• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.1
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• pp.75-91
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• 2023

The technical parameters and imaging interpretation criteria of the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADS v2) using multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) are updated in PI-RADS v2.1. These changes have been an expected improvement for prostate cancer evaluation, although some issues remain unsolved, and new issues have been raised. In this review, a brief overview of PI-RADS v2.1 is and several critical points are discussed as follows: the need for more detailed protocols of mpMRI, lack of validation of the revised transition zone interpretation criteria, the need for clarification for the revised diffusion-weighted imaging and dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging criteria, anterior fibromuscular stroma and central zone assessment, assessment of background signal and tumor aggressiveness, changes in the structured report, the need for the parameters for imaging quality and performance control, and indications for expansion of the system to include other indications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.23-30
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• 2007

This paper presents a method of generating 3-dimensional images by preprocessing 2-dimensional abdominal images obtained using CT (computed tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) through segmentation, threshold technique, etc. and apply the method to virtual endoscopy. Three-dimensional images were visualized using indirect volume rendering, which can render at high speed using a general-purpose graphic accelerator used in personal computers. The algorithm used in the rendering is Marching Cubes, which has only a small volume of calculation. In addition, we suggested a method of producing 3-dimensional images in VRML (virtual reality modeling language) running on the Web browser without a workstation or an exclusive program. The number of nodes, the number of triangles and the size of a 3-dimensional image file from CT were 85,367, 174,150 and 10,124, respectively, and those from MRI were 34,029, 67,824 and 3,804, respectively.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.82-91
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• 2018

Objectives: Synchronous electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to explore sleep stage dependent functional brain networks. Despite a growing number of sleep studies using EEG-fMRI, few studies have conducted network analysis on whole night sleep due to difficulty in data acquisition, artifacts, and sleep management within the MRI scanner. Methods: In order to perform network analysis for whole night sleep, we proposed experimental procedures and data processing techniques for EEG-fMRI. We acquired 6-7 hours of EEG-fMRI data per participant and conducted signal processing to reduce artifacts in both EEG and fMRI. We then generated a functional brain atlas with 68 brain regions using independent component analysis of sleep fMRI data. Using this functional atlas, we constructed sleep level dependent functional brain networks. Results: When we evaluated functional connectivity distribution, sleep showed significantly reduced functional connectivity for the whole brain compared to that during wakefulness. REM sleep showed statistically different connectivity patterns compared to non-REM sleep in sleep-related subcortical brain circuits. Conclusion: This study suggests the feasibility of exploring functional brain networks using sleep EEG-fMRI for whole night sleep via appropriate experimental procedures and signal processing techniques for fMRI and EEG.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 2013

Purpose : To evaluate the usefulness of cervicothoracic spine sagittal T2-weighted images (CT SAG T2WIs) included in routine lumbar spine MRI. Materials and Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained and informed consents were waived for this retrospective study. The study group comprised 2,113 patients who underwent lumbar spine MRI from January 2005 to December 2005. CT SAG T2WIs were added in the routine lumbar spine MRIs. Radiologic reports were reviewed retrospectively for pathologic lesions on CT SAG T2WIs by one radiologist. Information of additional cervical or thoracic spine MRI and/or CT for further evaluation of positive findings on CT SAG T2WIs and their treatment were collected by retrospectively reviewing medical records. Results: The CT SAG T2WIs revealed 142 pathologic lesions in 139 (6.58%) of the 2,113 patients. They were easily obtained without positional change in a scan time of less than 2 minutes. Additional cervical or thoracic spine MRI and/or CT for positive findings on CT SAG T2WIs were performed in 13 patients. Seven patients underwent surgical treatment. Conclusion: CT SAG T2WIs included in routine lumbar spine MRI were useful in finding the pathologic lesions in cervicothoracic spine for the patients who assumed to have lesions in lumbar spine.

• Proceedings of the Korea Multimedia Society Conference
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• 2002.05d
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• pp.1087-1092
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• 2002

본 논문에서는 결정 트리 학습을 이용하여 뇌 MRI 시리즈를 분류하는 시스템을 제안한다. 영상으로부터 얻을 수 있는 정보에는 두 종류가 있다. 하나는 크기, 색상, 질감, 윤곽선 등 원 영상으로부터 직접 얻을 수 있는 하위레벨(low-level) 특징들이고, 다른 하나는 특정 개체의 존재유무, 여러 부위 사이의 공간적 관계 등 분할된 영상들에 대한 해석을 통하여만 얻을 수 있는 상위레벨(high-level) 특징들이다. 영상을 의미에 따라 분류하기 위해서는 학습 및 분류가 상위레벨 특징들을 기반으로 수행되어야 한다. 제안된 시스템에서는 결정 트리 학습을 이용하여 영상을 구성하는 요소를 학습하고 분류하며 그에 따라 영상 시리즈를 대표할 수 있는 상위레벨 특징을 추출하였다. 정상, 뇌경색, 뇌종양이 있는 뇌 MRI 시리즈에 대하여 분류 실험을 수행하였으며, 그 결과를 설명 하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.272-276
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• 1996

