Journal of Korean medical science
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The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a triage method to prevent unnecessary emergency department visits of out-of-hospital poisoned patients. From October 2003 to September 2004, the calls that lay persons gave to the Seoul Emergency Medical Information Center to seek advice on the out-of-hospital poisoned patients were enrolled. We designed a triage protocol that consisted of five factors and applied it to the patients. ⋯ A total of 220 patients were enrolled in this study. The method showed a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 99.2%, 53.4%, 76.2%, and 97.9%, respectively. Our triage method prevented 53.4% of the unnecessary emergency department visits of out-of-hospital acutely poisoned patients, safely.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Apr 2007
Controlled Clinical TrialOne-year outcome evaluation after interspinous implantation for degenerative spinal stenosis with segmental instability.
The authors hypothesized that the placement of the interspinous implant would show a similar clinical outcome to the posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) in patients having spinal stenosis with mild segmental instability and that this method would be superior to PLIF without significantly affecting degeneration at the adjacent segments. Forty two adult patients having degenerative spinal stenosis with mild segmental instability who underwent implantation of Coflex (Spine motion, Germany) or PLIF at L4-5 between January 2000 and December 2003 were consecutively selected and studied for one-year clinical outcome. ⋯ However, the range of motion at the upper adjacent segments (L3-4) increased significantly after surgery in the PLIF group, which was not manifested in the Coflex group during the follow-up. The authors assumed that interspinous implantation can be an alternative treatment for the spinal stenosis with segmental instability in selected conditions posing less stress on the superior adjacent level than PLIF.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Apr 2007
Clinical TrialClinical efficacy of radiofrequency cervical zygapophyseal neurotomy in patients with chronic cervicogenic headache.
The purpose of the present study was to assess the clinical efficacy of radiofrequency (RF) cervical zygapophyseal joint neurotomy in patients with cervicogenic headache. A total of thirty consecutive patients suffering from chronic cervicogenic headaches for longer than 6 months and showing a pain relief by greater than 50% from diagnostic/prognostic blocks were included in the study. ⋯ The results of this study showed that RF neurotomy of the cervical zygapophyseal joints significantly reduced the headache severity in 22 patients (73.3%) at 12 months after the treatment. In conclusion, RF cervical zygapophyseal joint neurotomy has shown to provide substantial pain relief in patients with chronic cervicogenic headache when carefully selected.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Apr 2007
Comparative Study Controlled Clinical TrialA comparative study of pericostal and submuscular bar fixation technique in the Nuss procedure.
We evaluated the safety and stability of the less-invasive submuscular bar fixation method in the Nuss procedure. One hundred and thirteen patients undergoing the Nuss procedure were divided into three groups according to the bar fixation technique employed. Group 1 consisted of 25 patients who had undergone bilateral pericostal bar fixation, group 2 consisted of 39 patients with unilateral pericostal one, and group 3 included 49 patients with bilateral submuscular one. ⋯ Group 3, p=0.028). The mean operation time was shorter in Group 3 than Group 1 (50.1+/-21.00 in Group 3 vs. 67.2+/-33.07 min in Group 1, p=0.041). The submuscular bar fixation results in a decrease in technique-related complications and operation time and is associated with favorable results with regard to the prevention of bar dislodgement.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Apr 2007
Case ReportsEikenella corrodens cervical spinal epidural abscess induced by a fish bone.
Cervical spinal epidural abscess, caused by fish bone injury and a secondary infection by Eikenella corrodens which is part of the normal flora, has not been reported. A 72-yr-old man came to the hospital with pain in his posterior neck and both shoulders for 2 months. He also was experiencing weakness on his right side for 3 days. ⋯ The patient was treated with emergency surgical decompression and antibiotics. A fish bone was removed from the C3-C4 intervertebral disc space. In the culture of chocolate blood agar and 5% sheep blood agar plate, E. corrodens was detected as a causative organism.