• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.61-68
• /
• 2001

Purpose: The C-14 urea breath test (C-14 UBT) is the most specific noninvasive method to detect Helicobacter (H) pylori infection. We investigated if the C-14 UBT can reflect the presence and degree of H. pylori detected by gastroduodenoscopic biopsies (GBx). Materials and methods: One hundred fifty patients (M:F=83:67, age $48.6{\pm}11.2$ yrs) underwent C-14 UBT, rapid urease test (CLO test) and GBx on the same day. For the C-14 UBT, a single breath sample was collected at 10 minutes after ingestion of C-14 urea (137 KBq) capsule and counting was done in a liquid scintillation counter for 1 minute, and the results were classified as positive (${\geq}200dpm$), Intermediate ($50{\sim}199dpm$) or negative (<50 dpm). The results of CLO tests were classified as positive or negative according to color change. The results of GBx on giemsa stain were graded 0 (normal) to 4 (diffuse) according to the distribution of H. pylori by the Wyatt method. We compared C-14 UBT results with GBx grade as a gold standard. Results: In the assessment of the presence of H. pylori infection, the C-14 UBT global performance yielded sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of 92.5%, 88.4%, 97.1%, 88.4% and 91.3%, respectively. However, the CLO test had sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 83.2%, 81.4%, 91.8%, 81.4% and 82.7%, respectively. The quantitative values of the C-14 UBT were $45{\pm}27$ dpm in grade 0, $707{\pm}584dpm$ in grade 1, $1558{\pm}584dpm$ in grade 2, $1851{\pm}604dpm$ in grade 3, and $2719{\pm}892dpm$ in grade 4. A significant correlation (r=0.848, p<0.01) was found between C-14 UBT and the grade of distribution of H. pylori infection on GBx with giemsa stain. Conclusion: We conclude that the C-14 UBT is a highly accurate, simple and noninvasive method for the diagnosis of ongoing H. pylori infection and reflects the degree of bacterial distribution.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.229-234
• /
• 2008

Purpose: A urea breath test (UBT) using C-14 or C-13 has been developed for identifying Helicobacter (H) pylori infection on the basis of urease production with release of labeled $CO_2$. We investigated if the C-14 and C-13 UBT have the difference to reflect the presence and degree of H. pylori infection detected by gastro-duodenoscopic biopsies (CBx) in the same patients. Materials and methods: Thirty eight patients (M:F = 28:10, age $53.4{\pm}13.0$ yrs) with upper gastrointestinal symptoms such as indigestion, gastric fullness or pain consecutively underwent C-14 UBT, GBx and C-13 UBT within one week before medications. For the C-14 UBT, a single breath sample was collected at 10 minutes after ingestion of C-14 urea (37 KBq) capsule and counting was done in a liquid scintillation counter for 1 minute, and the results were classified as positive (${\ge}$ 200 dpm), intermediate (50-199 dpm) or negative (50 dpm). For the C-13 UBT, the results were classified as positive (${\ge}2.5\%_{\circ}$) or negative ($<2.5\%_{\circ}$). The results of GBx with Giemsa stain were graded 0 (normal) to 4 (diffuse) according to the distribution of H. pylori by the Wyatt method. We compared C-14 UBT and C-13 UBT results with GBx grade as a gold standard. Results: The prevalence of H. pylori infection by GBx with Giemsa stain was 25/38 (65.8%). In the assessment of the presence of H. pylori infection, the C-14 UBT global performance yielded sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of 92.0%, 92.3%, 95.8%, 91.7% and 92.1%, respectively. However, the C-13 UBT had sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 96.0%, 84.6%, 92.3%, 91.7% and 92.1%, respectively. The more significant correlation in C-14 than C-13 UBT (r=0.948 vs r=0.819, p <0.001) was found between the value of UBT and the grade of distribution of H. pylori infection. Conclusion: We conclude that the diagnostic performance between C-14 and C-13 UBT to detect H. pylori infection is not significantly different, but the value of C-14 UBT more significantly reflects the degree of bacterial distribution.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.327-336
• /
• 1999

