Medicine
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Allergic rhinitis (AR) is the third most prevalent disease in early and middle adolescence in South Korea and one of the most common allergic diseases worldwide. Due to the ineffectiveness and frequent side effects of conventional medications for AR (such as antihistamines, corticosteroids) complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies have been in the spotlight. Although previous clinical trials conducted on AR with CAM showed efficacy and safety, these research results have limitations in that they did not estimate the effectiveness of combining multiple interventions. In this respect, this study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of combined Korean medicine therapy by establishing an observational registry study at 13 Korean medical clinics that specialize in treating pediatric rhinitis. ⋯ This is the first multi-center observational registry study to compare combined Korean medicine treatment for AR. The results of this study will shed light on the effectiveness and safety of Korean medicine treatments for the treatment of patients with AR.
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No studies have evaluated the retinal sensitivity (RS) for diabetic macular edema (DME) patients with good vision. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of microperimetry in evaluating the effectiveness of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment for DME patients with relatively good vision. Twenty-seven eyes of 27 patients (mean age, 61.3 ± 11.2 years) with DME and decimal best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) ≥0.6 were studied. ⋯ However, the CMT decreased significantly from 479.5 ± 79.1 μm to 394.0 ± 99.8 μm at 4 weeks after treatment (P = .007). The RS also improved significantly from 22.0 ± 2.4 dB to 24.0 ± 3.1 dB at 4 weeks after treatment (P = .004). Measuring RS by microperimetry is a good option for evaluating the effectiveness of anti-VEGF treatment for DME patients with a relatively good BCVA.
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We investigated the feasibility of non-contrast three-dimensional modified Dixon (mDixon) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to evaluate the carotid artery. We studied 30 normal patients who underwent non-contrast mDixon and conventional time-of-flight (TOF) MRA of the neck with a clinical 3T MR scanner. Carotid artery signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio were compared between mDixon-MRA and TOF-MRA. ⋯ There was no significant difference in contrast-to-noise ratio. The visual score for vessel sharpness was significantly higher on mDixon-MRA than TOF-MRA (P < .01), whereas the score for contrast was significantly higher on TOF-MRA (P < .01). Although non-contrast three-dimensional mDixon-MRA showed lower visual contrast than conventional TOF-MRA, it provided images with significantly higher SNR and better vessel sharpness than TOF-MRA.
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Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHDS) is a rare genetic disease. Renal cell carcinoma is the most serious complication of BHDS. The histological types of BHDS-related renal cell carcinoma are mostly mixed chromophobe/eosinophil and chromophobe cell types. BHDS with unclassified renal cell carcinoma is extremely rare. ⋯ The pathogenesis of BHDS has not been fully elucidated, and the pathological type of BHDS with unclassified renal cell carcinoma is extremely rare. Through case presentation and review of related literature, this paper summarizes the diagnosis and treatment of BHDS complicated with unclassified renal cell carcinoma.
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Uterine fibroids is a common benign tumor disease of the female reproductive system. The main methods of current clinical treatment of uterine fibroids are conservative treatment and surgical treatment. With the rise of the concept of minimally invasive surgery in gynecology, laparoscopic myomectomy, and vaginal myomectomy have been widely used. ⋯ This study will compare the clinical efficacy of these 3 common surgical methods through retrospective medical record analysis, and provide more reliable evidence-based medical evidence for clinical treatment choices.