• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.255-263
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• 2023

Clinical ultrasound (US) is a widely used imaging modality with various clinical applications. However, capturing a large field of view often requires specialized transducers which have limitations for specific clinical scenarios. Panoramic imaging offers an alternative approach by sequentially aligning image sections acquired from freehand sweeps using a standard transducer. To reconstruct a 3D volume from these 2D sections, an external device can be employed to track the transducer's motion accurately. However, the presence of optical or electrical interferences in a clinical setting often leads to incorrect measurements from such sensors. In this paper, we propose a deep learning (DL) framework that enables the prediction of scan trajectories using only US data, eliminating the need for an external tracking device. Our approach incorporates diverse data types, including correlation volume, optical flow, B-mode images, and rawer data (IQ data). We develop a DL network capable of effectively handling these data types and introduce an attention technique to emphasize crucial local areas for precise trajectory prediction. Through extensive experimentation, we demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method over other DL-based approaches in terms of long trajectory prediction performance. Our findings highlight the potential of employing DL techniques for trajectory estimation in clinical ultrasound, offering a promising alternative for panoramic imaging.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.33-42
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• 1996

A multimedia remote ultrasound image transfer system for tole-medical services was implemented. The image data of the ultrasound scanner system of the slave is compressed using image compression system. It is transferred to the master PC via ISDN UNI(User-Network Interface) and decompressd by image decompression system. The total system is composed of three parts; first, the image capture card which transfers bidirection- al data between ultrasound scanner system and PC, second, image compression and decompression card, finally, ISDN TA(Terminal Adaptor) card for transferring the image. This system has a easy user interface because it is executed on the basis of MS-WINDOWS. So it is capable of serving medical services at a remote place.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.433-442
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• 1996

Since one texture property(i.e coarseness, orientation, regularity, granularity) for ultrasound liver ages was not sufficient enough to classify the characteristics of livers, we used multi texture vectors tracted from ultrasound liver images and a statistical classifier. Multi texture vectors are selected among the feature vectors of the normal liver, fat liver and cirrhosis images which have a good separability in those ultrasound liver images. The statistical classifier uses multi texture vectors as input vectors and classifies ultrasound liver images for each multi texture vector by the Bayes decision rule. Then the decision of the liver disease is made by choosing the maximum value from the averages of a posteriori probability for each multi texture vector In our simulation, we obtained higtler correct ratio than that of other methods using single feature vector, for the test set the correct ratio is 94% in the normal liver, 84% in the fat liver and 86% in the cirrhosis liver.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.6-13
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• 2006

Ultrasound visualization is a typical diagnosis method to examine organs, soft tissues and fetus data. It is difficult to visualize ultrasound data because the quality of the data might be degraded by artifact and speckle noise, and gathered with non-linear sampling. Rendering speed is too slow since we can not use additional data structures or procedures in rendering stage. In this paper, we use several visualization methods for fast rendering of ultrasound data. First method, denoted as adaptive ray sampling, is to reduce the number of samples by adjusting sampling interval in empty space. Secondly, we use early ray termination scheme with sufficiently wide sampling interval and low threshold value of opacity during color compositing. Lastly, we use bilinear interpolation instead of trilinear interpolation for sampling in transparent region. We conclude that our method reduces the rendering time without loss of image quality in comparison to the conventional methods.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.66-78
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• 2009

A mobile ultrasound scanner developed for use in point-of-care applications is introduced, which can not only provide ultrasound images but can also measure various bio-signals. The mobile ultrasound scanner is also designed to meet the demanding requirements for point-of-care diagnosis, such as battery-powered operation, portability in terms of size and weigh, and real-time wireless communications capability for remote diagnosis. To meet these requirements, an efficient beamforming method for high resolution imaging with a small number of active elements, a hardware efficient beamformer architecture, and echo processing algorithms with greatly reduced computational complexity have been developed. Experimental results show that the prototype mobile ultrasound scanner is fully functional and satisfies most of the design requirements.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제43권3호
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• pp.147-152
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• 2022

This research is to measure real-time temperature distribution inside a tissue-mimicking phantom for the safety and effectiveness evaluations of focused ultrasound (FUS) device capable of linear scanning stimulation. Since the focusing area of the FUS stimulation device is smaller than diameter of conventional thermal probe and keeps moving, it is impossible to monitor temperature distribution inside the phantom. By using the phantom with a thin film temperature sensor array inserted, real-time temperature change caused by the FUS device was measured. The translation of the measured temperature peak was also tracked successfully. The present phantom had been experimentally proven to be applicable to validate the performance and safety of the therapeutic ultrasound devices.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.6-13
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• 2005

