• 한국음향학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.151-160
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• 2012

초음파 의료 영상에서 탄성영상은 암과 같은 종양의 진단에 도움을 준다. 본 논문은 초음파 음향 복사력을 이용하여 관찰하고자 하는 연조직에 힘을 인가하여 탄성 영상을 구현하였다. 데이터 획득 시간을 줄이기 위하여 송신 집속을 하지 않고 버스트 (burst) 형태의 평면파를 송신하여 모든 영상 영역에 동시에 음향 복사력이 인가되도록 하였다. 균일 탄성팬텀을 이용한 실험에서 송신 집속을 하지 않고도, 송신 시간을 길게 함으로써 탄성 영상을 얻기에 충분한 음향 복사력을 얻을 수 있음을 확인하였다. 그러나 기존의 집속형 음향 복사력을 이용한 영상과는 다른 시간 대 변위 특성이 관찰되었다. 제안한 탄성 영상 기법으로 초음파 병변 탄성 팬텀과 소의 간 실험에서 병변을 구별할 수 있음을 확인하였다.

• 전기전자학회논문지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.27-35
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• 2022

본 논문은 낮은 연산 복잡도를 지니는 초음파 혈관 패턴 영상 알고리즘을 제안한다. 제안하는 혈관 패턴 영상 알고리즘은 혈류의 흐름 만 감지하여 혈관 패턴을 영상화하는 알고리즘이며 손가락 혈관의 패턴 영상을 추출하는 실시간 신호처리 하드웨어에 적용할 수 있다. 기존의 초음파 의료영상장비의 혈류영상 모드와 달리 제안하는 알고리즘은 혈류의 흐름 만 감지하여 영상으로 복원한다. 즉, 제안하는 영상 알고리즘은 I/Q 복조를 사용하지 않으며 클러터 필터의 출력 신호의 절대 값을 누적하는 방식으로 혈류 흐름의 유무를 검출하기 때문에, 알고리즘의 구조가 비교적 간단하다. 제안하는 영상 알고리즘의 복잡도를 검증하기 위해, Field-II 프로그램을 이용하여 손가락 혈관을 모사하는 시뮬레이션 모델을 구현하였다. 행위모사 시뮬레이션을 통해, 제안하는 알고리즘의 연산시간이 일반적인 color-flow 모드보다 약 54배 작은 것으로 확인되었다. 제안하는 영상 알고리즘에서 요구되는 주요 구성 블록과 연산량을 고려할 때, 제안하는 알고리즘은 FPGA 또는 ASIC과 같은 하드웨어에 구현되기에 용이하다.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.70-73
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• 2022

Here, we report a case of ultrasound-assisted subarachnoid block in a patient with severe kyphosis. A 69-year-old man was scheduled for metal removal from hip screws. He had a previous experience with subarachnoid block using the landmark-guided technique, but it was very difficult due to severe kyphosis. However, we could easily determine the correct needle insertion point using ultrasound imaging and performed a successful dural puncture on the first attempt. This case demonstrates the clinical usefulness of ultrasound imaging for subarachnoid blocks in patients with severe kyphosis.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.13-29
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• 2022

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, characterized by excessive accumulation of fat in the liver, is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. The current standard for the detection of hepatic steatosis is liver biopsy; however, it is limited by invasiveness and sampling errors. Accordingly, MR spectroscopy and proton density fat fraction obtained with MRI have been accepted as non-invasive modalities for quantifying hepatic steatosis. Recently, various quantitative ultrasonography techniques have been developed and validated for the quantification of hepatic steatosis. These techniques measure various acoustic parameters, including attenuation coefficient, backscatter coefficient and speckle statistics, speed of sound, and shear wave elastography metrics. In this article, we introduce several representative quantitative ultrasonography techniques and their diagnostic value for the detection of hepatic steatosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권14호
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• pp.5799-5804
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• 2014

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is the most widely used and studied method internationally for the local treatment of liver tumors. However, the extension of coagulation necrosis in one RFA procedure is limited and incomplete coverage of the damaged area can lead to a high local recurrence rate. Objective: In this study, we compared the effects of different solutions in enhancing hepatic radiofrequency by establishing a rabbit VX2 liver cancer model. We also determined the optimal solution to maximise effects on the extent of RFA-induced coagulation necrosis. Methods: Thirty VX2 tumor rabbits were randomly assigned to five groups: group A, RFA alone; group B, RFA with anhydrous ethanol injection; group C, RFA with 5% hypertonic saline injection; group D, RFA with lidocaine injection; and group E, RFA with a mixed solution. Routine ultrasound examinations and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) of the ablation areas were performed after RFA. Then, we measured the major axis and transverse diameter and compared the areas of coagulation necrosis induced by RFA. Results: The mean ablation area range increased in groups B, C and especially E, and the scopes were greater compared with group A. Preoperative application of anhydrous ethanol, hypertonic saline, lidocaine and the mixed solution (groups B, C, D and E, respectively) resulted in larger coagulation necrosis areas than in group A (p<0.05). Among the groups, the coagulation necrosis areas in group E was largest, and the difference was statistically significant compared with other groups (p<0.05). Pathological findings were consistent with imaging results. Conclusions: A mixture of dehydrated alcohol, hypertonic saline and lidocaine injected with RFA increases the extent of coagulation necrosis in the liver with a single application, and the mixed solution is more effective than any other injection alone.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.66-78
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• 2009

