• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.522-527
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of bone using Tc-99m MDP in the diagnosis of osteoporotic vertebral fractures. Materials and Methods: Thirty two patients with osteoporotic vertebral fracture were included in this study (mean age: $67{\pm}8$, male: 5, female: 27). Seventy nine vertebral fractures were detected (38 thoracic/thoracolumbar lesions and 41 lumbar lesions), which were classified by type of deformity (wedge, biconcave or compression). The patterns and locations of increased uptakes were examined and analyzed. Results: Forty seven wedge fractures, 20 biconcave fractures and 12 compression fractures were found. Diffuse and asymmetric uptakes were common in fractured bodies. More than one uptake were examined in 69 posterior elements of fractured vertebrae (87.3%) including 40 of 47 wedge fractures (85.1%), 17 of 20 biconcave fractures (85.0%) and 12 of 12 compression fractures (100%). Wedge fractures were predominant fracture in thoracic/thoracolumbar spine whereas incidence of biconcave or compression type war similar to that of wedge fracture in lumbar spine (p=0.04). Spinous process uptake was more frequently seen in lumbar lesions than thoracic/thoracolumbar lesions (p=0.009). Facet joint uptake in biconcave fracture was more common in lumbar spine (92.3%) than thoracic/thoracolumbar spine (57.1%). Spinous process uptake in biconcave fracture was also more frequently detected in lumbar spine (p=0.043). Conclusion: Bone SPECT was useful in the evaluation of osteoporotic vertebral fracture, especially posterior elements of vertebrae.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2008

Purpose: National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) criteria and the Canadian Cervical Spine rule (CCR) are commonly used in cervical trauma patients to determine whether a plain cervical X-ray should be performed. However, plain cervical X-rays are so inaccurate that cervical spine computed tomography (CT) is often considered as a screening test. We studied the usefulness of the NEXUS criteria and the CCR for determining the need for a CT evaluation in the emergency department (ED). Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted from January 2007 to March 2008. Plain X-ray and CT scans of the cervical spine were performed on blunt trauma patients with neck pain. The relevancy of CT was examined using the NEXUS criteria and the CCR. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value, and negative predicted value analyses were performed to diagnose the cervical spine injury. Results: During the study period, 284 patients were enrolled in this study. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value, and negative predicted value of the NEXUS criteria were 87.5%, 1.1%, 5.0%, and 60.0% respectively, while those of the CCR were 87.5%, 8.2%, 5.3%, and 91.6%. There were two missed fracture cases when the NEXUS criteria and the CCR were applied independently, however, no cases were missed when both were applied. Conclusion: This study suggests the NEXUS and the CCR in combination can be used as a guide to CT evaluation for cervical spine injury in the ED.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.240-243
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• 2005

Osteoporosis, one of the age-related disease causes vertebra body fracture due to weakening trabecular bone and makes a substantial effect on load sharing among vertebras. Recently, vertebroplasty is one of the most popular treatment, as augmenting PMMA into vertebra. Biomechanical studies about vertebroplasty have been evaluated by several experiments or analysis under static loading but there has been no study on response under dynamic loading. This study included the FE analysis of patients who treated vertebroplasty under dynamic loading. For this study, 3-D FE model of lumbar spine(L1-L2) was modeled from CT scanning data and compared with experimental results in vitro in order to validate this model. Biomechanical behavior about each of normal person, osteoporotic patient and patient treated vertebroplasty for quantitative evaluations of vertebroplasty was compared and investigated.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.388-390
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• 2012

There has been no report of bilateral pedicle stress fractures involving two vertebrae. The authors describe a unique case of spondylolisthesis accompanying a bilateral pedicle stress fracture involving two vertebrae. De novo development of spondylolisthesis at the L5-S1 vertebrae accompanying a bilateral pedicle stress fracture at L4 and L5 was observed in a 70-year-old woman. The patient's medical history was unremarkable and she did not have any predisposing factors except severe osteoporosis. Interbody fusion with bone cement augmented screw fixation was performed. Surgical treatment resulted in good pain management and improved functional recovery.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.484-486
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• 2015

Unilateral pedicle stress fracture accompanying spondylolytic spondylolisthesis is rare even in the elderly. Most are associated with major trauma, previous spine surgery, or stress-related activity. Here, the authors describe an unique case of unilateral pedicle fracture associated with spondylolytic spondylolisthesis at the L5 level, which was successfully treated by posterior lumbar interbody fusion with screw fixation at the L5-S1 level. As far as the authors' knowledge, no such case has been previously reported in the literature. The pathophysiological mechanism of this uncommon entity is discussed and a review of relevant literature is included.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.66-69
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• 2008

Traumatic bilateral abducens nerve palsy is rare and is associated with intracranial, skull and cervical spine injuries. We report a case of bilateral abducens nerve palsy in a 40-month-old patient with a skull base fracture. The injury mechanism was associated with direct nerve injury caused by a right petrous bone fracture and indirect injury by frontal impact on the abducens nerve at the point of fixation to the petrous portion and Dorello's canal. The emergency physician should be aware of injuries and the mechanism of abducens nerve palsy in head trauma.

