• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.170-181
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• 2011

Purpose: There is considerable variability in rates of hospitalization for patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in part because of physicians' uncertainty in assessing the severity of illness at presentation. The purpose of the study was to examine the current treatment patterns and factors influencing the Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) and clinical outcomes in the patient with CAP. Method: The retrospective data collection of the patients with CAP was conducted and the data were reviewed. The collected data included demographic, clinical, laboratory and microbiological medical information. All patients were stratified into three risk groups according to PSI: low risk (PSI score I-II), moderate risk (III) and high risk (IV-V) groups. The examined treatment patterns were the appropriateness of admissions, category of antibiotics used. The prognostic factors associated with PSI and clinical outcomes were examined. Results: One hundred and six patients' medical data were reviewed. The overall appropriateness of admissions was low presenting many of patients were admitted or intensely treated in the hospital despite of lower risk of prognosis and treated with intravenous antibiotics instead of oral fluoroquinolones. Primary pneumonia pathogens were Klebsiella pneumoniae (27%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (21.6%). Mean LOS was 8.5 days and was significantly longer (10.0days) (p<0.001) in high risk group. The patients with age >65 (p<0.001), diabetes mellitus (p<0.001), mental alteration (p<0.001), and/or $PaO_2$ <60 mmHg (p<0.001) had a tendency to have higher PSI. The prognostic factors associated with longer LOS were age >65 years (p=0.008), mental status alteration (p<0.001), dyspnea (p=0.002) and PSI score (p=0.001). The prognostic factors associated with mortality were congestive heart failure (p=0.038), systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg (p=0.002) and arterial pH <7.35 (p=0.013). Conclusion: Most of patients were found to over-utilize medical service according to appropriateness of admissions. The elderly, mentally altered patients with low $PaO_2$ had higher PSI score with increased risk of LOS. The mortality could be increased in the patient with disease state of congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and/or acidosis.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.416-421
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• 2012

A 10-year-old 4-kg spayed female Chihuahua with severe congestive heart failure was referred for surgical treatment. Through several examinations, the dog was diagnosed as severe mitral regurgitation (MR) and moderate TR. Because of the poor prognosis associated with continuation of medical management, surgical repair of the mitral valve was considered as the treatment option for the dog. The mitral valve repair was performed undergoing cardio pulmonary bypass (CPB) circuit. However after mitral repair, the dog was died without recovery from anesthesia. Many risk factors associated with failure of cardiac surgery are included CPB management, hypothermia, organ dysfunction, hemorrhage, hypotension, electrolyte & acid base imbalance, and infection. Although the dog is died from the operation, it is an important to reveal the factors of failure in veterinary clinic. From the case report, causes of failure of mitral valve repair can be considered from the failure of oxygenation and gas exchange by hypothermia and serious hypotension with low heart rate by low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS). Through the several considerations from this case, it is known that coming cardiac surgery for mitral valve repair is required to be more careful for successful operation. Further it can be brought to increase success rate in further operation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.494-501
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• 1998

