• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.176-176
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• 2001

목적： 기존의 역수신코일(inside-out receiver coil)로 관벽의 MR 영상을 얻을 때 영상영역이 좁고 수신감도가 불균일한 단점을 보완하면서 신호대 잡음비(S/N ratio)도 높일 수 있는 회전자계역수 신코일(quadratic inside-out receiver coil)의 개발을 목적으로 한다. 대상 및 방법： 8극형코일, 선형자계수신코일, 회전자계수신코일에 대하여 컴퓨터 모의실험으로 영상영역 및 감도의 균일성을 비교하였다. 회전자계수신코일은 안장 모양을 한 두 개의 선형자계코일이 서로 간섭이 일어나지 않도록 수직 방향으로 배열된 구조를 갖도록 하였다. 지름 3 cm 크기로 각 코일을 제작하였으며 지름 20 cm의 원통 중앙에 내경 4 cm의 관이 있는 팬텀을 만들어 MnC1$_2$를 섞은 물을 채운 다음 1.5T 초전도 MRI 장치와 0.3T 영구자석 MRI 장치에서 팬텀의 관벽 영상을 얻었다. 본 실험을 시행한 1.5T 장치의 구조 때문에 회전자계코일의 두 안장코일을 결합하는 회로를 제작하여 사용하였고 0.3T에서는 장치에 내장된 결합회로를 사용하였다. 또한 포르말린 용액에 보관된 소의 대장 조직 단면 영상을 FOV 10-12 cm로 얻어 회전자 계안장코일의 성능을 평가하였다.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2000

Purpose : To evaluate the usefulness of comparison of the signal intensity of uterine septum in the differential diagnosis of bicornuate and septate uterus on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Materials and methods : Preoperative MR imaging findings of surgically proven 5 bicornuate and 6 septate uteri were retrospectively analyzed. Because preoperative differential diagnosis of both was possible in all cases in terms of the intercornual distance, external contour of uterine fungus, and divergent angle of two uterine cavities, these criteria were excluded in this study. The signal intensity of uterine septum in patients with bicornuate and septate uterus was analyzed on T1-weighted and fast spin echo T2-weighted images obtained in the axial and coronal planes, using a 1.5-T MR scanner. The signal intensity of uterine septum especially on T2-weighted images was compared with that of myometrium or junctional zone. Results : The signal intensity of uterine septum in patients with bicornuate uterus (n=5) and septate uterus (n=6) was similar to that of myometrium in all cases on T1-weighted images. The septum of bicornuate uterus (n=5) on fast spin echo T2-weighted images was isointense with myometrium in three and hypointense in two cases. The uterine septum of septate uterus (n=6) on T2-weighted images was isointense with myometrium in two, hypointense in two, and isointense with or more hypointense than junctional zone in two cases. No patient showed different signal intensity between upper and lower uterine septum. Conclusion : Because the MR signal intensity of the uterine septum in bicornuate or septate uterus is variable, it should not be used alone in the differential diagnosis of them. In these clinically important differentiation, therefore, comprehensive analysis of MR findings in terms of the external contour of uterine fundus, intercornual distance, divergent angle of two uterine cavities, in addition to the signal intensity of the uterine septum, should be considered.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.271-278
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to know optimized fat suppression techniques for brachial plexus compared with STIR and SPAIR T1, T2 techniques. A total of 30 normal volunteers without brachial plexus disease were studied on a 3.0 T MRI scanner. As an analytical method, SNR, CNR, 4-point grading scale were evaluated by using three pulse sequences. As a quantitative analysis, the SNR, CNR for SPAIR T1 technique provided high value in branchial plexus roots (03.07, -2.25), branchial plexus trunks(06.70, 36.31)(p<0.05). As a qualitative Analysis, The visibility for delineation of brachial plexus, fat suppression, artifact was significantly better on SPAIR T1(3.2, 3.6, 3.4) technique(p<0.05).

