• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.193-197
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• 2006

Pulmonary thromboembolism is often clinically silent and difficult to diagnose, and can be fatal to patients with belated treatment. This complication is seen in patients who underwent TRAM breast reconstruction. Multiple factors are involved in this disease such as the presence of malignancy itself, major surgery and therapy-related interventions. TRAM surgery is a lengthy procedure involving mastectomy, flap surgery and abdominoplasty. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the incidence and the correlation between presurgical risk factors(BMI and age) of symptomatic pulmonary thromboembolism after TRAM surgery and the incidence. From July 2001 to March 2005 a total of 384 pedicled TRAM reconstruction of breast was performed in 382 patients at Asan Medical Center. The average of Body mass index was $21.9kg/m^2$ and mean age of the patients was 37.9 years old. We diagnosed symptomatic pulmonary thromboembolism using ventilation/perfusion lung scan and pulmonary embolism computed tomography. Incidence of in-hospital symptomatic pulmonary thromboembolism was 1.3%. BMI and age showed no significant statistical relationship to pulmonary thromboembolism. But the incidence of symptomatic pulmonary thromboembolism in obese patients (BMI > 25) was 3.75%. According to the guideline of the 7th American College of Chest Physicians Consensus Conference on Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy, the incidence of 3.75% was classified as high risk group. The prevention of pulmonary thromboembolism should be considered in cases of obese patients with low molecular weight heparin(BMI > 25).

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.280-284
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• 2003

Creation of an axillary arteriovenous fistula (AVF) was performed in two patients with high risks of Fontan operation after a cavopulmonary shunt. The patients complained of progressive cyanosis and decrease in exercise tolerance, and they showed pulmonary arteriovenous fistula on the pulmonary angiography. They were uneventfully transferred to the general ward on the first postoperative day and discharged 3 and 4 days after the operation respectively. There was no evidence of fistula-related volume loading and the other post-operative complications. An 8-month follow-up revealed improved symptoms such as, cyanosis and exercise intolerance, but not sufficient regression of pulmonary arteriovenous fistula on a lung perfusion scan and contrast echocardiography, which should be carefully checked hereafter.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.442-448
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• 1993

Foreign body aspiration, although not an uncommon problem in children, is unusual in adults and is overlooked as a cause of airway obstruction. Small foreign bodies that lodge in the peripheral airway are often asymptomatic initially and can result in respiratory symptoms several years later. Especially in the cases of otherwise healthy subjects, even though manifested overt respiratory symptoms, diagnosis can be delayed due to lack of history of aspiration or unnoticed aspiration. A 57-year-old male was admitted to Yonsei University College of Medicine Severance hospital due to left upper chest pain for five months. on the past history he had been diagnosed as bronchiectasis about 20 years ago. He showed radiologically bead-like bronchostenosis and a calcific density protruding into the lumen of left upper lobar bronchus. Bronchoscopically broncholith was revealed with the finding of endobronchial obstruction of each upper and lingular division of left upper lobar bronchus due to mucoid impaction and surrounding inflammed bronchial mucosa. The preoperative diagnosis was broncholithiasis due to chronic inflammatory process. Lung perfusion scan shows absence of perfusion in left upper lobe. So left upper lobectomy was performed. But from the pathologic specimen an incisor tooth was emerged. Later a history of tooth extraction thirty years ago at dental clinic was found. We report a case of bronchial obstruction due to occult aspiration of a tooth with a review of the literatures.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.288-297
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• 2004

Puporse: The aims of this study were to evaluate the change of $[^18F]fluoromisonidazole$($[^18F]FMISO$) uptake in C3H mouse squamous cell carcinoma-VII (SCC-VII) treated with mild hyperthermia ($42^{circ}C$) and nicotinamide and to assess the biodistribution of the markers in normal tissues under similar conditions. Methods and Materials: $[^18F]FMISO$ was producedby our hospital. Female C3H mice with a C3H SCC-VII tumor grown on their extremities were used. Tumors were size matched. Non-anaesthetized, tumor-bearing mice underwent control or mild hyperthermia at $42^{circ}C$ for 60 min with nicotinamide (50 mg/kg i.p. injected) and were examined by gamma counter, autoradiography and animal PET scan 3 hours after tracer i.v. injected with breathing room air, The biodistribution of these agents were obtained at 3 h after $[^18F]FMISO$ injection. Blood, tumor, muscle, heart, lung, liver, kidney, brain, bone, spleen, and intestine were removed, counted for radioactivity and weighed. The tumor and liver were frozen and cut with a cryomicrotome into 10- um sections. The spatial distribution of radioactivity from the tissue sections was determined with digital autoradiography. Results: The mild hyperthermia with nicotinamide treatment had only slight effects on the biodistribution of either marker in normal tissues. We observed that the whole tumor radioactivity uptake ratios were higher in the control mice than in the mild hyperthermia with nicotinamide treated mice for $[^18F]FMISO$ ($1.56{\pm}1.03$ vs. $0.67{\pm}0.30$; p=0.063). In addition, autoradiography and animal PET scan demonstrated that the area and intensity of $[^18F]FMISO$ uptake was significantly decreased. Conclusion: Mild hyperthermla and nicotinamide significantly improved tumor hypoxia using $[^18F]FMISO$ and this uptake reflected tumor hypoxic status.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1676-1680
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• 2005