Purpose: To assess the quantitative accuracy and the clinical utility of 3D volumetric PET imaging with FDG in brain studies, 24 patients with various neurological disorders were studied. Materials and Methods: Each patient was injected with 370 MBq of 2-[$^{18}F$]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose. After a 30 min uptake period, the patients were imaged for 30 min in 2 dimensional acquisition (2D) and subsequently for 10 min in 3 dimensional acquisition imaging (3D) using a GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET system, The scatter corrected 3D (3D SC) and non scatter-corrected 3D images were compared with 2D images by applying ROIs on gray and white matter, lesion and contralateral normal areas. Measured and calculated attenuation correction methods for emission images were compared to get the maximum advantage of high sensitivity of 3D acquisition. Results: When normalized to the contrast of 2D images, the contrasts of gray to white matter were $0.75{\pm}0.13$ (3D) and $0.95{\pm}0.12$ (3D SC). The contrasts of normal area to lesion were $0.83{\pm}0.05$ (3D) and $0.96{\pm}0.05$ (3D SC). Three nuclear medicine physicians judged 3D SC images to be superior to the 2D with regards to resolution and noise. Regional counts of calculated attenuation correction was not significantly different to that of measured attenuation correction. Conclusion: 3D PET images with the scatter correction in FDG brain studies provide quantitatively and qualitatively similar images to 2D and can be utilized in a routine clinical setting to reduce scanning time and patient motion artifacts.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.121-135
• /
• 2018

Dancers' motions are perceived by observers through visual processes with visual information forming the basis for the observers' appreciation and evaluation of the dancers' motions. There have been many discussions as to whether or not observers' personal athletic capabilities form an essential basis for accurate assessment of the motions of others but, so far, no valid conclusions have been reached. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the ability to predict motions of others varies depending on the athletic expertise of the observers. Participants of this research were ballet dancers of varying athletic expertise. Twenty seven participants were divided into three groups with nine in each: beginners, intermediate experts and experts. The participants watched the same dance video and then evaluated whether the motion would be successful or not. The movement related visual information required to evaluate the success of the motion was systematically adjusted by controlling the length of the video. Using the temporal occlusion method, this study measured the response accuracy of the participants by category of expertise. Under the circumstance with insufficient visual information to utilize, the experts showed higher rates of correct response than the intermediate experts and the beginners. The beginners showed higher rates of wrong response than the experts and the intermediate experts. These results showed that the ability to predict success or failure of a dance motion varied depending on motion expertise of the observers, although they had similar level of expertise in perception. Participants considered to have high athletic expertise showed high prediction ability on the result of the motion. In addition, high expertise in perception reduced the likelihood that participants would make hasty responses under the circumstance with insufficient information and helped to reduce wrong response rate. In conclusion, this study showed that motor expertise and perceptual expertise contribute to prediction accuracy of observed motions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.21
• /
• pp.9487-9494
• /
• 2014

Background: The size of a hepatic neoplasm is critical for staging, prognosis and selection of appropriate treatment. Our study aimed to compare the radiological size of solid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) masses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the pathological size in a Chinese population, and to elucidate discrepancies. Materials and Methods: A total of 178 consecutive patients diagnosed with HCC who underwent curative hepatic resection after enhanced MRI between July 2010 and October 2013 were retrospectively identified and analyzed. Pathological data of the whole removed tumors wereassessed and differences between radiological and pathological tumor size were identified. All patients were restaged using a modified Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system postoperatively according to the maximum diameter alteration. The lesions were classified as hypo-staged, iso-staged or hyper-staged for qualitative assessment. In the quantitative analysis, the relative pre and postoperative tumor size contrast ratio ($%{\Delta}size$) was also computed according to size intervals. In addition, the relationship between radiological and pathological tumor diameter variation and histologic grade was analyzed. Results: Pathological examination showed 85 (47.8%) patients were overestimated, 82 (46.1%) patients underestimated, while accurate measurement by MRI was found in 11 (6.2%) patients. Among the total subjects, 14 (7.9%) patients were hypo-staged and 15 (8.4%) were hyper-staged post-operatively. Accuracy of MRI for calculation and characterized staging was related to the lesion size, ranging from 83.1% to 87.4% (<2cm to ${\geq}5cm$, p=0.328) and from 62.5% to 89.1% (cT1 to cT4, p=0.006), respectively. Overall, MRI misjudged pathological size by 6.0 mm (p=0.588 ), and the greatest difference was observed in tumors <2cm (3.6 mm, $%{\Delta}size=16.9%$, p=0.028). No statistically significant difference was observed for moderately differentiated HCC (5.5mm, p=0.781). However, for well differentiated and poorly differentiated cases, radiographic tumor maximum diameter was significantly larger than the pathological maximum diameter by 3.15 mm and underestimated by 4.51 mm, respectively (p=0.034 and 0.020). Conclusions: A preoperative HCC tumor size measurement using MRI can provide relatively acceptable accuracy but may give rise to discrepancy in tumors in a certain size range or histologic grade. In pathological well differentiated subjects, the pathological tumor size was significantly overestimated, but underestimated in poorly differentiated HCC. The difference between radiological and pathological tumor size was greatest for tumors <2 cm. For some HCC patients, the size difference may have implications for the decision of resection, transplantation, ablation, or arterially directed therapy, and should be considered in staging or selecting the appropriate treatment tactics.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.31-40
• /
• 2016

