• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제29권8호
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• pp.483-488
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• 2016

Ultrasound imaging by using piezoelectric materials, such as lead zirconium titanate (PZT) has been one of the most preferred modes of imaging in the medical field due to its simple, low cost and non-ionizing radiation in comparison to other imaging techniques. Recently, the market demand for portable ultrasound is becoming larger with applications in developing countries, disaster area, military, and emergency purposes. However, most of ultrasound probes used is bulky and high power consumable, so unsuitable for such applications. In this study, the 3 layered ceramic specimen consisted of 128 pitches of $420{\mu}m$ in width and $450{\mu}m$ in thickness were prepared by using the Ti-rich PZT compositions co-fired at $1,050^{\circ}C$. Their electrical and ultrasound pulse-echo properties were investigated and compared to the single layer specimen. The 3 layered ultrasound probe showed 1.584 V of Vp-p, which is 3.2 times higher than single layered one, implying that it would allow effectively such a portable ultrasound probe system. The result were discussed in terms of higher capacitance, lower impedance and higher dielectric coefficient of the 3 layered ultrasound probe.

• 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.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.28-34
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• 2014

Recently, ultrasound therapy has become a new and effective treatment for many brain diseases. Therefore, skull-mimicking phantoms have been developed to simulate the skull and brain tissue of a human and allow further research into ultrasound therapy. In this study, the suitability of various skull-mimicking materials(HDPE, POM C, Acrylic) for studies of brain-tumor treatments was evaluated using focused ultrasound. The acoustic properties of three synthetic resins were measured. The skull-mimicking materials were then combined with an egg white phantom to observe the differences in the ultrasound beam distortion according to the type of material. High-intensity polyethylene was found to be suitable as a skull-mimicking phantom because it had acoustic properties and a denatured-area shape that was close to those of the skull,. In this study, a skull-mimicking phantom with a multi-layer structure was produced after evaluating several skull-mimicking materials. This made it possible to predict the denaturation in a skull in relation to focused ultrasound. The development of a therapeutic protocol for a range of brain diseases will be useful in the future.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.135-149
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• 2022

Purpose: To assess clinically significant imaging findings of malignant intramammary lymph nodes (IMLNs) in breast cancer patients and to evaluate their diagnostic performance in predicting malignant IMLN. Materials and Methods: A total of 110 cases with IMLN of BI-RADS category 3 or more, not typical benign IMLN, in MR of breast cancer patients between January 2016 and January 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. After excluding 33 cases, 77 cases were finally included. Among them, 58 and 19 were confirmed as benign and malignant, respectively. Qualitative and quantitative MR imaging features of the IMLN were retrospectively analyzed. Sizes and final assessment categories of IMLN on MRI, mammography, and ultrasound were reviewed. Diagnostic performances of imaging features on MRI, mammography, and ultrasound were then evaluated. Results: For qualitative MR features, shape, margin, and preserved central hilum were significantly different between benign and malignant groups (P < 0.05). For quantitative MR features, long diameter over 6 mm, short diameter over 4 mm, and cortical thickening over 3 mm showed high sensitivities in predicting malignant IMLNs (89.5%, 94.7%, and 100%, respectively). Size exceeding 1 cm showed high specificity and accuracy in predicting malignant IMLN on MR, mammography, and ultrasound (91.4% and 80.5%; 96.6% and 79.25; 98.3% and 80.5%, respectively). Conclusion: Various MR imaging features and size can be helpful for predicting malignant IMLN in breast cancer patients.

• 한국산학기술학회논문지
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.880-890
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• 2010

뇌졸중 등의 혈관 질병을 진단하기 위해서 혈관 내 초음파(Intravascular Ultrasound:IVUS)영상 기법이 사용되고 있다. 최근에는 혈관 내벽에 붙은 혈전을 탄성 영상법을 이용하여 진단하는 방법들이 연구되고 있다. 그러나 혈관 내 초음파는 혈관 내에 트랜스듀서를 삽입하여야 하므로 진단 방법에 위험성이 있다. 본 논문은 선형 트랜스듀서를 이용하여 혈관 외부에서 데이터를 획득하여 혈관 내벽에 붙은 혈전의 변형률 영상을 얻었다. 혈관 벽의 움직임을 정확하게 측정하기 위하여, 혈관 벽과 수직이 되도록 주사선의 방향을 조향하면서 초음파 데이터를 획득하였다. 초음파 데이터는 기저대역의 복소수 신호로 복조한 뒤 자기상관(autocorrelation)을 이용하여 혈관 벽의 움직임을 계산하여 변형률 영상을 얻었다. 제안한 방법을 플라스틱 기반의 혈관 모사 팬텀을 제작하여 검증하였다. 혈관 모사 팬텀은 혈관에 해당하는 직경 6mm의 실린더 공간에 물을 채우고 벽을 따라 2mm 두께의 부드러운 혈전을 혈관 벽의 내부에 배치하였다. RF 데이터는 상용 초음파 진단기에서 7.5MHz 선형 트랜스듀서를 사용하여 -40도부터 40도까지 1도 간격으로 조향시킨 81개의 스캔라인 데이터를 얻었다. 실험 결과 단단한 배경 팬텀에 인접한 혈전 영역이 더 무른 것으로 관찰되었다. 제안한 방법의 탄성 영상법이 비록 주사선이 혈관 벽에 수직으로 입사하는 영역으로 제한되지만 혈관 변형률 영상법의 유용함을 실험으로 입증하였다.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.23-29
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• 2005

