• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 1993

Drug abuse is widespread in worldwide and has been associated with neurologic complication. Zipeprol is one of the drugs which been abused for psychological satisfaction in some adolescents. This agent is non-opioid antitussive agent, which is not legally considered as being capable of creating dependence or abuse liability at therapeutic serum levels. But it has been reported that acute or chronic overdose create neurologic complication such as convulsion as well as dependence. Recently we experienced six zipeprol abusers who admitted due to convulsion and variable neurologic symptoms. The aim of our study was to determine the role of $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO brain SPECT in those patients. EEG and brain CT showed no abnormal finding, but brain SPECT showed focal or multiple perfusion abnormalities in frontal, parietal, occipital cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus and especially at temporal cortex. These results suggest that brain SPECT may be a useful diagnostic tool to evaluate the cerebral dysfunction infused by zipeprol abuse.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.252-255
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• 2011

Authors report a case of a painless acute dissecting aneurysm of the descending aorta in a patient who presented with unexplained hypotension followed by simultaneous paraplegia and right arm monoparesis. To our knowledge, case like this has not been reported previously. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and spine revealed hemodynamic cerebral infarction and extensive cord ischemia, respectively. Computerized tomography angiography confirmed a dissecting aneurysm of the descending aorta. The cause of the brain infarction may not have been embolic, but hemodynamic one. Dissection-induced hypotension may have elicited cerebral perfusion insufficiency. The cause of cord ischemia may be embolic or hemodynamic. The dissected aorta was successfully replaced into an artificial patch graft. The arm monoparesis was improved, but the paraplegia was not improved. In rare cases of brain and/or spinal cord infarction caused by painless acute dissecting aneurysm of the aorta, accurate diagnosis is critical because careless thrombolytic therapy can result in life-threatening bleeding.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.490-496
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• 1998

Purpose: We evaluated brain perfusion SPECT findings of MELAS syndrome and mitochondrial myopathy in correlation with MR imaging in search of specific imaging features. Materials and Methods: Subjects were five patients (four females and one male; age range, 1 to 25 year) who presented with repeated stroke-like episodes, seizures or developmental delay or asymptomatic but had elevated lactic acid in CSF and serum. Conventional non-contrast MR imaging and Tc-99m-ethyl cysteinate dimer (ECD) brain perfusion SPECT were Performed and imaging features were analyzed. Results: MRI demonstrated increased T2 signal intensities in the affected areas of gray and white matters mainly in the parietal (4/5) and occipital lobes (4/5) and in the basal ganglia (1/5), which were not restricted to a specific vascular territory. SPECT demonstrated decreased perfusion in the corresponding regions of MRI lesions. In addition, there were perfusion defects in parietal (1 patient), temporal (2), and frontal (1) lobes and basal ganglia (1) and thalami (2). In a patient with mitochondrial myopathy who had normal MRI, decreased perfusion was noted in left parietal area and bilateral thalami. Conclusion: Tc-99m ECD SPECT imaging in patients with MELAS syndrome and mitochondrial myopathy showed hypoperfusion of parieto-occipital cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus and temporal cortex, which were not restricted to a specific vascular territory. There were no specific imaging features on SPECT. The significance of abnormal perfusion on SPECT without corresponding MR abnormalities needs to be evaluated further in larger number of patients.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.676-680
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• 2000

To minimize the period of brain ischemia and the potential for neurologic damage during aortic arch replacement, we used the arch-first technique. First case was a 28-year-old female with extensive aneurysm involving ascending, arch and descending thoracic aorta. Exposure was obtained via a bilateral via a bilateral thoracotomy (clamshell incision) in the anterior 4th right and 3rd left intercostal space with oblique sternotomy. To prepare for arch perfusion, the side-arm graft(10mm) was anastomosed to the aortic graft, opposite the site of the planned anastomosis to the arch vessels. After completing the arch anastomosis under total circulatory arrest(37min) and retrograde cerebral perfusion(12min), aortic graft was clamped on either side and the arch was perfused via side-arm graft for 36min. When distal aortic anastomosis was finished, distal clamp of aortic graft was released and arch vessels were perfused via common femoral artery, and the proximal aortic anastomosis was accomplished. The patient was discharged with no event. Second case was a 48-year-old male with extensive aneurysm involving ascending, arch, and aortic regurgitaiton(grade III/IV). This case was also done using the clamshell incision. Aortic valve replacement was done by valved-conduit(Vascutek 30mm), both coronary artery anastomosis using Cabrol's procedure. Last operation procedure was the same as the 1st case.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.93-102
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• 2005

