• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.5
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• pp.1207-1217
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• 2021

Purpose To evaluate the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy (USPCB) of pancreatic and peripancreatic lesions adjacent to critical vessels. Materials and Methods Data were collected retrospectively from 162 patients who underwent USPCB of the pancreas (n = 98), the peripancreatic area adjacent to the portal vein, the paraaortic area adjacent to pancreatic uncinate (n = 34), and lesions on the third duodenal portion (n = 30) during a 10-year period. An automated biopsy gun with an 18-gauge needle was used for biopsies under US guidance. The USPCB results were compared with those of the final follow-up imaging performed postoperatively. The diagnostic accuracy and major complication rate of the USPCB were calculated. Multiple factors were evaluated for the prediction of successful biopsies using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results The histopathologic diagnosis from USPCB was correct in 149 (92%) patients. The major complication rate was 3%. Four cases of mesenteric hematomas and one intramural hematoma of the duodenum occurred during the study period. The following factors were significantly associated with successful biopsies: a transmesenteric biopsy route rather than a transgastric or transenteric route; good visualization of targets; and evaluation of the entire US pathway. In addition, the number of biopsies required was less when the biopsy was successful. Conclusion USPCB demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy and a low complication rate for the histopathologic diagnosis of pancreatic and peripancreatic lesions adjacent to critical vessels.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.530-541
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• 2002

Background : Pleural fluid adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity can be helpful in a differntial diagnosis of an exudative pleural effusion because it is increased in a tuberculous pleural effusion. The ADA activity is determined mainly by the lymphocyte function. Age-associated immune decline is characterized by a decrease in T-lymphocyte function. For that reason, the pleural fluid ADA level would be lower in older patients with exudative pleural effusion. This study focused on the influence of age on the pleural fluid ADA activity in patients with exudative pleural effusion. Methods : A total of 81 patients with exudative pleural effusion were enrolled in this study. In all patients, the pleural fluid ADA activity was measured using an automated kinetic method. Results : The mean age of the patients was $52.7{\pm}21.2$ years. In all patients with exudative pleural effusion, the pleural fluid ADA activity revealed a significant difference between young patients (under 65 years of age) and old patients (p<0.05), and showed a negative correlation with age (r=-0.325, p<0.05). In the 60 patients with a tuberculous pleural effusion, the pleural fluid ADA activity revealed a significant difference between the young and older patients : $103.5{\pm}36.9$ IU/L in young patients Vs. $72.2{\pm}31.6$ IU/L in old patients (p<0.05), and showed a negative correlation with age (r=-0.384, p<0.05). In the 21 patients with non-tuberculous exudative pleural effusion, the pleural fluid ADA activity of the young patients and old patients was similar : $23.7{\pm}15.3$ IU/L in young patients Vs. $16.1{\pm}10.2$ IU/L in old patients (p>0.05), and did not show any correlation with age (r=-0.263, p>0.05). The diagnostic cutoff value of pleural fluid ADA activity for tuberculous pleural effusion was lower in the older patients (25.9 IU/L) than in the younger patients (49.1 IU/L) or all patients (38.4 IU/L) with exudative pleural effusion. Conclusion : Tuberculous pleural effusion is an important possibility to consider in older patients with a clinical suspicion of a tuberculous pleural effusion, although no marked increase in the pleural fluid ADA activity is usually detected. For a diagnosis of a tuberculous pleural effusion in old patients, the cutoff for the pleural fluid ADA activity should be set lower.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2012

