 2.7 in SSLTR group (P = 0.238). Major complication rate was similar in both groups (33% in TSLTR and 38% in SSLTR, P = 0.910). Conclusion: A laryngotracheal reconstruction in children is a technically demanding procedure and its outcome is largely dependent on the surgeon's experience. Albeit there was a tendency that SSLTR ofters a higher decannulation rate, less additional touch-up procedures and similar complication rates, a shorter interval to decannulation after LTR was the only advantage that was confirmed as statistically significant in this study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2577-2582
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• 2013

Objectives: Interleukin (IL) -10 is a potent cytokine with a dual ability to immunosuppress or immunostimulate. We aimed to explore the association of IL10 promoter polymorphisms with risk of gastric cancer (GC) in a Han population in Southwestern China. Methods: We enrolled 308 pairs of GC and control subjects from four hospitals and a community between October 2010 and August 2011 in a 1:1 matched case-control design. Demographic information was collected using a designed questionnaire. IL10-592 A>C and IL10-1082 A>G polymorphisms were determined by Sequenom MassARRAY analysis. Results: Patients with GC reported statistically higher proportions of family history of cancer (29.9% versus 10.7%, P<0.01) and alcohol drinking (54.6% versus 43.2%, P<0.01) than did controls. Similar results were observed in comparison between non-cardia GC patients and controls (P<0.01 and P=0.03). Variant genotypes of IL10-592 A>C and IL10-1082 A>G were not associated with overall GC risk (adjusted OR, 0.94, 95% CI, 0.66-1.33; adjusted OR, 1.00, 95% CI, 0.62-1.60). Sub-analysis showed that the IL10-592 AC/CC variant genotype was associated with decreased non-cardia GC risk (adjusted OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36-0.95). No association was found between any of the IL10 haplotypes established from two polymorphisms and risk of non-cardia GC. Conclusions: In conclusion, our data do not link the two SNPs of IL10-592 and IL10-1082 with overall GC risk. We demonstrate that IL10-592 polymorphism is associated with protective effect against non-cardia GC. Our findings may offer insight into risk associated with the development of GC in this region.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.28-37
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• 2011

With growing concerns about healthy life recently, although the podiatry which deals with the whole area for diagnosis, treatment of foot and leg, and prevention has been widely interested, research in our country is not active. Also, because most of the previous researches in data analysis performed the quantitative approaches, the reasonable level of reliability for clinical application could not be guaranteed. Clinical data mining utilizes various data mining analysis methods for clinical data, which provides decision support for expert's diagnosis and treatment for the patients. Because the decision tree can provide good explanation and description for the analysis procedure and is easy to interpret the results, it is simple to apply for clinical problems. This study investigate rules of item of diagnosis in disease types for adapting decision tree after collecting diagnosed data patients who are 2620 feet of 1310(males:633, females:677) in shoes clinic (department of rehabilitation medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital). and we classified 15 foot diseases followed factor of 22 foot diseases, which investigated diagnosis of 64 rules. Also, we analyzed and compared correlation relationship of characteristic of disease and factor in types through made decision tree from 5 class types(infants, child, adolescent, adult, total). Investigated results can be used qualitative and useful knowledge for clinical expert`s, also can be used tool for taking effective and accurate diagnosis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5229-5237
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• 2012

Occupational therapist is required for patient-centered approaches to actively seek the perspectives of patients and their families in clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current trends and to suggest future-oriented view of examination and assessment used by neurological occupational therapist in clinical settings. Sixty-six occupational therapists who work in persons with neurological disorders participated in this study. The survey was measured from Seoul and GyeongGi by means of E-mail about commonly used assessment tools and selecting considerations. The participants were 66 neurological occupational therapists. The number of patients by one day was from 10 to 14 persons, and the length of time for initial evaluation was 20-40 minutes per one patient, and reexamination periods was every 1 month or as functional changes were detected. The using tool was not limited only neurological tools, and choice consideration was the reliability and validity of clinical measures. The most frequently used tools for adults were: JHFT for motor function in upper extremity, MMSE-K for cognitive perceptual assessment, MBI for daily activity assessment, and COPM for occupational performance. The most frequently used tools for child were: MVPT for cognitive perceptual assessment and Wee-FIM for daily activity assessment. The results of this study suggest that it is necessary to integrate and associate patient-report, care-giver report, and results of performance-based assessment for estimating plan of care more quality.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2013

