• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.684-690
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• 2004

Background: Primary thymic epithelial neoplasm is a type of mediastinal tumors that have various biologic and morphologic features. In this study, we reclassified 59 cases of thymic epithelial tumors by the new WHO classification. We inquired whether the new WHO classification has independent prognostic relevance by analyzing clinical characteristics of thymic epithelial tumors including Masaoka's clinical stage. Material and Method: From December 1986 to August 2003, 59. patients who underwent surgery in the Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center with definite diagnosis of thymic epithelial tumor were studied. We analyzed the histologic subtype (WHO classification). clinical stage (Masaoka's clinical stage) and patient's characteristics (sex, age, myasthenia gravis, tumor size, invasion. recurrence, metastasis) as prognostic factors. We analyzed the relationship between histologic subtype and clinical stage. Result: 32 patients were male and 27 were female. Mean age was 50.1$\pm$14.2. From WHO A to C, all thymic epithelial tumors were reclassified by the new WHO classification. Six patients (10.2%) had Type A, 7 (11.9%) had Type AB, 7 (11.9%) had Type B$_1$, 10 (16.9%) had Type B$_2$ and 7 (11.9%) had Type B$_3$, 22 (37.3%) had Type C. Two factors were shown by multivariate analysis to be associated with a favorable prognosis: completeness of resection (p=0.003) and non-invasiveness (p=0.001). The overall 5-year survival of the 59 patients was 53%, subtype A and AB were 92.3%, B$_1$ and B$_2$ were 70.2%, and B$_3$ and C were 26.1%. The association between histologic subtype and invasive behavior (stage) was statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: The WHO classfication is not only a histologic classfication of the thymic epithelial tumors but also a significant prognostic factor that influence the survival of thymic epithelial tumors.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.261-266
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• 2003

Background: Surgery of abdominal aortic aneurysm revealed high operative mortality. We reviewed our 11-years' experiences of abdominal aortic aneurysm operation and wish to obtain information on the treatment. Material and Method: From Jan. 1990 to Dec. 2000, 48 patients were operated due to abdominal aortic aneurysm in Yonsei Cardiovascular Center Mean age was $62.8{\pm}12.7$ and there were 40 males and 8 females. Among 48 patients, nine patients had ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, and mean aneurysm diameter of non-ruptured cases was $8.8{\pm}2.4$cm. Result: There were 6 early deaths, and early mortality was 12.5%. Among 9 patients of preoperative aneurysm rupture, three patients died (33.3%), and among 39 patients of non-ruptured cases, 3 patients died (7.7%). Among preoperative variables, age (p<0.05), preoperative BUN level (p<0.05), and DM (p<0.05) were risk factors of early mortality. Among discharged 42 patients, 40 patients were followed up (f/u rate=95.2%) and mean follow up was $3.6{\pm}0.2$ years. During follow up periods, five patients died (late mortality=11.9%), and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed $81.7{\pm}7.6$% survival rate at five and ten year. Linealized incidence of graft related event was 3.53% per patient-year. Conclusion: Surgical mortality of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm was higher than non-ruptured cases; therefore, early resection of the aneurysm can decrease the surgical mortality.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2003

With the advent of stage-adapted multimodal regiments for esophageal malignancy, accurate staging has become of utmost importance. Endoscopic ultrasono graphy(EUS) i.: a diagnostic method for the local staging of esophageal cancer, in particular for T and N evaluation. The aim of this study was to examine the diagnostic efficacy of the EUS and to evaluate the relation between prognosis and EUS findings. Material and Method : We reexamined the cases of 88 consecuitive patients who underwent transthroacic esophagectomy and cervical esophagogastrostomy for esophageal cancer from January 1991 to July 2001 We compared EUS findings, histological results and outcomes. Result : There were 83 male(94.3%) and 5 female. Median age was 61.3 years old. Overall staging accuracy were 59.0% for T staging and 76.0% for N staging, In early T staging group, the accuracy was 74.9% except 74 stage. However significant differences were not found in the ability of EUS-determined T-stage and N-Stage to predict survival. Multivariate analysis showed EUS-stage to predict survival. Conclusion : EUS provides a high degree of accuracy in assessing both T and N parameters in staging esophagal cancer. EUS should be performed in all patients with esophageal cancer, not only for staging before therapy, but also as a valuable method of determining prognosis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.691-701
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• 2004

