• 방사선산업학회지
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.325-332
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• 2018

Carotid angiography covering the aortic arch includes contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CEA), which is applied to a large region and usually employs contrast media. However, the use of contrast media can be dangerous in infants, pregnant women, and patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). Follow-up patients informed of a lesion may also want to avoid constant exposure to contrast media. We aimed to apply time-of-flight (TOF) angiography to a large region and compare its usefulness with that of CEA. Ten patients (mean age, 58 years; range, 45~75 years) who visited our hospital for magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) participated in this study. A 3.0 Tesla Achieva magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (Philips, Netherland) and the SENSE NeuroVascular 16-channel coil were employed for both methods. Both methods were applied simultaneously to the same patient. Three TOF stacks were connected to cover the aortic arch through the circle of Willis, and CEA was applied in the same manner. For the quantitative assessment, the acquired images were used to set the regions of interest (ROIs) in the common carotid artery (CCA) bifurcation, internal carotid artery, external carotid artery, middle cerebral artery, and vertebral artery, and to obtain the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) for the soft tissues. Three radiologists and one radiological resident performed the qualitative assessment on a 5-point scale - 1 point, "very bad"; 2 points, "bad"; 3 points, "average"; 4 points, "good"; and 5 points, "very good" - with regard to 4 items: (1) sharpness, (2) distortion, (3) vein contamination, and (4) expression of peripheral vessels. For the quantitative assessment, we estimated the mean SNR and CNR in each of the 5 ROIs. In general, the mean SNR was higher in TOF angiography (166.1, 205.2, 154.39, 172.23, and 161.95) than in CEA(92.05, 95.43, 84.76, 73.69, and 88.3). Both methods had a similar mean CNR: 67.62, 106.71, 55.9, 73.74, and 63.46 for TOF angiography, and 67.82, 71.19, 60.52, 49.45, and 64.07 for CEA. In all ROIs, the mean SNR was statistically significant (p<0.05), whereas the mean CNR was insignificant (p>0.05). The mean values of TOF angiography and CEA for each item in the qualitative assessment were 4.2 and 4.28, respectively for item 1; 2.93 and 4.55, respectively, for item 2; 4.6 and 3.13, respectively, for item 3; and 2.88 and 4.65, respectively, for item 4. Therefore, TOF angiography had a higher mean for item 3, and CEA had a higher mean for items 2 and 4; there was no significant difference between the two methods for item 1. The results for item 1 were statistically insignificant (p>0.05), whereas the results for items 2~4 were statistically significant (p<0.05). Both methods have advantages and disadvantages and they complement each other. However, CEA is usually applied to a large region covering the aortic arch. Time-of-flight angiography may be useful for people such as infants, pregnant women, CRF patients, and followup patients for whom the use of contrast media can be dangerous or unnecessary, depending on the circumstance.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.31-40
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• 2010

목적: 간의 국소병변에 대한 3T 자기공명영상에서 초상자성산화철 조영증강영상을 얻기 위한 여러 급속호흡정지대열들의 상대적 가치를 평가하고자 하였다. 대상 및 방법: 간의 자기공명영상을 시행하였던 환자들 중 한 개 이상의 악성 고형병소를 가진 102명의 연속으로 모은 환자들을 대상으로 초상자성산화철 조영제의 정맥주사 후 촬영한 3종류의 각각 다른 에코시간(2.4 msec [GRE_2.4], 5.8 msec [GRE_5.8], and 10 msec [GRE_10])을 갖는 $T2^*$ 강조 경사에코영상들과 하나의 T2 강조 고속스핀에코영상(TSE)을 비교하였다. 두 명의 관찰자가 독립적으로 간의 윤곽, 혈관지표, 인공물, 병변의 명확도에 대해 각각 4점 스케일로 질적분석을 시행하였다. 양적분석을 위해 1 cm 이상의 크기를 갖는 170개의 병변들(간세포암 107개, 담도암 9개, 간전이암 54개)에 대하여 대조도잡음비를 측정하였다. 결과: GRE_5.8은 간윤곽, 혈관지표, 인공물에 대해 질적으로 가장 높은 점수를 받았으며(p<.001) 간 병변의 명확도는 GRE_5.8과 GRE_10간에 유의한 차이가 없었다(p=.414). 전체적으로 평균 대조도잡음비는 GRE_10($24.4{\pm}14.5$), GRE_5.8($14.8{\pm}9.4$), FSE($9.7{\pm}6.3$), GRE_2.4($7.9{\pm}6.4$)의 순으로 높았으며(p<.001), 영상기법에 상관없이 담관암과 전이암의 평균 대조도잡음비가 간세포암에 비해 높았다(p<0.05). 결론: 3T 기기에서 악성 고형 간 병변의 진단을 위한 초상자성산화철 조영증강 급속 호흡정지기법들 중 5.8 msec의 중등도의 에코시간을 갖는 경사에코영상은 10 msec의 에코시간에 비해 대조도잡음비가 낮지만 전체적인 양적 및 질적 평가를 종합하여 볼 때 가장 우수한 영상을 제공할 수 있다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권21호
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• pp.9487-9494
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• 2014

