• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.935-942
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• 2022

In doing interventional treatment under the guidance of ultrasonography, the medical team detects the legion site with ultrasonic equipment at first, and insert angio needle. In this situation, if the position of legion and the depth of inserted needle on the ultrasonographic screen are different from real position and depth, the needle is likely to damage a major blood vessel or tissue. Accordingly, we had wondered how much such differences between screen image and reality, and so decided to examine them. Using five ultrasonographic equipments manufactured from different companies in different years, this study tried to compare the lengths of the needle on the screen images and real lengths of it, and find out the factors affecting skewness of them. This study used hog meat chunk to mimic human flesh, and sausages as the target of needle. It compared penetrating depths of the needle as the images on the five equipments using single sample t test in the SPSS 22 statistical program. It was found that all the errors were statistically significant(<.05). So, this study decided that it was wrong to evaluate performances of the equipments by the makers and ages of them. It is necessary to do periodic quality controls of equipments and improve the skillfulness of sonographers to reduce error rates between real treatment areas and the images of them.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.615-624
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• 2022

Objective: To compare the therapeutic outcomes of laparoscopic hepatic resection (LHR) and laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation (LRFA) for single subcapsular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Materials and Methods: We screened 244 consecutive patients who had received either LHR or LRFA between January 2014 and December 2016. The feasibility of LRFA in patients who underwent LHR was retrospectively assessed by two interventional radiologists. Finally, 60 LRFA-feasible patients who had received LHR and 29 patients who had received LRFA as the first treatment for a solitary subcapsular HCC between 1 cm and 3 cm were finally included. We compared the therapeutic outcomes, including local tumor progression (LTP), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS) between the two groups before and after propensity score (PS) matching. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression was also used to evaluate the difference in OS and RFS between the two groups for all 89 patients. Results: PS matching yielded 23 patients in each group. The cumulative LTP and OS rates were not significantly different between the LHR and LRFA groups after PS matching (p = 0.900 and 0.003, respectively). The 5-year LTP rates were 4.6% and 4.4%, respectively, and OS rates were 100% and 90.7%, respectively. The RFS rate was higher in LHR group without statistical significance (p = 0.070), with 5-year rates of 78.3% and 45.3%, respectively. OS was not significantly different between the LHR (reference) and LRFA groups in multivariable analyses, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.33 (95% confidence interval, 0.12-1.54) (p = 0.818). RFS was higher in LHR (reference) than in LRFA without statistical significance in multivariable analysis, with an HR of 2.01 (0.87-4.66) (p = 0.102). Conclusion: There was no significant difference in therapeutic outcomes between LHR and LRFA for single subcapsular HCCs measuring 1-3 cm. The difference in RFS should be further evaluated in a larger study.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.160-165
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• 2008

Purpose: With the introduction of H. pylori eradication and proton pump inhibitor, the operative treatments for the acute or chronic complications of peptic ulcer, such as perforation, bleeding and stricture, have decreased. Also owing to the development of non-operative treatment such as interventional endoscopic treatment, the surgical approach to the acute complications, like perforation and bleeding, has diminished. The non-operative treatments for the stricture and obstruction of chronic peptic ulcer in part related to discontinuation of medication have not been satisfactory. We analyzed the clinical outcomes of the patients who underwent operative treatment for outlet obstruction with peptic ulcer. Materials of Methods: From January 1994 to December 2007, we reviewed 31 patients who had been operated on at the National Medical Center for peptic ulcer obstruction. We excluded the cases of adhesive obstructions that were caused by a former ulcer operation and also the cases of obstructions found during emergency operations for treating perforation and bleeding. We classified the surgical treatment group into the bypass operation group and the surgical resection group. We evaluated the effects of the operations by the Visick score. The recurrences were confirmed only by the endoscopic observation of peptic ulcer. Results: The number of patients in the bypass operation group was 6 (19.4%) and that of resection group was 25 (80.6%). The mean age was 57.5 (25~81) years. The number of male patients was 29 (93.5%) and the number of females was 2 (6.5%). The mean symptom duration was 29.6 months. There were 19 smokers (61.3%), 6 NSAID users (19.4%) and 7 H. pylori positive patients (22.6%). Two patients underwent endoscopic balloon dilatation with no success. The locations of lesion were the stomach, the duodenum and both in 9, 20 and 2 cases, respectively. There were operative complications in 13 cases (41.9%), recurrent ulcers in 2 cases (6.5%), and reoperations in 4 cases. The mean Visick score was 1.8 (1~4). There were no statistically significant clinicopathologic differences between the bypass operation group and the resection group. The two groups had 1 case each of recurrence. Although the bypass group had a greater complication rate (83.3%) than the resection group (32%), this was not statistically meaningful (P=0.175). The mean Visick score was 3.0 in the bypass group and 1.6 in the resection group, so the resection group was better (P=0.001). Conclusion: For a case of chronic peptic ulcer with outlet obstruction, even though it has been reported that endoscopic balloon dilatation worked well, surgery is still regarded as an important treatment. If you consider the patients' satisfaction and the difficulty of diagnosing malignant ulcers, surgical resection should be recommended more often than a bypass operation.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2020

