• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.820-832
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• 2019

Estimation of accurate blood volume flow in ultrasound Doppler blood flow spectrograms is extremely important for clinical diagnostic purposes. Blood volume flow measurements require the assessment of both the velocity distribution and the cross-sectional area of the vessel. Unfortunately, the existing volume flow estimation algorithms by ultrasound lack the velocity space distribution information in cross-sections of a vessel and have the problems of low accuracy and poor stability. In this paper, a new robust ultrasound volume flow estimation method based on multigate (RMG) is proposed and the multigate technology provides detail information on the local velocity distribution. In this method, an accurate double iterative flow velocity estimation algorithm (DIV) is used to estimate the mean velocity and it has been tested on in vivo data from carotid. The results from experiments indicate a mean standard deviation of less than 6% in flow velocities when estimated for a range of SNR levels. The RMG method is validated in a custom-designed experimental setup, Doppler phantom and imitation blood flow control system. In vitro experimental results show that the mean error of the RMG algorithm is 4.81%. Low errors in blood volume flow estimation make the prospect of using the RMG algorithm for real-time blood volume flow estimation possible.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.224-232
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• 2016

The methodology to visualize the shape of blood vessel and its blood flow have been attracting as a very interesting problem to forecast and examinate a disease in thrombus precursor protein. May previous visualization researches have been appeared for designing the blood vessel and also modeling the blood flow using a doppler imaging technique which is one of nondestructive testing techniques. General visualization methods are to depict the blood flow obtained from doppler effects with fragmentary stream lines and also visualize the blood flow model using volume rendering. However, these visualizeation techniques have the disadvantage which a set of small line segments does not give the overall observation of blood flows. Therefore, we propose a visualization system which reconstruct the continuity of the blood flow obtained from doppler effects and also visualize the blood flow with the vector field of blood particles. This system will use doppler phase difference from medical equipments such as OCT with low penetration and reconstruct the blood flow by the curvature estimation from vector field of each blood particle.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.223-230
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• 1995

This study investigates a combined mathematical model for the quantitative estimation of regional myocardial blood flow in experimental canine coronary artery occlusion and in patients with ischemic myocardial diseases using Rb-82 dynamic myocardial positron emission tomography. The coronary thrombosis was induced using the new catheter technique by narrowing the lumen of coronary vessel gradually, which finally led to partial obstruction of coronary artery. Thirty four Rb-82 dynamic myocardial PET scans were performed sequentially for each experiment using our 5, 10 and 20 second acquisition protocol, respectively, and six to seven regions of interest were drawn on each transaxial slices, one on left ventricular chamber for input function and the others on normal and decreased perfusion myocardial segments for the flow estimation in those regions. Two compartment model and graphical analysis method have been applied to the measured sets of regional PET data, and the rate constants of influx to myocardial tissue were calculated for regional myocardial flow estimates with the two parameter fits of raw data by the Levenberg-Marquardt method. The results showed that, (I) two compartment model suggested by Kety-Schmidt, with proper modification of the measured data and volume of distribution, could be used for the simple estimation of regional myocardial blood flow, (2) the calculated regional myocardial blood flow estimates were dependent on the selection of input function, which reflected partial volume effect and left ventricular wall motion in previously used graphical analysis, and (3) mathematically fitted input and tissue time activity curves were more suitable than the direct application of the measured data in terms of convergence.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.279-288
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• 1995

Ultrasonic Doppler systems for the purpose of estimating blood flow velocity, blood flow volume, and flow imaging are commonly used due to advantages of non-invasive and real time observation. Specially, the technical developments of color flow mapping (2-D Doppler) systems have made a relatively rapid progress. However, the 2-D Doppler systems have several problems, such as the range ambiguity, low signal to noise ratio, and slow frame rate. The slow frame rate problem is resolved by using the spatial average which is a method to acquire more data samples for mean frequency estimation. In this paper, spatial average method using the 2nd order sampling instead of quadrature sampling is proposed. The experimental results show that the proposed methods have good performance and easy application to the color flow mapping system.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 1995

This study investigates a simple mathematical model for the quantitative estimation of regional myocardial blood flow in experimental canine coronary artery thrombosis using Rb-82 dynamic myocardial positron emission tomography. The coronary thrombosis was induced using the new catheter technique by narrowing the lumen of coronary vessel gradually, which finally led to partial obstruction of coronary artery. Ten Rb-82 dynamic myocardial PET scans were performed sequentially for each experiment using our 5, 10 and 20 second acquisition protocol, respectively, and three regions of interest were drawn on the transaxial slices, one on left ventricular chamber for input function and the other two on normal and decreased perfusion segments for the flow estimation in those regions. Single compartment model has been applied to the measured sets of regional PET data, and the rate constants of influx to myocardial tissue were calculated for regional myocardial flow estimates with the three parameter fits of raw data by the Levenberg-Marquardt method. The results showed that, (1) single compartment model suggested by Kety-Schmidt could be used for the simple estimation of regional myocardial blood flow, (2) the calculated regional myocardial blood flow estimates were dependent on the selection of input function, which reflected partial volume effect and left ventricular wall motion, and (3) mathematically fitted input and tissue time activity curves were more suitable than the direct application of the measured data in terms of convergence.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2004

