• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.302-309
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• 2020

Fabry disease is a rare X-linked metabolic disorder that is characterized by the accumulation of glycosphingolipids in various organs, resulting from the deficiency of alpha-galactosidase A. Cardiac involvement is relatively common; myocardial inflammation, left ventricular hypertrophy, and myocardial fibrosis secondary to abnormal lipid deposition in myocytes are often observed. Hence, the diagnosis of cardiac involvement is crucial for evaluating patient prognosis. Cardiac MRI is the standard technique for measuring the function, volume, and mass of the ventricles. It is also useful for myocardial tissue characterizations. The evaluation of native myocardial T1 values can facilitate early diagnosis of cardiac involvement, while measurements of left ventricular myocardial mass can be used to monitor treatment outcomes, in patients with Fabry disease. Consequently, cardiac MRI can provide useful information for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating patients with Fabry disease.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.763-769
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• 2023

Primary malignant melanoma in breast parenchyma (PMB) is an extremely rare disease, and the most common presentation is a palpable breast lump. To the best of our knowledge, a case of PMB presenting as a breast abscess has not been reported in English literatures. We present a case of PMB that manifested as a recurrent breast abscess in a 71-year-old woman. On MRI, an enhancing solid mass with a cystic or necrotic portion was revealed with some high signal intensities on precontrast-enhanced T1-weighted images and a dark rim on T2-weighed images. The MRI features played a pivotal role in identifying the underlying malignant condition and making an accurate diagnosis of this rare case of PMB with unusual clinical presentation.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.172-180
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to observe the heat transfer process in in-vivo human muscle based on Proton Resonance Frequency(PRF) method in Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI). MRI was obtained to measure the temperature variation according to the heat transfer in phantom and in-vivo human calf muscle. A phantom(2% agarose gel) was used in this experiment. MR temperature measurement was compared with the direct temperature measurement using a T-type thermocouple. After heating agarose gel to more than 5$0^{\circ}C$ in boiling hot water, raw data were acquired every 3 minutes during one hour cooling period for a phantom case. For human study heat was forced to deliver into volunteer's calf muscle using hot pack. Reference data were once acquired before a hot pack emits heat and raw data were acquired every 2 minutes during 30minutes. Acquired raw data were reconstructed to phase-difference images with reference image to observe the temperature change. Phase-difference of the phantom was linearly proportional to the temperature change in the range of 34.2$^{\circ}C$ and 50.2$^{\circ}C$. Temperature resolution was 0.0457 radian /$^{\circ}C$(0.0038 ppm/$^{\circ}C$) in phantom case. In vivo-case, mean phase-difference in near region from the hot pack is smaller than that in far region. Different temperature distribution was observed in proportion to a distance from heat source.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.134-139
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• 2005

Purpose : To evaluate the usefulness of acoustic noise attenuator on auditory fMRI examination. Materials and methods : The acoustic noise attenuator consists of mask, earmuff and silicon earplug. The soft polyurethane sheet and polyurethane form , which has a good soundproof characteristic were used for mask and earmuff. Auditory fMRI experiments of 500 Hz pure tone stimulation were performed in three different cases; first all of mask, earmuff and earplug, secondly earmuff and earplug only and finally without attenuator in 4 normal hearing volunteers. For data acquisition, BOLD MR imaging technique was employed at a 1.5T MR scanner equipped with high performance gradient system. The raw data were analyzed using a SPM-99 analysis software and the activation maps were obtained. Results : In case of all items of acoustic attenuator used, the results revealed that activation was focused on primary auditory area. When only earmuff and earplug were used, the results showed that the activation spread over primary auditory and secondary associative areas. Last, when no device used, only weak activation was observed on the right auditory cortex. Conclusion : It is expected that the acoustic noise attenuator, which consists of earplugs, earmuffs and mask, is a very useful device in auditory fMRI study.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2006

Four dogs with neurologic dysfunction resulted from intracranial hemorrhage by head trauma were referred to Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, Chungnam National University. There were no remarkable findings in survey radiography in four cases. CT and MRI scans were diagnostic in these cases. Three dogs underwent CT scanning. On CT images, the lesion was hyperdense and was not enhanced after intravenous contrast administration in dog 1 and dog 2. On CT of dog 4, there was no significant finding. All of four dogs were verified by dorsal, sagittal, and transverse T1-weighted (T1W) and T2-weighted (T2W) images. Appearance of the lesions in dog 1 and dog 2 was isointense (dog 2) or isointense with hyperintense rim (dog 1) on T1W images and hyperintense on T2W images. In dog 3 and dog 4, there were hypointense and hyperintense lesions on T1Wand T2W images respectively. The lesions in four dogs were located in the left intracerebral region, intracerebral and cerebellovestibular region, subdural space, and right cerebral hemisphere, respectively.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.46-54
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• 2003

In this paper, we propose segmentation algorithm for MR brain images using the histogram of T1-weighted, T2-weighted and PD images. Segmentation algorithm is composed of 3 steps. The first step involves the extraction of cerebrum images by ram a cerebrum mask over three input images. In the second step, peak ranges are determined from the histogram of the cerebrum image. In the final step, cerebrum images are segmented using coarse to fine clustering technique. We compare the segmentation result and processing time according to peak ranges. Also compare with the other segmentation methods. The proposed algorithm achieved better segmentation results than the other methods.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.699-706
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• 2016

