• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.116-123
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• 2023

A high intensity focuses ultrasound (HIFU) is one of the emerging technologies in the biomedical field. The piezoelectric HIFU transducer is a device that utilizes the thermal energy generated by high ultrasound energy. Recently an operating frequency of the HIFU transducer is to expand above a 7 MHz. In this study, the acoustic pressures and temperature distributions in the tissue that generated by the HIFU transducer at 10 MHz were calculated with the finite element method. In addition, the pressure focusing characteristics of the device were analyzed. The geometrical variables are the piezomaterial thickness, lens shape, water height, and film thickness. The results shown that the acoustic pressure increased and saturated gradually when the height/radius (H_L/R_L) ratio of the lens increased. Moreover, the focal area was gradually decreases with H_L/R_L ratio of the lens. In case of the optimized HIFU transducer, the maximum pressure and temperature were analyzed about 19 MPa and 65℃ respectively. And the -3 dB focused distances in the axial and lateral direction are around 2.3 mm and 0.23 mm respectively.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.744-756
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• 2002

The transient acoustic fields formed by a 3.5 ㎒ curved linear array transducer which is commonly used in ultrasonic medical imaging system for diagnosis of abdomen are systematically analyzed to obtain new design parameters for the better acoustic image. In the analysis with an assumption of radiating waveform, element size, radius of curvature, amplitude apodization are considered as parameters giving constitutive relations with the fields. As simulation results, appropriate new parameters with the reduced curvature and elevation aperture and the apodization of Hamming window, which make an improved acoustic beam with lower side lobe levels than a conventional typical transducer, are obtained.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.760-768
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• 2004

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography in early pregnancy diagnosis in goats. Ultrasonographic scanning with real time B-mode ultrasound machine having 5 MHz linear array transducer was performed on gravid uterus (n=24) obtained from slaughterhouse (Group I). Crown rump length (CRL) measured by ultrasound was found significantly different (p<0.05) with actual CRL measured after dissection in early pregnancy. However, age predicted by ultrasound through the measurement of CRL was found highly correlated (r=0.92) with age measured after dissection through CRL and the weight of fetus. Ages predicted by ultrasound through the measurement of trunk diameter (TD) and uterine diameter (UD) and ages measured after dissection were found highly and equally correlated (r=0.98) and did not differ significantly. Data from six does synchronized (Group II) with PGF2$\alpha$ (Estrumate) at 11 days apart were collected through ultrasound from 17 to 42 days post breding. The correlation between CRL and gestational age was high (r=0.97) in day 30 to 42 post breeding. A high coefficient of correlation (r=0.98) was also observed between predicated age by ultrasound and actual age calculated after kidding. The correlation between CRL and gestational age by the formula Y=(a+bX) i.e. Y=24.42+0.39 X where Y=gestational age and X=CRL, was recorded very high (r=0.99). Accuracy of ultrasonography was lowest on day 17 to 19 (66%) and reached 100% on day 34. Data from 30 does (group III) randomly subjected to only one time ultrasounds scanning to assess the accuracy of pregnancy diagnosis were also obtained. Ages predicted by TD and UD measurements were observed to be non-significantly different with actual age obtained after kidding and correlation between ages predicted by TD and UD measurement with actual age after kidding was found equally and highly correlated (r=0.98). The operator's accuracy in the whole experiment including all three groups was found to be 92%. The sensitivity was 93% and specificity was 86%. From the present study, it was observed that CRL was the most reliable parameter to find out gestational age in early pregnancy and the new formula derived was found very accurate to find out gestational age. TD and UD were also found to be equally reliable parameter to find out gestational age in mid and late stage of pregnancy through ultrasonography. It was concluded that ultrasonography by real time B mode with 5 MHz transrectal transducer was found to be reliable, safe and accurate and practicable means in diagnosing early pregnancy diagnosis as early as 25 days post breeding.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.585-596
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• 2012

