• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2007

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: Breast conserving surgery (BCS) followed by chemotherapy (CTx.) and radiation therapy (RT) is widely performed for the treatment of early breast cancer. This retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate our interim results in terms of failure patterns, survival and relative risk factors. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: From January 1999 through December 2003, 129 patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and treated with BCS followed by RT were subject to retrospective review. The median age of the patients was 45 years (age distribution, $27{\sim}76$ years). The proportions of patients according to their tumor, nodes, and metastases (TNM) stage were 65 (50.4%) in stage I, 41 (31.7%) in stage IIa, 13 (10.1%) in stage IIb, 9 (7.0%) in stage III, and 1 patient (0.8%) in stage IIIc. For 32 patients (24.8%), axillary node metastasis was found after dissection. BCS consisted of quadrantectomy in 115 patients (89.1%) and lumpectomy in 14 patients (10.6%). Axillary node dissection at axillary level I and II was performed for 120 patients (93%). For 7 patients (5.4%), only sentinel node dissection was performed with BCS. For 2 patients (1.6%) axillary dissection of any type was not performed. Postoperative RT was given with 6 MV X-rays. A tumor dose of 50.4 Gy was delivered to the entire breast area using a tangential field with a wedge compensator. An aditional dose of $9{\sim}16\;Gy$ was given to the primary tumor bed areas with electron beams. In 30 patients (23.3%), RT was delivered to the supraclavicular node. Most patients had adjuvant CTx. with $4{\sim}6$ cycles of CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil) regimens. The median follow-up period was 50 months (range: $17{\sim}93$ months). $\underline{Results}$: The actuarial 5 year survival rate (5Y-OSR) was 96.9%, and the 5 year disease free survival rate (5Y-DFSR) was 93.7%. Local recurrences were noted in 2 patients (true: 2, regional node: 1) as the first sign of recurrence at a mean time of 29.3 months after surgery. Five patients developed distant metastases as the first sign of recurrence at $6{\sim}33$ months (mean 21 months). Sites of distant metastatic sites were bone in 3 patients, liver in 1 patient and systemic lesions in 1 patient. Among the patients with distant metastatic sites, two patients died at 17 and 25 months during the follow-up period. According to stage, the 5Y-OSR was 95.5%, 100%, 84.6%, and 100% for stage I, IIa, IIb, and III respectively. The 5Y-DFSR was 96.8%, 92.7%, 76.9%, and 100% for stage I, IIa, IIb, and III respectively. Stage was the only risk factor for local recurrence based on univariate analysis. Ten stage III patients included in this analysis had a primary tumor size of less than 3 cm and had more than 4 axillary lymph node metastases. The 10 stage III patients received not only breast RT but also received posterior axillary boost RT to the supraclavicular node. During the median 53.3 months follow-up period, no any local or distant failure was found. Complications were asymptomatic radiation pneumonitis in 10 patients, symptomatic pneumonitis in 1 patient and lymphedema in 8 patients. $\underline{Conclusion}$: Although our follow up period is short, we had excellent local control and survival results and reaffirmed that BCS followed by RT and CTx. appears to be an adequate treatment method. These results also provide evidence that distant failure occurs earlier and more frequent as compared with local failure. Further studies and a longer follow-up period are needed to assess the effectiveness of BCS followed by RT for the patients with less than a 3 cm primary tumor and more than 4 axillary node metastases.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.1 s.246
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• pp.44-49
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• 2005

Although thymomas are relatively common mediastinal tumors, to date not only has a universal system of pathologic classification not been established but neither has a clearly defined predictable relationship between treatment and prognosis been made. Recently, a new guideline for classification was reported by WHO, and efforts, based on this work, have been made to better define the relationship between treatment and pro­gnostic outcome. In the present study a comparative analysis between the WHO classification and Masaoka stage system with the clinical disease pattern was conducted. Material and Method: A total of 98 patients undergoing complete resection for mediastinal thymoma between Juanuary 1993 and June 2003 were included in the present study. The male female ratio was 48 : 50 and the mean age at operation was $49.6{\pm}13.9\;years.