PURPOSE: To investigate the levels of radiation exposure of an operator which may be influenced by the wearing an apron, type of procedure, duration of fluoroscopy and operator's skill during various interventional procedures MATERIALS AND METHODS: Radiation doses were measured both inside and outside the apron(0.5mm lead equivalent) of the operator by a film badge monitoring method and the duration of fluoroscopy was measured in 96 procedures prospectively. The procedures were 30 transcatheter arterial embolizations (TAE), 25 percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainages (PTBD), 16 stone removals (SR), 15 percutaneous needle aspirations (PCNA) and 10 percutaneous nephrostomies(PCN). To assess the difference of exposure by the operator's skill, the procedures of TAE and PTBD were done separately by groups of staffs and residents. RESULTS: Average protective effect of the apron was 72.8%. Average radiation exposure(unit:micro Sv/procedure) was 23.3 in PTBD by residents, 10.0 in PTBD by staffs, 10.0 in SR, 8.7 in TAE by residents, 7.3 in TAE by staffs, 9.0 in PCN and 6.0 in PCNA. Average radiation exposure of residents were 1.9 times greater than those of staffs. CONCLUSION: Radiation exposure was not proportionally related to the duration of fiuoroscopy, but influenced by wearing an apron, various types o[procedure and operator's skills.
Aspirations (Psychology) ; Film Dosimetry ; Fluoroscopy ; Needles ; Pregnenolone Carbonitrile ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; Prospective Studies

A variety of disease states are marked by prolonged and profound eosinophilia associated with localized or widespread eosinophilic infiltrates. Cardiac involvement maybe a major cause of morbidity and mortality of this disease. We report a case of acute peri-myocarditis with eosinophilia, which was confirmed as eosinophilic myocardilic myocarditis by endomyocardial biopsy.
Biopsy ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils* ; Mortality ; Myocarditis*

PURPOSE: To elucidate high-resolution CT(HRCT) findings and their pathologic basis in pulmonary oil embolism induced by LipiodoI-Adriamycin emulsion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pulmonary oil embolism was induced by infusing LipiodoI-Adriamycin emulsion through a peripheral vein in twelve Yorkshire pigs. Serial HRCT scans were performed on 2rid, 4th, 7th, 14th, and 28th day after the procedure. The pigs were sacrificed immediately after HRCT and histologic specimens were prepared in the same plane and level with HRCT. RESULTS: The basic pathology was reversible hemorrhagic edema of the lung. On HRCT, intraalveolar hemorrhage and edema in the acute stage manifested as ground-glass opacity or air-space consolidation of the whole secondary Iobule. The lesions were predominantly distributed over the dependent posterior lung fields because the specific gravity of Lipiodol is 1.28. Interlobular septal thickening due to edematous fluid collection was also associated. With the elapse of time, the extent and severity of the acute lesions resolved and, sometimes, changed into small nodular opacities. Pulmonary opacity was most severe on the post-embolization 2nd day and completely resolved within 2 weeks. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary embolization of LipiodoI-Adriamycin emulsion causes reversible hemorrhagic edema of the lung and Lipiodol toxicity seems to play a major role. HRCT findings of pulmonary oil embolism are quite different from those of pneumonia and pulmonary metastasis, which suggests the possibility of clincal application.
Edema ; Embolism* ; Ethiodized Oil ; Hemorrhage ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pathology ; Pneumonia ; Specific Gravity ; Swine ; Veins

OBJECTIVES: There are a lot of studies that analyze the interaction between the emotion of disgust and the functional brain images using fMRI and PET. But studies using sLORETA (standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography) almost do not exist. The aim of this research is to explore the relationship of the emotion of disgust and the cortical activation using sLORETA analysis. METHODS: Forty five healthy young adults (27.1+/-2.6 years) participated in the study. While they were watching 4 neutral images and 4 disgusting images associated with mutilation selected from the international affective picture system (IAPS), participants' EEGs were taken for 30 seconds per one picture. Through these obtained EEG data, sLORETA analysis was performed to compare EEGs associated with neutral and negative images. RESULTS: During looking for visual disgusting stimulus, all participants reported unpleasantness, arousal and stress. In sLORETA analysis, the decrease of current density in theta wave was shown at left frontal superior gyrus (BA10) and middle gyrus (BA10, 11). This voxel cluster consists of a total of 11 voxels and the threshold of t value indicating statistically significant decreases in the current density (p<0.05) was -1.984. There were no differences between male and female in the degree of being disgusted by the stimuli. CONCLUSION: This finding may suggest that the activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex might be associated with regulating disgust emotion.
Arousal ; Brain ; Electroencephalography ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnets ; Male ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Young Adult