From May 1, 1993 to May 31 1995, the authers studied retrospectively 211 patients who underwent cardiovascular operation with cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB). Because we were interested in new development of ARF(prevalence, mortality rate, and main risk factors), we performed a multivariate statistical analysis about data of patients with preoperative serum creatinine values of less than 1.5 mg/dL. Normal renal function before operation(serum creatinine level less than 1.5 mg/dL) was registered in 198(74%) patients. Of these, 27(14%) patients showed postoperative renal complication, including 20(10%) patients classified as renal dysfunction(serum creatinine level between 1.5 and 2.5 mg/dL) and 7(4%) patients as acute renal failure(serum creatinine level higher than 2.5 mg/dL). The mortality rate was 5.8% in normal patients, 5% in patients with renal dysfunction, and 43% when acute renal failure developed(p=0.036). Indeed, the renal impairment proved to be an independent predictor of mortality(odd ratio 2.52∼11.25), along with cardiovascular(odd ratio 4.20) and respiratory(odd ratio 2.18) complications. Multivariate analysis identified the following variables as independent risk factors for postoperative renal impairment : advanced age(odd ratio 1), need for emergency operation(odd ratio 3.78), low-output syndrome(odd ratio 3.66), respiratory complication(odd ratio 1.30), need for deep hypothermic circulatory arrest(odd ratio 1.4). The 13 patients(7%) with preoperative renal failure showed a significantly higher morbidity and mortality rate than those without renal complications before operation. We concluded that the likelihood of severe renal complications is resonably low in the patients undergoing cardiac operation without preexisting renal dysfunction, but associated mortality remains high. A prominant role of hemodynamic factor in the development of postoperative acute renal failure must be recognized during preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.167-176
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a prior gastrectomy on the difficulty of subsequent colonoscopy, and to identify the surgical factors related to difficult colonoscopies. Materials and Methods: Patients with a prior gastrectomy who had undergone a colonoscopy between 2011 and 2014 (n=482) were matched (1:6) to patients with no history of gastrectomy (n=2,892). Cecal insertion time, intubation failure, and bowel clearance score were compared between the gastrectomy and control groups, as was a newly generated comprehensive parameter for a difficult/incomplete colonoscopy (cecal intubation failure, cecal insertion time >12.9 minutes, or very poor bowel preparation scale). Surgical factors including surgical approach, extent of gastrectomy, extent of lymph node dissection, and reconstruction type, were analyzed to identify risk factors for colonoscopy performance. Results: A history of gastrectomy was associated with prolonged cecal insertion time ($8.7{\pm}6.4$ vs. $9.7{\pm}6.5$ minutes; P=0.002), an increased intubation failure rate (0.1% vs. 1.9%; P<0.001), and a poor bowel preparation rate (24.7 vs. 29.0; P=0.047). Age and total gastrectomy (vs. partial gastrectomy) were found to be independent risk factors for increased insertion time, which slowly increased throughout the postoperative duration (0.35 min/yr). Total gastrectomy was the only independent risk factor for the comprehensive parameter of difficult/incomplete colonoscopy. Conclusions: History of gastrectomy is related to difficult/incomplete colonoscopy performance, especially in cases of total gastrectomy. In any case, it may be that a pre-operative colonoscopy is desirable in selected patients scheduled for gastrectomy; however, it should be performed by an expert endoscopist each time.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1728-1736
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to identify prognostic predictors of postoperative acute renal failure(ARF) for the patient undergoing cardiac surgery. Retrospectively review the electronic hospital database at a A hospital from Jan 2008 to Dec. 2011. 483 patients were included in this study. They were divided into a occurrence of ARF group(n=59) and a non occurrence of ARF group(n=424). ARF occurred in 59 cases (12.2%). Multi-variable logistic regression analysis identified that preoperative risk factors include creatinine(OR 3.92, p=<.001), advanced age(OR 2.142, p=.015), female(OR 2.165, p=.015), hypertension(OR 2.513, p=.005), NYHA(New York Heart Association) class II(OR 3.081, p=.003), and III(OR 6.759, p=.004), and intraoperative risk factor includes blood transfusion(OR 3.753, p=<.001), and postoperative factors include bilirubin(OR 4.541, p=.028), creatine(OR 8.554, p=.003), and cardiac output(OR 0.214, p=.033) as a prognostic predictors. The development of postoperative ARF could be a reason for increase in rate of complication and mortality after cardiac surgery. therefore the prevention of ARF is of paramount importance and treatment strategies are urgently needed.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.450-457
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• 2019

Objective : Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is commonly used surgical procedure for cervical degenerative disease. Among the various intervertebral spacers, the use of allografts is increasing due to its advantages such as no harvest site complications and low rate of subsidence. Although subsidence is a rare complication, graft collapse is often observed in the follow-up period. Graft collapse is defined as a significant graft height loss without subsidence, which can lead to clinical deterioration due to foraminal re-stenosis or segmental kyphosis. However, studies about the collapse of allografts are very limited. In this study, we evaluated risk factors associated with graft collapse. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed 33 patients who underwent two level ACDF with anterior plating using allogenous bone graft from January 2013 to June 2017. Various factors related to cervical sagittal alignment were measured preoperatively (PRE), postoperatively (POST), and last follow-up. The collapse was defined as the ratio of decrement from POST disc height to follow-up disc height. We also defined significant collapses as disc heights that were decreased by 30% or more after surgery. The intraoperative distraction was defined as the ratio of increment from PRE disc height to POST disc height. Results : The subsidence rate was 4.5% and graft collapse rate was 28.8%. The pseudarthrosis rate was 16.7% and there was no association between pseudarthrosis and graft collapse. Among the collapse-related risk factors, pre-operative segmental angle (p=0.047) and intra-operative distraction (p=0.003) were significantly related to allograft collapse. The cut-off value of intraoperative distraction ${\geq}37.3%$ was significantly associated with collapse (p=0.009; odds ratio, 4.622; 95% confidence interval, 1.470-14.531). The average time of events were as follows: collapse, $5.8{\pm}5.7months$; subsidence, $0.99{\pm}0.50months$; and instrument failure, $9.13{\pm}0.50months$. Conclusion : We experienced a higher frequency rate of collapse than subsidence in ACDF using an allograft. Of the various preoperative factors, intra-operative distraction was the most predictable factor of the allograft collapse. This was especially true when the intraoperative distraction was more than 37%, in which case the occurrence of graft collapse increased 4.6 times. We also found that instrument failure occurs only after the allograft collapse.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.261-266
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• 2021