Objective : This study aimed to provide the preliminary data as a pilot study on standardizing BOT-2 by using an assessment criteria linked to Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) short form for the children with preschool years(4-6 year old) in South Korea. Methods : A total of 81 children aged 4-6 in Busan and Gimhae were participated in this study. They were evaluated by using BOT-2 SF. It provides the average values and standard deviations about the abilities of praxis along with descriptive statistical analyses, and has the verification of gender differences by using independent t-test and using ANOVA for discrepancies in the abilities of praxis. Results : There were significance difference in the total raw score between four and five (p=.000), the items on fine motor accuracy between five and six year olds (p=.014). Girls showed higher scores than boys in fine motor accuracy, fine motor integration and balance (p=.022, p=.006, p=.031). Also, mean raw scores of 4 and 5 year olds (p=.007, =.000), and the all age group's standard scores were higher than the age in American children who were the participants of BOT-2. Conclusion : This study suggested the average of each item with regard to the ability of motor praxis about the children of preschool ages and showed the dissimilarity in the ability of motor praxis between age and gender, also between the participants in this study and American children who were participants of BOT-2. The research could provide basic data for future studies to standardize BOT-2 SF for korean preschoolers.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.101-108
• /
• 2005

Purpose : Early detection of small brain metastases is important. The purpose of this study was to compare the detectability of brain metastases according to the size between 1.5 T and 3.0 T MRI. Materials and Methods : We reviewed 162 patients with primary lung cancer who were examined for TNM staging. After administration of double dose of Gd-DTPA, MR imaging was performed with SPGR by 3.0 T MRI and then with T1 SE sequence by 1.5 T MRI. In each patient, three readers performed qualitative assessment. Sensitivity, positive predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy were calculated in 3.0 T and 1.5 T MRI according to size. Using the signal intensity (SI) measurements between the metastatic nodules and adjacent tissue, nodule-to-adjacent tissue SI ratio was calculated. Results : Thirty-one of 162 patients had apparent metastatic nodules in the brain at either 1.5 T or 3.0 T MR imaging. 143 nodules were detected in 3.0 T MRI, whereas 137 nodules were detected at 1.5 T MRI. Six nodules, only detected in 3.0 T MRI, were smaller than 3.0 mm in dimension. Sensitivity, positive predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy in 3.0 T MRI were 100 %, 100 %, and 100 % respectively, and in 1.5 T MRI were 95.8%, 88.3%, and 85.1% respectively. SI ratio was significantly higher in the 3.0 T MRI than 1.5 T MRI (p=0.025). Conclusion : True positive rate of 3.0 T MRI with Gd-DTPA was superior to 1.5 T MRI with Gd-DTPA in detection of metastatic nodules smaller than 3.0 mm.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.44-50
• /
• 2007

