Acute and Critical Care

Basic science and research
Lung Ultrasound in the Critically Ill: Jin Sun Cho; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2017;32(4):356-358. Published online November 30, 2017; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2017.00556

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Ethics
Evaluation of Informed Consent for Withholding and Withdrawal of Life Support in Korean Intensive Care Units: Jin Ha Park, Shin Ok Koh, Jin Sun Cho, Sungwon Na; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2015;30(2):73-81. Published online May 31, 2015; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2015.30.2.73

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Background
The goal of this study was to analyze the process and characteristics of withholding or withdrawal of life support (WLS) in Korean intensive care units (ICUs). Methods: This was a single-centered retrospective analysis of patients who died in the ICUs of a tertiary hospital in Korea from January to December 2012. WLS informed consents and clinical data were analyzed. Results: Of 285 deaths during the study period, informed consents for WLS were obtained from 228 patients (80.0%). All WLS decisions were made by family members after the patient’s loss of decision-making capacity. Decisions were made most frequently by the patient’s son (50.6%). Patients in the WLS group were older than those in the non-WLS group, and older age was associated with the WLS decision. Thirty-seven patients (16.2%) died within one hour of WLS approval, and 182 patients (79.8%) died on the day of WLS approval. The most frequently withheld life support modality was chest compression (100%), followed by defibrillation (95.9%) and pacemaker insertion (63.3%). Conclusions: Aggressive and invasive life support measures were those most frequently withheld or withdrawn by decision-makers in Korean ICUs. The most common proxy was the son, rather than the spouse.

Citations

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Decision-making regarding withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment and the role of intensivists in the intensive care unit: a single-center study
Seo In Lee, Kyung Sook Hong, Jin Park, Young-Joo Lee
Acute and Critical Care.2020; 35(3): 179. CrossRef
Family-Clinician Communication About End-of-Life Care in Korea
Minjeong Jo, Yang-Sook Yoo, George Knafl, Marcia Van Riper, Linda Beeber, Mi-Kyung Song
Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing.2017; 19(6): 597. CrossRef

A Case of Burkholderia cepacia Pneumonia after Lung Transplantation in a Recipient without Cystic Fibrosis: Jin Sun Cho, Sungwon Na, Moo Suk Park, Yun So, Bahn Lee, Shin Ok Koh, Hyo Chae Paik; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2013;28(3):187-191.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2013.28.3.187

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Abstract PDF

Burkholderia cepacia is a highly virulent pathogen known to cause opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients. It accelerates lung disease and causes necrotizing pneumonia with associated severe sepsis, known as cepacia syndrome. In particular, lung transplant recipients infected with Burkholderia cepacia show higher mortality after lung transplantation than those who are not infected with this organism. Due to broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance, a combination therapy should be used according to the results of the susceptibility test. This bacterial infection is rare in Korea, and no case was reported in lung transplant recipients. However, we report a case of pneumonia caused by Burkholderia cepacia after lung transplantation. As Burkholderia cepacia was grown from a sputum culture, the patient was treated initially with a combination of meropenem and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and then ceftazidime and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole as a result of leukopenia. After antibiotics treatment for 20 days, sputum cultures became negative for Burkholderia cepacia and the patient successfully recovered.

Citations

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Current perspective of lung transplantation
Hyo Chae Paik
Journal of the Korean Medical Association.2016; 59(2): 119. CrossRef

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