PVDF(poly vinylidene fluoride) and P(VDF-TrFE)(poly vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene) are the typical piezoelectric polymers with unique properties. Even they are inferior to conventional piezoelectric ceramics PZT in electromechanical conversion efficiency and interior loss, though they are superior in receiving sensitivity and frequency bandwidth. Their acoustic impedances are relatively close to water or biological tissue and it is easier to make thin film than other piezoelectric materials. Futhermore, the film is so flexible that it is easy to attach on a complex surface. Those properties are suitable for the ultrasound transducers which are useful for medical and biological application, so that various types of polymer transducers have been developed. In this paper, several important considerations for design and fabrication of piezoelectric polymer transducers were described and their effect on the transducer performance were demonstrated through the KLM model analysis. Then, it was briefly reviewed about the structures of the polymer transducers developed for obtaining images as well as the characteristics of the images in several important medical and biological application fields.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2009

Purpose : The purpose of this study is change of lumbar multifidus muslce recorded simultaneously by ultrasound imaging during upper extremity functional movement in chronic low back pain patients. The subject were consisted of 10 women patients with chronic low back pain and healthy asymptomatic subject 10 women. Methods : 10 women patients with chronic low back pain and healthy asymptomatic subject 10 women is voluntary participated for the research. Subjects were positioned in standing. Multifidus size were measured from L4 vertebral segement. The ultrasound imaging apparatus(Sonoace 6000, Medison, Korea) was epuipped with a 5-MHz convex array transducer. The upper extremity lifting movement used to activate the multifidus was then measured. Results : Results of the analysis showed that at the L4 vertebral leves, healthy asymptomatic subjects had significantly larger multifidus muscle compared with chronic LBP subjects. Conclusion : This study will be used as treatment method of patient with chronic LBP. The multifidus muscle in chronic LBP patients clinical significance. Most of chronic LBP patients have multifidus contraction pattern. Especially multifidus contraction in L4 vertebral segement. So chronic LBP patients necessary multifidus muscle release treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.292-300
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• 1993

Acoustical imaging has made brilliant progress in the medical science field, and has also made much progress in the nondestructive testing and under water acoustics applications since doctor Dussik brother has studied about possibilities of making images of brain by recording variations in the intensity of ultrasonic beam from head in 1937. In this paper an acoustical image is reconstructed with the power spectra analysed by impulse ultrasound wave generated by electrodynamic transducer(EDT). The EDT generates the impulse ultrasound of 77KHz in center frequency and 120KHz in bandwidth at -20dB by 1200V exciter in this experiment. The impulse ultrasound has the dominant frequency components of 47KHz, 177KHz, 110KHz and 155KHz. The U shape object is adopted in making an acoustical image. The resulted spectral acoustical images are different from the optical view of the U shape object. However the image reconstructed from 110KHz spectrum is very similar to the original optical shape of the object. Even KHz level impulse sound of 70$\mu$sec pulse width is found to be useful in reconstructing acoustical imaging improvement.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2020

Typically, photoacoustic images are obtained in water or gelatin because the impedance of these mediums is similar to that of the human body. However, these acoustic mediums can have an additional mass effect that changes the resonance frequency of the transducer. The acoustic radiation impedance in air is negligible because it is very small compared to that of the transducer. However, the high acoustic impedance of mediums such as the human body and water is quite large compared to that of air, making it difficult to ignore. Specifically, in a case where the equivalent mass is very small, such as with a micro-machined ultrasound transducer, the additional mass effects of the acoustic medium should be considered for an accurate resonance frequency design. In this study, a piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) was designed to have a resonance frequency of 10 MHz in the acoustic medium of water, which has similar impedance as the human body. At that time, the resonance frequency of the pMUT in air was calculated at 15.2 MHz. When measuring the center displacement of the manufactured pMUT using a laser vibrometer, the resonance frequencies were measured as 14.3-15.1 MHz, which is consistent with the finite element method (FEM) simulation results. Finally, photoacoustic images of human hair samples were successfully obtained using the fabricated pMUT.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.112-119
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• 2015

