• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.316-324
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• 2004

Purpose : In radiotherapy of tumors in liver, enough planning target volume (PTV) margins are necessary to compensate breathing-related movement of tumor volumes. To overcome the problems, this study aims to obtain patients' body movements by using a moving phantom and an ultrasonic sensor, and to develop respiration sating techniques that can adjust patients' beds by using reversed values of the data obtained. Materials and Methods : The phantom made to measure patients' body movements is composed of a microprocessor (BS II, 20 MHz, 8K Byte), a sensor (Ultra-Sonic, range $3\~3$ m), host computer (RS232C) and stepping motor (torque 2.3 Kg) etc., and the program to control and operate it was developed. The program allows the phantom to move within the maximum range of 2 cm, its movements and corrections to take place In order, and x, y and z to move successively. After the moving phantom was adjusted by entering random movement data (three dimensional data form with distance of 2 cm), and the phantom movements were acquired using the ultra sonic sensor, the two data were compared and analyzed. And then, after the movements by respiration were acquired by using guinea pigs, the real-time respiration gating techniques were drawn by operating the phantom with the reversed values of the data. Results : The result of analyzing the acquisition-correction delay time the three types of data values and about each value separately shows that the data values coincided with one another within $1\%$ and that the acquisition-correction delay time was obtained real-time $(2.34{\times}10^{-4}sec)$. Conclusion : This study successfully confirms the clinic application possibility of respiration gating techniques by using a moving phantom and an ultrasonic sensor. With ongoing development of additional analysis system, which can be used in real-time set-up reproducibility analysis, it may be beneficially used in radiotherapy of moving tumors.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.275-280
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• 1994

In the case of the image reconstruction from unknown projection data such as imaging the object with opaque obstructions, conventional reconstruction algorithms may reconstruct a degraded image. In this paper, a new method for the estimation of the unknown projection data based on known projection data and the bandwidth of projection data is proposed. The proposed method successfully estimates the unknown projection data through iterative transformation between projection space and frequency space using the known projection data and the bandwidth of the projection data. Computer simulation shows that the proposed method significantly improves image quality and convergence behavior over conventional algorithms. In addition, the proposed method is successfully applied to ultrasound attenuation CT using a sponge phantom.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 1982

The objective of this phantom study is to develop a digital method for improving the lateral resolution of B-scan ultrasonographic images irs medical application of ultrasound. By utilizing a discrete state-space modeling approach and Kalman-Buch method for analysis of the transducer's beam profile and the measurement and sampling noise, a stable recursive restoration of the object image was obtained for improved lateral resolution. The point spread function (PSF) was measured for the reflective signals after scanning the small pins located along the depth of interest. One major advantage of the present recursive scheme over the transform method is in its applicability for the space-variant imaging, such as in the case of the rotational movement of transducer.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.5-12
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• 1989

In the clinical application of ultrasonic hyperthermia, selective heating of tumor is essential and thus precise control of ultrasonic intensity in both tumor and normal tissue is needed. In this paper, a hexagonal array transducer for ultrasonic hyperthermia is designed and manufactured of which focal point and focal region can be ocntrolled by the digital phase control circuit proposed by authors. Profiles of the focussed ultrasound beam in water and those of temperature in phantom were determined. The experimental and computed results are in good agreement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.957-964
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• 2023

This study focused on hand sanitizer as a medium that can replace ultrasonic gel, which is vulnerable to contamination by bacteria that reside on the hand. Hand sanitizer produces a strong sterilization effect from germs resident on the hands through different sterilization principles depending on the ingredients. Select products of gel type, cream type, and foam type, except for liquid type with low viscosity, and ultrasonically apply one 62% ethanol gel type and one cream type, one benzalkonium chloride 0.066% cream type and one foam type, respectively. Using ATS-539 as a medium, image evaluation was performed on the axial and lateral resolution and penetration depth, and the presence or absence of an air layer between the probe and the phantom. As a result, in the evaluation of the axial and lateral resolution and the depth of penetration, all four experimental groups met the evaluation criteria. However, in the case of the foam type, although it was suitable for the evaluation criteria of resolution and penetration depth, dark shadows appeared on both sides except for the center of observation during image evaluation. Through this experiment, it was possible to confirm the possibility that the remaining three types of hand sanitizers except the foam type could replace the ultrasonic gel.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.128-133
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• 2015

This paper describes the construction of a static 3D ultrasonography image by tracking the radiation beam position during the handy operation of a 1D array probe to enable point-of-care use. The theoretical model of the transformation from the translational and rotational information of the sensor mounted on the probe to the reference Cartesian coordinate system was given. The signal amplification and serial communication interface module was made using a commercially available sensor. A test phantom was also made using silicone putty in a donut shape. During the movement of the hand-held probe, B-mode movie and sensor signals were recorded. B-mode images were periodically selected from the movie, and the gray levels of the pixels for each image were converted to the gray levels of 3D voxels. 3D and 2D images of arbitrary cross-section of the B-mode type were also constructed from the voxel data, and agreed well with the shape of the test phantom.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2002