There are few topic about a pulmonary thromboembolism(PTE) especially in Korean medical research. This case report is dealt with a rare situation that a PTE and a lacunar infarction are complicated in one patient. They have a similarity in that both are caused by the thrombosis. The former is the thrombosis in lung and the latter is the cerebral infarcion within the territory of a single perforating artery Recently the attack rate of PTE somewhat grow because of the development of medicine such as the increasing use of indwelling catheters, trauma or surgery of pelvis and lower extrimity, major surgery especially in senior, the use of estrogen containing compounds, cerebrovascular disease, obesity, etc. A 70 year-old lady was stroked by the cerebral infarction and has been getting rehabilitating therapy. She had the sudden onset of dyspnea, chest pain and those symptoms looked like a myocardial infarction. But she was diagnosed as PTE by ventilation perfusion lung scan. We cured her with the integrated therapy of Korean and Western medicine.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.536-542
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• 1999

Background: The purpose of this study is to improve the quality of the diagnostic procedures in the preoperative evaluation so as to reduce the unnecessary thoracotomy and to ensure resectability in non-small cell lung cancer. Material and Method: Of 616 patients who underwent thoracotomy for primary lung cancer from January 1990 to December 1996, 59 patients(9.6%) turned out to have inoperable lesions after the thoracotomy. We reprospectively reviewed the bronchoscopic findings, methods of tissue diagnosis, CT scans, pulmonary function test and lung perfusion scan, reasons for nonresectability, and adjuvant therapy, and then followed up on the survival rate after exploratory thoracotomy. Result: The cell types were squamous cell carcinoma in 38, adenocarcinoma in 15, large cell carcinoma in 3 and others in 3. Primary loci were RUL in 20, RML in 6, RLL in 8, LUL in 13, LLL in 4 and others in 8. The reasons for non-resectability were various; direct tumor invaison to mediastinal structures(n=41), seeding on pleural cavity(n=8), poor pulmonary function(n=2), invasions to extranodal mediastinal lymph node(n=2), technical non- resectability due to extensive chest wall invasion (n=3), small cell carcinoma (n=1), malignant lymphoma(n=1), and multiple rib metastases(n=1). In the follow-up of 58 patients, 1-year survival rate was 55.2% and 2-year survival rate was 17.2% and the mean survival time was 14 months. When compared according to cell types or postoperative adjuvant therapeutic modalities, no significant difference in the survival rates were found. The squamous cell carcinoma was frequently accompanied by local extension to contiguous structures and was the main cause of non-resectability. In adenocarcinoma, pleural seeding with malignant effusion was frequently encountered, and was the major reason for non-resectability. Conclusion: These data revealed that if appropriate preoperative diagnostic tools had been available, many unnecessary thoracotomies could have been avoided. Both the use of thoracoscopy in selected cases of adenocarcinoma and the more aggressive surgical approach to the locally advanced tumor could reduce the incidence of unnecessary thoracotomies for non-small cell lung cancers.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2010

Purpose: The Xpress3.$cardiac^{TM}$ which is a kind of wide beam reconstruction (WBR) method developed by UltraSPECT (Haifa, Israel) enables the acquisition of at quarter time while maintaining image quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of WBR method for decreasing scan times and to compare to it with filtered back projection (FBP), which is the method routinely used. Materials and Methods: Phantom and clinical studies were performed. The anthropomorphic torso phantom was made on an equality with counts from patient's body. The Tl-201 concentrations in the compartments were 74 kBq (2 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in myocardium, 11.1 kBq (0.3 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in soft tissue, and 2.59 kBq (0.07 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in lung. The non-gated Tl-201 myocardial perfusion SPECT data were acquired with the phantom. The former study was scanned for 50 seconds per frame with FBP method, and the latter study was acquired for 13 seconds per frame with WBR method. Using the Xeleris ver. 2.0551, full width at half maximum (FWHM) and average image contrast were compared. In clinical studies, we analyzed the 30 patients who were examined by Tl-201 gated myocardial perfusion SPECT in department of nuclear medicine at Asan Medical Center from January to April 2010. The patients were imaged at full time (50 second per frame) with FBP algorithm and again quarter-time (13 second per frame) with the WBR algorithm. Using the 4D MSPECT (4DM), Quantitative Perfusion SPECT (QPS), and Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) software, the summed stress score (SSS), summed rest score (SRS), summed difference score, end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV) and ejection fraction (EF) were analyzed for their correlations and statistical comparison by paired t-test. Results: As a result of the phantom study, the WBR method improved FWHM more than about 30% compared with FBP method (WBR data 5.47 mm, FBP data 7.07 mm). And the WBR method's average image contrast was also higher than FBP method's. However, in result of quantitative indices, SSS, SDS, SRS, EDV, ESV, EF, there were statistically significant differences from WBR and FBP(p<0.01). In the correlation of SSS, SDS, SRS, there were significant differences for WBR and FBP (0.18, 0.34, 0.08). But EDV, ESV, EF showed good correlation with WBR and FBP (0.88, 0.89, 0.71). Conclusion: From phantom study results, we confirmed that the WBR method reduces an acquisition time while improving an image quality compared with FBP method. However, we should consider significant differences in quantitative indices. And it needs to take an evaluation test to apply clinical study to find a cause of differences out between phantom and clinical results.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.8 s.265
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• pp.626-632
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• 2006

