• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.229-236
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• 2018

Liver cancer is one of the highest incidents in the world, and the mortality rate is the second most common disease after lung cancer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic ability of deep learning in the classification of malignant and benign tumors in CT images of patients with liver tumors. We also tried to identify the best data processing methods and deep learning models for classifying malignant and benign tumors in the liver. In this study, CT data were collected from 92 patients (benign liver tumors: 44, malignant liver tumors: 48) at the Gil Medical Center. The CT data of each patient were used for cross-sectional images of 3,024 liver tumors. In AlexNet and VggNet, the average of the overall accuracy at each image size was calculated: the average of the overall accuracy of the $200{\times}200$ image size is 69.58% (AlexNet), 69.4% (VggNet), $150{\times}150$ image size is 71.54%, 67%, $100{\times}100$ image size is 68.79%, 66.2%. In conclusion, the overall accuracy of each does not exceed 80%, so it does not have a high level of accuracy. In addition, the average accuracy in benign was 90.3% and the accuracy in malignant was 46.2%, which is a significant difference between benign and malignant. Also, the time it takes for AlexNet to learn is about 1.6 times faster than VggNet but statistically no different (p > 0.05). Since both models are less than 90% of the overall accuracy, more research and development are needed, such as learning the liver tumor data using a new model, or the process of pre-processing the data images in other methods. In the future, it will be useful to use specialists for image reading using deep learning.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.253-262
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• 2021

Objective: To determine whether the values of hepatic apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) can differentiate biliary atresia (BA) from non-BA or be correlated with the grade of hepatic fibrosis in infants with cholestasis. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study included infants who received liver MRI examinations to evaluate cholestasis from July 2009 to October 2017. Liver ADC, ADC ratio of liver/spleen, aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI), and spleen size were compared between the BA and non-BA groups. The diagnostic performances of all parameters for significant fibrosis (F3-4) were obtained by receiver-operating characteristics (ROCs) curve analysis. Results: Altogether, 227 infants (98 males and 129 females, mean age = 57.2 ± 36.3 days) including 125 BA patients were analyzed. The absolute ADC difference between two reviewers was 0.10 mm²/s for both liver and spleen. Liver ADC value was specific (80.4%) and ADC ratio was sensitive (88.0%) for the diagnosis of BA with comparable performance. There were 33 patients with F0, 15 with F1, 71 with F2, 35 with F3, and 11 with F4. All four parameters of APRI (τ = 0.296), spleen size (τ = 0.312), liver ADC (τ = -0.206), and ADC ratio (τ = -0.288) showed significant correlation with fibrosis grade (all, p < 0.001). The cutoff values for significant fibrosis (F3-4) were 0.783 for APRI (area under the ROC curve [AUC], 0.721), 5.9 cm for spleen size (AUC, 0.719), 1.044 x 10^-3 mm²/s for liver ADC (AUC, 0.673), and 1.22 for ADC ratio (AUC, 0.651). Conclusion: Liver ADC values and ADC ratio of liver/spleen showed limited additional diagnostic performance for differentiating BA from non-BA and predicting significant hepatic fibrosis in infants with cholestasis.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.508-515
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• 2003

A 4-month-old 5.7 kg male Golden retriever with history of seizure, depression, lethargy and anorexia was referred to Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, Chungbuk National University. Hematologic examination revealed microcytosis and nonregenerative anemia. Serum chemical values showed increased serum ammonia (423 $\mu$mol/L), ALP (1101 U/L), r-GTP (13.9 U/L) and CPK (1454 U/L), and decreased total protein (4.9 g/dl) and BUN (1.6 mg/dl). Microhepatia was shown in survey abdominal radiographs. Color doppler ultrasonographic examination revealed dilated tortuous vein with turbulent flow within liver parenchyma. Intraoperative jejunoportography and intraoperative ultrasonography confirmed the location and size of single intrahepatic shunt vessel in the left medial liver lobe. Also, the anomalous vessel entering the caudal vena cava was identified beneath the diaphragm. The shunting vessel was ligated with using an Ameroid constrictor. General conditions, hematologic and serum chemical values resolved gradually after surgery. One month after surgery abdominal radiograph showed normal gastric axis and it was consistent whit the normal size liver. Normal echogenecity of liver and enlargement of portal vein were shown in ultrasonography. It is assumed that survey radiography and ultrasonography are useful for diagnosis of single intrahepatic shunt in a dog and especially jejunoportography vein portography and intraoperative ultrasonography are suitable for confirmation of the anatomic location and size of the shunting vessels.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2003.11b
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• pp.153-156
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• 2003

