• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.699-706
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• 2018

In this study, we measured signal intensities according to array coil position changes to provide reference data of coil directions and the distances as it deters image quality unless the coils are aligned properly. The multi-purpose MRI phantom was placed in body array coils, and it was moved to the top, bottom, left, and right directions by 2 cm from the center to 10 cm. After obtaining images, signal intensities were measured and compared. The results of this study were as follows: Except for the upward direction, the signal intensities of the reference signal was not significantly different from that of the reference signal intensity within 2cm in both T1 and T2-weighted images. In conclusion, in clinical circumstances which various challenges exist to align the coils exactly on the same lines, array coils should be positioned at least within 2 cm from the center except for the upward direction, on the same line to prevent the image qualities are lowered.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2003

Purpose : To evaluate the effect of the gradient switching noise on the ECD source localization with the EEG data recorded during the MRI scan. Materials and Methods : We have fabricated a spherical EEG phantom that emulates a human head on which multiple electrodes are attached. Inside the phantom, electric current dipole(ECD) sources are located to evaluate the source localization error. The EEG phantom was placed in the center of the whole-body 3.0 Tesla MRI magnet, and a sinusoidal current was fed to the ECD sources. With an MRI-compatible EEG measurement system, we recorded the multi channel electric potential signals during gradient echo single-shot EPI scans. To evaluate the effect of the gradient switching noise on the ECD source localization, we controlled the gradient noise level by changing the FOV of the EPI scan. With the measured potential signals, we have performed the ECD source localization. Results : The source localization error depends on the gradient switching noise level and the ECD source position. The gradient switching noise has much bigger negative effects on the source localization than the Gaussian noise. We have found that the ECD source localization works reasonably when the gradient switching noise power is smaller than $10\%$ of the EEG signal power. Conclusion : We think that the results of the present study can be used as a guideline to determine the degree of gradient switching noise suppression in EEG when the EEG data are to be used to enhance the performance of fMRI.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1998

In order to provide complementary image data, CT(computed tomography), MR(magnetic resonance) and angiography have been used in the field of Stereotactic Radiosurgery(SRS) and neurosurgery. The aim of this work is to develop 3-D stereotactic localization system in order to determine the precise shape, size and location of the lesion in the brain in the field of Stereotactic Radiosurgery(SRS) and neurosurgery using multi-image modality and multi purpose QA phantom. In order to obtain accurate position of a target, Hitchcoke stereotactic frame and CT/angiography localizers were rigidly attached to the phantom with nine targets dispersed in 3-D space. The algorithms to obtain a 3-D stereotactic coordinates of the target have been developed using the images of the geometrical phantom which were taken by CT/angiography. Positions of targets computed by our algorithms were compared to the absolute position assigned in the phantom. Outlines of targets on each CT image were superimposed each other on angiography images. A spatial mean distance errors were 1.02${\pm}$0.17mm for CT with a 512${\times}$512 matrix and 2mm slice thickness, 0.41${\pm}$0.05mm for angiogra- phy localization. The resulting accuracy in the target localization suggests that the developed system has enough Qualification for Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS).

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1998 no.11
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• pp.117-118
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• 1998

The aim of this work is to develop 3-D stereotactic localization system in order to determine the precise shape, size and location of the lesion in the brain in the field of Stereotactic Radiosurgery(SRS) and neurosurgery using CT/MRI/angiography and multi-purpose QA phantom. The algorithms to obtain a 3-D stereotactic coordinates of the target have been developed, and targets on each CT image were superimposed each other on MR/angiography images without distortion corretion. This system was implented in Visual C++ as a PC-based application program.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.179-185
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to investigate the spectra of a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in accordance with the variance of TE and the volumes of metabolites in a localized voxel for the quality assurance using a designed single voxel spectroscopy QA phantom. Because a cone-shade phantom is designed as the volume of metabolite in a localized voxel is changeable, we try to analyze the peaks of each metabolite (NAA, Cr, Cho, Lac, etc.) in accordance with metabolite volume in a localized voxel as well as echo time (TE). All data were obtained using a 3T MRI/MRS machine and analyzed using $jMRUI^{(R)}$. The results of this study show that TE is in inverse proportion to the noise of MRS and the longer TE and the less metabolite volume in the localized voxel, the peak intensities of each metabolite decrease. In case of the lactate, its peak was observed on the all TE only if the greatest metabolite is included in the localized voxel. Then, the intensity of a metabolite is more sensitive to the metabolite volume in the localized voxel than the TE. These obtained in vitro MRS data is provide the guideline that is important for in vivo metabolite quantification. But, in the edge of cone-shape vial air bubbles were observed and spectrum could not obtained. Therefore our cone-shape MRS phantom needs to be modified in order to solve these problems.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.42-51
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• 2000

