• 융합신호처리학회논문지
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.119-129
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• 2012

의료분야에서 조직의 경화는 진단 또는 질환의 진행상황의 파악에 이용되는 중요한 정보의 한 가지이며, 객관적인 진단을 위해서는 경화의 정량적 계측법이 중요하다. 경화의 지표인 점탄성 정수를 비침습적으로 계측하는 방법으로 MRE(Magnetic Resonance Elastography) 법이 제안되고 있다. MRE 법에서는 전파파(propagating wave)의 국소 파장과 국소 감쇠율로부터 점탄성 정수를 구하는데 MRE 화상은 S/N 비가 낮아지므로, 잡음의 영향을 감소시키기 위하여 다중 위상 MRE 화상을 이용한 방법이 검토되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 다중 위상 MRE 화상에 함수를 적용하여 점탄성 정수를 측정하는 방법을 제안한다. 제안 방법은 다중 위상 MRE 화상에 점탄성파를 적용시키지만, 점탄성 정수의 공간방향으로의 변화율이나 화상에 포함된 잡음에 따라 측정값의 공간분해능을 임의적으로 설정할 수 있다는 장점이 있다. 시뮬레이션 화상을 이용한 실험과 silicone-gel phantom을 이용한 실험에 의하여 제안된 방법의 유효성을 확인하였다.

• 대한자기공명의과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한자기공명의과학회 2007년도 MR연수강좌
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• pp.97-109
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• 2007

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.75-83
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• 2007

Elasticity is an important physical property of biological tissues. Differences in elasticity can help facilitate the diagnosis of tumors and their extent. Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) tries to visualize images of tissue elasticity by externally applying shear stress on the surface of an imaging object. Applied shear stress induces internal displacements that can be measured from MR phase images. In order to conduct MRE imaging experiments, we need to first develop a vibrator. We found that there does not exist enough technical information to design the MRE vibrator. In this paper, we describe the theory, design and construction of an MRE vibrator. We report the performance of the developed vibrator using two different test methods. We found that the vibrator successfully induces enough internal displacements that can be imaged using an MRI scanner. We suggest future studies of numerous MRE imaging experiments using the vibrator.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.215-223
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• 2013

목적: 간 섬유화를 평가하기 위한 MR elastography (MRE)의 경직도 (stiffness value)에 미치는 gadoxetic acid의 영향을 평가하고자 하였다. 대상과 방법: 임상적으로 만성 간 질환이 의심되어 자기공명영상을 촬영한 환자 중 조영제 (gadoxetic acid) 주입전과 후에 MRE를 촬영한 32명의 환자를 대상으로 하였다. 두 명의 영상의학과 의사가 간 실질의 경직도를 개별적으로 측정 하였다. 조영 전과 후의 평균 간경직도를 paired t-test를 사용하여 비교하였으며, 평가자내 및 평가자간 상관 관계는 intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)를 사용하여 분석 하였다. MRE의 F2 이상의 간섬유화 진단의 판별수치로 3.1 kPa을 이용하여 진단의 정확도, 민감도, 특이도를 구하였다. 결과: 조영 전과 후에 측정된 간 경직도의 평균값은 유의한 차이가 없었으며 (p > 0.05), 조영 전 후 모두에서 평가자 내 및 평가자간 우수한 상관 관계가 관찰되었다 (ICC = 0.988 for pre-contrast and ICC = 0.993 for post-contrast, ICC = 0.998 for rater 1 and ICC = 0.996 for rater 2). 간섬유화정도 F2 이상을 진단하는 MRE 의 정확도, 민감도, 특이도는 조영 전후 모두에서 각각 71%, 60%, 그리고 100%로 같은 값을 보였다. 결론: MRE를 이용한 gadoxetic acid 조영 전과 후에 측정된 간경직도는 유의한 차이를 보이지 않았기에 조영 후 MRE 영상도 간 섬유화 평가에 이용될 수 있다.

• 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.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.231-240
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• 2016

Purpose: To determine whether liver stiffness (LS) measured by magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) can predict the outcome of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 107 patients with Child-Pugh class A liver function who were treated with RFA for single HCC and who had undergone a gradient-echo MRE within 6 months before RFA were included. We evaluated the relationship between the LS values and the ablation volume, local tumor progression (LTP), and intrahepatic distant recurrence (IDR). We also constructed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to examine the role of LS in predicting liver function deterioration, which was defined as an increase of Child-Pugh score by one point or more at 1 year after RFA. Results: There was no significant correlation between LS and ablation volume, and neither time to LTP nor IDR was associated with LS. Among the 66 patients who did not have recurrence 1 year after RFA, 5 patients (7.6%) developed liver function deterioration. A high LS value was significantly associated with development of liver function deterioration after RFA and the area under the ROC curve was 0.764 (95% CI 0.598-0.929, P = 0.003). Conclusion: LS measured by MRE could not predict ablation volume and tumor recurrence. However, high LS values were significantly associated with development of liver function deterioration.