In this paper, we propose a new scheme for automatic segmentation of the liver in CT images. The proposed scheme is carried out on region of interest(ROI) blocks that include regions of the liver with high probabilities. The ROI approach saves unnecessary computational loss in finding the accurate boundary of the liver. The proposed method utilizes the composition of multi-size morphological filters with a prior knowledge, such as the general location or the approximate intensity of the liver to detect the initial boundary of the liver. Then, we make the gradient image with the weight of the initial liver boundary and segment the liver legion by using an immersion-based waters hed algorithm in the gradient image. finally, the refining process is carried out to acquire a more accurate liver region.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.475-484
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• 2023

This study aimed to compare filters for reducing speckle noise in ultrasound images using clinical liver images. We acquired the clinical liver ultrasound images, and noisy images were obtained by adding 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.50 intensity levels of speckle noise to the liver images. The Wiener filter, median modified Wiener filter, gamma filter, and Lee filter were designed for the noisy images by setting window sizes at 3×3, 5×5, and 7×7. The coefficient of variation (COV) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) were calculated to evaluate noise reduction and various filters. Moreover, the filter with the highest image quality was selected and quantitatively compared to a noisy image. As a result, COV and CNR showed the noise improved result when the Lee filter was applied. Furthermore, the Lee filter image with a window size of 7×7 was noted to possess approximately a minimum of 1.28 to a maximum of 3.38 times better COV and a minimum of 2.18 to a maximum of 5.50 times better CNR than the noisy image. In conclusion, we confirmed that the Lee filter was effective in reducing speckle noise and proved that an appropriate window size needs to be set considering blurring.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.190-203
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• 2023

Objective: We aimed to assess and validate the radiologic and clinical factors that were associated with recurrence and survival after curative surgery for heterogeneous targetoid primary liver malignancies in patients with chronic liver disease and to develop scoring systems for risk stratification. Materials and Methods: This multicenter retrospective study included 197 consecutive patients with chronic liver disease who had a single targetoid primary liver malignancy (142 hepatocellular carcinomas, 37 cholangiocarcinomas, 17 combined hepatocellular carcinoma-cholangiocarcinomas, and one neuroendocrine carcinoma) identified on preoperative gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI and subsequently surgically removed between 2010 and 2017. Of these, 120 patients constituted the development cohort, and 77 patients from separate institution served as an external validation cohort. Factors associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were identified using a Cox proportional hazards analysis, and risk scores were developed. The discriminatory power of the risk scores in the external validation cohort was evaluated using the Harrell C-index. The Kaplan-Meier curves were used to estimate RFS and OS for the different risk-score groups. Results: In RFS model 1, which eliminated features exclusively accessible on the hepatobiliary phase (HBP), tumor size of 2-5 cm or > 5 cm, and thin-rim arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE) were included. In RFS model 2, tumors with a size of > 5 cm, tumor in vein (TIV), and HBP hypointense nodules without APHE were included. The OS model included a tumor size of > 5 cm, thin-rim APHE, TIV, and tumor vascular involvement other than TIV. The risk scores of the models showed good discriminatory performance in the external validation set (C-index, 0.62-0.76). The scoring system categorized the patients into three risk groups: favorable, intermediate, and poor, each with a distinct survival outcome (all log-rank p < 0.05). Conclusion: Risk scores based on rim arterial enhancement pattern, tumor size, HBP findings, and radiologic vascular invasion status may help predict postoperative RFS and OS in patients with targetoid primary liver malignancies.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1419-1426
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• 2008

