• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.5
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• pp.1124-1139
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• 2021

The objective assessment of atrophy and the measurement of brain volume is important in the early diagnosis of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, several MR-based volumetry software have been developed. For their clinical application, several issues arise, including the standardization of image acquisition and their validation of software. Additionally, it is important to highlight the diagnostic performance of the volumetry software based on expert opinions. We instituted a task force within the Korean Society of Neuroradiology to develop guidelines for the clinical use of MR-based brain volumetry software. In this review, we introduce the commercially available software and compare their diagnostic performances. We suggest the need for a standard protocol for image acquisition, the validation of the software, and evaluations of the limitations of the software related to clinical practice. We present recommendations for the clinical applications of commercially available software for volumetry based on the expert opinions of the Korean Society of Neuroradiology.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.13 no.2 s.20
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• pp.53-58
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• 2007

Background and Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate that which symptoms are adequate indicator of the Dampness-Phlegm pattern in the stroke patients. Methods : In the time period Jul. 2005 to Sep. 2006, 136 patients with a first-ever stroke admitted in the department of Internal Medicine of Daejeon University Oriental Medical Hospital in Daejeon city, Wonkwang Oriental Medical Hospital in Iksan, JeonJu city were included. Patients were hospitalized within 3 months after the onset of stroke. Stroke patients had been interviewed by resident who studied standard operation procedures in Fundamental Study for Standardization and Objectification of Differentiation and Pattern Identification of Syndrome of Oriental Medicine for Stroke. Gi-deficiency patients was confirmed by medical specialist diagnosis, resident diagnosis, case report form analysis without a dissenting voice. Results : Dampness-Phlegm group included 37 case, Non Dampness-Phlegm group 45 case out of 136 patients. white tongue coating, slippery purse, yellowish complexion, enlarged tongue, swollen tongue were higher among Dampness-Phlegm group. Dampness-Phlegm and Non Dampness-Phlegm patients do not significantly differ in heavy sensation in the head, voice with sputum, teeth printed tongue, borborygmus, dizziness with nausea. Conclusions : This study was insufficiency because sample size is very small. More data from prospective cohort studies will help to Korean Standard Differentiation of the Symptoms and Signs for the Stroke.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.759-767
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• 2014

Background Infection caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) has been increasing. Awareness of this infection is crucial yet problematic. Delayed management may lead to destructive results. We empirically treated a series of patients with clinical suspicion of NTM infection prior to the identification of the pathogen. Methods A total of 12 patients who developed surgical site infections between January 2011 and February 2014 were reviewed. Patients with a skin and subcutaneous infection resistant to standard management over two weeks, and previous history of aesthetic procedures within three months were regarded as highly suspected of having an NTM infection. A variety of diagnostic modalities were examined simultaneously, along with starting empirical treatment including a combination of clarithromycin and moxifloxacin, and surgical debridement. Results All wounds healed completely within 4 weeks. The mean follow-up duration was 7.2 months, and none of the patients developed relapse. Specific NTM pathogens were identified in six patients. Eight patients showed caseating granuloma implying an NTM infection. One patient showed an uncommon Stenotrophomonas infection, which was successfully treated. Three patients had no evidence of a pathogen despite repeated microbial tests. Complications such as scarring, pigmentation, and disfigurement were common in all the patients. Conclusions NTM should be considered in the differential diagnosis of an unusual skin and soft-tissue infection. We propose an empirical regimen of clarithromycin and moxifloxacin as an efficient treatment option for an NTM infection.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1996 no.11
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• pp.240-242
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• 1996

Use of electrical stimulation for diagnosis and treatment of pyhsiolgocial impairment on the auditory system was reported by many researchers since 1800. Unfortunately, there were no standard methods or theoretical bakground for choosing stimulus conditions because of the lack of understanding on the transmission of sound through the auditory pathways. Therefore, if we could find the mechanisms of normal and abnormal functions for the system objectively, it may be possible to establish the conditions for the appropriate treatment This study was devised with three experimental conditions of electrical stimulation(0.1, 1, and 10mA) to verify the effect of electrical stimulation on the auditory system. ABRs and ECochGs were obtained from 3 Guinea Pigs before and after each stimulation, and five parameters were extracted from ABR and ECochG waveforms. The results showed that the mean differences of the first peaks of ABR, I, before and after all the stimulus conditions were significant at the significant level of p<0.05. Also, amplitude of ECochGs peak(AP) showed higher degrees of differences for the electrical stimulation than that of ABRs. Based on the results of this experiment establishment of an electrical model which characterizes the auditory system could be achieved by computer simulation. This will lead to the design of most accurate model for the real auditory system, which provide the quantitive information regarding diagnosis and treatment.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.3 s.54
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• pp.555-563
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• 1996