Background: Tissue hypoxia is a characteristic of many human malignant neoplasms, and hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) plays a pivotal role in essential adaptive response to hypoxia, and activates a signal pathway for the expression of the hypoxia-regulated genes, resulting in increased oxygen delivery or facilitating metabolic adaptation to hypoxia. Increased level of HIF-1 a has been reported in many human malignancies, but in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, the influence of HIF-1 a on tumor biology, including neovascularization, is not still defined. Material and Method: The influence of HIF-1 a expression on angiogenic factors, correlation between the tumor proliferation and HIF-1 a expression, interaction of HIF-1 a expression and p53, and correlation between HIF-1 a expression and clinicopathological prognostic parameters were investigated, using immunohistochemical stains for HIF-1 a, VEGF, CD34, p53, and Ki-67 on 77 cases of resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Result: HIF-1 a expression in cancer cells was found in 33 of 77 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cases. The 33 cases (42.9%) showed positive stain for HIF-1 a. High HIF-1 a expression was significantly associated with several pathological parameters, such as histologic grade (p=0.032), pathological TMN stage (p=0.002), the depth of tumor invasion (p=0.022), regional lymph node metastasis (p=0.002), distant metastasis (p=0.049), and lymphatic invasion (p=0.004). High HIF-1 a expression had significant VEGF immunoreactivity (p=0.008) and Ki-67 labeling index (p<0.001), but was not correlated with microvascular density within tumors (p=0.088). The high HIF-1 a expression was correlated with aberrant p53 accumulation with a marginal significance (p=0.056). The overall 5-year survival rate was 34.9%. The survival rate of patients with a high HIF-1 a expression was worse than that of patients with low-expression tumors (log-rank test, p=0.0001). High HIF-1 a expression was independent unfavorable factors although statistical significance is marginal in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: It is suggested that (1) high HIF-1 a expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is associated with tumor hypoxia, or with genetic alteration in early carcinogenesis and progressive stages, (2) high HIF-1 a expression may be associated with intratumoral neovascularization through HIF-VEGF pathway, and (3) high HIF-1 a expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and may playa role as biomarker for regional lymph node metastasis.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.241-250
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• 2001

Purpose: Vasospasm is a complication of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). We assessed the role of acetazolamide-enhanced brain perfusion SPECT (ACZ-SPECT) with Tc-99m ECD for predicting the prognosis of patients with aSAH. Materials and methods: Two SPECT studios (baseline with 740 MBq and ACZ-SPECT with 1480 MBq) with image subtraction were performed in 21 patients with aSAH. All patients had brain CT and angiogram. Vasoreactivity on ACZ-SPECT, perfusion defect on baseline SPECT, and vasospasm on angiogram were correlated with Hunt-Hess grading, extent of SAH (unilateral or bilateral) on CT, and clinical outcome. Vasoreactivity was considered decreased when cerebral/cerebellar uptake ratio difference from baseline SPECT to ACZ-SPECT was greater than 2SD of normal control values. Results: Decreased vasoreactivity was observed in 38% (8/21), perfusion defect in 81% (17/21), and vasospasm in 38% (8/21). The preserved vasoreactivity group showed better outcome scale (92%, 12/13) and the decreased vasoreactivity group showed poorer outcome scale (62.5%, 5/8) (p=0.014). Extensive SAH was more frequently seen in the decreased vasoreactlvlty group (87.5%, 7/8) than in the preserved vasoreactivity group (30.7%, 4/13)(p=0.017). The perfusion defect and vasospasm did not show good correlation with outcome scale, extent of SAH, and Hunt-Hess grading (p=ns). Vasoreactivity represented the patient's outcome better than the vasospasm in all of the vasoreactivity/vasospasm-mismatched cases (6 cases). Conclusions: Our data show that decreased vasoreactivity on ACZ-SPECT does not always represent vasospastic condition. But patients with decreased vasoreactivity reveal poorer outcome than patients with angiographic vasospasm do. Therefore ACZ-SPECT is a valuable, noninvasive test for predicting the prognosis of patients with aSAH.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.298-304
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• 1998