Synthetic zinc wave employs Pulsed plane wave as transmit beam with linear time delay curve. The received echoes in different transmit directions at different transmit times are superposed at imaging Points with Proper time delay compensation using synthetic focusing scheme. This scheme. which uses full aperture in transmit, obtains a high SNR image, and also features high lateral resolution by using two way dynamic focusing at all imaging depths. In this Paper, we consider the Problems in realization of synthetic zinc wave. Also. we have applied the scheme to obtain phantom and in-vivo images using a linear array of 5 MHz. In phantom test. experimental images show high resolution over a more extended imaging depth than conventional fixed Point transmit and receive dynamic focusing schemes In-vivo images show that the resolution could not overcome conventional focusing systems because of motion blurring and(or) aberration of tissue. but the frame rate tan be increased by a factor of more than 5 compared to conventional focusing schemes. with competitive resolution at all imaging depths .

• Ultrasonography
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to establish the methodology regarding synthesis of ultrasound contrast agent imaging, and to evaluate the characteristics of the synthesized ultrasound contrast agents, including size or degradation interval and image quality. Materials and Methods: The ultrasound contrast agent, composed of liposome and SF6, was synthesized from the mixture solution of $21{\mu}mol$ DPPC (1, 2-Dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, $C_{40}H_{80}NO_8P$), $9{\mu}mol$ cholesterol, $1.9{\mu}mol$ of DCP (Dihexadecylphosphate, $[CH_3(CH_2)_{15}O]_2P(O)OH$), and chloroform. After evaporation in a warm water bath and drying during a period of 12-24 hours, the contrast agent was synthesized by the sonication process by addition of buffer and SF6 gas. The size of the contrast agent was controlled by use of either extruder or sonication methods. After synthesis of contrast agents, analysis of the size distribution of the bubbles was performed using dynamic light scattering measurement methods. The degradation curve was also evaluated by changes in the number of contrast agents via light microscopy immediate, 12 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours, 48 hours, 60 hours, 72 hours, and 84 hours after synthesis. For evaluation of the role as an US contrast agent, the echogenicity of the synthesized microbubble was compared with commercially available microbubbles (SonoVue, Bracco, Milan, Italy) using a clinical ultrasound machine and phantom. Results: The contrast agents were synthesized successfully using an evaporation-drying-sonication method. The majority of bubbles showed a mean size of 154.2 nanometers, and they showed marked degradation 24 hours after synthesis. ANOVA test revealed a significant difference among SonoVue, synthesized contrast agent, and saline (p < 0.001). Although no significant difference was observed between SonoVue and the synthesized contrast agent, difference in echogenicity was observed between synthesized contrast agent and saline (p < 0.01). Conclusion: We could synthesize ultrasound contrast agents using an evaporation-drying-sonication method. On the basis of these results, many prospective types of research, such as anticancer drug delivery, gene delivery, including siRNA or microRNA, targeted molecular imaging, and targeted therapy can be performed.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.239-248
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• 2011

In order to improve the quality of strain images in medical ultrasound imaging, displacements need to be accurately estimated. In this paper, in order to apply one-dimensional displacement estimation methods to two-dimensional motion estimation, the axial and lateral displacements are separately estimated. In order to estimate lateral displacements, one-dimensional signals aligned in the lateral direction are converted to analytic signals, which are then crosscorrelated. Strain images are produced by first compensating two-dimensional displacements for lateral motion with lateral motion displacement estimates obtained from the proposed lateral displacement estimation algorithm and then estimating axial displacements. Both phantom and human data experiments show that the proposed method provides better signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio characteristics than a conventional strain imaging method that utilizes axial displacement estimates only.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.377-384
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• 2009

The ultrasonic hyperthermia for oncology has been developed and studied. The HIFU(high intensity focused ultrasound) is the most recent method to treat the tumor by using ultrasound. In this study, an insertion-type transducer for treating a prostate cancer, which can focus the ultrasonic beam mechanically and electrically, was designed and developed. The developed transducer was composed of three arrays, and each array has 32 elements. For the purpose of the mechanical focusing, both side arrays are slanted to the center array by $15^{\circ}$. With this structure, NFL(near field length) was set up as 30 mm. The PZT-4 and two matching layers were used, and the backing layer was excepted to prevent energy losses. The acoustic field analysis and the heating test were performed to evaluate the performance of developed transducer. The shape of an acoustic field, peak pressure, and acoustic pressure distribution were compared with numerical simulation. The NFL was 32 mm, the beam width was 5 mm, focal area was $40\;mm^2$, and peak pressure was 5.5 MPa. With heating by using developed transducer, the temperature increased up to $33^{\circ}C$ at focal zone. As a result of this study, the usefulness of suggested transducer for prostate cancer hyperthermia was confirmed by the acoustic field analysis and the heating test with TMM(tissue mimicking) phantom.