• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.355-363
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• 2003

Purpose: Regional contractility can be calculated using the regional volume change of left ventricle measured by gated myocardial SPECT image and curve of central artery pressure obtained from radial artery pressure data. In this study, a program to obtain the regional contractility was developed, and reproducibility of regional contractility measurement was assessed. Materials and Methods: Seven patients(male:female=5:2, $58{\pm}11.9$ years) with coronary artery diseases underwent gated Tc-99m MIBI myocardial SPECT twice without delay between two scans. Regional volume change of left ventricle was estimated using CSA (Cardiac SPECT Analyzer) software developed in this study. Regional contractility was iteratively estimated from the time-elastance curve obtained using the time-pressure curve and regional time-volume curve. Reproducibility of regional contractility measurement assessed by comparing the contractility values measured twice from the same SPECT data and by comparing those measured from the pair of SPECT data obtained from a same patient. Results: Measured regional contractility was $3.36{\pm}3.38{mm}Hg/mL$ using 15-segment model, $3.16{\pm}2.25{mm}Hg/mL$ using 7-segment model, and $3.11{\pm}2.57{mm}Hg/mL$ using 5-segment model. The harmonic average of regional contractility value was almost identical to the global contractility. Correlation coefficient of regional contractility values measured twice from the same data was greater than 0.97 for all models, and two standard deviations of contractility difference on Bland Altman plot were 1.5%, 1.0%, and 0.9% for 15-, 7-, and 5-segment models, respectively. Correlation coefficient of regional contractility values measured from the pair of SPECT data obtained from a same patient was greater than 0.95 for all models, and two standard deviations on Bland Altman plot were 2.2%, 1.0%, and 1.2%. Conclusion: Regional contractility of left ventricle measured using developed software in this study was reproducible. Regional contractility of left ventricle will be a new useful index for myocardial function after analysis of the clinical data.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.94-102
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• 1997

Purpose: There have been some efforts to diagnose intracranial aneurysm through a non-invasive method using MRA, although the process may be difficult when the lesion is less than 3mm. The present study prospectively compares the results of high resolution, fast speed slice interpolation MRA and DSA thereby examing the potentiality of primary non-invasive screening test. Materials and Methods: A total of 26 cerebral aneurysm lesions from 14 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage from ruptured aneurysm (RA) and 5 patients with unruptured aneurysm(UA). In all subjects, MRA was taken to confirm the vessel of origin, definition of aneurysm neck and the relationship of the aneurysm to nearby small vessels, and the results were compared with the results of DSA. The images were obtained with 1.5T superconductive machine (Vision, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) on 4 slabs of MRA using slice interpolation. The settings include TR/TE/FA=30/6.4/25, matrix $160{\times}512$, FOV $150{\times}200$, 7minutes 42 seconds of scan time, effective thickness of 0.7 mm and an entire thickness of 102. 2mm. The images included structures from foramen magnum to A3 portion of anterior cerebral artery. MIP was used for the image analysis, and multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) technique was used in cases of intracranial aneurysm. Results: A total of 26 intracranial aneurysm lesions from 19 patients with 2 patients having 3 lesion, 3 patients having 2 lesions and the rest of 14 patients having 1 lesion each were examined. Among those, 14 were RA and 12 were UA. Eight lesions were less than 2mm in size, 9 lesions were 3-5mm, 7 were 6-9mm and 2 were larger than IOmm. On initial exams, 25 out of 26 aneurysm lesions were detected in either MRA or DSA showing 96% sensitivity. Specificity cannot be estimated since there was no true negative of false positive findings. When MRA and MPR were used concurrently for the confirmation of size and shape, the results were equivalent to those of DSA, while in the confirmation of aneurysm neck and parent vessels, the concurrent use of MRA and MPR was far superior to the sole use of either MRA or DSA. Conclusion: High resolution MRA using slice interpolation technique showed equal results as those of DSA for the detection of intracranial aneurysm, and may be used as a primary non-invasive screening test in the future.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.229-235
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• 2011

