• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.715-723
• /
• 2020

Cross-talk artifacts occur in two adjacent groups of axial imaging of lesions lumbar 4-5 and sacrum 1 in lumbar spine MRI. This causes problems in reading lesions in areas corresponding to the posterior vertebra. In this study, we are going to completely remove the cross-talk artifacts through optimal concatenation TR. The region of interested were measured by averaging them into fat (ROI1), erector spinal muscle(lateral tract: iliocostalis lumborum muscle) (ROI2), erector spinal muscle(lateral tract: longissimus muscle) (ROI3), and spinous process (ROI4). The mean signal intensity (SI) was 163.43 ± 25.08 at C4 for ROI1, ROI 2 and ROI 3 at C6, 67.89 ± 11.75 and 69.99 ± 10.91 and ROI4 at C5, respectively (p<0.000). The mean signal to noise ratio (SNR) was 135.45 ± 35.90, 56.92 ± 15.90, 58.77 ± 15.59, and 54.91 ± 118.95 for SNR 1, 2, 3 and 4 (p<0.000). The contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was CNR1 78.52 ± 24.11, CNR2 was 76.67 ± 24.38 and CNR3 was 80.54 ± 26.33 in concatenation 6, respectively (p<0.000). The SNR, CNR, and the most efficient concatenation TR value over time are 6, and it is considered to help reduce cross-talk artifact if this is applied to T1 axial images.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.148-152
• /
• 2016

The main goal was to evaluate effectiveness of a modified TSE sequence compared with DIR (double inversion recovery) sequence in acquisition of fast flow brain vessel images using signal void effect. 32 healthy volunteers (10 men and 22 women; mean age of 31 years; ranging between 28-43 years) who underwent black blood DIR sequence (group A) and the modified TSE sequence (group B) were enrolled in our study. Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR) of the internal carotid arteries' lumen were compared in T1 and T2 weighted images for both group A and B. The images obtained from group B showed lower SNR values in internal carotid artery than the group A in both of the T1 and T2 weighted images (11.49% and 13.66% respectively). While the CNR values were higher in the group B than the group A in both of the T1 and T2 weighted images (8.69% and 7.55 % respectively). The qualitative score of all categories were not significantly different between the two groups. Furthermore approximately 49% of the total scan time was reduced from group B. Our study is to shorten the scanning time and minimize the inconveniences of the patients in acquisition of the black blood images of brain by using the signal void effect in the modified TSE technique while keeping the diagnostic value of the test.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.573-579
• /
• 2023

This study compares dose difference between the presence or absence of grid in Chest PA radiography using auto exposure control and compares image quality among presence, absence or virtual grid, and proposes a new clinically useful grid combination for chest radiography. The human body phantom was placed Chest PA position and the dosimeter was placed at T6. The same irradiation conditions and field size were applied. 30 images were obtained in the state in which grid was applied and in the state in which grid was not applied, and an additional 30 images in which the virtual grid was applied to the image without the grid were obtained. Radiation dose was presented to entrance surface dose. The image quality was analyzed by comparing the signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratio. ESD decreased by 48% when the grid was not used, compared to when the grid was used. SNR and CNR increased by 32% and 30% compared to grid use when grid was not used, respectively. In the case of using the virtual grid, it increased by 18% and 16% respectively, compared to the case of using the grid. As a result of this study, it is believed that when using a virtual grid instead of a grid, the quality of the image can be maintained while reducing the patient dose.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.222-228
• /
• 2023

This study aimed to analyze the applicability of the improved median filter in positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance (MR) fusion images based on parallel imaging using generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA). In this study, a PET/MR fusion imaging system based on a 3.0T magnetic field and ¹⁸F radioisotope were used. An improved median filter that can set a mask of the median value more efficiently than before was modeled and applied to the acquired image. As quantitative evaluation parameters of the noise level, the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were calculated. Additionally, no-reference-based evaluation parameters were used to analyze the overall image quality. We confirmed that the CNR and COV values of the PET/MR fusion images to which the improved median filter was applied improved by approximately 3.32 and 2.19 times on average, respectively, compared to the noisy image. In addition, the no-reference-based evaluation results showed a similar trend for the noise-level results. In conclusion, we demonstrated that it can be supplemented by using an improved median filter, which suggests the problem of image quality degradation of PET/MR fusion images that shortens scan time using GRAPPA.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.131-138
• /
• 2021

