• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3465-3468
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• 2016

Background: Fluorodeoxyglucose ($^{18}FDG$) PET/CT imaging has become an important component of the management paradigm in oncology. However, the significant imparted radiation exposure is a matter of growing concern especially in younger populations who have better odds of survival. The aim of this study was to estimate the effective dose received by patients having whole body $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT scanning as per recent dose reducing guidelines at a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: This prospective study covered 63 patients with different cancers who were referred for PET/CT study for various indications. Patients were prepared as per departmental protocol and 18FDG was injected at 3 MBq/Kg and a low dose, non-enhanced CT protocol (LD-NECT) was used. Diagnostic CT studies of specific regions were subsequently performed if required. Effective dose imparted by 18FDG (internal exposure) was calculated by using multiplying injected dose in MBq with coefficient $1.9{\times}10^{-2}mSv/MBq$ according to ICRP publication 106. Effective dose imparted by CT was calculated by multiplying DLP (mGy.cm) with ICRP conversion coefficient "k" 0.015 [mSv / (mG. cm)]. Results: Mean age of patients was $49{\pm}18$ years with a male to female ratio of 35:28 (56%:44%). Median dose of 18FDG given was 194 MBq (range: 139-293). Median CTDIvol was 3.25 (2.4-6.2) and median DLP was 334.95 (246.70 - 576.70). Estimated median effective dose imparted by $^{18}FDG$ was 3.69 mSv (range: 2.85-5.57). Similarly the estimated median effective dose by low dose (non-diagnostic) CT examination was 4.93 mSv (range: 2.14 -10.49). Median total effective dose by whole body 18FDG PET plus low dose non-diagnostic CT study was 8.85 mSv (range: 5.56-13.00). Conclusions: We conclude that the median effective dose from a whole body 18FDG PET/CT in our patients was significantly low. We suggest adhering to recently published dose reducing strategies, use of ToF scanner with CT dose reducing option to achieve the lower if not the lowest effective dose. This would certainly reduce the risk of second primary malignancy in younger patients with higher odds of cure from first primary cancer.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.937-943
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• 2001

Background: The aims of this study are to determine the predicting factors related with cardiovascular injuries in sternal fractures and to suggest the indication of emergency echocardiography. Material and Method: A retrospective review of the Ewha Womans University Mok-Dong Hospital trauma registry revealed 40 patients, that visited the hospital with a sternal fracture a over 5-year period. We analyzed 4 factors as predicting factors; 1) presence of restraint, 2) presence of associated injuries, 3) presence of a past medical history involving cardiovascular system, and 4) Revised Trauma Score(RTS). We, also, assessed the utility of conventional study methods involving cardiovascular injuries, such as ECG, chest X-ray, and enzyme level. Based on the methods, we inferred an indication for emergency echocardiography in sternal fractures. Result: Statistically significant predicting factors were the presence of a past medical history involving cardiovascular system and abnormal RTS on admission. Usage of emergency echocardiography depended upon the predicting factors and the results from conventional evaluations. We can now suggest the indications of emergency echocardiography in sternal fractures as 1) if more than two studies reveal abnormality without any significant predicting factors, and 2) if more than one study reveals abnormality with any significant predicting factors. Conclusion: The past medical history involving cardiovascular system and initial vital signs imply the presence of cardiovascular injuries in sternal fractures. And if needed, emergency echocardiography should be performed.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2014

Purpose: To assess the outcomes of increased fetal nuchal translucency (NT), to aid in prenatal counseling and management in our practice. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent first trimester fetal karyotyping using chorionic villi sampling (CVS) and second trimester level II sonography for a fetal NT thickness ${\geq}3.0mm$ between 11 weeks and 13 weeks 6 days' gestation, at Gyeongsang National University Hospital. Pediatric medical records and a telephone interview were used to follow-up live-born children. Exclusion criteria included incomplete data and CVS for other indications. Results: Seventy cases met the inclusion criteria (median NT thickness, 4.7 mm; range, 3.0-16.1 mm). Twenty-nine cases (41.4%) were aneuploid. The prevalence of chromosomal defects increased with NT thickness: NT 3.0-3.4 mm, 16.7%; NT 3.5-4.4 mm, 27.3%; NT 4.5-5.4 mm, 66.7%; NT 5.5-6.4 mm, 37.5%; NT ${\geq}6.5mm$, 62.5%. The most common karyotype abnormality was trisomy 18 (n=12), followed by trisomy 21 (n=9). In chromosomally normal fetuses (n=41), fetal death occurred in 2 cases (4.9%), and structural malformations were found in 11 cases (26.8%). In chromosomally and anatomically normal fetuses (n=28), one child had neurodevelopmental delay (3.6%). Twenty-eight infants who had a prenatal increased NT were alive and well at follow-up (40%). Conclusion: Outcomes of increased fetal NT might help inform prenatal counseling and management. The high prevalence of chromosomal defects associated with increased fetal NT implies that CVS should be performed in the first trimester, particularly considering the stress associated with an uncertain diagnosis.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.112-130
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• 1992