Background: The size of a hepatic neoplasm is critical for staging, prognosis and selection of appropriate treatment. Our study aimed to compare the radiological size of solid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) masses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the pathological size in a Chinese population, and to elucidate discrepancies. Materials and Methods: A total of 178 consecutive patients diagnosed with HCC who underwent curative hepatic resection after enhanced MRI between July 2010 and October 2013 were retrospectively identified and analyzed. Pathological data of the whole removed tumors wereassessed and differences between radiological and pathological tumor size were identified. All patients were restaged using a modified Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system postoperatively according to the maximum diameter alteration. The lesions were classified as hypo-staged, iso-staged or hyper-staged for qualitative assessment. In the quantitative analysis, the relative pre and postoperative tumor size contrast ratio ($%{\Delta}size$) was also computed according to size intervals. In addition, the relationship between radiological and pathological tumor diameter variation and histologic grade was analyzed. Results: Pathological examination showed 85 (47.8%) patients were overestimated, 82 (46.1%) patients underestimated, while accurate measurement by MRI was found in 11 (6.2%) patients. Among the total subjects, 14 (7.9%) patients were hypo-staged and 15 (8.4%) were hyper-staged post-operatively. Accuracy of MRI for calculation and characterized staging was related to the lesion size, ranging from 83.1% to 87.4% (<2cm to ${\geq}5cm$, p=0.328) and from 62.5% to 89.1% (cT1 to cT4, p=0.006), respectively. Overall, MRI misjudged pathological size by 6.0 mm (p=0.588 ), and the greatest difference was observed in tumors <2cm (3.6 mm, $%{\Delta}size=16.9%$, p=0.028). No statistically significant difference was observed for moderately differentiated HCC (5.5mm, p=0.781). However, for well differentiated and poorly differentiated cases, radiographic tumor maximum diameter was significantly larger than the pathological maximum diameter by 3.15 mm and underestimated by 4.51 mm, respectively (p=0.034 and 0.020). Conclusions: A preoperative HCC tumor size measurement using MRI can provide relatively acceptable accuracy but may give rise to discrepancy in tumors in a certain size range or histologic grade. In pathological well differentiated subjects, the pathological tumor size was significantly overestimated, but underestimated in poorly differentiated HCC. The difference between radiological and pathological tumor size was greatest for tumors <2 cm. For some HCC patients, the size difference may have implications for the decision of resection, transplantation, ablation, or arterially directed therapy, and should be considered in staging or selecting the appropriate treatment tactics.

• 대한디지털의료영상학회논문지
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• 제15권2호
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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.

• 한국콘텐츠학회논문지
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• 제14권11호
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• pp.558-574
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• 2014

최근 복부비만, 고혈압, 당뇨, 고지혈증과 같은 대사성 증후군에 속하는 질환이 급격히 증가하여 지방간 환자수가 급격히 증가하고 있다. 이를 위해 자기공명영상을 통한 검진이 요구되는데 관심 영역과 관심 영역이 아닌 영역의 intensity 값이 상당히 유사하거나 동일한 경우가 많기 때문에 전문적인 물, 지방 분리 방법을 통해서 분석하는 경우가 많다. 그러나 이러한 분리법은 필드의 불균일성이 큰 고자장으로 갈수록 부정확한 결과가 도출하게 된다. 본 논문은 이러한 기존 분리법의 한계를 극복하고자, 고자장에서도 적용이 가능한 필드 맵 측정 방법을 제안한다. 제안 방법은 기존 IDEAL 시퀀스로 얻어진 에코 영상을 통해 필드 맵을 생성하고, 클러스터링 작업, 그리고 영역성장법 스키마 기반의 least square fit을 통한 필드 맵의 보정, 마지막으로 필드 맵의 homogeneity를 위한 경계선의 보정을 수행하여 최종적으로 물과 지방을 분리한다. 실험결과 IDEAL방법이 평균 61.5%, Yu의 방법이 평균 62.6%, 제안 방법이 평균 86.4%의 지방 검출율로 제안방법이 월등함을 확인하였다. 또한 물 검출율 역시 제안 방법이 평균 98.4%의 물 검출율로 Fat saturation의 평균 88.6% 보다 높은 정확도를 확인 할 수 있었다.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.31-36
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• 2015

