• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2001

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for monitoring the response to radiation therapy in metastatic bone marrow of the spines. Materials and Methods: Twenty-one patients with metastatic bone marrow of the spines were examined with MRI. Diffusion-weighted and spin-echo MRI were performed in 10 patients before and after radiation therapy with or without systemic chemotherapy, and performed in 11 patients after radiation therapy alone. Follow up spin-echo and diffusion-weighted MRI were obtained at 1 to 6 months after radiation therapy according to patients' condition. The diffusion-weighted imaging sequence was based on reversed fast imaging with steady-state precession (PSIF). Signal intensity changes of the metastatic bone marrows before and after radiation therapy on conventional spin-echo sequence MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI were evaluated. Bone marrow contrast ratios and signal-to-noise ratios before and after radiation therapy of diffusion- weighted MRI were analyzed. Results: All metastatic bone marrow of the spinal bodies were hyperintense to normal bone marrow of the spinal bodies on pretreatment diffusion-weighted MRI and positive bone marrow contrast ratios(p<0.001), and hypointense to normal spinal bodies on posttreatment diffusion-weighted MRI and negative bone marrow contrast ratios(p<0.001). The signal to noise ratios after treatment decreased comparing with those of pretreatment. Decreased signal intensity of the metastatic bone marrows on diffusion-weighted MRI began to be observed at average more than one month after the initiation of the radiation therapy. Conclusion: These results suggest that diffusion-weighted MRI would be an excellent method for monitoring the response to therapy of metastatic bone marrow of the spinal bodies, however, must be investigated in a larger series of patients with longer follow up period.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.388-391
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• 2011

A lesion that is hyperintense on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and hypointense on the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map is a characteristic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) finding in acute ischemic infarction. In some cases, however, these findings can persist for a few months after infarct onset. It is thought that these finding reflect the different evolution speeds of the infarcted tissue. We report a patient with a right middle cerebral artery territory infarction with persistent hyperintensity on DWI and hypointensity on the ADC map for over 8 months. To our knowledge, this is the most persistent case of hyperintensity lesion on DWI and the serial MRI images of this patient provide important information on the evolution of infarcted tissue.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.149-154
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of diffusion weighted images in breast MRI by performing a quantitative comparative analysis in patients diagnosed with DCIS. On a 3.0T MR scanner, diffusion weighted images and ADC map images were obtained from 20 patients histologically diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The findings from the quantitative image analysis are the following: The diffusion weighted images showed higher SNR and CNR at the lesion area. In addition, the ADC values were lower at the lesion area.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 2005

Objective : The aim of this study is to assess the significance of an apparent diffusion coefficient[ADC] study for diagnosis of ventriculitis. Methods : Seven patients with ventriculitis were enrolled in this study. Diffusion-weighted[DW] magnetic resonance images[MRI] and ADC maps in the dependent intraventricular collection, periventricular white matter and non-dependent cerebrospinal fluid[CSF] were obtained. The images and ADC data from the different lesions were compared. Results : The DW MRI showed marked hyperintensity in the purulent pus lesion, and the corresponding ADC maps revealed prominent hypointensity and restricted ADC values compared with the non-dependent CSF and normal white matter. Conclusion : The decreased ADC value and increased signal intensity of the dependent intraventricular fluid on the DW MRI show restricted water diffusion in the purulent fluid, which is indicative of a pyogenic ventriculitis diagnosis.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.250-253
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• 2016

Acute Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an endemic viral infectious disease in various parts of Far East and Southeast Asian countries including Korea. Bilateral thalami are the most common involving sites in JE. Other areas including the basal ganglia, substantia nigra, red nucleus, pons, cerebral cortex and cerebellum may be also involved. We report an extremely unusual brain diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) findings in a 53-year-old man with serologically proven JE involving unilateral deep gray matter and temporal lobe, which shows multifocal high signal intensities in left thalamus, left substantia nigra, left caudate nucleus and left medial temporal cortex on T2-weighted image and DWI with iso-intensity on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.356-358
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• 2002

MRI, particularly diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), plays vital roles in detection of the acute brain infarction$\^$1-4/ and others metabolic changes of biological tissues. In general, every molecule in biological tissues may diffuse and move randomly in three-dimensional space. However, in clinical diagnosis, only 2D-DWI is used. The authors have developed a new method for rapid three-dimensional DWI (3D-DWI). In this method, by refocusing of the magnetized spin with the applied gradient field, direction of which is opposite to phase encoding field. Magnetized spin of $^1$H is kept under the SSFP (steady state free precession)$\^$5-6/. Under SSFP, in addition of FID, spin echo and stimulated echo are also generated, so the acquired signal is increased. The signal intensity is increased depending on flip angle (FA) of magnetized spin. This phenomenon is confirmed by human brain and phantom studies. The performance of this method is quantitatively analyzed by using both of conventional spin echo DWI and 3D-DWI. From experimental results, three dimensional diffusion weighted images are obtained correctly for liquid phantoms (water, acetone and oil), diffusion coefficient is enhanced in each image. Therefore, this method will provide useful information for clinical diagnosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8271-8277
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• 2014

