• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.511-517
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• 2024

Objective: To prospectively investigate the influence of the menstrual cycle on the background parenchymal signal (BPS) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the breast on diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) in healthy premenopausal women. Materials and Methods: Seven healthy premenopausal women (median age, 37 years; range, 33-49 years) with regular menstrual cycles participated in this study. DW-MRI was performed during each of the four phases of the menstrual cycle (four examinations in total). Three radiologists independently assessed the BPS visual grade on images with b-values of 800 sec/mm² (b800), 1200 sec/mm² (b1200), and a synthetic 1500 sec/mm² (sb1500). Additionally, one radiologist conducted a quantitative analysis to measure the BPS volume (%) and ADC values of the BPS (ADC_BPS) and fibroglandular tissue (ADC_FGT). Changes in the visual grade, BPS volume (%), ADC_BPS, and ADC_FGT during the menstrual cycle were descriptively analyzed. Results: The visual grade of BPS in seven women varied from mild to marked on b800 and from minimal to moderate on b1200 and sb1500. As the b-value increased, the visual grade of BPS decreased. On b800 and sb1500, two of the seven volunteers showed the highest visual grade in the early follicular phase (EFP). On b1200, three of the seven volunteers showed the highest visual grades in EFP. The BPS volume (%) on b800 and b1200 showed the highest value in three of the six volunteers with dense breasts in EFP. Three of the seven volunteers showed the lowest ADC_BPS in the EFP. Four of the seven volunteers showed the highest ADC_BPS in the early luteal phase (ELP) and the lowest ADC_FGT in the late follicular phase (LFP). Conclusion: Most volunteers did not exhibit specific BPS patterns during their menstrual cycles. However, the highest BPS and lowest ADC_BPS were more frequently observed in EFP than in the other menstrual cycle phases, whereas the highest ADC_BPS was more common in ELP. The lowest ADC_FGT was more frequent in LFP.

• 대한영상의학회지
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• 제81권4호
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• pp.912-919
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• 2020

목적 만성 콩팥병 환자에서 뇌 관류상태를 측정하여 정상 대조군과 차이가 있는지 알아보고자 하였다. 대상과 방법 만성 콩팥병으로 혈액 투석을 받는 환자 36명과 정상 대조군 36명에 대해 동맥스핀 표지 기법을 이용한 자기공명영상으로 뇌의 관류상태를 측정한 뒤 이를 voxel-wise로 분석하여 유의한 차이를 보이는 부위를 표준 영상 공간에 나타냈다. 결과 만성 콩팥병 환자들은 우측 전두엽, 두정엽, 측두엽과 좌측 두정엽과 후두엽의 백질 부위에 걸쳐 큰 군집의 형태로 관류 증가가 나타났다. 또한 양측 시상 부위와 중뇌, 뇌교 및 양측 소뇌에서도 관류 증가 소견을 보였다(p < 0.01, family-wise error corrected). 결론 만성 콩팥병 환자에서 뇌의 관류는 증가되어 있는 것으로 생각되며 이는 요독증 물질의 독성에 의한 미시적인 혈관 및 혈관 주위 구조물의 손상에 의한 것으로 생각된다.

• 대한영상의학회지
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• 제82권3호
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• pp.638-653
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• 2021

목적 췌장선암으로 완치 수술을 시행 받은 환자들 중 수술 전 CT만 시행 받은 환자군과 추가적 MRI를 시행 받은 환자군의 재발 양상 및 생존율을 비교하고, 첫 재발 위치에 따른 예후 차이를 비교하고자 한다. 대상과 방법 췌장선암으로 R0 수술을 시행 받은 152명의 환자를 대상으로 하였다. 이중 103명은 수술 전 CT만 시행 받았고, 나머지 49명은 추가적 MRI를 시행 받았다. 두 명의 영상의학과 의사가 합의하에 각 환자의 첫 재발 위치와 재발 시기를 평가하였다. 두 환자군의 재발 양상, 무병 생존율, 전체 생존율을 비교하고, 첫 재발 위치에 따른 예후를 비교하였다. 결과 두 환자군 모두 간 전이가 가장 흔한 재발 양상이었고, 무병 생존율(p = 0.247)과 전체 생존율(p = 0.067)은 유의한 차이가 없었다. 첫 재발 위치에 따른 예후는 간 전이가 가장 나빴고, 그다음은 국소 재발이었다(p < 0.001). 결론 췌장선암으로 완치 수술을 시행 받은 환자에서 수술 전 CT만 시행 받은 환자군과 추가적 MRI를 시행 받은 환자군 사이에 재발 양상과 생존율은 유의한 차이가 없었다. 간 전이가 가장 흔한 재발 양상이었고, 다른 재발 양상과 비교하여 예후가 가장 나빴다.