Purpose: Projection-type Fast Spin Echo (PFSE) imaging is robust to patient motion or flow related artifact compared to conventional Fast Spin Echo (FSE) imaging, however, it has difficulty in controlling $T_2$ contrast. In this paper, Tz contrast in the PFSE method is analyzed and compared with those of the FSE method with various effective echo times by computer simulation. The contrasts in the FSE and PFSE methods are also compared by experiments with volunteers. From the analysis and simulation, it is shown that ${T_2}-weighted$ images can well be obtained by the PFSE method proposed. Materials and methods: Pulse sequence for the PFSE method is implemented at a 1.0 Tesla whole body MRI system and $T_2$ contrasts in the PFSE and FSE methods are analyzed by computer simulation and experiment with volunteers. For the simulation, a mathematical phantom composed of various $T_2$ values is devised and $T_2$ contrast in the reconstructed image by the PFSE is compared to those by the FSE method with various effective echo times. Multi-slice ${T_2}-weighted$ head images of the volunteers obtained by the PFSE method are also shown in comparison with those by the FSE method at a 1.0 Tesla whole body MRI system. Results: From the analysis, $T_2$ contrast by the PFSE method appears similar to those by the FSE method with the effective echo time in a range of SO-lOOms. Using a mathematical phantom, contrast in the PFSE image appears close to that by the FSE method with the effective echo time of 96ms. From experiment with volunteers, multi-slice $T_2-weighted$ images are obtained by the PFSE method having contrast similar to that of the FSE method with the effective echo time of 96ms. Reconstructed images by the PFSE method show less motion related artifact compared to those by the FSE method. Conclusion: The projection-type FSE imaging acquires multiple radial lines with different angles in polar coordinate in k space using multiple spin echoes. The PFSE method is robust to patient motion or flow, however, it has difficulty in controlling $T_2$ contrast compared to the FSE method. In this paper, it is shown that the PFSE method provides good $T_2$ contrast (${T_2}-weighted$ images) similar to the FSE method by both computer simulation and experiments with volunteers.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2013

Purpose : The relaxation times of tissue in MRI depend on strength of magnetic field, morphology of nuclear, viscosity, size of molecules and temperature. This study intended to analyze quantitatively that materials' temperatures have effects on T1 and T2 relaxation times without changing of other conditions. Materials and Methods : The equipment was used MAGNETOM SKYRA of 3.0T(SIEMENS, Erlagen, Germany), 32 channel spine coil and Gd-DTPA water concentration phantom. To find out T1 relaxation time, Inversion Recovery Spin Echo sequences were used at 50, 400, 1100, 2500 ms of TI. To find out T2 relaxation time, Multi Echo Spin Echo sequences were used at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270 ms of TE. This experiment was scanned with 5 steps from 25 to $45^{\circ}C$. next, using MRmap(Messroghli, BMC Medical Imaging, 2012) T1 and T2 relaxation times were mapped. on the Piview STAR v5.0(Infinitt, Seoul, Korea) 5 steps were measured as the same ROI, and then mean values were calculated. Correlation between the temperatures and relaxation times were analyzed by SPSS(version 17.0, Chicago, IL, USA). Results : According to increase of temperatures, T1 relaxation times were $214.39{\pm}0.25$, $236.02{\pm}0.87$, $267.47{\pm}0.48$, $299.44{\pm}0.64$, $330.19{\pm}1.72$ ms. T2 relaxation times were $180.17{\pm}0.27$, $197.17{\pm}0.44$, $217.92{\pm}0.39$, $239.89{\pm}0.53$, $257.40{\pm}1.77$ ms. With the correlation analysis, the correlation coefficients of T1 and T2 relaxation times were statistically significant at 0.998 and 0.999 (p< 0.05). Conclusion : T1 and T2 relaxation times are increased as temperature of tissue goes up. In conclusion, we suggest to recognize errors of relaxation time caused local temperature's differences, and consider external factors as well in the quantitative analysis of relaxation time or clinical tests.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 1996