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.739-742
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• 1998

실시간 동영상의 전송을 위해 본 논문에서는 USB를 전송매체로 하여 구현했다. USB는 키보드, 스태너, 모뎀등 다양하게 사용되고 있는 인터페이스를 한나로 통일하고, 포트의 부족을 해결하기 위해서 개발된 것으로 고속의 데어터전송(12Mbps)을 가능하다. USB의 고속데이터 전송의 특징은 정지화상(JPEG) 뿐만 아니라 실시간 동영상(MPEG1, MPEG2)의 전송을 가능하게 한다. 본 논문에서는 USB로 실시간 동영상 전송을 위한 시스템 구조를 제시하였고 보다 효율적인 데이터 전송을 위한 USB Data Transfer Type에 관해 연구하였다. 720×480의 동영상의 압축을 위해 기존의 널리 이용되는 DCT대신 wevelet 알고리즘을 이용하였고 실시간 압축과 복원을 위해 video compression codec인 adv601를 사용하여 동영상 및 정지화상압축을 하였다. 또한 DSP(TMS320C32)를 이용하여 Quantization Bin Width Calculation을 함으로써 video bit stream의 크기를 가변적으로 제어하려 하였다. 이로서 동영상의 전송시 발생될 수 있는 데이터 병목현상을 해결 하였고 USB뿐만 아니라 다양한 통신망｛ISDN(128Kbps), T1(1.5Mbps) T3(45Mbps)｝에서의 동영상의 실시간 전송이 가능한 시스템 구조를 제시하였다.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2011

Purpose : To compare free-breathing and respiratory-triggered diffusion-weighted imaging on 1.5-T MR system in the detection of hepatic lesions. Materials and Methods: This single-institution study was approved by our institutional review board. Forty-seven patients (mean 57.9 year; M:F = 25:22) underwent hepatic MR imaging on 1.5-T MR system using both free-breathing and respiratory-triggered diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) at a single examination. Two radiologists retrospectively reviewed respiratory-triggered and free-breathing sets (B50, B400, B800 diffusion weighted images and ADC map) in random order with a time interval of 2 weeks. Liver SNR and lesion-to-liver CNR of DWI were calculated measuring ROI. Results : Total of 62 lesions (53 benign, 9 malignant) that included 32 cysts, 13 hemangiomas, 7 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs), 5 eosinophilic infiltration, 2 metastases, 1 eosinophilic abscess, focal nodular hyperplasia, and pseudolipoma of Glisson's capsule were reviewed by two reviewers. Though not reaching statistical significance, the overall lesion sensitivities were increased in respiratory-triggered DWI [reviewer1: reviewer2, 47/62(75.81%):45/62(72.58%)] than free-breathing DWI [44/62(70.97%):41/62(66.13%)]. Especially for smaller than 1 cm hepatic lesions, sensitivity of respiratory-triggered DWI [24/30(80%):21/30(70%)] was superior to free-breathing DWI [17/30(56.7%):15/30(50%)]. The diagnostic accuracy measuring the area under the ROC curve (Az value) of free-breathing and respiratory-triggered DWI was not statistically different. Liver SNR and lesion-to-liver CNR of respiratory-triggered DWI ($87.6{\pm}41.4$, $41.2{\pm}62.5$) were higher than free-breathing DWI ($38.8:{\pm}13.6$, $24.8{\pm}36.8$) (p value < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Respiratory-triggered diffusion-weighted MR imaging seemed to be better than free-breathing diffusion-weighted MR imaging on 1.5-T MR system for the detection of smaller than 1 cm lesions by providing high SNR and CNR.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.1
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• pp.70-80
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• 2020

Currently, there has been an increase in the use of surgical modalities to treat lymphedema and MR imaging to examine lymphatic vessels. Furthermore, there have been several advancements in the field of MR imaging, from the traditional heavily T2-weighted images to three-dimensional images. Three-dimensional images include spoiled gradient echo images, and numerous advanced techniques have been implemented. Among the fat suppression techniques, mDixon technique has recently been in the spotlight.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.142-147
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• 1997