1948년 Harvard 대학의 Purcell교수와 Stanford 대학의 Bloch교수가 핵자기 공명(Nuclear Magnetic Resonance : NMR) 현상을 발견한 이래로 NMR은 물질의 분자단위에서 화학적, 물리학적 성질을 밝혀내는 탁월한 방법으로 널리 이용되어 왔다. NMR 현상을 이용한 영상촬영법(Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI)은 1970년대초 Lauterber와 Damadian 교수가 처음 영상을 얻을 수 있다는 가능성을 제시한 이후 급속한 발전을 하여 1980년대 초에는 Moore와 Holland에 의해 의학분야에 응용 가능할 정도의 영상이 얻어졌다. 1980년대 중반부터 상용화 되었으며 최근 그 기법도 NMR현상과 연관된 파라미터인 $T_{1}$, $T_{2}$는 물론 혈류의 속도, 자화율, 확산(Diffusion), Perfusion의 영상기법을 비롯해 혈관조영술(MR Angiography), 뇌기능영상(Functional Imaging)등 과거에는 상상도 할 수 없었던 다양한 영상기법 개발되었다. 여기서는 먼저 MRI의 원리를 설명한 후 MRI의 여러 촬영기법들과 그 응용에 관해 설명하겠다.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.1123-1131
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• 2023

This study aimed to present a method to effectively suppress metal artifacts caused by spinal fusion surgery during spinal MRI study. For this purpose, a phantom made of spinal surgery screws was created to reproduce the metal artifact. Then, images were acquired with 1.5T and 3.0T MRI to evaluate changes in metal artifacts according to magnetic field strength. In addition, metal artifacts were evaluated by increasing the receive bandwidth to 200, 400 and 800 Hz/PX. As a result, metal artifacts occurring in images obtained from the 1.5T MRI decreased by approximately 52.2% compared to images obtained from the 3.0T MRI, showing a significant difference (p<0.05). In particular, the signal loss and signal pile up areas were reduced by approximately 52.81% and 42.71%, respectively, showing a significant effect in suppressing metal artifacts. On the other hand, when images were acquired while increasing the receive bandwidth from 200 to 800 Hz/PX, there was no significant effect, with a decrease of up to 8.93% for the 1.5T MRI and up to 10.98% for the 3.0T MRI (p>0.05). As a result of this study, increasing the receive bandwidth reduced signal loss and reduced some metal artifacts, but did not have a significant effect because it did not suppress signal pile up. However, when the magnetic field strength was reduced from 3.0T to 1.5T, signal loss and signal pile up were greatly reduced, effectively improving the metal artifact. Therefore, in order to suppress metal artifacts caused by spinal fusion surgery, study using a low magnetic field MRI can be said to be the most effective method.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.103-108
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• 2016

This study examined the effectiveness of the multitransmit parallel technique on the MRI scan time reduction by removing the dielectric effect. The T1 and T2 weighted images of the patients' hip joint were acquired with and without a multitransmit technique. The ROIs were located in the head of femur and iliopsoas muscle. The SNR, CNR and scan time were measured and compared. There was no difference in the images with and without multitransmit. In contrast, the acquisition time was decreased by 42.8% in T1WI and 49.7% in T2WI. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that significant scan time reductions can be accomplished without any differences in the image quality in hip joint MRI by applying the multitransmit parallel technique. Furthermore, the multitranstmit technique is useful in other body parts to resolve the long scan time of an MRI examination.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.50-57
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• 1998

MR acoustic sound or noise due to gradient pulsings has been one of the problems in MRI, both in patient scanning as well as in many areas of psychiatric and neuroscience research, such as brain fMRI. Especially in brain fMRI, sound noise is one of the serious noise sources which obscures the small signals obtainable from the subtle changes occurring in oxygenation status in the cortex and blood capillaries. Therfore, we have studied the effects of acoustic or sound noise arising in fMR imaging of the auditory, motor and visual cortices. The results show that the acoustical noise effects on motor and visual responses are opposite. That is, for the motor activity, it shows an increased total motor activation while for the visual stimulation, corresponding(visual) cortical activity has diminished substantially when the subject is exposed to a loud acoustic sound. Although the current observations are preliminary and require more experimental confirmation, it appears that the observed acoustic-noise effects on brain functions, such as in the motor and visual cortices, are new observations and could have significant consequences in data observation and interpretation in future fMRI studies.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1996 no.05
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• pp.139-142
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• 1996

A remotly controlled interactive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been tried using the World Wide Web. For this purpose, an HTTP server is developed on the host computer of the MRI system. Video and audio conferencing capability is also included for the experiment. Using the developed system, MRI imaging has been successfully carried out at the Signal Processing Lab in the Kwangwoon University with the remote MRI system located at the Medical Image Research Center in the KAIST in Daejon.