Patient care services are provided to individual patients in response to their health needs produced by illnesses or injuries. The services are often addressed to very serious conditions, and also they constitute the most expensive component of health care services. Therefore, the importance of quality is emphasized, but there are many indications that patient care quality is far from a satisfactory state in most of the countries. Based upon this observation, it is attempted to examine obstacles and approaches to quality improvement in patient care services. In doing so, following Taguchi's(1986) definition of product quality, quality of patient care services is conceived of as better when the less is the sociental loss attributalbe to variability of intended function and harmful side effects they emhibit after being delivered. Some distinguishing features of medical care sector pose difficulties in implementing effective quality improvement programs in patient care services. Nevertheless, newly proposed method of quality management, based on industrial quality management approach, seems to have a great deal of potential to effectively cope with such difficulties. This method, unlike the traditional approach to quality assurance, focuses on total organisational processes, not individuals, as the obproach to quality assurance, focuses on total organizational processes, not individuals, as the objects of quality improvement; variation, not comparison with standards, in quality measurement; and continuous improvement, not removing only bad quality care, as an ideal. Prerequisite to a successful use of any quality mangement method is motivating providers to improve quality. Conceivable approaches for such motivation are self-regulation, external controls and promotion of competition. Since these approaches are not mutually exclusive, they may be employed in an appropriate combination. In Korea, medical care providers are now functioning under the circumstances where they have little reason for making efforts to improve quality of their services. Once these circumstantial conditions are changed to exert pressures on providers to improve quality, the use of adequate quality management method becomes an issue. In this connection, much attention shoould be directed to the newly proposed method described above. In all these efforts for improving quality of patient care services, health insurance would be able to play a pivotal role. Poviders of medical care, buth indiciduals and organizations, are usually very responsive to the measures that affect their financing, and thus health insurance can be a strong instrument for motivationg providers to improve quality. Also, the insurance continuously acquires data on patient care, which could be processed to produce information required to effective quality control.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.418-426
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• 2023

Purpose Practical challenges are encountered in percutaneous intravascular procedures when applied to markedly angulated branching vessels. Herein, we introduced a folded-loop guidewire remodeling technique-the guidewire-shaping technique-to overcome difficult catheterization. Materials and Methods First, the tip of a 0.014-inch micro-guidewire was manually shaped like a pigtail loop. Second, the shaped guidewire was introduced into the microcatheter and was preloaded into the hollow metal introducer for suitability with the microcatheter hub. Gentle rotation of the guidewire after release from the microcatheter can create the preshaped pigtail loop configuration. On pulling back, the loop loosened, the configuration was changed to a small U-shaped tip, and the guidewire tip was easily introduced into the target artery. Results Between December 2019 and January 2022, the described technique was used in 64 patients (male/female, 49/15; mean age, 66.8 ± 9.5 years) for selective arterial embolization, after failed attempts with the conventional selection technique. The technique was successful in 63/64 patients (98%). The indications of embolization include transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, gastrointestinal bleeding, hemoptysis, trauma-induced bleeding, and tumor bleeding. Conclusion The folded-loop guidewire remodeling technique facilitates the catheterization of markedly angulated branching arteries; when usual catheterization method fails.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.263-280
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• 2021

Percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) is one of the essential diagnostic procedures for pulmonary lesions. Its role is increasing in the era of CT screening for lung cancer and precision medicine. The Korean Society of Thoracic Radiology developed the first evidence-based clinical guideline for PTNB in Korea by adapting pre-existing guidelines. The guideline provides 39 recommendations for the following four main domains of 12 key questions: the indications for PTNB, pre-procedural evaluation, procedural technique of PTNB and its accuracy, and management of post-biopsy complications. We hope that these recommendations can improve the diagnostic accuracy and safety of PTNB in clinical practice and promote standardization of the procedure nationwide.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.111-119
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• 1996

