• Brain Tumor Research and Treatment
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.47-53
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• 2018

Brain tumors represent a diverse spectrum of histology, biology, prognosis, and treatment options. Although MRI remains the gold standard for morphological tumor characterization, positron emission tomography (PET) can play a critical role in evaluating disease status. This article focuses on the use of PET with radiolabeled glucose and amino acid analogs to aid in the diagnosis of tumors and differentiate between recurrent tumors and radiation necrosis. The most widely used tracer is $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Although the intensity of FDG uptake is clearly associated with tumor grade, the exact role of FDG PET imaging remains debatable. Additionally, high uptake of FDG in normal grey matter limits its use in some low-grade tumors that may not be visualized. Because of their potential to overcome the limitation of FDG PET of brain tumors, $^{11}C$-methionine and $^{18}F$-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (FDOPA) have been proposed. Low accumulation of amino acid tracers in normal brains allows the detection of low-grade gliomas and facilitates more precise tumor delineation. These amino acid tracers have higher sensitivity and specificity for detecting brain tumors and differentiating recurrent tumors from post-therapeutic changes. FDG and amino acid tracers may be complementary, and both may be required for assessment of an individual patient. Additional tracers for brain tumor imaging are currently under development. Combinations of different tracers might provide more in-depth information about tumor characteristics, and current limitations may thus be overcome in the near future. PET with various tracers including FDG, $^{11}C$-methionine, and FDOPA has improved the management of patients with brain tumors. To evaluate the exact value of PET, however, additional prospective large sample studies are needed.

• 한국멀티미디어학회논문지
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• 제25권8호
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• pp.1233-1241
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• 2022

Tumors of the brain are the deadliest, with a life expectancy of only a few years for those with the most advanced forms. Diagnosing a brain tumor is critical to developing a treatment plan to help patients with the disease live longer. A misdiagnosis of brain tumors will lead to incorrect medical treatment, decreasing a patient's chance of survival. Radiologists classify brain tumors via biopsy, which takes a long time. As a result, the doctor will need an automatic classification system to identify brain tumors. Image classification is one application of the deep learning method in computer vision. One of the deep learning's most powerful algorithms is the convolutional neural network (CNN). This paper will introduce a novel deep learning structure and image gradient to classify brain tumors. Meningioma, glioma, and pituitary tumors are the three most popular forms of brain cancer represented in the Figshare dataset, which contains 3,064 T1-weighted brain images from 233 patients. According to the numerical results, our method is more accurate than other approaches.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.198-204
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• 2021

Glioma is one of the common types of brain tumors starting in the brain's glial cell. These tumors are classified into low-grade or high-grade tumors. Physicians analyze the stages of brain tumors and suggest treatment to the patient. The status of the tumor has an importance in the treatment. Nowadays, computerized systems are used to analyze and classify brain tumors. The accurate grading of the tumor makes sense in the treatment of brain tumors. This paper aims to develop a classification of low-grade glioma and high-grade glioma using a deep learning algorithm. This system utilizes four transfer learning algorithms, i.e., AlexNet, GoogLeNet, ResNet18, and ResNet50, for classification purposes. Among these algorithms, ResNet18 shows the highest classification accuracy of 97.19%.

• 대한핵의학회지
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.19-27
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• 2002

The annual incidence of primary brain tumors is 7-19 cases per 100,000 people. The unique capacity of visualizing biochemical processes allows PET to determine functional metabolic activities of the brain tumors. Like other malignant tumors, F-18 FDG has been used commonly in the imaging of brain tumors. FDG PET is valuable in grading malignancy, predicting prognosis, monitoring treatment, differentiating tumor recurrence from radiation necrosis, and detecting primary lesion in metastatric brain tumors. Among amino acids labeled with positron emitters, C-11 methionine is used clinically. Tumor delineation is much better with methionine PET than with FDG PET. Low grade gliomas, in particular, are better evaluated with methionine than with FDG. PET opens another dimension in brain tumor imaging. PET imaging has clearly entered the clinical area with a profound impact on patient care in many indications.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제38권1호
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• pp.12-15
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• 2005

