ABSTRACT
Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD), also known as non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis, is a multi-systemic disease with unclear pathogenesis. Based on a small number of case studies, pegylated interferon-α (PEG-IFN-α) has been used as the front-line treatment option. However, there are limited data regarding administration of ropegylated-interferon α-2b (ROPEG-IFN-α 2b) for ECD patients. Herein, we report two cases of severe ECD treated with two types of PEG-IFN-α. One patient with heart and skeleton involvement and BRAF V600E mutation was treated with weekly PEG-IFN-α 2a. Another patient with bone involvement and no BRAF V600E mutation was administered monthly ROPEG-IFN-α 2b. The two types of PEG-IFN-α showed excellent disease control, excellent survival outcomes, and manageable toxicities in ECD patients. These results suggest that ROPEG-IFN-α 2b could be used equivalently to PEG-IFN-α 2a for management of advanced ECD.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#This study explored the effects of the elderly group's digital literacy and health empowerment on communication with doctors, considering moderating effect of health beliefs about chronic diseases. @*Methods@#A one-on-one interview survey was conducted with 500 older adults in South Korea. The main variables were digital literacy, health empowerment, communication with doctors, and health belief of chronic diseases. @*Results@#The interaction effect between health empowerment and susceptibility, and health empowerment and perceived barrier were significant. @*Conclusion@#Communication with doctors greatly increased when the elders had high levels of health empowerment and low levels of susceptibility. Also, communication with doctors greatly increased when the elders had high levels of health empowerment and low levels of perceived barriers.