Publications by authors named "Joong H Ahn"

Objective: To evaluate the audiologic outcomes after cochlear implantation (CI) in prelingually deaf children with comorbid disorders.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary care academic center.

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  • The study investigates the effectiveness of medical thoracoscopy (MT) in confirming tuberculosis (TB) pleurisy through microbiological testing, highlighting its importance in clinical diagnosis due to the low bacterial presence in such cases.
  • A total of 72 patients were reviewed, revealing that sensitivities of AFB culture and TB-PCR increased significantly when using targeted pleural washing fluid and pleural tissues collected during MT compared to pre-MT pleural fluid.
  • The results demonstrated a 44.4% increase in the sensitivity for microbiological confirmation of TB pleurisy with MT, emphasizing its crucial role in accurate diagnosis.
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Objective: To review a 3-year case series of endoscopic butterfly inlay cartilage myringoplasty performed by a single surgeon (W.S.K.

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Purpose: To develop an MRI-based radiomics model to predict high-risk pathologic features for lung adenocarcinoma: micropapillary and solid pattern (MPsol), spread through air space (STAS), and poorly differentiated patterns.

Materials And Methods: As a prospective study, we screened clinical N0 lung cancer patients who were surgical candidates and had undergone both 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-CT (PET/CT) and chest CT from August 2018 to January 2020. We recruited patients meeting our proposed imaging criteria indicating high-risk, that is, poorer prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma, using CT and FDG PET/CT.

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Background: To evaluate the effects of local radiotherapy (RT) on growth, we evaluated the chronological growth profiles and vertebral features of children with high-risk neuroblastoma.

Methods: Thirty-eight children who received local photon or proton beam therapy to the abdomen or retroperitoneum between January 2014 and September 2019 were included. Simple radiography of the thoracolumbar spine was performed before and every year after RT.

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Background And Objectives: Additional needs refer to specific requirements or support for individuals with disabilities or syndromes. Intellectual ability is a crucial outcome determinant of a cochlear implant. The social quotient (SQ) is an indirect predictor of intellectual capacity and social skills.

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The discovery of safe and efficient inhibitors against efflux pumps as well as metallo-β-lactamases (MBL) is one of the main challenges in the development of multidrug-resistant (MDR) reversal agents which can be utilized in the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, we have identified that introduction of an ethylene-linked sterically demanding group at the 3-OH position of the previously reported MDR reversal agent di-F-Q endows the resulting compounds with hereto unknown multitarget inhibitory activity against both efflux pumps and broad-spectrum β-lactamases including difficult-to-inhibit MBLs. A molecular docking study of the multitarget inhibitors against efflux pump, as well as various classes of β-lactamases, revealed that the 3--alkyl substituents occupy the novel binding sites in efflux pumps as well as carbapenemases.

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Background: We aimed to analyze the impact of concomitant Maze procedure on the clinical and rhythm outcomes, and echocardiographic parameters in tricuspid repair for patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods: Patients who had severe TR and persistent AF and underwent tricuspid valve (TV) repair were included in the study. Both primary TR and secondary TR were included in the current study.

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The combination of aztreonam (ATM) and ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI; CZA) has shown therapeutic potential against serine-β-lactamase (SBL)- and metallo-β-lactamase (MBL)-producing . However, the ability of CZA to restore the antibiotic activity of ATM is severely limited in MBL-producing multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains because of the myriad of intrinsic and acquired resistance mechanisms associated with this pathogen. We reasoned that the simultaneous inhibition of multiple targets associated with multidrug resistance mechanisms may potentiate the antibiotic activity of ATM against MBL-producing .

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Article Synopsis
  • Delirium is a significant concern in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU), prompting researchers to develop a predictive model for its occurrence among patients.
  • The study analyzed data from 2,774 patients, using various machine learning techniques to identify key predictors, including age, heart rate, and albumin levels.
  • The resulting prediction model demonstrated strong accuracy, with an AUROC of 0.861, making it a valuable tool for assessing delirium risk in CICU patients.
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Objective: The clinical manifestations of tuberculosis (TB) range from asymptomatic to disseminated depending on the microbiological and immunological status, making the diagnosis challenging. To improve our understanding of the disease progression mechanism, we aimed to identify the characteristics of subclinical TB and important predictors of symptom development.

Methods: From July 2018 to June 2019, we systemically collected data from the National Surveillance System of South Korea on patients with pulmonary TB, and compared the characteristics of subclinical and active symptomatic TB patients.

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Auditory brainstem response (ABR) is the response of the brain stem through the auditory nerve. The ABR test is a method of testing for loss of hearing through electrical signals. Basically, the test is conducted on patients such as the elderly, the disabled, and infants who have difficulty in communication.

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Background: Poor nutrition increases disease severity and mortality in patients with tuberculosis (TB). There are gaps in our understanding of the effects of being underweight or overweight on TB in relation to sex.

