• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2014

In this study we evaluated that flow rate changes affect the (time of flight) TOF image and contrast-enhanced (CE) in a three-dimensional TOF angiography. We used a 3.0T MR System, a nonpulsatile flow rate model. Saline was used as a fluid injected at a flow rate of 11.4 cm/sec by auto injector. The fluid signal strength, phantom body signal strength and background signal strength were measured at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25-th cross-section in the experienced images and then they were used to determine signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio. The inlet, middle and outlet length were measured using coronal images obtained through the maximum intensity projection method. As a result, the length of inner cavity was 2.66 mm with no difference among the inlet, middle and outlet length. We also could know that the magnification rate is 49-55.6% in inlet part, 49-59% in middle part and 49-59% in outlet part, and so the image is generally larger than in the actual measurement. Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio were negatively correlated with the fluid velocity and so we could see that signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio are reduced by faster fluid velocity. Signal-to-noise ratio was 42.2-52.5 in 5-25th section and contrast-to-noise ratio was from 34.0-46.1 also not different, but there was a difference in the 1st section. The smallest 3D TOF MRA measure was $2.51{\pm}0.12mm$ with a flow velocity of 40 cm/s. Consequently, 3D TOF MRA tests show that the faster fluid velocity decreases the signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio, and basically it can be determined that 3D TOF MRA and 3D CE MRA are displayed larger than in the actual measurement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting picture quality in Roadmap images, which were studied by varying the dilution rate, collimation field and flow rate of contrast medium. For a quantitative evaluation of the quality of the picture, a 3mm vessel model Water Phantom was self-produced using acrylic, a roadmap image was acquired with a self-produced vascular model Water Phantom, and the SNR(Signal to Noise Ratio) and CNR (Contrast to Noise Ratio) were analyzed. CM:N/S In the study on the change of dilution rate, CM:N/S dilution rate changed to (100%~10%:100%), and the measurement of the roadmap image taken using the vascular model Water Phantom showed that the measurement value of SNR gradually decreased as the N/S dilution rate was increased, and the measurement of CNR was gradually reduced. It was confirmed that the higher the dilution rate of CM:N/S, the lower the SNR and CNR, and also significant image can be obtained at the dilution rate of CM:N/S (100%~70:30%). The study showed the value of SNR and CNR in Roadmap image was increased as the Collimation Field was narrowed to the center of the vascular phantom; the Collimation Field was narrowed to the center of the vessel model by 2cm intervals to 0cm through 12cm. To verify the relationship with Roadmap image and Flow Rate, volume of the autoinjector was kept constant at 15 and the flow rate was gradually increased 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The value of SNR and CNR of images taken by using water Phantom gradually decreased as the Flow Rate increased, but at Flow Rate 9 and 10, the SNR and CNR value was increase. It was not possible to confirm the relationship with SNR and CNR by ROI mean value and Background mean value. It is considered that further study is needed to evaluate the correlation about Roadmap image and Flow Rate. In conclusion, as the dilution rate of N/S in contrast medium was increased, the value of SNR and CNR was decreased. The narrower the Collimation Field, the higher image quality by increasing value of SNR and CNR. However, it is not confirmed the relationship Roadmap image and Flow Rate. It is considered that appropriate contrast medium concentration to minimize the effects of kidney and proper Collimation Field to improve contrast of image and reduce exposure X-ray during procedure is needed.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.39-47
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• 2014