Purpose: To compare the depiction of brain metastases on contrast-enhanced images with 7.0 tesla (T) and at 1.5T MRI. Materials and Methods: Four consecutive patients with brain metastases were scanned on 7.0T whole-body scanner and 1.5T MRI. A 3D T1-weighted gradient echo sequence (3D T1-GRE) at 1.5T (voxel size = $0.9{\times}0.9{\times}1.5mm^3$ after double-dose, gadoterate meglumine, Gd-DOTA) was compared to a 7.0T 3D T1-GRE sequence (voxel size = $0.4{\times}0.4{\times}0.8mm^3$, single-dose Gd-DOTA) in four patients after a 5 minute delay. The number of contrast-enhancing metastases in MPRAGE images was compared in each patient by two radiologists in consensus. We measured contrast ratio of enhancing brain metastases and white matter in 1.5T and 7.0T. Results: In all four patients 7.0T 3D T1-GRE images after single-dose Gd-DOTA and 1.5T after double-dose Gd-DOTA depicted 11 brain metastases equally. In the quantitative analysis of contrast ratios of enhancing brain metastases and white matter, the 1.5T 3D T1-GRE after double-dose showed an increased contrast ratio compared to 7.0T 3D T1-GRE after single-dose ($0.961{\pm}0.571$ versus $0.885{\pm}0.494$; n = 11 metastases). But this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.711). Conclusion: Our preliminary results indicate that 7.0T single-dose Gd-enhanced images were not different to 1.5T double-dose Gd-enhanced images for the detection of brain metastases.

• 대한방사선기술학회지:방사선기술과학
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.427-433
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• 2007

모야모야 질병에 있어서 펄스 동맥 스핀표지 영상기법을 이용한 뇌혈류량 영상과 고식적 관류 자기공명 영상을 전대뇌동맥, 중대뇌동맥, 후대뇌동맥을 좌우 6개 영역으로 나누어 시각적 평가와 정량적 평가를 하여 펄스 동맥 스핀표지 영상기법의 유용성을 알아보고자 하였다. 시각적인 평가에서는 펄스 동맥 스핀표지 혈류량 영상과 고식적인 관류 자기공명 뇌혈류량 영상에서 관류가 감소된 범위가 자기공명 혈관조영술에서 결손된 위치와 일치하였다. 정량적인 영상 평가는 펄스 동맥 스핀표지 뇌혈류량 영상과 고식적인 관류 자기공명 뇌혈류량 영상에서 관류가 감소된 범위와 위치는 일치하였지만 혈류의 양을 추정할 수 있는 평가에서는 다소간의 차이를 보였다.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.145-152
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• 2012

Patients who underwent hip arthroplasty using the conventional fat suppression technique (CHESS) and a new technique (IDEAL) were compared quantitatively to assess the effectiveness and usefulness of the IDEAL technique. In 20 patients who underwent hip arthroplasty from March 2009 to December 2010, fat suppression T2 and T1 weighted images were obtained on a 3.0T MR scanner using the CHESS and IDEAL techniques. The level of distortion in the area of interest, the level of the development of susceptibility artifacts, and homogeneous fat suppression were analyzed from the acquired images. Quantitative analysis revealed the IDEAL technique to produce a lower level of image distortion caused by the development of susceptibility artifacts due to metal on the acquired images compared to the CHESS technique. Qualitative analysis of the anterior area revealed the IDEAL technique to generate fewer susceptibility artifacts than the CHESS technique but with homogeneous fat suppression. In the middle area, the IDEAL technique generated fewer susceptibility artifacts than the CHESS technique but with homogeneous fat suppression. In the posterior area, the IDEAL technique generated fewer susceptibility artifacts than the CHESS technique. Fat suppression was not statistically different, and the two techniques achieved homogeneous fat suppression. In conclusion, the IDEAL technique generated fewer susceptibility artifacts caused by metals and less image distortion than the CHESS technique. In addition, homogeneous fat suppression was feasible. In conclusion, the IDEAL technique generates high quality images, and can provide good information for diagnosis.

