• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.364-368
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• 2009

Bronchiolitis interstitial pneumonitis (BIP), an unclassified and newly described interstitial pneumonia, has a combined feature of prominent bronchiolitis, interstitial inflammation, and fibrosis. It is distinct from bronchiolitis obliterans or bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP). BIP has a better prognosis than common cases of interstitial pneumonia. However, BIP has a poorer prognosis than BOOP. BIP's response to corticosteroids is not as successful as BOOP's response to this treatment. We encountered the case of a 31-year-old woman with BIP with an initial presentation of dyspnea and a cough that had lasted for 3 months. The patient's chest CT scan demonstrated patchy ground glass opacities and multiple ill-defined centrilobular nodules in both lungs, suggesting military tuberculosis or nontuberculous mycobacterial infection. A video-assisted thoracoscopic lung biopsy resulted in the diagnosis of BIP. Clinical symptoms, pulmonary lesions, and pulmonary function tests were improved after oral glucocorticoid therapy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.69 no.3
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• pp.201-206
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• 2010

Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) diseases are increasing worldwide. However NTM lung disease in organ transplant recipients has been rarely reported. Here, we report 2 cases of NTM lung disease in heart transplant recipients. A 37-year-old man, who had undergone a heart transplant one year previous, was admitted to hospital due to a cough. Chest CT scan showed multiple centrilobular nodules in both lower lungs. In his sputum, M. abscessus was repeatedly identified by rpoB gene analysis. The patient improved after treatment with clarithromycin, imipenem, and amikacin. An additional patient, a 53-year-old woman who had undergone a heart transplant 4 years prior and who suffered from bronchiectasis, was admitted because of purulent sputum. The patient's chest CT scan revealed aggravated bronchiectasis; M. intracellulare was isolated repeatedly in her sputum. Treatment was successfully completed with clarithromycin, ethambutol, and ciprofloxacin. NTM lung disease should be considered as a potential opportunistic infection in organ transplant recipients.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.702-712
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• 2013

In this paper, we proposed an algorithm that extracts the airway and lung without loss of information in spite of the pulmonary vessel and nodules of the chest wall in the chest CT images. We use a mask image in order to improve the performance and to save processing time of airway and lung segmentation. In the second step, by converting left and right lungs to binary image using the morphological information, we have removed the solitary pulmonary nodule to identify the value of the threshold lung and the chest wall. The last step is to connect the outer shell of the lung with cubic Spline interpolation by adding the perfect pixel and computing the distance of the removed part. Experimental results using Matlab verified that the proposed method could overcome the drawbacks of the conventional methods.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.1 s.61
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

Objective: We examined the antimetastatic effect of Curcuma zedoaria Roscoe (CZ) on pulmonary metastasis of B 16 cells. Methods: For 6 weeks, Zedoariae Rhizoma made from dried CZ were dissolved in distilled water and administered to mice 2 weeks before they were injected with B]6 melanoma cells. Mice were given CZ at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg, and were compared for lung weight, survival days, and NO production. Results: Intake of CZ throughout the experiment extended the average survival time. Intake after B16 cell injection slightly prolonged survival time, but intake before B]6 cell injection did not influence life span. We examined the effect of CZ on macrophage function by measuring NO production. After the macrophages were given CZ for 6 weeks, the amount of NO generated by the macrophages stimulated with LPS in culture medium increased. NO generated by the macrophages also served as a cytotoxic factor against B16 melanoma cells. B16 melanoma-conditioned medium reduced NO production by macrophages. However, CZ treatment reversed the reduction in NO production by the conditioned medium significantly. Conclusion : These findings may suggest that macrophage function-modulating activity by CZ appears to underlie its antimetastatic activity, which leads to a decrease in the number of lung metastatic surface nodules and the extension of life span.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.78 no.4
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• pp.445-449
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• 2015

Occupational lung diseases are caused by several toxic substances including heavy metals; however, the exact pathologic mechanisms remain unknown. In the workplace, dental technicians are often exposed to heavy metals such as cobalt, nickel, or beryllium and occasionally develop occupational lung diseases. We described a case of occupational lung disease in a patient who was employed as a dental technician for over a decade. A 31-year-old, non-smoking woman presented with productive cough and shortness of breath of several weeks duration. Chest computed tomography revealed a large number of scattered, bilateral small pulmonary nodules throughout the lung field, and multiple mediastinal lymph nodes enlargement. Percutaneous needle biopsy showed multifocal small granulomas with foreign body type giant cells suggestive of heavy metals inhalation. The patient's condition improved on simple avoidance strategy for several months. This case highlighted the importance of proper workplace safety.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.4 s.261
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• pp.335-339
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• 2006

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is a rare entity, characterized by the occurrence of multiple smooth muscle nodules in the lung with histologically benign leiomyoma, Both the uterine and pulmonary tumors have been found to express estrogen and progesterone receptors, which suggest that the pulmonary lesions represented metastases from leiomyoma. We experienced a 41-year-old female patient with BML and report here with the literature review.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.621-624
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• 2004

