• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.81 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2018

Background: The diffusing capacity of the lung is influenced by multiple factors such as age, sex, height, weight, ethnicity and smoking status. Although a prediction equation for the diffusing capacity of Korea was proposed in the mid-1980s, this equation is not used currently. The aim of this study was to develop a new prediction equation for the diffusing capacity for Koreans. Methods: Using the data of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a total of 140 nonsmokers with normal chest X-rays were enrolled in this study. Results: Using linear regression analysis, a new predicting equation for diffusing capacity was developed. For men, the following new equations were developed: carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLco)=-10.4433-0.1434${\times}$age (year)+0.2482${\times}$heights (cm); DLco/alveolar volume (VA)=6.01507-0.02374${\times}$age (year)-0.00233${\times}$heights (cm). For women the prediction equations were described as followed: DLco=-12.8895-0.0532${\times}$age (year)+0.2145${\times}$heights (cm) and DLco/VA=7.69516-0.02219${\times}$age (year)-0.01377${\times}$heights (cm). All equations were internally validated by k-fold cross validation method. Conclusion: In this study, we developed new prediction equations for the diffusing capacity of the lungs of Koreans. A further study is needed to validate the new predicting equation for diffusing capacity.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.348-354
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• 2011

Background: Traumatic rupture of the diaphragm is an unusual type of trauma. In addition, it is difficult to diagnose because it can be accompanied by injuries to other organs. If it is not detected early, the mortality rate can increase due to serious complications. Diaphragmatic rupture is an important indicator of the severity of the trauma. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the incidence of complications and mortality in patients who had surgery to treat traumatic rupture of the diaphragm. Materials and Methods: The subjects were patients who had undergone a diaphragmatic rupture by blunt trauma or stab wounds except patients who were transferred to other hospitals within 3 days of hospitalization, from January 2000 to December 2007. This study was a retrospective study. 43 patients were hospitalized, and 40 patients were included during the study period. Among them, 28 were male, 12 were female, and the average age was 42 (from 18 to 80). Outcome predictive factors including hypoxia, ventilator application days, revised trauma score (RTS), injury severity score (ISS), age, herniated organs, complications, and the mortality rate were investigated. Results: Causes of trauma included motor vehicle crashes for 20 patients (50%), falls for 10 (25%), stab wounds for 8 (20%), and agricultural machinery accidents for 2 (5%). Most of the patients (36 patients; 90%) had wound sites on the left. Diagnosis was performed within 12 hours for most patients. The diaphragmatic rupture was diagnosed preoperatively in 27 patients (70%) and in 12 patients (30%) during other surgeries. For surgical treatment, thoracotomy was performed in 14 patients (35%), laparotomy in 11 (27.5%), and a surgery combining thoracotomy and laparotomy in 15 patients (37.5%). Herniated organs in the thoracic cavity included the stomach for 23 patients (57.5%), the omentum for 15 patients (37.5%), the colon for 10 patients (25%), and the spleen for 6 patients (15%). Accompanying surgeries included splenectomy for 13 patients (32.5%), lung suture for 6 patients (15%), and liver suture for 5 patients (12.5%). The average hospital stay was $47.80{\pm}56.72$ days, and the period of ventilation was $3.90{\pm}5.8$ days. The average ISS was $35.90{\pm}16.81$ (11~75), and the average RTS was $6.46{\pm}1.88$ (1.02~7.84). The mortality rate was 17.5% (7 patients). Factors affecting complications were stomach hernia and age. Factors affecting the mortality rate were ISS and RTS. Conclusion: There are no typical symptoms of the traumatic rupture of the diaphragm by blunt trauma. Nor are there any special methods of diagnosis; in fact, it is difficult to diagnose because it accompanies injuries to other organs. Stab wounds are also not easy to diagnose, though they are relatively easy to diagnose compared to blunt trauma because the accompanying injuries are more limited. Suture of the diaphragm can be performed through the chest, the abdomen, or the thoracoabdomen. These surgical methods are chosen based on accompanying organ injuries. When there are many organ injuries, there are a great number of complications. Significant factors affecting the complication rate were stomach hernia and age. ISS and RTS were significant as factors affecting the mortality rate. In the case of severe trauma such as pelvic fractures, frequent physical examinations and chest X-rays are necessary to confirm traumatic rupture of the diaphragm because it does not have specific symptoms, and there are no clear diagnosis methods. Complications and the mortality rate should be reduced with early diagnosis and with treatment by confirming diaphragmatic rupture in the thoracic cavity and the abdomen during surgery.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.78-84
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• 2005