Objective : Cerebral edema develops in the brain tumors by loosening of the endothelial tight junction. Tight junction[TJ] proteins, such as occludin and claudin bind adjacent cells tightly. Authors examine the expression rate of occludin in human brain tumors to evaluate the effect of altered expression of occludin on cerebral edema. Methods : Seventy surgical specimens stored at $-70^{\circ}C$ were used. It included 14 astrocytic tumors, 27 meningiomas, 12 scwannomas, 7 pituitary adenomas, 6 hemangioblastomas. and 4 craniopharyngiomas. After protein extraction, expression of occludin was investigated by Western blot analysis. The tumors were classified according to World Health Organization[WHO] classification. Results : The expression rates of occludin in brain tumors were : glioma [8/14=57.1%]. meningioma [16/27=59.3%], schwannoma [10/12=83.3%], pituitary adenoma [6/7=85.7%], hemangioblastoma [6/6=100%], and craniopharyngioma [3/4=75.0%]. The expression rate in glioma and meningioma was lower than other brain tumors. In gliomas, high grade tumor [1/4=25.0%] exhibited lower expression rate of occludin than low grade one [7/10=70.0%]. Conclusion : These results suggest that the expression of occludin is different among the various kinds of brain tumors. In gliomas, its expression is correlated with the histological grade. It may indicate that occludin plays a role in the development of edema in the brain tumors.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제65권6호
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• pp.861-867
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• 2022

Objective : High-dose radiation is well known to induce and modulate the immune system. This study was performed to evaluate the correlation between clinical outcomes and changes in natural killer cell activity (NKA) after Gamma Knife Radiosurgery (GKS) in patients with brain cancer. Methods : We performed an open-label, prospective, cross-sectional study of 38 patients who were treated with GKS for brain tumors, including metastatic and benign brain tumors. All of the patients underwent GKS, and blood samples were collected before and after GKS. NKA was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, to measure interferon-gamma (IFNγ) secreted by ex vivo-stimulated NK cells from whole blood. We explored the correlations between NK cell-produced IFNγ (NKA-IFNγ) levels and clinical parameters of patients who were treated with GKS for brain tumors. Results : NKA-IFNγ levels were decreased in metastatic brain tumor patients compared to those with benign brain tumors (p<0.0001). All the patients who used steroid treatment to reduce brain swelling after GKS had an NKA-IFNγ level of zero except one patient. High NKA-IFNγ levels were not associated with a rapid decrease in brain metastasis and did not increase after GKS. Conclusion : The activity of NK cells in metastatic brain tumors decreased more than that in benign brain tumors after GKS.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제61권3호
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• pp.393-401
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• 2018

The prognosis of brain tumors in children has improved for last a few decades. However, the prognosis remains dismal in patients with recurrent brain tumors. The outcome for infants and young children in whom the use of radiotherapy (RT) is very limited because of unacceptable long-term adverse effect of RT remains poor. The prognosis is also not satisfactory when a large residual tumor remains after surgery or when leptomeningeal seeding is present at diagnosis. In this context, a strategy using high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDCT/auto-SCT) has been explored to improve the prognosis of recurrent or high-risk brain tumors. This strategy is based on the hypothesis that chemotherapy dose escalation might result in improvement in survival rates. Recently, the efficacy of tandem HDCT/auto-SCT has been evaluated in further improving the outcome. This strategy is based on the hypothesis that further dose escalation might result in further improvement in survival rates. At present, the number of studies employing tandem HDCT/auto-SCT for brain tumors is limited. However, results of these pilot studies suggest that tandem HDCT/auto-SCT may further improve the outcome. In this review, we will summarize our single center experience with tandem HDCT/auto-SCT for recurrent or high-risk brain tumors.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.137-143
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• 2001

Objective : Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein adds telomere repeats to the ends of telomeres to compensate for the progressive loss. A favorable prognosis associated with low or no telomerase activity in some tumors, and cells transfected with antisense human telomerase lost telomeric repeats and die. We studied about the relationship between telomerase activity and apoptosis in the human brain tumors. Material and Methods : Between July 1998 and December 1999, 62 patients with brain tumors underwent surgery and their surgical specimens were obtained. Telomerase activity was investigated by telomeric repeats amplification protocol(TRAP) assay. Apoptosis was also evaluated by DNA fragmentation analysis. Differences and correlation in data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test and Wilcoxon-signed rank test. Results : Expression rate of telomerase activity and apoptosis were 80% and 30% in malignant gliomas, 33% and 0% in low grade gliomas, 63% and 38% in meningiomas, 67% and 33% in pituitary adenomas, 33% and 33% in metastatic tumors, 67% and 17% in acoustic neurinomas, 100% and 100% in pineoblastomas, 100% and 0% in the hemangioblastoma, respectively. There was no significant difference of telomerase activity and apoptosis between histological types. But a significant difference was noted in the expression of telomerase activity between malignant gliomas and low grade gliomas(p = 0.022). Brain tumors with telomerase activity expressed the lower rate of apoptosis. A significant correlation was also found between telomerase activity and absence of apoptosis in the human brain tumors(p = 0.005). Conclusions : Our data suggests that telomerase may protect from apoptosis of the human brain tumors and also may play an important role in the biological malignancy of the gliomas.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.34-41
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• 2000

