• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.247-254
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• 2007

This study was performed to identify the normal anatomic orientation of pulmonary arteries and to obtain the normal baseline parameters and the optimal contrast material delivery methods of computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) on normal beagle dogs. Based on the contrast injection flow rate, the contrast volume, and the administration methods, the experimental groups were divided into 4 groups such as group 1 : 2 ml/s, 3 ml/kg, and monophasic administration; group 2 : 5 ml/s, 3 ml/kg, and monophasic administration; group 3 : 5 ml/s, 4 ml/kg, and monophasic administration; group 4 : 5 ml/s and 2 ml/kg in first phase, 0.3 ml/s and 2 ml/kg in second phase, as biphasic administration. Normal anatomic orientation of pulmonary arteries in CTPA was evaluated through reformatted and 3D images after retro-reconstruction. Normal parameters for great arteries and peripheral pulmonary arteries were obtained on the factor of basement hounsfield unit (HU) values, contrast enhanced HU values, delay time, and peak time. And the optimal contrast delivery methods were evaluated on the factor of contrast enhanced HU values, image quality, and artifact. The monophasic administration with 5 ml/s contrast injection flow rate and 3 ml/kg contrast volume was optimal in canine CTPA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.5
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• pp.1287-1291
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• 2021

Testicular lymphoma is an uncommon testicular tumor that usually presents as a painless mass. It usually shows hypervascularity on color Doppler ultrasound (US) and a mild enhancement on enhanced CT or MRI. We present an unusual case of a testicular lymphoma mimicking a missed testicular torsion in a 67-year-old male patient with right scrotal swelling and intermittent pain for 2 months. Color Doppler US demonstrated the absence of vascularity in the enlarged right testis, and the initial diagnosis was a missed testicular torsion. CT demonstrated a poorly enhancing mass rather than a missed testicular torsion with enhanced small nodular foci at the periphery. The final pathological diagnosis was testicular lymphoma.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.863-879
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• 2019

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be noninvasively diagnosed on the basis of its characteristic imaging findings of arterial phase enhancement and portal/delayed "washout" on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in cirrhotic patients. However, different specific diagnostic criteria have been proposed by several countries and major academic societies. In 2018, major guideline updates were proposed by the Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), Korean Liver Cancer Association and National Cancer Center (KLCA-NCC) of Korea. In addition to dynamic CT and MRI using extracellular contrast media, these new guidelines now include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using hepatobiliary contrast media as the first-line diagnostic test, while the KLCA-NCC and EASL guidelines also include contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) as the second-line diagnostic test. Therefore, hepatobiliary MR contrast media and CEUS will be increasingly used for the noninvasive diagnosis and staging of HCC. In this review, we discuss the emerging role of hepatobiliary phase MRI and CEUS for the diagnosis of HCC and also review the changes in the HCC diagnostic criteria in major guidelines, including the KLCA-NCC practice guidelines version 2018. In addition, we aimed to pay particular attention to some remaining issues in the noninvasive diagnosis of HCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1649-1654
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• 2013

Objective: This work aimed to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with c-arm cone-beam CT guided synchronous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in treatment of large hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: 21 patients with large HCC were studied from January 2010 to March 2012. TACE combined with synchronous C-arm cone-beam CT guided RFA were performed on a total of 25 lesions. Conventional imaging examination (CEUS, enhanced CT or MRI) and AFP detection were regularly conducted to evaluate the technical success rate of combined treatment, complications, treatment response, time without disease recurrence and survival rate. Results: The technical success rate of combined treatment was 100%, without any significant complication. After 1 month, there were 19 cases with complete response and 2 cases with partial response, with an complete response rate of 90.4% (19/21) and a clinical effective rate of 100% (21/21). The complete response rates of single nodular lesions (100%, 17/17) was significantly higher than that of multiple nodular lesions (50%, 2/4) (P<0. 05). During 2 to 28 months of follow-up, in 19 cases with complete response, the average time without disease recurrence was $10.8{\pm}6$ months. The total survival rates of 6, 12 and 18 months in 21 patients were 100%, respectively. Conclusion: TACE combined with synchronous C-arm CT guided RFA is safe and effective for treatment of large HCC. The treatment efficacy for single nodular lesion is better than that for multiple nodular lesions.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.201-204
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• 2008

Purpose: Now the CT scanner and PACS program proved to be an excellent instrument for detection and localization of most facial foreign bodies above certain minimum levels of detectability. The severity of injury in penetrating trauma on the face is often underestimated in physical examination. Wood, with its porous consistency and organic nature, provides a good medium for microbial agents. This is a report of our recent experience with wooden foreign bodies in the parotid gland imaged with CT. Methods: A 9-year-old boy was referred for evaluation of possible retained foreign body within his face. One day earlier, he had fallen, face down approximately 1 miter onto ground. He had subsequently undergone an exploration of his right parotido-masseteric area at an outside hospital with repair of a right facial laceration. Enhanced 2 mm axial and coronal CT scans were obtained through the face. Axial and coronal CT images were obtained with a General Electric(Milwaukee, Wis) 9800 CT scanner at 130 kV, 90 mA, with a 2 mm section thickness. Results: We finally decided the linear "gas" attenuation was a foreign body because of its linear configuration, which did not conform to that of an anatomic structure, and on the basis of articles that described a wood foreign body in the orbit as having the appearance of air. We found that wood was hypoattenuating($-464{\pm}27HU$). Conclusion: We recommend this type of software program for CT scanning for any patient with an injury on the face in which a foreign body is suspected.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.910-915
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• 1999

