• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.90-103
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• 2016

This research was aimed to analyze load sharing ratios between cortical shell and trabecular bone of a degraded lumbar vertebra with aging, and also evaluate elastic moduli assigned into an FE model, using finite element method. For the better analysis of trabecular bone, effective elastic moduli, that is, nominal elastic moduli divided by the volumetric porosities was used. The elastic moduli of the cortical shell suitable for the trabecular bone were obtained from the equations on the basis of idealized stress-strain relations, including areal porosities. To minimize numerical errors, p-element was used. Using eight parameters that refer to some published papers, the geometry of L3 with a removed posterior part. After the constant compressive displacement was applied, the load sharing ratios were obtained by using both every elastic strain energy and every vertical force between two bones in each 8-volume. As results, 1) according to an increase in age from 20-year to 80-year, load sharing ratios of trabecular bone decreased from 55% to 49%; 2) the maximal ratios of each bone were occurred in the mid-plane of centrums and the endplate of cortical shells, respectively; 3) effective elastic moduli assigned into a porous centrum/cortex were found to be adequate; 4) for load sharing ratios, the difference of two methods showed that the total ratios were almost same within less than 1% but the partial ratios at every depth were more or less different each other.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.907-915
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• 2001

Objective : Percutaneous vertebroplasty is often complicated by the presence of multiple fractures or non-localizing pain in the patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures. The purpose of this study is to estimate the value of preoperative radiologic studies in the localization of symptomatic vertebrae and to determine the factors which can influence on the clinical results. Materials and Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and radiologic data of 57 vertebrae in 30 patients underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. Inclusion criteria was severe pain(McGill-Melzack score 3, 4 or 5) associated with the acute vertebral fractures and absence of spinal nerve root or cord compression sign. Acute symptomatic vertebral fracture was determined by the presence of signal change on MR images or increased uptake on whole body bone scan. Results : Pain improvement was obtained immediately in all patients and favorable result was sustained in 26 patients(86.7%) during the mean follow-up duration of 4.7 months(5 complete pain relief, 21 marked pain relief). Those who underwent vertebroplasty for all acute symptomatic vertebrae had significantly better clinical result than those who did not. Further vertebral collapse and eventual bursting fracture occurred in 1 vertebra which showed intradiskal leakage of bone cement and disruption of cortical endplate on postoperative CT scan. Conclusion : Preoperative MR imaging and whole body bone scan are very useful in determining the symptomatic vertebrae, especially in the patients with multiple osteoporotic vertebral fractures. To obtain favorable clinical result, the careful radiologic evaluation as well as clinical assessment is required. Control of PMMA volume seems to be the most critical point for avoiding complications.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.88-100
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• 2020

Objective: We aimed to develop and validate a deep learning system for fully automated segmentation of abdominal muscle and fat areas on computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and Methods: A fully convolutional network-based segmentation system was developed using a training dataset of 883 CT scans from 467 subjects. Axial CT images obtained at the inferior endplate level of the 3rd lumbar vertebra were used for the analysis. Manually drawn segmentation maps of the skeletal muscle, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat were created to serve as ground truth data. The performance of the fully convolutional network-based segmentation system was evaluated using the Dice similarity coefficient and cross-sectional area error, for both a separate internal validation dataset (426 CT scans from 308 subjects) and an external validation dataset (171 CT scans from 171 subjects from two outside hospitals). Results: The mean Dice similarity coefficients for muscle, subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat were high for both the internal (0.96, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively) and external (0.97, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively) validation datasets, while the mean cross-sectional area errors for muscle, subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat were low for both internal (2.1%, 3.8%, and 1.8%, respectively) and external (2.7%, 4.6%, and 2.3%, respectively) validation datasets. Conclusion: The fully convolutional network-based segmentation system exhibited high performance and accuracy in the automatic segmentation of abdominal muscle and fat on CT images.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1055-1066
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• 2022

Objective: The clinical relevance of myosteatosis has not been well evaluated in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), although sarcopenia has been extensively researched. Therefore, we evaluated the prognostic value of muscle quality, including myosteatosis, in patients with resectable PDAC treated surgically. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 347 patients with resectable PDAC who underwent curative surgery (mean age ± standard deviation, 63.6 ± 9.6 years; 202 male). Automatic muscle segmentation was performed on preoperative computed tomography (CT) images using an artificial intelligence program. A single axial image of the portal phase at the inferior endplate level of the L3 vertebra was used for analysis in each patient. Sarcopenia was evaluated using the skeletal muscle index, calculated as the skeletal muscle area (SMA) divided by the height squared. The mean SMA attenuation was used to evaluate myosteatosis. Diagnostic cutoff values for sarcopenia and myosteatosis were devised using the Contal and O'Quigley methods, and patients were classified according to normal (nMT), sarcopenic (sMT), myosteatotic (mMT), or combined (cMT) muscle quality types. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were conducted to assess the effects of muscle type on the overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) after surgery. Results: Eighty-four (24.2%), 73 (21.0%), 75 (21.6%), and 115 (33.1%) patients were classified as having nMT, sMT, mMT, and cMT, respectively. Compared to nMT, mMT and cMT were significantly associated with poorer OS, with hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.49 (95% confidence interval, 1.00-2.22) and 1.68 (1.16-2.43), respectively, while sMT was not (HR of 1.40 [0.94-2.10]). Only mMT was significantly associated with poorer RFS, with an HR of 1.59 (1.07-2.35), while sMT and cMT were not. Conclusion: Myosteatosis was associated with poor OS and RFS in patients with resectable PDAC who underwent curative surgery.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.232-243
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• 2014

Purpose : To evaluate the incidence of secondary contiguous or non-contiguous subchondral bone impactions (SBI) in subaxial cervical spinal injury and associated primary injury patterns. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and medical records was carried out for 47 patients who had sustained a subaxial cervical spinal injury. Presence, number, level, and sites of secondary contiguous or non-contiguous SBI were recorded. To evaluate primary injury patterns, the level and number of primary injury sites of subaxial cervical spine injury, injury morphology, anterior/posterior discoligamentous complex (ADC/PDC) injury, posterior ligamentous complex (PLC) injury, spinal cord injury, and mechanism of injury (MOI) were analyzed. Differences in primary injury pattern of subaxial cervical spine injury and MOI between patients with and without SBI, and between contiguous or non-contiguous SBI were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Pearson's chi square test and Fisher's exact test. Results: Eighteen patients (18/47, 38.29%) had developed contiguous (n=9) or non-contiguous (n=9) SBI, most commonly involving T3 (15/47, 31.91%) and 3 levels (6/18, 33.33%). All SBIs had developed near the anterosuperior region of the body and the superior endplate and were the result of a high-impact MOI. SBIs were statistically significant in association with injury morphology and PLC injury (P=0.001, P=0.009, respectively) at the primary injury site. Non-contiguous SBI was more frequently accompanied by upper cervical spinal injuries in association with PDC injuries, as opposed to contiguous SBI, with statistical significance (P=0.009), while no other statistically significant differences were found. Conclusion: Secondary SBIs are common and probably associated with subaxial cervical spinal injuries with high energy compressive flexion forces.