Acute and Critical Care

Sang Cheon Choi

5 Articles

Successful Transplantation of Organs from a Donor with Bacterial Meningitis Caused by Streptococcus pneumonia: A Case Report: Eunjung Park, Sang Cheon Choi, Youngjoo Lee, Yoonseok Jung, Younggi Min; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2013;28(2):115-118.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2013.28.2.115

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Abstract PDF: The number of organs transplanted worldwide is increasing annually. As a result, there is a shortage of available donor organs. This scarcity has led to the progressive broadening of donor organ criteria. The expanded criteria include infections such as bacterial meningitis. A 55-year old male visited our emergency room with cardiac arrest and recovered after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The cause of the cardiac arrest was bacterial meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. While proper antibiotics were applied, the patient met the clinical criteria for brain death. Prophylactic antibiotics were administered to the recipients, and liver and kidney transplantations were done successfully.

Prediction of Mortality in Patients with Acute Paraquat Intoxication Using Simplified Acute Physiology Score II: Young yeol You, Younggi Min, Junghwan Ahn, Sang Cheon Choi, Yeonho Shin, Yoonseok Jung, Eunjung Park; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2011;26(4):221-225.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2011.26.4.221

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Abstract PDF: BACKGROUND
The prognosis of paraquat intoxication patients is poor and this makes the prediction of mortality important in administering aggressive treatment and admission. This article investigates the usefulness of simplified acute physiology score II (SAPS II), as a predictor of the mortality in paraquat intoxication.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed 65 patients who were admitted in one hospital between January in 2005 and December in 2010. We calculated their SAPS II, serum paraquat level, and severity index of paraquat poisoning (SIPP) at the time of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. We investigated the relationship between each systems and the mortality.
RESULTS
Overall mortality was 73.8%: 48 out of 65 patients died. Non-survived group (n = 48) had a higher SAPS II score (30.44 +/- 15.99) than survived group (n = 17 [15.7 +/- 6.26], p < 0.001). Serum paraquat level and SIPP were significantly higher in non-survived group than in survived group (p < 0.05, in all comparisons). By using the area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC), the SAPS II system yielded equal discriminative power (AUC = 0.82) with serum paraquat level (AUC = 0.896) and SIPP (AUC = 0.865). Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test C indicated SAPS II score validated well in paraquat intoxication group (p = 0.33).
CONCLUSIONS
Serum paraquat level is the best way for prediction of mortality in patients with acute paraquat intoxication. If checking serum paraquat level is impossible or delayed, SAPS II score can be an alternative tool for evaluating the prognosis in paraquat intoxication.

A Case of Acute on Chronic Salicylate Poisoned Elderly Patient with Early Utilization of Continuous Venovenous Hemodiafiltration: A Case Report: Ji Sook Lee, Woo Chan Jeon, Young Gi Min, Won Hyun Ryu, Yoon Seok Jung, Sang Cheon Choi; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2011;26(3):177-180.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2011.26.3.177

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Abstract PDF: Salicylate poisonings are divided into acute and chronic syndromes. The most challenging aspect of the management of aspirin-poisoning may be recognition of subtle signs and symptoms of chronic, unintentional overdose. Chronic poisoning typically occurs in elderly as a result of unintentional overdosing on salicylates used to treat chronic conditions. Treatment is directed toward preventing intestinal absorption of the drugs and enhanced elimination. After the first-line treatments, aspirin overdose with its complications of hemodynamic, electrolyte and acid-base issues, is best managed by prompt hemodialysis. We report a case of a 87-year-old woman, who presented with acute on chronic salicylate poisoning. After early continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration, old woman made a good recovery from the salicylism but suffered paralytic ileus caused by aspirin enteroliths. Physician can decide a prompt hemodialysis for salicylate-poisoned patients, who worsen clinical courses despite of first-line therapies.

The Usefulness of Lactate Clearance Adjusted to Time as a Predictive Index in Patients with Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock: Jung Hwan Ahn, Sang Cheon Choi, Young Gi Min, Yoon Seok Jung, Sung Hee Chung, Young Joo Lee; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2009;24(3):134-139.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2009.24.3.134

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Abstract PDF

BACKGROUND
The lactate concentration should be used to examine the severity of sepsis or any state of shock. This study was conducted to investigate the prognostic power of the lactate clearance, as adjusted for time, between the survivors and nonsurvivors of patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.
METHODS
The study was performed on 67 patients over 16 years old and who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with severe sepsis or septic shock. They were divided into the survivors (n = 37) and nonsurvivors (n = 30). The blood lactate concentrations were assayed at intervals ranging from 8 to 24 hours and the APACHE III scoring was done daily for 2 weeks or until discharge or death. The lactate clearance, as adjusted for time, was defined using the following formula: [(the maximal lactate concentration - the normal lactate concentration)/the time to normalize the lactate concentration] x 1,000.
RESULTS
There were no significant differences of age, gender and the length of the ICU stay between the survivors and non-survivors. There were significant difference of the time to measuring the maximal serum lactate concentration (3.2 +/- 12.3 hours vs. 28.8 +/- 64.6 hours, respectively; p = 0.037), the lactate clearance, as adjusted for time (132.27 +/- 112.88 mol/L . hour vs. 59.67 +/- 72.60 mol/L . hour, respectively; p = 0.002), the lactate clearance during 24 hours (46.0 +/- 26.3% vs. 22.6 +/- 45.6%, respectively; p = 0.018) and the APACHE III score (67.6 +/- 22.7 vs. 83.9 +/- 21.6, respectively; p = 0.005) between the survivors and non-survivors. The lactate clearance, as adjusted for time and the APACHE III score were the predictive factors for survival on the logistic regression analysis (odd ratio 0.987; p = 0.028 vs. odd ratio 1.046; p = 0.006).
CONCLUSIONS
Lactate clearance, as adjusted for time, could be used as a prognostic index, as well as the APACHE III score, for patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.

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Lactate Clearance and Outcome in Septic Shock Patients with Low Level of Initial Lactate
Yun Su Sim, Cho Rom Hahm, So Yeon Lim, Gee Young Suh, Kyeongman Jeon
The Korean Journal of Critical Care Medicine.2011; 26(2): 78. CrossRef

A Case of Valproic Acid Overdose Treated with Continuous Veno-Venous Hemodiafiltration: A Case Report: Sang Cheon Choi, Jung Hwan Ahn, Yoon Seok Jung, Young Gi Min; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2009;24(2):99-101.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2009.24.2.99

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Abstract PDF: Valproic acid intoxication is a fairly common clinical problem that can result in serious complications. Traditionally the treatment of valproic acid overdose has been limited to supportive measures, but high blood levels may require extracorporeal removal, and publications on this experience are scarce. This case demonstrated continuous veno-venous hemodiafiltration successfully used in patient with severe valproic acid overdose who was hemodynamically unstable.

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