• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.817-823
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• 2010

Gastrointestinal and colonic endoscopic examinations have been performed in pediatric patients in Korea for 3 decades. Endoscopic procedures are complex and may be unsafe if special concerns are not considered. Many things have to be kept in mind before, during, and after the procedure. Gastrointestinal endoscopy is one of the most frequently performed procedure in children nowadays, Since the dimension size of the endoscopy was modified for pediatric patients 15 years ago, endoscopic procedures are almost performed routinely in pediatric gastrointestinal patients. The smaller size of the scope let the physicians approach the diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures. But this is an invasive procedure, so the procedure itself may provoke an emergence state. The procedure-related complications can more easily occur in pediatric patients. Sedation-related or procedure-related respiratory, cardiovascular complications are mostly important and critical in the care. The endoscopists are required to consider diverse aspects of the procedure - patient preparation, indications and contraindications, infection controls, sedation methods, sedative medicines and the side effects of each medicine, monitoring during and after the procedure, and complications related with the procedure and medicines - to perform the procedure successfully and safely. This article presents some important guidelines and recommendations for gastrointestinal endoscopy through literature review.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2005

3D virtual endoscopy has been used as an alternative non-invasive procedure for visualization of hollow organs. However, due to computational complexity, this is a time-consuming procedure. In this paper, we propose a fast volume rendering algorithm based on perspective ray casting for virtual endoscopy. As a pre-processing step, the algorithm divides a volume into hierarchical blocks and classifies them into opaque or transparent blocks. Then, in the first step, we perform ray casting only for sub-sampled pixels on the image plane, and determine their pixel values and depth information. In the next step, by reducing the sub-sampling factor by half, we repeat ray casting for newly added pixels, and their pixel values and depth information are determined. Here, the previously obtained depth information is utilized to reduce the processing time. This step is recursively performed until a full-size rendering image is acquired. Experiments conducted on a PC show that the proposed algorithm can reduce the rendering time by 70- 80% for bronchus and colon endoscopy, compared with the brute-force ray casting scheme. Using the proposed algorithm, interactive volume rendering becomes more realizable in a PC environment without any specific hardware.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.563-569
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• 2018

Background/Aims: To evaluate patients with portal hypertension (PH) of varied etiologies for portal hypertensive enteropathy (PHE) using the PillCam SB3 capsule endoscopy (CE) system. Methods: Consecutive patients with PH presenting with unexplained anemia and/or occult gastrointestinal bleeding were evaluated using the PillCam SB3 CE system. Abnormal findings were categorized as vascular or non-vascular. The patients with ongoing bleeding caused by PHE were treated. The correlation of the CE scores of PHE with the clinical, laboratory, and endoscopic features was determined. Results: Of the 43 patients included in the study, 41 (95.3%) showed PHE findings. These included varices (67.4%), red spots (60.5%), erythema (44.2%), villous edema (46.5%), telangiectasia (16.3%), and polyps (16.3%). The CE scores varied from 0 to 8 ($mean{\pm}standard$ deviation, $4.09{\pm}1.8$). Five patients (11.6%) showed evidence of ongoing or recent bleeding due to PHE. Three of these five patients underwent endotherapy, and one patient underwent radiological coil placement. Conclusions: The PillCam SB3 CE system revealed a high prevalence of PHE in the patients with PH. Using this system, evidence of bleeding due to PHE was found in a small but definite proportion of the patients.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.152-163
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the effects of musculoskeletal symptoms and burden on presenteeism among nurses in a gastrointestinal endoscopy unit. Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires administered to 140 nurses working in the gastrointestinal endoscopy unit of a hospital located in Busan metropolitan city. Results: The body part with the most musculoskeletal symptoms was the back (73.2%), and the most common musculoskeletal burden work was "when you have to stand or maintain the same posture for a long time in a lead apron protection clothes." The factors most related to work impairment were working hours, musculoskeletal symptoms, and musculoskeletal burden, with an explanatory power of 63.3%. Factors affecting perceived productivity were working hours and musculoskeletal symptoms, with an explanatory power of 29.2 %. Conclusion: To reduce work impairment and increase the perceived productivity of nurses in gastrointestinal endoscopy units, various programs and improved working environments are needed that can improve musculoskeletal symptoms and reduce musculoskeletal burden.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.563-577
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• 2023

In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic inflammation leads to unfavorable clinical outcomes and increases the risk of developing colorectal neoplasm (CRN); thereby highlighting the importance of endoscopically evaluating disease activity as well as detecting and characterizing CRN in patients with IBD. With recent advances in image-enhanced endoscopic (IEE) technologies, especially virtual chromoendoscopy (VCE) platforms, this review discusses state-of-the-art IEE techniques and their applicability in assessing disease activity and surveillance colonoscopy in patients with IBD. Among various IEE, VCE demonstrated the capacity to identify quiescent disease activity. And endoscopic remission defined by the new scoring system using VCE platform better predicted clinical outcomes, which may benefit the tailoring of therapeutic strategies in patients with IBD. High-definition dye-chromoendoscopy (HD-DCE) is numerically superior to high-definition white light endoscopy (HD-WLE) in detecting CRN in IBD; however, discrepancy is observed in the statistical significance. VCE showed comparable performance in detecting dysplasia to HD-WLE or DCE and potential for optical diagnosis to differentiate neoplastic from nonneoplastic lesions during surveillance colonoscopy. Applying these novel advanced IEE technologies would provide opportunities for personalized medicine in IBD and optimal treatment of CRN in patients with IBD.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.537-545
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• 2023