• Journal of the Korean Arthroscopy Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.148-153
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• 2005

Purpose: To analyze the clinical result of the arthroscopic reduction and fixation for the displaced tibial spine fractures in children and report the utility of the arthroscopic treatment with the review of the literature. Methods: Between December 2000 and July 2004, five patients (average age 9.1 years) received an arthroscopic reduction and fixation of displaced tibial spine fracture. A male-to-female ratio was 3:2 and mean follow-up was 38.2$(13{\sim}56)$ months. All five patients were classified type III by Movers and McKeever classification. The average period from injury to operation was 4.8 days $(3{\sim}8days)$, the avulsed fragment was reduced by operative arthroscopy and fixated by pull-out suture in 3 patients and by cannulated screw in 2 patients. Postoperatively long leg cast was applied for 2 weeks, and then gradual range-of-motion exercise was permitted. Full weight-bearing ambulation was permitted after 6 weeks. The clinical evaluation was performed by range of motion, Lachman and pivot shift test, KT-1000 arthrometer, Lysholm knee score and the modified Feagin score. Results: All five patients had no symptom and recovered full range of motion of the affected knees. Lachman test was positive finding of 1+ laxity in one patient, the others were negative, and all patients were negative findings for pivot shift test. The result of KT-1000 arthrometric assessment is mean maximum side-to-side differences 1.9 mm. Average Lysholm knee score was 99.4. All patients had excellent results in modified Feagin score. Conclusion: Arthroscopic reduction and fixation of displaced tibial spine fracture in children showed excellent result without complication. Both pull-out suture fixation and cannulated fixation provide an effective treatment option for fixation of the displaced anterior tibial spine fracture.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.453-459
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• 2013

Although Serbia is recognized as an endemic country for echinococcosis, no information about precise incidence in humans has been available. The aim of this study was to investigate the skeletal manifestations of hydatid disease in Serbia. This retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the medical database of Institute for Pathology (Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade), a reference institution for bone pathology in Serbia. We reported a total of 41 patients with bone cystic echinococcosis (CE) during the study period. The mean age of 41 patients was $40.9{\pm}18.8$ years. In 39% of patients, the fracture line was the only visible radiological sign, followed by cyst and tumefaction. The spine was the most commonly involved skeletal site (55.8%), followed by the femur (18.6%), pelvis (13.9%), humerus (7.0%), rib (2.3%), and tibia (2.3%). Pain was the symptom in 41.5% of patients, while some patients demonstrated complications such as paraplegia (22.0%), pathologic fracture (48.8%), and scoliosis (9.8%). The pathological fracture most frequently affected the spine (75.0%) followed by the femur (20.0%) and tibia (5.0%). However, 19.5% of patients didn't develop any complication or symptom. In this study, we showed that bone CE is not uncommon in Serbian population. As reported in the literature, therapy of bone CE is controversial and its results are poor. In order to improve the therapy outcome, early diagnosis, before symptoms and complications occur, can be contributive.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.841-850
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• 2019

Objective: The aim of this study was to report the effects of traditional Korean medicine as a treatment for the pain of a compression fracture in a patient with metastatic prostate cancer. Methods: A 60-year-old male patient with a compression fracture was treated with herbal medicines, acupuncture, and pharmacopuncture for 25 days. His chief complaints were severe low back pain, pain and numbness in both legs, and right groin pain. The effect of treatment was evaluated by the numerical rating scale (NRS) score for pain, the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score, and blood test results (CBC-diff count, CRP, ESR, etc.). Results: After 25 days of inpatient treatment, the patient's pain was controlled. The NRS and ODI scores were lower and most pathological symptoms had decreased. Conclusions: Traditional Korean medicine can be a solution for patients with compression fractures arising from metastasis of prostate cancer to the spine.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.154-161
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• 2017

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted steady-state free precession (DW-SSFP) in comparison to diffusion-weighted echo-planar imaging (DW-EPI) for differentiating the neoplastic and benign osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. Materials and Methods: The subjects were 40 patients with recent vertebral compression fractures but no history of vertebroplasty, spine operation, or chemotherapy. They had received 3-Tesla (T) spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including both DW-SSFP and DW-EPI sequences. The 40 patients included 20 with neoplastic vertebral fracture and 20 with benign osteoporotic vertebral fracture. In each fracture lesion, we obtained the signal intensity normalized by the signal intensity of normal bone marrow (SI norm) on DW-SSFP and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) on DW-EPI. The correlation between the SI norm and the ADC in each lesion was analyzed using linear regression. The optimal cut-off values for the diagnosis of neoplastic fracture were determined in each sequence using Youden's J statistics and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. Results: In the neoplastic fracture, the median SI norm on DW-SSFP was higher and the median ADC on DW-EPI was lower than the benign osteoporotic fracture (5.24 vs. 1.30, P = 0.032, and 0.86 vs. 1.48, P = 0.041, respectively). Inverse linear correlations were evident between SI norm and ADC in both neoplastic and benign osteoporotic fractures (r = -0.45 and -0.61, respectively). The optimal cut-off values for diagnosis of neoplastic fracture were SI norm of 3.0 in DW-SSFP with the sensitivity and specificity of 90.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 81.0-99.0) and 95.3% (95% CI: 90.0-100.0), respectively, and ADC of 1.3 in DW-EPI with the sensitivity and specificity of 90.5% (95% CI: 80.0-100.0) and 70.4% (95% CI: 60.0-80.0), respectively. Conclusion: In 3-T MRI, DW-SSFP has comparable sensitivity and specificity to DW-EPI in differentiating the neoplastic vertebral fracture from the benign osteoporotic vertebral fracture.