• 대한디지털의료영상학회논문지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.21-29
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the mutual relations by measuring SNR from T2 weighted image and ADC values on the basis of the stiffness values from liver tissues. This study was conducted that total 37 people(23 of males and 11 of females) were taken the liver MRI examination and average age was $54.5{\pm}12.7$ years old. The equipment was MAGNETOM Skyra 3.0T (SIEMENS, Erlangen, Germany) and 32 channel body-array coil. The examination were conducted with HASTE T2 weighted image by axial plane, Spin-echo EPI (echo planner image) DWI (b-value = 800) and Magnetic resonance elastography. The ROIs (region of interest: 200-300 $mm^2$) were established on the basis of the first axial stiffness image corresponded 95% confidence interval from axial stiffness image and then were measured values. After drawing the grid lines, signals were measured SNR from T2 weighted image and ADC values on the same locations that were analysed other 3 planes respectively. The results were showed correlation (0.057) that were increased to SNR from T2 weighted image by increasing stiffness value that no significant difference statistically p = 0.003. Other results were showed correlations (-0.301) that were decreased to ADC values by increasing stiffness values that no significant difference statistically p = 0.088. In the 3.0T equipment, the results may be error in much the same fashion as the 1.5T from ADC values by evaluation of fibrosis stage. However, Magnetic resonance elastography would be useful method that is used to diagnose exactly liver fibrosis stages in the 3.0T.

• 한국콘텐츠학회논문지
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• 제15권8호
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• pp.389-396
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• 2015

간 섬유화는 임상에서 흔히 접하는 질환으로, 간세포 염증 및 괴사가 수년간 지속 및 반복되는 질환으로 간경변이 진행된다. 따라서, 만성 간질환 환자에서 간경변 및 간세포암으로의 진행을 막음으로써 간경변의 합병증 및 간세포암에 의한 사망률 및 유병률을 감소시키는 것이 주요한 임상 과제라 할 수 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 미만성 간질환 환자에게서 초음파 영상, 혈액검사, 간탄력도와의 상관관계를 수치화 하고자 하였다. 본 연구에서는 P사의 초음파 진단기 (IU-22)로 영상을 획득한 환자와 Fibrosccan을 시행 받은 141명을 대상으로 시행하였고, 혈액 검사는 초음파 영상과 간섬유 스캔을 시행한 시점의 검사 결과로 기초자료를 획득하였다. 각 자료에 대한 통계 분석은 집단 간 차이 검증을 위해 일원분산분석(One-way, ANOVA)을 시행하여 검증하였다. 탄성 초음파의 수치는 정상, 만성간질환, 간경변 순으로 증가하였다. 판독 결과에 따라 ALT, Albumin은 대상군 간 통계학적 차이를 보이지 않았으며, 나이, AST, ALP, Bilirubin, PLT, PT, kPa에서 초음파 판독 결과에 따라서 차이가 있고, 통계적으로 유의(p<0.05)하였다. 그리고 다른 연구에서 만성 간질환 탄성 초음파 수치값이 12.5kPa 이상이라고만 제시하였으나, 본 연구에서는 질환별 평균 kPa임계값을 제시하여, 정량적으로 진단이 가능하게 수치화를 하였다. 또한, 진단결과의 상관관계를 제시하여 질환별 만성 간질환 환자의 진단에 일차적인 도구로 사용될 수 있으리라 사료된다.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.231-240
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• 2016

Purpose: To determine whether liver stiffness (LS) measured by magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) can predict the outcome of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 107 patients with Child-Pugh class A liver function who were treated with RFA for single HCC and who had undergone a gradient-echo MRE within 6 months before RFA were included. We evaluated the relationship between the LS values and the ablation volume, local tumor progression (LTP), and intrahepatic distant recurrence (IDR). We also constructed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to examine the role of LS in predicting liver function deterioration, which was defined as an increase of Child-Pugh score by one point or more at 1 year after RFA. Results: There was no significant correlation between LS and ablation volume, and neither time to LTP nor IDR was associated with LS. Among the 66 patients who did not have recurrence 1 year after RFA, 5 patients (7.6%) developed liver function deterioration. A high LS value was significantly associated with development of liver function deterioration after RFA and the area under the ROC curve was 0.764 (95% CI 0.598-0.929, P = 0.003). Conclusion: LS measured by MRE could not predict ablation volume and tumor recurrence. However, high LS values were significantly associated with development of liver function deterioration.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.215-223
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• 2013

