PURPOSE: To design and develop a World Wide Web-based education program that will allow trainees to interactively learn and improve the diagnostic capability of detecting pulmonary nodules on chest radiographs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Chest radiographs with known diagnosis were retrieved and selected from our institutional clinical archives. A database was constructed by sorting radiographs into three groups: normal, nodule, and false positive (i.e., nodule-like focal opacity). Each nodule was assigned with the degree of detectability: easy, intermediate, difficult, and likely missed. Nodules were characterized by their morphology (well-defined, ill-defined, irregular, faint) and by other associated pathologies or potentially obscuring structures. The Web site was organized into four sections: study, test, record and information. RESULTS: The Web site allowed a user interactively to undergo the training section appropriate to the user's diagnostic capability. The training was enhanced by means of clinical and other pertinent radiological findings included in the database. The outcome of the training was tested with clinical test radiographs that presented nodules or false positives with varying diagnostic difficulties. CONCLUSION: A Word Wide Web-based education program is a promising technique that would allow trainees to interactively learn and improve the diagnostic capability of detecting and characterizing pulmonary nodules.
Diagnosis ; Education* ; Internet ; Pathology ; Radiography, Thoracic* ; Thorax*

Back ; pathology ; Collagen ; Fibrosis ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Skin Diseases ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Thorax ; pathology

The benign teratoma is usually slow growing tumor, but we expirienced a case of primary huge mediastinal benign teratoma that had grown very rapidly, maximally during 3 years. The 14-year-old female patient was admitted to our hospital because of abnormal chest X-ray that showed 10x10cm sized well definded mass with multiple calcificactions. but the mass was not present in chest X-ray perfomed on 3 years prior to admission. Under the diagnosis of teratoma, complete surgical resection was done by the left thoracotomy. The result of pathology was benign teratoma.
Adolescent ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Mediastinal Neoplasms ; Pathology ; Teratoma* ; Thoracotomy ; Thorax

PURPOSE: We wanted to compare the capability of micro CT and the clinically available thin-slice multi-detector row CT (MDCT) for demonstrating fine anatomic structures and pathological lesions in formalin-fixed lung specimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The porcine lung with shark liver oil-induced lipoid pneumonia and the canine lung with pulmonary paragonimiasis were fixed by ventilating them with formalin vapor, and they were then sliced into one-centimeter thick sections. Micro CT (section thickness, 18 micrometer) and MDCT (section thickness, 0.75 mm) images were acquired in four of the lung slices of the lipoid pneumonia specimen and in five of the lung slices of the paragonimiasis specimen. On 62 pairs of micro CT and MDCT images, 169 pairs of rectangular ROIs were manually drawn in the corresponding locations. Two chest radiologists recorded the detectability of three kinds of anatomic structures (lobular core structure, interlobular septum and small bronchiolar lumen) and two kinds of pathological lesions (ground-glass opacity and consolidation) with using a five-point scale. The statistical comparison was performed by using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Interobserver agreement was evaluated with kappa statistics. RESULTS: For all observers, all the kinds of anatomic structures and pathological lesions were detected better on the micro CT images than on the MDCT images (p<0.01). Agreement was fair between two observers (kappa = 0.38, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The fine anatomic structures and pathological lesions of the lung were more accurately demonstrated on micro CT than on thin-slice MDCT in the inflated and fixed lung specimens.
Animals* ; Formaldehyde ; Liver ; Lung* ; Paragonimiasis ; Pathology* ; Pneumonia ; Sharks ; Thorax

A lateral chest radiograph is frequently useful and sometimes decisive in detecting chest pathology. Certainparts, such as the posterior wall of the bronchus intermedius (PWBI) and subcarinal regions, can be evaluated onlyon lateral chest radiograph. The authors present and emphasize the findings of PWBI and subcarinal abnormalities. Abnormal PWBI, more than 3 mm thick, is seen in cases of minor degree of oblique position, pulmonary edema, inflammation, neoplasm and enlarged lymph nodes. It can also be seen in patients with subcarinal mass. The findings of subcarinal mass on lateral view are ill-defined increased opacity, fullness of the inferior hilarregion, doughnut sign, extra-density and thickening of the PWBI. Detection of changes in the PWBI and subcarinalregion may be the only diagnostic evidence of hilar and subcarinal disease and helps in its early detection priorto computed tomography.
Bronchi* ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Pathology ; Radiography, Thoracic* ; Thorax*

An unusual variation creates interest among anatomists, but is a cause of concern among clinicians when it mimics a pathology. The sternalis muscle is one such variant of the anterior chest wall located subcutaneously over the pectoralis major, ranging from a few short fibers to a well-formed muscle. We observed a bilateral case, which was accompanied by an atypical presentation on the left side where a huge, bulky sternalis muscle was associated with the absence of the sternal fibers of the pectoralis major. The fibers arose as a lateral strip from the upper two-thirds of the body of the sternum and costal cartilages 2 through 6 with the intervening fascia and aponeurosis of the external oblique. The right sternalis was strap-like and was placed vertically over the sternal fibers of the pectoralis major, arising from the underlying fascia and aponeurosis of the external oblique. The sternalis muscles, on each side, converged into an aponeurosis over the manubrium that was continuous with the sternal heads of the right and left sternocleidomastoid muscle, respectively. This rare anomaly has puzzled radiologists and surgeons in confirming diagnosis, missing it all together or mistaking it for a tumor on mammography or CT scan. These findings prompted us to review its topography, development, and application in relation to the anterior chest wall.
Adult ; Human ; Male ; Muscle Fibers/pathology ; Muscle, Skeletal/*abnormalities/pathology ; *Thorax

Aged ; Dermis ; pathology ; Disease Progression ; Extremities ; Face ; Fatal Outcome ; Humans ; Male ; Sarcoma, Myeloid ; pathology ; Skin ; pathology ; Thorax

Colorectal Neoplasms ; complications ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; pathology ; Rectal Neoplasms ; complications ; Skin Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; secondary ; Thorax ; pathology

Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) persists as a great public health problem in Korea. Increases in the overall age of the population and the rise of drug-resistant TB have reinforced the need for rapid diagnostic improvements and new modalities to detect TB and drug-resistant TB, as well as to improve TB control. Standard guidelines and recent advances for diagnosing pulmonary TB are summarized in this article. An early and accurate diagnosis of pulmonary TB should be established using chest X-ray, sputum microscopy, culture in both liquid and solid media, and nucleic acid amplification. Chest computed tomography, histopathological examination of biopsy samples, and new molecular diagnostic tests can be used for earlier and improved diagnoses, especially in patients with smear-negative pulmonary TB or clinically-diagnosed TB and drug-resistant TB.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung ; Microscopy ; Pathology, Molecular ; Public Health ; Sputum ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

An 81-year-old man underwent bronchoscopy to investigate the cause of his dyspnea symptoms. A benign natured mass was observed in the bronchus and was excised. The pathology examination revealed a fibroepithelial polyp. He has been asymptomatic since the simple bronchoscopic excision. A fibroepithelial polyp is a benign tumor with a mesodermal origin. It is commonly found in the skin, urogenital area and chest, but is extremely rare in the respiratory system. We report a case of a fibroepithelial polyp in the bronchus, which was treated with a bronchoscopic excision, with a brief review of the relevant literature.
Aged, 80 and over ; Bronchi ; Bronchoscopy ; Dyspnea ; Humans ; Mesoderm ; Pathology ; Polyps* ; Respiratory System ; Skin ; Thorax