Purpose As breast cancer patients continue to increase every year, cases of BSGI are on the rise with a heavier reliance on it. However, BSGI protocol in hospitals was not studied enough despite it was covered by hospital's condition and recommendation of manufacturers. The objective of the study was an examination of methods to be applicable to BSGI protocols, putting the self-development phantom to use in quality assessment of the images. Materials and Methods Dilon 6800 (Dilon Technologies Inc, Newport News, USA) was used in the study and five different sizes of sphere were distinctively produced in the phantom. The study used $^{99m}TcO_4$. The cases were classified in to three categories that background radioactivity to region of interest as ratio of 2: 4: 8, They were acquired images for 5, 7, 10mins. The acquired image was set region of interest according to the size of sphere, and We analyzed quantitative and qualitative analysis. The acquired data statistically analyzed with SPSS ver.18.0. Results As the result of quantitative and qualitative analysis, count rate of each sphere in accordance with difference of injection dose showed that higher count rate as injection dose and sphere size increased (P<0.005). Count rate of each sphere in accordance with difference of acquisition time showed that higher count rate as acquisition time and sphere size increased (P<0.005). Contrast noise ratio of each sphere in accordance with difference of injection dose showed that higher contrast noise ratio as injection dose increased. Particularly, Contrast noise ratio of eight times ratio images was the highest among. Contrast noise ratio of each sphere in accordance with difference of acquisition time showed that higher contrast noise ratio as acquisition time increased. And, Contrast noise ratio of seven minute image was the highest among (P<0.005). Conclusion There was significant change of Contrast noise ratio through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Moreover, We found usefulness of phantom. If Institutions identified image through the phantom study and they made BSGI protocol, We expected to help the improvement of diagnostic value of the images.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.5 s.182
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• pp.68-76
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• 2006

The ability to recognize human emotion is one of the hallmarks of human-robot interaction. Hence this paper describes the realization of emotion recognition. For emotion recognition from voice, we propose a new feature called frequency range of meaningful signal. With this feature, we reached average recognition rate of 76% in speaker-dependent. From the experimental results, we confirm the usefulness of the proposed feature. We also define the noise environment and conduct the noise-environment test. In contrast to other features, the proposed feature is robust in a noise-environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.845-852
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• 2018

This study aimed to investigate the difference of X-ray exposure by comparing and analyzing absorbed dose according to changes in the number of frames in coronary angiography, also depending whether the zoom mode is FOV enlargement or Zoom Live. Moreover, for appropriate frame selection measures for examination, including the effect of frame change on the image quality, were sought by measuring the noise strength expressed by the standard deviation (SD), the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR). The study was conducted with an anthropomorphic phantom on an angio-system. The linear relationship between the frame rate and the radiation dose was evident. On the contrary, the indices of image quality (SD, SNR, and CNR) were almost constant irrespective of the number of frames. The difference depending on the zoom mode was not statistically significant for DAP, air kerma, and SD (p > 0.05). However, SNR and CNR were statistically different between FOV enlargement and Zoom Live. In conclusion, since the image quality was not degraded significantly with the decreasing frame rate from 30, 15, to 7.5 f/s and the radiation dose evidently decreases in almost exactly linear proportion to the decreasing frame rate, the number of frames per second needs to be maintained as low as reasonably achievable. As for the dependence on the zooming mode, the Live Zoom mode showed statistically significant improvement in the image quality indices of SNR and CNR and it justifies active use of the Live Zoom mode which enables real-time image enlargment without additional radiation dose.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.89-89
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• 2002

Purpose： To report initial experience and evaluate feasibility of cervical carotid artery contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CEMRA) using whole body coil at 3.0T Method： Twenty-eight patients (14 male, ages 41-80, mean age 63) underwent CEMRA at the 3.0T using whole body coil and 3D-FSPGR (TR/TE 6.6/l.3 msec, FA 30, thickness 1.3mm), and thirty patients (17 male, ages 30-80, mean age 57) underwent CEMRA at the 1.5T using Helmholtz neck coil and 3D FLASH sequence (TR/TE 3.8/l.4msec, FA 35, thickness 1mm). At both 1.5 and 3.0T, a power injector (Spectris) injected 20m1 of gadolinium to the right or left antecubital vein at a rate of 3mL/s. All CEMRA cases were accepted by one neuroradiologiest. We measured the signal intensities at the bifurcation of common carotid artery (CCA), vertebral artery (V2) and two surrounding tissues (ST) and noise at the background in all patients, and also compared contras-to-noise ratios (CNR) of CCA/ST and V2/ST at 3.0 and 1.5T

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.634-643
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• 2024