Objective: Iterative reconstruction degrades image quality. Thus, further advances in image reconstruction are necessary to overcome some limitations of this technique in low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scan of the chest. Deep-learning image reconstruction (DLIR) is a new method used to reduce dose while maintaining image quality. The purposes of this study was to evaluate image quality and noise of LDCT scan images reconstructed with DLIR and compare with those of images reconstructed with the adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction-Veo at a level of 30% (ASiR-V 30%). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 58 patients who underwent LDCT scan for lung cancer screening. Datasets were reconstructed with ASiR-V 30% and DLIR at medium and high levels (DLIR-M and DLIR-H, respectively). The objective image signal and noise, which represented mean attenuation value and standard deviation in Hounsfield units for the lungs, mediastinum, liver, and background air, and subjective image contrast, image noise, and conspicuity of structures were evaluated. The differences between CT scan images subjected to ASiR-V 30%, DLIR-M, and DLIR-H were evaluated. Results: Based on the objective analysis, the image signals did not significantly differ among ASiR-V 30%, DLIR-M, and DLIR-H (p = 0.949, 0.737, 0.366, and 0.358 in the lungs, mediastinum, liver, and background air, respectively). However, the noise was significantly lower in DLIR-M and DLIR-H than in ASiR-V 30% (all p < 0.001). DLIR had higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) than ASiR-V 30% (p = 0.027, < 0.001, and < 0.001 in the SNR of the lungs, mediastinum, and liver, respectively; all p < 0.001 in the CNR). According to the subjective analysis, DLIR had higher image contrast and lower image noise than ASiR-V 30% (all p < 0.001). DLIR was superior to ASiR-V 30% in identifying the pulmonary arteries and veins, trachea and bronchi, lymph nodes, and pleura and pericardium (all p < 0.001). Conclusion: DLIR significantly reduced the image noise in chest LDCT scan images compared with ASiR-V 30% while maintaining superior image quality.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.140-146
• /
• 2016

The ultrasound imaging in medical diagnosis has become a popular modality because of its safe, noninvasive, portable, relatively inexpensive, and provides a real-time image formation. However, usefulness of ultrasound imaging is at times limited due to the presence of signal-dependent noise like as speckle. Therefore, noise reduction is very important, as various types of noise generated limits the effectiveness of medical image diagnosis. This paper introduces a speckle noise reduce algorithm using total variation denoising (TVD) in Laplacian pyramid. With this method, speckle is removed by TVD of bandpass ultrasound images in Laplacian pyramid domain. For TVD in each pyramid layer, a ${\lambda}$ is selected by trial-and-error method. The visual comparison of despeckled 'in vivo' ultrasound images from pancreas shows that the proposed method could effectively preserve edges and detailed structures while thoroughly suppressing speckle. For a Simulated B-mode image, contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) were obtained like 4.65 dB and 14.11 dB, respectively. The results show that the proposed method can conduct better than some of the existing methods in terms of the CNR and the SNR.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.613-621
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of supportive devices which are for minimizing the patient's movement during lower extremity angiography and to verify image quality of phantom by analyzing of Mask image, DSA image and Roadmap image into SNR and CNR. As a result of comparing SNR with CNR of mask image obtained by DSA technique using the phantom alone and phantom placed on the supportive devices, there was no significant difference between about 0~0.06 for SNR and about 0~0.003 for CNR. The study showed about 0.11~0.35 for SNR and 0.016~0.031 for CNR of DSA imaging by DSA technique about only water phantom of the blood vessel model and the water phantom placed on the device. Analyzing SNR and CNR of Roadmap technique about water phantom on the auxiliary device (hardboard paper, pomax, polycarbonate, acrylic) and water phantom alone, there was no significant difference between 0.02~0.05 for SNR and 0.002~0.004 for CNR. In conclusion, there was no significant difference on image quality by using supportive devices made by hardboard paper, pomax, polycarbonate or acryl regardless of whether using supportive devices or not. Supportive devices to minimize of the patient's movement may reduce the total amount of contrast, exam-time, radiation exposure and eliminate risk factors during angiogram. Supportive devices made by hardboard paper can be applied easily during angiogram due to advantages of reasonable price and simple processing. It is considered that will be useful to consider cost efficiency and types of materials and their properties in accordance with purpose and method of the study when the operator makes and uses supportive devices.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.55-61
• /
• 2017