Background: Pulmonary hypertension caused by chronic pulmonary embolism is underrecognized and carries a poor prognosis. Medical therapy is generally unsatisfactory and palliative. With the improvement of operative technique and postoperative management, pulmonary endarterectomy has been the treatment of choice for this condition. Material and Method: Between January 2001 and December 2005, eleven patients were received pulmonary endarterectomy. All patients had chronic dyspnea and exercise intolerance. Diagnosis was made with cardiac echocardiography, lung perfusion scan and computed tomography. Before the operation, Greenfield vena cava filter were placed in all patient except one. Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest was used for the distal-most portion of the endarterectomy procedure. More than moderate degree of tricuspid reguirgitation was repaired during operation. Result: There was no early and late death. Right ventricular systolic pressure was reduced significantly after operation from $91{\pm}21$ mmHg to $40{\pm}17$ mmHg on echocardiography (p=0.001). NYHA class and tricuspid reguirgitaion were improved postoperatively. Although mild reperfusion injury in three case and postoperative delirium in one case were observed, all of them recovered without complication. Conclusion: Pulmonary thromboendarterctomy offers to patient an acceptable morbidity rate and anticipation of clinical improvement. This method is safe and effective operation for pulmonary hypertension caused by chronic pulmonary thromboembolism.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2003

Purpose : Intravascular stent implantation for the treatment of postoperative branch pulmonary artery(PA) stenosis has been used successfully. However, the cross sectional area of contralateral branch PA does not regress in spite of the successful dilation of the stenotic branch PA after stent implantation. We analyzed the morphologic and hemodynamic factors on the size of branch PA after successful stent implantation. Methods : The subjects in our study were 23 children who had undergone stent implantaion from Jan. 1995 to Jul. 2002 in the Division of Yonsei Pediatric Cardiology. We evaluated the cross sectional area index(CSAI) of branch PA before and after stent implantation at follow-up catheterization. We also investigated factors such as residual pulmonary stenosis, pulmonary regurgitation(PR), systolic pressure of right ventricle, and lung perfusion scan. Results : The CSAI of the RPA without stenosis changed from mean $238{\pm}17mm^2/BSA$ to mean $249{\pm}20mm^2/BSA$(P=0.47), but didn't regress. The CSAI of the LPA with stenosis was increased effectively by stent implantation from the mean $102{\pm}12mm^2/BSA$ to mean $125{\pm}11mm^2/BSA$(P< 0.05). At follow up after stent implantation, the CSAI of PA is correlated with the residual PR fraction after stent implantation. Conclusion : In a group with increased residual PR, CSAI of RPA was found to be significantly increased between the pre- and post-stages of stent implantation. So, we suspect that the pulmonary regurgitation remaining after right ventricle outlet tract(RVOT) dilatation surgery is correlated with the increase in CSAI of RPA.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.106-116
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• 2001

Background : Pulmonary thromboembolism is relatively frequent and potentially fatal. However, it is commonly misdiagnosed. The incidence of pulmonary thromboembolism is not decreasing despite advances in diagnosis and effective prophylatic measures. Its potential for significant sequela necessitates a prompt diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, there are many difficulties and problems regarding accurate diagnosis. There is a low prevalence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary thromboembolism in Korea and only few reports on this subject are available. Method : The clinical features of 36 patients, who were diagnosed with pulmonary thromboembolism at the Korea University medical center, were reviewed. Results : 1) There was no significant difference in prevalence between men an women, and the mean age was 50.9 years in men 59.2 years in women. 2) The frequent causes of pulmonary thromboembolism were malignancies (22.2%), surgery (22.2%), and heart disease(8.2%). Specific causes were not identified in 33.3%. 3) The most common symptom was dyspnea(72.2%), and the most common sign was tachypnea(61.1%). 4) The EKG findings were normal in 28.6%, an S1Q3T3 pulmonale pattern in 25.7%, ST or QRS changes in others. 5) The chest X-ray findings indicated pulmonary infiltration in 37.5%, cardiomegaly in 15.6%, pleural effusion in 12.5%, and normal in 27.8%. The perfusion lung scan showed a high probability in 66.7%, and intermediate or low probability in 33.3%. 6) The pulmonary arterial pressure(PAP) in the high probability groups was 57.9mmHg with a higher mortality rate(35%). Conclusion : Pulmonary thromboembolism is not uncommon in Korea and its clinical features do not differ greatly from thase reported in the literature. When pulmonary thromboemblism of unknown causes are diagnosed, a search for an occult malignancy is recommended. Rapid diagnosis and treatment are achieved when thromboemblism is suspected.