• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.138-141
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• 2018

Herein, we describe the case of a 67-year-old female patient who presented with cough and haemoptysis. Chest computed tomography revealed destruction of the left lower lobe and multiple fungus balls in a bronchiectatic cavity. A left lower lobectomy was performed via thoracotomy. Histopathological examination of the lung showed a concomitant aspergilloma and multiple tumourlets in the large bronchiectatic cavity. Pulmonary intracavitary aspergilloma and concomitant tumourlets are quite rare. Our report presents this interesting case that manifested with haemoptysis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.404-407
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• 2021

We present a case study of necrotizing fasciitis (NF), a very rare but dangerous complication of chest tube management. A 69-year-old man with shortness of breath underwent thoracostomy for chest tube placement and drainage with antibiotic treatment, followed by a computed tomography scan. He was diagnosed with thoracic empyema. Initially, a non-cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon managed the drainage, but the management was inappropriate. The patient developed NF at the tube site on the chest wall, requiring emergency fasciotomy and extensive surgical debridement. He was discharged without any complications after successful control of NF. A thoracic surgeon can perform both tube thoracostomy and tube management directly to avoid complications, as delayed drainage might result in severe complications.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.135-142
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• 2018

Purpose: When hemodynamically unstable patients with blunt major trauma arrive at the emergency department (ED), the safety of performing early whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) is concerning. Some clinicians perform central venous catheterization (CVC) before WBCT (pre-computed tomography [CT] group) for hemodynamic stabilization. However, as no study has reported the factors affecting this decision, we compared clinical characteristics and outcomes of the pre- and post-CT groups and determined factors affecting this decision. Methods: This retrospective study included 70 hemodynamically unstable patients with chest or/and abdominal blunt injury who underwent WBCT and CVC between March 2013 and November 2017. Results: Univariate analysis revealed that the injury severity score, intubation, pulse pressure, focused assessment with sonography in trauma positivity score, and pH were different between the pre-CT (34 patients, 48.6%) and post-CT (all, p<0.05) groups. Multivariate analysis revealed that injury severity score (ISS) and intubation were factors affecting the decision to perform CVC before CT (p=0.003 and p=0.043). Regarding clinical outcomes, the interval from ED arrival to CT (p=0.011) and definite bleeding control (p=0.038), and hospital and intensive care unit lengths of stay (p=0.018 and p=0.053) were longer in the pre-CT group than in the post-CT group. Although not significant, the pre-CT group had lower survival rates at 24 hours and 28 days than the post-CT group (p=0.168 and p=0.226). Conclusions: Clinicians have a tendency to perform CVC before CT in patients with blunt major trauma and high ISS and intubation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.619-625
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• 2022

In the field of imaging medicine, computed tomography is one of the most common test methods and one of the most frequently used test methods in hospitals. However, it is accompanied by a very high radiation exposure compared to other test methods. In order to reduce exposure, CT scans should be performed only when absolutely necessary, and even if the tests are performed because they are absolutely necessary, a protocol that serves the purpose of the test and allows the test to be performed in a small dose should be used. In this study, we wanted to learn about the most up-to-date radiation dose usage information used by the region's leading general hospitals and develop a diagnostic reference level (DRL). In the experimental results, the Head CT and Abdomen CT tests showed that DLP was higher than the NRPB (U.K) and Korean DRL. The DLP values used by Chest CT were low for all 3 types of CT devices. The hospital found that efforts to reduce exposure should be made during CT examinations, and in particular, Head CT and Abdomen CT determined that efforts to reduce exposure were necessary.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.316-324
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• 1990

This study is a review of the early postoperative results in fifteen patients who diagnosed funnel chest and underwent the corrective surgical procedure by the sternal turnover[STO] or the sternocostal elevation[SCE] between January 1988 and February 1990. Thirteen among fifteen patients were male. Early eight patients were corrected by the STO and late seven patients by the SCE. Cosmetic result was excellent in one, fair in five, poor in two patients who received the STO and excellent in all patients corrected by the SCE. This unfavorable postoperative result in the STO group was due to the protrusion of inverted xiphisternal joint, the depression along the rejoined costal cartilages and forward tilting of the distal sternum. The lower vertebral indices measured on the lateral chest film were improved postoperatively from 0.42\ulcorner0.08 to 0.30\ulcorner0.05 in the STO group and from 0.31\ulcorner0.05 to 0.24\ulcorner0.03 in the SCE group. There was significant improvement in lower vertebral index in both groups, but it was difficult to compare the postoperative improvement between groups due to the different preoperative status. In the SCE group, the funnel index and the degree of depression measured on the computed tomography were significantly improved from 5.29\ulcorner1.72 and 3.11\ulcorner0.71 to 2.77\ulcorner0.46 and 1.63\ulcorner0.19[P<0.05], but there was no significant change in the degree of flatness postoperatively. This results suggest that sternocostal elevation is more cosmetic procedure than sternal turnover in children and in young adolescents whose funnel index measured on the computed tomography is low.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2017