Purpose: The studied the effect of such variables as the symptom improvement rate, survival and prognostic factors on the treatment results of radiation therapy for Superior Vena Cava Syndrome (SVCS). Materials and Methods: From 1988 to 2003, seventy two patients with SVCS were treated with radiation therapy at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. The patients' ages ranged from 10 to 83 years old with the median age being 61, and sixty four patients were male. For the causes of the SVCS, 64 patients had lung cancer, four had metastatic lung cancer, two had malignant lymphoma and two had thymoma. The radiotherapy was delivered with 6-MV X-rays and all patients received above 900 cGy up to 6,600 cGy, with the median dose being 4,000 cGy The follow-up periods were from 1 to 180 months with a median of 5.6 months. Results: The main clinical manifestations were dyspnea ($84.7\%$), facial edema ($81.9\%$), arm edema ($22.2\%$), neck vein distension ($25\%$), hoarseness ($12.5\%$) and facial plethora ($5.6\%$). Eighty percent of patients achieved excellent to good symptom improvement and $19.4\%$ experienced minimal improvement. The median survival period was 5.1 months, and overall survival rates were $17.7\%$ at 2 years (2YOS) and $14.8\%$ at five years (5YOS) for all the patients. The median survival period, the two and five year disease free survival rates were 4.3 months, $16.7\%$ and $13.4\%$ for the lung cancer patients, respectively. The total tumor dose was a statistically significant survival factor on the univariate analysis for the patients with lung cancer (2YSR; > 30 Gy, $25.6\%$, $\leq$ 30 Gy $6.7\%$, p<0.01). On the multivariated analysis, a higher total tumor dose (p<0.01) and younger age (p<0.05) were statistically significant factors of survival for the lung cancer patients. Patients with NSCLC showed better survival than did the patients with SCLC, but this was not statistically significant (p > 0.05), Conclusion: Radiation therapy for the patients with SVCS due to malignancy could be an effective treatment. We considered that radiation therapy above 30 Gy of the total tumor dose may improve survival for SVCS due to lung cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.181-186
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• 2016

Cardiac angiography(CA) or cardiac intervention(CI) is one of the major examination methods applied to the detection of cardiovascular diseases using X-rays. These CA and CI procedures require radiation exposure to patients and physicians. We evaluated the radiation dose to cardiac operator during the each case of CA and CI procedures. The number of patients is 113 patients in CA and 34 patients in CI. Mean fluoroscopy time, mean cine time, and mean total cumulative dose area product(DAP) in patients during CA and CI was 165.9 sec vs. 1200.0 sec, 30.31 sec vs 107.5 sec, and $37130.3mGy.cm^2$ vs $213312.6mGy.cm^2$, respectively. Mean dose of thyroid, over chest apron and under chest apron in operator during CA and CI was 15.84 uSv vs 89.81 uSv, 20.16 uSv vs 123.20 uSv, and 0.30 uSv vs 2.40 uSv, respectively. Mean effective dose of operator during CI was about 6 times greater than during CA. Also there was significant inter-relationship between fluoroscopy or cine time and effective dose in operator during CA and CI(p=0.001 and p=0.001, respectively).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.181-187
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• 2014