Chronic severe pain results in a detrimental effect on the patient's quality of life. Such patients have to take a large number of medications, including opioids, often without satisfactory effect, sometimes leading to medication abuse and the pain worsening. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is one of the most effective technologies that, unlike other interventional pain treatment methods, achieves long-term results in patients suffering from chronic neuropathic pain. The first described mode of SCS was a conventional tonic stimulation, but now the novel modalities (high-frequency and burst), techniques (dorsal root ganglia stimulations), and technical development (wireless and implantable pulse generator-free systems) of SCS are becoming more popular. The improvement of SCS systems, their miniaturization, and the appearance of new mechanisms for anchoring electrodes results in a significant reduction in the rate of complications and revision surgeries, and the appearance of new waves of stimulation allows not only to avoid the phenomenon of addiction, but also to improve the long-term results of chronic SCS. The purpose of this review is to describe the current condition of SCS and up-to-date technical advances.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.68 no.1
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• pp.6-9
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• 2010

Background: The efficacious use of interventional bronchoscope for patients with central airway obstruction due to malignant or benign lesions has been proven. Among many therapeutic bronchoscopic procedures, endobronchial cryotherapy is an established recanalization method for the obstruction of the respiratory tract. Recently, the use of this procedure has been increasing in Korea. However, limited data are available in the literature regarding its efficacy in Korea. Methods: Thirty patients, who had been treated with a flexible cryoprobe for cryotherapy were enrolled; clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes were analyzed. The patients had been treated with the technique using nitrous oxide as a cryogen under local anesthesia. Objective outcomes were 3 different degrees of therapeutic success by use of follow-up bronchoscopic findings as follows: successful, partially successful, and unsuccessful response. Subjective outcomes were evaluated as an improvement in symptoms. Results: The mean age of enrolled patients was $59{\pm}11$ years and there was a male (22/30) dominance. Twenty-three patients had malignant tumor and 7 patients had benign lesions with central airway obstruction. Successful recanalization was achieved in 11 (37%) patients, and partially successful response was achieved in 15 (50%) patients. Dyspnea was improved in 84.2% (16/19) of patients. At least one respiratory symptom was resolved in 91.3% (21/23) patients. Seven patients (23.3%) needed additional bronchoscopic electrocautery because of the bleeding as a complication of cryotherapy. Conclusion: Endobronchial cryotherapy is an effective and less expensive procedure for the management of central airway obstruction. However, the procedure should be performed under the preparing for an emergency situation, such as massive bleeding.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.9 s.254
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• pp.622-626
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• 2005

Background: Non-invasive interventional therapy has been performed for main bronchial obstruction by endobronchial tuberculosis because of the risk of main bronchial reconstruction regardless of the pulmonary function. But, effects of the inteeventional therapy are attacked by arguments. This study was aimed at interpreting the risk and effectiveness of bronchoplasty for benign bronchial stenosis over the last ten years in our hospital by reviewing the results based on clinical progression. Material and Method: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records and out-patient medical records including 2f consecutive patients who underwent main bronchial reconstruction for obstruction by endobronchial tuberculosis. All of them had past medical history of anti-tuberculosis medication. They were preoperatively evaluated by bronchoscopy and chest computed tomography. Result: There were no incidences of postoperative mortality and signifcant morbidity. There were 2 cases of retained secretions but these problems were resolved by therapeutic bronchoscopy or intubation. All of the patients are still alive without obstructive airway problem. Conclusion: Bronchoplasty should be considered as one of the primary treatment modalities, if it is anatomically feasible.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2009

Objective : The International Study of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms (ISUIA) reported that the 5-year cumulative rupture rate of small unruptured aneurysms less than 7 mm in diameter is very low depending on the aneurysm's location. However, we have seen a large number of ruptured aneurysms less than 7 mm in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to review our experience and to measure the size and location at which aneurysms ruptured in our patient population. Methods : We reviewed the characteristics of aneurysms, such as size and location, from the original angiograms of patients who were admitted to our hospital between January 2004 and December 2007. All aneurysms were treated surgically or through endovascular procedures. Results : Interventional or surgical treatment was given to a total of 889 patients, including 568 females and 321 males. At the time of our study, 627 cases were ruptured aneurysms and 262 cases were unruptured aneurysms. Of the ruptured cases, the mean diameter of the aneurysm was 6.28 mm. We found that 71.8% of ruptured aneurysms were smaller than 7 mm in diameter, and 87.9%, were smaller than 10 mm. Based on location, the data show that anterior communicating artery aneurysms most often presented with rupture sizes less than 7 mm (76.8%) and 10 mm (92.1%) in diameter. Most ruptured aneurysms were less than 7 mm in size, although recent studies have noted that small aneurysms are less likely to rupture. Conclusion : Although the natural history of unruptured intracranial aneurysms remains controversial, the aneurysm size and location play a signigicant role in determining the risk of rupture. Larger sample sizes and a long term study are needed to reveal the natural history and the rupture risk of unruptured intracranial aneurysms because the size of most ruptured aneurysms was less than 7 mm in diameter in our series.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.2301-2305
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• 2016