Fulminant hepatic failure is a clinical syndrome associated with a high mortality rate. Orthotopic liver transplantation is the only clinically proven effective treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease who do not respond to medical management. A major limitation of this treatment modality is the scarcity of donor organs available, resulting in patients dying while waiting for a donor liver. An extracorporeal bioartificial liver (BAL) device containing viable hepatocytes has the potential to provide temporary hepatic support to liver failure patients, serving as a bridge to transplantation while awaiting a suitable donor. In some patients, providing temporary hepatic support may be sufficient to allow adequate regeneration of the host liver, thereby eliminating the need for a liver transplant. Although the BAL device is a promising technology for the treatment of liver failure, there are several technical challenges that must be overcome in order to develop systems with sufficient processing capacity and of manageable size. In this overview, the authors describe the critical issues involved in developing a BAL device. They also discuss their experiences in hepatocyte culture optimization within the context of a microchannel flat-plate BAL device.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 1969

Correlation between the blood clearance half time and findings of liver scan using the colloidal radiogold in patients of liver cirrhosis is observed through the scoring system, in which the more changes in size, shape and density in the liver scan, the more points are given (table 1). Results: 1) Within the increase in severity of hepatocellular dysfunction in liver cirrhosis, the degree and frequency of following changes in liver scan (done with colloidal radiogold) were increased in order. a) generalized hepatomegaly b) enlargement of the left lobe & reduction of the right lobe c) relatively increased radiodensity in the left lobe and 4) visualization of spleen. 2) Frequency of the normal scan in liver cirrhosis was $12{\pm}3.56%$, frequency of normal value in blood clearance half time of the radiogold was $5.0{\pm}2.34%$ and frequency of normal scan & normal blood clearance rate in liver cirrhosis was $3.6{\pm}2.06%$.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.161-168
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• 1986

In order to investigate the effect of riboflavin on cholesterol and MLHP (methyl linoleate hydroperoxide) -induced fatty liver electron microscopically, riboflavin was given to rate receiving high cholestero and MLHP diet for 4 weeks, 8 week old male Sprague-Dawley rats were administrated diets daily, as following group ; usual diet (control ), riboflavin 910 ug/20gm BW), cholesterol (50mg/gm BW), MLHP(0.1ml/20gm BW), cholesterol plus MLHP, cholesterol plus riboflavin, cholesterol plus MLHP plus riboflavin, by means of intubation into the stomach for 4 weeks. Each group consisted of 10 rats, The liver of the animals were examined ultrstructurally by transmission electronmicroscope. The results wee as follows ; 1) The three group including cholesterol, MLHP, cholesterol plus MLHP feeding resulted in fatty liver. 2) The main finding of the fatty liver were swelling and vacuolation of mitochondria, a lot of lipid droplets, disarrangements and loss of rough endoplamic reticulums. 3) the most striking features in the group of cholesterol plus riboflavin, cholesterol plus MLHP plus riboflavin feeding were decrease of size and number of lipid droplets, mitochondrial swelling and vesiculation, with restortion of rough endoplasmic retriculums. It is postulated with above findings that riboflavin was effective in prevention of cholesterol and MLHP -induced fatty liver.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2014

The technique of stem cells or hepatocytes transplantation has recently improved in order to bridge the time before whole-organ liver transplantation. In the present study, unfractionated bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) were harvested from the tibial and femoral marrow compartments of male mice, which were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) with and without hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and then transplanted into Schistosoma mansoni- infected female mice on their 8th week post-infection. Mice were sacrificed monthly until the third month of bone marrow transplantation, serum was collected, and albumin concentration, ALT, AST, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities were assayed. On the other hand, immunohistopathological and immunohistochemical changes of granuloma size and number, collagen content, and cells expressing OV-6 were detected for identification of liver fibrosis. BMSCs were shown to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells. Serum ALT, AST, and ALP were markedly reduced in the group of mice treated with BMSCs than in the untreated control group. Also, granuloma showed a marked decrease in size and number as compared to the BMSCs untreated group. Collagen content showed marked decrease after the third month of treatment with BMSCs. On the other hand, the expression of OV-6 increased detecting the presence of newly formed hepatocytes after BMSCs treatment. BMSCs with or without HGF infusion significantly enhanced hepatic regeneration in S. mansoni-induced fibrotic liver model and have pathologic and immunohistopathologic therapeutic effects. Also, this new therapeutic trend could generate new hepatocytes to improve the overall liver functions.