Purpose: Most of diagnosis in the pediatric hydronephrosis patients have been performed $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA renal scan. Then the region of interest (ROI) is set for comparative analysis of uptake ratio in left-right kidney after acquiring the image. But if the equipment set an automatic ROI, the ROI could include expanded renal pelvis due to hydronephrosis and the uptake ratio of left-right kidney will be incorrect result. Therefore this study compared both ROIs including expanded renal pelvis and excluding renal pelvis through experiment using normal kidney phantom and expanded renal pelvis phantom and suggested setting method of improved ROI. In addition, this study have been helped by readout doctor for investigate distinction radiopharmaceutical uptake between renal cortex and remained urine by expanded renal pelvis. Materials and Methods: The both of renal phantoms were filled with water and shacked with $^{99m}TcO_4$ 111 MBq. In order to describe the expanded renal pelvis, the five latex balloon were all filled with 10 mL water and each of balloon was mixed with $^{99m}TcO_4$ 18.5, 37, 55.5, 74, 92.5 MBq. And we made phantom with fixed $^{99m}TcO_4$activity of 37 MBq and mixed water 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 mL in each balloon. The left kidney was fixed its shape and the right kidney was modified like as hydronephrosis kidney by attached the latex balloons. And the acquiring counts were 2 million. After acquisition, we compared the image of ROI with Expanded renal pelvis and the image of ROI without renal pelvis for analyzing difference in the uptake ratio of left-right kidney and for reproducibility, set the ROI 5 times in the same images. Patients were injected $^{99m}Tc$-DMSA 1.5~1.9 MBq/kg and scanned 3 to 4 hours after injection. The each of 3 skillful radio technologists performed the comparing estimation by setting ROI. To determine statistical significance between two data, SPSS (ver. 17) Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used. Results: As a result of renal phantom's experiment, we compared with average of counts Background (BKG) ratios in the setting of ROI including expanded renal pelvis and setting of excluding expanded renal pelvis. Therefore, they can obtain changed counts and changed ratios. Patient also can obtain same results. In addition, the radiopharmaceutical uptake in expanded renal pelvis was come out the remained urine that couldn't descend to ureter by the help of readout doctor. Conclusion: As above results, the case of setting ROI including expanded renal pelvis was more abnormally increasing uptake ratio than the case of setting ROI excluding expanded renal pelvis in analysis the uptake ratio in left-right kidney of hydronephrosis. Because of the work convenience and prompted analysis, the automatic ROI is generally used. But in case of the hydronephrosis study, we should set the manual ROI without expanded renal pelvis for an accurate observation of the uptake ratio of left-right kidney since the radiopharmaceutical uptake in expanded renal pelvis is the remained urine.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.35-43
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• 2009

In the Computer Aided Diagnosis(CAD) System, the efficient way of classifying nodules from chest CT images of a patient is to perform the classification of the remaining part after the pulmonary vessel extraction. During the pulmonary vessel extraction, due to the small difference between the vessel and nodule features in imaging studies such as CT scans after having an injection of contrast, nodule maybe extracted along with the pulmonary vessel. Therefore, the pulmonary vessel extraction method plays an important role in the nodule classification process. In this paper, we propose a nodule reclassification method based on vessel thickness analysis. The proposed method consist of four steps, lung region searching step, vessel extraction and thinning step, vessel topology formation and correction step and the reclassification of nodule in the vessel candidate step. The radiologists helped us to compare the accuracy of the CAD system using the proposed method and the accuracy of general one. Experimental results show that the proposed method can extract pulmonary vessels and reclassify false-positive nodules accurately.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.469-477
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• 2001

In this Paper. we describe a home health care service using electronic health questionnaires and routine checkup of vital signs Including ECG (Electrocardiography) , blood pressure. and SpO$_2$ (Oxygen Saturation) . This system is for patients at home with chronic diseases, discharged Patients, or any normal people for the Prevention of disease The service requires a home health care terminal and a PC with Interned connection installed at Patient home. The distance health care management center is equipped with a vital-sign and questionnaire interpreter as well as database, Web, and notification servers with UMS (Unified Messaging System). Participating Physician can access the servers at the center using a Web browser running on a PC available to them at any time. These components are linked together through various kinds of data and voice communication channels including PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) . CATV(Community Antenna TV) . Interned. and mobile communication network. Following the Physician's direction given to a Patient. he or she uses the home health care terminal to collect vital signs and fill out the questionnaire. When the terminal automatically transmits these data to the management center. the data interpreter and servers at the center process the information fo1lowing the Protocol implemented on the system. Physicians can retrieve and review data corresponding to their Patients and send back their diagnostic reports to the center. UMS at the center delivers the physician 's recommendation to the corresponding patient through the notification server. Patients can also reprieve and review their own records as well as diagnostic reports from physicians. The system Provides a new way of collecting diagnostic information and delivering doctor's recommendation to patients at home for their health management. Future works are needed in the development of new technology for measurements and interpretations of various vital signs .