Achalasia is an esophageal motility disorder characterized by impaired lower esophageal sphincter relaxation and peristalsis of the esophageal body. With the increasing prevalence of achalasia, interest in the role of endoscopy in its diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring is also growing. The major diagnostic modalities for achalasia include high-resolution manometry, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and barium esophagography. Endoscopic assessment is important for early diagnosis to rule out diseases that mimic achalasia symptoms, such as pseudo-achalasia, esophageal cancer, esophageal webs, and eosinophilic esophagitis. The major endoscopic characteristics suggestive of achalasia include a widened esophageal lumen and food residue in the esophagus. Once diagnosed, achalasia can be treated either endoscopically or surgically. The preference for endoscopic treatment is increasing owing to its minimal invasiveness. Botulinum toxins, pneumatic balloon dilation, and peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) are important endoscopic treatments. Previous studies have demonstrated excellent treatment outcomes for POEM, with >95% improvement in dysphagia, making POEM the mainstay treatment option for achalasia. Several studies have reported an increased risk of esophageal cancer in patients with achalasia. However, routine endoscopic surveillance remains controversial owing to the lack of sufficient data. Further studies on surveillance methods and duration are warranted to establish concordant guidelines for the endoscopic surveillance of achalasia.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.507-515
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• 2022

Background/Aims: Metastases of malignant melanoma (MM) are rare and associated with poor prognosis. The objective of this study was to analyze the clinical and endoscopic characteristics of gastric metastases of MM by systematically reviewing cases and case series involving patients diagnosed using upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Methods: The PubMed and LILACS databases were searched. Reports containing individual patient data were included. Outcomes such as clinical data, endoscopic findings, treatments, and survival were analyzed. Results: A total of 88 studies with individual data from 113 patients with gastric metastases of MM were included. The primary sites of MM were the skin (62%), eyes (10%), and mucous membranes (6%). Most patients (56%) had multiple metastases in the stomach, located predominantly in the gastric body (approximately 80%). The overall survival rate at 2 years was 4%. There was a significant reduction in the survival of patients with multiple gastric metastases compared to that of patients with single metastasis (hazard ratio, 0.459; 95% confidence interval, 0.235-0.895; p=0.022). Conclusions: Gastric metastases of MM have a poor prognosis, especially in patients with multiple implants in the stomach. Additional studies are needed to verify whether ocular and mucosal melanomas are associated with a higher risk of gastric metastases than that of cutaneous melanomas.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.489-495
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• 2022

An appropriate post-polypectomy surveillance program requires the effectiveness of reducing colorectal cancer and safety. In addition, the post-polypectomy surveillance program should consider the burden of limited medical resource capacity, cost-effectiveness, and patient adherence. In this sense, a risk-stratified surveillance program based on baseline colonoscopy results is ideal. Major international guidelines for post-polypectomy surveillance, such as those from the European Union and the United States, have recommended risk-stratified surveillance programs. Both guidelines have recently been updated to better differentiate between high- and low-risk individuals. In both updated guidelines, more individuals have been downgraded to lower-risk groups that require less frequent or no surveillance. Furthermore, increased attention has been paid to the surveillance of patients who undergo serrated polyp removal. Previous guidelines in Japan did not clearly outline the risk stratification in post-polypectomy surveillance. However, the new colonoscopy screening and surveillance guidelines presented by the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society include a risk-stratified post-polectomy surveillance program. Further discussion and analysis of unresolved issues in this field, such as the optimal follow-up after the first surveillance, the upper age limit for surveillance, and the ideal method for improving adherence to surveillance guidelines, are warranted.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.244-247
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• 1996

Most of bronchial foreign bodies can be removed by ventilation bronchoscopy through transoral route but sometimes, ventilation bronchoscopy through tracheostomy is helpful procedure. Recently, we have experienced a case of bronchial foreign body which could be easily removed by nasal endoscopy and Blakesley forcep instead of bronchoscopy. So we report this case with a review of literatures.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.175-179
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• 2018

Perforation of the esophagus is an uncommon problem with significant morbidity and mortality. In children undergoing endoscopy, the risk of perforation is higher when interventional endoscopy is performed. The clinical features depend upon the site of esophageal perforation. Opinions vary regarding the optimal treatment protocol, and the role of conservative management in this context is not well established. Esophageal perforation that occurs as a consequence of endoscopy in children requires careful evaluation and management, as outlined in this article.