A 62-year-old woman with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia(HHT) or Osler-Weber-Rendu disease involving the liver is presented. Imaging findings including color Doppler sonograph and CT findings are described.
Female ; Humans ; Liver* ; Middle Aged

BACKGROUND: Despite improved operator technique and advanced equipment designs, acute closure and restenosis remain as serious limitations to both the short and long-term success of balloon angioplasty. Atherectomy is a new transluminal interventional technique for the treatment of coronary artery obstructive disease. We evaluate preliminary experience of directonal coronary atherectomy (DCA) for complex coronary artery lesions. METHODS: We tried DCA in the 16 lesions of 15 nonrandomized sequential patients(mean age 66 years, M/F : 12/3) with coronary artery lesions that were ostial lesion in 4, ulcerated and/or eccentric in 13, restenosis after PTCA in 2 and after stent implantation in 2. The target vessel was right coronary artery in 7 and left anterior descending artery in 9. RESULTS: Primary success was achieved in 14 of 16 lesions (88%) by atherectomy and in 5(36%) by additional use of balloon angioplasty. Atherectomy retrieved tissue in 15 out of 15 attempts(100%). One patients suffered acute closure due to large dissection during the DCA which was solved successfully after stent implantation. CONCLUSIONS: Atherectomy can predictably treat selected patients with eccentric, ostial bulky coronary lesions with overall safety comparable to that of conventional balloon angioplasty, although the procedure as currently performed does not appear to prevent restenosis.
Angioplasty, Balloon ; Arteries ; Atherectomy ; Atherectomy, Coronary* ; Coronary Vessels ; Equipment Design ; Humans ; Stents ; Ulcer

OBJECTIVE: To observe the change of sympathetic skin response (SSR) before and after sympathectomy in patients with idiopathic palmar hyperhidrosis and to find the usefulness of SSR for assessment of the effects of sympathectomy. METHOD: The SSR was measured in 20 patients with palmar hyperhidrosis and 20 normal control group. Ten days after thoracoscopic sympathectomy, SSR was also measured. A 50~150 V stimulus was applied over the median nerve and SSR was recorded on bilateral palms and soles with Viking IV (Nicolet Biomedical Ins., U.S.A.). Patient's satisfaction with operation was assessed by questionnaire. RESULTS: Absent or unstable SSR recordings rate was increased and amplitudes of SSR were significantly decreased in patients with palmar hyperhidrosis compared with control group. After sympathectomy, SSR was absent in all cases on bilateral palms and these results were correlated with clinical improvment. All patients who had undergone surgery showed significant clinical improvement for palmar hyperhidrosis and about 75% of the cases were found to have compensatory sweating from other site of the body. CONCLUSION: Abnormal sympathetic nerve system responses were observed in patients with palmar hyperhidrosis. SSR recordings and clinical manifestations were influenced by sysmpathectomy.
Humans ; Hyperhidrosis* ; Median Nerve ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Skin* ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Sympathectomy

Background: To evaluate the degree of deformation in patients with ankle osteoarthritis (OA), it is essential to measure the threedimensional (3D), in other words, stereoscopic alignment of the ankle, subtalar, and foot arches. Generally, measurement of radiological parameters use two-dimensional (2D) anteroposterior and lateral radiographs in a weight-bearing state; however, computeraided 3D analysis (Disior) using weight-bearing cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) has recently been introduced. Methods: In this study, we compared the 2D human radiographic method with a stereoscopic image in patients with ankle arthritis. We enrolled 57 patients diagnosed with OA (28 left and 29 right) and obtained both standing radiographs and weight-bearing CBCT. Patients were divided by the Takakura stage. The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for each result was confirmed. Results: On the ICC between 2D radiographs and 3D analysis, the tibiotalar surface angle and lateral talo-1st metatarsal angle showed a good ICC grade (> 0.6), while other parameters did not have significant ICC results. Three-dimension was superior to radiographs in terms of statistical significance. Conclusions We demonstrated that 2D and stereoscopic images are useful for the diagnosis of OA. Our study also confirmed that the radiographic features affected by ankle OA varied. However, according to the results, the typical radiography is not sufficient to diagnose and determine a treatment plan for ankle OA. Therefore, the method of using 3D images should be considered.