Purpose: To develop an advanced non-linear curve fitting (NLCF) algorithm for dynamic susceptibility contrast study of brain. Materials and Methods: The first pass effects give rise to spuriously high estimates of $K^{trans}$ in voxels with large vascular components. An explicit threshold value has been used to reject voxels. Results: By using this non-linear curve fitting algorithm, the blood perfusion and the volume estimation were accurately evaluated in T2*-weighted dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)-MR images. From the recalculated each parameters, perfusion weighted image were outlined by using modified non-linear curve fitting algorithm. This results were improved estimation of T2*-weighted dynamic series. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated an improvement of an estimation of kinetic parameters from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data, using contrast agents. The advanced kinetic models include the relation of volume transfer constant $K^{trans}\;(min^{-1})$ and the volume of extravascular extracellular space (EES) per unit volume of tissue $\nu_e$.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.282-292
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• 1994

Brain perfusion SPECT shows typical regional perfusion abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease(AD) and is useful for its diagnosis. However, there is also arguement that these patterns show significant overlap with other causes, and the accuracy for SPECT in differentiating AD has shown conflicting results. We postulate that the variation in re-ported results are partly due to a difference in patient or control selection with special reference to the mixture of ischemic cerebral disease in the studied population. To deter-mine the effect of ischemic lesions and the nature of control subjects on SPECT studies for AD, we performed $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in 11 probable AD patients with a low (<4) Hachinski ischemic score and 12 non-demented age matched controls. Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) disclosed ischemic cerebral lesions in 27% (3/11) of the PAD group and 25% (3/12) of the control group. Regional perfusion indices were quantitated from the SPECT images as follows and the distribution of perfusion indices from both groups were compared. This was repeated with controls after excluding those with significant ischemic lesions by MRI : regional perfusion index = average regional count/average cerebellar count All PAD patients showed perfusion abnormality in SPECT. However, 53% (10/12) of controls also showed perfusion at-normalities, and no pattern could reliably differentiate the two groups. After excluding controls with significant cerebral ischemia, the difference in temporal and parietal perfusion index was increased. A decreased tempore-parietal and any parietal or temporal per-fusion index had a sensitivity of 18% and 36% in detecting AD, respectively. When using a separate group of normal age mathced controls, the indices showed an even more difference in the temporal and parietal lobes and the sensitivity of a decreased tempore-parietal and any parietal or temporal perfusion index had a sensitivity of 36% and 55% in detecting AD, respectively. Thus, the type of control with special reference to the pres-once of ischemic cerebral lesions contribute significantly to the accuracy of perfusion SPECT in diagnosing AD. This nay have particular importance in the diagnosis of AD in populations where the prevalance of cerebrovascular disease is high.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.232-243
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• 2002

Purpose: We studied whether brain perfusion SPECT is useful in the psychiatric disability evaluation of patients with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI). Materials and Methods: Sixty-nine patients (M:F=58:11, age $39{\pm}14$ years) who underwent Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT, brain MRI and neuropsychological (NP) tests during hospitalization in psychiatric wards for the psychiatric disability evaluation were included; the severity of injury was mild in 31, moderate in 17 and severe in 21. SPECT, MRI, NP tests were peformed $6{\sim}61$ months (mean 23 months) post-injury. Diagnostic accuracy of SPECT and MRI to show hypoperfusion or abnormal signal intensity in patients with cognitive impairment represented by NP test results were compared. Results: Forty-two patients were considered to have cognitive impairment on NP tests and 27 not. Brain SPECT showed 71% sensitivity and 85% specificity, while brain MRI showed 62% sensitivity and 93% specificity (p>0.05, McNemar test). SPECT found more cortical lesions and MRI was superior in detecting white matter lesions. Sensitivity and specificity of 31 mild TBI patients were 45%, 90% for SPECT and 27%, 100% for MRI (p>0.05, McNemar test). Among 41 patients with normal brain MRI, SPECT showed 63% sensitivity (50% for mild TBI) and 88% specificity (85% for malingerers). Conclusion: Brain SPECT has a supplementary role to neuropsychological tests in the psychiatric disability evaluation of chronic TBI patients by detecting more cortical lesions than MRI.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

