• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.117-121
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• 1993

The pyriformis syndrome is an entrapment neuropathy in which the sciatic nerve is compromised by the pyriformis muscle. Using local anesthetics and steroid injection through a needle guided by an electric nerve stimulator, we satisfactorily treated a case of pyriformis syndrome.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.514-517
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• 2008

Ubiquitous healthcare (U-healthcare) system is one of potential applications of embedded system. Conventional U-healthcare systems are used in health monitoring or chronic disease care based on measuring and transmission of various vital signs. However, future U-healthcare system can be of benefit to more people such as stroke patients which have limited activity by providing them proper medical care as well as continuous monitoring. Recently, an electric brain stimulation treatments have been found to be a better way compared to conventional ones and many are interested in using the method toward the treatment of stroke. In this study, we proposed a remote medical treatment system using ZigBee-based wireless electric brain stimulator that can help them to get a treatment without visiting their doctors. The developed remote medical treatment system connects the doctors to the brain stimulator implanted in the patients via the internet and ZigBee communication built in the brain stimulator. Also, the system receive personal information of the connected patients and cumulate the total records of electric stimulation therapy in a database. Doctors can easily access the information for better treatment planning with the help of graphical visualization tools and management software. The developed remote medical treatment system can extend their coverage to outdoors being networked with hand-held devices through ZigBee.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.156-160
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• 2005

Background: Frozen shoulder is not an uncommon disease, which is associated with chronic pain and joint movement limitation. However, there are numerous devices to assist in the treatment of shoulder pain, but their efficacy has not been proven and their use remains immensely controversial. Therefore, a randomized clinical study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a low-frequency stimulator for the treatment of frozen shoulder. Methods: A randomized clinical trial was carried out on 40 patients with frozen shoulder, with 40 patients assigned to two groups; a control treatment group (group C, n = 20) and a low frequency stimulator application group (group T, n = 20). Both groups were given a routine treatment modality, such as trigger point injection, intramuscular stimulation or suprascapular nerve block etc. The level of the shoulder pain was evaluated using a 100mm VAS (visual analog scale) at each visit, with the limitation in the range of motion simultaneously evaluated. Results: All the subjects improved after treatment, with the VAS scores after termination of treatment showed a statistically significant reduction (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups. One month after termination of 5 cycles of treatment, group T maintained their improved state, whereas the pain in some of those in group C reemerged, which also showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). The limitation in the range of motion improved, with most subjects able to resume daily activity. Conclusions: Although the low frequency stimulation provided no more pain relief than routine treatment, the effect was significantly prolonged. From this result, low frequency stimulation can be considered to aide the therapeutic effect of classical frozen shoulder therapy.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.657-664
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• 2007

Stroke patients need regular medical treatments and rehabilitation training from their doctors. However, severe aftereffects caused by stroke allow them minimum activities, which make it difficult for them to visit doctor. Recently, electric brain stimulation treatment has been found to be better way compared to conventional ones and many are interested in using this method for the treatment of stroke. In this study, we have developed a remote medical treatment system using wireless electric brain stimulator that can help the stroke patients to get a treatment without visiting their doctors. The developed remote medical treatment system connects the doctors to the brain stimulator implanted in the patients via the internet and ZigBee communication built in the brain stimulator. Also, the system receives personal information of the connected patients and cumulates the total records of electric stimulation therapy in a database. Doctors can easily access the information for better treatment planning with the help of graphical visualization tools and management software. The developed remote medical treatment system can be applied to the electric stimulation treatments for other brain diseases with a minor change.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.289-296
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• 2009

In this study, I presented power control unit with potential use in the magnetic stimulation of biological systems. The effect of the magnetic stimulation depends on the geometry and orientation of the induced electric field as well as on the current pulse waveform delivered by the stimulator coil. TMS is achieved from the outside of the head using pulses of electromagnetic field that induce an electric field in the brain. There are numerous possibities in the applications TMS, such as diagnosis and therapy through the brain stimulation. These factors are very important to define the equipment requirements and characteristics in that the topology of the power supply and the size and geometry of the coil. The proposed solution is the generation of current pulses with variable amplitude and duration, according to a user defined input. Another solution is the topology that uses elements to store and transfer energy from the power source to the load. In addition to proposed topology, an adequate control strategy and right set of the power circuit parameters made possible to obtain unipolar waves and bipolar waves.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.71-74
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• 2010