Methods: We generated a nationwide TB registry database and assessed the effects of body mass index (BMI) on mortality in patients with pulmonary TB.

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Background: The left atrial appendage (LAA) is the predominant site of thrombus formation in atrial fibrillation (AF), which is associated with ischemic stroke. This study comparatively evaluated the complete LAA closure rates between LAA clipping and stapled resections.

Methods: The study included 333 patients who underwent thoracoscopic operation with both preoperative and postoperative computed tomographic scans.

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Background: The present study describes the treatment of patients at a tertiary institution who experienced device failure after Cochlear Implantation (CI), as well as identifying prodromic symptoms that could assist in the timely identification and management of device failure.

Study Design: Retrospective database review (January 2000-May 2017).

Setting: Single tertiary hospital.

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Objective: To investigate the long-term educational and occupational status of prelingually bilateral deaf children who received a cochlear implant (CI) before the age of 7, and to identify factors that influence these outcomes.

Study Design: Retrospective chart review.

Setting: Single tertiary care center.

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Objective: To analyze the long-term auditory performance after cochlear implantation (CI) and identify anatomical features of Mondini dysplasia associated with post-CI outcomes.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary care academic center.

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Article Synopsis
  • Early detection of pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) after total laryngectomy (TL) can prevent severe complications; this study aimed to create prediction models for identifying PCF in the early postoperative phase.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 263 patients who underwent TL from 2004 to 2021, focusing on clinical indicators like fever and blood test results on specific postoperative days.
  • The study found that PCF occurred in 32.7% of patients, with significant differences in fever and blood test results between those with and without fistulas, leading to improved predictive models (AUC of 0.83) that could help detect PCF early and reduce risks of severe complications.
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Background: The aims of this study are to review data on 4-months age National Health Screening Program for Infants and Children (NHSPIC) using a National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database, and to analyze the newborn hearing screening (NHS) results and related characteristics of the 4-months NHSPIC for 7 years in South Korea.

Methods: We analyzed a NHIS database of infants who had participated in the 4-month age NHSPIC from 2010 to 2016. According to the results of hearing questionnaires and physical examination, we analyzed the outcomes of NHS and related infantile and socioeconomic factors.

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Background: With the introduction of new anti-tuberculosis drugs, all-oral regimens with shorter treatment durations for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis have been anticipated. We aimed to investigate whether a new all-oral regimen was non-inferior to the conventional regimen including second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs for 20-24 months in the treatment of fluoroquinolone-sensitive multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Methods: In this multicentre, randomised, open-label phase 2/3 non-inferiority trial, we enrolled men and women aged 19-85 years with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis confirmed by phenotypic or genotypic drug susceptibility tests or rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis by genotypic tests at 12 participating hospitals throughout South Korea.

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Objectives: This study investigated whether radiomic features extracted from radial-probe endobronchial ultrasound (radial EBUS) images can assist in decision-making for subsequent clinical management in cases with indeterminate pathologic results.

Methods: A total of 494 patients who underwent radial EBUS biopsy for lung nodules between January 2017 and December 2018 were allocated to our training set. For the validation set, 229 patients with radial EBUS biopsy results from January 2019 to April 2020 were used.

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Background: The effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the long-term outcomes of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) remained debatable and various strategies exist for CABG; hence, clarifying the effects of DM on CABG outcomes is difficult. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of DM on clinical and graft-related outcomes after CABG with bilateral internal thoracic artery (BITA) grafts.

Methods: From January 2001 to December 2017, 3395 patients who underwent off-pump CABG (OPCAB) with BITA grafts were enrolled.

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Backgrounds And Objective: Evaluating the tympanic membrane (TM) using an otoendoscope is the first and most important step in various clinical fields. Unfortunately, most lesions of TM have more than one diagnostic name. Therefore, we built a database of otoendoscopic images with multiple diseases and investigated the impact of concurrent diseases on the classification performance of deep learning networks.

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Objective: To compare digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and MRI as an adjunct to full-field digital mammography (FFDM) for the preoperative evaluation of women with breast cancer based on mammographic density.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 280 patients with breast cancer who had undergone FFDM, DBT, and MRI for preoperative local tumor staging. Three radiologists independently sought the index cancer and additional ipsilateral and contralateral breast cancers using either FFDM alone, DBT plus FFDM, or MRI plus FFDM.

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Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate long-term changes after balloon dilation of the Eustachian tube (BDET) in chronic otitis media (COM) patients with Eustachian tube (ET) dysfunction that persisted after tympanomastoidectomy (TM).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of consecutive patients who were diagnosed with COM and ET dysfunction and underwent TM at our tertiary hospital from 2016 to 2017. The tympanic membrane status, the presence of a ventilation tube, ability to perform the Valsalva maneuver, and audiologic changes after dilation of the ET were analyzed.

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