A mobile ultrasound scanner developed for use in point-of-care applications is introduced, which can not only provide ultrasound images but can also measure various bio-signals. The mobile ultrasound scanner is also designed to meet the demanding requirements for point-of-care diagnosis, such as battery-powered operation, portability in terms of size and weigh, and real-time wireless communications capability for remote diagnosis. To meet these requirements, an efficient beamforming method for high resolution imaging with a small number of active elements, a hardware efficient beamformer architecture, and echo processing algorithms with greatly reduced computational complexity have been developed. Experimental results show that the prototype mobile ultrasound scanner is fully functional and satisfies most of the design requirements.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.55-59
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate image quality using intensity profile, coefficient of variation (COV), and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) with respect to noise reduction techniques in the ultrasound images. For that purpose, we compared with the median filter, Rudin-Osher-Fatemi (ROF), Anscombe and proposed patch group prior based denoising (PGPD) techniques. To evaluate image quality, the Shepp-Logan phantom and the ultrasound image were acquired using simulation and experiment, respectively. According to the results, the difference of intensity profile using PGPD technique is lowest compared with original Shepp-Logan phantom. In simulation, the measured COV was 0.249, 0.198, 0.198, 0.177, and 0.080 using noisy, median, ROF, Anscombe and PGPD technique, respectively. Also, in experimental image, the measured COV was 0.245, 0.230, 0.231, 0.242 and 0.187 using noisy, median, ROF, Anscombe and PGPD technique, respectively. Especially, when we used PGPD technique, the PSNR has highest value in both simulation and experiment. In this study, we performed simulation and experiment study to compare various denoising techniques in the ultrasound image. We can expect the PGPD technique to improve in medical diagnosis with excellent noise reduction.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.85-92
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• 1984

A new architecture of the Digital Scan Converter (DSC) for the linear-scan ultrasound medical imaging systems is proposed and its hardware implementation is reported. While the conventional DSC merely displays the acquisited data and does nor allow access to the frame memory, it is possible, in the new system, to access to the frame memory for further imaging processing so as to obtain useful information for medical diagnosis. Image processing can be performed either by a special pupose processor, or by VAX 11/780. The system is made to operate asyncronously to increase the frame rate with tags assigned to the data. The proposed DSC was designed to be used without much modification for the sector scan system as well.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.47-52
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• 2016

Objective: This study surveyed the perceptions of physical therapists on muscle re-education through visual feedback obtained from rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI). Design: Survey. Methods: For this study, 500 physical therapists who participated in a refresher training held by the Seoul City Association in March 2015 were selected for a questionnaire-based survey. Subjects were randomly selected targets physiotherapists who participated in a refresher training.The questionnaire had 21 items in total. Questions 1 to 15 could be answered by everyone. However, questions 16 to 21 could be answered only by people who used RUSI. Results: The majority of respondents were aged 20 to 30 years. Respondents in their twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties accounted for 32.4%, 40.2%, 21.9%, and 5.6%respectively. Therapists with careers spanning one to 5 years accounted for 27.8%, while those with careers spanning 5 to 10 years and 10 to 15 years accounted for 34.6% and 17.0%, respectively. Those with careers over 20 years accounted for 9.2%. The types of work have not been various including work related to the nervous system (49.0%), the musculoskeletal system (41.5%), sports (0.7%), juvenile physical therapy (4.2%), and others (4.6%). Conclusions: In this study, we examined the perceptions of physical therapists on rehabilitation ultrasound imaging used in muscle re-education. We also examined how to use this technique. Many therapists who participated in the refresher training were found to be unaware of RUSI. In the future, further investigations on RUSI for muscle re-education are required through refresher training or training lectures at the national level.

• 전자공학회논문지
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• 제51권12호
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• pp.66-71
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• 2014

본 논문에서는 초음파 의료 영상 시스템을 위한 아날로그 front-end 집적회로를 $0.18-{\mu}m$ 표준 CMOS 반도체 공정을 이용하여 설계하였다. 제안 된 front-end 회로는 2.6 MHz에서 15-V 고전압 펄스 신호를 생성하는 송신부와 고전압 차단 스위치 및 저전력 저잡음 증폭기에 해당하는 수신부를 모두 포함하고 있으며, 동작 모드에 따라서 송신부의 출력 드라이버를 수신단의 스위치 회로로 재구성이 가능하도록 설계를 하여 기존 front-end 회로와 비교하였을 때 한 채널 당 70% 이상의 칩 면적을 줄일 수 있다. 설계 된 단일 채널 front-end회로는 $0.045mm^2$ 이하의 작은 칩 면적을 차지함으로써 다중 어레이 방식의 초음파 의료 영상 시스템에 적용 시 작은 면적으로 구현이 가능하다.