PURPOSE:To investigate the changes of abnormal signal intensity of liver infarction in scheduled intervals after ligation of portal vein in rabbit livers with histopathologic correlation. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Liver infarction were induced by selective ligation of the posterior branch of right portal vein in 12 rabbits. T1- and T2-weighted MRI at 2.0T with spin-echo techniques as well as contrastenhanced Tl-weighted MRI with Gd-DTPA(0.1 mmol/kg) were performed 3 hours, 6 hours, 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, and 2 weeks after ligation using two rabbits at each interval. Histopathologic specimens were prepared from six removed livers for comparing the MR findings with the histopathologic findings. The other six rabbits were sectioned transversely in frozen state for comparing MR findings with the macroscopic findings of pathologic areas of the liver. RESULTS: The signal intensity of pathologic hepatic segment showed more hyperintense signal than that of normal segments of the liver on TI-, proton density-, and T2-weighted MR images at every interval after ligation, except both T2WI of 3 hours interval and one T1WI of 2 weeks interval. Main histopathologic findings 3 hours, 6 hours, 1 day, 3 days, and 1 week after ligation were congestion, hemorrhage with necrosis, coagulation necrosis, complete necrosis, and necrosis with scar tissues, respectively. Microscopic specimens with Prussian blue stain 6 hours, and 1 week after ligation showed bluish hue indicating the existence of methemoglobin, and blue particles in giant cells and monocytes indicating engulfing hemosiderin, respectively. CONCLUSION: Changes of the signal intensities on sequential MR images of acutely induced hemorrhagic liver infarction might be due to the rapid oxidative denaturation of hemoglobin in hemorrhages and high signal intensity on Tl-weighted images from the hyperacute stage of a hemorrhagic liver infarction could be due to methemoglobin. Therefore, acutely induced hemorrhagic liver infarction should be included in the differential diagnoses of the hyperintense liver lesions on Tl-weighted images.
Cicatrix ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Giant Cells ; Hemorrhage ; Hemosiderin ; Infarction ; Ligation* ; Liver* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Methemoglobin ; Monocytes ; Necrosis ; Portal Vein* ; Protons ; Rabbits*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Protein kinase plays an important role in transmembrane signalling, which is modulated by cellular transduction by second messengers such as inositol-1, 4, 5-triphosphate (IP3), Diacylglycerol (DG), cAMP, to express biological activity by stimulation of hormones, neurotransmitters, antigens, growth factors. Protein kinase Cs participate in signal transduction of cell, secretion of neurotransmitter, regulation of ion conduction, exocytosis, gene expression and cellular proliferation. Also, it raises slow motility by Na+-H+ exchange (NHE) and Ca2+ channel in the outer hair cells. It may also be involved in mechanical transduction, cellular proliferation and reproduction in supporting cells, and in producing endolymphs using the KCNE1 and Na+/K+-ATPase in the lateral wall of cochlea. MATERIALS AND METHOD: We investigated the immunoreactivities of the PKC (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) via paraffin section and surface preparation of the cochlea of albino guinea pigs. RESULTS: PKC alpha immunoreactivities were shown in the outer and inner hair cell cytoplasm and delta was revealed in the type II fibrocytes and suprastrial cells in the basal turn of the spiral ligament. But beta, gamma were not shown. CONCLUSION: We suggest that PKC alpha may induce the slow motility and depolarization to mediate the ion conductance in the hair cells. Also, PKC delta may participate in the production of endolymph. We thus conclude that PKC alpha and delta play an important role in the cochlear signal transduction.
Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Cochlea* ; Cytoplasm ; Endolymph ; Exocytosis ; Gene Expression ; Guinea Pigs ; Hair ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Paraffin ; Protein Kinase C* ; Protein Kinases* ; Reproduction ; Second Messenger Systems ; Signal Transduction ; Spiral Ligament of Cochlea