The Korea Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorders Subgroup Study Team (Korea COPD Subgroup Study team, KOCOSS) is a multicenter observational study that includes 956 patients (mean age 69.9 ± 7.8 years) who were enrolled from 45 tertiary and university-affiliated hospitals from December 2011 to October 2014. The initial evaluation for all patients included pulmonary function tests (PFT), 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), COPD Assessment Test (CAT), modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale, and the COPD-specific version of St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ-C). Here, we report the comparison of baseline characteristics between patients with early- (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD] stage I and II/groups A and B) and late-stage COPD (GOLD stage III and IV/groups C and D). Among all patients, the mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 55.8% ± 16.7% of the predicted value, and most of the patients were in GOLD stage II (520, 56.9%) and group B (399, 42.0%). The number of exacerbations during one year prior to the first visit was significantly lower in patients with early COPD (0.4 vs. 0.9/0.1 vs. 1.2), as were the CAT score (13.9 vs. 18.3/13.5 vs. 18.1), mMRC (1.4 vs. 2.0/1.3 vs.1.9), and SGRQ-C total score (30.4 vs. 42.9/29.1 vs. 42.6) compared to late-stage COPD (all P < 0.001). Common comorbidities among all patients were hypertension (323, 37.7%), diabetes mellitus (139, 14.8%), and depression (207, 23.6%). The data from patients with early COPD will provide important information towards early detection, proper initial management, and design of future studies.

A recent in vitro study showed that the three compounds of antiviral drugs with different mechanisms of action (amantadine, ribavirin, and oseltamivir) could result in synergistic antiviral activity against influenza virus. However, no clinical studies have evaluated the efficacy and safety of combination antiviral therapy in patients with severe influenza illness. A total of 245 adult patients who were critically ill with confirmed pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 (pH1N1) virus infection and were admitted to one of the intensive care units of 28 hospitals in Korea were reviewed. Patients who required ventilator support and received either triple-combination antiviral drug (TCAD) therapy or oseltamivir monotherapy were analyzed. A total of 127 patients were included in our analysis. Among them, 24 patients received TCAD therapy, and 103 patients received oseltamivir monotherapy. The 14-day mortality was 17% in the TCAD group and 35% in the oseltamivir group (P ‫؍‬ 0.08), and the 90-day mortality was 46% in the TCAD group and 59% in the oseltamivir group (P ‫؍‬ 0.23). None of the toxicities attributable to antiviral drugs occurred in either group of our study, including hemolytic anemia and hepatic toxicities related to the use of ribavirin. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the odds ratio for the association of TCAD with 90-day mortality was 0.58 (95% confidence interval, 0.24 to 1.42; P ‫؍‬ 0.24). Although this study was retrospective and did not provide virologic outcomes, our results suggest that the treatment outcome of the triple combination of amantadine, ribavirin, and oseltamivir was comparable to that of oseltamivir monotherapy.

We hypothesized that the time from sepsis to inception of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) can be used to predict survival rates in patients with septic acute kidney injury (AKI). The survival predictability of CRRT inception time was compared with that of RIFLE criteria, which were previously used in clinical practice. We retrospectively analyzed outcomes in 55 patients with septic AKI admitted to the medical intensive care unit at Asan Medical Center (Seoul, Korea) between April 2009 and October 2010. These patients were stratified by the time of inception of CRRT from sepsis (early: ≤ 24 h and late: >24 h) and also by the RIFLE criteria (RIFLE-I and RIFLE-F). The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. Of the 55 patients, 38 (69.1%) were male. Patients' mean age was 62.6 years, the most common infection site was the lung (32, 58.2%), and 47 patients (85.5%) were on mechanical ventilation. Thirty patients (54.5%) were in the RIFLE-I, and the others were in the RIFLE-F. Twenty-eight-day mortality rates were lower in the early group than in the late group (19.4% vs. 47.4%; P = 0.03), but did not differ between RIFLE-I and RIFLE-F. Ventilator-free day at day 28 was longer in the early group than that in the late group (7.5 vs. 0 d; P = 0.033). After adjustment for covariates, we found that the late group (hazard ratio, 3.106; 95% confidence interval, 1.066-9.047) and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment at sepsis (hazard ratio, 1.410; 95% confidence interval, 1.108-1.796) were independent factors associated with 28-day mortality. This study suggests that the time interval from sepsis to CRRT inception may be a more useful predictor of 28-day mortality than RIFLE criteria in patients with septic AKI.

The main outcomes included survival to hospital discharge, incidence of IHCA, and prognostic factors related to hospital mortality. We also investigated preventable cases. RESULTS: We identified 238 index cases of IHCA. The average incidence of IHCA was 0.145 IHCAs per 1,000 patient admissions. Survival to hospital discharge was 19% (46 cases), 66% of which were due to non-cardiac causes, and 77% were due to medical illnesses. The most common first documented rhythm was pulseless electrical activity (38%). Two hundred three cases (85.3%) of IHCA were witnessed at the event; 135 cases (56.7%) were monitored at the event. Non-witnessed cases, monitored cases, night onset, medical illness, metastatic cancer, intubation, and long duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation were significantly associated with hospital mortality. We identified 91 preventable cases (38%). Respiratory insufficiency (37 cases, 41%) was one of major cause of preventable IHCA. CONCLUSIONS: Witnessed IHCAs in the general ward had a higher rate of survival to hospital discharge; however, monitored cases had a lower rate of survival to hospital discharge. Respiratory insufficiency was a major preventable cause of IHCA. In consideration of the preventable IHCAs, further studies should be performed on monitoring practices in general wards.

We report a 72-year-old female patient with spontaneous rupture of the left external iliac vein. She visited our hospital for abdominal and back pain. She had the abnormal finding of hemoperitoneum. We performed an emergency operation with diagnosis of left ovarian cyst rupture though she suffered from spontaneous rupture of the left external iliac vein. This case provides insight to the experience of spontaneous rupture of the left external iliac vein.