• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.195-198
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• 2007

In this paper, we introduce a digital cross-polarization and fluorescent color imaging system for quantitative evaluation of skin lesions. We describe the characterization of the imaging systems and the quantitative image analysis methods to show the feasibility for quantitative evaluation of skin lesions. The polarization color image was used to compute erythema and melanin index image which are useful for quantitative evaluation of pigmentation and vascular skin lesions, respectively. The fluorescent color image was used to quantitatively evaluate "sebum" and "vitiligo". In quantitative evaluation of various skin lesions, we confirmed the clinical efficacy of the imaging systems for dermatological applications. Finally, we sure that the imaging systems can be utilized as important assistant tools for the evaluation of skin lesions by providing reproducible quantitative result for widely distributed skin lesions.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.283-294
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• 2005

The Center for Imaging Human Structures (CIH) was established in December 2002 to develop new diagnostic imaging techniques and to make them available to the greater community of biomedical and clinical researchers at Sungkyunkwan University. CIH has been involved in 5 specific activities to provide solutions for early diagnosis and improved treatment of human diseases. The five area goals include: 1) development of a digital mammography system with computer aided diagnosis (CAD); 2) development of digital radiological imaging techniques; 3) development of unified medical solutions using 3D image fusion; 4) development of multi-purpose digital endoscopy; and, 5) evaluation of new imaging systems for clinical application

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.102-107
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• 2007

In molecular imaging studies via magnetic resonance imaging, in vivo cell tracking is an important issue for the observation of cell therapy or disease behavior. High resolution imaging and longitudinal study are necessary to track the cell movement. Since the field inhomogeneity extends over several voxels, we have performed the numerical analysis using the sub-voxel method dividing a voxel of MR image into several elements and the information about the field inhomogeneity distribution around the micro-beads. We imbedded ferrite-composite micro-beads with the size of $20-150{\mu}m$ in the subject substituted for cells to induce local field distortion. In the phantom imaging with the isotropic voxel size of $200{\mu}m^3$, we could confirm the feasibility of sub-voxel tracking in a 3.0 T MRI.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1990 no.11
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• pp.48-51
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• 1990

A new in vivo high resolution imaging method which is performed with a newly developed three channel surface gradient coil (SGC) is described. The surface gradient coil can produce more than an order of magnitude stronger gradient fields with good linearity within a limited imaging region. To increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR), we have developed an RF coil integrated surface gradient coil set. In this paper, the geometrical structures and characteristics of the proposed surface gradient coil are discussed and experimentally obtained high resolution images ($50\;{\mu}m$ to $100\;{\mu}m$) of a water filled phantom and a human volunteer's knee using the new surface RF coil integrated SGC set are presented for the demonstration of the in vivo high resolution imaging capability of the new imaging method.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1993 no.05
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• pp.21-24
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• 1993

The experimental results of visual stimulation with the tailored RF pulse are reported. Tailored RF pulse is used for the susceptibility effect imaging. Around 25% signal change of visual cortex area is detected during photic stimulation. Interestingly, with the tailored RF pulse, the signal intensity of visual cortex is deceased during photic stimulation. It is, however, increased with normal $T_2$ weighted imaging. The comparison between normal $T_2$ weighted imaging and the tailored RF pulse imaging are performed with 4T NMR system and the results with human volunteer are also presented.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1993 no.05
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• pp.17-20
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• 1993

With proper designs of infrared optic system and two dimensional scanning mechanism, a medical infrared imaging system has been developed. The infrared imaging system can be used for two dimensional imaging of surface temperature of human body by measuring the amount of infrared lights radiating from it. It hag been experimentally proven that the degree of temperature measurement accuracy of the developed system is under $0.1^{\circ}C$ with spatial resolution of 1 mrad, image matrix size of $256{\times}240$, and imaging time of 4 seconds.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.46-55
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• 2007