Nuclear power plants in Korea were designed and evaluated based on the NRC's Regulatory Guide 1.60, a design response spectrum for nuclear power plants. However, it can be seen that the seismic motion characteristics are different when analyzing the Gyeongju earthquake and the Pohang earthquake that has recently occurred in Korea. Compared to the design response spectrum, seismic motion characteristics in Korea have a larger spectral acceleration in the high-frequency region. Therefore, in the case of equipment with a high natural frequency installed in a nuclear power plant, seismic performance may be reduced by reflecting the characteristics of domestic seismic motions. The failure modes of the equipment are typically structural failure and functional failure, with an anchorage failure being a representative type of structural failure. In this study, comparative analyses were performed to decide whether to consider the inelastic behavior of the anchorage or not. As a result, it was confirmed that the seismic performance of the anchorages could be increased by considering the inelastic behavior of an anchorage.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1096-1102
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• 2016

Various services have been provided due to the recent development of IT technology and widespread usage of smartphones. In recent years, Fintech service that provides financial services through mobile devices has been the trending issue. However, mobile payment services haven't been widely used. The risk factors that appear when users seek to utilize a service, in particular, is one of the biggest hinderance in the expansion of mobile payment services. The failure of gaining the trust of the consumers appear to be the continuing hinderance factor. Therefore this study is to analyse the impact of perceived risk factors on trust and continuance intention of mobile payment services. For the research purpose, we conducted survey and the research results show that most of perceived risk factors have influence on trust and continuance intention except on the impact of perceived financial risk on trust.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.38
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• pp.32.1-32.6
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• 2016

Background: This study aimed to analyze and describe the morbidity and mortality associated with tracheostomy in patients with oral cancer and to identify the risk factors associated with tracheostomy complications. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of patients who underwent tracheostomy during a major oral cancer resection between March 2001 and January 2016 at the National Cancer Center, Korea. Overall, we included 51 patients who underwent tracheostomy after oral cancer surgery. We assessed the morbidity and mortality of tracheostomy and determined the risks associated with tracheostomy complications. Results: Twenty-two tracheostomy-related complications occurred in 51 patients. The morbidity and mortality rates were 35.2 % (n = 18) and 0 % (n = 0), respectively. Tracheostomy-related complications were tracheitis (n = 4), obstructed tracheostomy (n = 9), displaced tracheostomy (n = 5), air leakage (n = 1), stomal dehiscence (n = 1), and decannulation failure (n = 2). Most complications (19/22) occurred during the early postoperative period. Considering the risk factors for tracheostomy complications, the type of tube used was associated with the occurrence of tracheitis (p < 0.05). Additionally, body mass index and smoking status were associated with tube displacement (p < 0.05). However, no risk factors were significantly associated with obstructed tracheostomy. Conclusions: Patients with risk factors for tracheostomy complications should be carefully observed during the early postoperative period by well-trained medical staff.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.337-346
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• 1993

This is a retrospective cohort analysis of 58 patients who treated with postoperative radiation therapy following radical hysterectomy and bilateral pelvic adenectomy for early stage carcinoma of uterine cervix between January 1988 and December 1990 at department of radiation oncology, Keimyoung University Hospital. Sixteen percent of patients (9/58) had chemotherapy. Most patients were FIGO I b (47 patients), and FIGO I a and II a were one and ten patients, respectively. The median follow-up periods were 48.5 months. The indications for radiation therapy included pelvic lymph node metastasis, large tumor size, deep stromal invasion, lymphovascular invasion, positive surgical margin, endometrial invasion and parametrial invasion. Eighty five percent of the patients had more than one risk factor. The actuarial overall five year survival rate (5 YSR) and five year disease free survival rate (5 YDFSR) were $89.5\%,\;and\;87.8\%,$ respectively. Their overall recurrence rate was $12.1\%,$(758). Distant metastasis was the most common cause of treatment failure $(71.4\%:5/7).$ The univariate analysis of prognostic factors affecting to five year survival rate disclosed pelvic lymph node status (negative: $95.5\%,\;positive:69.2\%,$ p=0.006) and hemoglobin level $(\le11 :75\%,>11g/dl:93.3\%,p=0.05)$ as significant factor. The age status was marginally significant $(\le40:96.0\%,\;>\;40:84.3\%p=0.15).$ Multivariate analysis clarified three independent prognostic factors: pelvic lymph node metastasis (p=p.006), hemoglobin level (p=0.015) and age (p=0.035). Multivariate analysis of prognostic factor affecting to five year disease free survival rate disclosed pelvic lymph node status (p=0.0078) and status of surgical margin (p=0.008). Complications relating to radiotherapy were $10.3\%,(6/58).$ There were no severe major complication requiring surgical intervention or a long hospital stay. It is our opinion that the benefit of postoperative pelvic radiotherapy may be gained in such a high risk patient population with acceptible morbidity.