• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.1 s.246
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• pp.50-55
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• 2005

Thoracic actinomycosis is a rare, chronic debilitating disease and it is difficult to diagnose and treat. Material and Method: Between March 1990 to December 2003, 17 patients were diagnosed and treated for actinomycosis in our center. Except 4 patients (involving cervicofacial, and abdominopelvic area), we reviewed the clinical characteristics, diagnosis method, and treatment in 13 patients. Result: In 8 patients, the operation was required for diagnosis and treatment. 7 of 8 patients had tumor-like lesions in radiological findings and they were not distinguished as lung cancer, and 1 of 8 patients was non-responsive to the antibiotics therapy. Among the 5 medically treated patients, 4 of 5 patients were diagnosed by bronchoscopic biopsy and one by CT-guided biopsy. All of them was well-responsive by the antibiotic treatment. Conclusion: Thoracic actinomycosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that respond well to antibiotics (penicillin therapy). It should be diagnosed by the repeated biopsy (CT-guided or bronchoscopic) before starting treatment. However, if the lesion is not distinguished as the lung cancer, non-responsive to the medical treatment, and the patients experience the recurrent hemoptysis, we can consider the operation for the diagnosis and treatment.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1206-1211
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• 1998

Background: Pulmonary sequestration is not common and it's diagnosis needs special care such as an aortogram ar tomography. Material and Method: We have experienced 13 patients who had pulmonary sequestration from January 1990 to September 1997. Result: Six men and seven women were treated and their mean age was 25.8±14.3 years. Their chief complaints were coughing, chest pain, and no symptoms in decreasing order. There were nine intralobar(ILS) and three extralobar(ELS) pulmonary sequestrations and one patient had both. There was no preference in location of either left or right. They were mainly diagnosed by aortography and their feeding arteries commonly originated from the lower thoracic aorta. The patients with ILS were treated by lobectomy and those with ELS by sequestrectomy. Conclusion: to treat pulmonary sequestration properhy, aortogram or chest CT is warranted to iidenty the abnormal origin of feeding artery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2014

Background: Although a residual intimal tear may contribute to the dilatation of the descending aorta following surgical repair of acute type I aortic dissection (AD), its causal relationship has not been elucidated by clinical data due to the limited resolution of imaging modalities. Methods: This study enrolled 41 patients (age, $55.2{\pm}11.9$ years) who were evaluated with dual-source computed tomography (CT) imaging of the whole aorta in the setting of the surgical repair of acute type I AD. Logistic regression models were used to determine the predictors of a composite of the aortic aneurysm formation (diameter >55 mm) and rapid aortic expansion (>5 mm/yr). Results: On initial CT, a distal re-entry tear was identified in 9 patients. Two patients failed to achieve proximal tear exclusion by the surgery. Serial follow-up CT evaluations (median, 24.6 months; range, 6.0 to 67.2 months) revealed that 14 patients showed rapid expansion of the descending aorta or aortic aneurysm formation. A multivariate analysis revealed that the residual intimal tear (odds ratio [OR], 4.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 to 19.31) and the patent false lumen in the early postoperative setting (OR, 4.64; 95% CI, 0.99 to 43.61) were predictive of the composite endpoint. Conclusion: The presence of a residual intimal tear following surgery for acute type I AD adversely influenced the expansion of the descending aorta.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.497-503
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• 2004

Numerical simulation of blood flow has been conducted based on real vessel geometries generated front DICOM medical images of abdominal and iliac bifurcated arteries of a healthy man. A program was developed to read cross sectional images of the three dimensional arteries and smoothly extract boundary coordinates of vessels. Commercial programs were employed for mesh generation and flow simulation. Pressures, velocities, and flow distributions were found to lie within normal physiological ranges. Peak velocity measured in the iliac artery by ultrasound was 20% smaller than that obtained by simulation. The trend of velocity variation in a cardiac cycle was fairly similar between the simulation and the ultrasonic measurements. Simulation based on real vessel geometry of individual patient provides information on pressure, velocity, and its distribution in the diseased arteries or arteries to be surgically treated. The results of simulation may help surgeons to better understand hemodynamic status and surgical need of the patient by revealing variation of the hemodynamic parameters. Futhermore, they may serve as basic data for surgical treatment of arteries. This research is expected to develop to a program in the future that early diagnose atherosclerosis by showing distribution of a hemodynamic index closely related to atherosclerosis in arteries.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.4411-4417
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• 2010

This study was retrospectively to compare the exposure dose and the imaging quality in coronary CT angiography by using the 64 channel multidetector computed tomography and the 128 channel DSCT. Effective dose was calculated dose length product (DLP) by multiplied the convention factor of chest (0.017). Imaging quality was assessed by radiologists using the 5-point Likert scale. The DLP was ranged from 851 to $1277mGy{\cdot}cm$ (mean: 17.23 mSv) in the 64 channel MDCT and from 82 to $110mGy{\cdot}cm$ (mean: 1.58 mSv) in the of 128 channel DSCT, respectively. The score of imaging quality was respectively $3.31{\pm}0.62$ in 64 channel MDCT and $4.05{\pm}0.46$ in the 128 channel DSCT. The exposure dose of 128 channel DSCT has decreased 1ess 1/10. The score of imaging quality was significant difference between two modalities and the frequency (>4 good) in the 128 channel DSCT is about three times than that of the 64 channel MDCT. Therefore, the 128 channel DSCT in coronary CT angiography is clinically more effective modality for both investigators and patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.1
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• pp.54-69
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• 2022

