• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.70-72
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• 2007

In this study, electromagnetic fields emitted from the various environment in the hospital were measured. Measurement spot was patients' head. To monitor how much magnetic fields are emitting from operation room, monitoring device was attached to 19 anesthesiologist and monitoring lasted 8 hours. We also took a measurement from various medical devices. Devices include ESWL, PET, MRI, CT, Gamma knife, X-ray, Angiogram, Echocardiogram, Upper GI and Linear Accelerator. Electromagnetic fields were measured from 10 spots from each of 5 patient waiting room. As a results, there were no places showing risk of high exposure. All the measurement values were below the reference levels for general public exposure to time varying electric and magnetic fields which is issued by ICNIRP.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2004

Three workers, field operators in lubricating oil processing of petroleum refinery industry were found unconscious by other worker. One of them who were exposed to an high concentration of H2S was presented with Glasgow Coma Score of 5, severe hypoxemia on arterial blood gas analysis, normal chest radiography, and normal blood pressure. On hospital day 7, his mental state became clear, and neurologic examination showed quadriparesis, profound spasticity, increased tendon reflexes, abnormal Babinski response, and bradykinesia. He was also found to have decreased memory, attention deficits and blunted affect which suggest general cognitive dysfunction, which improved soon. MRI scan showed abnormal signals in both basal ganglia and motor cortex, compatible with clinical findings of motor dysfunction. Neuropsychologic testing showed deficits of cognitive functions. SPECT showed markedly decreased cortical perfusion in frontotemporoparietal area with deep white matter. Another case was recovered completely, but the other expired the next day.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.182-192
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• 2015

In this paper, we introduce how to change the reaction rate as mol concentration when we scan enhanced MRI with GBCA(Gadolinium Based Contrast Agent), Also show the changing patterns depending on diverse MRI sequences which are made by different physical principle. For this study, we made MRI phantom ourselves. We mixed 500 mmol Gadoteridol with Saline in each 28 different containers from 500 to 0 mmol. After that, MR phantom was scanned by physically different MRI sequences which are T1 SE, T2 FLAIR, T1 FLAIR, 3D FLASH, T1 3D SPACE and 3D SPCIR in 1.5T bore. The results were as follows : *T1 Spin echo's Total SI(Signal Intensity) was 15608.7, Max peak was 1352.6 in 1 mmol. *T2 FLAIR's Total SI was 9106.4, Max peak was 0.4 1721.6 in 1 mmol. *T1 FLAIR's Total SI was 20972.5, Max peak was 1604.9 in 1 mmol. *3D FLASH's Total SI was 20924.0, Max peak was 1425.7 in 40 mmol. *3D SPACE 1mm's Total SI was 6399.0, Max peak was 528.3 in 3 mmol. *3D SPACE 5mm's Total SI was 6276.5, Max peak was 514.6 in 2 mmol. *3D SPCIR's Total SI was 1778.8, Max peak was 383.8 in 0.4 mmol. In most sequences, High signal intensity was shown in diluted lower concentration rather than high concentration, And also graph's max peak and pattern had difference value according to the each different sequence. Through this paper which have quantitative result of GBCA's reaction rate depending on sequence, We expect that practical enhanced MR protocol can be performed in clinical field.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2011

SQUID sensor-based ultra low-field magnetic resonance apparatus with ${\mu}T$-level measurement field requires a strong prepolarization magnetic field ($B_p$) to magnetize its sample and obtain magnetic resonance signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio. This $B_p$ needs to be ramped down very quickly so that it does not interfere with signal acquisition which must take place before the sample magnetization relaxes off. A MOSFET switch-based $B_p$ coil driver has current ramp-down time ($t_{rd}$) that increases with $B_p$ current, which makes it unsuitable for driving high-field $B_p$ coil made of superconducting material. An energy cycling-type current driver has been developed for such a coil. This driver contains a storage capacitor inside a switch in IGBT-diode bridge configuration, which can manipulate how the capacitor is connected between the $B_p$ coil and its current source. The implemented circuit with 1.2 kV-tolerant devices was capable of driving 32 A current into a thick copper-wire solenoid $B_p$ coil with a 182 mm inner diameter, 0.23 H inductance, and 5.4 mT/A magnetic field-to-current ratio. The measured trd was 7.6 ms with a 160 ${\mu}F$ storage capacitor. trd was dependent only on the inductance of the coil and the capacitance of the driver capacitor. This driver is scalable to significantly higher current of superconducting $B_p$ coils without the $t_{rd}$ becoming unacceptably long with higher $B_p$ current.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2001