Background: The early detection of anthracycline- induced cardiotoxicity is very important since it might be useful in prevention of cardiac decompensation. This study was designed with the intent of assessing the usefulness of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and NT- Pro BNP estimation in early prediction of anthracycline induced cardiotoxicity. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study histologically proven breast cancer patients who were scheduled to receive anthracycline containing combination chemotherapy as a part of multimodality treatment were enrolled. Baseline cardiac evaluation was performed by echocardiography (ECHO) and biomarkers like cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and N terminal- pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT- Pro BNP). All patients underwent cTnT and NT- Pro BNP estimation within 24 hours of each cycle of chemotherapy and were followed up after 6 months of initiation of chemotherapy. Any changes in follow up ECHO were compared to ECHO at baseline and cTnT and NT- Pro BNP levels after each cycle of anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Results: Initial data were obtained for 33 patients. Mean change in left ventricular diastolic diameter (LVDD) within 6 months was $0.154{\pm}0.433cms$ (p value=0.049). Seven out of 33 patients had an increase in biomarker cTnT levels (p value=0.5). A significant change in baseline and follow up LVDD was observed in patients with raised cTnT levels (p value=0.026) whereas no change was seen in ejection fraction (EF) and left atrial diameters (LAD) within 6 months of chemotherapy. NT- Pro BNP levels increased in significant number of patients (p value ${\leq}0.0001$) but no statistically significant change was observed in the ECHO parameters within 6 months. Conclusions: Functional monitoring is a poorly effective method in early estimation of anthracycline induced cardiac dysfunction. Estimation of biomarkers after chemotherapy may allow stratification of patients in various risk groups, thereby opening window for interventional strategies in order to prevent permanent damage to the myocardium.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.58 no.9
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• pp.347-353
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Montelukast sodium in the prevention of bronchopulmonarydysplasia (BPD). Methods: The Interventional study was designed as a multicenter, prospective, and randomized trial, with open labeled and parallel-experimental groups, 66 infants were enrolled and allocated to either the case group (n=30) or the control group (n=36) based on gestational age (GA). Infants in the case group were given Montelukast sodium (Singulair) based on their body weight (BW). Zero week was defined as the start time of the study. Results: The incidence of moderate to severe BPD was not different between the groups (case group: 13 of 30 [43.3%] vs. control group: 19 of 36 [52.8%], P=0.912). Additionally, secondary outcomes such as ventilation index, mean airway pressure and resort to systemic steroids were not significantly different. There were no serious adverse drug reactions in either group, and furthermore the rate of occurrence of mild drug related-events were not significantly different (case group: 10 of 42 [23.8%] vs. control group: 6 of 48 (15.8%), P=0.414). Conclusion: Montelukast was not effective in reducing moderate or severe BPD. There were no significant adverse drug events associated with Montelukast treatment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.3
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• pp.180-187
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• 2011

Background: In mediastinal lymph node sampling in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) it is important to determine the appropriate treatment as well as to predict an outcome. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a recently developed, accurate, safe technique in patients with NSCLC for sampling mediastinal lymph nodes. We sought to determine the usefulness of EBUS-TBNA in mediastinal staging with NSCLC considered to be operable. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 142 patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA for mediastinal staging in the Asan Medical Center, Korea from July 2008 to July 2010. If patients were in an operable state, they underwent subsequent surgical staging. Diagnoses based on biopsy results were compared with those based on surgical results. Results: We performed EBUS-TBNA in 184 mediastinal lymph nodes in 142 NSCLC patients. Almost all of the EBUS-TBNA samples were from the lower paratracheal (112, 60.9%) and subcarinal (57, 31.0%) lymph nodes. In 142 patients, 51 patients (35.9%) were confirmed with malignant invasion of the mediastinal lymph node by EBUS-TBNA and 91 (64.1%) patients were not confirmed. Among the 91 patients, 64 patients (70.3%) underwent surgical staging. 3 patients (4.7%) who were misdiagnosed by the EBUS-TBNA were confirmed by surgery. After Diagnostic sensitivity of EBUS-TBNA, the prediction of mediastinal metastatsis was 94.4% and specificity was 100%. The procedures were performed safely and no serious complications were observed. Conclusion: We demonstrated the high diagnostic value of EBUS-TBNA for mediastinal staging.