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy and safety of low-contrast-dose, dual-source dual-energy CT before transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with compromised renal function. Materials and Methods: A total of 54 consecutive patients (female:male, 26:38; 81.9 ± 7.3 years) with reduced renal function underwent pre-TAVR dual-energy CT with a 30-mL contrast agent between June 2022 and March 2023. Monochromatic (40- and 50-keV) and conventional (120-kVp) images were reconstructed and analyzed. The subjective quality score, vascular attenuation, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were compared among the imaging techniques using the Friedman test and post-hoc analysis. Interobserver reliability for aortic annular measurement was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman analysis. The procedural outcomes and incidence of post-contrast acute kidney injury (AKI) were assessed. Results: Monochromatic images achieved diagnostic quality in all patients. The 50-keV images achieved superior vascular attenuation and CNR (P < 0.001 in all) while maintaining a similar SNR compared to conventional CT. For aortic annular measurement, the 50-keV images showed higher interobserver reliability compared to conventional CT: ICC, 0.98 vs. 0.90 for area and 0.97 vs. 0.95 for perimeter; 95% limits of agreement width, 0.63 cm² vs. 0.92 cm² for area and 5.78 mm vs. 8.50 mm for perimeter. The size of the implanted device matched CT-measured values in all patients, achieving a procedural success rate of 92.6%. No patient experienced a serum creatinine increase of ≥ 1.5 times baseline in the 48-72 hours following CT. However, one patient had a procedural delay due to gradual renal function deterioration. Conclusion: Low-contrast-dose imaging with 50-keV reconstruction enables precise pre-TAVR evaluation with improved image quality and minimal risk of post-contrast AKI. This approach may be an effective and safe option for pre-TAVR evaluation in patients with compromised renal function.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.34 no.12A
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• pp.949-961
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• 2009

This paper analyses BER (Bit Error Rate) performance of 2-hop wireless communications networks with hybrid decode-and-forward (HDF) relays. The conventional HDF method is usually based on the receive signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the relay to decide whether to forward the decoded data in order to obviate the erroneous detection at the relay. In contrast, we propose a new solution of using log-likelihood ratio (LLR) as an efficient alternative to SNR. The approximate BER expressions of different HDF schemes are also derived and verified by Monte-Carlo simulations. In addition, we compute the optimum thresholds for HDF schemes. A variety of numerical results demonstrate that the new LLR-based HDF significantly outperforms the SNR-based HDF for any threshold level and relay location under flat Rayleigh fading channel plus AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise).

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.139-144
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• 2017

To evaluation of clinical usefulness for B1+RMS limits, we compared image quality of Routine, Specific absorption rate (SAR) and Root mean square (RMS) protocol. 5 volunteers underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of the brain using three different protocols. We draw Region of interest ROI in cortex, white matter, gray matter, putamen and thalamus of axial plan. Signal to noise ratio (SNR) were evaluated in each area and Contrast to noise ration (CNR) were evaluated between white matter and gray matter. Qualitative evaluation was used to score each ROI. B1+RMS is confirmed its usefulness compared to conventional SAR standard on the aspect of improvement of image quality, reduction of scan time and easy adjusting parameter.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 1999

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the image quality, contrast characteristics, and possible clinical utility of Medium Tau Inversion Recovery(MTIR) sequence with white matter suppression in patients with brain cortical lesion. Materials and methods : Two normal volunteers and twenty-one patients with cortical lesion were scanned with MTIR as well as other MR imaging sequences. Gray-white matter contrast was evaluated objectively using region-of-interest calculations, including percent contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio(CNR). MTIR sequence was visually compared with other sequences in 21 patients with cortical lesion including conspicuity and detection rate. Results : MTIR sequence had the highest present contrast and CNR between the gray matter and white matter. In twenty-one cases of cortical lesion including cortical dysplasia, MTIR sequence improved delineation and conspicuity of lesion, but MTIR sequence could not detect new lesions. Conclusion : The MTIR sequence well delineated the cortical lesions, particularly in including cortical dysplasia. It may be used as an adjunctive imaging sequence in case of poor gray and white matter differentiation with conventional T1-weighted sequences.