$ A retrospective analytic comparison studying the relationship between the WHO classification and the Masaoka stage system with the clinical disease pattern of thymoma was conducted. Pathologic slide specimens were carefully examined, details of postoperative treatment were documented, and a relationship with the prognostic outcome and recurrence was studied. Result: There were 7 patients in type A according to the WHO system of classification, 14 in AB, 28 in B 1, 23 in B2, 18 in B3, and 9 in type C. The study of the relationship between the Masaoka stage and WHO classification system showed 4 patients to be in WHO system type A, 7 in type AB, 22 in B 1, 17 in B2, and 3 in type B3 among 53 $(54{\%})$ patients shown to be in Masaoka stage I. Among 28 $(28.5{\%})$ patients in Masaoka stage II system, there were 2 patients in type A, 7 in AB, 4 in B 1, 2 in B2, 8 in B3, and 5 in type C. Among 15 $(15.3{\%})$ in Masaoka stage III, there were 1 patient in type B1, 3 in B2, 7 in B3, and 4 in type C. Finally, among 2 $(2{\%})$ patients found to be in Masaoka stage IV there was 1 patient in type B1, and 1 in type B2. The mean follow up duration was $28{\pm}6.8$ months. There were 3 deaths in the entire series of which 2 were in type B2 (Masaoka stages III and IV), and 1 was in type C (Masaoka stage II). Of the patients that experienced relapse, 6 patients remain alive of which 2 were in type B2 (Masaoka III), 2 in type B3 (Masaoka I and III) and 2 in type C (Masaoka stage II). The 5 year survival rate by the Kaplan-Meier method was $90{\%}$ for those in type B2 WHO classification system, $87.5{\%}$ for type C. The 5 year freedom from recurrence rate was $80.7{\%}$ for those in WHO type B2, $81.6{\%}$ for those in type B3, and $50{\%}$ for those in type C. By the Log-Rank method, a statistically significant correlation between survival and recurrence was found with the WHO system of classification (p<0.05). An analysis of the relationship between the WHO classification and Masaoka stage system using the Spearman correction method, showed a slope=0.401 (p=0.023), showing a close correlation. Conclusion: As type C of the WHO classification system is associated with a high postoperative mortality and recurrence rate, aggressive treatment postoperatively and meticulous follow up are warranted. The WHO classification and Masaoka stage system were found to have a close relationship with each other and either the WHO classification method or the Masaoka stage system may be used as a predict prognostic outcome of Thymoma.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.12 s.269
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• pp.879-890
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• 2006

Background: The dysfunction of multiple organs is found to be caused by reactive oxygen species as a major modulator of microvascular injury after hemorrhagic shock. Hemorrhagic shock, one of many causes inducing acute lung injury, is associated with increase in alveolocapillary permeability and characterized by edema, neutrophil infiltration, and hemorrhage in the interstitial and alveolar space. Aggressive and rapid fluid resuscitation potentially might increased the risk of pulmonary dysfunction by the interstitial edema. Therefore, in order to improve the pulmonary dysfunction induced by hemorrhagic shock, the present study was attempted to investigate how to reduce the inflammatory responses and edema in lung. Material and Method: Male Sprague-Dawley rats, weight 300 to 350 gm were anesthetized with ketamine(7 mg/kg) intramuscular Hemorrhagic Shock(HS) was induced by withdrawal of 3 mL/100 g over 10 min. through right jugular vein. Mean arterial pressure was then maintained at $35{\sim}40$ mmHg by further blood withdrawal. At 60 min. after HS, the shed blood and Ringer's solution or 5% albumin was infused to restore mean carotid arterial pressure over 80 mmHg. Rats were divided into three groups according to rectal temperature level($37^{\circ}C$[normothermia] vs $33^{\circ}C$[mild hypothermia]) and resuscitation fluid(lactate Ringer's solution vs 5% albumin solution). Group I consisted of rats with the normothermia and lactate Ringer's solution infusion. Group II consisted of rats with the systemic hypothermia and lactate Ringer's solution infusion. Group III consisted of rats with the systemic hypothermia and 5% albumin solution infusion. Hemodynamic parameters(heart rate, mean carotid arterial pressure), metabolism, and pulmonary tissue damage were observed for 4 hours. Result: In all experimental groups including 6 rats in group I, totally 26 rats were alive in 3rd stage. However, bleeding volume of group I in first stage was $3.2{\pm}0.5$ mL/100 g less than those of group II($3.9{\pm}0.8$ mL/100 g) and group III($4.1{\pm}0.7$ mL/100 g). Fluid volume infused in 2nd stage was $28.6{\pm}6.0$ mL(group I), $20.6{\pm}4.0$ mL(group II) and $14.7{\pm}2.7$ mL(group III), retrospectively in which there was statistically a significance between all