Molecular imaging with targeted contrast agents enables tissues to be distinguished by detecting specific cell-surface receptors. In the present study, a ligand-targeted acoustic nanoparticle system is used to identify angioplasty-induced expression of tissue factor by smooth muscle cell within carotid arteries. Pig carotid arteries were overstretched with balloon catheters, treated with tissue factor-targeted or a control nanoparticle system, and imaged with intravascular ultrasound before and after treatment. Tissue factor-targeted emulsion bound and increased the echogenicity and gray-scale levels of overstretched smooth muscle cell within the tunica media, versus no change in contralateral control arteries. Expression of stretch-induced tissue factor in carotid artery media was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The potential for abnormal thrombogenicity of balloon-injured arteries, as reflected by smooth muscle expression of tissue factor, was imaged using a novel, targeted, nanoparticulate ultrasonic contrast agent.

• 전자공학회논문지B
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• 제32B권1호
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• pp.110-119
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• 1995

The lateral resolution in an ultrasound imaging system is one of the most important factors for quality of the image and is determined by the beam focusing. For the better lateral resolution SDF(Sampled Delay Focusing) capable of digital focusing was proposed. The second-order sampling, one of band-width sampling methods, is suggested as being the best suitable for SDF because it allows total digital processing and is simple and economical. By proving that it introduces too much error, this article shows the second-order sampling is not appropriate for sampling of the wide-band signal generally used in ultrasound imaging systems. Also, this article suggests new sampling methods that maintain the advantages and reduce the unavoidable errors of the second-order sampling method. From computer simulation it is expected that the proposed methods reduce the errors of the second-order sampling method and can be used in real applications.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.321-330
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• 2001

In this paper, we propose a new synthetic aperture focusing scheme for improving the lateral resolution which is one of the most important factors determining the quality of ultrasound imaging. The proposed scheme enables full round-trip dynamic focusing with approximately limited property. This properties are obtained through transmitting plane waves of which the traveling angle varies with the receive subaperture position, as opposed to stepping the spherical wave source across an array in other synthetic aperture focusing schemes, and employing dynamic focusing in receive. In this paper, the properties of the proposed scheme is analyzed in which a hypothetical infinite line source is used to transmit the plane waves and verified through computer simulation results. Also, we show that the proposed scheme is realizable with an array transducer with a finite aperture size. In summary, it is shown through comparison between the field contours of the proposed scheme and the conventional scheme that the proposed scheme can improve greatly the lateral resolution of ultrasound imaging.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• 제29권1E호
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• pp.11-27
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• 2010

Nowadays, ultrasound Doppler imaging is widely used in assessing cardiovascular functions in the human body. However, a major drawback of ultrasonic Doppler methods is that they can provide information on blood flow velocity along the ultrasound beam propagation direction only. Thus, the blood flow velocity is estimated differently depending on the angle between the ultrasound beam and the flow direction. In order to overcome this limitation, there have been many researches devoted to estimating both axial and lateral velocities. The purpose of this article is to survey various two-dimensional velocity estimation methods in the context of Doppler imaging. Some velocity vector estimation methods can also be applied to determine tissue motion as required in elastography. The discussion is mainly concerned with the case of estimating a two-dimensional in-plane velocity vector involving the axial and lateral directions.

• 비파괴검사학회지
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• 제34권6호
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• pp.441-446
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• 2014

A 3D ultrasound image is desired in many medical examinations. However, the implementation of a 2D array, which is needed for a 3D image, is challenging with respect to fabrication, interconnection and cabling. A 2D sparse array, which needs fewer elements than a dense array, is a realistic way to achieve 3D images. Because the number of ways the elements can be placed in an array is extremely large, a method for optimizing the array configuration is needed. Previous research placed the target point far from the transducer array, making it impossible to optimize the array in the operating range. In our study, we focused on optimizing a 2D sparse array transducer for 3D imaging by using a simulated annealing method. We compared the far-field optimization method with the near-field optimization method by analyzing a point-spread function (PSF). The resolution of the optimized sparse array is comparable to that of the dense array.