Nam Soo Koo

BACKGROUND: Sepsis, including severe sepsis and septic shock, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Albumin and C-reactive protein (CRP) are considered as good diagnostic markers for sepsis. Thus, initial CRP and albumin levels were combined to ascertain their value as an independent predictor of 180-day mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 670 patients (>18 years old) who were admitted to the

Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is known to be a predictor of severe morbidity and mortality in some chronic diseases such as congestive heart failure. However, to our knowledge, little is known about RDW as a predictor of mortality in patients with Gram-negative bacteremia, a major nosocomial cause of intra-abdominal infections, urinary tract infections, and primary bacteremia. Therefore, we investigated whether RDW is an independent predictor of mortality in patients with Gram-negative

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a nosocomial pathogen associated with high morbidity and mortality, particularly in immunocompromised or critically ill patients. In this study, we investigated the risk factors for mortality in patients with S. maltophilia bacteremia.Retrospectively, medical records from all patients with S. maltophilia bacteremia between December 2005 and 2014 at Severance Hospital, a 2000-bed tertiary care hospital in Seoul, Korea, were reviewed. Analysis was performed to ident

Unfortunately, the options for treating multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) infections are extremely limited. Recently, fosfomycin and minocycline were newly introduced as a treatment option for MDR A. baumannii infection. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of the combination of colistin with fosfomycin and minocycline, respectively, as therapeutic options in MDR A. baumannii pneumonia. We examined a carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii isolated from clinical speci

Abstract Only a few observational studies investigated the association between hypochloremia and mortality in critically ill patients, and these studies included small number of septic patients. Also, no study has evaluated the effect of an increase in chloride (Cl − ) concentration in hypochloremia on the mortality. A total of 843 Korean septic patients were divided into three groups based on their baseline Cl − level, and Cox analyses were performed to evaluate the 28-day mortality. Moreover,

BACKGROUND: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are any unwanted/uncomfortable effects from medication resulting in physical, mental, and functional injuries. Antibiotics account for up to 40.9% of ADRs and are associated with several serious outcomes. However, few reports on ADRs have evaluated only antimicrobial agents. In this study, we investigated antibiotic-related ADRs at a tertiary care hospital in South Korea. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study that evaluated ADRs to antibiotics th

OBJECTIVES: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is an independent predictor of early mortality and is associated with many difficulties in activities of daily living. We sought to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for HAND in HIV-infected Koreans. In addition, we investigated the performance of screening tools and components of neuropsychological (NP) tests for diagnosing HAND. METHODS: HIV-infected patients were enrolled consecutively from two different urban teaching hospi

In this study, the sensitivity of the GMA for the diagnosis of IA was very low in non-haematological patients. Although the GMA test is considered useful for the diagnosis of IA in haematological patients, it had low diagnostic value for IA in non-haematological patients.

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to investigate whether a simple scoring system based on the red blood cell distribution width (RDW), delta neutrophil index (DNI), and platelet count was associated with the prognosis of patients with sepsis, and whether this scoring system was more useful than each individual parameter. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving adult patients who received intensive therapy due to severe sepsis and septic shock from January 2

BACKGROUND: Despite medical advances, septic shock remains one of the main causes of high mortality in critically ill patients. Although sarcopenia is considered a predictor of mortality in septic shock patients, most studies have only investigated short-term mortality, and those on long-term prognosis are limited. We investigated the impact of sarcopenia on long-term mortality in a large patient population with septic shock. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study comprising 905 patients with sep

Objective The treatment of infective endocarditis (IE) has become more complex with the current myriad healthcare-associated factors and the regional differences in causative organisms. We aimed to investigate the overall trends, microbiological features, and outcomes of IE in South Korea. Methods A 12-year retrospective cohort study was performed. Poisson regression was used to estimate the time trends of IE incidence and mortality rate. Risk factors for in-hospital mortality were identified wi

BACKGROUND: The incidence of Proteus mirabilis antimicrobial resistance, especially that mediated by extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), has increased. We investigated the impact of ESBL production on the mortality of patients with P. mirabilis bacteremia in Korea. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with P. mirabilis bacteremia between November 2005 and December 2013 at a 2000-bed tertiary care center in South Korea were included in this study. Phenotypic and molecular analyses were performed to as

An elevated SOFA score and inappropriate initial empirical antimicrobial therapy were significantly associated with adverse outcome in patients with B. cepacia complex bacteraemia.

BACKGROUNDS: Several studies have evaluated the impact of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) combined with antimicrobial stewardship in patients with positive blood cultures; clinical outcomes improved. However, in many hospitals, antimicrobial stewardship is not available because of restricted medical resources. Thus, we investigated the impact of evaluation by MALDI-TOF MS on the clinical outcomes of patients with bacteremia and fungem