• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 1998

The correction of image artifacts due to misadjustment in tuning of RF coils (tip angle) and in the RF single sideband spectrometer was investigated using phase cycling of the $\pi$/2 and $\pi$ pulses in spin-echo sequences. A general procedure was developed for the systematic design of phase cycles that select desirable coherence transfer pathways. To analyze a phase cycling sequence, changes in the coherence level and phase factor for each RF pulse in the spin-echo cycle must be determined. Four different phase cycling schemes (FIXED, ALTERNATE, FORWARD, REVERSED) to suppress unwanted signal components such as mirror and ghost images were evaluated using two signal acquisitions. When the receiver phase factor is cycled counter-clockwise (REVERSED), these artifacts are completely removed.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07g
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• pp.2809-2811
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• 1999

In this paper, we develope an algorithm to calculate field inhomogeneity in MR imaging using a dual fast spin echo pulse sequence. Because phase modulation time can be easily modified with this pulse sequence, high resolution image can be obtained and acquisition time can be reduced compared to gradient echo technique. In the case of phase wrapping in field map, phase corrected using image processing technique. We assume the field pattern to be second order polynomial and apply Pseudo-Inverse equation to calculate second order polynomial coefficients. These coefficients can be used for the shimming of the magnetic field.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.281-285
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• 2016

The purpose of study was to evaluate SNR and CNR with different contrast agent contents (1.0 mmol/mL gadobutrol and 0.5 mmol/mL gadoterate meglumine) for spin echo (SE) and 3-dimension contrast-enhanced fast field echo (3D CE-FFE) pulse sequences. In this study, we compared the SNR and the CNR between 0.5 mmol/mL gadoterate meglumine and 1.0 mmol/mL gadobutrol according to the concentration of contrast agent in brain MRI. When we compared between SE and 3D CE-FFE pulse sequences, the higher SNR and CNR using 3D CE-FFE pulse sequence can be acquire regardless of contrast agent contents. Also, a statistically significant difference was found for SNR and CNR between all protocols. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the SNR and CNR have not risen proportionately with contrast agent contents. We hope that these results presented in this paper will contribute to decide contrast agent contents for brain MRI.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.57-61
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• 2012

To compare the accuracy of breath-hold magnetic resonance imaging sequences to establish the most effective superparamagnetic iron oxide-enhanced sequence for detection of hepatic metastases. A total of 100 patients(50men and 50women, mean age: 60years) with liver disease(including malignant and benign liver lesions) were investigated at 3.0T machine (GE, General Electric Medical System, Excite HD) with 8Ch body coil. Pulse sequence for MR imaging decided to the FS-T2-FSE-RT(TR/TE/Thick./Freq./Phase=12857ms/100ms/7mm/512/384), MGRE(TR/TE/Thick./Freq./Phase=100ms/9.7ms/7mm/384/288), in-out of phase echo(TR/$TE_1$, $TE_2$/Thick./Freq./Phase=140ms/2.4, 5.8ms/7mm/352/300), Images obtained before the injection of SPIO. Six sequences were optimized for lesion detection: FS-T2-FSE-RT, multigradient recalled echo data image(MGRE), T2-weighted MGRE with an 9.7msec echo time. Images were reviewed independently by five blinded observers. The accuracy of each sequence was measured by using picture archiving communication system analysis. All results were correlated with findings at multidectator computed tomography examination. Differences between the mean results of the six observers were measured by using paired student t-test analysis. Postcontrast T2-weighted MGRE sequences were the most accurate and were significantly superior to postcontrast FS-T2-FSE-RT, T2-weighted MGRE, in-out of phase MR sequences(p < .05). For all lesions that were malignant or smaller than 1 cm, respectively, contrast to noise ratio of pre and postcontrast sequences were -1and -0.3 for T2-weighted FSE, 0.53 and 4.5 in-out of phase, 7, 7.08, 5.08, 3.32, 1.7, 1.16, 0.79, 0.68 for GRE with 2.9, 7.5, 12.1, 16.6, 21.2, 25.8, 30.4, 35.0 TE values. Breath-hold various TE precontrast sequences offer improvement in sensitivity compared with fixed multigradient recalled echo sequences alone.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1992 no.05
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• pp.92-97
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• 1992

The pulsatile nature of blood flow makes artefacts in 2D Fourier transform image. Spatial presaturation is known to be effective in eliminating flow artefacts when the spin echo acquisition is employed. However. this method requires additional RF pulse and spoiling gradient for presaturation. In this paper a new flow saturation technique which does not require additional saturation-RF and gradient is proposed. The proposed technique is equivalent to the existing saturation technique but the elimination of the flow component is achieved by a pair of tailored $90^{\circ}-180^{\circ}$ RF pulses in tile spin echo sequence. By use of two tailored RF pulses with opposite phase polarity, a linear phase gradient is generated for those moving materials and consequently all the spins of moving materials become dephased thereby no signal is observable. Computer simulations and experimental results obtained using both a phantom and a human volunteer with a 2.0 T whole body system are also presented.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.341-342
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• 2007

3T MRI system에서 고해상도 영상을 얻기 위해서는 magnetic field를 균일하게 만들어야 한다. 특히 초고속 영상 기법인 Spiral scan 방식과 EPI scan 방식에서는 이미지 영역에서의 magnetic field의 inhomogeneity에 의해 영상의 왜곡이 심해진다. 본 논문에서는 magnetic field의 inhomogeneity를 단시간 내에 측정하기 위해 fast spin echo방식의 pulse sequence 제안하고, magnetic field를 분석하기 위한 field map의 구성과, field pattern의 효과적인 분석을 통하여, magnetic field를 균일하게 만드는 방법을 제안한다.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.44-47
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• 2012