Hemorrhagic shock is a clinically widespread syndrome characterized by inadequate oxygenation and supply. It is important to diagnose hemorrhagic shock in its early stage for improving treatment effects and survival rate. However, an accurate diagnosis and treatment could be delayed in the early stage of hemorrhagic shock by evaluating only vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure. There have been many studies for the early diagnosis of hemorrhagic shock, reporting that lactate concentration and perfusion were useful variables for tissue hypoxia and metabolic acidosis. In this study, we measured both perfusion using a laser Doppler flowmeter and lactate concentration from the volume controlled hemorrhagic shock using rats. We also proposed a new shock index which was calculated by dividing lactate concentration by perfusion for early diagnosis. As a result of the survival prediction by the proposed index with the receiver operating characteristic curve method, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of survival were 90.0, 96.7 and 94.0%, respectively. The proposed index showed the fastest significant difference among the other parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate. It could offer early diagnosis and effective treatment for human hemorrhagic shock if it is applicable to humans.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.816-824
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• 2022

Objective : Emergency superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) anastomosis in patients with large vessel occlusion who fails mechanical thrombectomy or does not become an indication due to over the time window can be done as an alternative for blood flow restoration. The authors planned this study to quantitatively measure the degree of improvement in cerebral perfusion flow using perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after bypass surgery and to find out what factors are related to the outcome of the bypass surgery. Methods : For a total of 107 patients who underwent emergent STA-MCA bypass surgery with large vessel occlusion, the National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS), modified Rankin score (mRS), infarction volume, and hypoperfusion area volume was calculated, the duration between symptom onset and reperfusion time, occlusion site and infarction type were analyzed. After emergency STA-MCA bypass, hypoperfusion area volume at post-operative 7 days was calculated and analyzed compared with pre-operative hypoperfusion area volume. The factors affecting the improvement of mRS were analyzed. The clinical status of patients who underwent emergency bypass was investigated by mRS and NIHSS before and after surgery, and changes in infarct volume, extent, degree of collateral circulation, and hypoperfusion area volume were measured using MRI and digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Results : The preoperative infarction volume was median 10 mL and the hypoperfusion area volume was median 101 mL. NIHSS was a median of 8 points, and the last normal to operation time was a median of 60.7 hours. STA patency was fair in 97.1% of patients at 6 months follow-up DSA and recanalization of the occluded vessel was confirmed at 26.5% of patients. Infarction volume significantly influenced the improvement of mRS (p=0.010) but preoperative hypoperfusion volume was not significantly influenced (p=0.192), and the infarction type showed marginal significance (p=0.0508). Preoperative NIHSS, initial mRS, occlusion vessel type, and last normal to operation time did not influence the improvement of mRS (p=0.272, 0.941, 0.354, and 0.391). Conclusion : In a patient who had an acute cerebral infarction due to large vessel occlusion with large ischemic penumbra but was unable to perform mechanical thrombectomy, STA-MCA bypass could be performed. By using time-to-peak images of perfusion MRI, it is possible to quickly and easily confirm that the brain tissue at risk is preserved and that the ischemic penumbra is recovered to a normal blood flow state.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2006

1. Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the regional cerebral blood-flow(r-CBF) difference between OMT(Oriental Music Therapy) group and control group using brain SPECT, to evaluate the effect of OMT in ischemic stroke patients Classified by Sasang Constitutional. 2. Methods We selected 10 ischemic storke patients, classified groups into OMT group or control group. r-CBF of two groups were examined by brain SPECT. in all group we applied SCM(Sasang constitutional medicine)treatment for 4-5 weaks, and additionally in OMT group We applied OMT for 4-5 weaks. after that all the r-CBF of two groups took brain SPECT again. r-CBF difference and change before and after SCM treatment and OMT were quantified and analyzed using SPM. 3. Results r-CBF of OMT groups were increased compared to control groups. 4. Conclusions This study demonstrated that Sasang Constitutional OMT increased regional cerebral blood perfusion to the corresponding brain areas in ischemic stroke patients.