목적: 간 섬유화를 평가하기 위한 MR elastography (MRE)의 경직도 (stiffness value)에 미치는 gadoxetic acid의 영향을 평가하고자 하였다. 대상과 방법: 임상적으로 만성 간 질환이 의심되어 자기공명영상을 촬영한 환자 중 조영제 (gadoxetic acid) 주입전과 후에 MRE를 촬영한 32명의 환자를 대상으로 하였다. 두 명의 영상의학과 의사가 간 실질의 경직도를 개별적으로 측정 하였다. 조영 전과 후의 평균 간경직도를 paired t-test를 사용하여 비교하였으며, 평가자내 및 평가자간 상관 관계는 intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)를 사용하여 분석 하였다. MRE의 F2 이상의 간섬유화 진단의 판별수치로 3.1 kPa을 이용하여 진단의 정확도, 민감도, 특이도를 구하였다. 결과: 조영 전과 후에 측정된 간 경직도의 평균값은 유의한 차이가 없었으며 (p > 0.05), 조영 전 후 모두에서 평가자 내 및 평가자간 우수한 상관 관계가 관찰되었다 (ICC = 0.988 for pre-contrast and ICC = 0.993 for post-contrast, ICC = 0.998 for rater 1 and ICC = 0.996 for rater 2). 간섬유화정도 F2 이상을 진단하는 MRE 의 정확도, 민감도, 특이도는 조영 전후 모두에서 각각 71%, 60%, 그리고 100%로 같은 값을 보였다. 결론: MRE를 이용한 gadoxetic acid 조영 전과 후에 측정된 간경직도는 유의한 차이를 보이지 않았기에 조영 후 MRE 영상도 간 섬유화 평가에 이용될 수 있다.

• 한국방사선학회논문지
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.205-212
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• 2017

만성간질환(Chronic diffuse hepatopathy)의 진단은 간경화, 간부전, 간암으로 인한 사망률과 유병율을 감소시키는 중요한 임상과제 중 하나이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 초음파진단 영상을 바탕으로 간탄력도검사(Fibroscan)를 통해 지방간, 만성간질환을 예측할 수 있는 기준을 알아보고자 하였다. 280명의 환자를 대상으로 혈청학적 검사, 간탄력도 검사 측정값(kPa)을 분석하였으며 ROC 곡선분석을 이용하여 지방간 및 만성간질환을 예측을 위한 간탄력도 측정값의 cut-off value를 결정하였다. 혈청학적 검사에서 Bililubin, PT(prothrombin time)은 질병예측에 관련성이 없었으며(p=0.243, p=0.115), 혈당과 중성지방수치는 지방간에서 의미 있는 차이를 보이며 높게 나타났다(p<0.05). 간탄력도 측정값은 정상 대조군, 지방간, 만성간질환 순으로 높게 측정되었으며 만성간질환 예측을 위한 cut-off value는 10.3 kPa(AUC 0.98, Sensitivity 94.94%, Specificity 94.93%)로 결정하였다. 따라서 정량적인 평가로 만성간질환 환자의 진단에 일차적인 도구로 활용될 것으로 사료된다.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.19-25
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• 2013