Cerebral vasoreactivity is an index of autoregulation of cerebral perfusion, and can be measured using functional images such as Xe CT, SPECT and PET in reponse to hypercapneic stimulus. In order to measure cerebral $CO_2$ vasoreactivity in routine TCD study conveniently and reliably, we devised a method of rebreathing into closed volume of reservoir bag as a hypercapneic stimulus, and applied it to 44 healthy volunteers. As a hypercapneic stimulus, we applied fitting mask connected with closed reservoir bag for about 90 seconds, and mean blood flow velocity(MBFV) and pulsatility index(PI) were evaluated at proximal middle cerebral arteries(MCA) of 50-55 mm depth, before and after the hypercapneic stimulus. Age affected the MFV and PI value showed significant and the MFV was 56.45(SD=9.75)cm/sec, while PI was 0.406(SD=0.089). As age increases the flow velocity decreased significantly whereas PI value increased(P<0.05). The vasoreactvity significantly decreased with age(P<0.05). The decrease of cerebral blood flow quantity and cerebral blood flow velocity is not only because of increase of diameter of cerebrovascular resulting from aging, but the resistance increase of small blood vessel resulting from the increase of PI & RI value is regarded. We suppose that the rebreathing method is a reliable and convenient technique as a hypercapneic stimulus in determining cerebral $CO_2$ vasoreactivity. The rebreathing method could be non-invasive and useful methods in estimation of the cerebrovascular reactivity and could be applied to the basal and follow-up evaluation of the cerebrovascular reserve of the ischemic stroke patients.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.170-174
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• 1993

The quantitative methods for the assessment of the cerebral blood flow using $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO brain SPECT utilize the measured count distribution in some specific reconstructed tomographic slice or in algebraic summation of a few neighboring slices, rather than the true volumetric distribution, to estimate the relative regional cerebral blood flow, and consequently produce the biased estimates of the true regional cerebral blood flow. This kind of biases are thought to originate mainly from the arbitrarily irregular shape of the cerebral region of interest(ROI) which are analyzed. In this study, a semi-automated method for the direct quantification of the volumetric regional cerebral blood flow estimate is proposed, and the results are compared to those calculated by the previous planar approaches. Bias factors due to the partial volume effect and the uncertainty in ROI determination are not considered presently for the methodological comparison of planar/volumetric assessment protocol.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

The advent of deep learning technologies has led to the development of various medical applications, making healthcare services more convenient and effective. Among these applications, heart rate estimation is considered a vital method for assessing an individual's health. Traditional methods, such as photoplethysmography through smart watches, have been widely used but are invasive and require additional hardware. Recent advancements allow for contactless heart rate estimation through facial image analysis, providing a more hygienic and convenient approach. In this paper, we propose a lightweight methodology capable of accurately estimating heart rate in mobile environments, using a specialized 2-channel network structure based on 2D convolution. Our method considers both subtle facial movements and color changes resulting from blood flow and muscle contractions. The approach comprises two major components: an Encoder for analyzing image features and a regression layer for evaluating Blood Volume Pulse. By incorporating both features simultaneously our methodology delivers more accurate results even in computing environments with limited resources. The proposed approach is expected to offer a more efficient way to monitor heart rate without invasive technology, particularly well-suited for mobile devices.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.32-49
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• 1998

For estimation of regional myocardial blood flow with O-15 water PET, a few modifications considering partial volume effect based on single compartment model have been proposed. In this study, we attempted to quantify the degree of heterogeneity and to show the effect of tissue flow heterogeneity on partition coefficient(${\lambda}$) and to find the relation between perfusable tissue index(PTI) and ${\lambda}$ by computer simulation using two modified models. We simulated tissue curves for the regions with homogeneous and heterogeneous blood flow over a various flow range(0.2-4.0ml/g/min). Simulated heterogeneous tissue composed of 4 subregions of the same or different size of block which have different homogeneous flow and different degree of slope of distribution of blood flow. We measured the index representing heterogeneity of distribution of blood flow for each heterogeneous tissue by the constitution heterogeneity(CH). For model I, we assumed that tissue recovery coefficient ($F_{MME}$) was the product of partial volume effect($F_{MMF}$) and PTI. Using model I, PTI, flow, and $F_{MM}$ were estimated. For model II, we assumed that partition coefficient was another variable which could represent tissue characteristics of heterogeneity of flow distribution. Using model II, PTI, flow and ${\lambda}$ were estimated. For the simulated tissue with homogeneous flow, both models gave exactly the same estimates, of three parameters. For the simulated tissue with heterogeneous flow distribution, in model I, flow and $F_{MM}$ were correctly estimated as CH was increased moderately. In model II, flow and ${\lambda}$ were decreased curvi-linearly as CH was increased. The degree of underestimation of ${\lambda}$ obtained using model II, was correlated with CH. The degree of underestimation of flow was dependent on the degree of underestimation of ${\lambda}$. PTI was somewhat overestimated and did not change according to CH. We conclude that estimated ${\lambda}$ reflect the degree of tissue heterogeneity of flow distribution. We could use the degree of underestimation of ${\lambda}$ to find the characteristic heterogeneity of tissue flow and use ${\lambda}$ to recover the underestimated flow.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.971-974
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• 2014

A ventricular assist device (VAD) is used for bridge to heart transplantation and heart diseases. Knowing the status of a pneumatic pulsatile VAD when implanting it into the body is important: when the velocity of blood flow through the VAD is slow, a thrombus may occur, and thrombosis can be fatal to a patient. In order to determine the state of a VAD, various sensors need to be implanted. Because this introduces the risk of infection and difficulties with sensor management, we developed a method for estimating the state of a VAD indirectly via the pressure in an air tube that can be measured in vitro. We compared the measured values to in vitro experimental results. The estimated and measured values showed some errors, but the accuracy can be improved by refining the estimation process to minimize the risk of infection.