Individual clinical significance of each layer of CCA (common carotid artery) has not been well studied. We intended to measure the intima thickness (IT), media thickness (MT), and intima-media thickness (IMT) of CCA separately and tried to analyze the clinical significance. One hundred fifty one consecutive patients (mean age: $57{\pm}15$ years; 77 males, 74 females) underwent CCA scanning using high-resolution ultrasound. The images were off-line analyzed using B-mode ultrasound image processing, devised for individual measurement of IT and MT as well as IMT. The mean coefficients of variation of new method measuring IT, MT, and IMT separately were 0.16% for IMT and 0.21% for both IT and MT. The IT (p < 0.01), MT (p < 0.01) as well as IMT (p < 0.001) of patients with atherosclerotic disease were significantly thicker than that of the patients without atherosclerotic disease. Patients with hypertension showed significantly thicker IT (p < 0.01), MT (p < 0.001), and IMT (p < 0.001) than that of the patients without hypertension. However, only IT was thicker in patients with smoking (p<0.01) than that of the patients without smoking.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.22-29
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• 2006

This paper proposes an efficient array beamforming method using spatial matched filtering for ultrasound imaging. In the proposed method, ultrasound waves are transmitted from an array subaperture with fixed transmit focus as in conventional array imaging. At receive, radio frequency (RF) echo signals from each receive channel are passed through a spatial matched filter that is constructed based on the system transmit-receive spatial impulse response. The filtered echo signals are then summed. The filter remaps and spatially registers the acoustic energy from each element so that the pulse-echo impulse response of the summed output is focused with acceptably low side lobes. Analytical beam pattern analysis and simulation results using a linear array show that the proposed spatial filtering method can provide more improved spatial resolution and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) compared with conventional dynamic receive focusing (DRF) method by implementing two-way dynamically focused beam pattern throughout the field.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.101-108
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• 2001

본 논문에서는 뇨실금 환자들에 대한 지원 기술의 일환으로 인체에 무해하고 비침습적인 초음파를 이용하여 배뇨시기를 알려주기 위한 재택용 뇨의 경보기용 뇨량검출 센서의 개발과 이를 이용한 방광 벽간거리와 뇨량과의 상관관계에 관하여 연구하였다. 개발된 센서는 인체내에 침투력이 가장 좋은 중심 주파수가 2.25 MHz인 초음파를 사용하여 분해능을 높여 오차를 감소시킬 수 있는 구조로 설계하였다. 이 센서를 이용하여 방광전.후벽간의 거리를 검출하여 이로부터 뇨량을 정량적으로 측정하기 위한 기초 실험을 실시하였다. 기초실험은 건강한 성인 남자 3명을 대상으로 초음파 뇨량검출 센서를 이용한 초음파 RF 반사신호 획득장치와 초음파 진단기에 의한 2가지 방법으로 이루어졌고 그 결과 뇨량과 벽간거리와의 사이에는 높은 상관성이 있음을 확인할 수 있었다. 결론적으로, 실험 결과를 토대로 하여 제작된 초음파 뇨의 센서를 부착한 초음파 뇨의 경보 시스템은 뇨실금 환자로 하여금 배뇨시기를 알려주는 경보 시스템으로 보건.복지적인 측면에서 현대사회에 기여할 공헌도가 매우 클 것이라 생각된다.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• 제29권2E호
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• pp.55-63
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• 2010

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a noninvasive surgical method mainly targeting deeply located cancer tissue. Ultrasound is generated from an extemally located transducer and the beam is focused at the target volume, so that selective damage can be achieved without harm to overlying or surrounding tissues. The mechanism for cell killing can be combination of thermal and cavitational damage. Although cavitation can be an effective means of tissue destruction, the possibility of massive hemorrhage and the unpredictable nature of cavitational events prevent clinical application of cavitation. Hence, thermal damage has been a main focus related to HIFU research. 2D phased array transducer systems allow electronic scanning of focus, multi-foci, and anti-focus with multi-foci, so that HIFU becomes more applicable in clinical use. Currently, lack of noninvasive monitoring means of HIFU is the main factor to limit clinical applications, but development in MRI and Ultrasound Imaging techniques may be able to provide solutions to overcome this problem. With the development of advanced focusing algorithm and monitoring means, complete noninvasive surgery is expected to be implemented in the near future.