groups(p<0.05). Plasma potassium level was markedly elevated in comparison with other groups(II and III), whereas glucose level was obviously reduced in 2nd stage of group I. Level of interleukine-8 in group I was obviously higher than that of group II or III(p<0.05). They were $1.834{\pm}437$ pg/mL(group I), $1,006{\pm}532$ pg/mL(group II), and $764{\pm}302$ pg/mL(group III), retrospectively. In histologic score, the score of group III($1.6{\pm}0.6$) was significantly lower than that of group I($2.8{\pm}1.2$)(p<0.05). Conclusion: In pressure-controlled hemorrhagic shock model, it is suggested that hypothermia might inhibit the direct damage of ischemic tissue through reduction of basic metabolic rate in shock state compared to normothermia. It seems that hypothermia should be benefit to recovery pulmonary function by reducing replaced fluid volume, inhibiting anti-inflammatory agent(IL-8) and leukocyte infiltration in state of ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, if is considered that other changes in pulmonary damage and inflammatory responses might induce by not only kinds of fluid solutions but also hypothermia, and that the detailed evaluation should be study.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.674-684
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• 1999

Background : It has been generally known that the incidence of lung cancer is higher in the patients with idopathic pumonary fibrosis (IPF) than those in general population. The reported incidence was variable from 4.8 to 43.2%. There were controversies on the most frequent cell type (squamous cell carcinoma vs. adenocarcinoma) and no study was done about the real concordance of cancer and the fibrotic lesion. And the pulmonary fibrosis may influence not only the development of cancer but also the treatment and prognosis of the cancer, but there was no report on that point. Method : Total 63 patients ($66.8{\pm}7.8$ year, M : F=61 : 2) were diagnosed as IPF combined with lung cancer (IFF-CA) at Asan Medical Center. A retrospective analysis was done about the risk factors of the lung cancer, pulmonary function test, the site of cancer(especially the relationship of the cancer with the fibrotic lesion), the histologic types, and the stage of cancer. The histologic types were compared with those of 2,660 patients with lung cancer who were diagnosed at the same institute for the same period. The effect of IPF on the treatment of the cancer was evaluated with the survival time after the detection of lung cancer. Results : The lung cancer was found in 63(22.9%) out of 281 patients with IPF. But in most of them(45 patients), lung cancer was detected at the same time with IPF and only in 18 patients, the cancer was diagnosed during the follow-up($25.2{\pm}17.7$ months) of IPF. So in our study, 6.7% of patients with IPF developed lung cancer during the course of the disease. The age ($66.8{\pm}7.84$ vs. $63.4{\pm}11.1$ years), percentage of smoker (88.9 vs. 67.2%), and the male gender (96.8 vs. 67.6%) were significantly higher in IPF-CA compared with lone IPF (p<0.05). The odds ratio of smoking was 4.7 compared with non smoking IPF controls. The lung cancer was located more frequently in the upper lobe and 55.5% was in the periphery of lung. The cancer was developed in the fibrotic lesion in 23 patients (35.9%), and in the majority of the patients, the cancer was separated from the fibrosis. The cell type of the lung cancer in IPF-CA was squamous cell carcinoma 34.9%, adenocarcinoma 30.2%, small cell carcinoma 19.0%, large cell undifferenciated carcinoma 6.3%, and others 9.5%. No significant difference in the distribution of histologic type of the lung cancer was found between IPF-CA and lone lung cancer. There was no significant difference in demographic features, cell types, location and the stage of the cancer between the group with concurrent IPF-CA and the group with cancer diagnosed during the follow up of IPF. There was a tendency (but statistically not significant : p=0.081) of higher incidence of adenocarcinoma among the cancers developed in the fibrotic area(43.5%) (F-CA) than in the cancers in non-fibrotic area (22.5%) (NF-CA). The prognosis of the patients with F-CA was poor (median survival : 4 months) compared with the patients with NF-CA (7 months, p=0.013), partly because the prevalence of severe IPF (the extent of fibrosis in HRCT 50%) was higher in F-CA group. Conclusion : These data suggest that the lung cancer in the patients with IPF has similar features to the ordinary lung cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.100-107
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• 1999

