• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.424-430
• /
• 2006

Purpose : Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis(JRA) is one of the most common rheumatic diseases of childhood and is an important cause of short- and long-term disability. The purpose of this study was to determine the disease course and outcome in childhood patients with JRA. Methods : Fifty nine patients with JRA who were diagnosed and treated in the Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center from August 1990 to November 2004 were enrolled in this study. Sex, age, type, affected joints, extra-articular manifestations, laboratory and radiologic findings, treatments, and outcomes of JRA patients were reviewed retrospectively. Results : Among JRA patients, 32.2 percent had pauciarticular type, 30.5 percent had polyarticular type and 37.3 percent had systemic type. The ratio of boys to girls was 1.7 : 1 and the mean age at onset was $9.3{\pm}3.7$(1.3-15.9) years. The most commonly affected joints were knee, ankle and wrist. The extra-articular manifestations observed were fever, rash, myalgia and lymph node enlargement, etc. The main laboratory findings observed were leukocytosis, anemia, thrombocytosis, elevated ESR, and elevated CRP. Rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibody(ANA) were positive in 5.3 percent and 18.0 percent. Nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAID) were used most frequently and methotrexate with or without steroids was added in 27.1 percent of patients unresponsive to NSAID. 88.1 percent of patients were cured without functional disability and only one patient was in functional status IV. One patient, who had pulmonary involvement, died. Conclusion : Our results showed an even distribution in type of onset, male predominance, older age of onset, low incidence of iridocyclitis, and low positivity of ANA in JRA patients; this differs from occidental data. This study may suggest regional differences and variability in disease groups of JRA among different racies, but further multi-center trials and large scale epidemiological studies are needed to confirm our conclusion.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.164-169
• /
• 2008

Purpose : There have been some reports on the prevalence of positive antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody(ANCA) in Henoch-$Sch{\ddot{o}}nlein$ purpura(HSP), but the results were conflicting. We performed this study to evaluate the clinical significance of ANCA(c-ANCA and p-ANCA) in Korean children with HSP. Methods : The medical records of 30 patients(13 boys and 17 girls) aged 6.0$\pm$1.9(5-12) years with a clinical diagnosis of HSP based on the EULAR/PReS criteria were reviewed retrospectively. From the years 2007 to 2008, the sera from children with acute HSP were tested for antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies(ANCA). The target antigens of these autoantibodies are proteinase 3(c-ANCA) or myeloperoxidase(p-ANCA). Results : Palpable purpura was seen in all 30 patients(100%), abdominal pain in 20(67%), arthralgia in 17(57%), and renal involvement in 11(37%). Laboratory findings showed leukocytosis in 4 patients(13%), thrombocytosis 18 in(60%), and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate in 18(60%). Anti-streptolysin O titers were elevated in 7% of the patients and no patient showed elevation of serum IgA level. The sera from 29 patients were negative for c-ANCA and p-ANCA by indirect immunofluorescence, but only one patient had weakly positive results, which became negative at follow-up. Conclusions : We conclude that c-ANCA or p-ANCA is not an important serologic marker in children with HSP, because it was neither diagnostically nor immunologically specific in children with HSP. These results suggest that ANCA are not involved in the pathogenesis of HSP in children.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.181-186
• /
• 2006

Purpose : The hematologic change during the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) is critical as a prognostic determinant and a variable to determine the dose of chemotherapeutic agents. It is known that the dose of vincristine used in the maintenance phase of ALL is small enough to increase the count of platelet. To investigate the change of platelet count according to the vincristine administration in maintenance phase of ALL chemotherapy, we performed this study. Methods : Eleven patients eligible under the criteria of Children's Cancer Study Group(CCG)-1882 and who had completed chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. The count of platelets before vincristine administration was compared with those of vincristine administration 1, 2 and 3 weeks after the early and last periods of maintenance phases. The platelet count before vincristine administration was defined as 100 percent and that after vincristine were compared. In addition, we tentatively defined an enhancing effect of vincristine as positive when the relative count was more than 120 percent. Results : Platelet count did not differ according to the early and last periods of maintenance phase. Platelet count at first week after vincristine administration increased more significantly than that before vincristine in early and last periods. There was an enhancing effect in 10(90.9 percent) of 11 patients after 1 week vincristine administration both in the early and last periods of the maintenance phase. Conclusion : Vincristine, used in ALL maintenance phases as a low dose, increased platelet count 1 week after administration. The increased platelet count resumed to the previous level 2-3 weeks later. However, the thrombocytosis observed in the maintenance phase by vincristine was not high enough to induce thrombosis. In addition, vincristine is known to reduce the activity of platelets. Therefore, the risk of thrombosis in the maintenance phase of ALL chemotherapy would be low.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.48 no.8
• /
• pp.832-838
• /
• 2005

Purpose : Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is relatively common in childhood. Its extrapulmonary manifestations have been reported so much, but hepatitis associated with it has been reported rarely in Korea. Methods : A clinical study was performed on 556 patients of M. pneumoniae pneumonia diagnosed serologically at Gil hospital from January 2001 to December 2004. We reviewed 65 cases among these patients, who had elevated level of serum AST and ALT greater than 50 IU/L respectively without evidence of hepatitis A, B, C, Cytomegalovirus and Ebstein-Barr virus infections. Results : Hepatitis occurred in 11.7% of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia, especially in fall and winter times. Male to female ratio was 1.2 : 1 and the mean age was 4 years and 3 months. Besides hepatitis, cough(95.4%), sputum(52.3%) and dyspnea(12.3%) were common as pulmonary manifestations. And among gastrointestinal manifestations, nausea/vomiting(26.2%) was the most common symptom, followed by poor oral intake(12.3%), diarrhea(12.3%) and abdominal pain(6.2%). In addition to hepatomegaly(4.6%) and splenomegaly(4.6%), coarse breathing sound was the most common physical manifestation, followed by rale(63.1%), pharyngeal injection(26.2%), and rash(10.8%). Anemia was noted in 20.0%, neutrophilia in 10.8%, eosinphilia in 38.5% and thrombocytosis in 6.2%, respectively. Mean level of ESR and CRP was 32.02 mm/hr and 6.69 mg/dL, respectively. Mean level of AST and ALT was 293.80 IU/L and 181.48 IU/L, respectively. Hyperbilirubinemia was noted in 7.7% and hypoalbuminemia was noted in 58.5%. Lobar or lobular pneumonia(78.5%) was the most common finding in chest X-ray and left lower lobe(39.2%) was most commonly affected. Pleural effusion was noted in 26.2%. Mean duration of hospitalization was 9.91 days. Serum AST/ALT level was normalized within 9.94 days and pulmonary consolidation resolved within 14.29 days. Conclusion : The prognosis of M. pneumoniae hepatitis is good. However, liver function should be considerately checked in M. pneumoniae infection because its incidence is not so low.