• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.349-361
• /
• 2023

Objective: To quantitatively assess the pulmonary vasculature using non-contrast computed tomography (CT) in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) pre- and post-treatment and correlate CT-based parameters with right heart catheterization (RHC) hemodynamic and clinical parameters. Materials and Methods: A total of 30 patients with CTEPH (mean age, 57.9 years; 53% female) who received multimodal treatment, including riociguat for ≥ 16 weeks with or without balloon pulmonary angioplasty and underwent both non-contrast CT for pulmonary vasculature analysis and RHC pre- and post-treatment were included. The radiographic analysis included subpleural perfusion parameters, including blood volume in small vessels with a cross-sectional area ≤ 5 mm² (BV5) and total blood vessel volume (TBV) in the lungs. The RHC parameters included mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), and cardiac index (CI). Clinical parameters included the World Health Organization (WHO) functional class and 6-minute walking distance (6MWD). Results: The number, area, and density of the subpleural small vessels increased after treatment by 35.7% (P < 0.001), 13.3% (P = 0.028), and 39.3% (P < 0.001), respectively. The blood volume shifted from larger to smaller vessels, as indicated by an 11.3% increase in the BV5/TBV ratio (P = 0.042). The BV5/TBV ratio was negatively correlated with PVR (r = -0.26; P = 0.035) and positively correlated with CI (r = 0.33; P = 0.009). The percent change across treatment in the BV5/TBV ratio correlated with the percent change in mPAP (r = -0.56; P = 0.001), PVR (r = -0.64; P < 0.001), and CI (r = 0.28; P = 0.049). Furthermore, the BV5/TBV ratio was inversely associated with the WHO functional classes I-IV (P = 0.004) and positively associated with 6MWD (P = 0.013). Conclusion: Non-contrast CT measures could quantitatively assess changes in the pulmonary vasculature in response to treatment and were correlated with hemodynamic and clinical parameters.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.6-12
• /
• 2012

Objective: Coenzyme (CoQ10) is an enzymatic co factor used in normal cellular metabolism. Recent evidence shows that in people with heart disease it can reverse endothelial cell damage in the blood vessels. It is also a potent antioxidant. Design: One group pretest-posttest design. Methods: In the present study, endothelial function was evaluated using the response to occlusion and heat before and 2 weeks after administration of CoQ10, 300 mg/day. Thirty Eight subjects, who are physical therapy students, participated in a series of experiments to see if taking 300 mg of CoQ10 daily for 2 weeks would impact resting blood flow in the forearm skin and the blood flow response to 4 minutes of vascular occlusion and the response to local heat ($42^{\circ}C$) for 6 minutes. Results: The results showed that, for this population, there was no difference in the response to heat. However, the response to occlusion was improved after administration of CoQ10. Conclusions: It would appear that in a young population CoQ10 has no effect on the nitric oxide vasodilator pathway in skin but does influence other vasodilator pathways.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.3-9
• /
• 2001

In the view of oriental medicine, the liver is the general of the army in its function of protecting against the enemy. So this concept is very closely associated to the immunological function. Its relations with immunological function are as follows. 1. The liver produces most of the proteins and converts them with hepatocytes, composes 80% in total reticuloendothelial system with Kuffer cells & endothelial cells and has typical structure of sinusoidal vessels closely related with the blood system. 2. The liver plays an important role in innate immunity with Kuffer cells as well as with the molecules that the liver produces, related to complementary systems. 3. In the embryonic period, the liver is associated with immune associated cell growth and their maturation. After birth, it is associated with removing old red blood cells and with systematically modulating immune system through hormone metabolism. 4. The liver controls the autoimmune disease resulting from immune complex by removing molecules like immune complex. 5. In the processing of blood 19A from the digestive system, the liver has an important role in protecting the body from unnecessary immune responses. 6. In the oriental medical view, liver plays a major role in the immune function by storing blood and dispersing stagnated hepatoqi with the help of the kidneys and spleen.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.23-28
• /
• 1998

We measured the flow at peripheral blood vessel of finger dorsum surface using noninvasive LDF(Laser Doppler Flowmeter). We investigated the flow properties between the normal and the diabetic with the Amplitude Spectral Densities of FFT analysis. We classified the diabetic as four groups of negative neuropathy, positive neuropathy, hyperthyroid and hypothyroid. And tested the neuropathic and thyroid effects of peripheral blood flow. As the results, the diabetic, the positive neuropathic and the hypothyroid respectively showed the abnormal blood flow properties on the contrary of the normal flow of negative neuropathic and hyperthyroid.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.650-656
• /
• 2012

This study was to investigate the origin of meridian through the relationship between Five Su Points and arteriovenous anastomosis. We searched traditional studies about origin of merdian and papers on relationship origin of merdian and blood vessels. As bibliographic search results, we got the conclusion that it is funtion of arteriovenous anastomosis and its anatomical position. Next we compared relationship between it and merdian. We found that Jeong-Acupuncture Points of Five-Su Points and Geun-Acupuncture Points of merdian have close relate to anatomical position(similarities). When we compared relationship between arteriovenous anastomosis and hypertension, we found that Biao Acupuncture Points and Geun Acupuncture Points of merdian have close relate to regulation of blood pressure and blood circulation. According to this results, Five Su Points and arteriovenous anastomosis have close relationship in anatomical position and regulatory function of blood pressure.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.87-100
• /
• 2014