Purpose: To compare the clinical and radiological result of arthroscopic Mattress Locking suture repair to that of a Simple suture repair with small and medium-sized rotator cuff tears. Materials and Methods: Among 92 patients who were followed up after arthroscopic repair in patients with small and medium-sized rotator cuff tear from April 2007 to October 2010, 27 patients who took Arthroscopic Mattress Locking suture were set as group I and 65 patients who took Simple suture were set as Group II. The average age of patients were 58 years old and average follow-up period was 30 months. For analysis, VAS, ASES and KSS were used to analyze the range of joint movement and pain. And, for the image result, MRI performed after operation were evaluated. Results: The average VAS, KSS, UCLA score and ASES prior to surgery improved in the last follow-up (p<0.001), while was no difference in two groups (p>0.001). In MRI follow-up examination, the 2 cases (7.41%) of group 1 showed increased rupture lesions with improved symptoms. And the 12 cases (18.47%) of group 2 showed increased rupture lesions with improved symptoms. Retears in the group I were significant less than the group II (p<0.001). Conclusion: Comparing patients with small and medium-sized rotator cuff tear who took arthroscopic mattress locking suture repair to those who took simple suture repair after over one year follow up period, the clinical result showed no significant difference between two groups. However, Mattress Locking suture repair showed excellent radiological result compared to simple suture repair when comparing rerupture.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.291-298
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• 2003

Purpose: We report upon a web-based system for Patterns of Care Study (PCS) devised for Korean radiation oncology. This PCS was designed to establish standard tools for clinical quality assurance, to determine basic parameters for radiation oncology processes, to offer a solid system for cooperative clinical studies and a useful standard database for comparisons with other national databases. Materials and Methods: The system consisted of a main server with two back-ups in other locations. The program uses a Linux operating system and a MySQL database. Cancers with high frequencies in radiotherapy departments in Korea from 1998 to 1999 were chosen to have a developmental priority. Results: The web-based clinical PCS .system for radiotherapy in www.pcs.re.kr was developed in early 2003 for cancers of the breast, rectum, esophagus, larynx and lung, and for brain metastasis. The total number of PCS study items exceeded one thousand. Our PCS system features user-friendliness, double entry checking, data security, encryption, hard disc mirroring, double back-up, and statistical analysis. Alphanumeric data can be input as well as image data. In addition, programs were constructed for IRB submission, random sampling of data, and departmental structure. Conclusion: For the first time in the field of PCS, we have developed a web-based system and associated working programs. With this system, we can gather sample data in a short period and thus save, cost, effort and time. Data audits should be peformed to validate input data. We propose that this system should be considered as a standard method for PCS or similar types of data collection systems.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.257-262
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• 2006

Purpose: The standard protocol using large volume of oral contrast media may cause gastrointestinal discomfort and contrast-related artifacts in PET/CT. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of low dose oral contrast in $^{18}F-FDG$ PET/CT. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the whole-body PET/CT images in a total of 435 patients. About 200 ml of oval contrast agent (barium sulfate) was administered immediately before injection of $^{18}F-FDG$. The FDG uptake of intestines was analyzed by visual and semi- quantitative method on transaxial, coronal and saggital planes. Results: Seventy (16%, 113 sites) of 435 images showed high FDG uptake (peak SUV > 4); 50 (74%, 84 sites) with diffuse and 20 (15%, 29 sites) with focal uptake. The most commonly delivered site of oral contrast media was small bowel (n=27, 39%). On PET/CT images, FDG uptake coexisted with oral contrast media in 26 patients (54%, 38 sites) with diffuse pattern and 9 (45%, 9 sites) with focal pattern, and by sites, those were 38 (45%) and 9 (31%), respectively. In small bowel regions, the proportion of coexistence reached as high as 61% (29/47 sites). A visual analysis of available non-attenuation corrected PET images of 27 matched regions revealed no contrast-related artifact. Conclusion: We concluded that the application of low dose contrast media could be helpful in the evaluation of abdominal uptake in the FDG PET/CT image.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.177-181
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• 2002

