• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.343-350
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• 2006

Medical magnetic stimulator generates strong magnetic field pulses. Clinical applications of the magnetic pulse are the stimulation of nervous system and the contraction of muscle. The unique source of the strong magnetic pulse is a capacitor-inductor resonator and this inductor generates a strong sinusoidal magnetic pulse by discharging the capacitor with high initial voltage. Continuous muscle contraction needs sequential generation of the magnetic pulses. However, to keep the magnitude of sequential pulses identical, an expensive high-voltage power supply have to support voltage drop of the capacitor between the pulses. A protection circuit between the supply and the resonator is necessary to protect the supply from reverse current caused by capacitor voltage reversal. In this paper, a new circuit structure of the magnetic stimulator adopting a low-frequency fly-back switching is proposed. The new circuit supports sequential pulse generation and allows the reverse current without damage. Performance of the new circuit is examined and a low-cost magnetic stimulator for urinary incontinence therapy is being developed using the presented method.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• 제29권3E호
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• pp.119-130
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• 2010

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is simply evolved from extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy known as a revolutionary non-invasive technique for treating kidney stone diseases. Since ESWT was approved for treating plantar fasciitis by FDA in 2000, it has been rapidly accepted into various clinical practices. Its indication includes chronic tendinitis and pseudoarthrosis, and has been widened to various applications other than orthopeadics. Little has been reported on their acoustic properties, yet, even if a number of clinical ESWT systems are readily available. This article reviews the acoustical aspects of ESWT and discusses critical issues towards acoustic exposure optimization and shock wave dosimetry.

• 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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• 제30권1호
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• pp.18-22
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• 2009

Laser has been widely used in various fields of medicine. Recently, noninvasive low-level laser therapeutic medical devices have been introduced in market. However, low-level laser cannot deliver enough photon density to expect positive therapeutic results in deep tissue layer due to the light scattering property in tissue. In order to overcome the limitation, this study was aimed to develop a negative pressure applied low-level laser probe to optimize laser transmission pattern and therefore, to improve photon density in soft tissue. In order to evaluate the possibility of clinical application of the developed laser probe, ex-vivo experiments were performed with porcine skin samples and laser transmissions were quantitatively measured as a function of tissue compression. The laser probe has an air suction hole to apply negative pressure to skin, a transparent plastic body to observe variations of tissue, and a small metallic optical fiber guide to support the optical fiber when negative pressure was applied. By applying negative pressure to the laser probe, the porcine skin under the metallic optical fiber guide is compressed down and, at the same time, low-level laser is emitted into the skin. Finally, the diffusion images of laser in the sample were acquired by a CCD camera and analyzed. Compared to the peak intensity without the compression, the peak intensity of laser increased about $2{\sim}2.5$ times and FWHM decreased about $1.67{\sim}2.85$ times. In addition, the laser peak intensity was positively and linearly increased as a function of compression. In conclusion, we verified that the developed low-level laser probe can control the photon density in tissue by applying compression, and therefore, its potential for clinical applications.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.1-6
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• 2006

Microsystems create new opportunities for conventional cell analysis by combining microfluidics and flow cytometry. This article describes recent developments in conventional flow cytometers and related microfluidic flow cytometers to detect, analyze, and sort cells or particles. Flow cytometry strongly consisted of fluidics, optics and electronics requires a large space to equip various components, which are mostly the fluidic components such as compressor, fluid handling system. Adopting microfluidics into flow cytometry enables volume- and power-efficient, inexpensive and flexible analysis of particulate samples. In this paper, we review various efforts that take advantage of novel techniques to build microfluidic cell analysis systems with high-speed analytical capability. Highly integrated microfluidic cytometry shows great promise for basic biomedical and pharmaceutical research, and robust and portable point-of-care devices could be used in clinical settings.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제28권2호
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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.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.335-343
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• 2010

This article presents a review of technologies for an endoscope. The classification according to the clinical applications and the imaging modalities are summarized. The major parts are focused on describing the gastrointestinal endoscope's structures and mechanisms. The details of the image enhanced endoscopic techniques, such as NBI (narrow band imaging), OCT (optical coherence tomography), and EUS (endoscopic ultrasound), are also explained. Finally, the trend of NOTES (natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery) which is new fusion technology in the field of endoscopic diagnosis and surgery is introduced.

• 한국의학물리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국의학물리학회 2002년도 Proceedings
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• pp.345-351
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to assess clinical proton MR spectroscopy (MRS) as a noninvasive method for evaluating brain tumor malignancy at 3T high field system. Using 3T MRI/MRS system, localized water-suppressed single-voxe1 technique in patients with brain tumors was employed to evaluate spectra with peaks of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), choline-containing compounds (Cho), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) and lactate. On the basis of Cr, these peak areas were quantificated as a relative ratio. The variation of metabolites measurements of the designated region in 10 normal volunteers was less than 10%. Normal ranges of NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios were 1.67${\pm}$018 and 1.16${\pm}$0.15, respectively. NAA/Cr ratio of all tumor tissues was significantly lower than that of the normal tissues (p=0.005), but Cho/Cr ratio of all tumor tissue was significantly higher (p=0.001). Cho/Cr ratio of high-grade gliomas was significantly higher than that of low-grade gliomas (P=0.001). Except 4 menigiomas, lactate signal was observed in all tumor cases. The present study demonstrated that the neuronal degradation or loss was observed in all tumor tissues. Higher grade of brain tumors was correlated with higher Cho/Cr ratio, indicating a significant dependence of Cho levels on malignancy of gliomas. Our results suggest that clinical proton MR spectroscopy could be useful to predict tumor malignancy.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.138-145
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• 2014

Cobalt-Chromium (Co-Cr) alloys are classified as predominantly base-metal alloys and are widely known for their biomedical applications in the orthopedic and dental fields. In dentistry, Co-Cr alloys are commonly used for the fabrication of metallic frameworks of removable partial dentures and recently have been used as metallic substructures for the fabrication of porcelain-fused-to-metal restorations and implant frameworks. The increased worldwide interest in utilizing Co-Cr alloys for dental applications is related to their low cost and adequate physico-mechanical properties. Additionally, among base-metal alloys, Co-Cr alloys are used more frequently in many countries to replace Nickel-Chromium (Ni-Cr) alloys. This is mainly due to the increased concern regarding the toxic effects of Ni on the human body when alloys containing Ni are exposed to the oral cavity. This review article describes dental applications, metallurgical characterization, and physico-mechanical properties of Co-Cr alloys and also addresses their clinical and laboratory behavior in relation to those properties.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제31권6호
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• pp.449-455
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• 2010

A ceramic articulating system in total hip replacement thought to be superior to metal-on-polyethylene due to its extremely low coefficient of friction and potential for high resistance to wear. But ceramic is brittle, which makes it mechanically and theoretically susceptible to fracture under certain mechanical conditions. In the current study, nine different models of ceramic ball heads were mechanically evaluated using 3D finite element(FE) analyses. It was found that the maximum stress in all ceramic models was lower than ceramic flexural strength, and it satisfied the requirements of the FDA Gaudience for artificial hip implant. Thus, ceramic ball head models introduced in the current study could be mechanically safe for clinical applications.