• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2024

Hypoxia, defined as the deficiency of oxygen, is a significant hallmark of cancers presenting in the majority of solid tumors. Detection of tumor hypoxia is essential in cancer diagnosis to prevent cancer progression, metastasis, and resistance to cancer therapies in clinical practices. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is one of the methods studied and applied for hypoxia detection with the use of radiolabeled imaging agents in which ^99mTc is the common radioisotope used for radiolabeling. Nitroimidazoles are the hypoxia-targeting moieties presenting in numerous ^99mTc-radiolabeled imaging agents due to their bio-reducible ability in hypoxic environments. Recently, in addition to ^99mTc-labeled radiopharmaceuticals containing one nitroimidazole unit, there has been considerable attention given to ^99mTc-radiopharmaceuticals bearing two or more nitroimidazole units. This review summarizes the synthesis of hypoxia-targeting chelators and radiolabeling processes to produce these ^99mTc-radiopharmaceuticals for SPECT imaging.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2019

Extensive tumor resection accompanied by radiotherapy and chemotherapy is the standard of care for malignant gliomas. However, there is a significant obstacle to the complete resection of the tumor due to the difficulty of distinguishing tumor and normal brain tissue with a conventional surgical microscope. Recently, multiple studies have shown the possibility of fluorescence-guided surgery in malignant gliomas. The most used fluorescence dyes for brain tumor surgery are 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) and indocyanine green (ICG). In this paper, a new fluorescence guided operation system, which can detect both 5-ALA and ICG fluorescent images simultaneously, is presented. This operation system consists of light emitting diodes (LEDs) which emits 410 nm and 740 nm wavelengths. We have performed experiments on rats in order to verify the operation of the newly developed operation system. Oral administration and imaging were performed to observe the fluorescence of 5-ALA and ICG fluorescence in rats. When LEDs at wavelengths of 410 nm and 740 nm were irradiated on rats, 628 nm wavelength with a violet fluorescence color and 825 nm wavelength with a red fluorescence color were expressed in 5-ALA and ICG fluorescent material, respectively, thus we were able to distinguish the tumor tissues easily. Previously, due to the poor resolution of the conventional surgical microscope and the fact that the color of the vein is similar to that of the tumor, the tumor resection margin was not easy to observe, thus increasing the likelihood for cancer recurrence. However, when the tumor is observed through the fluorescence guided operation system, it is possible to easily distinguish the color with the naked eye and it can be completely removed. Therefore, it is expected that surgical removal of cancerous tumors will be possible and surgical applications and surgical microscopes for cancer tumor removal surgery will be promising in the future.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.2-8
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• 2005

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to implement a software to visualize tumor and its surrounding fiber tracts simultaneously using diffusion tensor imaging and examine the feasibility of our software for investigating the influence of tumor on its surrounding fiber connectivity. Material and Methods : MR examination including T1-weigted and diffusion tensor images of a patient with brain tumor was performed on a 3.0 T MRI unit. We used the skull-striped brain and segmented tumor images for volume/surface rendering and anatomical information from contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. Diffusion tensor images for the white matter fiber-tractography were acquired using a SE-EPI with a diffusion scheme of 25 directions. Fiber-tractography was performed using the streamline and tensorline methods. To correct a spatial mismatch between T1-weighted and diffusion tensor images, they were coregistered using a SPM. Our software was implemented under window-based PC system. Results : We successfully implemented the integrated visualization of the fiber tracts with tube-like surfaces, cortical surface and the tumor with volume/surface renderings in a patient with brain tumor. Conclusion : Our result showed the feasibility of the integrated visualization of brain tumor and its surrounding fiber tracts. In addition, our implementation for integrated visualization can be utilized to navigate the brain for the quantitative analysis of fractional anisotropy to assess changes in the white matter tract integrity of edematic and peri-edematic regions in a number of tumor patients.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2000

Carcinoma ex mixed tumor is a mixed tumor in which a second neoplasm develops from the epithelial component that fulfills the criteria for malignancy. This tumor occurs frequently in the parotid glands. Individuals in whom carcinoma ex mixed tumor have a past history of benign mixed tumor. These lesions contain both a benign mixed tumor as well as a malignant neoplasm. We report a case of carcinoma ex mixed tumor which occurred in the parotid gland. A 67-year-old woman presented with movable right mass. she complained pain and facial paralysis. The clinical presentation, several diagnostic images, and histopathologic findings are presented.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.143-152
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• 2015

In this study, we aim to design the architecture of the kV imaging system for tumor tracking in the dual-head gantry system and analyze its accuracy by simulations. We established mathematical formulas and algorithms to track the tumor position with the two-pair kV imaging systems when they are in the non-orthogonal positions. The algorithms have been designed in the homogeneous coordinate framework and the position of the source and the detector coordinates are used to estimate the tumor position. 4D XCAT (4D extended cardiac-torso) software was used in the simulation to identify the influence of the angle between the two-pair kV imaging systems and the resolution of the detectors to the accuracy in the position estimation. A metal marker fiducial has been inserted in a numerical human phantom of XCAT and the kV projections were acquired at various angles and resolutions using CT projection software of the XCAT. As a result, a positional accuracy of less than about 1mm was achieved when the resolution of the detector is higher than 1.5 mm/pixel and the angle between the kV imaging systems is approximately between $90^{\circ}$ and $50^{\circ}$. When the resolution is lower than 1.5 mm/pixel, the positional errors were higher than 1mm and the error fluctuation by the angles was greater. The resolution of the detector was critical in the positional accuracy for the tumor tracking and determines the range for the acceptable angle range between the kV imaging systems. Also, we found that the positional accuracy analysis method using XCAT developed in this study is highly useful and will be a invaluable tool for further refined design of the kV imaging systems for tumor tracking systems.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 1988

