• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2002

Background and Objective : Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common mononeuropathy encountered in clinical practice. No single procedure or group of procedures has demonstrated adequate sensitivity. F-wave study in CTS is very rarely reported. To determine the diagnostic usefulness of new parameters of F-wave and comparative study of F-wave parameters of median and ulnar nerves in patients with CTS. Methods : F-wave responses of median and ulnar nerves were analyzed from 27 patients with clinically diagnosed CTS and 22 age and gender-matched normal control. Conventional F-wave parameters were studied. Also, the usefulness of new parameters such as mean and maximal ulnar-median F-wave latency differences, ulnar-median F-wave persistence and chronodispersion differences, median/ulnar F-wave amplitude ratio, and F-wave conduction velocity (FCV) using mean and maximal latency were assessed. Results : Compared with controls, median F-wave minimal, maximal and mean latencies, mean F-wave amplitude/M-wave amplitude, minimal, mean and maximal ulnar-median F-wave latency differences, and FCVs using minimal, maximal and mean latency were significant (P<0.05~0.001). Median F-wave minimal, maximal and mean latencies, mean ulnar-median F-wave latency difference, and FCVs using minimal, maximal and mean latency showed high sensitivity and specificity. Mean ulnar-median F-wave latency difference and FCVs using maximal and mean latency were new parameters. Conclusion : New F-wave parameter including mean ulnar- median F-wave latency difference and FCVs using maximal and mean latency may be a useful to assess the CTS. Also, median F-wave minimal, maximal and mean latencies, and FCV using minimal latency may be included in routine diagnostic tests in CTS.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.58 no.8
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• pp.294-300
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• 2015

Purpose: It is difficult to differentiate between central precocious puberty (CPP) and premature thelarche (PT) in girls. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic usefulness of pelvic ultrasonography to distinguish between CPP and PT in girls with early breast development. Methods: This study included girls with early breast development who visited the clinic between January 2012 and December 2013. Clinical, laboratory, and pelvic ultrasonographic data were evaluated. CPP and PT were confirmed using the gonadotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test. Results: A total of 248 girls aged 7-8 years were included, among whom 186 (75.0%) had CPP and 62 (25.0%) had PT. The uterine length, transverse diameter, fundus, volume, and cross-sectional area were significantly larger in the CPP group (uterine length, $2.45{\pm}0.50cm$ vs. $2.63{\pm}0.49cm$, P=0.015; uterine volume, $0.95{\pm}0.62cm^3$ vs. $1.35{\pm}0.76cm^3$, P<0.001). However, there were no differences in the fundus/cervix ratio and ovarian measurements. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, a uterine volume of at least $1.07cm^3$ was the most predictive parameter for CPP with an area under the curve of 0.670 (95% confidence interval, 0.593-0.747). Conclusion: Uterine measurements by pelvic ultrasonography in girls with early pubertal development were significantly larger in the CPP group. However, the diagnostic value of ultrasonographic parameters was not high because of a considerable overlap of values between the two groups. Therefore, pelvic ultrasonography in combination with clinical and laboratory tests may be useful to distinguish between CPP and PT in girls.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2017

To investigate the usefulness of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for imaging lymphedema, we directly compared it to other histological methods in a mouse model of lymphedema. We performed detailed imaging of the lymphedema lesion on a mouse tail. We imaged the mouse tail in vivo with OCT and created histopathological samples. We constructed a spectrometer-based OCT system using a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer. The light was directed to 50:50 couplers that split the light into reference and sample arms. Backscattered light from a reference mirror and the sample produced an interference fringe. An OCT image of the lymphedema model revealed an inflammatory reaction of the skin that was accompanied by edema, leading to an increase in the light attenuation in the dermal and subcutaneous layers. Similar to OCT image findings, histological biopsy showed an inflammatory response that involved edema, increased neutrophils in epidermis and subdermis, and lymphatic microvascular dilatation. Furthermore, the lymphedema model showed an increase in thickness of the dermis in both diagnostic studies. In the mouse tail model of lymphedema, OCT imaging showed very similar results to other histological examinations. OCT provides a quick and useful diagnostic imaging technique for lymphedema and is a valuable addition or complement to other noninvasive imaging tools.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.635-643
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• 2021