Photoacoustic microscopy is capable of providing high-resolution molecular images, and its spatial resolution is typically determined by ultrasonic transducers used to receive the photoacoustic signals. Therefore, ultrasonic transducers for photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) should have a high operating frequency, broad bandwidth, and high signal-reception efficiency. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a suitable material. To take full advantage of this material, the selection of the backing material is crucial, as it influences the center frequency and bandwidth of the transducer. Therefore, we experimentally determined the most suitable backing material among EPO-TEK 301, E-Solder 3022, and RTV. For this, three PVDF high-frequency single-element transducers were fabricated with each backing material. The center frequency and -6 dB bandwidth of each transducer were ascertained by a pulse-echo test. The spatial resolution of each transducer was examined using wire-target images. The experimental results indicated that EPO-TEK 301 is the most suitable backing material for a PAM transducer. This material provides the highest signal magnitude and a reasonable bandwidth because a large portion of the energy propagates toward the front medium, and the PVDF resonates in the half-wave mode.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.14 no.1_4
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• pp.11-23
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• 2007

This study was performed to evaluate the effects of low-intensity ultrasound application to the peripheral nerve injury animal model on enhancement of nerve regeneration and functional recovery. Using aseptic microsurgical techniques, the sciatic nerve of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats was crushed at the outside of right mid-thigh for 30 seconds with fine forceps. Beginning just after surgery, various continuous-wave ultrasound treatments with intensities of 0.2 W/$cm^2$, 0.5 W /$cm^2$ and 1.0 W /$cm^2$ operated at 1 MHz or sham treatment were applied to the opposite inside of the crush site for 1 minute every other day with a transducer moving speed of 2cm/sec. For evaluation of the progress of sciatic nerve regeneration, c-Fos expression in the lumbar spinal cord (L4-5) dorsal horn was investigated. c-fos expression was markedly increased at 1hour after sciatic nerve crush injury, then gradually decreased thereafter. The c-fos expressions were significantly decreased (p<0.05) in all the experimental groups in comparison with the control group until 3days post-crush, and the degrees of decrease were higher in 0.5 W/$cm^2$ and 1 W/$cm^2$ intensity ultrasound application groups. It is suggested that low-intensity ultrasound application to an animal model of sciatic crush injury may suppress pain transmission and promote nerve regeneration, and which may result in delayed progress of muscle atrophy and accelerated progress of muscle recovery and eventually may result in accelerated and improved foot function recovery.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.87-93
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• 2002

This study is to enhance drug penetration via skin and investigate anti-inflammation effect following adoption of ultrasound. For this goal gel containing triamcinolone was prepared and the skin penetration rate and the change effects of blood plasma ingredients and serum enzyme were investigated. Using Franz type diffusion cell and the skin of hairless mouse, the permeation enhancing effect of ultrasound was tested. After the injury by direct trauma, the blood test was performed by measuring WBC, lymphocyte, and neutrophyl, and by analyzing CPK and LDH. The ultrasound transducer whose technical specification is geometric area(GA) $1.4\;cm^2$, effective radiation area(ERA) $0.8\;cm^2$, and beam non-uniformity ratio(BNR) 6.0 max was used. The influence of frequency having an effect on skin permeation rate was higher in the case of using 1MHz and continuous treatment. The temperature of receptor phase was not influenced in skin permeation by phonophoresis. Skin permeation increase attended by intensity of ultrasound, the permeation of triamcinolone was accelerated at $2.5\;w/cm^2\;than\;1.0\;w/cm^2$. Following muscle injury phonophoretic group the number of WBC, neutrophil and lympholyte were decreased significantly as compared with both control group and ultrasound group. The result of variation of serum CPK and LDH activity conformed to the phonophoretic effect as same pattern with the variation of WBC, neutrophil and lymphocyte.