Purpose: Lymphocyte subset recovery is an important factor that determines the success of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Temporal differences in the recovery of lymphocyte subsets and the factors influencing this recovery are important variables that affect a patient's posttransplant immune reconstitution, and therefore require investigation. Methods: The time taken to achieve lymphocyte subset recovery and the factors influencing this recovery were investigated in 59 children who had undergone HSCT at the Department of Pediatrics, The Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, and who had an uneventful follow-up period of at least 1 year. Analyses were carried out at 3 and 12 months post-transplant. An additional study was performed 1 month post-transplant to evaluate natural killer (NK) cell recovery. The impact of pre- and post-transplant variables, including diagnosis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNAemia posttransplant, on lymphocyte recovery was evaluated. Results: The lymphocyte subsets recovered in the following order: NK cells, cytotoxic T cells, B cells, and helper T cells. At 1 month post-transplant, acute graft-versus-host disease was found to contribute significantly to the delay of $CD16^+/56^+$ cell recovery. Younger patients showed delayed recovery of both $CD3^+/CD8^+$ and $CD19^+$ cells. EBV DNAemia had a deleterious impact on the recovery of both $CD3^+$ and $CD3^+/CD4^+$ lymphocytes at 1 year post-transplant. Conclusion: In our pediatric allogeneic HSCT cohort, helper T cells were the last subset to recover. Younger age and EBV DNAemia had a negative impact on the post-transplant recovery of T cells and B cells.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2017

Objectives : Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) is characterized by significant impairments in executive functions, with a prevalence of approximately 3-5% of all children worldwide. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between executive functions and electrophysiological activities in children and adolescents with ADHD. Methods : In 31 patients with ADHD, resting-state EEG was recorded, and Comprehensive Attention Test(CAT), Stroop Color-Word Inference Test(Stroop CWIT), Trail Making Test(TMT), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(CST) were administered. Korean version of the ADHD Rating Scale(K-ARS) was assessed. Results : Alpha and beta power positively correlated with the Attention Quotient(AQ), while delta power negatively correlated with AQ from CAT. In the Stroop CWIT, decreased delta power and increased beta power were related to higher performance. Power of the alpha band increased with higher TMT performance. Moreover, delta power negatively correlated with good performance on the CST, while alpha and high gamma band showed a positive correlation. Correlation with the parent-rating of ADHD symptoms showed a negative correlation between alpha power and higher scores on the K-ARS. Conclusions : These findings indicate that relative power in higher frequency bands of EEG is related to the higher executive function in children and adolescents with ADHD, while the association with the relative power in lower frequency bands of EEG seem to be vice versa. Furthermore, the findings suggest that QEEG may be a useful adjunctive tool in assessing patients with ADHD.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.87-98
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• 2013