Purpose: We evaluated the usefulness of Re-188 sulfur colloid for radiation synovectomy and therapy of intraperitoneal metastasis. Materials and Methods: We investigated the labeling efficiency of Re-188 sulfur colloid on various conditions. The stability of Re-188 sulfur colloid was observed at room temperature for 24 h and in human serum and synovial fluid for 72 h. The particle size distribution of Re-188 sulfur colloid was measured by filtering with various pore size filters. Animal experiment was performed in mice and rabbits. Results: The labeling efficiency of Re-188 sulfur colloid was $64.5{\pm}5.8%$ (n=5) at the conditions of sodium thiosulfate 40 mg, EDTA $Na_2.2H_2O$ 0.8 mg, $KReO_4$ 0.8 mg at pH 1. After purification, the radiochemical purity was higher than 99%. The stability of Re-188 sulfur colloid was high (>99%) at room temperature for 24 h and in human serum and synovial fluid for 72 h. The particle size distribution of Re-188 sulfur colloid was 0.3% ($<1{\mu}m$), 11.2% ($1{\sim}5{\mu}m$), 25.8% ($5{\sim}10{\mu}m$) and 52.8% ($>10{\mu}m$). In mice, 1 h postinjection of Re-188 sulfur colloid into tail vein, uptakes in lung, liver and muscle were $37.30{\pm}5.36$, $32.33{\pm}1.79$, $6.60{\pm}0.02%$ ID/organ respectively. After i.p. injection in mice, the uptakes of extraperitonial organs of Re-188 sulfur colloid at 1 and 24 h were $0.1{\pm}0.1$, $0.4{\pm}0.1%$ ID/organ, and the excretions through urine and feces (${\sim}70 h$) were low ($2.68{\pm}0.80$, $0.95{\pm}0.17%$). When Re-188 sulfur colloid was injected to synovial space of rabbit, the uptake in other organs except knee was very low. Conclusion: Re-188 sulfur colloid showed high labeling efficiency, stability and potency for clinical use.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.205-210
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• 2006

Purpose: FDG uptake on positron omission tomography (PET) has been considered a prognostic indicator in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to assess the clinical significance of maximum value of SUV (maxSUV) in recurrence prediction in patients with surgically resected NSCLC. Materials & methods: NSCLC patients (n=42, F:M =14:28, age $62.3{\pm}12.3$ y) who underwent curative resection after FDG-PET were enrolled. Twenty-nine patients had pathologic stage 1, and 13 had pathologic stage II. Thirty-one patients were additionally treated with adjuvant oral chemotherapy. MaxSUVs of primary tumors were analyzed for correlation with tumor recurrence and compared with pathologic or clinical prognostic indicators. The median follow-up duration was 16 mo (range, 3-26 mo). Results: Ten (23.8%) of the 42 patients experienced recurrence during a median follow-up of 7.5 mo (range, 3-13 mo). Univariate analysis revealed that disease-free survival (DFS) was significantly correlated with maxSUV (<7 vs. $\geq7$, p=0.006), tumor size (<3 cm vs. $\geq3$ cm, p=0.024), and tumor tell differentiation (well/moderate vs. poor, p=0.044). However, multivariate Cox proportional analysis identified maxSUV as the single determinant for DFS (p=0.014). Patients with a maxSUV of $\geq7$(n=10) had a significantly lower 1-year DFS rate (50.0%) than those with a maxSUV of <7 (n=32, 87.5%). Conclusion: MaxSUV is a significant independent predictor for recurrence in surgically resected NSCLC. FDG uptake can be added to other well-known factors in prognosis prediction of NSCLC.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.364-372
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• 2007

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the cellular uptake of various tumor imaging radiopharmaceuticals in human breast cancer cells before and after paclitaxel exposure considering viable cell number. Materials and Methods: F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose, C-11-methionine, Tl-201, Tc-99m-MIBI, and Tc-99m-tetrofosmin were used to evaluate the cellular uptake in MCF-7 cells. MCF-7 cells were cultured in multi-well plates. Wells were divided into DMSO exposure control group, and paclitaxel exposure group. The exposure durations of paclitaxel with 10 nM or 100 nM were 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h. Results: Viable cell fraction was reduced as the concentration and exposure time of paclitaxel increased. After 10 nM paclitaxel exposure, the cellular uptake of all 5 radiopharmaceuticals was not reduced significantly, irrespective of exposure time and viable cell fraction. After 100 nM paclitaxel exposure, the cellular uptake of all 5 radiopharmaceuticals was enhanced significantly irrespective of viable cell fraction. The peak uptake was observed in experimental groups with paclitaxel exposure for 6 to 48 h according the type of radiopharmaceutical. When the cellular uptake was adjusted for the viable cell fraction and cell count, the peak cellular uptake was observed in experimental groups with paclitaxel exposure for 48 h, irrespective of the type of radiopharmaceutical. Conclusion: The cellular uptake of F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose, C-11-methionine, Tl-201, Tc-99m-MIBI, and Tc-99m-tetrofosmin did not reflect viable cell number in MCF-7 cells after paclitaxel exposure for up to 48 h.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.350-358
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• 2007