The results of empirical researches on the diagnosis of lung cancer are insufficient, so it is limited to objectively judge the clinical possibility and utilization according to the accuracy of diagnosis. Thus, this study retrospectively analyzed the lung cancer diagnostic performance of PET-MRI (Positron Emission Tomography-Magnetic Resonance Imaging) by using the decision matrix. This study selected and experimented total 165 patients who received both hematological CEA (Carcinoembryonic Antigen) test and hybrid PET-MRI (¹⁸F-FDG, 5.18 MBq/kg / Body TIM coil. VIVE-Dixon). After setting up the result of CEA (positive:>4 ㎍/ℓ. negative:<2.5㎍/ℓ) as golden data, the lung cancer was found in the image of PET-MRI, and then the SUV_max (positive:>4, negative:<1.5) was measured, and then evaluated the correlation and significance of results of relative diagnostic performance of PET-MRI compared to CEA through the statistical verification (t-test, P>0.05). Through this, the PET-MRI was analyzed as 96.29% of sensitivity, 95.23% of specificity, 3.70% of false negative rate, 4.76% of false positive rate, and 95.75% of accuracy. The false negative rate was 1.06% lower than the false positive rate. The PET-MRI that significant accuracy of diagnosis through high sensitivity and specificity, and low false negative rate and false positive rate of lung cancer, could acquire the fusion image of specialized soft tissue by combining the radio-pharmaceuticals with various sequences, so its clinical value and usefulness are regarded as latently sufficient.

• Clinical Pain
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.70-75
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of infrared thermography in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome by comparing with electrodiagnostic and ultrasonographic findings. Method: From January 2014 to October 2017, electrodiagnosis, ultrasound, and digital infrared thermal image (DITI) of unilateral carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosed in a single hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The subjects with bilateral symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, thyroid disease, fibromyalgia, rheumatic disease, systemic infection, inflammation, malignant tumor, and other musculoskeletal disorders such as finger osteoarthritis, peripheral neuropathy, cervical radiculopathy, and the previous history of surgery were excluded. Results: Of 53 patients diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, 11 were male and 42 were female. The visual analogue scale was 4.9 ± 1.9, and the duration of symptom was 11.8 ± 12.5 months. There was no statistically significant difference in the body surface temperature between the unaffected and affected sides. The severity of symptoms, electrodiagnostic findings, and cross-sectional area of the median nerve significantly correlates to each other. The temperature difference between the second fingers of the affected and unaffected sides showed a weak correlation with the amplitude of sensory nerve action potential and onset latency of compound muscle action potential, when there was no significant correlation with the other parameters. Conclusion: The difference in temperature on the surface of the body, which can be confirmed by DITI, is little diagnostic value when DITI is performed in unilateral carpal tunnel syndrome patients, especially when compared with ultrasonography.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 1993

This study was performed in order to evaluate the accuracy and the usefulness of the fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) on the breast lesions, to compare the FNAC findings between fibroadenoma and fibrocystic disease, and to determine the accuracy of cytologic Black's nuclear grading. The subjects in this study were 110 cases of FNAC, later confirmed by biopsy, between January 1988 and December 1991. The results are as follows ; 1 Comparison between the results of the FNAC and the histologic findings revealed that FNAC had a sensitivity of 96.6%, a specificity of 100%, a false negative rate of 3.4% a false positive rate of 0.0%, and an overall diagnostic accuracy of 98.2%. 2 Semi-quantitative evaluation of epithelial celluarity, stroma, and naked nuclei in the smears of aspirate showed high celluarity in 56.7% of the aspirates from fibroadenoma and in 0% of those from fibrocystic disease. Abundant stroma was found in 46.7% of the fibroadenoma and none of fibrocystic disease. Numerous naked nuclei were found in 60% of the fibroadenoma and 4.5% of the fibrocystic disease. The overall diagnostic accuracy was 98% 3. In order to determine the accuracy of Black's nuclear grading of FNAC on breast carcinoma, we retrospectively studied 38 cases of ductal carcinomas diagnosed by FNAC with subsequent histologic confirmation. The concordance rate with histology was 94.7%. These results suggest that FNAC of breast is a diagnostically accurate method, and provide for the preoperative differential diagnosis between fibroadenoma and fibrocystic disease. Our results also suggest that the evaluation of nuclear grading of FNAC can predict clinical outcome and decide the way of management of breast cancer.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.279-285
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to develop new digital navicular drop test (ND-NDT) equipment and to determine its validity and reliability. Methods: A total of 24 healthy male and female adults, who fully understood the purpose of the study and gave consent to participate in the study, were selected as participants. The NDT and ND-NDT were conducted in the dominant foot of the participants in a random order. For the NDT, the position of the navicular bone was marked with a pen first; then, the height of the navicular bone from the ground was measured in both sitting and standing positions. For the ND-NDT, after the sticker-type reflection markers were attached to the position of the navicular bone, the height of the navicular bone from the ground was measured in both sitting and standing positions. To assess the validity of the diagnostic tests, the same examiner measured the height of the medial longitudinal arch (MLA) three times in both the sitting and standing positions. To assess the inter-rater reliability of the ND-NDT, three examiners, in a random order, attached the sticker-type reflection markers to the position of the navicular bone and then measured the height of the MLA in both positions. Results: In the sitting position, the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between the two diagnostic tests was very high (r = 0.97) and statistically significant. In the standing position, the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between the two tests was 0.95, which was also statistically significant. The ICC_2,1 values in the sitting and standing positions were 0.93 and 0.95, respectively, indicating significantly high inter-rater reliability. Conclusion: The ND-NDT equipment showed very high diagnostic validity, as well as excellent inter-rater reliability, indicating the clinical usefulness of the equipment as a diagnostic system for confirming pes planus.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.501-505
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• 2014