Background: Follow-up studies have shown that although outcomes have improved substantially over time, results of the Fontan operation and its modifications remain suboptimal. In this study, we reviewed our experience with the extracardiac conduit Fontan operation, with a focus early and midterm change of internal diameter of PTFE conduit. Material and Method: Between April 1997 and July 2000 were reviewed. Twelve patients (M:6, F:6, mean age 42.04 $\pm$ 12.43months, mean body weight 13.80$\pm$ 1.94kg) underwent extracardiac conduit Fontan operation with expanded PTFE graft. Mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was 109.7$\pm$26.99minute and mean operation time was 455$\pm$89.51minute. Intraoperative fenestration was performed in 10 patients. The aortic cross clamping was not performed in all patients. Result: There was no early deaths and no postoperative dysrhythmia. Postoperative protein losing enteropathy and prolonged pleural effusion occurred in 1(8.3%) and 4 patients(33.3%). Conduit patency was evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging studies. A 9.84$\pm$3.84% mean reduction in conduit internal diameter and there was no statistical correlation between the change of internal diameter of conduit and the postoperative duration after partial correlation analysis(r=0.019, p=0.955). Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the extracardiac conduit Fontan operation provies good early and midterm results and may reduce the prevalence of late arrhythmia. And there is no correlation between the change of internal diameter of conduit and the postoperative duration after extracardiac conduit Fontan operation with the expanded PTFE graft conduit.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.115-131
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• 1996

Tourism is multi-faceted phenomenon which involves movement to stay in destinations outside the normal place of residence. Thus, tourism is a composite phenomenon which incorporates the diversity of variables and relationships to be found in the tourist travel process. Tourism-behaviors are of major economic and social significance. With the growth of mass-tourism, the government departments of tourism is to provide many tourist facilities, to develop travel destination and tourism resources. At same time, the growth of mass-tourism has prompted perceptive travellers to raise many questions concerning the many travel destination and the tourism resources of encouraging further tourism demand. Most of tourism have a mental in their minds about various objects. This allowed him to choose tourism destination as a important rules. In tourism geography, behavioral approach to wildness, tourism resources and places has risen since 1960's. The tourist profile can be viewed under two major categories: the tourist social-economic and behavioral characteristic. Particulary, the motivations, attitude, need, values and preference of travel destinations are of crucial importance in contributing to their desion-making process. In this view, this paper is emprical study investigated travel patterns and behavioral characteristic of tourists and potential tourist in East Chonnam. The purpose of this paper is to show the spatial preference and tourism behavior of travel destinations. For this study, we are undertaken the questionary method employed by recreation geographers in order to collect research data for the East Chonnam-citizens functioned as a major tourist demand. The East Chonnam Province have many tourist-places including national park, provincial park, and local tourist-places. Thus, citizen of the East Chonnam evaluate many tourist-places very high, but evaluate the facilities of tourist place very low. The high ranks of preferences to travel destinations among tourist-places are Hyangilam, Geomoon island, Odongis land, Songkwang temple. The major travel destinations occurred the temporary travel trip are Odong island, Sunam temple, Songkwang temple. Heungkook temple, Hyangilam which are the type of mountainous in located inland. The relationship between the degree of preference and tourism behavior of travel trip for the travel destinations does not correlate each other. The result of analysis about the degree of seasonal preferences presented spatial differences according to characteristics of tourist-places. The typical travel destination are divided into seasons : Odong island. Mt. Backwoon, Goemoon island of spring, Goemoon island, Sungbul valley, Banggukpo beach of summer, Songkwang temple, Mt. Pal young of fall. The future of tourism will be rapidly grow with increase of personal mobility and leisure time, chang of tourism behavior. Thus, it is imperative that planning and development for tour-root, facilities of tourist-places should be implemented to increase tourism demand.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.746-754
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• 1996