• 대한영상의학회지
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• 제82권6호
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• pp.1556-1564
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• 2021

목적 정상 대퇴 근육의 탄성도를 정량적으로 측정함에 있어 자기 공명 탄성 검사의 실현 가능성을 확인하고 정상 대퇴 근육의 탄성도를 측정한다. 대상과 방법 이 전향적 연구는 일상적인 보행에 지장이 없는 자원자를 대상으로 대퇴부의 T2 강조 축상 영상과 대퇴 근육의 자기 공명 탄성 검사를 시행하였고 최종적으로 10명의 피실험자가 포함되었다[평균 연령, 32.5세, (범위, 23~45세)]. 탄성 특성은 휴식 상태에서 각 대퇴 근육에서의 전단 탄성 계수를 정량적으로 다음 4개의 대퇴 근육에 대해 측정하였다; 내측넓은근, 외측넓은근, 대내전근, 대퇴이두근. 결과 대퇴 근육의 평균 전단 탄성 계수는 각각 두 명의 판독자에서 내측넓은근은 0.98 ± 0.32 kPa, 1.00 ± 0.33 kPa, 외측넓은근은 1.10 ± 0.46 kPa, 1.07 ± 0.43 kPa, 대내전근은 0.91 ± 0.41 kPa, 0.93 ± 0.47 kPa, 대퇴이두근은 0.99 ± 0.37 kPa, 0.94 ± 0.32 kPa으로 측정되었다. 성별에 따른 전단 탄성 계수의 차이는 유의미하지 않게 나타났다(p < 0.05). 내측넓은근(판독자 1; p = 0.194; 판독자 2; p = 0.355)을 제외한 나머지 대퇴 근육에서 연령은 각 근육의 전단 탄성 계수와 유의미하게 일관된 음의 상관관계를 보였다. 결론 자기 공명 탄성 검사는 개별적인 근육의 탄성 특성을 정량적으로 측정할 수 있는 유용한 검사이다. 내측넓은근을 제외한 대퇴 근육에서 나이는 근육의 전단 탄성계수와 통계학적으로 유의미한 일관된 음의 상관관계를 보였다.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.251-258
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• 2019

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of the use of spin-echo echo-planar imaging (SE-EPI) magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in livers of children and young adults. Materials and Methods: Patients (${\leq}20$ years old) who underwent 3T SE-EPI MRE were included retrospectively. Subjects were divided into three groups according to the purpose of the liver MRI: suspicion of fatty liver or focal fat deposition in the liver (FAT group), liver fibrosis after receiving a Kasai operation from biliary atresia (BA group), and hepatic iron deposition after receiving chemotherapy or transfusions (IRON group). Technical failure of MRE was defined when a stiffness map showed no pixel value with a confidence index higher than 95%, and the patients were divided as success and failure groups accordingly. Clinical findings including age, gender, weight, height, and body mass index and magnetic resonance imaging results including proton density fat fraction (PDFF), $T2^*$, and MRE values were assessed. Factors affecting failure of MRE were evaluated and the image quality in wave propagation image and stiffness map was evaluated using the appropriate scores. Results: Among total 240 patients (median 15 years, 211 patients in the FAT, 21 patients in the BA, and 8 patients in the IRON groups), technical failure was noted in six patients in the IRON group (6/8 patients, 75%), while there were no failures noted in the FAT and BA groups. These six patients had $T2^*$ values ranging from 0.9 to 3.8 ms. The image quality scores were not significantly different between the FAT and BA groups (P > 0.999), while the scores were significantly lower in the IRON group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The 3T SE-EPI MRE in children and young adults had a high technical success rate. The technical failure was occurred in children with decreased $T2^*$ value (${\leq}3.8ms$) from iron deposition.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• 제22권11호
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• pp.1886-1893
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• 2021

Objective: To assess the feasibility of quantitatively assessing pancreatic steatosis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its correlation with obesity and metabolic risk factors in pediatric patients. Materials and Methods: Pediatric patients (≤ 18 years) who underwent liver fat quantification MRI between January 2016 and June 2019 were retrospectively included and divided into the obesity and control groups. Pancreatic proton density fat fraction (P-PDFF) was measured as the average value for three circular regions of interest (ROIs) drawn in the pancreatic head, body, and tail. Age, weight, laboratory results, and mean liver MRI values including liver PDFF (L-PDFF), stiffness on MR elastography, and T2^* values were assessed for their correlation with P-PDFF using linear regression analysis. The associations between P-PDFF and metabolic risk factors, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), and dyslipidemia, were assessed using logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 172 patients (male:female = 125:47; mean ± standard deviation [SD], 13.2 ± 3.1 years) were included. The mean P-PDFF was significantly higher in the obesity group than in the control group (mean ± SD, 4.2 ± 2.5% vs. 3.4 ± 2.4%; p = 0.037). L-PDFF and liver stiffness values showed no significant correlation with P-PDFF (p = 0.235 and p = 0.567, respectively). P-PDFF was significantly associated with obesity (odds ratio 1.146, 95% confidence interval 1.006-1.307, p = 0.041), but there was no significant association with hypertension, DM, and dyslipidemia. Conclusion: MRI can be used to quantitatively measure pancreatic steatosis in children. P-PDFF is significantly associated with obesity in pediatric patients.