• 대한영상의학회지
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• 제82권1호
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• pp.152-161
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• 2021

목적 CT나 MRI에서 이하선의 양성종양, 악성종양 및 염증 질환에서 나타나는 활경근 침윤의 빈도와 어떤 상황에서 잘 일어나는지 그 조건을 알아보고자 하였다. 대상과 방법 이하선에서 발생한 양성종양 314명, 악성종양 52명 그리고 염증 22명을 대상으로 하였다. CT나 MRI에서 활경근 침윤의 빈도 및 병변의 위치, 피막침범 유무, 국소성에 따른 활경근 침윤 유무를 후향적으로 알아보았다. 결과 활경근 침윤의 빈도는 양성종양에서 0%, 악성종양에서 19.2% (10/52), 염증 환자에서 50% (11/22)였다. 피막을 침범한 염증 환자 13명 중 10명에서 활경근 침윤을 보였다. 활경근 침윤을 보인 염증 환자 11명 중 10명이 미만성을, 1명은 국소성을 보였다. 활경근 침윤을 보인 악성종양 총 10명 모두에서 피막을 침범하였으며, 그중 미만성 병변이 7명, 국소성이 3명이었다. 결론 이하선 질환에서 활경근 침윤은 악성종양보다 염증 질환에서 더 흔하게 일어났다. 염증 질환에서의 활경근 침윤은 이하선 피막을 침범하거나 미만성 병변일 경우 더 잘 나타났다.

• 대한영상의학회지
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• 제81권2호
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• pp.379-394
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• 2020

목적 유방암 환자의 MRI에서 발견된 추가적 병변의 악성 예측을 위한 점수체계를 설계하고자 하였다. 대상과 방법 68명 유방암 환자의 86개 MRI 발견 병변(64 양성, 22 악성)이 후향적으로 연구되었다. 스튜던트 t 검정, Fisher 정확검정, 로짓 회귀분석을 이용해 영상적 소견과 조직학적 결과의 상관관계를 분석했다. 의미 있는 악성 시사 소견을 기반으로 한 점수체계를 설계하고 그 것의 진단적 능력을 Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (이하 BI-RADS) category와 비교하였다. 결과 병변 크기 ≥ 8 mm (p < 0.001), 주 병소와 동일한 사분면에 위치(p = 0.005), 지연기의 고원형 조영 증강(p = 0.010), T2 등신호(p = 0.034) 혹은 저신호 강도(p = 0.024), 불규칙한 종괴 모양(p = 0.028)이 악성과 관련 있었다. 이 소견들과 의심스러운 비종괴 내부 조영 양상을 바탕으로 한 점수체계는 BI-RADS의 진단적 능력을 향상시켰고(area under the curve, 0.918 vs. 0.727), 3개의 위음성 케이스를 방지할 수 있었다. 또한, 22개의 불필요한 2차 초음파 검사(22/66, 33.3%)를 줄일 수 있었다. 결론 병변 크기, 주 병소와의 상대적 위치, 지연기의 조영 증강 양상, T2 신호강도, 종괴의 모양 및 비종괴 내부 조영 양상을 기반으로 한 점수체계는 유방암 환자의 MRI 발견 병소를 평가하는데 있어 정확도를 높여 줄 수 있다.

