Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive treatment modality used as an alternative to surgery in patients with benign thyroid nodules, recurrent thyroid cancers (RTCs), and primary thyroid microcarcinomas. The Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR) initially developed recommendations for the optimal use of RFA for thyroid tumors in 2009 and revised them in 2012 and 2017. As new meaningful evidence has accumulated since 2017 and in response to a growing global interest in the use of RFA for treating malignant thyroid lesions, the task force committee members of the KSThR decided to update the guidelines on the use of RFA for the management of RTCs based on a comprehensive analysis of current literature and expert consensus.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive treatment modality used as an alternative to surgery in patients with benign thyroid nodules, recurrent thyroid cancers (RTCs), and primary thyroid microcarcinomas. The Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR) initially developed recommendations for the optimal use of RFA for thyroid tumors in 2009 and revised them in 2012 and 2017. As new meaningful evidence has accumulated since 2017 and in response to a growing global interest in the use of RFA for treating malignant thyroid lesions, the task force committee members of the KSThR decided to update the guidelines on the use of RFA for the management of RTCs based on a comprehensive analysis of current literature and expert consensus.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive treatment modality used as an alternative to surgery in patients with benign thyroid nodules, recurrent thyroid cancers (RTCs), and primary thyroid microcarcinomas. The Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR) initially developed recommendations for the optimal use of RFA for thyroid tumors in 2009 and revised them in 2012 and 2017. As new meaningful evidence has accumulated since 2017 and in response to a growing global interest in the use of RFA for treating malignant thyroid lesions, the task force committee members of the KSThR decided to update the guidelines on the use of RFA for the management of RTCs based on a comprehensive analysis of current literature and expert consensus.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive treatment modality used as an alternative to surgery in patients with benign thyroid nodules, recurrent thyroid cancers (RTCs), and primary thyroid microcarcinomas. The Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR) initially developed recommendations for the optimal use of RFA for thyroid tumors in 2009 and revised them in 2012 and 2017. As new meaningful evidence has accumulated since 2017 and in response to a growing global interest in the use of RFA for treating malignant thyroid lesions, the task force committee members of the KSThR decided to update the guidelines on the use of RFA for the management of RTCs based on a comprehensive analysis of current literature and expert consensus.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive treatment modality used as an alternative to surgery in patients with benign thyroid nodules, recurrent thyroid cancers (RTCs), and primary thyroid microcarcinomas. The Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR) initially developed recommendations for the optimal use of RFA for thyroid tumors in 2009 and revised them in 2012 and 2017. As new meaningful evidence has accumulated since 2017 and in response to a growing global interest in the use of RFA for treating malignant thyroid lesions, the task force committee members of the KSThR decided to update the guidelines on the use of RFA for the management of RTCs based on a comprehensive analysis of current literature and expert consensus.

Background: Understanding the virulence and pathogenicity of invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella (iNTS) in children may support timely treatment and enable closer monitoring of chronic infections. iNTS epidemiology in Asia remains inadequately described. We analyzed the genetic diversity and virulence genes associated with extra-intestinal invasion in Korean children. Methods: Salmonella isolates from children < 18 yrs of age diagnosed with moderate-tosevere salmonellosis between January 2019 and December 2021 were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing. Results: In total, 58 cases were included. We identified 20 serotypes, the most prevalent being Salmonella Enteritidis (N = 21), followed by Infantis (N = 6), I 4,[5],12:i:- (N = 5), and Bareilly (N = 5). Extra-intestinal invasion occurred in 12 (20.7%) cases involving Salmonella Oranienburg (2/2), Give (1/1), Javiana (1/1), Paratyphi B var. L(+) tartrate+ (1/1), Schwarzengrund (1/1), Singapore (1/1), Montevideo (1/2), Saintpaul (1/2), I 4:b:- (1/2), Infantis (1/6), and Enteritidis (1/21). While the numbers of total virulence genes and genes belonging to major virulence categories did not significantly differ between iNTS and noniNTS, several genetic factors, including Salmonella pathogenicity island (SPI)-1 (P = 0.039), SPI-2 (P = 0.020), SPI-5 (P = 0.014), SPI-13 (P = 0.010), cytolethal distending toxin-related genes (P = 1.4 × 10 –4 ), fepC (P = 0.021), and tcpC (P = 0.040) were more frequent in invasive isolates. Conclusions Salmonella Enteritidis-ST11 predominated in infections among Korean children, but invasive isolates were rare. Early detection of genetic factors associated with extra-intestinal invasion will be helpful for prompt and appropriate treatment.