The purpose of this study were to analyze the characteristic of the glow curves in order to the glow temperature of the thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) for the absorbed dose measurement of the radiation therapy. In this study, we was used the TLDs of the LiF:Mg${\cdot}$Ti, LiF:Mg${\cdot}$Cu${\cdot}$P, $CaF_2$:Dy, $CaF_2$:Mn (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., USA). The source-to-solid dry phantom (RW3 slab, IBA Dosmetry, Germany) surface distance was set at 100 cm, and the exposure dose of 100 MU (monitor unit) was used 6- and 15-MV X-rays, and 6- and 12-MeV electron beams in the reference depth, respectively. After the radiations exposure, we were to analyze the glow curves by using the TL reader (Hashaw 3500, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., USA) at the fixed heating rate of $15^{\circ}C/sec$ from $50^{\circ}C$ to $260^{\circ}C$. The glow peaks, the trapping level in the captured electrons and holes combined with the emitted light, were discovered the two or three peak. When the definite increasing the temperature of the TLDs, the maximum glow peak representing the glow temperature was follow as; $LiF:Mg{\cdot}Ti$: $185.5{\pm}1.3^{\circ}C$, $LiF:Mg{\cdot}Ti$: $135.0{\pm}5.1^{\circ}C$, $CaF_2$:Dy: $144.0{\pm}1.6^{\circ}C$, $CaF_2$:Mn: $294.3{\pm}3.8^{\circ}C$, respectively. Because the glow emission probability of the captured electrons depend on the heating temperature after the exposure radiation, TLDs by applying the fixed heating rate, the accuracy of measurement will be able to improve within the absorbed dose measurement of the radiation therapy.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.379-388
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• 2000

Objective : Although transoral transpharyngeal approach is a very useful method for the lesions of craniovertebral junction, it is not frequently used because of anatomical unfamilarity, risk of cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) leakage, and resultant postoperative meningitis. To evaluate the usefulness of transoral transpharyngeal approach for various lesions of craniovertebral junction, clinical characteristics and the results of this approach are investigated. Methods : Transoral transpharyngeal approaches were performed in eight cases between 1996 and 1999. Among them, there were three basilar invaginations due to congenital anomalies, two odontoid type I fractures, two atlantoaxial dislocations, and one pseudotumor. Surgical methods included five cases of anterior decompression and posterior fusion, two anterior approaches for decompression and one transoral approach for biopsy. Results : This procedure allowed immediate clinical improvement in all cases. In seven patients with preoperative motor deficit showed a progressive neurological improvement. The follow-up plain x-rays demonstrated successful bony fusion in all patients. Only one patient suffered from postoperative wound dehiscence, but she completely recovered after wound revision. There was no complication of postoperative CSF leakages. Conclusions : Transoral transpharyngeal approach for the ventral lesions of craniovertebral junction, can be used as a relatively simple and effective method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.965-973
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• 2021

Since radiation therapy is irradiated with high-energy X-rays in a variety of at least 20 Gy to 80 Gy, a high dose is administered to the local area where the tumor is located, and various side effects of some normal tissues are expected. Currently, in clinical practice, lead, a representative material, is used as an effort to shield normal tissues, but lead is classified as a heavy metal harmful to the human body, and a large amount of skin contact can cause poisoning. Therefore, this study intends to manufacture a measurement sheet that can compensate for the limitations of lead using the materials Tungsten, Brass, and Copper of the 3D printer of the FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) method and to investigate the penetration performance. Tungsten mixed filament transmission measurement sheet size was 70 × 70 mm and thickness 1, 2, 4 mm using a 3D printer, and a linear accelerator (TrueBeam STx, S/N: 1187) was measured by irradiating 100 MU at SSD 100 cm and 5 cm in water using a water phantom, an ion chamber (FC-65G), and an elcetrometer (PTW UNIDOSE), and the permeability was evaluated. As a result of increasing the measurement sheet of each material by 1 mm, in the case of Tungsten sheet at 3.8 to 3.9 cm in 6 MV, the thickness of the lead shielding body was thinner than 6.5 cm, and in case of Tungsten sheet at 4.5 to 4.6 cm in 15 MV. The sheet was thinner than the existing lead shielding body thickness of 7 cm, and equivalent performance was confirmed. Through this study, the transmittance measurement sheet produced using Tungsten alloy filaments confirmed the possibility of transmission shielding in the high energy region. It has been confirmed that the usability as a substitute is also excellent. It is thought that it can be provided as basic data for the production of shielding agents with 3D printing technology in the future.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.253-260
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• 2003