The purpose of this paper is to design high-order (or radial) surface gradient coil (SGC), which can provide multi-dimensional spatial selection. Although the spatial Selection with High-Order gradienT (SHOT) can provide a 2-D selection with only one selective RF pulse, the high-order gradient pro- duced by conventional cylindrical-shape coils has not been clinically useful due to the large selection size caused by the limited radial gradient intensity. However, by using the proposed high-order SGCs located near the imaging region, the size of volume selection can be reduced to a clinically useflll size of 1-2 cm in diameter by applying stronger radial gradient field with much less gradient driving power. So far radial SGCs have been designed by using the field component method and may cause distortion in the selection shapes. In this paper, by using the target field approach for the coil design, selected volumes became almost circular. A 40 cm-by-40 cm $z^2$_surface gradient coil has been designed and implemented by using the target field approach. Phantom and volunteer studies have been performed Experimental results using spatially localized MRI show good agreement to the theoretically predicted behavior.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.108-116
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• 2006

Purpose : High-resolution spiral-scan imaging is performed at 3 Tesla MRI system. Since the gradient waveforms for the spiral-scan imaging have lower slopes than those for the Echo Planar Imaging (EPI), they can be implemented with the gradient systems having lower slew rates. The spiral-scan imaging also involves less eddy currents due to the smooth gradient waveforms. The spiral-scan imaging method does not suffer from high specific absorption rate (SAR), which is one of the main obstacles in high field imaging for rf echo-based fast imaging methods such as fast spin echo techniques. Thus, the spiral-scan imaging has a great potential for the high-speed imaging in high magnetic fields. In this paper, we presented various high-resolution images obtained by the spiral-scan methods at 3T MRI system for various applications. Materials and Methods : High-resolution spiral-scan imaging technique is implemented at 3T whole body MRI system. An efficient and fast higher-order shimming technique is developed to reduce the inhomogeneity, and the single-shot and interleaved spiral-scan imaging methods are developed. Spin-echo and gradient-echo based spiral-scan imaging methods are implemented, and image contrast and signal-tonoise ratio are controlled by the echo time, repetition time, and the rf flip angles. Results : Spiral-scan images having various resolutions are obtained at 3T MRI system. Since the absolute magnitude of the inhomogeneity is increasing in higher magnetic fields, higher order shimming to reduce the inhomogeneity becomes more important. A fast shimming technique in which axial, sagittal, and coronal sectional inhomogeneity maps are obtained in one scan is developed, and the shimming method based on the analysis of spherical harmonics of the inhomogeneity map is applied. For phantom and invivo head imaging, image matrix size of about $100{\times}100$ is obtained by a single-shot spiral-scan imaging, and a matrix size of $256{\times}256$ is obtained by the interleaved spiral-scan imaging with the number of interleaves of from 6 to 12. Conclusion : High field imaging becomes increasingly important due to the improved signal-to-noise ratio, larger spectral separation, and the higher BOLD-based contrast. The increasing SAR is, however, a limiting factor in high field imaging. Since the spiral-scan imaging has a very low SAR, and lower hardware requirements for the implementation of the technique compared to EPI, it is suitable for a rapid imaging in high fields. In this paper, the spiral-scan imaging with various resolutions from $100{\times}100$ to $256{\times}256$ by controlling the number of interleaves are developed for the high-speed imaging in high magnetic fields.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.55-61
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to evaluate image blurring according to variation of the ETL and propose the clinically appropriate ETL range. SIEMENS MAGNETOM Skyra 3.0T and 20 channel head coil were used for the study. MRI phantom was kept the lines horizontally to three direction(X,Y,Z) of the coil and T1, T2 weighted images that used the fast spin echo technique acquired. The ETL with increase of 10 was applied from 10 to 80. In addition, the ETL with increase of 1 was applied in the interval statistically significant differences occurred. And T1, T2 weighted images that used the conventional spin echo technique acquired to compare image blurring of the images that used the fast spin echo technique. The slope of lattice in the images was measured using Image J 1.47v program to evaluate image blurring. And image blurring was determined by the degree of the slope. The statistical significance of both techniques was evaluated by the Kruskal-Wallis test of the SPSS 17.0v. And the correlation of the ETL and image blurring was evaluated quantitatively by regression analysis. The slope of the T1, T2 weighted images that used fast spin echo technique decreased as contrasted with conventional spin echo technique. In the result of the Kruskal-Wallis test, the T1, T2 weighted images that used fast spin echo technique made a significant difference with conventional spin echo technique. Particularly, in the Tomhane' T2 test, the T1, T2 weighted images made a significant difference from ETL 22 and 31 respectively. In the result of the regression analysis, the R-squared of the T1, T2 weighted images are 0.762 and 0.793. It is difficult to apply the long ETL in the T1 weighted image caused by the short TR and multi-slices study. Therefore, clinical impact according to variation of the ETL is very slight in the T1 weighted images. But the application of the proper ETL is demanded in T2 weighted images using the fast spin echo technique in order to prevent image blurring.