• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.461-468
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• 2009

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) enables us to perform high-resolution conductivity imaging of an electrically conducting object. Injecting low-frequency current through a pair of surface electrodes, we measure an induced magnetic flux density using an MRI scanner and this requires a sophisticated MR phase imaging method. Applying a conductivity image reconstruction algorithm to measured magnetic flux density data subject to multiple injection currents, we can produce multi-slice cross-sectional conductivity images. When there exists a local region of fat, the well-known chemical shift phenomenon produces misalignments of pixels in MR images. This may result in artifacts in magnetic flux density image and consequently in conductivity image. In this paper, we investigate chemical shift artifact correction in MREIT based on the well-known three-point Dixon technique. The major difference is in the fact that we must focus on the phase image in MREIT. Using three Dixon data sets, we explain how to calculate a magnetic flux density image without chemical shift artifact. We test the correction method through imaging experiments of a cheese phantom and postmortem canine head. Experimental results clearly show that the method effectively eliminates artifacts related with the chemical shift phenomenon in a reconstructed conductivity image.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2008

Purpose : We developed a 3D CSI (chemical shift imaging) sequence that uses the PRESS (point resolved spectroscopy) excitation scheme and spiral-based readout gradients. Materials and Methods : We implemented constant-density spirals ($32{\times}32$ matrix, $24{\times}24\;cm$ FOV) which use analytic equations to enable real-time prescription on the scanner. In-vivo data from the brain were collected and reconstructed using the gridding algorithm. Results : Data illustrate that with our imaging sequence, the benefits of the PRESS technique, which include elimination of lipid artifacts, remain intact while flexible scan time versus resolution tradeoffs can be achieved using the constant-density spirals. Volumetric high resolution 3D CSI covering 5760 cm3 could be obtained in 12.5 minutes. Conclusion : Spiral-based readout gradients offer a flexible tradeoff between scan time versus resolution. By combining this feature with PRESS based excitation, efficient methods of volumetric spectroscopic imaging can be accomplished by obtaining whole brain coverage while eliminating lipid contamination.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.241-250
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• 2015

Noninvasive temperature monitoring is feasible with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) based on temperature sensitive MR parameters such as $T_1$ and $T_2$ relaxation times, Proton Resonance Frequency shift (PRFs), diffusion, exchange process, magnetization transfer contrast, chemical exchange saturation transfer, etc. While the temperature monitoring is very useful to guide the thermal treatment such as RF hyperthermia or thermal ablation, the optimization of the MR thermometry method is essential because the range of temperature measurement depends on the choice of the measurement methods. Useful temperature range depends on the purpose of treatment methods, for example, $42^{\circ}C$ to $45^{\circ}C$ for RF hyperthermia and over $50^{\circ}C$ for thermal ablation. In this paper, MR thermometry methods using $T_1$ and $T_2$ relaxation times and PRFs-based MR thermometry are tried on a 3.0 T MRI system and their results are reported and compared. In addition, the scanning protocol and temperature calculation algorithms from $T_1$ and $T_2$ relaxation times and PRFs are optimized for the different temperature ranges for the purpose of RF hyperthermia and/or thermal ablation.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.1077-1086
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• 2021

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic performance of quantitative ultrasound (US) parameters for the assessment of hepatic steatosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) using magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) as the reference standard. Materials and Methods: In this single-center prospective study, 120 patients with clinically suspected NAFLD were enrolled between March 2019 and January 2020. The participants underwent US examination for radiofrequency (RF) data acquisition and chemical shift-encoded liver MRI for PDFF measurement. Using the RF data analysis, the attenuation coefficient (AC) based on tissue attenuation imaging (TAI) (AC-TAI) and scatter-distribution coefficient (SC) based on tissue scatter-distribution imaging (TSI) (SC-TSI) were measured. The correlations between the quantitative US parameters (AC and SC) and MRI-PDFF were evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficients. The diagnostic performance of AC-TAI and SC-TSI for detecting hepatic fat contents of ≥ 5% (MRI-PDFF ≥ 5%) and ≥ 10% (MRI-PDFF ≥ 10%) were assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The significant clinical or imaging factors associated with AC and SC were analyzed using linear regression analysis. Results: The participants were classified based on MRI-PDFF: < 5% (n = 38), 5-10% (n = 23), and ≥ 10% (n = 59). AC-TAI and SC-TSI were significantly correlated with MRI-PDFF (r = 0.659 and 0.727, p < 0.001 for both). For detecting hepatic fat contents of ≥ 5% and ≥ 10%, the areas under the ROC curves of AC-TAI were 0.861 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.786-0.918) and 0.835 (95% CI: 0.757-0.897), and those of SC-TSI were 0.964 (95% CI: 0.913-0.989) and 0.935 (95% CI: 0.875-0.972), respectively. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that MRI-PDFF was an independent determinant of AC-TAI and SC-TSI. Conclusion: AC-TAI and SC-TSI derived from quantitative US RF data analysis yielded a good correlation with MRI-PDFF and provided good performance for detecting hepatic steatosis and assessing its severity in NAFLD.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1260-1268
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• 2022

