• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.39C no.6
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• pp.490-496
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• 2014

The thickness of knee joint cartilage causes most diseases of knee. Therefore, an articular cartilage segmentation of knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is required to diagnose a knee diagnosis correctly. In particular, fully automatic segmentation method of knee joint cartilage enables an effective diagnosis of knee disease. In this paper, we analyze a well-known level-set based segmentation method in brain MRI, and apply that method to knee MRI with solving some problems from different image characteristics. The proposed method, a fully automatic segmentation in whole process, enables to process faster than previous semi-automatic segmentation methods. Also it can make a three-dimension visualization which provides a specialist with an assistance for the diagnosis of knee disease. In addition, the proposed method provides more accurate results than the existing methods of articular cartilage segmentation in knee MRI through experiments.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.54-57
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• 2007

Localized nodular synovitis of the knee joint is a rare benign tumorous condition, and should be differentially diagnosed with pigmented villonodular synovitis. We report a case of localized nodular synovitis in the knee that was noted to have a pedicle and characteristic findings on MR image.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.533-539
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• 2009

In this study, the femur, the tibia, the articular cartilage and the menisci are three dimensionally reconstructed using MR images of healthy knee joint in full extension of 26-year-old male. Three dimensional finite element model of the knee joint is fabricated on the reconstructed model. Also, the FE models of ligaments and tendons are attached on the biologically suitable position of the FE model. Bones, articular cartilages and menisci are considered as homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic materials, and ligaments and tendons are modeled as truss element and nonlinear elastic springs. The numerical results show the contact pressure and the von Mises stress distribution in the soft tissues such as articular cartilages and menisci which can be regarded as important parameters to estimate the failure of the tissues and the pain of the patients.

• Journal of KIISE
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• v.42 no.10
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• pp.1222-1230
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• 2015

Segmentation of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in knee MRI remains a challenging task due to its inhomogeneous signal intensity and low contrast with surrounding soft tissues. In this paper, we propose a multi-atlas-based segmentation of the ACL in knee MRI with locally-aligned probabilistic atlas (PA) in an iterative graph cuts framework. First, a novel PA generation method is proposed with global and local multi-atlas alignment by means of rigid registration. Second, with the generated PA, segmentation of the ACL is performed by maximum-aposteriori (MAP) estimation and then by graph cuts. Third, refinement of ACL segmentation is performed by improving shape prior through mask-based PA generation and iterative graph cuts. Experiments were performed with a Dice similarity coefficients of 75.0%, an average surface distance of 1.7 pixels, and a root mean squared distance of 2.7 pixels, which increased accuracy by 12.8%, 22.7%, and 22.9%, respectively, from the graph cuts with patient-specific shape constraints.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.731-735
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• 2023

Rice bodies are commonly detected in adults with rheumatoid arthritis and rarely occur in children. An 11-year-old female adolescent who visited our hospital for evaluation of knee pain underwent a MRI scan, which revealed an intra-articular mass. Arthroscopic examination of the mass confirmed conglomerated rice bodies. We report a case of rice bodies that clinically presented as intra-articular masses.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2014

Purpose : To determine the incidence of truncated triangle appearance of anterior horn (AH) to body of medial meniscus (MM) and determine its clinical significance. Materials and Methods: IRB approval was obtained, and informed consent waived for this study. The criteria of "pseudoradial tear" was truncated triangle appearance of the tip of AH to body of MM on one or more coronal images with adjacent fluid signal intensity at the blunted tip. Two musculoskeletal radiologists retrospectively evaluated 485 knee MR images independently for the presence and number of sections with "pseudoradial tear" of AH to body of MM using proton density-weighted coronal MR images. Inter-and intraobserver agreement was calculated using kappa coefficients. Medical records were reviewed for arthroscopic correlation. Results: A pseudoradial tear in the AH to body of MM was present in 381 (78.6%) patients. Locations were 112 in AH (29.4%), 143 in AH to body (37.5%), and 126 in body (33.1%). Number of consecutive sections of pseudoradial tear were 1 in 100 (26.2%), 2 in 164 (43.0%), 3 in 94 (24.7%), 4 in 21 (5.5%), and 5 in 2 (0.5%). Interobserver agreement was 0.99 for presence and 0.43 for number of sections of pseudoradial tear. Arthroscopies were performed in 96 patients and none of the pseudoradial tears were proven as true radial tears on arthroscopy. Conclusion: Pseudoradial tears are frequently seen in AH to body of MM on coronal MR images and may be another pitfall that a radiologist needs to be aware of and be able to differentiate from true radial tear.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.21-28
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• 1996