In recent years, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have been widely used for malaria detection, primarily because of their simple operation, fast results, and straightforward interpretation. The Asan $EasyTest^{TM}$ Malaria Pf/Pan Ag is one of the most commonly used malaria RDTs in several countries, including Korea and India. In this study, we tested the diagnostic performance of this RDT in Uganda to evaluate its usefulness for field diagnosis of malaria in this country. Microscopic and PCR analyses, and the Asan $EasyTest^{TM}$ Malaria Pf/Pan Ag rapid diagnostic test, were performed on blood samples from 185 individuals with suspected malaria in several villages in Uganda. Compared to the microscopic analysis, the sensitivity of the RDT to detect malaria infection was 95.8% and 83.3% for Plasmodium falciparum and non-P. falciparum, respectively. Although the diagnostic sensitivity of the RDT decreased when parasitemia was ${\leq}500\;parasites/{\mu}l$, it showed 96.8% sensitivity (98.4% for P. falciparum and 93.8% for non-P. falciparum) in blood samples with parasitemia ${\geq}100\;parasites/{\mu}l$. The specificity of the RDT was 97.3% for P. falciparum and 97.3% for non-P. falciparum. These results collectively suggest that the accuracy of the Asan $EasyTest^{TM}$ Malaria Pf/Pan Ag makes it an effective point-of-care diagnostic tool for malaria in Uganda.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.658-665
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• 2000

Purpose : The present study was carried out to determine the diagnostic usefulness of bone scan for evaluating jaw bone extension of oral cancer. Materials and Methods : Medical records, preoperative bone scans, computerized tomographic (CT) scans, conventional radiographs, and findings of histopathologic sections of twenty patients who had been treated for oral malignant tumors by a resection of mandible and soft tissue at Chonnam University Hospital from January, 1994 to September, 1999 were analyzed. Results : In 13 cases which showed histopathologically positive, preoperative bone scans were positive in 12 (92.3%) and false negative in 1 (7.7%). Preoperative CT scans were positive in 9 (69.2%) and false negative in 4 (30.8%) of the 13 cases. Preoperative conventional radiographs were positive in 8 (61.5%) and false negative in 5 (38.5%) of the 13 cases. In 7 cases showing negative histopathologic findings, 1 (14.3%) was in CT scans and 2 (28.6%) were false positive in preoperative conventional radiographs. Conclusion : These results suggest that bone scan is more sensitive and reliable method for evaluating jaw bone extension of oral cancer than conventional radiographs or CT scans.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1182-1186
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• 2001

Objectives : MR fluid-attenuated inversion recovery(FLAIR) image uses paired long inversion time and relaxation time that nulls the signal from CSF. With nulling of the CSF long echo time readout could be used to increase T2-weighting, hence improving the conspicuousness of most tissue lesions without the deleterious effects of CSF artifact seen on T2 weighted sequence. We examed the usefulness of FALIR image in the diagnosis of mild head injury. Methods : A total of 38 patients with mild head injury were examined by FLAIR image. We compared those images with CT scan and T1, T2-weighted images. Careful observation of MR images were done by two well-trained neuroradiologists. Each image was compared for conspicuousness and detectability of traumatic lesions might have shown abnormal signal intensities. The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used for statistical evaluation. Results : The FLAIR image was significantly more sensitive than those of other images(p<0.001). T2 FFE(Fast Field Echo) image was more useful for detection of small petechial hemorrhages. Conclusion : FLAIR image is considered to be more sensitive than those of conventional MR images in the evaluation of mild head injuries.