Background: Positron emission tomography(PEFT) using fluorine-18 deoxyglucose(FDG), showing increased FDG uptake and retention in malignant cells, has been proven to be useful in differentiating malignant from benign tissues. We indertook the prospective study to compare the accuracy of the whole-body FDG PET with that of the conventional chest computed tomography(CT) for nodal staging of non-small-cell lung cancers(NSCLC). Material and Method: FDG PET and contrast enhanced CT were performed in 36 patients with potentially resectable NSCLC. Each Imaging study was evaluated independently, and nodal stations were localized according to the AJCC regional lymph nodes mapping system. Extensive lymph node dissection(1101 nodes) of ipsi- and contralateral mediastinal nodal stations was performed at thoracotomy and/or mediastinoscopy. Image findings were compared with the histopathologic staging results and were analyzed with the McNema test(p) and Kappa value(k). Result: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of CT for ipsilateral mediastinal nodal staging were 38%, 68%, 25%, 79%, and 61%, and those of PET were 88%, 71%, 47%, 95%, and 75%(p>0.05, K=0.29). When analyzed by individual nodal group(superior, aortopulmonary window, and inferior), the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of CT were 27%, 82%, 22%, 85%, and 73%, and those of PET were 60%, 87%, 92%, and 82%(p<0.05, k=0.27). Conclusion: FDG PET in addition to CT appears to be superior to CT alone for mediastinal staging of non-small cell lung cancers.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2024

Lung cancer segmentation in chest CT images is challenging due to the varying sizes of tumors and the presence of surrounding structures with similar intensity values. To address these issues, we propose a lung cancer segmentation network that incorporates deep supervision and utilizes UNet3+ as the backbone. Additionally, we propose a hybrid lesion focal loss function comprising three components: pixel-based, region-based, and shape-based, which allows us to focus on the smaller tumor regions relative to the background and consider shape information for handling ambiguous boundaries. We validate our proposed method through comparative experiments with UNet and UNet3+ and demonstrate that our proposed method achieves superior performance in terms of Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) for tumors of all sizes.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.179-190
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• 2001

In this proposed study, observing and analyzing contrast enhanced abdominal CT images, we segmented the liver automatically. We computed the ratio of each gray value from the estimated gray value range. With the average value of mesh image, we distinguished the liver from the noise parts. We divided the region based on immersion simulation. The threshold value is determined from the mesh image which is generated from each gray value portion of the liver and is used in dividing the liver to the noise region. To get the outline of the liver, we generated template image which represents the lump of the liver, and subtracted it from the binary image. With the results we use the proposed algorithm using 8-connectivity instead of the present opening algorithm, to reduce the processing time. We computed the volume from the segmented organ size and presented a clinical demonstration with the animal experiment

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.536-542
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• 2016

Interleukin-17A is a member of the IL-17 family, and is known as CTLA8 in the mouse. It is produced by T lymphocytes and NK cells and has proinflammatory roles, inducing cytokine and chemokine production. However, its role in tumor biology remains controversial. We investigated the effects of locally produced IL-17A by transferring the gene encoding it into CT26 colon cancer cells, either in a secretory or a membrane-bound form. Expression of the membrane-bound form on CT26 cells dramatically enhanced their proliferation in vitro. The enhanced growth was shown to be due to an increased rate of cell cycle progression: after synchronizing cells by adding and withdrawing colcemid, the rate of cell cycle progression in the cells expressing the membrane-bound form of IL-17A was much faster than that of the control cells. Both secretory and membrane-bound IL-17A induced the expression of Sca-1 in the cancer cells. When tumor clones were grafted into syngeneic BALB/c mice, the tumor clones expressing the membrane-bound form IL-17A grew rapidly; those expressing the secretory form also grew faster than the wild type CT26 cells, but slower than the clones expressing the membrane-bound form. These results indicate that IL-17A promotes tumorigenicity by enhancing cell cycle progression. This finding should be considered in treating tumors and immune-related diseases.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.735-741
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• 2021

Objective: To evaluate circularity as a quantitative shape factor of small renal tumor on computed tomography (CT) in differentiating fat-poor angiomyolipoma (AML) from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Materials and Methods: In 257 consecutive patients, 257 pathologically confirmed renal tumors (either AML or RCC less than 4 cm), which did not include visible fat on unenhanced CT, were retrospectively evaluated. A radiologist drew the tumor margin to measure the perimeter and area in all the contrast-enhanced axial CT images. In each image, a quantitative shape factor, circularity, was calculated using the following equation: 4 x π x (area ÷ perimeter²). The median circularity (circularity index) was adopted as a representative value in each tumor. The circularity index was compared between fat-poor AML and RCC, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed. Univariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the independent predictor of fat-poor AML. Results: Of the 257 tumors, 26 were AMLs and 231 were RCCs (184 clear cell RCCs, 25 papillary RCCs, and 22 chromophobe RCCs). The mean circularity index of AML was significantly lower than that of RCC (0.86 ± 0.04 vs. 0.93 ± 0.02, p < 0.001). The mean circularity index was not different between the subtypes of RCCs (0.93 ± 0.02, 0.92 ± 0.02, and 0.92 ± 0.02 for clear cell, papillary, and chromophobe RCCs, respectively, p = 0.210). The area under the ROC curve of circularity index was 0.924 for differentiating fat-poor AML from RCC. The sensitivity and specificity were 88.5% and 90.9%, respectively (cut-off, 0.90). Lower circularity index (≤ 0.9) was an independent predictor (odds ratio, 41.0; p < 0.001) for predicting fat-poor AML on multivariable logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Circularity is a useful quantitative shape factor of small renal tumor for differentiating fat-poor AML from RCC.