Early detection of potential asymptomatic coronary artery disease is very important, as patients with sudden cardiac death often do not show symptoms such as chest pain or motor dyspnea. Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has long been unjustified as a screening tool for asymptomatic patients because of the risks posed by radiation exposure. However, there are still various opinions regarding the usefulness of CCTA for screening for coronary artery disease (CAD) in asymptomatic healthy individuals or patients. This review investigated the usefulness of coronary artery calcium score and CCTA as screening tests for CAD in asymptomatic healthy individuals or patients through various literature reviews. With the development of CT technology, recent studies have been conducted in asymptomatic CAD patients with a reduced radiation dose of less than 1 mSv. A total of 2.6% of asymptomatic subjects on CCTA found significant CAD over 70%, and it was concluded that screening CCTA for CAD showed prognostic power in predicting the future occurrence of CAD in asymptomatic people. However, after the completion of the current NIH SCOT-HEART 2 study, it may be possible to determine whether CCTA is appropriate as a screening tool for CAD in asymptomatic healthy individuals.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.624-629
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• 2009

Background: Making the histologic diagnosis of small pulmonary nodules and ground glass opacity (GGO) lesions is difficult. CT-guided percutaneous needle biopsies often fail to provide enough specimen for making the diagnosis. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) can be inefficient for treating non-palpable lesions. Preoperative localization of small intrapulmonary lesions provides a more obvious target to facilitate performing intraoperative. resection. We evaluated the efficacy of CT-guided localization with using a hook wire and this was followed by VATS for making the histologic diagnosis of small intrapulmonary nodules and GGO lesions. Material and Method: Eighteen patients (13 males) were included in this study from August 2005 to March 2008. 18 intrapulmonary lesions underwent preoperative localization by using a CT-guided a hook wire system prior to performing VATS resection for intrapulmonary lesions and GGO lesions. The clinical data such as the accuracy of localization, the rate of conversion-to-thoracotomy, the operation time, the postoperative complications and the histology of the pulmonary lesion were retrospectively collected. Result: Eighteen VATS resections were performed in 18 patients. Preoperative CT-guided localization with a hook-wire was successful in all the patients. Dislodgement of a hook wire was observed in one case. There was no conversion to thoracotomy, The median diameter of lesions was 8 mm (range: $3{\sim}15\;mm$). The median depth of the lesions from the pleural surfaces was 5.5 mm (range: $1{\sim}30\;mm$). The median interval between preoperative CT-guided with a hook-wire and VATS was 34.5 min (range: ($10{\sim}226$ min). The median operative time was 43.5.min (range: $26{\sim}83$ min). In two patients, clinically insignificant pneumothorax developed after CT-guided localization with a hook-wire and there were no other complications. Histological examinations confirmed 8 primary lung cancers, 3 cases of metastases, 3 cases of inflammation, 2 intrapulmonary lymph nodes and 2 other benign lesions. Conclusion: CT-guided localization with a hook-wire followed by VATS for treating small intrapulmonary nodules and GGO lesions provided a low conversion thoracotomy rate, a short operation time and few localization-related or postoperative complications. This procedure was efficient to confirm intrapulmonary lesions and GGO lesions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.437-440
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• 2010

Cardiac mesotheliomas are rare. It is difficult to diagnose them at an early stage because the symptoms are nonspecific. Here we report two cases that had been initially diagnosed as constrictive pericarditis but later were definitively diagnosed, after pericardiectomy, as mesothelioma. The two patients complained of dyspnea that lasted 4 months and 10 years. Chest CT showed mild pericardial effusion and thickened pericardium, which was found enveloping the heart without any lumps. Median sternotomy showed that the overall pericardium was thickened by more than 10 mm. Pericardiectomy (phrenic nerve to phrenic nerve) was performed and post-operative histology confirmed malignant mesothelioma. In one patient the disease recurred near the pericardium post-operatively at 7 months and the patient died at 11 months. The other patient received chemotherapy and was still alive at post-operative month 16. Pericardial mesothelioma is an extremely rare disease exhibiting clinical signs similar to those of constrictive pericarditis, and should be diagnosed at an early stage of onset.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.600-604
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• 2010

A ten-year-old female mongrel dog was presented to Veterinary Medical Center, Chungbuk National University with the signs of anorexia, weakness, and hemoglobinuria. Patient had been diagnosed as dirofilariasis based on heartworm antigen test and treated with adulticide (melarsomine) at local hospital one day before admission. On laboratory examinations, there were hypochromic and microcytic regenerative anemia, thrombocytopenia, moderate neutrophilia, and increase ALT, AST, and ALP. Radiographic exam showed main pulmonary artery bulging, pulmonary infiltration and hypervascularity, reduced abdominal serosal detail and mild hepatomegaly. Abdominal ultrasonographic exam showed mild peritoneal effusion and large hyperechoic thrombi at trifurcation of the porta hepatica and the splenic vein. In addition, intraluminal low density area and intravascular filling defect were confirmed on contrast enhanced CT scanning at the same anatomic locations. Patient was treated with anticoagulant and thrombolytic therapy. On day 42 after treatment, complete resolution of thrombi was confirmed via ultrasonography and improvement of clinical signs was observed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.1019-1021
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• 2004

Neurogenic tumors are common in posterior mediastinal tumors. In most cases, tumors were accidentally showed on simple chest X-ray. In some cases, they were presented by symptoms which were induced by nerve compression or airway compression. But as in our case, neurogenic tumor with spontaneous hemothorax is very rare. A 45-year-old man admitted to emergency room of other hospital because of acute right chest pain and dyspnea. A chest X-ray showed a right pleural effusion. Hemothorax was diagnosed after closed thoracostomy. Following chest CT showed posterior mediastinal mass. The patient was transferred to our hospital. T spine MRI showed dumbbell shaped mass. Diagostic impression was neurogenic tumor. The pathologic result was neurilemmoma after surgical resection.