All Korean citizens should join the National Health Security System by law. The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) are one of major components to support this system, and all data about medical expenses for the medical claims are stored and managed in the institutions. Recently, medical research using administrative claims databases has dramatically progressed in Korea and worldwide, and the methods how to use them are briefly reviewed in this article. Research using these databases have several strengths. Researchers can perform the complete enumeration survey in a real world. They can get new valuable findings because the number in the database is usually large enough to detect the minute difference with a big statistical power. They can obtain more detailed and reproducible results. Moreover, they can investigate a very rare disease or infrequent side effects of drugs. However, we must recognize that research using administrative claims database also has several incoherent limitations. These databases have not been constructed originally for research, but for reimbursement. Therefore, there are no important data including medical history and laboratory findings of each patient, which are crucial to adjust baseline characteristics. In addition, it is hard to discover causal relationship and direct association with the included information. In spite of limitations, researchers can easily use these databases for their research now than ever, and the results may be utilized not only to expand the academic knowledge but also to influence the determination of national healthcare policy.
Citations
, Dong Hyeon Lee, Kwang Hyun Kim, Dong-Ryeol Ryu, Seung-Jung Kim, Duk-Hee Kang, Kyu Bok Choi, Shina Lee Metabolic acidosis frequently develops in patients after neobladder reconstruction. However, the incidence of metabolic acidosis in patients with neobladder and the factors associated with the development of metabolic acidosis have not been well elucidated. We aimed to investigate the incidence and the potential predictors for the development of metabolic acidosis after neobladder reconstruction with intestinal segment.
We included patients who underwent neobladder reconstruction using intestinal segment at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2014. A subgroup of patients according to the time of metabolic acidosis occurrence was further analyzed in order to characterize predictors for metabolic acidosis.
Metabolic acidosis was encountered in 79.4% of patients with neobladder during follow up period. When patients were divided into 2 groups according to anion gap (AG), total CO2 (18.9±2.1 mEq/L vs. 20.0±1.3 mEq/L, P=0.001) and chloride (106.6±4.9 mE/L vs. 109.4±3.6 mEq/L, P<0.001) were significant different between groups with AG>12 and AG≤12. Furthermore, when patients were divided into 3 groups; patients with metabolic acidosis at postoperative day (POD) 1; from POD 2 to 14 days; after 14 days, there was significant difference among those subgroups.
Our study showed the rate of metabolic acidosis in patients underwent neobladder reconstruction and the difference between patients with metabolic acidosis and those without metabolic acidosis for the first time in Korea. In the future, well designed prospective study will be needed to prevent metabolic acidosis after neobladder reconstruction.
, Sun Kyung Na, Hye-Won Yun, Ha Eng Song, Jung-Hwa Ryu, Dong-Ryeol Ryu Patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) are known to be more susceptible to tuberculosis infection due to impairment of the host defense mechanism. Although extrapulmonary tuberculosis is more prevalent in those subjects and it may induce dismal outcome, its diagnosis has been challenging since there is no specific symptoms of the disease and the clinical course is usually atypical. Herein, We report a case of disseminated tuberculosis diagnosed by ultrasound-guided liver biopsy in a 31-year-old CRF patient presenting sustained fever despite broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy and progressive cholestatic jaundice.
, Kyung Jin Kim, Sung Chul Hong, Suk Hyung Kang, Ha Eung Song, Hye In Kim, Soo Hyun Kim, Hyun Jung Oh, Hye Won Kang, Seo Woo Kim, Min-A Yu, Dong-Ryeol Ryu, Kyu-Bok Choi, Duk-Hee Kang Blockers of renin-angiotensin system(RAS) including ACE inhibitor or ARB are one of the most frequently prescribed medications for the treatment of hypertension, heart failure and proteinuria. One of the major side effects of these RAS blockers is the deterioration of renal function, mainly due to a reduction of intraglomerular pressure. Therefore, close monitoring of renal function is recommended when RAS blockers are initially prescribed, especially for the patients with impaired renal function.
We report a patient who was transferred to our hospital due to the sudden development of oliguria and dyspnea after treatment for hypertension with ACEi and ARB. She was finally diagnosed as RAS blocker-induced acute renal failure with pulmonary edema complicated on congenital solitary kidney. After hemodialysis and conservative treatment, her renal function was recovered with maintenance of normal urine output.
This case highlights the necessity of the functional and structural evaluation of kidney to prevent the serious complication such as acute renal failure before the administration of ACEi and/or ARB.
, Do-Sang Cho, Soon Sup Chung, Hye-Sook Park, Hoo Jae Hann This study was performed to provide information on the relationship between admission criteria and medical school performance (MSP). Seventy six medical students admitted to the Ewha School of Medicine in 2007 were enrolled. The admission criteria included the undergraduate grade point average (GPA), medical education eligibility test (MEET), essay, letters of recommendation, and admission interview score. MSP was measured by GPA. Standard tests of bivariate correlation and multivariate regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between multiple factors of admission criteria and MSP for the first two years after admission. Among the admission criteria, scores of undergraduate GPA, essay, and letters of recommendation were significantly correlated with MSP. Admission interview score, however, had no correlation with MSP. Although total MEET score was not related with MSP as well, science reasoning-2 demonstrated significant correlation with MSP. Further studies will be needed to define the clear relationship between various admission criteria and MSP.
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