High affinity complexes for the tumor were obtained by changing pH and composition in the preparation of $^{99m}Tc-DMSA$. The purpose of this study was to investigate the tumor affinity, and in vitro and in vivo characteristics of these complexes. The results obtained were as follows; 1) Tumor imaging agent was formed successfully at pH $6.0\sim9.0$ and renal imaging agent at pH $2.0\sim5.0$. 2) The serum protein binding of $^{99m}Tc-DMSA$ was $89.1\sim92.8%$ at pH $2.0\sim5.0$ and $11.8\sim30.5%$ at pH $6.0\sim9.0$ respectively, and it was not changed with time. 3) The T 1/2 of tumor affinity complex in blood between 3 and 6 hours after injection was $187{\pm}29$ minutes $(mean{\pm}SD)$. 4) In the blood, the radioactivity was mainly in the plasma, and less than 1% was in the cellular components. 5) In the Walker carcinosarcoma 256 bearing Wistar rats, the radioactivity in the kidney increased, and decreased in the skeleton with time. The radioactivity in the tumor showed the peak in 6 hours after injection and decreased thereafter. 6) In the tumor cell, the radioactivity localized mainly in the cytosol, the soluble fraction of the cytoplasm. This study provides the basic knowledge about tumor affinity and usefulness of $^{99m}Tc-DMSA$ in the diagnosis of malignant disease.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.1E
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• pp.1-10
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• 2010

The difference in echogenicity between cancerous and normal tissues is not quite distinguishable in ultrasound B-mode imaging. However, tumor or cancer in breast or prostate tends to be stiffer than the surrounding normal tissue. Thus, imaging the stiffness contrast between the two different tissue types is helpful for quantitative diagnosis, and such a method of imaging the elasticity of human tissue is collectively referred to as ultrasound elasticity imaging. Recently, elasticity imaging has established itself as an effective diagnostic modality in addition to ultrasound B-mode imaging. The purpose of this paper is to present various elasticity imaging methods that have been reported up to now and to describe their principles of operation and characteristics.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2015

Most tumors are believed to overexpress several receptors, and small peptides targeting these receptors were developed for diagnosis and tumor therapy during past decade. Here we report that fibroadenoma can be visualized by bladder cancer specific peptide. A 9-mer bladder cancer specific peptide, which was discovered from the phage display method, was synthesized by peptide synthesizer, and additional tyrosine was conjugated at the N-terminal for radioiodination (Y-BP). Y-BP was radiolabeled with $^{131/124}I$ using Iodogen tube. The rat treated with N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine for 8 weeks was allowed to grow until large size tumor was developed under axilla. The tumor model was microPET imaged sequentially using [$^{18}F$]FDG and radioiodinated $^{124}I-Y-BP$. The tumor was excised and examined by immunostaining studies. Radioiodinated $^{124}I-Y-BP$ was purified using fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) in > 90% radiochemical purity. The whole tumor was well visualized by [$^{18}F$]FDG with several intense focal uptake within tumor. The tumor was also clearly seen with $^{124}I-Y-BP$ at 4 h post-injection, and to our surprise the tumor uptake of $^{124}I-Y-BP$ lasted up to three days. The tumor was diagnosed histologically as a fibroadenoma derived from mammary gland. In conclusion, the bladder cancer specific peptide showed the good potential as a new radiotracer for the detection of breast fibroadenoma.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.829-839
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• 2021

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3-tesla (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for the detection of visceral pleural surface invasion (VPSI). Visceral pleural invasion by non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be classified into two types: PL1 (without VPSI), invasion of the elastic layer of the visceral pleura without reaching the visceral pleural surface, and PL2 (with VPSI), full invasion of the visceral pleura. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three patients with pathologically confirmed VPSI by NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. Multidetector CT and contrast-enhanced 3T MRI with a free-breathing radial three-dimensional fat-suppressed volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) pulse sequence were compared in terms of the length of contact, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. Supplemental evaluation of the tumor-pleura interface (smooth versus irregular) could only be performed with MRI (not discernible on CT). Results: At the tumor-pleura interface, radial VIBE MRI revealed a smooth margin in 20 of 21 patients without VPSI and an irregular margin in 10 of 12 patients with VPSI, yielding an accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and F-score for VPSI detection of 91%, 83%, 95%, 91%, 91%, and 87%, respectively. The McNemar test and receiver operating characteristics curve analysis revealed no significant differences between the diagnostic accuracies of CT and MRI for evaluating the contact length, angle of mass margin, or arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio as predictors of VPSI. Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3T MRI and CT were equal in terms of the contact length, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. The advantage of MRI is its clear depiction of the tumor-pleura interface margin, facilitating VPSI detection.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.1134-1150
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• 2020

Various types of tumors and tumor-like lesions may affect the pancreas. Among them, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the most common and is generally referred to as "pancreatic cancer." Recently, the detection rates of rare pancreatic tumors and tumor-like lesions have increased owing to technological advancements and increased frequency of imaging tests. Considering that rare pancreatic tumors and tumor-like lesions differ from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in terms of the treatment plan and prognosis, the differential diagnosis of these diseases is clinically relevant. Various imaging tests play an important role in the differential diagnoses of rare tumors, such as acinar cell carcinoma and schwannoma, tumor-like lesions, such as autoimmune pancreatitis and inflammatory pseudotumor, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, but accurately distinguishing these diseases solely based on imaging findings is difficult. The aim of this pictorial review was to present the imaging findings of rare pancreatic tumors and tumor-like lesions and discuss important points for the differential diagnosis.