Purpose : $T_2$-weighted half courier Echo Planar Imaging (T2HEPI) method is proposed to reduce measurement time of existing EPI by a factor of 2. In addition, high $T_2$ contrast is obtained for clinical applications. High resolution single-shot EPI images with $T_2$ contrast are obtained with $128{\times}128$ matrix size by the proposed method. Materials and methods : In order to reduce measurement time in EPI, half courier space is measured, and rest of half courier data is obtained by conjugate symmetric filling. Thus high resolution single shot EPI image with $128{\times}128$ matrix size is obtained with 64 echoes. By the arrangement of phase encoding gradients, high $T_2$ weighted images are obtained. The acquired data in k-space are shifted if there exists residual gradient field due to eddy current along phase encoding gradient, which results in a serious problem in the reconstructed image. The residual field is estimated by the correlation coefficient between the echo signal for dc and the corresponding reference data acquired during the pre-scan. Once the residual gradient field is properly estimated, it can be removed by the adjustment of initial phase encoding gradient field between $70^{\circ}$ and $180^{\circ}$ rf pulses. Results : The suggested T2EPl is implemented in a 1.0 Tela whole body MRI system. Experiments are done with the effective echo times of 72ms and 96ms with single shot acquisitions. High resolution($128{\times}128$) volunteer head images with high $T_2$ contrast are obtained in a single scan by the proposed method. Conclusion : Using the half courier technique, higher resolution EPI images are obtained with matrix size of $128{\times}128$ in a single scan. Furthermore $T_2$ contrast is controlled by the effective echo time. Since the suggested method can be implemented by software alone (pulse sequence and corresponding tuning and reconstruction algorithms) without addition of special hardware, it can be widely used in existing MRI systems.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.891-898
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• 2000

Objective : It is difficult to differentiate intramedullary spinal cord tumors preoperatively from non-neoplastic pathologies in patients presenting as non-compressive myelopathies in magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). In this report, the authors reviewed nonneoplastic intramedullary spinal cord lesions preoperatively diagnosed as tumors and discussed their clinical and radiological characteristics and usefulness of surgical intervention. Methods : From January, 1985 to January, 1999, authors experienced eight non-neoplastic pathologies mimicking intramedullary spinal cord tumors and analysed their medical records, radiological findings and histopathological specimens retrospectively. Results : There were five males and three females and the duration of symptoms were from two to 20 months(mean, 9.8 months). The location of lesions were four cervical, one cervicothoracic and three thoracic. All patients manifested sensory abnormality, seven motor weakness, and six bladder symptom. All cases had swollen spinal cords and increased signal intensities in spin-echo sequences. Six cases showed contrast enhancement : four cases were focal and two diffuse. Under the impression of intramedullary tumors, the patients were operated upon. Final diagnoses on the base of clinical and pathologic finding were : three subacute necrotizing myelopathies, two multiple scleroses, two myelopathy of unknown etiology. One case showed no gross abnormality in surgical field in spite of adequate exposure of the lesion, so biopsy was not performed. In that case, postoperative MRI revealed spontaneous resolution of the lesion. Conclusion : MRI is invaluable diagnostic tool in screening myelopathies. However, its high sensitivity and lack of specificity make difficulty in preoperative differential diagnosis of non-compressive myelopathies. Although no surgical morbidity occurred in our series, we sometimes failed to confirm definite diagnosis even with biopsy. In such a circumstance, long-term follow up is needed.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.80-80
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• 2002

Purpose： Three tesla high field MR has been important to those disciplines that are SNR limited, such as MR spectroscopy. Additionally, increased spectral dispersion is critical for minimizing spectral overlap and simplifying resonance structures. The purpose of this study was to assess clinical proton MR spectroscopy (MRS) as a noninvasive method for evaluating brain tumor malignancy at 3T high field system Materials and Methods： Using 3T MRI/MRS system, localized water-suppressed single-voxel technique in patients with brain tumors was employed to evaluate spectra with peaks of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), choline-containing compounds (Cho), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) and lactate. On the basis of Cr, these peak areas were quantificated as a relative ratio.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.103-112
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• 2010