• 대한영상의학회지
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• 제82권5호
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• pp.1218-1230
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• 2021

목적 고위험 환자에서 초기 간암 선별 검사로써 단축 자기공명영상 검사의 환자별 진단능을 기존의 고식적 간 자기공명영상검사와 비교하고자 한다. 대상과 방법 간암 고위험군에서 간 자기공명영상 검사를 시행 받은 총 201명의 환자에 대해 연구를 시행하였다. 단축 자기공명영상 검사 군의 프로토콜은 T2 강조영상, 담도기 T1 강조영상, 확산강조영상 등으로 구성되며, 두 명의 영상의학과 의사가 각각의 환자에 대해 후향적으로 단축 자기공명영상검사 군 및 고식적 자기공명영상검사 군, 두 군의 영상을 독립적으로 평가하였다. 두 연구자 간 일관성은 Cohen's kappa 값을 이용하여 비교하였다. 복합적인 참조표준을 이용하여 두 군에서 각각 진단능을 평가하여 비교하였다. 결과 79 명의 환자에서 총 93개의 간암이 발견되었다. 두 연구자 간 일관성은 두 군에서 모두 매우 양호하였다(κ = 0.839, 0.948). 단축 자기공명영상검사 군에서 민감도 및 음성예측도는 각각 94.9% 및 96.4%였으며, 이는 고식적 자기공명영상검사 군과 큰 차이를 보이지 않았다(96.2%, 97.5%). 결론 단축 자기공명영상검사는 고식적 자기공명영상검사에 비교하여 임상적으로 허용 가능한 민감도와 음성예측도를 갖는다. 따라서 간암 고위험군 환자에서 간암 선별검사로써 새로운 대안이 될 수 있을 것이다.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.305-312
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• 2023

Objective: Chronic enteropathy associated with SLCO2A1 gene (CEAS) is a recently recognized disease. We aimed to evaluate the enterographic findings of CEAS. Materials and Methods: Altogether, 14 patients with CEAS were confirmed based on known SLCO2A1 mutations. They were registered in a multicenter Korean registry between July 2018 and July 2021. Nine of the patients (37.2 ± 13 years; all female) who underwent surgery-naïve-state computed tomography enterography (CTE) or magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) were identified. Two experienced radiologists reviewed 25 and 2 sets of CTE and MRE examinations, respectively, regarding the small bowel findings. Results: In initial evaluation, eight patients showed a total of 37 areas with mural abnormalities in the ileum on CTE, including 1-4 segments in six and > 10 segments in two patients. One patient showed unremarkable CTE. The involved segments were 10-85 mm (median, 20 mm) in length, 3-14 mm (median, 7 mm) in mural thickness, circumferential in 86.5% (32/37), and showed stratified enhancement in the enteric and portal phases in 91.9% (34/37) and 81.8% (9/11), respectively. Perienteric infiltration and prominent vasa recta were noted in 2.7% (1/37) and 13.5% (5/37), respectively. Bowel strictures were identified in six patients (66.7%), with a maximum upstream diameter of 31-48 mm. Two patients underwent surgery for strictures immediately after the initial enterography. Follow-up CTE and MRE in the remaining patients showed minimal-to-mild changes in the extent and thickness of the mural involvement for 17-138 months (median, 47.5 months) after initial enterography. Two patients required surgery for bowel stricture at 19 and 38 months of follow-up, respectively. Conclusion: CEAS of the small bowel typically manifested on enterography in varying numbers and lengths of abnormal ileal segments that showed circumferential mural thickening with layered enhancement without perienteric abnormalities. The lesions caused bowel strictures that required surgery in some patients.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.190-203
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• 2023

