• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.829-839
• /
• 2021

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3-tesla (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for the detection of visceral pleural surface invasion (VPSI). Visceral pleural invasion by non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be classified into two types: PL1 (without VPSI), invasion of the elastic layer of the visceral pleura without reaching the visceral pleural surface, and PL2 (with VPSI), full invasion of the visceral pleura. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three patients with pathologically confirmed VPSI by NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. Multidetector CT and contrast-enhanced 3T MRI with a free-breathing radial three-dimensional fat-suppressed volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) pulse sequence were compared in terms of the length of contact, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. Supplemental evaluation of the tumor-pleura interface (smooth versus irregular) could only be performed with MRI (not discernible on CT). Results: At the tumor-pleura interface, radial VIBE MRI revealed a smooth margin in 20 of 21 patients without VPSI and an irregular margin in 10 of 12 patients with VPSI, yielding an accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and F-score for VPSI detection of 91%, 83%, 95%, 91%, 91%, and 87%, respectively. The McNemar test and receiver operating characteristics curve analysis revealed no significant differences between the diagnostic accuracies of CT and MRI for evaluating the contact length, angle of mass margin, or arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio as predictors of VPSI. Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3T MRI and CT were equal in terms of the contact length, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. The advantage of MRI is its clear depiction of the tumor-pleura interface margin, facilitating VPSI detection.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.142-147
• /
• 2008

Purpose : By using the micro-imaging unit modified from NMR spectrometer, the high resolution MRI protocols of finer than 100 micron in 5 minutes, is sought for mouse, which plays a central role in animal studies Materials and Methods : C57BL/6 mouse, lighter than 50 gram, is used for the experiments. The superconducting magnet is vertical type with 89 mm inner diameter at 4.9 Tesla. The diameter of rf-coil is 30 mm. Mostly used techniques are the fast spin echo and the gradient echo pulse sequence. Results : For 2D images, proton density and T2 weighted images are obtained and their optimum experimental variables were sought. Minute structure of mouse brain can be recognized and 3D brain image is also obtained additionally. 3D image will be useful particularly for the dynamic contrast study using various contrast agents. Conclusion : Like the case of human and other small animals, the high resolution of mouse brain is enough to recognize the minute structure of it. Recently, similar studies are reported domestically, but it seems only a beginning stage. Due to easiness of breeding/control, mouse MRI study will soon play a vital part in brain study.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
• /
• v.1998 no.11
• /
• pp.55-56
• /
• 1998

The 3-D Fast Gradient Echo (Turbo FLASH, Turbo Fast Low Angle Shot) sequence is optimized to achieve a good T1 contrast using variable excitation flip angles. In Turbo FLASH sequence, depending on the contrast preparation scheme, various types of image contrast can be established. While proton density contrast is obtained when using a short repetition time with a short echo time and small flip angles, T1 or T2 weighting can be obtained with proper contrast preparation sequences applied before the above proton density Turbo FLASH sequence. To maximize the contrast to noise ratio while retaining a sharp impulse response (smooth frequency domain response), the excitation flip-angle pattern is optimized through simulation and experiments. The TI (the delay after the preparation sequence which is a 180 degree inversion RF pulse in the IR T1 weighted imaging case), TD (the delay time between the Turbo FLASH sequence and the next preparation), and TR are also optimized fur the best image quality. The proposed 3-D Turbo FLASH provides $1mm\times1mm\times1.5mm$ high resolution images within a reasonable 5-8 minutes of imaging time. The proposed imaging sequence has been implemented in a Medison's Magnum 1.0T system and verified through simulations as well as human volunteer imaging. The experimental results show the utility of the proposed method.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.31-31
• /
• 2003