The nature of complexity of medical images makes them difficult to segment using standard techniques. Therefore the usual approaches to segment images continue to predominantly involve manual interaction. But it tediously consumes a good deal of time and efforts of the experts. Hereby a nonmanual parameters estimation which can replace the manual interaction is needed to solve the problem of redundant manual works for an image segmentation. This paper attempts to estimate parameters for an image region segmentation using Scale Space Filtering. This attempt results in estimating the number of regions, their boundary and each representatives to be segmented 2-dimensionally and 3-dimensionally. Using this algorithm, we may diminish the problem of wasted time and efforts for finding prerequisite segmentation parameters, and lead the relatively reasonable result of region segmentation.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.138-148
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• 2001

Purpose : Within a clinically acceptable time frame, we obtained the high resolution MR images of the human brain, knee, foot and wrist from 3T whole-body MRI system which was equipped with the world first 37 active shield magnet. Materials and Methods : Spin echo (SE) and Fast Spin Echo (FSE) images were obtained from the human brain, knee, foot and wrist of normal subjects using a homemade birdcage and transverse electromagnetic (TEM) resonators operating in quadrature and tuned to 128 MHz. For acquisition of MR images of knee, foot and wrist, we employed a homemade saddle shaped RF coil. Topical common acquisition parameters were as follows: matrix=$512{\times}512$, field of view (FOV) =20 cm, slice thickness = 3 mm, number of excitations (NEX)=1. For T1-weighted MR images, we used TR = 500 ms, TE = 10 or 17.4 ms. For T2-weighted MR images, we used TR=4000 ms, TE = 108 ms. Results : Signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 3T system was measured 2.7 times greater than that of prevalent 1.5T system. MR images obtained from 3T system revealed numerous small venous structures throughout the image plane and provided reasonable delineation between gray and white matter. Conclusion The present results demonstrate that the MR images from 3T system could provide better diagnostic quali\ulcorner of resolution and sensitivity than those of 1.5T system. The elevated SNR observed in the 3T high field magnetic resonance imaging can be utilized to acquire images with a level of resolution approaching the microscopic structural level under in vivo conditions. These images represent a significant advance in our ability to examine small anatomical features with noninvasive imaging methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.23-26
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• 2009

This study proposed an improved center array-sequencing phase unwrapping (ICASPU) algorithm. 2% agarose phantom dopped with 0.6mM/l MnCl2 was used with clinical 1.5T MRI system and commercial knee coil. Obtained k-space data(raw-data) was transmitted to PC and reconstructed into phase image with MATLAB software. Previous center array-sequence phase unwrapping algorithm wascompared with proposed ICASP algorithm using second order regression analysis. As a result, we found that the amount of error on proposed ICASPU method is less about 5 times than that of previous CASPU method. In this study, we exploit improved Center array-sequence phase unwrapping algorithm and expect to apply to images including phase informations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Broadcast Engineers Conference
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• 2012.07a
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• pp.314-316
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• 2012

본 논문에서는 의료영상 영역화 기법으로 이용되는 레이블 융합 기법을 기반으로, 정합 기법을 이용했을 시 빈번하게 발생하는 경계에서의 오차를 크게 줄여줄 수 있는 기법을 제안한다. 패치 기반 레이블 융합 기법은 패치 간의 밝기 값의 유사도를 기반으로 융합 가중치를 계산하였지만 이는 밝기의 분포가 상대적으로 다른 자기공명영상에 적합하지 못한 경우가 많았다. 본 논문에서는 밝기 값과 함께 밝기 값의 경사도 유사도를 추가적으로 계산하여 융합 가중치를 얻어내는 기법을 제안한다. 밝기의 분포가 다른 영역에서도 밝기의 경사도 분포는 대부분 유사하기 때문에, 오차가 많은 모호한 경계에서 향상된 결과를 얻을 수 있었다. 제안하는 기법의 성능평가를 위해 50 개의 SKI10 무릎 관절 데이터 셋 내에서 대퇴골을 영역화 하였다. 실험 결과를 통해 제안하는 기법이 밝기 값 유사도 정보만을 이용했던 기법에 비해 개선된 성능을 보이고 있음을 확인할 수 있다.