• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.215-223
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• 2016

Purpose: The management of metal-induced field inhomogeneities is one of the major concerns of distortion-free magnetic resonance images near metallic implants. The recently proposed method called "Slice Encoding for Metal Artifact Correction (SEMAC)" is an effective spin echo pulse sequence of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) near metallic implants. However, as SEMAC uses the noisy resolved data elements, SEMAC images can have a major problem for improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without compromising the correction of metal artifacts. To address that issue, this paper presents a novel reconstruction technique for providing an improvement of the SNR in SEMAC images without sacrificing the correction of metal artifacts. Materials and Methods: Low-rank approximation in each coil image is first performed to suppress the noise in the slice direction, because the signal is highly correlated between SEMAC-encoded slices. Secondly, SEMAC images are reconstructed by the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE), also known as Gauss-Markov or weighted least squares. Noise levels and correlation in the receiver channels are considered for the sake of SNR optimization. To this end, since distorted excitation profiles are sparse, $l_1$ minimization performs well in recovering the sparse distorted excitation profiles and the sparse modeling of our approach offers excellent correction of metal-induced distortions. Results: Three images reconstructed using SEMAC, SEMAC with the conventional two-step noise reduction, and the proposed image denoising for metal MRI exploiting sparsity and low rank approximation algorithm were compared. The proposed algorithm outperformed two methods and produced 119% SNR better than SEMAC and 89% SNR better than SEMAC with the conventional two-step noise reduction. Conclusion: We successfully demonstrated that the proposed, novel algorithm for SEMAC, if compared with conventional de-noising methods, substantially improves SNR and reduces artifacts.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.70-74
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• 2019

Cerebral air embolism (CAE) is a rare complication of various medical procedures. It manifests with symptoms similar to those of typical acute cerebral infarction, however the treatment is quite different. We present a case of arterial CAE that was associated with a disconnected central venous catheter and appeared as punctate dark signal intensities with aliasing artifacts on the susceptibility-weighted filtered phase magnetic resonance image. The susceptibility-weighted filtered phase image can be helpful for diagnosing CAE and the magnetic resonance imaging reflects the pathophysiology of CAE.

• 한국컴퓨터정보학회논문지
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• 제21권12호
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• pp.11-18
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• 2016

Magnetic resonance image (MRI) is widely used in brain research field and medical image. Especially, non-invasive brain activation acquired image technique, which is functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) is used in brain study. In this study, we investigate brain activation occurred by LED light stimulation. For investigate of brain activation in experimental small animal, we used high magnetic field 9.4T MRI. Experimental small animal is Balb/c mouse, method of fMRI is using echo planar image (EPI). EPI method spend more less time than any other MRI method. For this reason, however, EPI data has low contrast. Due to the low contrast, image pre-processing is very hard and inaccuracy. In this study, we planned the study protocol, which is called block design in fMRI research field. The block designed has 8 LED light stimulation session and 8 rest session. All block is consist of 6 EPI images and acquired 1 slice of EPI image is 16 second. During the light session, we occurred LED light stimulation for 1 minutes 36 seconds. During the rest session, we do not occurred light stimulation and remain the light off state for 1 minutes 36 seconds. This session repeat the all over the EPI scan time, so the total spend time of EPI scan has almost 26 minutes. After acquired EPI data, we performed the analysis of this image data. In this study, we analysis of EPI data using statistical parametric map (SPM) software and performed image pre-processing such as realignment, co-registration, normalization, smoothing of EPI data. The pre-processing of fMRI data have to segmented using this software. However this method has 3 different method which is Gaussian nonparametric, warped modulate, and tissue probability map. In this study we performed the this 3 different method and compared how they can change the result of fMRI analysis results. The result of this study show that LED light stimulation was activate superior colliculus region in mouse brain. And the most higher activated value of segmentation method was using tissue probability map. this study may help to improve brain activation study using EPI and SPM analysis.

• 대한방사선기술학회지:방사선기술과학
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.327-333
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• 2021

Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) uses strong magnetic field to image the cross-section of human body and has excellent image quality with no risk of radiation exposure. Because of above-mentioned advantages, MRI has been widely used in clinical fields. However, the noise generated in MRI degrades the quality of medical images and has a negative effect on quick and accurate diagnosis. In particular, examining a object with a detailed structure such as brain, image quality degradation becomes a problem for diagnosis. Therefore, in this study, we acquired T2 weighted 3D data of multiple sclerosis disease using BrainWeb simulation program, and used quantitative evaluation factors to find appropriate slice thickness among 1, 3, 5, and 7 mm. Coefficient of variation and contrast to noise ratio were calculated to evaluate the noise level, and root mean square error and peak signal to noise ratio were used to evaluate the similarity with the reference image. As a result, the noise level decreased as the slice thickness increased, while the similarity decreased after 5 mm. In conclusion, as the slice thickness increases, the noise is reduced and the image quality is improved. However, since the edge signal is lost due to overlapped signal, it is considered that selecting appropriate slice thickness is necessary.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.101-107
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• 2000

