The Usefulness of a Self-marking Method for Musculoskeletal Pain in Outpatient Clinic

BACKGROUND: Symptoms of musculoskeletal system is a common problem, followed by those of respiratory system. Most patients with problems of musculoskeletal system are examined and treated by a primary doctor. This research was performed to inquire into a method which can increase the effectiveness and the precision of history taking in patients with problems of musculoskeletal system in primary care and also to assess a self-marking method where patients can mark their pain site on a normalized picture. METHODS: In the department of family medicine and rehabilitation of an university hospital in Seoul, 44 patients with musculoskeletal pain on their first visit in an outpatient clinic were asked to put marks on a normalized picture and also mark the degree of pain with a visual analog scale from 0 to 10, before history taking. After history taking, the doctor also marked the spot of the patient's pain on the normalized picture and then compared the spots together. After comparing the two pictures of the doctor's and the patients', they then drew another picture with only one spot to avoid overlapping spots. We compared the differences among the patients in every decade from ages 20 to 60 and divided the value of visual analog scale into 3 groups concerning the spots drawn by patients, and compared the relations between them. RESULTS: The pain spots drawn by doctor only were on the lumbar spine and the shoulder whereas most of pain spots drawn by patients only were on the upper back, the cervical spine, and the lumbar spine. The older the patient and the lower the degree of pain was, the more humerous it had spots. CONCLUSIONS: It is considered that with a general history taking method and a self-marking method, clinical effectiveness will be great to the patients having pain on the abdomen, the cervical spine, and the lumbar spine and to those who are elderly and with lower pain spots.

Usefulness of Thermography in Diabetic Neuropathy

Background : diabetic neuropathy is one of the serious complication of diabetes mellitus and it can cause serious foot problems. These foot problems could be preventable if early detection method of diabetic neuropathy is established. Therefore, essential diagnostic tool is needed. The changes on electrophysiologic studies(EPS) may to be necessarily correlated with clinical neuropathy. Theater has attempted to confirm the thermography as an useful tool for detecting diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Methods : Author has studied 20 patients with diabetes visiting to department of family medicine of Korea University Hospital between December 1, 1998 and June, 30, 1999. All cases were evaluated on clinical criteria. Furthermore, the EPS and thermography have been taken. The author investigated the results of thermograpy and the relation of the clinical diagnosis and EPS. Results : among 20 cases, 12(60.0%) cases have shown abnormality on EPS and 6(30.0%) cases of them was also abnormal on clinical criteria, the other 8(40.0%) cases were normal on EPS. Results of EPS were moderately related to clinical diagnosis. 10(50.0%) cases have shown abnormality on thermography and 6(30.0%) cases of them were also abnormal on clinical criteria, the other 10(50.0%) cases were normal on thermography. Results of thermography were related to clinical diagnosis. Among 12(60.0%) cases were abnormal on EPS, 9(45%) cases also have shown abnormality on thermography. Among 8(40.0%) cases were normal on EPS, 7(35.0%) cases were also normal on thermography. Results of thermography were highly related to EPS. Conclusion : Thermography is a useful diagnostic tool in diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

One year follow up Study of the MMSE-K in the Elderly

BACKGROUNDS: As the elderly population in-creases the health problem, especially dementia, becomes the clinically important problem. So in the part of primary care medicine it becomes so important that family physician make a focus on the detection, evaluation, and management of demented patient. Until nowadays there is few cohort study about the dementia and few nursing home in Korea. So author performed the MMSE-K in the elderly who are over 65 to get the cognitive function for early diagnosis, management and rehabilitation of psychosocial problem. METHODS: One hundred three persons who included in community society in Seoul and nursing home of Kyunggido were tested. The survey was done twice on september 1997 and September 1998. Author used the MMSE-K to the elderly by same doctors. The analysis was done by SAS 6.12 and t-test, one-way ANOVA and two-way ANOVA with linear trend test. RESULTS: The mean of first MMSE-K score in the community is 26.1 and in the nursing home is 24.4. And the mean of second MMSE-K score in the community is 25.5 and in the nursing home is 22.0. The MMSE-K score is elevated with male and longer duration of education and is decreased with the advanced age in two groups. According to the classification by MMSE-K score the number of people who have normal cognitive function is 45(43.7%), mild impaired cognitive function is 45(43.7%), moderately impaired cognitive function is 13(12.6%) and none has severely impaired cognitive function in both groups. The follow up MMSE-K score shows that the difference of two MMSE-K scores increases as the age increases. CONCLUSION: Until todays there is few study that designed in the form of cohort study about the elderly cognitive function in Korea. So family physicians must perform the prospective cohort study with the consistent concern and effort to get the research data about the dementia for earthy detection, management and rehabilitation for elderly.