The substantial improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be achieved with small-size samples or low-field MRI system by high-temperature superconducting(HTS) RF coil. The typical HTS RF coil made of HTS thin film is expensive and is limited the coil geometry to planar surface coil. In this study, commercial Bi-2223 HTS tapes was used as RF coil for a 0.35T permanent MRI system. It has advantages of both much lower cost and easier fabrication over HTS thin film coil. SNR gain of the image obtained from the HTS RF coil over a conventional Cu RF coil at room temperature was about 2.4-fold and 1.9-fold using the spin echo pulse sequence and gradient echo pulse sequence respectively.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2013

Purpose : To evaluate and compare the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) for detection and estimation of invasion depth of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) by correlation with histopathologic findings in vitro, and to find out the best MR pulse sequence for accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue. Materials and Methods: Resected specimens of CRC from 45 patients were examined about tumor detectability and invasion depth of US using high frequency (5-17 MHz) linear transducer in a tube filled with normal saline and MRI in a 8-channel quadrate head coil. The institutional review board approved this study and informed consent was waived. MRI with seven pulse sequences of in- and out-of-phases gradient echo T1 weighted images, fast spin echo T2 weighted image and its fat suppression image, fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (FIESTA) and its fat suppression image, and diffusion weighted image (DWI) were performed. In each case, both imaging findings of MRI and US were evaluated independently for detection and estimation of invasion depth of tumor by consensus of two radiologists and were compared about diagnostic accuracy according to the histopathologic findings as reference standard. Seven MR pulse sequences were evaluated on the point of accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue in each specimen. Results: In specimens of CRC, both imaging modalities of MRI (91.1%) and US (86.7%) showed relatively high diagnostic accuracy to detect tumor and evaluate invasion depth of tumor. In early CRC, diagnostic accuracy of US was 87.5% and that of MRI was 75.0%. There was no statistically significant difference between two imaging modalities (p > 0.05). The best pulse sequence among seven MR sequences for accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue in each specimen of CRC was fast spin echo T2 weighted image. Conclusion: MRI and US show relatively high diagnostic accuracy to detect tumor and evaluate invasion depth of resected specimen of CRC. The most excellent pulse sequence of MRI for accurate delineation of tumor from surrounding normal tissue in CRC is fast spin echo T2 weighted image.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.42-51
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• 2000

Purpose: Projection-type Fast Spin Echo (PFSE) imaging is robust to patient motion or flow related artifact compared to conventional Fast Spin Echo (FSE) imaging, however, it has difficulty in controlling $T_2$ contrast. In this paper, Tz contrast in the PFSE method is analyzed and compared with those of the FSE method with various effective echo times by computer simulation. The contrasts in the FSE and PFSE methods are also compared by experiments with volunteers. From the analysis and simulation, it is shown that ${T_2}-weighted$ images can well be obtained by the PFSE method proposed. Materials and methods: Pulse sequence for the PFSE method is implemented at a 1.0 Tesla whole body MRI system and $T_2$ contrasts in the PFSE and FSE methods are analyzed by computer simulation and experiment with volunteers. For the simulation, a mathematical phantom composed of various $T_2$ values is devised and $T_2$ contrast in the reconstructed image by the PFSE is compared to those by the FSE method with various effective echo times. Multi-slice ${T_2}-weighted$ head images of the volunteers obtained by the PFSE method are also shown in comparison with those by the FSE method at a 1.0 Tesla whole body MRI system. Results: From the analysis, $T_2$ contrast by the PFSE method appears similar to those by the FSE method with the effective echo time in a range of SO-lOOms. Using a mathematical phantom, contrast in the PFSE image appears close to that by the FSE method with the effective echo time of 96ms. From experiment with volunteers, multi-slice $T_2-weighted$ images are obtained by the PFSE method having contrast similar to that of the FSE method with the effective echo time of 96ms. Reconstructed images by the PFSE method show less motion related artifact compared to those by the FSE method. Conclusion: The projection-type FSE imaging acquires multiple radial lines with different angles in polar coordinate in k space using multiple spin echoes. The PFSE method is robust to patient motion or flow, however, it has difficulty in controlling $T_2$ contrast compared to the FSE method. In this paper, it is shown that the PFSE method provides good $T_2$ contrast (${T_2}-weighted$ images) similar to the FSE method by both computer simulation and experiments with volunteers.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.311-315
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• 2004

The detection of lymph node metastasis is an important step in tumor staging and is significant for therapy planning. It has been challenged to yield an appropriate image with diagnostic methods such as Magnetic Resonance (MR) and Computed Tomography (CT). Though CT has been used widely and accessed easily to show internal organs, it can hardly provide difference between lymph node and adjacent vessel or fat tissue. It has been well established that MR can reveal the subtle discrepancy within soft tissue. This study investigated the suitability of MR lymph node imaging without contrast enhancement by comparison of T1-weighted image (T1WI) and T2- weighted image (T2WI) in ten normal rabbits. According to the pulse sequence optimized from preliminary study, T1-weighted spin-echo (repetition time/echo time=400/12 ms) and T-2 weighted fast spin-echo (repetition time/echo time=3500/84 ms) images covering the hind limbs and pelvic region were acquired at 1.5 T. Two radiologists scrupulously evaluated the MR images in consensus. And signal intensity of lymph nodes was compared with that of adjacent fat. Statistical analysis showed that T1-weighted coronal image visualized the lymph nodes (iliac, superficial inguinal and popliteal lymph nodes) quickly and consistently rather than T2-weighted one. Conclusively, T1WI for evaluation of lymph nodes is moderately better than T2WI and appears to have potential for quick and sufficient mapping of the lymph nodes. In addition, this normal MR image of lymph nodes could be applied to further study for the evaluation of lymphatic system in abscess and tumor bearing animal model.