Purpose: This is to evaluate the acute complication, resection rate, and tumor down-staging after pre-operative concurrent chemoradiotherapy for stage IIIA (N2) non-small cell lung cancer. Materials and Methods Fifteen patients with non-small cell lung cancer were enrolled in this study from May 1997 to June 1998 in Samsung Medical Center. The median age of the patients was 61 (range, 45~67) years and male to female ratio was 12:3. Pathologic types were squamous cell carcinoma (11) and adenocarcinoma (4). Pre-operative clinical tumor stages were cT1 in 2 patients, cT2 in T2, and cT3 in 1 and all were N2. Ten patients were proved to be N2 with mediastinoscopic biopsy and five had clinically evident mediastinal Iymph node metastases on the chest CT scans. Pre-operative radiation therapy field included the primary tumor, the ipsilateral hilum, and the mediastinum. Total radiation dose was 45 Gy over 5 weeks with daily dose of 1.8 Gy. Pre-operative concurrent chemotherapy consisted of two cycles of intravenous cis-Platin (100 mg/m$^{2}$) on day 1 and oral Etoposide (50 mg/m$^{2}$/day) on days 1 through 14 with 4 weeks' interval. Surgery was followed after the pre-operative re-evaluation including chest CT scan in 3 weeks of the completion of the concurrent chemoradiotherapy if there was no evidence of disease progression. Results : Full dose radiation therapy was administered to all the 15 patients. Planned two cycles of chemotherapy was completed in 11 patients and one cycle was given to four. One treatment related death of acute respiratory distress syndrome occurred In 15 days of surgery. Hospital admission was required in three patients including one with radiation pneumonitis and two with neutropenic fever. Hematologic complications and other acute complications including esophagitis were tolerable. Resection rate was 92.3% (12/l3) in 13 patients excluding two patients who refused surgery. Pleural seeding was found in one patient after thoracotomy and tumor resection was not feasible. Post-operative tumor stagings were pT0 in 3 patients, pTl in 6, and pT2 in 3. Lymph node status findings were pN0 in 8 patients, pN1 in 1, and pN2 in 3. Pathologic tumor down-staging was 61.5% (8/13) including complete response in three patients ($23.7%). Tumor stage was unchanged in four patients (30.8%) and progression was in one (7.7%). Conclusions : Pre-operative concurrent chemoradiotherapy for Stage IIIA (N2) non-small cell lung cancer demonstrated satisfactory results with no increased severe acute complications. This treatment shceme deserves more patinet accrual with long-term follow-up.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.79-92
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• 2007

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: For the first time, a nationwide survey in the Republic of Korea was conducted to determine the basic parameters for the treatment of esophageal cancer and to offer a solid cooperative system for the Korean Pattern of Care Study database. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: During $1998{\sim}1999$, biopsy-confirmed 246 esophageal cancer patients that received radiotherapy were enrolled from 23 different institutions in South Korea. Random sampling was based on power allocation method. Patient parameters and specific information regarding tumor characteristics and treatment methods were collected and registered through the web based PCS system. The data was analyzed by the use of the Chi-squared test. $\underline{Results}$: The median age of the collected patients was 62 years. The male to female ratio was about 91 to 9 with an absolute male predominance. The performance status ranged from ECOG 0 to 1 in 82.5% of the patients. Diagnostic procedures included an esophagogram (228 patients, 92.7%), endoscopy (226 patients, 91.9%), and a chest CT scan (238 patients, 96.7%). Squamous cell carcinoma was diagnosed in 96.3% of the patients; mid-thoracic esophageal cancer was most prevalent (110 patients, 44.7%) and 135 patients presented with clinical stage III disease. Fifty seven patients received radiotherapy alone and 37 patients received surgery with adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy. Half of the patients (123 patients) received chemotherapy together with RT and 70 patients (56.9%) received it as concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The most frequently used chemotherapeutic agent was a combination of cisplatin and 5-FU. Most patients received radiotherapy either with 6 MV (116 patients, 47.2%) or with 10 MV photons (87 patients, 35.4%). Radiotherapy was delivered through a conventional AP-PA field for 206 patients (83.7%) without using a CT plan and the median delivered dose was 3,600 cGy. The median total dose of postoperative radiotherapy was 5,040 cGy while for the non-operative patients the median total dose was 5,970 cGy. Thirty-four patients received intraluminal brachytherapy with high dose rate Iridium-192. Brachytherapy was delivered with a median dose of 300 cGy in each fraction and was typically delivered $3{\sim}4\;times$. The most frequently encountered complication during the radiotherapy treatment was esophagitis in 155 patients (63.0%). $\underline{Conclusion}$: For the evaluation and treatment of esophageal cancer patients at radiation facilities in Korea, this study will provide guidelines and benchmark data for the solid cooperative systems of the Korean PCS. Although some differences were noted between institutions, there was no major difference in the treatment modalities and RT techniques.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.360-378