Purpose: The role of plain, abdominal radiography in childhood constipation has not been fully evaluated. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and reliability of scoring systems assessing a fecal load on plain, abdominal radiographs in children with functional constipation. Methods: Plain, abdominal radiographs from 38 constipated children and 39 control children were examined by four independent inspectors, pediatric residents. Four inspectors independently scored the radiographs according to three different scoring systems Barr, Blethyn, and Leech. No clinical information about the patients was available to the inspectors. Each abdominal radiograph was evaluated on two separate occasions, one week apart. Kappa coefficients were calculated as indicators of inter-and intra-inspector variability, coefficients <0.20, 0.21~0.40, 0.40~0.60, 0.61~0.80 and 0.81~1.00 were considered to indicate poor, fair, moderate, good, and very good agreement, respectively. Results: The Leech score showed the highest reproducibility: the inter-inspector agreement was uniformly very good on two separate occasions (${\kappa}$ values of 0.88, 0.91, 0.92, 0.86 in the first time and 0.81, 0.88, 0.89, 0.84 in the second time). Agreement using the Barr score was good (${\kappa}$ values of 0.66, 0.67, 0.69, 0.66 in the first time and 0.68, 0.65, 0.71, 0.68 in the second time). However, agreement for the Blethyn score was the lowest of the three scoring systems. The Leech scoring system had the highest sensitivity and specificity compared to the Barr scoring system for the diagnosis of functional constipation by plain, abdominal radiographs. Conclusion: The Leech score appeared to be a more accurate and reliable method because of its high sensitivity and specificity for evaluating the fecal load on plain, abdominal radiographs in children with functional constipation. Therefore, the Leech scoring system was found to be the most useful for assessment for the degree of constipation on plain, abdominal radiographs in children.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.332-343
• /
• 1998

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of various quantitation methods using F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in patients with malignant or benign lung lesion. Materials and Methods: 22 patients (13 malignant including 5 bronchoalverolar cell cancer; 9 benign lesions including 1 hamartoma and 8 active inflammation) were studied after overnight fasting. We performed dynamic PET imaging for 56 min after injection of 370 MBq (10 mCi) of FDG. Standardized uptake values normalized to patient's body weight and plasma glucose concentration (SUVglu) were calculated. The uptake rate constant of FDG and glucose metabolic rate were quantified using Patlak graphical analysis (Kpat and MRpat), three compartment-five parameter model (K5p, MR5p), and six parameter model taking into account heterogeneity of tumor tissue (K6p, MR6p). Areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) were calculated for each method. Results: There was no significant difference of rate constant or glucose metabolic rate measured by various quantitation methods between malignant and benign lesions. The area under ROC curve were 0.73 for SUVglu, 0.66 for Kpat, 0.77 for MRpat, 0.71 for K5p, 0.73 for MR5p, 0.70 for K6p, and 0.78 for MR6p. No significant difference of area under the ROC curve between these methods was observed except the area between Kpat vs. MRpat (p<0.05). Conclusion: Quantitative methods did not improve diagnostic accuracy in comparison with nonkinetic methods. However, the clinical utility of these methods needs to be evaluated further in patients with low pretest likelihood of active inflammation or bronchoalveolar cell carcinoma.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.317-325
• /
• 1994

The accuracy of dipyridamole stress/rest $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI myocardial imaging for detection of ischemia depends on reproducible image interpretation. To evaluate the reproducibility of visual assessment, agreement in interpretation among two independent observers, blind-ed to clinical data, was evaluated in SPECT images of 131 patients (94 males, 38 females; mean age $58{\pm}7yr$) with suspected coronary artery disease who underwent both dipyridamole stress/rest $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI myocardial SPECT and coronary angiography. The left ventricle was divided into twenty-nine segments in stress and rest SPECT images and each segment was visually graded according to a five-point scale (segmental score : 0=normal, 1=equivocal, 2=mild decrease, 3=severe decrease and 4=absent uptake). Overall concordance of segmental scoring between the two observers was 80%. The Pear-son's correlation coefficient (r) of the segmental scores for stress and rest images were 0.67 and 0.65, respectively, while the difference in score between the two images showed a correlation of 0.45 (all p<0.001). Agreement between two observers in final SPECT diagnosis as absence or presence of disease was 93%. The degree of agreement in segmental scoring showed no difference between patients with or without agreement as to the presence of disease. Therefore it appeared that cases with inconcordant diagnosis between the 2 observers were mainly due to a difference in individual threshold for interpretating the significance of a particular decreased uptake area rather than to a difference in perceiving the degree of the hypoactivity Thus, establishment of individual optimum thresholds in visual interpretation of myocardial SPECT may be helpful to improve reproducibility and accuracy of scan diagnosis.