Nationwide incidence survey was conducted to estimate the annual incidence rates of colorectal cancer among Koreans between Jan 1, 1988 and Dec 31, 1989. The population of the incidence survey was the beneficiaries of Korea Medical Insurance Corporation (KMIC), which were about 4,500,000 persons. The medical records of patients with diagnosis of either ICD-9 153(colon cancer), 154(rectal caner), 197(secondary malignant neoplasm of digestive and respiratory system), or 211(benign neoplasm of digestive system) were abstracted for the period with the standard format. The diagnosis was confirmed by one oncologist through the review of these abstracts. The numerator of the rate was finally defined as the incident colorectal cancer cases diagnosed between July 1, 1988 and June 30, 1989. The crude annual incidence of colorectal cancer for men was 13.1 per 100,000 and 10.6 for women, which was still low when compared with those of Japan and China during the same period. Age-adjusted sex ratio was 1.2 for right-sided colon cancer and 1.9 for left-sided colon cancer. The excess of right colon cancer among postmenopausal women was remarkable, so further analytical approach would be needed to investigate which factors are related with this phenomenon.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.24
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• pp.10981-10984
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• 2015

Background: Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is the standard technique for diagnosis of patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Some reports have shown high prevalence of esophageal cancer in the northern part of Afghanistan. The aim of this study was to investigate epidemiological profile of esophageal cancer among patients in this region. Materials and Methods: We identified 364 consecutive patients that received EGD examinations to examine upper gastrointestinal tract at the endoscopy unit of Balkh regional Hospital from March 2012 to March 2013. The case subjects included both in-patients and out-patients aged 16 years or more. We evaluated the results retrospectively. Results: The cases consisted of 184 (51%) males and 180 (49%) females. The mean age was $47.3{\pm}17.8$ and the age range 17-88 years. Ninety two cases had esophageal cancer, out of which 58 (63.0%) were male. The mean age at time of diagnosis was $57.8{\pm}13.2years$. Uzbek-Turkmen peoples were more common among patients with esophageal cancer (52.2%). Dysphagia was the most frequent symptom among patients with esophageal cancer at the time of presentation, seen in 77 (84.8%) of cases. Conclusions: Our results showed high incidence of esophageal cancer in the northern part of Afghanistan, especially in the Uzbek-Turkmen ethnic group.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.121-134
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• 2000

The following results obtained through studies related on nose. 1. Nose is called mingtang(明堂) mianwang(面王), as it emphasize the meaning of viewing diagnosis(望診) and is called yuanpinzhimen(元牝之門), tianpinzhimen(天牝之門), qiqizhimen(七氣之門) as it emphasize the meaning of the entrance of atmosphere flow. Because it's position is the middle of face, we call tianzhongzhiyue(天中之嶽), zhongyue(中嶽). 2. As the organ of body, nose comes under the category of lung-iron(肺金), functionally comes under the category of heart-fire(心火). Functionally we can smell oder, organically nose is the pathway of respiration and to be resonator. 3. Wuzangliufu(五臟六腑) is arranged closely around the nose. The essence of wuzangliufu(五臟六腑) reflect nose, so nose becomes the standard of coloring diagnosis(色診). 4. We call nose is feihou(肺候), but it is not connected directly between the lung channel and nose. In case of lung symptom(肺證), first of all, nose become to appear the condition of lung, the lung channel and nose is close functionally. 5. The view of channels, nose is a connection with channels of yangming(陽明), bladder(膀胱), du(督脈) directly. By the connecting of each three channels, spleen stomach heart and kidney(脾胃心腎) are connected with indirectly. As the result of the relation, nose helps for body to breathe and to circulate qi(氣) and smell. And so the nature of wuzangliufu(五臟六腑) appear to the nose. 6. Particularly, the yangming channel(陽明經), and the bladder channel(膀胱經) are important. Because air-qi(天氣) reach to kidney lung through nose, ground-qi(地氣) reach to spleen stomach through mouth and yingwei(營衛) revolve through the bladder channel(膀胱經). As the result nose becomes the essential organ of circulation of yinewei(營衛), ascent and descent of qi(氣).