A 13-year-old female Miniature Pincher was euthanized after suffering from respiratory insufficiency and seizure. At necropsy, firm tan masses approsimately 4 to 5 cm in diameter were noted at the right caudal love and left cranial lobe of the lung. On cross sections of the cerebellum and the verebrum, several compressive firm round masses, 0.5 to 1 cm in diameter, were noted. similar looking nodules were also present in the mediastinal lymph nodes. Histopathologically, the neoplastic masses consisted of cuboidal shape epithelial cells that form glandular structure. The neoplastic cells have hyperchromatic nuclei with prominent nucleoli and moderate amount of cytoplasm. The degree of mitosis was high (4-6/400X). Multiple areas of necrosis, hemorrhage, and tumor emboli were also noted. Metastasis to the mediastinal lymph nodes, pancreas, and brain was confirmed. Based on the gross and histopathologic examinations, a diagnosis of primary metastatic pulmonary adenocarcinoma was made. Clinicaly recognized neurological signs were therefore due to brain metastasis.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2023

Objective: Little is known about the effects of using different expert-determined reference standards when evaluating the performance of deep learning-based automatic detection (DLAD) models and their added value to radiologists. We assessed the concordance of expert-determined standards with a clinical gold standard (herein, pathological confirmation) and the effects of different expert-determined reference standards on the estimates of radiologists' diagnostic performance to detect malignant pulmonary nodules on chest radiographs with and without the assistance of a DLAD model. Materials and Methods: This study included chest radiographs from 50 patients with pathologically proven lung cancer and 50 controls. Five expert-determined standards were constructed using the interpretations of 10 experts: individual judgment by the most experienced expert, majority vote, consensus judgments of two and three experts, and a latent class analysis (LCA) model. In separate reader tests, additional 10 radiologists independently interpreted the radiographs and then assisted with the DLAD model. Their diagnostic performance was estimated using the clinical gold standard and various expert-determined standards as the reference standard, and the results were compared using the t test with Bonferroni correction. Results: The LCA model (sensitivity, 72.6%; specificity, 100%) was most similar to the clinical gold standard. When expert-determined standards were used, the sensitivities of radiologists and DLAD model alone were overestimated, and their specificities were underestimated (all p-values < 0.05). DLAD assistance diminished the overestimation of sensitivity but exaggerated the underestimation of specificity (all p-values < 0.001). The DLAD model improved sensitivity and specificity to a greater extent when using the clinical gold standard than when using the expert-determined standards (all p-values < 0.001), except for sensitivity with the LCA model (p = 0.094). Conclusion: The LCA model was most similar to the clinical gold standard for malignant pulmonary nodule detection on chest radiographs. Expert-determined standards caused bias in measuring the diagnostic performance of the artificial intelligence model.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.998-1008
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• 2022

Objective: The present study aimed to assess the relationship between incidental abnormalities on thoracic computed tomography (CT) and mortality in a general screening population using a long-term follow-up analysis. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively collected the medical records and CT images of 840 participants (mean age ± standard deviation [SD], 58.5 ± 6.7 years; 564 male) who underwent thoracic CT at a single health promotion center between 2007 and 2010. Two thoracic radiologists independently reviewed all CT images and evaluated any incidental abnormalities (interstitial lung abnormality [ILA], emphysema, coronary artery calcification [CAC], aortic valve [AV] calcification, and pulmonary nodules). Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank and z-tests was performed to assess the relationship between incidental CT abnormalities and all-cause mortality in the subsequent follow-up. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to further identify risk factors of all-cause mortality among the incidental CT abnormalities and clinical factors. Results: Among the 840 participants, 55 (6%), 171 (20%), 288 (34%), 396 (47%), and 97 (11%) had findings of ILA, emphysema, CAC, pulmonary nodule, and AV calcification, respectively, on initial CT. The participants were followed up for a mean period ± SD of 10.9 ± 1.4 years. All incidental CT abnormalities were associated with all-cause mortality in univariable analysis (p < 0.05). However, multivariable analysis further revealed fibrotic ILA as an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 2.52 [95% confidence interval, 1.02-6.22], p = 0.046). ILA were also identified as an independent risk factor for lung cancer or respiratory disease-related deaths. Conclusion: Incidental abnormalities on screening thoracic CT were associated with increased mortality during the long-term follow-up. Among incidental CT abnormalities, fibrotic ILA were independently associated with increased mortality. Appropriate management and surveillance may be required for patients with fibrotic ILA on thoracic CT obtained for general screening purposes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.6
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• pp.1373-1377
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• 2023

Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related lung disease can have various clinical courses. To our knowledge, reports of IgG4-related lung disease with waxing and waning pulmonary infiltrates only are very rare. A few lung nodules and ground glass opacities were incidentally found in a pre-operative evaluation in a 36-year-old female. The lung lesions showed waxing and waning in the follow-up chest CT. She underwent a surgical biopsy, and IgG4-related lung disease was confirmed.