Objectives : This study is aimed to analyse immunohistochemical research trend on psoriasis and consider the results in terms of Korean medicine. Methods : We analyse both immunohistochemical research papers and Korean medical papers on psoriasis, which I searched using KISS(Korean studies Information Service System) and OASIS(Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System). Results : Psoriasis is characterized by hyperporliferation of the epidermis, inflammatory cell accumulation and increased tortuosity and dilatation of dermal papillary blood vessels. Recently, angiogenesis is considered to play a major role in pathogenesis of psoriasis. Conclusion : In Korean medicine, blood-tonifying, blood-cooling and blood-activating medicinal herbs have generally been used to treat psoriasis. I consider these herbs which also treat vessel problem can have an effect on angiogenesis of psoriasis.

• Journal of Lipid and Atherosclerosis
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.88-97
• /
• 2018

The prevalence of atherothrombotic disease continues to rise, presenting an increasing number of challenges to modern society and creating interest in functional foods. Platelet activation, adhesion, and aggregation at vascular endothelial disruption sites are key events in atherothrombotic disease. Physiological challenges such as hyperlipidemia, obesity, and cigarette smoking are associated with vascular changes underlying platelet aggregation and inflammatory processes. However, it is difficult to determine the beneficial response of functional foods in healthy subjects. To address this problem, challenge models and high-risk models related to smokers, obesity, and dyslipidemia are proposed as sensitive measures to evaluate the effects of functional foods in healthy subjects. In this review, we construct a model to evaluate the effects of functional food such as natural products on blood flow based on a human intervention study.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.177-187
• /
• 2012

Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) techniques are widely used in diagnosis of vascular disorders such as hemadostenosis and aneurism. Especially, phase contrast (PC) MRA technique, which is a typical non contrast-enhanced MRA technique, provides not only the anatomy of blood vessels but also flow velocity. In this study, we developed the 2- and 3-dimensional PC MRA pulse sequences for a low magnetic field MRI system. Vessel images were acquired using 2D and 3D PC MRA and the velocities of the blood flow were measured in the superior sagittal sinus, straight sinus and the confluence of the two. The 2D PC MRA provided the good quality of vascular images for large vessels but the poor quality for small ones. Although 3D PC MRA gave more improved visualization of small vessels than 2D PC MRA, the image quality was not enough to be used for diagnosis of the small vessels due to the low SNR and field homogeneity of the low field MRI system. The measured blood velocities were $25.46{\pm}0.73cm/sec$, $24.02{\pm}0.34cm/sec$ and $26.15{\pm}1.50cm/sec$ in the superior sagittal sinus, straight sinus and the confluence of the two, respectively, which showed good agreement with the previous experimental values. Thus, the developed PC MRA technique for low field MRI system is expected to provide the useful velocity information to diagnose the large brain vessels.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.343-350
• /
• 2011

The compliance and stiffness of artery are closely related with disease of arteries. Pulse wave velocity(PWV) in the blood vessel is a basic and common parameter in the hemodynamics of blood pressure and blood flow wave traveling in arteries because the PWV is affected directly by the conditions of blood vessels. However, there is no standardized method to measure the PWV and it is difficult to measure. The conventional PWV measurement has being done by manual calculation of the pulse wave transmission time between coronary arterial proximal and distal points on a strip chart on which the pulse wave and ECG signal are recorded. In this study, a pressure sensor consisting of strain gauges is used to measure the blood pressure of arteries in invasive method and regular ECG electrodes are used to record the ECG signal. The R-peak point of ECG is extracted by using a reference level and time windowing technique and the ascending starting point of blood pressure is determined by using differentiation of the blood pressure signal and time windowing technique. The algorithm proposed in this study, which can measure PWV automatically, shows robust and good results in the extraction of feature points and calculation of PWV.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.51-56
• /
• 2021

The brachial systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure are the predictors of cardiovascular disease in individuals over 50 years of age. As the stiffness increases, the reflex amplitude and pressure in the late systole increase, resulting in an increase in left ventricular load and myocardial oxygen demand. Therefore, it is necessary to study how stiffness affects blood pressure. In this study, the blood pressure pulse waves were measured before and after taking the drug, and the blood pressure pulse wave was measured before and after myocardial heart transplantation in patients with heart failure. The correlation between R, L, and C components of the Windkessel model was estimated by increasing blood pressure. As a result of modeling the parameters of the Windkessel model using the curve fitting method, the increase in blood pressure and decrease in systolic rise time were due to the increase in the L component in the RLC Windkessel model. Among the various mechanical characteristics of blood vessels, the most important parameter affecting high BP waveform is the inertance.