목적： 통증에 대한 fMRI 연구에 있어서 differential-regression-analysis (DRA) 기법을 사용하여 대뇌 피질에서 통증 처리에 관련된 영역의 순시적인 변화를 관찰하였다. 대상 및 방법： 우선 통증과 일반적인 감각자극과의 생리학적 차이를 밝히기 위해 운동 (finger tapping) 및 시각 (flickering light) 자극 실험이 선행되었다. 통증 유발을 위해서는 50C에서 52C의 뜨거운 물을 이용한 온도자극이 왼손의 검지와 중지에 30초 동안 가해졌다. fMRI 실험은 Marconi (Philips) 1.5 T scanner를 이용하여 gradient echo EPI sequence(TR / TE / FA = 3 sec / 35 msec / 90)로 수행되었다. 감각자극과 통증자극에 대한 반응의 동적인 변화를 관찰하기 위하여 fMRI 결과 분석에 기존의 box-car function과 DRA 기법이 사용되었다.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.87-106
• /
• 2014

Purpose : To describe how a robust implementation of a radial 3D gradient-echo sequence with stack-of-stars sampling can be achieved, to review the imaging properties of radial acquisitions, and to share the experience from more than 5000 clinical patient scans. Materials and Methods: A radial stack-of-stars sequence was implemented and installed on 9 clinical MR systems operating at 1.5 and 3 Tesla. Protocols were designed for various applications in which motion artifacts frequently pose a problem with conventional Cartesian techniques. Radial scans were added to routine examinations without selection of specific patient cohorts. Results: Radial acquisitions show significantly lower sensitivity to motion and allow examinations during free breathing. Elimination of breath-holding reduces failure rates for non-compliant patients and enables imaging at higher resolution. Residual artifacts appear as streaks, which are easy to identify and rarely obscure diagnostic information. The improved robustness comes at the expense of longer scan durations, the requirement for fat suppression, and the nonexistence of a time-to-center value. Care needs to be taken during the configuration of receive coils. Conclusion: Routine clinical use of radial stack-of-stars sequences is feasible with current MR systems and may serve as substitute for conventional fat-suppressed T1-weighted protocols in applications where motion is likely to degrade the image quality.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.142-147
• /
• 1997

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of the in-phase (IP) sequence and the opposed-phase (Op) sequence in the detection of focal hepatic lesions in the single breath-hold hepatic MR imaging with fast gradient T1-weighted pulse sequences. Materials and Methods: IP and OP T1-weighted breath-hold imaging was performed using fast gradient echo sequences in 45 patients referred for known focal hepatic lesions, in which 78 lesions were detected. Three blind readers independently reviewed the images for lesion detectability. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the liver, the lesion-to-liver contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and the liver-to-spleen CNR were also compared. A consensus was reached by three readers to determine which sequence is better in image quality. Results: On OP images, 61(78%), 61(78%), and 63(89%) lesions were correctly identified for reader 1, 2 and 3, respectively. On IP images, 66(85%), 65(83%), and 65(93%) lesions were detected for each reader, respectively. When two image sets were combined, 71(91 %), 69(88 %), and 76(97%) lesions respectively were detected for each reader. In cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, liver-to-Iesion CNR was greater on the OP images(p (0.05), but in other lesions significant difference was not demonstrated. Liver-to-spleen CNR was higher on OP images(p ( 0.1), but the SNR of the liver was higher on the IP images. Conclusion: Use of both IP and OP imaging can be helpful to avoid erroneous missing of some focal hepatic lesions.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.210-222
• /
• 2017

Purpose: To develop a novel combination of controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration (CAIPIRINHA) with integrated SSFP (CAIPI-iSSFP) for accelerated SSFP imaging without banding artifacts at 3T. Materials and Methods: CAIPI-iSSFP was developed by adding a dephasing gradient to the balanced SSFP (bSSFP) pulse sequence with a gradient area that results in $2{\pi}$ dephasing across a single pixel. Extended phase graph (EPG) simulations were performed to show the signal behaviors of iSSFP, bSSFP, and RF-spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) sequences. In vivo experiments were performed for brain and abdominal imaging at 3T with simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) acceleration factors of 2, 3 and 4 with CAIPI-iSSFP and CAIPI-bSSFP. The image quality was evaluated by measuring the relative contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and by qualitatively assessing banding artifact removal in the brain. Results: Banding artifacts were removed using CAIPI-iSSFP compared to CAIPI-bSSFP up to an SMS factor of 4 and 3 on brain and liver imaging, respectively. The relative CNRs between gray and white matter were on average 18% lower in CAIPI-iSSFP compared to that of CAIPI-bSSFP. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that CAIPI-iSSFP provides up to a factor of four acceleration, while minimizing the banding artifacts with up to a 20% decrease in the relative CNR.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.171-176
• /
• 2017