Purpose: No general consensus has been reached regarding the necessity of postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) and the optimal techniques of its application for patients with chest wall invasion (pT3cw) and node negative (NO) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We retrospectively analyzed the PT3cwN0 NSCLC patients who received PORT because of presumed inadequate resection margin on surgical findings. Materials and Methods: From Aug. 1994 till June 2000, 21 pT3cwN0 NSCLC patients received PORT at Samsung Medical Center; all of whom underwent curative on-bloc resection of the primary tumor plus the chest wall and regional lymph node dissection. PORT was typically stalled 3 to 4 weeks after operation using 6 or 10 MV X-rays from a linear accelerator. The radiation target volume was confined to the tumor bed plus the immediate adjacent tissue, and no regional lymphatics were included. The planned radiation dose was 54 Gy by conventional fractionation schedule. The survival rates were calculated and the failure patterns analyzed. Results: Overall survival, disease-free survival, loco-regional recurrence-free survival, and distant metastases-free survival rates at 5 years were 38.8$\%$, 45.5$\%$, 90.2$\%$, and 48.1$\%$, respectively. Eleven patients experienced treatment failure: six with distant metastases, three with intra-thoracic failures, and two with combined distant and intra-thoracic failures. Among the five patients with intra-thoracic failures, two had pleural seeding, two had in-field local failures, and only one had regional lymphatic failure in the mediastinum. No patients suffered from acute and late radiation side effects of RTOG grade 3 or higher. Conclusion: The strategy of adding PORT to surgery to improve the probability, not only of local control but also of survival, was justified, considering that local control was the most important component in the successful treatment of pT3cw NSCLC patients, especially when the resection margin was not adequate. The incidence and the severity of the acute and late side effects of PORT were markedly reduced, which contributed to improving the patients' qualify of life both during and after PORT, without increasing the risk of regional failures by eliminating the regional lymphatics from the radiation target volume.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.223-229
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• 2005

Purpose: In this work we designed and made MPBP(Multi Purpose Brachytherapy Phantom). The MPBP enables one to reproduce the same patient set-up in MPBP as the treatment of the patient and we tried to get an exact analysis of rectal doses in the phantom without need of in-vivo dosimetry. Materials and Methods: Dose measurements were tried at a point of rectum 1, the reference point of rectum, with a diode detector for 4 patients treated with tandem and ovoid for a brachytherapy of a cervix cancer. Total 20 times of rectal dose measurements were made with 5 times a patient. The set-up variation of the diode detector was analyzed. The same patient set-ups were reproduced in self-made MPBP and then rectal doses were measured with TLD. Results: The measurement results of the diode detector showed that the set-up variation of the diode detector was the maximum $11.25{\pm}0.95mm$ in the y-direction for Patient 1 and the maximum $9.90{\pm}4.50mm,\;20.85{\pm}4.50mm,\;and\;19.15{\pm}3.33mm$ in the z-direction for Patient 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Un analyzing the degree of variation in 3 directions the more variation was showed in the z-direction than x- and y-direction except Patient 1. The results of TLD measurements in MPBP showed the relative maximum error of 8.6% and 7.7% at a point of rectum 1 for Patient 1 and 4, respectively and 1.7% and 1.2% for Patient 2 and 3, respectively. The doses measured at R1 and R2 were higher than those calculated except R point of Patient 2. this can be thought to related to the algorithm of dose calculation, whcih corrects for air and water but is guessed not to consider the correction for the scattered rays, but by considering the self-error (${\pm}5%$) TLD has the relative error of values measured and calculated was analyzed to be in a good agreement within 15%. Conclusion: The reproducibility of dose measurements under the same condition as the treatment could be achieved owing to the self-made MPMP and the dose at the point of interest could be analyzed accurately. If a treatment is peformed after achieving dose optimization using the data obtained in the phantom, dose will be able to be minimized to important organs.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.257-264
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• 2000