• 한국의학물리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국의학물리학회 2002년도 Proceedings
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• pp.506-508
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• 2002

As an advancement of medical imaging modalities and analyzing software with multi-function, active researches to acquire high contrast and high resolution image being done. In recently, development of medical imaging modalities like as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is aiming to display anatomical structure more accuracy and faster. Thus, one of the important areas in CT today is the use of CT scanner for the quantitative evaluation of 3-D reconstruction images from 2-D tomographic images. In CT system, the effective slice thickness and the quality of 3-D reconstructed image will be influenced by imaging acquisition parameters (e.g. pitch and scan mode). In diagnosis and surgical planning, the accurate distance measurements of 3-D anatomical structures play an important role and the accuracy of distance measurements will depend on the acquisition parameters such as slice thickness, pitch, and scan mode. The skull phantom was scanned with SDCT for various acquisition parameters and acquisition slice thicknesses were 3 and 5 mm, and reconstruction intervals were 1, 2, and 3 mm to each pitch. 3-D visualizations and distance measurements were performed with PC based 3-D rendering and analyzing software. Results showed that the image quality and the measurement accuracy of 3-D SDCT images are independent to the reconstruction intervals and pitches.

• 대한핵의학회지
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.166-176
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• 2002

목적: 이 연구의 목적은 시각 활성 자극에 의한 뇌 활성영역을 확인하고 국소 뇌 혈류량을 정량적으로 분석하는데 그 목적이 있다. $^8F-fluoro-2-deoxy\;glucose\;(FDG)\;PET$과 $^{15}O-water\;PET$에서 시각 자극을 가하는 동안 시각피질에서의 기전이 확인되었으며 PET에 비해 적은 비용으로 널리 사용되고 있는 $^{99m}Tc-HMPAO$ Brain SPECT를 이용하여 시각자극을 주었을 때 대뇌 후두엽의 일차시각피질과 시각 연합 피질에서의 국소 뇌 혈류 변화율을 정량적으로 분석하고자 하였다. 대상 및 방법: 오른손을 주로 사용하는 25세에서 33세의 나이 분포를 갖는 남자 3, 여자 3명(평균나이 26.7세)의 정상인을 대상으로 $^{99m}Tc-HMPAO$ Brain SPECT (925 MBq)를 시행하였고 8 Hz의 발광다이오드를 이용하여 $4{\sim}5$분 동안 시각활성 자극을 주었을 때와 대조군으로 자극을 가하지 않은 비 활성상태에서의 경우로 나누어 스캔하고 해부학적 기준정보를 제공하기 위해 MR 영상과 융합하였으며 관심영역을 설정하여 혈류량을 정량적으로 분석하였다. 결과: 정량적인 분석을 위해 대뇌의 전체 용적과 계수율을 계산하고 관심 영역을 설정하여 관심영역에 대한 복셀 당 평균 계수율을 측정하여 각 대상의 시각 활성자극을 가한 영상에서 정상 상태의 영상을 픽셀 당 픽셀로 감산하여 통계적 파라미터를 이용한 뇌 지도를 구성하였으며 뇌 활성이 Brodmann 영역의 시각피질(Ba 17)과 시각연합피질(Ba 18,19)에서 활성화되어 있음을 Talairach 좌표를 통해 확인하였고 regional index를 계산하여 국소 뇌혈류 변화율을 측정하였다. 결론: $^{99m}Tc-HMPAO$ Brain SPECT에서 8 Hz의 발광 다이오드로 시각 자극을 주었을 때 후두엽의 일차 시각피질과 시각 연합 피질에서 뇌 활성화를 확인하였고 통계적 파라미터를 이용한 SPM99에서 뇌 지도를 작성하여 시각자극에 의한 활성영역을 Talairach 좌표와 Brodmann 분류에 의해 확인하여 T1 강조 MR 영상에 융합하였다. 후두엽의 일차시각피질에서 시각 활성자극에 의해 국소 뇌 혈류량이 $32.50{\pm}5.67%$ 증가하고 있음을 정량적으로 분석하였다.