Yonsei medical journal
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Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disorder that presents as recurrent oral and genital ulcers in conjunction with other dermatological and ocular manifestations. The prevalence of BD is higher in Middle and East Asia than in Western countries. Intestinal BD is a specific subtype of BD, characterized by intestinal ulcers and associated gastrointestinal symptoms. ⋯ The clinical course of intestinal BD shows considerable variability, and the exact point at which more potent agents such as immunosuppressants should be used has not yet been elucidated. Given the difficulty in predicting which patients will experience complicated disease courses and the fact that these drugs are related with certain risk resulting from immunosuppression, proper identification of prognostic factors in intestinal BD may allow physicians to implement tailored medical therapy and individualized patient monitoring based on risk stratification. In this review, the impact of baseline characteristics on the long-term course of intestinal BD, prognostic factors during various medical therapies, and outcome predictors related to surgery will be discussed.
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Yonsei medical journal · Sep 2013
Outcome of transcatheter closure of oval shaped atrial septal defect with amplatzer septal occluder.
For the successful completion of transcatheter closure of atrial septal defects with the Amplatzer septal occluder, shape of the defects should be considered prior to selecting the device. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of a transcatheter closure of oval shaped atrial septal defect. ⋯ Transcatheter closure of an oval shaped atrial septal defect was found to be safe with the smaller Amplatzer septal occluder device when compared with circular atrial septal defects.
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Yonsei medical journal · Sep 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialEfficacy of combination of meloxicam and pregabalin for pain in knee osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritic pain is largely considered to be inflammatory pain. Sensory nerve fibers innervating the knee have been shown to be significantly damaged in rat models of knee osteoarthritis (OA) in which the subchondral bone junction is destroyed, and this induces neuropathic pain (NP). Pregabalin was developed as a pain killer for NP; however, there are no reports on pregabalin use in OA patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of pregabalin for pain in OA patients. ⋯ Meloxicam+pregabalin was effective for pain in OA patients. This finding suggests that OA pain is a combination of inflammatory and NP.
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Yonsei medical journal · Sep 2013
Comparative StudyKidney function in living donors undergoing nephrectomy by sevoflurane or desflurane anesthesia.
Although there is no clinical evidence of nephrotoxicity with the volatile anesthetics currently used in general anesthesia, a better agent should be needed in terms of preserving postoperative renal function in living kidney donors who have only single remaining kidney. The purpose of the current retrospective, single-center study was to evaluate and compare renal function of living kidney donors after nephrectomy under either sevoflurane or desflurane anesthesia. ⋯ Sevoflurane and desflurane can be used safely as volatile anesthetics in donors undergoing nephrectomy.
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Yonsei medical journal · Sep 2013
Risk assessment of postoperative nausea and vomiting in the intravenous patient-controlled analgesia environment: predictive values of the Apfel's simplified risk score for identification of high-risk patients.
Opioid-based intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) is popular method of postoperative pain control, but many patients suffer from IV PCA-related postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). In this retrospective observational study, we have determined independent predictors of IV PCA-related PONV and predictive values of the Apfel's simplified risk score in pursuance of identifying high-risk patients. ⋯ Multimodal prophylactic antiemetic strategies and dose reduction of opioids may be considered as strategies for the prevention of PONV with the use of IV PCA, especially in patients with high Apfel's simplified risk scores.