Purpose: For early stage non-small-cell lung cancer, surgical resection is the treatment of choice. But when the patients are not able to tolerate it because of medical problem and when refuse surgery, radiation therapy is considered an acceptable alternative. We report on the treatment results and the effect of achieving local control of primary tumors on survival end points, and analyze factors that may influence survival and local control. Materials and Method : We reviewed the medical records of 32 patients with medically inoperable non-small cell lung cancer treated at our institution from June, 1987 through June, 1997. All patients had a pathologic diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer and were not candidate for surgical resection because of either patients refusal (4), old age (2), lung problem (21), chest wail invasion (3) and heart problems (3). In 8 patients, there were more than 2 problems. The median age of the patients was 68 years (ranging from 60 to 86 years). Histologic cell type included souamous (24), adenocarcinoma (6) and unclassiried squamous cell (2). The clinical stages of the patients were 71 in 5, 72 in 25, 73 in 2 patients. Initial tumor size was 3.0 cm in 11, between 3.0 cm and 5.0 cm in 13 and more than 5.0 cm in 8 patients. Ail patients had taken chest x-rays, chest CT, abdomen USG and bone scan. Radiotherapy was delivered using 6 MV or 10 MV linear accelerators. The doses of primary tumor were the ranging from 54.0 Gy to 68.8 Gy (median; 61.2 Gy). The duration of treatment was from 37 days through 64 days (median; 0.5 days) and there was no treatment interruption except 1 patient due to poor general status. In 12 patients, concomitant boost technique was used. There were no neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy. The period of follow-up was ranging from 2 months through 93 months (median; 23 months). Survival was measured from the date radiation therapy was initiated. Results : The overall survival rate was 44.6$\%$ at 2 years and 24.5$\%$ at 5 years, with the median survival time of 23 months. of the 25 deaths, 7 patients died of intercurrent illness, and cause-specific survival rate was 61.0$\%$ at 2 years and 33.5$\%$ at 5 years. The disease-free survival rate was 38.9$\%$ at 2 years and 28.3$\%$ at 5 years. The local-relapse-free survival rate was 35.1$\%$, 28.1$\%$, respectively. On univariate analysis, tumor size was significant variable of overall survival (p=0.0015, 95$\%$ C.1.; 1.4814-5.2815), disease-free survival (P=0.0022, 95$\%$ C.1., 1.4707-5.7780) and local-relapse-free survival (p=0.0015, 95$\%$ C.1., 1.2910- 4.1197). 7 stage was significant variable of overall survival (p=0.0395, 95$\%$ C.1.; 1.1084-55.9112) and had borderline significance on disease-free survival (p=0.0649, 95$\%$ C.1.; 0.8888-50.7123) and local-relapse-free survival (p=0.0582, 95$\%$ C,1.; 0.9342-52.7755). On multivariate analysis, tumor size had borderline significance on overall survival (p=0.6919, 955 C.1., 0.9610-5.1277) and local-relapse-free survival ( p=0.0585, 95$\%$ C.1.; 0.9720-4.9657). Tumor size was also significant variable of disease-free survival (p=0.0317, 95% C.1.; 1.1028-8.4968). Conclusion : Radical radiotherapy is an effective treatment for small (71 or f3 cm) tumors and can be offered as alternative to surgery in elderly or infirmed patients. But when the size of tumor is larger than 5 cm, there were few long-term survivors treated with radiotherapy alone. The use of hypefractionated radiotherapy, endobronchial boost, radisensitizer and conformal or IMRT should be consider to improve the local control rate and disease-specific survival rate.