Daejeon Catholic University

The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of fluorine-18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for locoregional recurrent/residual tumor in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) who underwent previous radiotherapy (RT). 18F-FDG PET/CT images from patients with HNC who previously underwent RT were retrospectively reviewed. Only cases with histological confirmation within 4 weeks of PET/CT imaging were included. Standardized uptake values were obtained for lesions and PET/CT findings were compared with histological results. Of 181 cases, 114 (63%) were histologically confirmed as malignant and 67 (37%) as benign. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET/CT were 93%, 64%, and 82%, respectively. Inflammation was the most common cause of false positives and small tumor volume and low 18F-FDG avidity were the causes of false negatives. PET/CT had 100% sensitivity and 56% specificity for detecting recurrent or residual disease within 12 weeks after RT and 93% sensitivity and 64% specificity, more than 12 weeks after RT. The frequency of false positives in PET/CT images within 12 weeks of RT was similar to the results obtained 12 weeks after RT (15% vs. 14%). False positives were more frequent in PET/CT cases after two-dimensional or three-dimensional conformal RT than in those after intensity-modulated RT, although not statistically significant (15% vs. 9%, p>0.05). 18F-FDG PET/CT might aid the diagnosis of locoregional residual/recurrent tumors in patients with HNC previously treated with RT. Inflammation was the main cause of false positives regardless of the interval between RT and PET/CT, even several years after RT. Therefore, histological verification of positive PET/CT findings should be conducted during follow-up of HNC patients treated with RT.

A gastric polyp is defined as a proliferative or neoplastic lesion from the mucosal membrane. Rates of gastric polyp detection are increasing due to widespread use of gastrointestinal endoscopy in Korea. There are many types of gastric polyps; the most common are fundic gland, hyperplastic, and adenomatous polyps. This article reviews the clinical and histologic features of these polyps and provides recommendations for management. Keywords: Stomach; Polyps; Diagnosis; Disease management 중심 단어: 위; ìš©ì¢ ; 진단; 치료

To address a growing concern about drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a nationwide study was performed to investigate the significance of DILI in Korea. From May 2005 to May 2007, cases of DILI (alanine transferase > 3 × upper normal limit or total bilirubin > 2 × upper normal limit) from 17 referral university hospitals were prospectively enrolled. Adjudication by the seven review boards was considered for the confirmation of causality and the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM) scale was used. A total of 371 cases were diagnosed with DILI. The extrapolated incidence of hospitalization at university hospital in Korea was 12/100,000 persons/year. The causes included "herbal medications" (102, 27.5%), "prescription or non-prescription medications" (101, 27.3%), "health foods or dietary supplements" (51, 13.7%), "medicinal herbs or plants" (35, 9.4%), "folk remedies" (32, 8.6%), "combined" (30, 8.2%), "herbal preparations" (12, 3.2%), and others (8, 2.2%). Nine cases were linked to acetaminophen. The frequencies of hepatocellular, mixed, and cholestatic types were 76.3, 14.8, and 8.9%, respectively. A total of 234 cases met the criteria for Hy's law. Five patients died or underwent transplantation. Twenty-five cases (21 herbs and 4 medications) did not meet the time-to-onset criteria of the RUCAM. DILI appears to be a highly relevant health problem in Korea. "Herbal medications" are the principal cause of DILI. A more objective and reproducible causality assessment tool is strongly desired as the RUCAM scale frequently undercounts the cases caused by herbs owing to a lack of previous information and incompatible time criteria.

Os acromiale is the rare shoulder disease and its treatment is controversial. Despite conservative treat-ments for 6 months include medication, exercise, physical therapy and subacromial steroid injections,operative treatment for uncontrolled symptomatic Os acromiale is considered the treatment of choice.Operative treatment includes excision, arthroscopic or open reduction and internal fixation with a bonegraft. Open reduction with tension band wiring and a bone graft is now the preferred treatment.We experienced 8 patients with symptomatic Os acromiale from March, 2001 to March, 2006. The aver-age patient’s age was 45 years and the man and women ratio were 2: 6. All 8 cases of symptomatic Osacromiale of the mesoacromion were treated with open reduction and internal fixation using tension-bandwiring. The preoperative ASES(47.3 ±24.4) and UCLA (16.65.8)scores were improved to 88.87.3 and 31.5±1.9,respectively, at the 2 year follow up. The overall UCLA score showed 1 excellent result and 7 good results. Wethink that symptomatic Os acromiale is a specific disease entity, and open reduction and internal fixation usingtension-band wiring with K-wire is a good treatment modality.