Purpose: Localizing and differentiating a metastatic lesion of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) by using radio iodine whole body scan could be difficult because a whole body scan (WBS) lacks anatomic information. This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of radio-iodine SPECT/CT for differentiating equivocal lesions. Materials & Methods: Among 253 patients with DTC who had undergone radio-iodine scan between February and July 2006, 26 patients were enrolled (M:F = 8:18, Age $50.7{\pm}12.5$ years) in this study. The patients had abnormal uptakes in the WBSs that necessitated precise anatomical localization for differentiating between a metastatic lesion and a false-positive lesion. SPECT/CT was performed for the region with abnormal uptake in the WBS. WBS and SPECT/CT were evaluated visually. Metastases were diagnosed based on the results of the radio-iodine scan along with the results of other radiological examinations and serological tests. Results: Based on the WBS images, 13 were suspected with cervical lymph node (LN) metastases in 16 patients with abnormal neck uptake, and in the 11 patients with abnormal extra-cervical uptakes, extra-cervical metastases were doubtful in all. After SPECT/CT was performed, the diagnostic results were altered for 16 patients (62%). SPECT/CT revealed that only 5 patients had cervical LN metastases, while 3 patients had extra-cervical (mediastinal) LN metastases. Overall, there was a 58% (15/26) change in diagnoses and plans for treatment due to SPECT/CT. Among 8 patients suspected with metastases on SPECT/CT, 6 patients underwent another radio-iodine therapy. In 96% (24/25) of the patients, the results of SPECT/CT corresponded with those of further radiological examinations and with other clinical information. Conclusion: Radio-iodine SPECT/CT images permitted the differentiation of abnormal radio-iodine uptake and improved anatomical interpretation in DTC.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.3-9
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• 2011

Purpose: Generally dual energy X-ray absorptiometry has been used for the purpose of evaluation of osteoporosis and treatment. Recently the interest of obesity came to be high and body percent fat test is increasing. Existing measure of body fat have to scan the whole body can be evaluated, but only lumbar spine and hip measurements was assumed to be whole body fat as well as improving the software. It tries to check whether the part measured value not being whole body measurement has the validity or not compared with the value calculated with the method that it is different, it forgives through a correlation with a (BIA) and (BMI). Materials and Methods: In 2010, the body percent fat was measured among the examinee coming to the Asan Medical Center public health care center from March till August against 90 females more than 40 years old through (DXA) and BIA. BMI utilized the value which wrote an hight and weight measured through the body measuring instrument in the examinee information and is automatically calculated. In addition, it classified as the low weight ($13-18.5kg/m^2$), normal ($18.5-25kg/m^2$), and corpulence ($25-30kg/m^2$) based on BMI and so that it could check whether there was the difference according to the weight or not BMI and BIA and correlation between DXA were analyzed in each group. The statistical program for the analysis used SPSS 12.0. Results: The comparison of DXA at 3 which it divides into the low weight and normal and corpulence groups and BIA did not show the difference noted statistically in all groups and the between group comparison was exposed to do not have a meaning. The body percent fat measured by the correlation analysis result DXA at the state that it doesn't divide into the group showed the high correlation (r=0.908, p0.01) noted statistically compared with BMI and showed the high correlation noted statistically in a comparison with BIA (r=0.927, p0.01). Conclusion: It confirmed that the whole body percent fat presumed from the part bone density measurement showed the excel correlation compared with BIA and BMI and information is high. There is still no clear standard about the presumed whole body percent fat and it is difficult to evaluate the fat evaluation by the bone mineral density measurement. However, it is determined that the information offering which is more objective through the comparative study with the body percent fat which is very efficient and in that it can obtain till the information about a fat as well as diagnosis of the osteoporosis through the bone density checkup is measured by the afterward telegraph bone density checkup and is clinically useful is possible.