There are no recommended test conditions for digital photography in Chest PA examinations. However, each company recommends shooting examinations of the high voltage applied to the previous analog examination. The condition that satisfies the value of 200 ~ 800 which is the recommended Exposure Index value recommended by Philips was selected, and the dose was evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation, and the SNR and CNR were compared. As a result, it was possible to reduce the effective dose up to 77% by controlling the tube voltage, tube current, and additional filter, not the conventional high voltage imaging method. Although there were some differences according to the test conditions, the image evaluation results were similar to the images. We will compare the exposure dose according to changes in tube voltage, tube current, and additional filter at the digital chest radiograph and evaluate the image quality of the image to propose optimal conditions.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.103-109
• /
• 2022

To maintain improved image quality in mammography, the quality control process is performed using the ACR (American college of radiology) phantom. In addition, many studied were performed by fabricating the customized breast phantom to provide more information in mammography. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the image quality by designing the modified ACR phantoms. The five modified acrlylic ACR phantoms were designed by considering insert position and phantom thickness. The phantoms were consisted of 4.5, 3.0, and 1.5 cm in terms of phantom thickness, and 3.0, 2.0, and 0.5 cm in terms of insert position, respectively. The acquired images were evaluated by PSNR (peak signal to noise ratio), RMSE (root mean square error), CC (correlation coefficient), CNR (contrast to noise ratio), and COV (coefficient of variation). Based on the similarity analysis, the result is suitable between conventional and new designed phantoms. In addition, the CNR and COV results in terms of insert position showed that image quality for 0.5 cm was 2.3 and 27.4% improved compared with 2 and 3 cm, respectively. According to phantom thickness results, the CNR result for 1.5 cm and COV result for 4.5 cm were 50.1 and 62.7% improved compared with that those conditions. In conclusion, we confirmed that the image quality depends on the breast size and thickness through modified ACR phantom study.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.589-594
• /
• 2017

The objective of this study was to evaluate the enhancement effects of the quantum denoising system (QDS) on brain CT images. This retrospective study was conducted with 45 adults who visited G Radiology located in Gyungbuk for having brain CT tests between Jul 2017 and Oct 2017 after receiving consents. Subjects were divided into a control group (A group; no QDS(-) application during the brain CT test) and a treatment group (B Group; QDS(+) application during the brain CT test). The following conclusions were obtained from the study. The noise values at the Pons part and the Vermis part were significantly (p<0.05) lower in B Group ($Pons=5.41{\pm}1.05HU$; $Vermis=5.28{\pm}0.73HU$) than A Group ($Pons=6.92{\pm}0.98HU$; Vermis=6.72). The SNR values at the Pons part and the Vermis part were significantly (p<0.05) higher in B Group ($Pons=7.28{\pm}2.56$; $Vermis=8.63{\pm}3.04$) than A Group ($Pons=5.21{\pm}1.28$; $Vermis=6.23{\pm}1.49$). In conclusion, the results of this study suggested that the application of QDS to the brain CT test would enhance the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) to provide an image more appropriate for diagnosis.