This study was done to provide basic data on the safety of professionals in medical imaging system by measuring the electromagnetic waves generated in the medical imaging system being used in medical organization. The studied medical imaging systems were general X-ray system, computed tomography(CT), ultrasonographic system, magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), PET-CT and fluoroscopic system, and through these devices, electric field and magnetic field were measured and analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the measured values classified by the medical organizations were not much significant, but in the measurement by the medical imaging systems, there were high hazard elements in the sequential order of electric field PET-CT($17.7{\pm}22.9$)v/m, CT($10.3{\pm}8.7$)v/m, general X-ray system ($8.8{\pm}8.8$)v/m, magnetic field general X-ray system($5.06{\pm}8.26$)mG, CT($2.71{\pm}4.53$)mG and PET-CT($0.74{\pm}0.34$)mG, the systems that adopted X-ray as main ray source, and the more aged the medical imaging systems, the greater the effects of electro-magnetic waves($10.6{\pm}15.93v/m$ for 5 years or more, $6.14{\pm}5.60v/m$ for 5 years or less). The effects of electromagnetic waves on medical imaging systems or facilities were not much when the notification of ministry of knowledge economy is considered, but in the overall perspective considering all the equipments and facility of the medical organization, such effects were significant. It is determined that sustainable safety managements of electric field and magnetic field must be done during process from medical imaging system installation to maintenance to rule out such factors.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.67-72
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• 2010

This study was done to provide basic data on the safety of professionals in medical imaging system by measuring the electromagnetic waves generated in the medical imaging system being used in medical organization. The studied medical imaging systems were general X-ray system, computed tomography(CT), ultrasonographic(USG) system, magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), PET-CT and fluoroscopic(R/F) system, and through these devices, electric field and magnetic field were measured and analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the measured values classified by the medical organizations were not much significant, but in the measurement by the medical imaging systems, there were high hazard elements in the sequential order of electric field PET-CT($17.7{\pm}22.9$)v/m, CT($10.3{\pm}8.7$)v/m, general X-ray system($8.8{\pm}8.8$)v/m, magnetic field general X-ray system($5.06{\pm}8.26$)mG, CT($2.71{\pm}4.53$)mG and PET-CT($0.74{\pm}0.34$)mG, the systems that adopted X-ray as main ray source, and the more aged the medical imaging systems, the greater the effects of electro-magnetic waves($10.6{\pm}15.93v/m$ for 5 years or more, $6.14{\pm}5.60v/m$ for 5 years or less). The effects of electromagnetic waves on medical imaging systems or facilities were not much when the notification of ministry of knowledge economy is considered, but in the overall perspective considering all the equipments and facility of the medical organization, such effects were significant. It is determined that sustainable safety managements of electric field and magnetic field must be done during process from medical imaging system installation to maintenance to rule out such factors.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.113-124
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• 2001

For veterinary imaging diagnosis, we obtained MR images of the canine brain, spine, kidney and pelvis from 3T MRI system which was equipped with the world first 3T active shield magnet. Spin echo (SE) and fast Spin Echo (FSE) images were obtained from the canine brain, spine, kidney and pelvis of normal and sick dogs using a homemade birdcage and transverse electromagnetic (TEM) resonators operating in quadrature and tuned to 128 MHz. In addition, we employed a homemade saddle shaped RF coil. Typical common acquisition parameters were as follows: matrix=512$\times$512, field of view (FOV)=20cm, slice thickness=3 w, number of excitations (NEX)=1. For T1-weighted MR images, we used TR=500 ms, TE=10 or 17.4 ms. For T2-weighted MR images, we used TR=4000 ms, TE=108 ms. Signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 3T system was measured 2.7 times greater than that of prevalent 1.57 system. The high resolution images acquired in this study represent more than a 4-fold increase in in-plane resolution relative to conventional images obtained with a 20 cm field of view and a 5 mm slice thickness. MR images obtained from 3T system revealed numerous small venous structures throughout the image plane and provided reasonable delineation between gray and white matter The present results demonstrate that the MR images from 3T system could provide better diagnostic quality of resolution and sensitivity than those of 1.5T system. The elevated SNR observed in the 3T high field magnetic resonance imaging can be utilized to acquire images with a level of resolution approaching the microscopic structural level under in vivo conditions. These images represent a significant advance in our ability to examine small anatomical features with noninvasive imaging methods. Moreover, MRI technique could begin to apply for veterinary medicine in Korea.