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of the in-phase (IP) sequence and the opposed-phase (Op) sequence in the detection of focal hepatic lesions in the single breath-hold hepatic MR imaging with fast gradient T1-weighted pulse sequences. Materials and Methods: IP and OP T1-weighted breath-hold imaging was performed using fast gradient echo sequences in 45 patients referred for known focal hepatic lesions, in which 78 lesions were detected. Three blind readers independently reviewed the images for lesion detectability. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the liver, the lesion-to-liver contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and the liver-to-spleen CNR were also compared. A consensus was reached by three readers to determine which sequence is better in image quality. Results: On OP images, 61(78%), 61(78%), and 63(89%) lesions were correctly identified for reader 1, 2 and 3, respectively. On IP images, 66(85%), 65(83%), and 65(93%) lesions were detected for each reader, respectively. When two image sets were combined, 71(91 %), 69(88 %), and 76(97%) lesions respectively were detected for each reader. In cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, liver-to-Iesion CNR was greater on the OP images(p (0.05), but in other lesions significant difference was not demonstrated. Liver-to-spleen CNR was higher on OP images(p ( 0.1), but the SNR of the liver was higher on the IP images. Conclusion: Use of both IP and OP imaging can be helpful to avoid erroneous missing of some focal hepatic lesions.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.101-106
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• 2009

Purpose of this study is to compare the signal intensity (SI) and CNR with T1 weighted image using FLASH at 3T abdominal MRI by varying flip angle (FA). Totally 20 patients (male : 12, female : 8, Age : $28{\sim}63$ years with mean : 51) were examined by 3 Tesla MR scanner (Magnetom Tim Trio, SIEMENS, Germany) with 8 channel body array coil between september and October 2008. Imaging parameters were as follows : FLASH sequence, TR : 120 ms, TE : minimum, FOV (field of view) : $360{\times}300\;mm$, Matrix : $256{\times}224$, slice : 6 mm, scan time : 15 sec and Breath-hold technique. Abdominal image, with a 50 ml syringe filled with water placed in the FOV measuring the water signal, were acquired with varying FA through $10^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ with $10^{\circ}$ interval. SI's were measured three times at liver parenchyme, water, spleen and background and averaged. The CNR's were measured between the ROIs (region of interest). Statistic analysis was performed with ANOVA test using SPSS software (version 17.0). Less than FA $30^{\circ}$, abdominal images were severely inhomogeneity. Especially, T1 effect of water signal was weak. As the flip angle increased, the signal intensity decreased at all the regions. Especially, flip angle of the highest signal intensity was observed with $40^{\circ}$ at the liver parenchyme, $20^{\circ}$ at water, $30^{\circ}$ at the spleen, respectively. The CNR between liver and water was -60.92 at FA $10^{\circ}$ and 15.16 at FA $80^{\circ}$. The CNR between liver and spleen was -3.18 at FA $10^{\circ}$ and 9.65 at $80^{\circ}$. In conclusion, FA $80^{\circ}$ is optimal for T1 weighted effect using FLASH pulse sequence at 3.0 T abdominal MRI.

• 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.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.333-338
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• 2000

In this paper, an automated segmentation algorithm is proposed for MR brain images using T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and PD images complementarily. The proposed segmentation algorithm is composed of 3 step. In the first step, cerebrum images are extracted by putting a cerebrum mask upon the three input images. In the second step, outstanding clusters that represent inner tissues of the cerebrum are chosen among 3-dimensional(3D) clusters. 3D clusters are determined by intersecting densely distributed parts of 2D histogram in the 3D space formed with three optimal scale images. Optimal scale image is made up of applying scale space filtering to each 2D histogram and searching graph structure. Optimal scale image best describes the shape of densely distributed parts of pixels in 2D histogram and searching graph structure. Optimal scale image best describes the shape of densely distributed parts of pixels in 2D histogram. In the final step, cerebrum images are segmented using FCM algorithm with its initial centroid value as the outstanding clusters centroid value. The proposed cluster's centroid accurately. And also can get better segmentation results from the proposed segmentation algorithm with multi spectral analysis than the method of single spectral analysis.