Objectives : The evaluation of peripheral nerve injuries has traditionally relied on a clinical history, physical examination, and electrodiagnostic studies. The purpose of the present study was to examine serial magnetic resonance image(MRI) changes following acute muscle denervation under experimental conditions and to identify potential advantages and disadvantages of this use of MRI. Methods : An experimental transection of right sciatic nerve on Spargue-Dawley rats was performed. MRI was performed with T1-weighted spin-echo and STIR sequences. The imaging findings were compared with EMG in order to determine its sensitivity relative to this standard procedure. A simultaneous histopathological study provided information about the morphological basis of the imaging findings. Signal intensities were expressed as a ratio of abnormal to normal. Results : The signal intensity ratio of muscles with the STIR sequence was increased significantly at 2 weeks after sciatic nerve transection(p<0.05), although definite signal change was seen as early as 4 days postdenervation in one. EMG revealed significant denervation potential from 3 days after nerve transection. Diffuse cell atrophy was revealed hostologically at 2 weeks after transection, which was at the same time of significant signal change in MRI. Conclusion : MRI signal changes in denervated muscles secondary to nerve injury correlate with the degree of muscle atrophy on histologic examination. In addition to EMG, MRI can document the course of muscle atrophy and mesenchymal abnormalities in denervation. These results indicate that MRI can play a complementary role in the evaluation of patients with denervation.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.181-184
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• 2016

Short inversion time inversion recovery (STIR) is widely used for spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because the pulse sequence of STIR is insensitive to magnetic field inhomogeneity and can be used to scan a large field of view. In this case report, we present a case of spinal epidural hematoma with unexpected signal decrease on a STIR image. The MRI showed an epidural mass that appeared with high signal intensity on both T1- and T2-weighted images. However, a signal decrease was encountered on the STIR image. This nonspecific decrease of signal in tissue with a short T1 relaxation time that is similar to that of fat (i.e., hemorrhage) could lead to a diagnostic pitfall; one could falsely diagnose this decrease of signal as fat instead of hemorrhage. Awareness of the nonselective signal suppression achieved with STIR pulse sequences may avert an erroneous diagnosis in image interpretation.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.302-307
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• 2015

The purpose of the study was to identify how isotope and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast media impact on noise to computed tomography (CT) examination. For the study, divide the phantoms to two groups: 1) saline, saline + different kinds of contrast agent without $^{99m}Tc$ administration; 2) $^{99m}Tc$ administration: saline, saline + different kinds of contrast agent with $^{99m}Tc$ administration. CT contrast agent was used for Iopamidol$^{(R)}$ and Dotarem. And MRI contrast agent was used for Primovist$^{(R)}$ and Gadovist$^{(R)}$. To obtain an image, we used CT scanner. With an obtained image, we set the $1cm^2$ region of interest in the middle of bottle to measure the noise and CT number. As a result, there was no difference in CT number before and after inserting $^{99m}Tc$ into all contrast media including Normal Saline. However, when it comes to Noise, there was a difference before and after inserting $^{99m}Tc$ into every contrast media except MRI contrast media such as Primovist$^{(R)}$ and Gadovist$^{(R)}$.

• 한국자기공명학회논문지
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.25-36
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• 2003

The performance of radio frequency (RF) coils, used in MRI units, is determined by the image uniformity and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Birdcage and surface coils are commonly used. A birdcage coil provides a good image uniformity while a surface coil produces a high SNR. In this study, therefore, a staircase coil was designed from a standard version of a birdcage coil, with some structural changes to increase SNR while maintaining image uniformity. In phantom experiments, the improvement of the image to uniformity and the SNR increase of the staircase coil compared with the values for the birdcage coil were about 3.5% and 35%, respectively. In clinical experiment, the SNR increase of the staircase coil, compared with the value for the birdcage coil was about 40% in bone, muscle and blood-vessel tissues. These results show that the performance of the staircase coil was very improved over the standard birdcage coil in terms of SNR, and that image uniformity was maintained. Therefore, the staircase coil designed by this study should be useful in experimental and clinical l.5T MRI systems, and this coil offers an alternative method of quadrature detection.

• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.189-193
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• 2020

An MR-based attenuation correction (MRAC) map plays an important role in quantitative positron emission tomography (PET) image evaluation in PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. However, the MRAC map is affected by the magnetic field inhomogeneity of MRIs. This study aims to evaluate the characteristics of MRAC maps of physical phantoms on PET/MRI images. Phantom measurements were performed using the Siemens Biograph mMR. The modular type physical phantoms that provide assembly versatility for phantom construction were scanned in a four-channel Body Matrix coil. The MRAC map was generated using the two-point Dixon-based segmentation method for whole-body imaging. The modular phantoms were scanned in compact and non-compact assembly configurations. In addition, the phantoms were scanned repeatedly to generate MRAC maps. The acquired MRAC maps show differently assigned values for void areas. An incorrect assignment of a void area was shown on a locally compact space between phantoms. The assigned MRAC values were distorted using a wide field-of-view (FOV). The MRAC values also differed after repeated scans. However, the erroneous MRAC values appeared outside of phantom, except for a large FOV. The MRAC map of the phantom was affected by phantom configuration and the number of scans. A quantitative study using a phantom in a PET/MRI system should be performed after evaluation of the MRAC map characteristics.

• 대한디지털의료영상학회논문지
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.55-58
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• 2011

It is important to study using experimental animals for research about stroke. Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) is avaluable diagnosticmethods for stroke diagnosis. The purpose of this research is to know the Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) and histopathological characteristics findings after induction of photothrombotic cerebral infarction in rat brain. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized, Rose Bengal dye(20 mg/kg) was intravenously injected. The right sensonrimotor cortex of rat brain was exposed to cold light of 7 mm diameter at a position of 1 mm anterior and 3.5 mm lateral to bregma for 20 min. The post-infarction effects were monitored by T1 weighted and T2 weighted images of brain MRI. Histopathological changes were observed after Hematoxylin & Eosin staining. The lesion appeared clearly high signal intensity area on T2 weighted images(the major axis $7.04{\pm}0.11$ mm, the minor axis $3.08{\pm}0.04$ mm) and also H&E staining was same result. In conclusion, MRI was avaluable diagnostic methods for diagnosis and serial changes of stroke.