The medical records of 87 patients with thyroid nodule treated from May 1992 to February 1996 were retrospectively reviewed to assess complication with age, sex, pathologic classification, location of lesions, and surgical procedures. The overall rate of complication were observed 10(11.5%) in thyroid surgery. The most common complication was transient hypoparathyroidism, which occurred in 6(6.9%) of 87 patients. The 2(2.3%) patients experienced Permanent hypoparathyroidism and each 1(1.1%) patient was reported in transient recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis and hematoma.. Well-performed thyroid surgery usually produces few complications. More extensive resections, involving bilateral thyroidectomy are associated with a higher incidence of postoperative morbidity, in particular vocal cord paralysis and hypoparathyroidism, than procedures that consist essentially of unilateral thyroidectomy. Our experience suggests that the postoperative complication relates primarily to the surgical procedure. The low incidence of permanent complications in thyroid surgery suggests the feasibility of total thyroidectomy as the operation of choice when thyroid nodules were malignant and surgeons are familiar with the technique and indications.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.26-35
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• 1997

Background : Glycopeptide antibiotics are the only drugs for treatment of infections due to beta-lactam-resistant Gram-positive bacteria. As the incidence of infection and colonization with vancomycin-resistant enterococci(VRE) rapidly increases, the hospital infection control practices advisory committee(HICPAC) recommends prudent vancomycin use to detect, prevent and control infection and colonization with VRE. Methods : The inpatients admitted from September to December, 1996 in Pusan National University Hospital, with Gram-positive bacterial infections were evaluated retrospectively to see whether the administrations of glycopeptide antibiotics were appropriate or not, upon comparison with the recommendations for preventing the spread of vancomycin resistance by HICPAC. Results : Teicoplanin has been chosen more frequently than vancomycin of the glycopeptide antibiotics. The indications of administration of glycopeptides in patients with pneumonia, wound infections, sepsis, and in febrile or neutropenic patients with malignancies were appropriate, but the use of glycopeptides for elimination of merely colonized bacteria in the oral cavity could not be excluded. Inappropriate use of glycopeptides was 10.6%, and inappropriately long-term use without positive culture for beta-lactam-resistant Gram-positive organisms was about 40% of total days of drug use. Conclusion : It seems essential for the quality assurance committee to make a plan in teaching the HICPAC recommendations to the medical practitioners who prescribed the glycopeptides inappropriately or used for irrelevantly long to his patient, monitor and survey their use of glycopeptides prospectively and periodically, and if there are repeated inappropriate prescriptions, a certain penalty would be given to the practitioners.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.437-440
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• 2007

Tracheostomy is one of the oldest surgical procedures in medical history. The indications for a tracheostomy include the relief of an upper airway obstruction, long-term mechanical ventilation, and decreased airway resistance to help wean the patient from mechanical ventilator support. Unfortunately, tracheostomy is also associated with a number of problems including, bleeding, infection, pneumothorax, and tracheal stenosis. A pneumothorax is an uncommon complication of a tracheostomy, and can result from direct injury to the pleura or positive pressure ventilation through a dislocation of the tracheostomy tube. We report an uncommon case of a tracheostomy-induced bilateral tension pneumothorax with a review of the literature.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 1985

During the period of seven years from Jan. 1976 to Jan. 1983, one hundred cases of pulmonary tuberculous residual lesions were resected at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Paik Hospital in Seoul, Korea. During the period of this study, 1764 patients were admitted with the diagnosis of pulmonary and/or pleural tuberculosis in the medical and surgical department as a primary or associated conditions. Among these 1764 patients, one hundred selective cases were operated. The results were as follows; l. Extents of the disease by the predominant clinical pictures were: totally destroyed lung; 18, destroyed lobe; 6, cavitary lesion with or without positive sputum; 35, bronchiectasis; 7, bronchostenosis with atelectasis; 2, empyema with or without BPF; 20, pleural thickening; 4, tuberculoma; 3, bullous cyst with tuberculosis; 5 cases, or per cent [Table 1]. 2. Male and female ratio was 1.2:1 or 55 and 45 per cent. Age distribution ranged 15 and 55 with average of 33 years [Table 2]. 3. Type of procedures were: pleuropneumonectomy; 15, pneumonectomy; 25, lobectomy; 37, bilobectomy; 6, lobectomy plus segmentectomy; 3, pleurectomy; 14 cases, or percent, Site of resections were: right; 58 and left; 42 cases, or per cent [Table 3]. 4. Incidence of complications were 10 per cent and the mortality was 4 per cent. The causes of morbidity were analyzed. The main causes of death were pulmonary insufficiency; 2, cardiac arrhythmia; 1, and hepatic insufficiency; 1 case or per cent [Table 4]. 5. Pathologic examinations of the resected pulmonary and pleuropulmonary lesions were observed by gross specimen, correlating with the pre-operative indications of the disease [Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].>br> 6. Anti-tuberculous chemotherapy was done for 6 to 18 months, post-operatively, in 80 patients. Of these 49 cases were need medication for 12 months [Table 5]. Except the four operative mortality and a case of post-operative recurrent buberculosis under medication, all the other 95 cases are well in activity and free from the disease at the moment.