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• 1997

Background : Severe acute lung injury(ALI), also known as the adult respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS), is a heterogenous nature of dynamic and explosive clinical synrome that exacts a mortality of approximately 50%. Endotoxin(ETX) is an abundant component of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria capable of inducing severe lung injury in gram-negative sepsis and gram-negative bacterial pneumonia, which are among the most common predisposing causes of ARDS. The influx of PMNs into airway tissue is a pathological hallmark of LPS-induced lung injury. And there is a substantial evidence suggesting that cytokines are important mediators of lung injury in gram-negative sepsis. However, the kinetics of phagocytes and cytokines by an exact time sequence and their respective pathogenic importance remain to be elucidated. This study was performed to investigate the role of phagocytes and proinflammatory cytokines in ETX-induced ALI through a time course of changes in the concentration of protein, $TNF{\alpha}$ and IL-6, and counts of total and its differential cells in BALF. The consecutive histologic findings were also evaluated. Method : The experimental animals, healthy male Sprague-Dawley, weighted $200{\pm}50g$, were divided into control- and ALI- group. ALI was induced by an intravenous administration of ETX, 5mg/kg. Above mentioned all parameters were examined at 0(control), 3, 6, 24, 72 h after administration of ETX. $TNF{\alpha}$ and IL-6 cone. in BALF were measured by a bioassay. Results : The protein concentration and total leukocyte count(TC) in BALF was significantly increased at 3h compared to controls(p < 0.05). The protein conc. was significantly elavated during observation period, but TC was significantly decreased at 72h(p < 0.05 vs. 24h). There was a close relationship between TC and protein cone. in BALF(r = 0.65, p < 0.001). The PMN and monocyte count was well correlated with TC in BALF, and the correlation of PMN(r = 0.97, p < 0.001) appeared to be more meaningful than that of monocyte(r = 0.61, p < 0.001). There was also a significant correlation between protein cone. and PMN or monocyte count in BALF(PMN vs. monocyte : r = 0.55, p < 0.005 vs. r = 0.64, p < 0.001). The count of monocyte was significantly elavated during observation period though a meaningful reduction of PMN count in BALF at 72h, this observation suggested that monocyte may, at least, partipate in the process of lung injury steadly. In this study, there was no relationship between IL-6 and $TNF{\alpha}$ cone., and $TNF{\alpha}$ but not IL-6 was correlated with TC(r = 0.61, p < 0.05) and monocyte(r = 0.67, p < 0.05) in BALF only at 3, 6h after ETX introduced. In particular, the IL-6 cone. increased earlier and rapidly peaked than $TNF{\alpha}$ cone. in BALF. In histologic findings, the cell counts of lung slices were increased from 3 to 72h(p < 0.001 vs. NC). Alveolar wall-thickness was increased from 6 to 24h(p < 0.001 vs. NC). There was a significant correlation between the cell counts of lung slices and alveolar wall-thickness(r= 0.61, p < 0.001). This result suggested that the cellular infiltrations might be followed by the alterations of interstitium, and the edematous change of alveolar wall might be most rapidly recovered to its normal condition in the process of repair. Conclusion : We concluded that although the role of PMN is partly certain in ETX-induced ALI, it is somewhat inadequate to its known major impact on ALL Alveolar macrophage and/or non-immune cells such as pulmonary endothelial or epithelial cells, may be more importantly contributed to the initiation and perpetual progression of ETX-induced ALI. The IL-6 in ETX-induced ALI was independent to $TNF{\alpha}$, measured by a bioassay in BALF. The early rise in IL-6 in BALF implies multiple origins of the IL-6.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.140-152
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• 1998

