• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2011

Background: Pneumonia is commonly seen in outpatient clinics. it is widely known as the most common cause of death from infectious disease. Pneumonia has been diagnosed by its typical symptoms, chest X-ray and blood tests. However, both chest X-rays and blood tests have limitations in diagnosis. Thus primary care clinicians usually have been constrained due to a lack of adequate diagnostic tools. Vibration response imaging (VRI) is a newly emerging diagnostic modality, and its procedure is non-invasive, radiation-free, and easy to handle. This study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of the VRI test among pneumonia patients and to consider its correlation with other conventional tests such as Chest X-ray, laboratory tests and clinical symptoms. Methods: VRI was performed in 46 patients diagnosed with pneumonia in Konkuk University Medical Center. VRI was assessed in a private and quiet room twice: before and after the treatment. Sensors for VRI were placed on a patient's back at regular intervals; they detected pulmonary vibration energy produced when respiration occurred and presented as specific images. Any modifications either in chest X-ray, C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count (WBC) or body temperature were compared with changes in VRI image during a given time course. Results: VRI, chest X-ray and CRP scores were significantly improved after treatment. Correlation between VRI and other tests was not clearly indicated among all patients. But relatively severe pneumonia patients showed correlations between VRI and chest X-ray, as well as between VRI and CRP. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that VRI can be safely applied to patients with pneumonia.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.10-17
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• 2011

Background: Vibration response imaging (VRI) is a new technology that records energy generated by airflow during the respiration cycle. Analysis of lung sound using VRI may overcome the limitations of auscultation. Objectives: To set a VRI standard for healthy Koreans, we conducted a clinical assessment to evaluate breath sound images and quantification in healthy subjects and compared the findings with reported breath sound characteristics. Methods: Recordings were performed using the VRIxp. Eighty subjects took a deep breath four times during a 12-second interval while sitting upright. The quantitative aspect was analyzed using the VRI quantitative lung data (QLD) for total left lung, total right lung and for six lung regions: left upper lung (LUL), left middle lung (LML), left lower lung (LLL), right upper lung (RUL), right middle lung (RML), right lower lung (RLL). The qualitative aspect was provided through image assessments by three reviewers. Results: In all regions the left lung had significantly higher QLD than the right lung (P<0.005, paired t-test). The inter-rater agreement was 0.78. 84% of the images were found normal by the final assessment. Among the 16% (n=13) of images with abnormal final assessment, the most common flawed features were dynamic image (77%, n=10) and maximum energy frame (MEF) shape (77%, n=10). No significant differences were found between males and females for QLD but there were significant differences in qualitative aspects including dynamic images, MEF shape, and missing LLL. Conclusion: The characteristics of healthy Koreans are similar to those of Western subjects reported previously. VRI is easy to use and objective, and so is helpful to diagnose patients with respiratory diseases and to monitor the progress of diseases after medical treatments.