• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2021

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the importance of hospital hygiene and infection control in hospital settings. To raise hygiene awareness among ultrasound technicians, we evaluated the hygiene status of an ultrasound room, in comparison with that of objects used in daily life. Using the swab method, the following surfaces were examined: eight surfaces in the ultrasound room including the ultrasound probes (convex, linear, sector, 3D), ultrasound track ball, ultrasound keyboard, ultrasound gel (sealed and in use) and pillow as well as four surfaces of everyday objects including subway handles, common computer keyboards, common computer mouse, and cell phones. The streak plate technique was used for inoculation into media, which was observed for the formation of bacterial colonies following incubation for 24 h. Six bacterial strains were detected from objects used in the ultrasound room, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Four strains of bacteria were detected on surfaces of everyday objects. The equipment and accessories used in an ultrasound room can act as vehicles for infecting patients. Establishment of standardized hygiene protocols and periodic training of the staff are recommended to avoid cross-infection.

• Clinical Pain
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2021

Musculoskeletal ultrasound has evolved as the essential tool to diagnose and guide intervention procedures in people with neuromusculoskeletal conditions. Image optimization and understanding device operations are core components for ultrasound guided intervention procedure training. All ultrasound machines share the common operative features and there are various buttons for the features in the device control panel. Ultrasound "knobology" refers to the thorough understanding of imaging optimization. This review addressed basic information for the transducers, depth setting, gain and focus control, different modes focusing on brightness and doppler modes.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.116-117
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• 2024

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.489-491
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• 2002

The need for video diagnosis in medicine has been increased and real-time transfer of digital video will be an important component in PACS and telemedicine. But, Network environment has certain limitations that the required throughput can not satisfy quality of service (QoS). MPEG-4 ratified as a moving video standard by the ISO/IEC provides very efficient video coding covering the various ranges of low bit-rate in network environment. We implemented MPEG-4 CODEC (coder/decoder) and applied various compression ratios to moving ultrasound images. These images were displayed in random order on a client monitor passed through network. Radiologists determined subjective opinion scores for evaluating clinically acceptable image quality and then these were statistically processed in the t-Test method. Moreover the MPEG-4 decoded images were quantitatively analyzed by computing peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) to objectively evaluate image quality. The bit-rate to maintain clinically acceptable image quality was up to 0.8Mbps. We successfully implemented the adaptive throughput or bit-rate relative to the image quality of ultrasound sequences used MPEG-4 that can be applied for diagnostic performance in real-time.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.105-109
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• 2020

The incidence of acute pancreatitis (AP) has increased in the pediatric population over the past few decades and it stands to follow that the complications of severe AP, including symptomatic pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs) will increase as well. In adults, the therapeutic options for this situation have undergone a dramatic evolution from mainly surgical approaches to less invasive endoscopic approaches, mainly endoscopic ultrasound-guided transmural drainage (EUS-TD) followed be direct endoscopic necrosectomy if needed. This has proven safe and effective in adults; however, this approach has not been well studied or reported in pediatric populations. Here we demonstrate that EUS-TD seems to offer a safe, efficacious and minimally invasive approach to the management of large PFCs in pediatric patients by reviewing two representative cases at our institution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.481-484
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• 2002

In every cancer early detection and early treatment is the best way to decrease mortality of patients. Moreover early detection of breast cancer increases the possibility of breast conservation treatment. Although mammography is the most powerful modality for early detection, it is hazardous to be used for young women due to X-ray exposure. Another modality of image diagnosis is ultrasound echo technique. But it is not so powerful to detect breast cancer compared to mammography. Palpation is another modality, but is largely dependent on the skill and experience of medical doctors. A new technique is tested its validity in phantom experiments with good results.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.294-299
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• 2007

For efficient and accurate diagnosis of ultrasound images, appropriate time gain compensation(TGC) and dynamic range(DR) control of ultrasound echo signals are important. TGC is used for compensating the attenuation of ultrasound echo signals along the depth, and DR controls the image contrast. In recent ultrasound systems, these two factors are automatically set by a system and/or manually adjusted by an operator to obtain the desired image quality on the screen. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to find the optimized parameter values far TGC and DR automatically. In TGC optimization, we determine the degree of attenuation compensation along the depth by dividing an image into vertical strips and reliably estimating the attenuation characteristic of ultrasound signals. For DR optimization, we define a novel cost function by properly using the characteristics of ultrasound images. We obtain experimental results by applying the proposed algorithm to a real ultrasound(US) imaging system. The results verify that the proposed algorithm automatically sets values of TGC and DR in real-time such that the subjective quality of the enhanced ultrasound images may be sufficiently high for efficient and accurate diagnosis.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.97-105
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• 2024

The examination needle used in ultrasound biopsy is a medical device used to determine whether there is an abnormality in the tissue. Typically, stainless steel is the standard material used for such needles; however, this study wanted to identify a material that could better enhance sound compared to traditional stainless steel. In this study, six types of needle materials available with the biopsy gun were inserted into pork and ultrasound images according to the curved probe and linear probe were evaluated using ultrasound equipment. The findings revealed significant improvements in ultrasound acoustic enhancement with alternative materials compared to stainless steel (p<0.05). The results regarding the depth of each ultrasound image using the curved probe showed that tungsten and brass had high sound enhancement(p<0.05), while with the linear probe, sound enhancement was high in brass, pla, aluminum, and copper(p<0.05). Due to these results, the previously used stainless needle showed lower ultrasound acoustic enhancement than the five types of materials being compared. Consequently, the outcomes of this study provide valuable insights for the development of new needle technologies aimed at minimizing patient risks and improving diagnostic accuracy.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.237-245
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• 2024

Background/Aims: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided tissue acquisition (EUS-TA) using Franseen needles is reportedly useful for its high diagnostic yield. This study compared the diagnostic yield and puncturing ability of EUS-TA using 22-gauge cobalt-chromium (CO-Cr) needles with those of stainless-steel Franseen needles in patients with solid pancreatic lesions. Methods: Outcomes were compared between the 22-gauge Co-Cr Franseen needle (December 2019 to November 2020; group C) and stainless-steel needle (November 2020 to May 2022; group S). Results: A total of 155 patients (group C, 75; group S, 80) were eligible. The diagnostic accuracy was 92.0% in group C and 96.3% in group S with no significant intergroup differences (p=0.32). The rate of change in the operator (from training fellows to experts) was 20.0% (15/75) in group C and 7.5% (6/80) in group S. Stainless-steel Franseen needles showed less inter-operator difference than Co-Cr needles (p=0.03). Conclusions: Both Co-Cr and stainless-steel Franseen needles showed high diagnostic ability. Stainless-steel Franseen needles are soft and flexible; therefore, the range of puncture angles can be widely adjusted, making them suitable for training fellows to complete the procedure.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.49-55
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• 2013

A high-voltage highly-integrated analog front-end (AFE) IC for medical ultrasound imaging applications is implemented using standard 0.18-${\mu}m$ CMOS process. The proposed AFE IC is composed of a high-voltage (HV) pulser utilizing stacked transistors generating up to 15 Vp-p pulses at 2.6 MHz, a low-voltage low-noise transimpedance preamplifier, and a HV switch for isolation between the transmit and receive parts. The designed IC consumes less than $0.15mm^2$ of core area, making it feasible to be applied for multi-array medical ultrasound imaging systems, including portable handheld applications.