Objective: To propose standardized MRI-proton density fat fraction (PDFF) cutoff values for diagnosing hepatic steatosis, evaluated using contemporary PDFF measuring methods in a large population of healthy adults, using histologic fat fraction (HFF) as the reference standard. Materials and Methods: A retrospective search of electronic medical records between 2015 and 2018 identified 1063 adult donor candidates for liver transplantation who had undergone liver MRI and liver biopsy within a 7-day interval. Patients with a history of liver disease or significant alcohol consumption were excluded. Chemical shift imaging-based MRI (CS-MRI) PDFF and high-speed T2-corrected multi-echo MR spectroscopy (HISTO-MRS) PDFF data were obtained. By temporal splitting, the total population was divided into development and validation sets. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the MRI-PDFF method. Two cutoff values with sensitivity > 90% and specificity > 90% were selected to rule-out and rule-in, respectively, hepatic steatosis with reference to HFF ≥ 5% in the development set. The diagnostic performance was assessed using the validation set. Results: Of 921 final participants (624 male; mean age ± standard deviation, 31.5 ± 9.0 years), the development and validation sets comprised 497 and 424 patients, respectively. In the development set, the areas under the ROC curve for diagnosing hepatic steatosis were 0.920 for CS-MRI-PDFF and 0.915 for HISTO-MRS-PDFF. For ruling-out hepatic steatosis, the CS-MRI-PDFF cutoff was 2.3% (sensitivity, 92.4%; specificity, 63.0%) and the HISTO-MRI-PDFF cutoff was 2.6% (sensitivity, 88.8%; specificity, 70.1%). For ruling-in hepatic steatosis, the CS-MRI-PDFF cutoff was 3.5% (sensitivity, 73.5%; specificity, 88.6%) and the HISTO-MRI-PDFF cutoff was 4.0% (sensitivity, 74.7%; specificity, 90.6%). Conclusion: In a large population of healthy adults, our study suggests diagnostic thresholds for ruling-out and ruling-in hepatic steatosis defined as HFF ≥ 5% by contemporary PDFF measurement methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.367-373
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• 2016

This study conducted an analysis to compare the differences in the properties of the magnetic field and the generation of artifacts because of the difference in the magnetic field between 1.5 T equipment and 3.0 T equipment, centering around four types of pulse sequences, mainly applied to the abdominal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). With data on 500 persons transmitted to the PACS, this study analyzed the SNR value, quantitatively and carried out a qualitative evaluation, dividing MSA, CSA, and DA into three steps. As a result of the quantitative evaluation, the SNR value was significantly higher in the 1.5 T equipment; however, there was a factor deteriorating the image quality, too, as artifacts were generated in the images. The 1.5 T equipment generated fewer artifacts than the 3.0 T equipment did, so it could compensate the image quality for 3.0 T. In conclusion, based on these findings, this study could understand the differences in the properties of the magnetic field and the generation of artifacts occurring because of the difference in the magnetic field and could provide a measure for them. This study would be guidelines for MRI users who directly examine the patients in abdominal MRI using the two types of equipment in the clinical setting in the future.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.98-107
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• 2006

Magnetization Transfer (MT) imaging generates contrast dependent on the phenomenon of magnetization exchange between free water proton and restricted proton in macromolecules. In biological materials in knee, MT or cross-relaxation is commonly modeled using two spin pools identified by their different T2 relaxation times. Two models for cross-relaxation emphasize the role of proton chemical exchange between protons of water and exchangeable protons on macromolecules, as well as through dipole-dipole interaction between the water and macromolecule protons. The most essential tool in medical image manipulation is the ability to adjust the contrast and intensity. Thus, it is desirable to adjust the contrast and intensity of an image interactively in the real time. The proton density (PD) and T2-weighted SE MR images allow the depiction of knee structures and can demonstrate defects and gross morphologic changes. The PD- and T2-weighted images also show the cartilage internal pathology due to the more intermediate signal of the knee joint in these sequences. Suppression of fat extends the dynamic range of tissue contrast, removes chemical shift artifacts, and decreases motion-related ghost artifacts. Like fat saturation, phase sensitive methods are also based on the difference in precession frequencies of water and fat. In this study, phase sensitive methods look at the phase difference that is accumulated in time as a result of Larmor frequency differences rather than using this difference directly. Although how MT work was given with clinical evidence that leads to quantitative model for MT in tissues, the mathematical formalism used to describe the MT effect applies to explaining to evaluate knee disorder, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear and meniscal tear. Calculation of the effect of the effect of the MT saturation is given in the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) which is a quantitative measure of the relative decrease in signal intensity due to the MT pulse.