Objectives The purpose of this study is to find a literature study of infantile anorexia clinical cases with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to utilize with Korean medicine treatment methods. Methods 5 TCM journals with the highest impact factors were searched and selected among the journals listed in www.cnki.net. The search keywords were, "Children's Anorexia", "Infantile Apositia", "Infantile Anorexia", "Anorexia Nervosa", and "child of anorexia". he search was limited to the publication date from 2000 to 2012. Results Total 20 studies were selected: Acupuncture (5), Herbal medicine (9), Complex Treatment (3), External Application (2) and Moxibustion (1). Among the Acupuncture related studies, 1 study tested the effect of Sifeng (EX-UE10, 四縫), 3 studies tested the effect of Sifeng (EX-UE10, 四縫) and other acupoints treatment together, and 1 study tested the effect of combination of other acupoints. In all these studies, the study groups showed better therapeutic effects compared to the control groups. The Herbal medicine related studies showed the improvement in appetite and weight as a result of Herbal Medicines treatment. Among the Complex Treatment related studies, 2 studies tested the effect of Acupuncture and Chiropractic co-treatment, 1 study tested the effect of Moxibustion and Herbal medicine co-treatment. In all these studies, symptoms of Infantile anorexia showed significantly improved. Other papers related to External Application and Moxibustion treatment were reported improving in appetite and had other the clinical effects as well. Conclusions Clinical studies testing the effect of TCM for the treatment of Infantile Anorexia have been conducted in small scales, and all the studies showed a certain level of symptom improvement of the patients in the study groups. These results implicate that the methods in Korean medicine can be highly potential treatment options for the treatment of Infantile Anorexia. Accurate and well-controlled studies in large scale would be required to prove the effect of Korean medicine for the treatment of patients with Infantile Anorexia.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 2005

The purpose of present study was to compare the sedative effect of chloral hydrate and oral midazolam treatment. The study was conducted on twenty two child patients who required at least two visits. All the patients showed a good physical status (ASA-I). The patient was randomly assigned to receive drug either chloral hydrate 60mg/kg and hydroxyzine 25mg(Group I) or midazolam 0.5mg/kg and hydroxyzine 25mg(Group II) at each visit. Treatment procedures were divided into six stages. In each stage, sleep, crying, movement and overall behavior score were evaluated. The overall results can be summarized as follows: 1. Success rate was 59.9% in group I and was 77.8% in Group II. 2. Mean sleep score was $1.81{\pm}0.93$ in group I and was $1.44{\pm}0.69$ in group II (P<0.05). 3. Through all treatment procedures, no significant difference was observed between group I and group II in terms of crying, movement and overall behavior score(P>0.05). 4. There was no significant difference between the sex and the age(P>0.05). In regard to above results, oral midazolam considered to be a valuable drug as sedative agent in pediatric dentistry.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6293-6299
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• 2013

Background: A number of clinicopathologic factors have been found to be associated with pathological lymph node metastasis (pLNM) in rectal cancer; however, most of them can only be identified by expensive high resolution imaging or obtained after surgical treatment. Just like the Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) and the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores which have been widely used in clinical practice, our study was designed to assess the pre-operative factors which could be obtained easily to predict intra-operative pLNM in rectal cancer. Methods: A cohort of 469 patients who were treated at our hospital in the period from January 2003 to June 2011, and with a pathologically hospital discharge diagnosis of rectal cancer, were included. Clinical, laboratory and pathologic parameters were analyzed. A multivariate unconditional logistic regression model, areas under the curve (AUC), the Kaplan-Meier method (log-rank test) and the Cox regression model were used. Results: Of the 469 patients, 231 were diagnosed with pLNM (49.3%). Four variables were associated with pLNM by multivariate logistic analysis, age<60 yr (OR=1.819; 95% CI, 1.231-2.687; P=0.003), presence of abdominal pain or discomfort (OR=1.637; 95% CI, 1.052-2.547; P=0.029), absence of allergic history (OR=1.879; 95% CI, 1.041-3.392; P=0.036), and direct $bilirubin{\geq}2.60{\mu}mol/L$ (OR=1.540; 95% CI, 1.054-2.250; P=0.026). The combination of all 4 variables had the highest sensitivity (98.7%) for diagnostic performance. In addition, age<60 yr and direct $bilirubin{\geq}2.60{\mu}mol/L$ were found to be associated with prognosis. Conclusion: Age, abdominal pain or discomfort, allergic history and direct bilirubin were associated with pLNM, which may be helpful for preoperative selection.