Background: s/Aims: Despite advances in antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still develops even after sustained viral response (SVR) in patients with advanced liver fibrosis or cirrhosis. This meta-analysis investigated the predictive performance of vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) and fibrosis 4-index (FIB-4) for the development of HCC after SVR. Methods: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library for studies examining the predictive performance of these tests in adult patients with HCV. Two authors independently screened the studies’ methodological quality and extracted data. Pooled estimates of sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) were calculated for HCC development using random-effects bivariate logit normal and linear-mixed effect models. Results: We included 27 studies (169,911 patients). Meta-analysis of HCC after SVR was possible in nine VCTE and 15 FIB-4 studies. Regarding the prediction of HCC development after SVR, the pooled AUCs of pre-treatment VCTE >9.2–13 kPa and FIB-4 >3.25 were 0.79 and 0.73, respectively. VCTE >8.4–11 kPa and FIB-4 >3.25 measured after SVR maintained good predictive performance, albeit slightly reduced (pooled AUCs: 0.77 and 0.70, respectively). The identified optimal cut-off value for HCC development after SVR was 12.6 kPa for pre-treatment VCTE. That of VCTE measured after the SVR was 11.2 kPa. Conclusions VCTE and FIB-4 showed acceptable predictive performance for HCC development in patients with HCV who achieved SVR, underscoring their utility in clinical practice for guiding surveillance strategies. Future studies are needed to validate these findings prospectively and validate their clinical impact.

Objectives: Sepsis is a leading global cause of mortality, and predicting its outcomes is vital for improving patient care. This study explored the capabilities of ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art natural language processing model, in predicting in-hospital mortality for sepsis patients. Methods: This study utilized data from the Korean Sepsis Alliance (KSA) database, collected between 2019 and 2021, focusing on adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients and aiming to determine whether ChatGPT could predict all-cause mortality after ICU admission at 7 and 30 days. Structured prompts enabled ChatGPT to engage in in-context learning, with the number of patient examples varying from zero to six. The predictive capabilities of ChatGPT-3.5-turbo and ChatGPT-4 were then compared against a gradient boosting model (GBM) using various performance metrics. Results: From the KSA database, 4,786 patients formed the 7-day mortality prediction dataset, of whom 718 died, and 4,025 patients formed the 30-day dataset, with 1,368 deaths. Age and clinical markers (e.g., Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score and lactic acid levels) showed significant differences between survivors and non-survivors in both datasets. For 7-day mortality predictions, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.70–0.83 for GPT-4, 0.51–0.70 for GPT-3.5, and 0.79 for GBM. The AUROC for 30-day mortality was 0.51–0.59 for GPT-4, 0.47–0.57 for GPT-3.5, and 0.76 for GBM. Zero-shot predictions using GPT-4 for mortality from ICU admission to day 30 showed AUROCs from the mid-0.60s to 0.75 for GPT-4 and mainly from 0.47 to 0.63 for GPT-3.5. Conclusions GPT-4 demonstrated potential in predicting short-term in-hospital mortality, although its performance varied across different evaluation metrics.

Background: and Purpose Anti-neurofascin-155 (NF155) antibody is one of the autoantibodies associated with autoimmune nodopathy. We aimed to determine the clinical features of South Korean patients with anti-NF155-antibody-positive autoimmune nodopathy. Methods: The sera of 68 patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) were tested for anti-NF155 antibodies using a cellbased assay (CBA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The anti-NF155-positive sera were also assayed for NF155 immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclasses, and for antiNF186 and NF140 antibodies. The clinical features of the patients were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Among the 68 patients, 6 (8.8%) were positive for anti-NF155 antibodies in both the CBA and ELISA. One of those six patients was also positive for anti-NF186 and anti-NF140 antibodies. IgG4 was the predominant subclass in four patients. The mean age at onset was 32.2 years. All six positive patients presented with progressive sensory ataxia. Five patients treated using corticosteroids presented a partial or no response. All six patients were treated using intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg). Among them, five exhibited a partial or poor response and the other exhibited a good response. All three patients treated using rituximab showed a good response. Conclusions The clinical characteristics of the patients were consistent with those in previous studies. Anti-NF155 antibody assay is necessary for diagnosing autoimmune nodopathy and its appropriate treatment, especially in young patients with CIDP who present with sensory ataxia and poor therapeutic responses to corticosteroids and IVIg.

Since the role of the liver in metabolic dysfunction, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, was demonstrated, studies on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) have shown associations between fatty liver disease and other metabolic diseases. Unlike the exclusionary diagnostic criteria of NAFLD, MAFLD diagnosis is based on the presence of metabolic dysregulation in fatty liver disease. Renaming NAFLD as MAFLD also introduced simpler diagnostic criteria. In 2023, a new nomenclature, steatotic liver disease (SLD), was proposed. Similar to MAFLD, SLD diagnosis is based on the presence of hepatic steatosis with at least one cardiometabolic dysfunction. SLD is categorized into metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related/-associated liver disease, alcoholrelated liver disease, specific etiology SLD, and cryptogenic SLD. The term MASLD has been adopted by a number of leading national and international societies due to its concise diagnostic criteria, exclusion of other concomitant liver diseases, and lack of stigmatizing terms. This article reviews the diagnostic criteria, clinical relevance, and differences among NAFLD, MAFLD, and MASLD from a diabetologist’s perspective and provides a rationale for adopting SLD/MASLD in the Fatty Liver Research Group of the Korean Diabetes Association.