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Objective : This study aims to visualize the subjective symptoms before and after the treatment of whiplash injury using infrared (IR) thermography. Methods : IR thermography was performed for 42 patients who were diagnosed with whiplash injury. There were 19 male and 23 female patients. The mean age was 43.12 years. Thermal differences (∆T) in the neck and shoulder and changes in the thermal differences (∆dT) before and after treatment were analyzed. Pain after injury was evaluated using visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after treatment (∆VAS). The correlations between ∆dT and ∆VAS results before and after the treatment were examined. We used Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging equipment of Dorex company for IR thermography. Results : The skin temperature of the neck and shoulder immediately after injury showed 1–2°C hyperthermia than normal. After two weeks, the skin temperature was normal range. ∆T after immediately injuy was higher than normal value, but it was gradually near the normal value after two weeks. ∆dT before and after treatment were statistically significant ( p

Objective : This study aimed to determine the optimal time for tracheostomy by evaluating the benefits and safety of early versus late tracheostomy in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed a total of 254 patients with spinal cord injury. Of them, we selected 21 spinal cord injury patients who required tracheostomy due to long-term mechanical ventilation and analyzed their medical records. The patients were categorized into two groups. Early tracheostomy was performed day 1-10 from intubation in 10 patients and the late tracheostomy was performed after day 10 in 11 cases. We also evaluated the duration of mechanical ventilation, stay in the ICU and complications related to tracheostomy, the injury level of and clinical severity. All data was analyzed using SPSS 18.0/WIN. Results : The early tracheostomy offered clear advantages for shortening the total ICU stay (20.8 day vs. 38.0 day, p=0.010). There was also statistically significant reduction in the total length of time on mechanical ventilation (5.2 day vs. 29.2 day, p=0.009). However, the reductions in the incidence of pneumonia (40% vs. 82%) and the length of ICU stay post to tracheostomy (6 day vs. 15 day) were found to be statistically not signifi cant. There were also no statistically significant differences in the injury level and clinical severity between the groups. Conclusion : We concluded that the early tracheostomy (at least 10 days) is beneficial for SCI patients who are likely to require prolonged mechani cal ventilation.