Hyperosmolar nonketotic coma complicated in diabetes mellitus has been a rare cause of rhabdomyolysis, although increasingly reported recently. Acute renal failure can be complicated in 15 percent of rhabdomyolysis patients, but is rare in the case of rhabdomyolysis caused by diabetic hyperosomolar nonketotic coma. We report a 14 years-old boy with acute renal failure complicated by rhabdomyolysis caused by diabetic... |
Purpose : Long-term administration of anticonvulsants in children with epilepsy may cause short stature, hypocalcemia and low bone mineral density. This study was performed for the early detection of abnormal bone metabolism in children with epilepsy on taking anticonvulsants. Methods : Thirty children aged 5 to 16 years who were diagnosed with epilepsy were enrolled in this study. All had taken... |
Immunosuppressive therapy in pediatric renal transplant recipients is changing consequence of the increasing number of available immunosuppressive agents. The optimal use of immunosuppressive agents requires a thorough understanding of the pharmacokinetic characteristics, but the information on the pharmacokinetic characteristics of these drugs in pediatric transplant recipients is still limited. In general, patients younger than 5 years old show higher clearance... |
Purpose : Anticonvulsants have a number of side effects and some of them may be attributed to a disturbance of serum trace metal homeostasis. Although they are minor building components in tissues, they play important functional roles in the peripheral and central nervous system. We measured serum copper and zinc levels in epileptic children who were treated with anticonvulsants to... |
Purpose : Flow cytometric automated reticulocyte analysis is a superior method to manual reticulocyte counting, with respect to precision and sensitivity. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis is able to measure immature reticulocyte fraction(IRF) and reticulocyte cellular indices(RCI : cell hemoglobin content : CHr, mean cell volume : MCVr, cell hemoglobin concentration mean : CHCMr, distribytion width : RDWr, HDWr, CHDWr). In... |
Acute diarrhea is one of the most common diseases that are seen in pediatric patients. In the management of acute diarrhea, several differential diagnostic criteria should be considered based on clinical and/or laboratory findings. These criteria include : ① normal variant stool versus diarrhea ② infectious versus non-infectious condition and ③ bacterial versus non-bacterial etiology. The use of antibiotics should... |
Pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas(PAVFs) is a rare disorder that occurs in two to three children per 100,000 population. It is presented as absence of intervening capillary beds between the pulmonary artery and vein with resultant persistent right to left shunt. Other causes include trauma, liver cirrhosis, malignancy and schistosomiasis. It is mostly asymptomatic, but it may present with respiratory difficulty, cyanosis,... |
Purpose : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of children with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia(JMML) treated with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo- HSCT). Methods : Eleven JMML patients aged 8-39 months underwent allo-HSCT. The sources of grafts were unrelated donors(n=7), HLA-matched siblings(n=3) and an HLA 1-antigen mismatched familial donor. All patients had received chemotherapy ?13-cis-retinoic acid(CRA) before... |
Purpose : The purpose of the present study was to access the prevalence of orthostatic dysregulation(OD) and the frequency of each category for major and minor criteria among elementary school students using the OD questionnaire. Methods : We carried out inquiry by questionnaire as to the frequency of OD among two elementary schools with 725 students, 10 to 12 years of... |
Purpose : The pathologic mechanisms of central nervous system(CNS) injuries in human meningitis are not yet completely understood. Recent studies indicate that the host inflammatory responses are as important in brain damage as the infecting organisms and toxins. There have been some reports on the relationship of nitric oxide(NO), macrophage inflammatory protein-1α(MIP-1α), and lactoferrin in bacterial meningitis, but few reports... |
Purpose : S. pneumoniae is one of major pathogens of community-acquired respiratory infections. The rate of antibiotic resistance to this organism has increased, and resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents in a single strain of S. pneumoniae may compromise the efficacy of empiric antimicrobial treatment commonly used for respiratory infections. We did this study to find out the penicillin resistant distributions... |
Purpose : To determine incidence, characteristics and risk factors associated with intrauterine intraventricular hemorrhage(IU-IVH) among premature infants. Methods : The medical records of infants with intraventricular hemorrhage(IVH) admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Asan Medical Center from January 1999 to June 2003 were reviewed retrospectively. Infants whose IVH with cystic change were detected within five days of life were... |
In the last few years, a spectrum of dendritic cells(DCs), including toll like receptors(TLRs), might play a critical role in regulating allergy and asthma. DC plays a central role in initiating immune responses, linking innate and adaptive responses to pathogen. Human peripheral blood has three non- overlapping dendritic subset that expressed various 11 TLRs. These dendritic subsets and TLR contribute... |
Aplastic anemia following acute hepatitis or acute hepatic failure is an uncommon disease and has a poor prognosis. We experienced a case of aplastic anemia following acute hepatic failure in a 10- year-old girl. She was admitted because of jaundice and lethargy for 8 days. Laboratory findings revealed marked elevated serum transaminases and bilirubin levels, prolonged prothrombin time and partial... |
Rothmund-Thomson syndrome(RTS), or poikiloderma congenita, is a rare, multisystem disorder. It is inherited genetically as an autosomal recessive trait, occurring predominantly in females(1.4 : 1). The RTS is comprised of poikiloderma, short stature, sparse hair, juvenile cataracts, skeletal defects, dystrophic teeth and nails, photosensitivity, and hypogonadism. We report a case of RTS who died of bleeding from esophageal varices, pulmonary... |
