Young Jin Lim

BACKGROUND: Supraclavicular (SC) and infraclavicular (IC) brachial plexus block (BPB) are commonly used for upper extremity surgery. Recent clinical studies have compared the effect of SC- and IC-BPB, but there have been controversies over spread of sensory blockade in each of the 4 peripheral nerve branches of brachial plexus. METHODS: This study included a systemic review, using the Medline and EMBASE database from their inceptions through March 2016. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) compar

The addition of CIK cells immunotherapy to standard chemoradiotherapy with TMZ improved PFS. However, the CIK immunotherapy group did not show evidence of a beneficial effect on overall survival.

In several recent clinical trials on cardiac surgery patients, remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) showed a powerful myocardial protective effect. However the effect of RIPC has not been studied in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery. We evaluated whether RIPC could induce myocardial protection in off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients. Patients undergoing elective off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery were randomly allocated to the RIPC

Cranial irradiation may lead to accelerated atherosclerotic changes to small or medium sized arteries, but stroke associated with pituitary irradiation is not frequent. A patient treated with Gamma Knife radio-surgery (GKRS) for a pituitary adenoma suffered a cerebral infarction with internal carotid artery occlusion 4 years after radiosurgery. The patient was a 35-year-old male presenting with a visual disturbance. Endocrinological tests were normal. MRI revealed a 4.3 by 4.3 cm diameter invasi

BACKGROUND: Spinal anesthesia using a surface landmark-guided technique can be challenging in patients with anatomical alterations of the lumbar spine; however, it is unclear whether using ultrasonography can decrease the technical difficulties in these populations. We assessed whether an ultrasound-assisted technique could reduce the number of needle passes required for block success compared with the landmark-guided technique in patients with abnormal spinal anatomy. METHODS: Forty-four patien

BACKGROUND: Catheter-related bladder discomfort (CRBD) due to an indwelling urinary catheter causes postoperative distress. Dexmedetomidine is used as an anaesthetic adjuvant during general anaesthesia and has an antimuscarinic effect, which may be beneficial for the prevention and treatment of CRBD. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of intraoperative dexmedetomidine administration on the incidence of CRBD. DESIGN: A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised study. SETTING: A tertiary care t

The authors demonstrate that the K-PANAS has adequate psychometric properties, and that findings obtained in the West using PANAS were partially replicated.

In 16% of patients, the IABP was too close to the LSCA origin when it was placed at the aortic knob, whereas positioning the IABP at 2 cm above the carina provided an adequate position for the IABP tip (1.5-3.5 cm distal to the origin of the LSCA) in 95.3% of patients. The carina may be a more reliable landmark for positioning the IABP than the aortic knob.

BACKGROUND: The difficulties in threading an epidural catheter to vertebral levels remote to the puncture level have been well documented. This study was undertaken to determine the length that a single orifice epidural catheter can be threaded into the lumbar space without coiling (coiling length), and whether this is affected by the direction of the epidural needle bevel. METHODS: Forty-five young male patients scheduled for surgery under epidural analgesia were enrolled. The epidural space wa

BACKGROUND: After general or epidural anesthesia, clonidine is known to be effective in suppressing established shivering. The aim of this study was to assess the preventive effect of intrathecal clonidine on post-spinal shivering compared with intravenous (i.v.) clonidine. METHODS: One hundred and fifty patients scheduled for orthopedic surgery were randomly allocated into three groups to receive either 1 microg/kg clonidine i.v. (IV group) or the same volume of isotonic saline (control and IT

BACKGROUND: Drug-induced controlled hypotension (CH) combined with acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) is being widely used for blood conservation in surgical patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of esmolol-induced CH combined with ANH (hematocrit down to 28%). METHODS: Thirty patients who were scheduled to receive spinal surgery were randomly divided into two groups: an esmolol-induced CH alone group (esmolol group, n=15) and a CH-ANH combined group (

The effect of radiosurgery on optic gliomas is uncertain. We report two cases of low-grade glioma of the optic nerve and chiasm treated by transcranial subtotal removal and Gamma Knife radiosurgery. The first case was a 2-year-old boy, admitted with visual disturbance and nystagmus. Histopathological examination showed a pilocytic astrocytoma. The tumor volume was 14.4 cm3. Dose planning was performed using axial and coronal T1-weighted enhanced images. The marginal dose was 12 Gy at the 40% iso

BACKGROUND: Recently, the pulsed radiofrequency (PRF, pulsed fashion) procedure was introduced for neuropathic pain management. Since PRF-induced lesions do not need high temperature compared with conventional continuous RF (CRF)-induced lesions, there is no significant loss of sensory fibres after application. METHODS: The progressive changes in the expression of eight representative inflammatory cytokines - glial fibrillary acidic protein, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, cyclooxyg