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.46-55
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• 2013

Objectives: Classifying the pattern of jaundice during diagnosis will significantly improve the outcome of common KM interventions. This study aimed at determining an objective index for accurately diagnosing heat and dampness KM patterns in patients with jaundice. Methods: We systematically reviewed laboratory findings from case reports published in the scientific literature of Korean medicine. Cases were classified as following either the heat or dampness pattern. Biochemical indices were compared using a Bayesian factor (BF) analysis and standard t-tests. Results: The laboratory findings of 32 patients were evaluated. The heat pattern was observed in 17 patients and the dampness pattern in 15. No significant differences were observed between the 2 groups in terms of white blood cell count (BF=1.659); hemoglobin concentration (BF=2.627); platelet count (BF=1.019); or levels of direct bilirubin (BF=1.453), aspartate aminotransferase (BF=1.226), alanine aminotransferase (BF=1.340), alkaline phosphatase (BF=2.344), or gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (BF=2.782). However, total bilirubin levels were significantly higher in the dampness pattern group (BF=0.854, P-value=0.070). Conclusions: Patients with high total bilirubin levels may predominantly follow the dampness pattern, while those with low levels may predominantly follow the heat pattern. These results are expected to be useful for the development of timely and efficient KM treatments as well as new integrative therapeutic approaches for jaundice. However, further studies are essential to fully validate the utility of total bilirubin as a biomarker for differentiating between heat and dampness patterns.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.92-116
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study were to researched a Korean medicine doctors' recognition about coldness of hands and feet, and developing of korean medicine clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for coldness of hands and feet. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey targeting 399 Korean medicine doctors belonging to the Association of Korean Medicine by e-mail and analyzed the answers. Results: 1. 86.86% of the respondents agreed about the necessity of CPG for coldness of hands and feet. 2. 84.2% of respondents wanted coding of Korean Standard Classification of Diseases (KCD) on coldness of hands and feet. 3. To diagnosis a coldness of hands and feet, the respondents used a Subjective symptoms (98.5%), Infrared thermographic imaging device (DITI) (26.32%) Heart rate variablity test (HRV) (17.04%), Thermometer (9.77%), Cold stress test (2.76%) 4. Causing of coldness of hands and feet, the respondents considered a constitution or heredity (84.71%), stress (73.66%), lack of exercise (64.91%), irregular eating habits (51.63%), Cold meals (32.83%), depression (31.33%), etc. 5. Treating coldness of hands and feet, the respondents used a herbal medicine (66.85%), acupuncture (70.7%) Pharmacopuncture (23.85%) and moxibustion (60.08%) for $10.91{\pm}8.03week$. Conclusions: We researched a Korean Medicine doctors' recognition of CPG, clinical diagnosis, treatment on a coldness of hands and feet, and policy they required.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.118-128
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• 2021

Purpose: To investigate the value of MR textural analysis, including use of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to differentiate malignant from benign soft-tissue tumors on 3T MRI. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 69 patients (25 men, 44 women, ages 18 to 84 years) with pathologically confirmed soft-tissue tumors (29 benign, 40 malignant) who underwent pre-treatment 3T-MRI. We calculated MR texture, including mean, standard deviation (SD), skewness, kurtosis, mean of positive pixels (MPP), and entropy, according to different spatial-scale factors (SSF, 0, 2, 4, 6) on axial T1- and T2-weighted images (T1WI, T2WI), contrast-enhanced T1WI (CE-T1WI), high b-value DWI (800 sec/mm²), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map. We used the Mann-Whitney U test, logistic regression, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for statistical analysis. Results: Malignant soft-tissue tumors had significantly lower mean values of DWI, ADC, T2WI and CE-T1WI, MPP of ADC, and CE-T1WI, but significantly higher kurtosis of DWI, T1WI, and CE-T1WI, and entropy of DWI, ADC, and T2WI than did benign tumors (P < 0.050). In multivariate logistic regression, the mean ADC value (SSF, 6) and kurtosis of CE-T1WI (SSF, 4) were independently associated with malignancy (P ≤ 0.009). A multivariate model of MR features worked well for diagnosis of malignant soft-tissue tumors (AUC, 0.909). Conclusion: Accurate diagnosis could be obtained using MR textural analysis with DWI and CE-T1WI in differentiating benign from malignant soft-tissue tumors.