Melanotic neuroectodermal tumor of infancy (MNTI) is a rare neoplasm known by a variety of names including melanotic progonoma and retinal anlage tumor, and currently thought to be neural crest derivation. The vast majority develop within the first year of life. The behavior is generally benign, but recurrent and metastatic cases have been documented. It arises in the head and... |
Purpose : Febrile seizure, the most common seizure disorder in children between 6 months and 5 years of age, is mostly caused by viral infections, except severe CNS infection. It can also be caused by disorders in organic acid metabolism, especially accompanied by fever. Therefore we decided to investigate the relationship between children with febrile seizures and disorders in organic... |
Purpose : To evaluate the epidemiologic characteristics of aseptic meningitis in Daejeon, Korea from 1987 to 2003. Methods : A total of 2201 medical records of children with aseptic meningitis admitted to the Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon St. Mary's Hospital, was retrospectively analyzed. Results : The mean annual number of cases was 129, with a higher rate of occurrence in the... |
Purpose : Septic arthritis is uncommon in neonates, and the diagnosis of septic arthritis in newborns is difficult because of non-specific laboratory findings and paucity of signs and symptoms. When appropriate treatment is delayed, permanant sequelae are inevitable. We report a retrospective study of 22 neonates who were diagnosed with septic arthritis. Methods : We reviewed 22 patients, who were diagnosed... |
Purpose : Since 1997, the quantification of organic acids in urine has become possible in Korea. This helped to diagnose a great variety of inborn errors of metabolism. However, we still don't know the normal value of organic acids in amniotic fluid, therefore it is impossible for doctors to make a correct diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism in prenatal... |
Isolated relapse of myeloid leukemia as a granulocytic sarcoma(GS) following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation(BMT) is very rare manifestation, and usually associated with a poor prognosis. We report a case of isolated intracranial GS in an infant with myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS) following unrelated BMT. A 7 month-old girl was diagnosed with refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB). During observation for a couple... |
Purpose : To determine whether febrile seizure enhances neuroexcitability by altering synaptic transmission and whether febrile seizure-induced hyperexcitability leads to long-lasting neuronal death. Methods : We investigated the expression of synaptic and postsynaptic proteins and the apoptosis of neuronal cells in rat pup hippocampus after hyperthermic seizure using immunoblotting and confocal microscopy. Results : Hyperthermic seizure enhanced the long-term expressions of... |
Purpose : Chronic urticaria is characterized by recurrent, itchy, and evanescent wheals over a period of six weeks. The mechanisms of chronic urticaria in children have not been fully elucidated. However, urticaria lesions represent a dynamic inflammatory process involving a complex interplay of various inflammatory mediators, chemokines, adhesion molecules and cellular interaction. The aim of this investigation was to elucidate... |
Purpose : Neurologic complications(NC) after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(HSCT) are important because of high mortality and severe sequelae. We analyzed the incidence, manifestation and risk factors of NC in 61 children undergoing HSCT. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed NC in 61 cases(42 male and 19 female, aged one to 16 years) given HSCT between 1996 and 2003 due to hematologic malignacies,... |
Purpose : Chronic administration of anticonvulsants for children with epilepsy may cause multiple abnormalities in bone metabolism. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of anticonvulsants on bone mineral density(BMD) in children with epilepsy. Methods : Seventy patients with epilepsy were enrolled in this study. All subjects had taken anticonvulsants for at least 1 year or more.... |
Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease(KFD), also known as histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a self-limited systemic illness and it has the pathognomonic histological appearance of lymph nodes. KFD is rarely associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The diagnosis of KFD can precede, postdate or coincide with the diagnosis of SLE. Our case describes a young woman, originally diagnosed as having Kikuchi's disease by lymph... |
Purpose : Through routine screening for chromosomal defects present in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia(ALL) by means of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), we aimed for earlier detection of recurrences, hence evaluating the progress of the disease after treatment, and forecasting the need for further testing. Methods : We analyzed 30 patients who visited the Pediatrics Department of Severance Hospital, from... |
Purpose : Advances in the treatment of congenital heart disease and a decline in the incidence of rheumatic fever has led to changes in the causative organisms and the clinical outcome of infective endocarditis(IE). We sought to analyze the clinical outcome, prognostic factors, causative organisms and corresponding antibiotic sensitivity in IE. Methods : Retrospective analysis of medical records of 104 children... |
Purpose : Enhancing overall health by preventive and therapeutic use of probiotics has shown great promise on inflammatory, infectious, neoplastic disorders, allergies, et al. To attain preliminary data for the use of probiotics, we have studied the change in intestinal flora, Lactobacillus count among healthy, full term neonates. Methods : Fresh stool samples were collected on the 2nd or 5th day... |
Epilepsy is one of the most common and disabling neurologic disorders in childhood. The primary goal of epilepsy treatment is to choose the treatment modality that provides the best chance of improving the patient's quality of life. In addition to classic antiepileptic drugs, newly developed antiepileptic drugs ketogenic diet, epilepsy surgery, and vagal nerve stimulation have improved the ability to... |