Background: Prone position improves oxygenation in patients with ARDS probably by reducing shunt Reduction of shunt in prone position is thought to be effected by lowering of the critical opening pressure (COP) of the dorsal lung because the pleural pressure becomes less positive in prone position compared to supine position. It can then be assumed that prone position would bring about greater improvement in oxygenation when PEEP applied in supine position is just beneath COP than when PEEP is above COP. Hemodynamically, prone position is expected to attenuate the lifting of cardiac fossa induced by PEEP. Based on these backgrounds, we investigated whether the effect of prone position on oxygenation differs in magnitude according to the level of PEEP applied in supine position, and whether impaired cardiac output in supine position by PEEP can be restored in prone position. Methods: In seven mongrel dogs, $PaO_2/F_1O_2$(P/F) was measured in supine position and at prone position 30 min. Cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV), pulse rate (PR), and pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) were measured in supine position, at prone position 5 min, and at prone position 30 min. After ARDS was established with warmed saline lavage(P/F ratio $134{\pm}72$ mm Hg), inflection point was measured by constant flow method($6.6{\pm}1.4cm$ $H_2O$), and the above variables were measured in supine and prone positions under the application of Low PEEP($5.0{\pm}1.2cm$ $H_2O$), and Optimal PEEP($9.0{\pm}1.2cm$ $H_2O$)(2 cm $H_2O$ below and above the inflection point, respectively) consecutively. Results : P/F ratio in supine position was $195{\pm}112$ mm Hg at Low PEEP and $466{\pm}63$ mm Hg at Optimal PEEP(p=0.003). Net increase of P/F ratio at prone position 30 min, however, was far greater at Low PEEP($205{\pm}90$ mm Hg) than at Optimal PEEP($33{\pm}33$ mm Hg)(p=0.009). Compared to CO in supine position at Optimal PEEP($2.4{\pm}0.5$ L/min), CO in prone improved to $3.4{\pm}0.6$ L/min at prone position 5 min (p=0.0180) and $3.6{\pm}0.7$ L/min at prone position 30 min (p=0.0180). Improvement in CO was attributable to the increase in SV: $14{\pm}2$ ml in supine position, $20{\pm}2$ ml at prone position 5 min (p=0.0180), and $21{\pm}2$ ml at prone position 30 min (p=0.0180), but not to change in PR or PAOP. When the dogs were turned to supine position again, MAP ($92{\pm}23$ mm Hg, p=0.009), CO ($2.4{\pm}0.5$ L/min, p=0.0277) and SV ($14{\pm}1$ ml, p=0.0277) were all decreased compared to prone position 30 min. Conclusion: Prone position in a dog with saline-lavaged acute lung injury appeared to augment the effect of relatively low PEEP on oxygenation, and also attenuate the adverse hemodynamic effect of relatively high PEEP. These findings suggest that a PEEP lower than Optimal PEEP can be adopted in prone position to achieve the goal of alveolar recruitment in ARDS avoiding the hemodynamic complications of a higher PEEP at the same time.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1308-1317
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• 1997

Background : Pulmonary aspergillomas usually arise from colonization and proliferation of Aspergillus in preexisting cavitary lung disease of any cause. About 15% of patients with tuberculous pulmonary cavities were found to have aspergilloma. We analyzed the clinical features and course of 91 patients with pulmonary aspergilloma. Method : During the ten-year period from June 1986 to May 1996, 91 patients whose condition was diagnosed as pulmonary aspergilloma at 4 university hospitals in Taegu city were reviewed. All patients fulfilled one of the following criteria : 1) histologic evidence of aspergilloma within abnormal air space in tissue sections, or 2) a positive Aspergillus serum precipitin test with the radiologic finding of a fungus ball. The histological diagno-sis was established in 81 patients(89.0%) and clinical diagnosis in 10 patients(11.0%). Results : 1) The age range was 22 to 65 years, with an average of 45 years. A male and female ratio was 1.7 : 1 (57 men and 34 women). 2) Hemoptysis was far the most frequent symptom(89%), followed by cough, dyspnea, weakness, weight loss, fever, chest pain. 3) In all but 14 cases(15.4%) there had been associated conditions. Pulmonary tuberculosis was far the most frequent underlying condition found(74.7%), followed by bronchiectasis (6.6%), cavitary neoplasm(2.2%), pulmonary sequestration(1.1%). 4) The involved area was usually in the upper lobes; the right upper lobe was involved in 39(42.9%), the left upper lobe in 31(34.1%), the left lower lobe in 13(14.3%), the right lower lobe in 7(7.7%), and the right middle lobe in 1(1.1%). 5) On standard chest roent geno gram the classic "bell-like" image of a fungus ball was found in 62.6% of the subjects. On CT scan, 88.1% of the subjects in which they were done. 6) The surgical therapy was undertaken in 76 patients, and medical therapy in 15 patients, including 4 patients with intracavitary instillation of amphotericin B. 7) The surgical modality was lobectomy in 55 patients(72.4%), segmentectomy in 16 patients(21.1%), pneumonectomy in 4 patients(5.3%), wedge resection in 1 patient(1.3%). The mortality rate was 3.9% (3 patients) ; 2 patients died of sepsis and 1 died of hemoptysis. The postoperative complications were encountered in 6 patients (7.9%), including each one patient with respiratory failure, bleeding, bronchopleural fistula, empyema, and vocal cord paralysis. 