Background: To improve postoperative outcomes associated with interstitial pneumonia (IP) in patients with lung cancer, the management of the postoperative acute exacerbation of IP (PAEIP) was investigated. Methods: Patients with primary lung cancer were considered to be at risk for PAEIP (possible PAEIP) based on a preoperative evaluation. The early phase of this study was from January 2001 to December 2008, and the late phase was from January 2009 to December 2014. In the early phase, chest computed tomography (CT) was performed for patients for whom PAEIP was suspected based on their symptoms, whereas in the late phase, chest CT was routinely performed within a few days postoperatively. The numbers of possible PAEIP cases, actual PAEIP cases, and deaths within 90 days due to PAEIP were compared between both phases. Results: In the early and late phases, surgery was performed in 712 and 617 patients, 31 and 72 possible PAEIP cases were observed, nine and 12 actual PAEIP cases occurred, and the mean interval from the detection of PAEIP to starting treatment was $7.3{\pm}2.3$ and $5.0{\pm}1.8$ days, respectively. Five patients died in the early phase, and one patient died in the late phase. Significantly fewer PAEIP-related deaths were observed in the late phase (p<0.05). Conclusion: Identifying patients at risk for PAEIP by routine postoperative CT examinations led to the early diagnosis and treatment of PAEIP, resulting in the reduction of PAEIP-related mortality.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.118-124
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• 2004

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and women in the industrialized world. It is desirable to detect disease at a stage when it is not causing symptoms and when control or cure is possible. If the screening test detects patients with the disease at an early stage, they can be examined to confirm the diagnosis and intervention can alter the natural history of the disease. The results of screening programs designed to detect early lung cancer using either conventional chest radiograph or sputum cytology are disappointing for a diagnostic screening test. Because of advances in helical CT imaging techniques, screening for lung cancer has been suggested as a possible method of improving outcome. Findings in recent publications suggest that substantial dose reduction is possible in chest CT. The advantages of low-dose CT are more sensitive than chest radiograph for detecting small pulmonary nodules that may be lung cancers, shorter scanning time than conventional chest CT scan without intravenous contrast injection, cheaper cost than standard CT, low radiation dose. However, the true clinical significance of the small tumors found by screening is still unknown, and their effect on mortality awaits future investigation. Furthermore, in addition to detecting an increased number of lung cancers, low-dose CT found at least one indeterminate nodule in many of all screened patients. The majority should be benign but evaluation of all these indeterminate nodules is not a trivial problem in routine practice. In conclusion, lung cancer screening with low-dose CT is a complex subject. The true effectiveness of lung cancer screening (a reduction in mortality from lung cancer) with low-dose CT can be determined through well-designed randomized control trials with enrolment of appropriate subjects.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.212-218
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• 2020

There are dozens of different types of lesions that can be diagnosed through chest X-ray images, including Atelectasis, Cardiomegaly, Mass, Pneumothorax, and Effusion. Computed tomography(CT) test is generally necessary to determine the exact diagnosis and location and size of thoracic lesions, however computed tomography has disadvantages such as expensive cost and a lot of radiation exposure. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a deep learning algorithm for judging the presence or absence of lesions in chest X-ray images as the primary screening tool for the diagnosis of thoracic lesions. The proposed algorithm was designed by comparing various configuration methods to optimize the judgment of presence of lesions from chest X-ray. As a result, the evaluation rate of lesion presence of the proposed algorithm is about 1% better than the existing algorithm.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.316-319
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• 2012

A 24-year-old man presented with mental change, fever, abdominal pain, tenderness and palpable mass on the lower abdomen. He was a non-Korean engineer and did not accompany a legal guardian, so medical history taking was difficult due to his mental status. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed multiple rim-enhanced lesions of the brain, and abdominal computed tomography showed huge paraspinal abscess. Chest X-ray and computed tomography showed poorly defined nodular opacities. We initially thought that this patient was infected with toxoplasmosis with typical cerebral image finding and immunoglobulin laboratory finding of cerebrospinal fluid and serum study. The abdominal abscess was confirmed as tuberculosis through the pathologic finding of caseous necrosis. We used anti-tuberculosis medication and anti-toxoplasmosis medication for almost 4 months, and then his clinical state and radiological findings were considerably improved.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 1996

Sixty six patients who were operated as lung cancer during the period from Mar. 1991 to Sep. 1993 at the department of Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, were reviewed retrospectively and the accuracy of regional lymph node in preoperative CT were compared with histopathologlc report obtained from operation. The age ranged from 30 to 72 years old (mean age : 56.5), and 51 patients were male and 15 patients were female. The author analysed the true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive index, negative predictive index and accuracy of each nodes. The result is that there were differences between seven nodal groups in specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive Index, negative predictive index and accuracy. The range of each nodal group is from 81.7 to 98.3% The nodes of the most poor accuracy are aortopulmonary area and hilar area.