Purpose: Childhood obesity is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and it has become one of the most common causes of childhood chronic liver diseases which significant as a cause of liver related mortality and morbidity in children in the United States. The development of simpler and easier clinical indices for medical practice is needed to identify advanced hepatic fibrosis in childhood NAFLD instead of invasive method like liver biopsy. FibroScan and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) have been proposed as a simple and noninvasive predictor to evaluate hepatic fibrosis in several liver diseases. APRI could be a good alternative to detect pathologic change in childhood NAFLD. The purpose of this study is to validate the efficacy of APRI for assessing hepatic fibrosis in childhood NAFLD based on FibroScan. Methods: This study included 23 children with NAFLD who underwent FibroScan. Clinical, laboratory and radiological evaluation including APRI was performed. To confirm the result of this study, 6 patients received liver biopsy. Results: Factors associated with hepatic fibrosis (stiffness measurement >5.9 kPa Fibroscan) were triglyceride, AST, alanine aminotransferase, platelet count, APRI and collagen IV. In multivariate analysis, APRI were correlated with hepatic fibrosis (>5.9 kPa). In receiver operating characteristics curve, APRI of meaningful fibrosis (cutoff value, 0.4669; area under the receiver operating characteristics, 0.875) presented sensitivity of 94%, specificity of 66%, positive predictive value of 94%, and negative predictive value of 64%. Conclusion: APRI might be a noninvasive, simple, and readily available method for medical practice to predict hepatic fibrosis of childhood NAFLD.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.251-258
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• 2019

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of the use of spin-echo echo-planar imaging (SE-EPI) magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in livers of children and young adults. Materials and Methods: Patients (${\leq}20$ years old) who underwent 3T SE-EPI MRE were included retrospectively. Subjects were divided into three groups according to the purpose of the liver MRI: suspicion of fatty liver or focal fat deposition in the liver (FAT group), liver fibrosis after receiving a Kasai operation from biliary atresia (BA group), and hepatic iron deposition after receiving chemotherapy or transfusions (IRON group). Technical failure of MRE was defined when a stiffness map showed no pixel value with a confidence index higher than 95%, and the patients were divided as success and failure groups accordingly. Clinical findings including age, gender, weight, height, and body mass index and magnetic resonance imaging results including proton density fat fraction (PDFF), $T2^*$, and MRE values were assessed. Factors affecting failure of MRE were evaluated and the image quality in wave propagation image and stiffness map was evaluated using the appropriate scores. Results: Among total 240 patients (median 15 years, 211 patients in the FAT, 21 patients in the BA, and 8 patients in the IRON groups), technical failure was noted in six patients in the IRON group (6/8 patients, 75%), while there were no failures noted in the FAT and BA groups. These six patients had $T2^*$ values ranging from 0.9 to 3.8 ms. The image quality scores were not significantly different between the FAT and BA groups (P > 0.999), while the scores were significantly lower in the IRON group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The 3T SE-EPI MRE in children and young adults had a high technical success rate. The technical failure was occurred in children with decreased $T2^*$ value (${\leq}3.8ms$) from iron deposition.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.180-188
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• 2022

Objective: To validate the performance of 3T spin-echo echo-planar imaging (SE-EPI) magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for staging hepatic fibrosis in a large population, using surgical specimens as the reference standard. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study initially included 310 adults (155 undergoing hepatic resection and 155 undergoing donor hepatectomy) with histopathologic results from surgical liver specimens. They underwent 3T SE-EPI MRE ≤ 3 months prior to surgery. Demographic findings, underlying liver disease, and hepatic fibrosis pathologic stage according to METAVIR were recorded. Liver stiffness (LS) was measured by two radiologists, and inter-reader reproducibility was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The mean LS of each fibrosis stage (F0-F4) was calculated in total and for each etiologic subgroup. Comparisons among subgroups were performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Conover post-hoc test. The cutoff values for fibrosis staging were estimated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Inter-reader reproducibility was excellent (ICC, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-0.99). The mean LS values were 1.91, 2.41, 3.24, and 5.41 kPa in F0-F1 (n = 171), F2 (n = 26), F3 (n = 38), and F4 (n = 72), respectively. The discriminating cutoff values for diagnosing ≥ F2, ≥ F3, and F4 were 2.18, 2.71, and 3.15 kPa, respectively, with the ROC curve areas of 0.97-0.98 (sensitivity 91.2%-95.9%, specificity 90.7%-99.0%). The mean LS was significantly higher in patients with cirrhosis (F4) of nonviral causes, such as primary biliary cirrhosis (9.56 kPa) and alcoholic liver disease (7.17 kPa) than in those with hepatitis B or C cirrhosis (4.28 and 4.92 kPa, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences in LS among the different etiologic subgroups in the F0-F3 stages. Conclusion: The 3T SE-EPI MRE demonstrated high interobserver reproducibility, and our criteria for staging hepatic fibrosis showed high diagnostic performance. LS was significantly higher in patients with non-viral cirrhosis than in those with viral cirrhosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권5호
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• pp.1789-1794
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• 2015