The convergence of molecular and genetic disciplines with non-invasive imaging technologies has provided an opportunity for earlier detection of disease processes which begin with molecular and cellular abnormalities. This emerging field, known as molecular imaging, is a relatively new discipline that has been rapidly developed over the past decade. It endeavors to construct a visual representation, characterization, and quantification of biological processes at the molecular and cellular level within living organisms. One of the goals of molecular imaging is to translate our expanding knowledge of molecular biology and genomic sciences into good patient care. The practice of molecular imaging is still largely experimental, and only limited clinical success has been achieved. However, it is anticipated that molecular imaging will move increasingly out of the research laboratory and into the clinic over the next decade. Non-invasive in vivo molecular imaging makes use of nuclear, magnetic resonance, and in vivo optical imaging systems. Recently, an interest in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has been revived, and along with optical imaging systems PET is assuming new, important roles in molecular genetic imaging studies. Current PET molecular imaging strategies mostly rely on the detection of probe accumulation directly related to the physiology or the level of reporter gene expression. PET imaging of both endogenous and exogenous gene expression can be achieved in animals using reporter constructs and radio-labeled probes. As increasing numbers of genetic markers become available for imaging targets, it is anticipated that a better understanding of genomics will contribute to the advancement of the molecular genetic imaging field. In this report, the principles of non-invasive molecular genetic imaging, its applications and future directions are discussed.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.91-100
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• 1998

In magnetic resonance imaging, the fast spin echo imaging technique is a widely used clinical imaging method. since its scanning time is much shorter than the conventional spin echo imaging and it gives the almost same image quality. However, the fast spin echo technique has two times longer imaging time for the dual echo acquisition which can obtain a spin density image and a T-give the same qulity images at the single echo imaging time. T he proposed technique reduces the imaging time by overlapping most of were obtained at the 0.3T permanent MRI system are presented.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2008

We introduce a rotating-gantry-based x-ray micro-tomography system to be used for small animal imaging studies. It has the zoom-in imaging capability for high resolution imaging of a local region inside the animal subject without any contrast anomalies arising from truncation of the projection data. With the sliding mechanism mounted on the rotating gantry holding the x-ray source and the x-ray detector, we can control the magnification ratio of the x-ray projection data. By combining the projection data from the large field of view (FOV) scan of the whole animal subject and the projection data from the small FOV scan of the region of interest, we can obtain artifact-free zoomed-in images of the region of interest. For the acquisition of x-ray projection data, we use a $1248{\times}1248$ flat-panel x-ray detector with the pixel pitch of 100 mm. It has been experimentally found that the developed system has the spatial resolution of up to 121p/mm when the highest magnification ratio of 5:1 is applied to the zoom-in imaging. We present some in vivo rat femur images to demonstrate utility of the developed system for small animal imaging.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.8-18
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• 2002

Early and accurate diagnosis of tumors using positron omission tomography (PET) has been the focus of considerable interest due to its high metastasis and mortality rates at late detection. PET radiopharmaceuticals-which exhibit a high tumor-to-background uptake ratio, and appropriate metabolic characteristics, and pharmacokinetics-are attractive tools for tumor imaging. Tumor imaging by these radiopharmaceuticals are based on metabolic and receptor imaging. The former is based on accelerated metabolism in tumor tissue compared to normal tissue and the rate roughly corresponding to the rate of growth of tumors. Radiopharmaceuticals for this purpose include radiolabeled sugars, amino acids, and nucleosides which detect increased glucose utilization, protein synthesis, and DNA synthesis, respectively. Tumor receptor imaging is based on the proliferation of tumor cells regulated by many hormones and growth factors, which bind to the corresponding receptors and exhibit the biological responses Radiopharmaceuticals used to image the tumor receptor systems may be ligands for the specific receptors and antibodies for the growth factor receptors. Some antitumor agents have been labeled with radionuclides and used to study in vivo biodistribution and pharmacokinetics in humans. This overview describes typical PET radiopharmaceuticals used for tumor imaging based on their uptake mechanisms.