8) In the follow-up cases, each 2 patients of 71 patients with surgical treatment and 10 patients with medical treatment had recurrent hemoptysis. Conclusion : During follow-up of the chronic pulmonary disease with abnormal air space, if the standard chest roentgenograms are insufficient to detect a fungus ball, computed tomographic scan and serum precipitin test are likely to aid the diagnosis of patients with suspected pulmonary aspergilloma. A reasonable recommendation for management of a patient with aspergilloma would be to reserve surgical resection for those patients who have had severe, recurrent hemoptysis. And a well controlled cooperative study to the medical treatment such as intracavitary antifungal therapy is further needed.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.1-23
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• 2013

To discover significant social issues such as unemployment, economy crisis, social welfare etc. that are urgent issues to be solved in a modern society, in the existing approach, researchers usually collect opinions from professional experts and scholars through either online or offline surveys. However, such a method does not seem to be effective from time to time. As usual, due to the problem of expense, a large number of survey replies are seldom gathered. In some cases, it is also hard to find out professional persons dealing with specific social issues. Thus, the sample set is often small and may have some bias. Furthermore, regarding a social issue, several experts may make totally different conclusions because each expert has his subjective point of view and different background. In this case, it is considerably hard to figure out what current social issues are and which social issues are really important. To surmount the shortcomings of the current approach, in this paper, we develop a prototype system that semi-automatically detects social issue keywords representing social issues and problems from about 1.3 million news articles issued by about 10 major domestic presses in Korea from June 2009 until July 2012. Our proposed system consists of (1) collecting and extracting texts from the collected news articles, (2) identifying only news articles related to social issues, (3) analyzing the lexical items of Korean sentences, (4) finding a set of topics regarding social keywords over time based on probabilistic topic modeling, (5) matching relevant paragraphs to a given topic, and (6) visualizing social keywords for easy understanding. In particular, we propose a novel matching algorithm relying on generative models. The goal of our proposed matching algorithm is to best match paragraphs to each topic. Technically, using a topic model such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), we can obtain a set of topics, each of which has relevant terms and their probability values. In our problem, given a set of text documents (e.g., news articles), LDA shows a set of topic clusters, and then each topic cluster is labeled by human annotators, where each topic label stands for a social keyword. For example, suppose there is a topic (e.g., Topic1 = {(unemployment, 0.4), (layoff, 0.3), (business, 0.3)}) and then a human annotator labels "Unemployment Problem" on Topic1. In this example, it is non-trivial to understand what happened to the unemployment problem in our society. In other words, taking a look at only social keywords, we have no idea of the detailed events occurring in our society. To tackle this matter, we develop the matching algorithm that computes the probability value of a paragraph given a topic, relying on (i) topic terms and (ii) their probability values. For instance, given a set of text documents, we segment each text document to paragraphs. In the meantime, using LDA, we can extract a set of topics from the text documents. Based on our matching process, each paragraph is assigned to a topic, indicating that the paragraph best matches the topic. Finally, each topic has several best matched paragraphs. Furthermore, assuming there are a topic (e.g., Unemployment Problem) and the best matched paragraph (e.g., Up to 300 workers lost their jobs in XXX company at Seoul). In this case, we can grasp the detailed information of the social keyword such as "300 workers", "unemployment", "XXX company", and "Seoul". In addition, our system visualizes social keywords over time. Therefore, through our matching process and keyword visualization, most researchers will be able to detect social issues easily and quickly. Through this prototype system, we have detected various social issues appearing in our society and also showed effectiveness of our proposed methods according to our experimental results. Note that you can also use our proof-of-concept system in http://dslab.snu.ac.kr/demo.html.