• 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.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.383-386
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• 2014

Objective : Symptomatic thoracic disc herniation often requires prompt surgical treatment to prevent neurological deterioration and permanent deficits. Anterior approaches offer direct visualization and access to the herniated disc and anterior dura but require access surgeons and are often associated with considerable postoperative pain and pulmonary complications. A disadvantage with using posterior approaches in the setting of central calcified thoracic disc herniation however, has been the limited visualization of anterior dura and difficulty to accurately assess the extent of decompression. Methods : We report our experience with intraoperative ultrasound (US) guidance during a modified posterior transpedicular approach for removal of a central calcified thoracic disc herniation with a review of pertinent literature. Results : The herniated thoracic disc was successfully removed with posterior approach with the aid of intraoperative US. The patient had significant neurological improvement at three months follow-up. Conclusion : Intraoperative ultrasound is a simple yet valuable tool for real-time imaging during transpedicular thoracic discectomy. Visualization provided by intraoperative US increases the safety profile of posterior approaches and may make thoracotomy unnecessary in a selected group of patients, especially when a patient has existing pulmonary disease or is otherwise not medically fit for the transthoracic approach.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.580-589
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• 2012

In this paper, we studied on Doppler gap-filling algorithms suitable for a portable or low-cost medical ultrasound imaging system, and as a result, found out algorithms based on mirroring or autoregressive model. Moreover, controlling the computational demand in the proper range, we improved the performances of these algorithms by solving their problems. Effectiveness of these modified algorithms is verified by computer simulations and experiments which used artificially generated Doppler signals and Doppler data acquired from human body through an actual ultrasound system.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9113-9116
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• 2014

Purpose: : To assess the clinic value of application of laparospic ultrasonography (LU) in partial nephrectomy of small renal cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods: From 2007 to 2011, 28 small renal cell carcinoma patients in ou clinic underwent laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with LU. For comparison with preoperative conventional ultrasound and CT, we collected ultrasonic performance of the affected side kidney, renal tumor location, size, echo change, blood supply situation and the relationship with the surrounding tissue. Results: LU could more clearly show the tumor interior structure and blood supply, as well as the relationship with the surrounding tissue. It also can provided doctor assistance with real-time tumor resection, reducing operative complications. Conclusions: LU can clearly show tumor internal structure and blood supply, which is helpful for explicit diagnosis. Moreover, it supplies accurate information for surgeons and assists surgery. Therefore LU has an important guiding value in partial nephrectomy for small renal cell carcinoma.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 2009

Using a spatial compound imaging technique in a medical ultrasound imaging system, the average speed of sound in a medium of interest is measured, and imaging of its distribution is implemented. When the brightness reaches the highest level in an ultrasonic image obtained as the speed of sound used in focusing is varied, it turns out that the focusing has been accomplished satisfactorily and that the speed of sound which has been adopted becomes the sought-after average speed of sound. Because spatial compound imaging provides many different views of the same object, the adverse effect of erroneous speed-of-sound estimation tends to be more severe in compound imaging than in plain B-mode imaging. Thus, in compound imaging, the average speed of sound even in the case of speckled images can be accurately estimated by observing the brightness change due to different speeds of sound employed. Using this new method that offers spatial diversity, we can construct an image of the speed of sound distribution in a phantom embedded with a 10-mm diameter plastic cylinder whose speed of sound is different from that of the background. The speed of sound in the cylinder is found to be different from that of the surrounding medium.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.369-374
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• 2022

Purpose: Focused ultrasound is an emerging technology for treating the brain locally in a noninvasive manner. In this study, we have investigated the influence of skull properties on simulating transcranial pressure field. Methods: A 3D computational model of transcranial focused ultrasound was constructed using female and male CT data to solve for intracranial pressure. For heterogeneous model, the acoustic properties were calculated from CT Hounsfield units based on a porosity. The homogeneous model assigned constant acoustic properties for the single-layered skull. Results: A computational model was validated against empirical data. The homogeneous models were then compared with the heterogeneous model, resulted in 10.87% and 7.19% differences in peak pressure for female and male models respectively. For the focal volume, homogeneous model demonstrated more than 94% overlap compared with the heterogeneous model. Conclusion: Homogeneous model can be constructed using MR images that are commonly used for the segmentation of the skull. We propose the possibility of the homogeneous model for the simulating transcranial pressure field owing to comparable focal volume between homogeneous model and heterogeneous model.