This study aimed to propose the necessity and system establishment of noise reduction facility via evaluating noise level exposed by the radiographer due to MRI scan. Noise measurements were carried out using at S general hospital in Daejeon using 1.5 Tesla MRI (7 exams) and 3.0 Tesla MRI (16 exams), while using SC-804 noise meter. The measurement distance was from the soundproof door of the MRI room to the radiographer which measured 100cm, and the measurement height, the height to the radiographer's ears when working, 100cm. The noise measured for each exam was an average of three measures per exam which observed the noise occurring in each sequence recorded every 20 seconds. As the results, the maximum of noise exposed by the radiographer is 73.3 dB(A), which is MRCP by the 3.0 Tesla device, and also the maximum of average noise is 66.9(3.1) dB(A), which is Myelogram by the 3.0 Tesla device. Average noise by each device is 61.9(4.1) dB(A) by the 3.0 Tesla device and 52.0(3.1) dB(A) by the 1.5 Tesla device, which comes to the result that the 3.0 Tesla MRI device is about 10 dB(A) degree higher(p <0.001). The noise level exposed by the radiographer does not affect auditory acuity, but the level is able to incur a non auditory effect. The reflect sound can be removed by installing curtains in the rear wall of MRI control room in order to reduce the noises, but, first of all, An institutional system is needed in order to prevent noise.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2016

Acoustic noise during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the main source for patient discomfort. we report our preliminary experience with this technique in neuroimaging with regard to subjective and objective noise levels and image quality. 60 patients(29 males, 31 females, average age of 60.1) underwent routine brain MRI with 3.0 Tesla (MAGNETOM Tim Trio; Siemens, Germany) system and 12-channel head coil. Q-$T_2$ and $T_2$ sequence were performed. Measurement of sound pressure levels (SPL) and heart rate on Q-$T_2$ and $T_2$ was performed respectively. Quantitative analysis was carried out by measuring the SNR, CNR, and SIR values of Q-$T_2$, $T_2$ and a statistical analysis was performed using independent sample T-test. Qualitative analysis was evaluated by the eyes for the overall quality image of Q-$T_2$ and $T_2$. A 5-point evaluation scale was used, including excellent(5), good(4), fair(3), poor(2), and unacceptable(1). The average noise and peak noise decreased by $15dB_A$ and $10dB_A$ on $T_2$ and Q-$T_2$ test. Also, the average value of heartbeat rate was lower in Q-$T_2$ for 120 seconds in each test, but there was no statistical significance. The quantitative analysis showed that there was no significant difference between CNR and SIR, and there was a significant difference (p<0.05) as SNR had a lower average value on Q-$T_2$. According to the qualitative analysis, the overall quality image of 59 case $T_2$ and Q-$T_2$ was evaluated as excellent at 5 points, and 1 case was evaluated as good at 4 points due to a motion artifact. Q-$T_2$ is a promising technique for acoustic noise reduction and improved patient comfort.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.475-480
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• 2018

In lower abdominal MRI scan, patients have been tested by physically contacting with the body array coil. In this study, we have designed the acrylic assistant equipment (ACR) which allows the contactless scan of the patient to the coil and evaluated the feasibility by comparing the acquired images with ACR to those obtained without ACR. We tested 10 cases (F: 5, m: 5) by using the Ingenia $3.0T^{TM}$ MR system and dStreamTM torso coil (Philips Healthcare, Netherlands). We implemented T1 AX TSE and eTHRIVE (GRE) techniques. The scanned images were quantitatively and qualitatively assessed. In qualitatively, the TSE shows 4.44 and 4.56 mean values with and without the ACR and 4.34 and 4.28 at the GRE, respectively. In quantitatively, the TSE shows 12.15 CNR, 17.95 SNR and 12.71 CNR, 18.96 SNR with and without the ACR. And GRE shows 17.72 CNR, 22.59 SNR and 18.26 CNR, 24.47 SNR with and without the ACR, respectively. We have designed and implemented the acrylic assistant equipment to lower abdominal patients. Our data indicate that it is possible to obtain similar image qualities to current lower abdominal MRI scan without the physical contact to the patient.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.93-104
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to investigate brain activity both during the processing of a scientific hypothesis about biological phenomena and mental arithmetic using 3.0T fMRI at the KAIST. For this study, 16 healthy male subjects participated voluntarily. Each subject's functional brain images by performing a scientific hypothesis task and a mental arithmetic task for 684 seconds were measured. After the fMRI measuring, verbal reports were collected to ensure the reliability of brain image data. This data, which were found to be adequate based on the results of analyzing verbal reports, were all included in the statistical analysis. When the data were statistically analyzed using SPM2 software, the scientific hypothesis generating process was found to have independent brain network different from the mental arithmetic process. In the scientific hypothesis process, we can infer that there is the process of encoding semantic derived from the fusiform gyrus through question-situation analysis in the pre-frontal lobe. In the mental arithmetic process, the area combining pre-frontal and parietal lobes plays an important role, and the parietal lobe is considered to be involved in skillfulness. In addition, the scientific hypothesis process was found to be accompanied by scientific emotion. These results enabled the examination of the scientific hypothesis process from the cognitive neuroscience perspective, and may be used as basic materials for developing a learning program for scientific hypothesis generation. In addition, this program can be proposed as a model of scientific brain-based learning.