Objective: Diffuse interstitial lung disease (DILD) is a group of diverse diseases that share conUTIon clinical, radiologic, and pulomonary function features. Open lung biopsy (OLB) has been regarded as gold standard in differential diagnosis of DILD. However open lung biopsy is a invasive diagnostic tool not free of its own risk or complications. These days, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCf) has become an important diagnostic tool in DILD through its precise image analysis. In many instances, HRCT could provide specific diagnosis or, at least, provide infonnation on the disease activity of DILD. The authors re-evaluate the role of open lung biopsy in this "HRCT era" by investigating the additional diagnostic gain and impacts on the treannent plan in patients who have undergone high-resolution CT. Method : Diagnoses obtained by high-resolution CT and open lung biopsy were compared and changes of treatment plans were evaluated retrospectively in 30 patients who had undergone open lung biopsy for the purpose of diagnosis of diffuse interstitial lung disease from March 1988 to June 1994. Results : High-resolution cr suggeted specific diagnoses in 22 out of 28 patients (78.6%) and the diagnoses were confinned (0 be correct by open lung biopy in 20 of those 22 cases (91%). Open lung biopsy could not give specific diagnosis in 5 out of 30 cases (16.7%). In 5 out of 6 cases (83.3%) in whom high reolution cr was not able to suggest specific diagnosis, open lung biopsy gave specific diagnoses. Treatment plan was altered by the result of open lWlg biopsy in only 2 cases. Conclusion: The aoove fmdings suggest that in "HRCT era", when HRCT could suggest specific diagnosis, the need for open lung biopsy should be re-evaluated.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.170-176
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• 2007

Purpose: To determine the role of radiotherapy for the treatment of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Material and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 70 patients that had been diagnosed with HCC and were treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) for the PVT. The radiation dose ranged from 40 Gy to 60 Gy (median dose: 48 Gy) and the biological effective dose (BED) ranged from 31.3 Gy to 78.0 $Gy_{10}$ (median dose: 61.6 $Gy_{10}$). Response was determined by measuring the extent of the PVT on a CT image at 0, 1 and 3 months after completion of the radiotherapy. The median follow-up period was 9 months. Results: The response rate was 47.1% (33 patients), with two patients (2.9%) showing a complete response, 31 patients (44.3%) showing a partial response, and 35 patients (50%) showing stable disease or no response. The 1-year progression-free survival rate was 60%, and the median progression-free survival time was 17 months. The median overall survival time was 11 months, the median survival time in the responders was 15 months and in the nonresponders was 8 months (p=0.032). Four patients (5.7%) had transient liver function impairment during treatment. Radiation induced liver disease (RILD) was observed in only one patient (1.4%). Conclusion: Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy for the treatment of PVT from advanced HCC was a relatively effective and safe method.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.174-181
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• 2005

Purpose: Reduction of respiratory motion artifacts in PET images was studied using respiratory-gated PET (RGPET) with moving phantom. Especially a method of generating simulated helical CT images from 4D-CT datasets was developed and applied to a respiratory specific RGPET images for more accurate attenuation correction. Materials and Methods: Using a motion phantom with periodicity of 6 seconds and linear motion amplitude of 26 mm, PET/CT (Discovery ST: GEMS) scans with and without respiratory gating were obtained for one syringe and two vials with each volume of 3, 10, and 30 ml respectively. RPM (Real-Time Position Management, Varian) was used for tracking motion during PET/CT scanning. Ten datasets of RGPET and 4D-CT corresponding to every 10% phase intervals were acquired. from the positions, sizes, and uptake values of each subject on the resultant phase specific PET and CT datasets, the correlations between motion artifacts in PET and CT images and the size of motion relative to the size of subject were analyzed. Results: The center positions of three vials in RGPET and 4D-CT agree well with the actual position within the estimated error. However, volumes of subjects in non-gated PET images increase proportional to relative motion size and were overestimated as much as 250% when the motion amplitude was increased two times larger than the size of the subject. On the contrary, the corresponding maximal uptake value was reduced to about 50%. Conclusion: RGPET is demonstrated to remove respiratory motion artifacts in PET imaging, and moreover, more precise image fusion and more accurate attenuation correction is possible by combining with 4D-CT.