Objective: We aimed to assess and validate the radiologic and clinical factors that were associated with recurrence and survival after curative surgery for heterogeneous targetoid primary liver malignancies in patients with chronic liver disease and to develop scoring systems for risk stratification. Materials and Methods: This multicenter retrospective study included 197 consecutive patients with chronic liver disease who had a single targetoid primary liver malignancy (142 hepatocellular carcinomas, 37 cholangiocarcinomas, 17 combined hepatocellular carcinoma-cholangiocarcinomas, and one neuroendocrine carcinoma) identified on preoperative gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI and subsequently surgically removed between 2010 and 2017. Of these, 120 patients constituted the development cohort, and 77 patients from separate institution served as an external validation cohort. Factors associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were identified using a Cox proportional hazards analysis, and risk scores were developed. The discriminatory power of the risk scores in the external validation cohort was evaluated using the Harrell C-index. The Kaplan-Meier curves were used to estimate RFS and OS for the different risk-score groups. Results: In RFS model 1, which eliminated features exclusively accessible on the hepatobiliary phase (HBP), tumor size of 2-5 cm or > 5 cm, and thin-rim arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE) were included. In RFS model 2, tumors with a size of > 5 cm, tumor in vein (TIV), and HBP hypointense nodules without APHE were included. The OS model included a tumor size of > 5 cm, thin-rim APHE, TIV, and tumor vascular involvement other than TIV. The risk scores of the models showed good discriminatory performance in the external validation set (C-index, 0.62-0.76). The scoring system categorized the patients into three risk groups: favorable, intermediate, and poor, each with a distinct survival outcome (all log-rank p < 0.05). Conclusion: Risk scores based on rim arterial enhancement pattern, tumor size, HBP findings, and radiologic vascular invasion status may help predict postoperative RFS and OS in patients with targetoid primary liver malignancies.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.539-547
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• 2022

Objective: To investigate the association between functional tumor burden of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and overall survival in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma (OC). Materials and Methods: This prospective study was approved by the local research ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained. Fifty patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 57 ± 12 years) with stage III-IV OC scheduled for primary or interval debulking surgery (IDS) were recruited between June 2016 and December 2021. DWI (b values: 0, 400, and 800 s/mm²) was acquired with a 16-channel phased-array torso coil. The functional PC burden on DWI was derived based on K-means clustering to discard fat, air, and normal tissue. A score similar to the surgical peritoneal cancer index was assigned to each abdominopelvic region, with additional scores assigned to the involvement of critical sites, denoted as the functional peritoneal cancer index (fPCI). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the largest lesion was calculated. Patients were dichotomized by immediate surgical outcome into high- and low-risk groups (with and without residual disease, respectively) with subsequent survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the association between DWI-derived results and overall survival. Results: Fifteen (30.0%) patients underwent primary debulking surgery, and 35 (70.0%) patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by IDS. Complete tumor debulking was achieved in 32 patients. Patients with residual disease after debulking surgery had reduced overall survival (p = 0.043). The fPCI/ADC was negatively associated with overall survival when accounted for clinicopathological information with a hazard ratio of 1.254 for high fPCI/ADC (95% confidence interval, 1.007-1.560; p = 0.043). Conclusion: A high DWI-derived functional tumor burden was associated with decreased overall survival in patients with advanced OC.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제23권10호
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• pp.986-997
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• 2022

Objective: Whether metabolic redistribution occurs in patients with white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is unknown. This study aimed 1) to propose a measure of the brain metabolic network for an individual patient and preliminarily apply it to identify impaired metabolic networks in patients with WMHs, and 2) to explore the clinical and imaging features of metabolic redistribution in patients with WMHs. Materials and Methods: This study included 50 patients with WMHs and 70 healthy controls (HCs) who underwent ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/MRI. Various global property parameters according to graph theory and an individual parameter of brain metabolic network called "individual contribution index" were obtained. Parameter values were compared between the WMH and HC groups. The performance of the parameters in discriminating between the two groups was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The correlation between the individual contribution index and Fazekas score was assessed, and the interaction between age and individual contribution index was determined. A generalized linear model was fitted with the individual contribution index as the dependent variable and the mean standardized uptake value (SUV_mean) of nodes in the whole-brain network or seven classic functional networks as independent variables to determine their association. Results: The means ± standard deviations of the individual contribution index were (0.697 ± 10.9) × 10^-3 and (0.0967 ± 0.0545) × 10^-3 in the WMH and HC groups, respectively (p < 0.001). The AUC of the individual contribution index was 0.864 (95% confidence interval, 0.785-0.943). A positive correlation was identified between the individual contribution index and the Fazekas scores in patients with WMHs (r = 0.57, p < 0.001). Age and individual contribution index demonstrated a significant interaction effect on the Fazekas score. A significant direct association was observed between the individual contribution index and the SUV_mean of the limbic network (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The individual contribution index may demonstrate the redistribution of the brain metabolic network in patients with WMHs.