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.29 no.6 s.77
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• pp.663-672
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• 1999

A case is described, where an adolescent boy developed alopecia areata and alopecia totalis during the course of routine orthodontic treatment for the resolution of a dentoalveolar Class II division 1 malocclusion. The orthodontic treatment lasted 22 months, with a successful outcome. However, within eight months of the onset of treatment the patient lost all his hair Exhaustive medical tests and differential diagnosis determined that the etiolgy of the patient's alopecia was psychological stress evoked by the orthodontic treatment. Numerous reports suggest that psychological stress can cause alopecia by affecting the immune system. Therefore, it appears reasonable to assume that in the case of this patient, alopecia had resulted from stress effects on the immune system, leading to autoimmune disease-like conditions in tissues surrounding the scalp hair follicles. The alopecia condition was successfully reversed by daily oral and topical applications of vitamin D. It is concluded that the immune system plays a pivotal role in tissue remodeling around the teeth and elsewhere in the body, and that any conditions capable of affecting this system may cause unfavorable outcomes, such as alopecia.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.321-329
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• 2001

To establish systematic diagnosis and treatment planning of dentofacial deformity patient including facial asymmetry or hemifacial microsomia patient, comprehensive analysis of three dimensional structure of the craniofacial skeleton is needed. Even though three dimensional CT has been developed, landmark identification of the CT is still questionable. In recent, a method for correcting cephalic malpositioning that enables accurate superimposition of the landmarks in different stages without using any additional equipment was developed. It became possible to compare the three-dimensional positional change of the maxillomandible without invasive procedure. Based on the principle of the method, a new program was developed for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment planning of dentofacial deformity patient via three dimensional visualization and structural analysis. This program enables us to perform following menu. First, visualization of three dimensional structure of the craniofacial skeleton with wire frame model which was made from the landmarks observed on both lateral and frontal cephalogram. Second, establishment of midsagittal plane of the face three dimensionally, with the concept of "the plane of the best-fit". Third, examination of the degree of deviation and direction of deformity of structure to the reference plane for the purpose of establishing surgical planning. Fourth, simulation of expected postoperative result by various image operation such as mirroring, overlapping.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2020

This study recognizes problems in the current system of providing navigation safety information (NSI), which is centered on merchant ships, to prevent maritime accidents of fishing boats and small vessels in coastal areas. The system proposed in this study is an effective method of providing NSI to support the safe navigation of small vessels such as fishing boats. First, the status and characteristics of recent maritime accidents were examined, and NSI service targets were identified. Second, the limitations of the current NSI system were determined, and measures were proposed to establish an NSI Integrated Platform (NSIP) that ensures the integration, accessibility, and usability of NSI for a substantial portion of the public. Third, to utilize the NSIP, various NSIs are applied as additional information for the electronic chart system used in the e-navigation ship terminals being developed in connection with the Korean e-navigation project. Functions that set the audiovisual alarm function to automatically operate when a ship enters a navigation risk zone is proposed. These functions are technically achieved by reviewing expert opinions of related organizations and professional producers. The results of this study suggest that NSI can be applied to small vessels such as fishing boats, through the Korean e-Navigation project, to prevent maritime accidents caused by the human error of navigators.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.284-287
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• 2000

Recently, developing medical devices have a tendency becoming the module for satisfying user's mutual complex needs. Because the most effective method for the observation of patients condition a diagnosis and a treatment is collecting data from various devices and controling operation following it. Module tendency is more popular due to manage easily totally many individual systems. This study implemented communication protocol to control by one control system connecting modular medical devices. Implemented system consist of one master module controlling all module and managing communication and many Slave modules. Communication between each modules introduced SPI(Serial Peripheral Interface) among many synchronous serial communication methods for the exact transmission and receipt of data. All communication executes by packet format. This can detect error. And, this protocol introduced PNP(Plug And Play) function that auto-detect connecting or removing module during running. This protocol exactly transmitted and received in faster speed more than 1Mbps. And in practical application to the ventilator this confirmed to give and take real-time data. And various functions by th central control system is implemented in this protocol.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.187-194
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• 2012

Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in men and is a major cause of mortality in the most of countries. In many diagnostic and treatment procedures for prostate disease, transrectal ultrasound(TRUS) images are being used because the cost is low. But, accurate detection of prostate boundaries is a challenging and difficult task due to weak prostate boundaries, speckle noises and the short range of gray levels. This paper proposes a method for automatic prostate segmentation in TRUS images using its average shape model and invariant features. This approach consists of 4 steps. First, it detects the probe position and the two straight lines connected to the probe using edge distribution. Next, it acquires 3 prostate patches which are in the middle of average model. The patches will be used to compare the features of prostate and nonprostate. Next, it compares and classifies which blocks are similar to 3 representative patches. Last, the boundaries from prior classification and the rough boundaries from first step are used to determine the segmentation. A number of experiments are conducted to validate this method and results showed that this new approach extracted the prostate boundary with less than 7.78% relative to boundary provided manually by experts.