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common liver problem in diabetes, is a risk factor for liver cancer. Diabetes, high body mass index (BMI) and old age can all contribute to NAFLD progression. Transient elastography (TE) is used for non-invasive fibrosis assessment. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of NAFLD and significant hepatic fibrosis in diabetic patients and to assess associated factors. Materials and Methods: One hundred and forty-one diabetic and 60 normal subjects were screened. Fatty liver was diagnosed when increased hepatic echogenicity and vascular blunting were detected by ultrasonography. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) representing hepatic fibrosis was assessed by TE. LSM ${\geq}7$ kPa was used to define significant hepatic fibrosis. Results: Four cases were excluded due to positive hepatitis B viral markers and failed TE. Diabetic patients had higher BMI, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference and fasting glucose levels than normal subjects. Fatty liver was diagnosed in 82 (60.7%) diabetic patients but in none of the normal group. BMI (OR: 1.31; 95%CI: 1.02-1.69; p=0.038) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT)(OR: 1.14; 95%CI: 1.05-1.23; p=0.002) were associated with NAFLD. Diabetic patients with NAFLD had higher LSM than those without [5.99 (2.4) vs 4.76 (2.7) kPa, p=0.005)]. Significant hepatic fibrosis was more common in diabetic patients than in normal subjects [22 (16.1%) vs 1 (1.7%), p=0.002]. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)(OR: 1.24; 95%CI: 1.07-1.42; p=0.003) was associated with significant hepatic fibrosis. Conclusions: Sixty and sixteen percent of diabetic patients were found to have NAFLD and significant hepatic fibrosis. High BMI and ALT levels are the predictors of NAFLD, and elevated AST level is associated with significant hepatic fibrosis.

• 대한간학회지
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.384-391
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• 2018

Backgrounds/Aims: The objective of our study was to determine the epidemiological, laboratory, and serological characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and normal transaminases. The study also aimed to evaluate liver damage by measuring the liver fibrosis (LF) grade and to identify possible factors associated with the presence of fibrosis. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted in patients with chronic HBV infection and classified as inactive carriers or immune-tolerant. Epidemiological variables of age, sex, immigrant, alcohol consumption, and body mass index (BMI), as well as virological variables (HBV DNA) and transaminase level were collected throughout the follow-up. The LF grade was evaluated by transient elastography. The cutoff value for significant fibrosis (SF) was liver stiffness ${\geq}7.9kPa$. Results: A total of 214 patients were included in the analysis, and 62% of them had a BMI ${\geq}25kg/m^2$. During follow-up, 4% of patients showed transaminase elevation (<1.5 times normal). Most patients had a viral DNA level <2,000 IU/mL (83%). Data on LF were available in 160 patients; of these, 14% had SF, 9% F3, and 6% F4. The variables associated with the presence of SF were transaminase alteration during follow-up, as 23% of patients with SF had elevated transaminases versus 3% of patients without SF (P<0.005), and BMI, as the vast majority of patients with SF (88%) had a BMI ${\geq}25kg/m^2$ versus 56% of patients without SF (P<0.05). Conclusions: In patients with chronic HBV infection and normal transaminases, liver damage does not seem to be related to DNA levels, alcohol consumption, or immigrant status. SF seems to be associated with transaminase alteration during follow-up and elevated BMI. It is therefore recommended to measure LF grade with validated non-invasive methods in such patients.