Aims: Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of nodes in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) are widely used in differentiating metastatic from non-metastatic lymph nodes. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to demonstrate whether DWI could contribute to the precise diagnosis of breast cancer (BC) with and without lymph node metastasis (LNM). Materials and Methods: English and Chinese electronic databases were searched for relevant studies followed by a comprehensive literature search. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of the included trials based on the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS). Summary odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Results: Final analysis of 624 BC subjects (patients with LNM = 254, patients without LNM = 370) were incorporated into the current meta-analysis from 9 eligible cohort studies. Combined ORs of ADCs suggested that ADC values in BC patients without LNM were higher than in patients with LNM (OR=0.56, 95%CI: 0.11-1.01, p=0.015). Subgroup analysis stratified by country indicated a low ADC value in BC patients with LNM rather than those without LNM among Chinese (OR=1.27, 95%CI: 0.89-1.66, p<0.001), Italians (OR=0.75, 95%CI: 0.13-1.38, p=0.018), and Egyptians (OR=1.27, 95%CI: 0.71-1.84, p<0.001). The findings of subgroup analysis by MRI machine type revealed that ADC values from diffusion MRI may be potential diagnostic indicators for BC using Non-Philips 1.5T (OR=1.10, 95%CI: 0.84-1.36, p<0.001). Conclusions: The main findings of our meta-analysis demonstrated that increased signal intensity on DWI and decreased signals on ADC are helpful in diagnosis of BC patients with or without LNM. DWI could therefore be an important imaging investigation in patients suspected of BC.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2010

This study attempted to examine whether the propeller diffusion weighted image method may remove magnetic susceptibility artifacts caused by metallic materials. A comparison of occurrence rates of magnetic susceptibility artifacts in the four regions, both temporal lobes, pons, and orbit, between b = 0 and b = 1,000 s/mm2 images was made after obtaining echo-planar diffusion weighted image, propeller diffusion weighted image, and ADC map images, respectively, from a total of 20 patients who had MRI shots taken of their brain and were found to be with retained metallic foreign bodies within their teeth using a 3.0T MR scanner. In the case of echo-planar diffusion weighted image technique, the presence of metallic materials may bring in some limits on accurate diagnosis due to magnetic susceptibility artifacts, while the propeller diffusion weighted image technique where magnetic susceptibility artifacts decrease is expected to be more useful in ensuring accurate diagnosis in the clinical context.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.338-344
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal number of excitations(NEX) of diffusion weighted imaging(DWI) which is clinically useful in patients with musculoskeletal diseases while the scan time is relatively long. In this study, 30 patients underwent knee MRI using diffusion weighted image sequence using b values targeted on the bone and muscle. The NEX were varied from 1 to 5 and the ADC values were measured and analyzed. As a result of the study, 4 NEX and 2 NEX showed an statistically identical effect with the existing NEX on the bone and muscle diffusion weighted images, respectively. Also, it proved that the scan time could be significantly reduced by 21.2 % and 59.6 % compared to the established NEX which meant the optimal NEX could replace the existing NEX. In conclusion, applying the optimal NEX on the musculoskeletal bone and soft tissue DWI could improve the problems caused by the long scan time.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2014

Purpose : To investigate whether quantitative parameters derived from Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) correlate with those of Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI). Materials and Methods: Thirteen patients with pathologically or clinically proven bony metastasis who had undergone MRI prior to treatment were included. The voxel size was $1.367{\times}1.367{\times}5mm$. A dominant tumor was selected and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value and DCE-MRI parameters were obtained by matching voxels. DCE-MRI data were analyzed yielding estimates of $K^{trans}$ (volume transfer constant) and $v_e$. (extravascular extracellular volume fraction). Statistical analysis of ADC, $K^{trans}$, and $v_e$ value was conducted using Pearson correlation analyses. Results: Fifteen lesions in pelvic bones were evaluated. Of these, 11 showed a statistically significant correlation (P<0.05) between ADC and $K^{trans}$. The ADC and $K^{trans}$ were inversely related in 7 lesions and positively related in 4 lesions. This did not depend on the primary cancer or site of metastasis. The ADC and $v_e$ of 9 lesions correlated significantly. Of these, 4 lesions were inversely related and 5 lesions were positively related. Conclusion: Unlike our theoretic hypothesis, there was no consistent correlation between ADC values and $K^{trans}$ or between ADC values and $v_e$ in metastatic bone tumors.