목적: 두개강내 종양의 감별진단에 있어서 확산강조자기공명영상(DWi: diffusion weighted MR imaging)의 임상적 유용성을 알아 보고자 하였다. 대상 및 방법: 19예의 두개강내 종양(전이암 10예, 고등급 교종 4예, 저등급 성상세포종 4예, 핍지교종 1예)을 대상으로 1.5T 장치를 이용하여 통상적인 자기공명영상과 EPI기법을 사용한 DWI(TR/TE=6500/107, b value 1000)를 얻었다. DWI에서 종%$\varepsilon$을 고형성분, 괴사나 낭성 부위, 주위 부종으로 나누어 신호강도(뇌설과 뇌실질을 기준으로 5등급으로 나눔)와 벙변과 반 대쪽 정상 뇌설질의 상대적 신호강도비(SIR: signal intensity ratio)를 구하였다. 이렇게 얻어진 종양간의 신호강도와 신호강도비의 차이를 독립표본 T 검정을 이용하여 비교 분석하였다. 결과: DWI에서 고형성분의 경우 전이암과 고등급 교종은 전예에서 뇌실질보다 고신호강도를 보 였으며, 저등급 성상세포종과 핍지교종은 뇌실질과 등신호 또는 약간 높은 신호강도를 보였다. 각각의 고형성분에서 평균 신호강도비는 전이암 1.52, 고등급 교종 1.48, 저등급 성상세포종 1.16, 핍지교종 1.31로 측정되어서 전반적으로 악성도가 증가할수록 높은 신호강도비를 보였다(P(0.05). 종양 주위 부종은 전이암 10예와 고등급 교종 4예에서 관찰되었으며 이중 전이암 7예, 고등급 교종 2예에서는 뇌실질과 유사한 신호강도를 보인 반면 나머지 5예들에서는 뇌실 질보다 높은 신호강도로 관찰되었다. 부종에서의 평균 신호강도비는 전이암이 1.14, 고등급 교종 1.31로 전이암에서 낮게 관찰되었지만 통계적 의의는 없었다(p >0.05). 괴사나 낭성부위의 평균 신호강도비는 0.63이였다. 조영증강되지 않았던 6예의 고형성분중 3예는 주위 부종보다 고신호강도를보여 종양의 경계가통상적인 자기공명영상에 비해 우수하였다. 결론: DWI에서 뇌종양의 고형성분의 신호강도는 종양의 악성도가 높을수록 고신호강도를 보였고 종양 주위 부종은 DWI기법에 기인된 고유효과인 "T2 shine through effect"와 혈관성 부종의 정도 간의 우열에 따라 다양한 소견을 보였으며, 또한 DWI에서 종양과 주위 부종과의 관계를 좀더 명확하게 구분 할 수 있었다.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제61권5호
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• pp.633-639
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• 2018

Objective : We investigated the outcomes of repeat stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for metastatic brain tumors that locally recurred despite previous SRS, focusing on the tumor control. Methods : A total of 114 patients with 176 locally recurring metastatic brain tumors underwent repeat SRS after previous SRS. The mean age was 59.4 years (range, 33 to 85), and there were 68 male and 46 female patients. The primary cancer types were non-small cell lung cancer (n=67), small cell lung cancer (n=12), gastrointestinal tract cancer (n=15), breast cancer (n=10), and others (n=10). The number of patients with a single recurring metastasis was 95 (79.8%), and another 19 had multiple recurrences. At the time of the repeat SRS, the mean volume of the locally recurring tumors was 5.94 mL (range, 0.42 to 29.94). We prescribed a mean margin dose of 17.04 Gy (range, 12 to 24) to the isodose line at the tumor border primarily using a 50% isodose line. Results : After the repeat SRS, we obtained clinical and magnetic resonance imaging follow-up data for 84 patients (73.7%) with a total of 108 tumors. The tumor control rate was 53.5% (58 of the 108), and the median and mean progression-free survival (PFS) periods were 246 and 383 days, respectively. The prognostic factors that were significantly related to better tumor control were prescription radiation dose of 16 Gy (p=0.000) and tumor volume less than both 4 mL (p=0.001) and 10 mL at the repeat SRS (p=0.008). The overall survival (OS) periods for all 114 patients after repeat SRS varied from 1 to 56 months, and median and mean OS periods were 229 and 404 days after the repeat SRS, respectively. The main cause of death was systemic problems including pulmonary dysfunction (n=58, 51%), and the identified direct or suspected brain-related death rate was around 20%. Conclusion : The tumor control following repeat SRS for locally recurring metastatic brain tumors after a previous SRS is relatively lower than that for primary SRS. However, both low tumor volume and high prescription radiation dose were significantly related to the tumor control following repeat SRS for these tumors after previous SRS, which is a general understanding of primary SRS for metastatic brain tumors.