Purpose: To compare different MR sequences for quantification of gadolinium concentration. Materials and Methods: Gadolinium contrast agents were diluted into 36 different concentrations. They were scanned using gradient echo (GRE) and ultrashort echo time (UTE) and R1, $R2^*$ and phase values were estimated from collected data. For analysis, ROI masks were made for each concentration and then ROI value was measured by mean and standard deviation from the estimated quantitative maps. Correlation analysis was performed and correlation coefficient was calculated. Results: Using GRE sequence, R1 showed a strong linear correlation at concentrations of 10 mM or less, and $R2^*$ showed a strong linear correlation between 10 to 100 mM. The phase of GRE generally exhibited a negative linear relationship for concentrations of 100 mM or less. In the case of UTE, the phase had a strong negative linear relationship at concentrations 100 mM or above. Conclusion: R1, which was calculated by conventional GRE, showed a high performance of quantification for lower concentrations, with a correlation coefficient of 0.966 (10 mM or less). $R2^*$ showed stronger potential for higher concentrations with a correlation coefficient of 0.984 (10 to 100 mM), and UTE phase showed potential for even higher concentrations with a correlation coefficient of 0.992 (100 mM or above).

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.133-143
• /
• 2013

Purpose : To evaluate and compare the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) for detection and estimation of invasion depth of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) by correlation with histopathologic findings in vitro, and to find out the best MR pulse sequence for accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue. Materials and Methods: Resected specimens of CRC from 45 patients were examined about tumor detectability and invasion depth of US using high frequency (5-17 MHz) linear transducer in a tube filled with normal saline and MRI in a 8-channel quadrate head coil. The institutional review board approved this study and informed consent was waived. MRI with seven pulse sequences of in- and out-of-phases gradient echo T1 weighted images, fast spin echo T2 weighted image and its fat suppression image, fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (FIESTA) and its fat suppression image, and diffusion weighted image (DWI) were performed. In each case, both imaging findings of MRI and US were evaluated independently for detection and estimation of invasion depth of tumor by consensus of two radiologists and were compared about diagnostic accuracy according to the histopathologic findings as reference standard. Seven MR pulse sequences were evaluated on the point of accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue in each specimen. Results: In specimens of CRC, both imaging modalities of MRI (91.1%) and US (86.7%) showed relatively high diagnostic accuracy to detect tumor and evaluate invasion depth of tumor. In early CRC, diagnostic accuracy of US was 87.5% and that of MRI was 75.0%. There was no statistically significant difference between two imaging modalities (p > 0.05). The best pulse sequence among seven MR sequences for accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue in each specimen of CRC was fast spin echo T2 weighted image. Conclusion: MRI and US show relatively high diagnostic accuracy to detect tumor and evaluate invasion depth of resected specimen of CRC. The most excellent pulse sequence of MRI for accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue in CRC is fast spin echo T2 weighted image.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.81-92
• /
• 2021

The role of neuroimaging in patients with acute ischemic stroke has been gradually increasing. The ultimate goal of stroke imaging is to make a streamlined imaging workflow for safe and efficient treatment based on optimized patient selection. In the era of multimodal comprehensive imaging in strokes, imaging based on computed tomography (CT) has been preferred for use in acute ischemic stroke, because, despite the unique strengths of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MRI has a longer scan duration than does CT-based imaging. However, recent improvements, such as multicoil technology and novel MRI acceleration techniques, including parallel imaging, simultaneous multi-section imaging, and compressed sensing, highlight the potential of comprehensive MR-based imaging for strokes. In this review, we discuss the role of stroke imaging in acute ischemic stroke management, as well as the strengths and limitations of MR-based imaging. Given these concepts, we review the current MR acceleration techniques that could be applied to stroke imaging and provide an overview of the previous research on each essential sequence: diffusion-weighted imaging, gradient-echo, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery, contrast-enhanced MR angiography, and MR perfusion imaging.