Purpose: Nowadays spinal cord stimulator is frequently used for the patients diagnosed as complex regional pain syndrome. The lead is placed above the spinal cord and connected to the stimulation generator, which is mostly placed in the subcutaneous layer of the abdomen. When the complication occurs in the generator inserted site, such as infection or generator exposure, replacement of the new generator to another site or pocket of the abdomen would be the classical choice. The objective of our study is to present our experience of the effective replacement of the existing stimulation generator from subcutaneous layer to another layer in same site after the wound infection at inexpensive cost and avoidance of new scar formation. Methods: A 50-year-old man who was diagnosed as complex regional pain syndrome after traffic accident received spinal cord stimulator, Synergy$^{(R)}$ (Medtronic, Minneapolis, USA) insertion 1 month ago by anesthetist. The patient was referred to our department for wound infection management. The patient was presented with erythema, swelling, thick discharge and wound disruption in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. After surgical debridement of the capsule, the existing generator replacement beneath the anterior layer of rectus sheath was performed after sterilization by alcohol. Results: Patient's postoperative course was uneventful without any complication and had no evidence of infection for 3 months follow-up period. Conclusion: Replacement of existing spinal cord stimulation generator after sterilization between the anterior layer of rectus sheath and rectus abdominis muscle in the abdomen will be an alternative treatment in wound infection of stimulator generator.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.114-118
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• 1997

Purpose: Functional MR imaging is the method of demonstrating changes in regional cerebral blood flow produced by sensory, motor, and any other tasks. Functional MR of visual cortex is performed as a patient stares a photic stimulation, so adaptable photic stimulation is necessary. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the size of photic stimulator can affect the degree of visual cortex activation. Materials and Methods: Functional MR imaging was performed in 5 volunteers with normal visual acuity. Photic stimulator was made by 39 light-emitting diodes on a plate, operating at 8Hz. The sizes of photic stimulator were full field, half field and focal central field. The MR imager was Siemens 1.5-T Magnetom Vision system, using standard head coil. Functional MRI utilized EPI sequence (TR/TE= 1.0/51. Omsec, matrix $No.=98{\times}128$, slice thickness=8mm) with 3sets of 6 imaging during stimulation and 6 imaging during rest, all 36 scannings were obtained. Activation images were obtained using postprocessing software(statistical analysis by Z-score), and these images were combined with T-1 weighted anatomical images. The activated signals were quantified by numbering the activated pixels, and activation a index was obtained by dividing the pixel number of each stimulator size with the sum of the pixel number of 3 study using 3 kinds of stimulators. The correlation between the activation index and the stimulator size was analysed. Results: Mean increase of signal intensities on the activation area using full field photic stimulator was about 9.6%. The activation index was greatest on full field, second on half field and smallest on focal central field in 4. The index of half field was greater than that of full field in 1. The ranges of activation index were full field 43-73%(mean 55%), half field 22-40 %(mean 32%), and focal central field 5-24%(mean 13%). Conclusion: The degree of visual cortex activation increases with the size of photic stimulator.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.703-710
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• 2010

In this study, a tactile stimulator was developed to resolve some problems from the previous version of the system such as system configuration, inappropriate stimulation control and additional problems. The developed tactile stimulator consists of control unit, drive unit and vibrator unit. The control unit was controlled by E-Prime software to generate appropriate vibration pulses. The drive unit supplies enough energy to the vibrator to generate effective stimulation pulses. The vibrator unit consists of small coin type vibrator and velcro, and was made to be attached at the hand easily. The developed tactile stimulator was designed by small-size, light-weight, low-power, simple-fabrication, max 35 channels and little delay time from instruction signal of E-Prime software to vibrator. The duration and magnitude of stimulation was controlled by 10 grades and the problems concerning stimulation control were compensated by wideband frequency ranges. Additionally, the electrical safety was ensured by low voltage operation. Vibrator was made to be attached on finger as well as on any part of the subject. Since this tactile stimulator is developed based on E-Prime software which is widely used in cognitive science, it is believed that this stimulator be suitable for the wide application of cognitive science study.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.4768-4772
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• 2012

To prevent electric shock accidents, an experience education is more effective than indoctrination education. But an electric shock experience education system required a proper physical stimulation on human body to experience electric shock. This paper experiment threshold values of a human body by using Interferential Current Type Low Frequency Stimulator in order to apply to an electric shock experience education system. And the proper stimulation values are calculated according to age (divided child and adult) and gender. Results of this study could be applied to an electric shock experience education system.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2013

We describe a neural stimulator front-end with arbitrary stimulation waveform generator and adaptive supply regulator (ASR) for visual prosthesis. Each pixel circuit generates arbitrary current waveform with 5 bit programmable amplitude. The ASR provides the internal supply voltage regulated to the minimum required voltage for stimulation. The prototype is implemented in $0.35{\mu}m$ CMOS with HV option and occupies $2.94mm^2$ including I/Os.