Search results for "phantom"
showing 10 items of 196 documents
Broadband Ultrahigh-Resolution Spectroscopy of Particle-Induced X Rays: Extending the Limits of Nondestructive Analysis
2016
Nondestructive analysis (NDA) based on x-ray emission is widely used, for example, in the semiconductor and concrete industries. Here, we demonstrate significant quantitative and qualitative improvements in broadband x-ray NDA by combining particle-induced emission with detection based on superconducting microcalorimeter arrays. We show that the technique offers great promise in the elemental analysis of thin-film and bulk samples, especially in the difficult cases where tens of different elements with nearly overlapping emission lines have to be identified down to trace concentrations. We demonstrate the efficiency and resolving capabilities by spectroscopy of several complex multielement …
K-nearest neighbor driving active contours to delineate biological tumor volumes
2019
Abstract An algorithm for tumor delineation in positron emission tomography (PET) is presented. Segmentation is achieved by a local active contour algorithm, integrated and optimized with the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) classification method, which takes advantage of the stratified k-fold cross-validation strategy. The proposed approach is evaluated considering the delineation of cancers located in different body districts (i.e. brain, head and neck, and lung), and considering different PET radioactive tracers. Data are pre-processed in order to be expressed in terms of standardized uptake value, the most widely used PET quantification index. The algorithm uses an initial, operator selected re…
Addressing the Occlusion Problem in Augmented Reality Environments with Phantom Hollow Objects
2018
Occlusion handling is essential to provide a seamless integration of virtual and real objects in AR applications. Different approaches have been presented with a variety of technologies, environment conditions and methods. Among these methods, 3D model-based occlusion approaches have been extensively used. However, these solutions could be too time-consuming in certain situations, since they must render all the occlusion objects even though they are invisible. For this reason, we propose an inverse 3D model-based solution for handling occlusions, designed for those AR applications in which virtual objects are placed inside a real object with holes or windows. With this restriction, the occl…
Synthesis, Stability and Relaxivity of TEEPO-Met: An Organic Radical as a Potential Tumour Targeting Contrast Agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
2018
Cancer is a widespread and life-threatening disease and its early-stage diagnosis is vital. One of the most effective, non-invasive tools in medical diagnostics is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the aid of contrast agents. Contrast agents that are currently in clinical use contain metals, causing some restrictions in their use. Also, these contrast agents are mainly non-specific without any tissue targeting capabilities. Subsequently, the interest has notably increased in the research of organic, metal-free contrast agents. This study presents a new, stable organic radical, TEEPO-Met, where a radical moiety 2,2,6,6-tetraethylpiperidinoxide (TEEPO) is attached to an amino acid, methio…
Factors affecting basket catheter detection of real and phantom rotors in the atria: A computational study
2018
[EN] Anatomically based procedures to ablate atrial fibrillation (AF) are often successful in terminating paroxysmal AF. However, the ability to terminate persistent AF remains disappointing. New mechanistic approaches use multiple-electrode basket catheter mapping to localize and target AF drivers in the form of rotors but significant concerns remain about their accuracy. We aimed to evaluate how electrode-endocardium distance, far-field sources and inter-electrode distance affect the accuracy of localizing rotors. Sustained rotor activation of the atria was simulated numerically and mapped using a virtual basket catheter with varying electrode densities placed at different positions withi…
253. An accurate and operator independent method for biological tumour volume segmentation
2018
Purpose The aim of this paper is to develop an operator independent method for biological tumour volume (BTV) delineation from Positron Emission Tomography (PET) images. BTV delineation is challenging because of the low spatial resolution and high noise level in PET images. In addition, BTV varies substantially depending on the method used to segment. Manual delineation is widely-used, but it is strongly user dependent. Methods The proposed method starts with the automatic identification of the PET slice with maximum Standardized Uptake Value (SUV). Then, a user- independent mask is obtained by a rough pre-segmentation step and it is used to perform the local active contour segmentation on …
Dynamic contrast-enhanced myocardial perfusion imaging using saturation-prepared TrueFISP.
2002
Purpose To develop and test a saturation-recovery TrueFISP (SR-TrueFISP) pulse sequence for first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging. Materials and Methods First-pass magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of Gd-DTPA (2 mL) kinetics in the heart was performed using an SR-TrueFISP pulse sequence (TR/TE/α = 2.6 msec/1.4 msec/55°) with saturation preparation TD = 30 msec before the TrueFISP readout. Measurements were also performed with a conventional saturation-recovery TurboFLASH (SRTF) pulse sequence for comparison. Results SR-TrueFISP images were of excellent quality and demonstrated contrast agent wash-in more clearly than SRTF images. The signal increase in myocardium was higher in SR-TrueFISP …
Comparison of three accelerated pulse sequences for semiquantitative myocardial perfusion imaging using sensitivity encoding incorporating temporal f…
2007
Purpose To investigate the parallel acquisition technique sensitivity encoding incorporating temporal filtering (TSENSE) with three saturation-recovery (SR) prepared pulse sequences (SR turbo fast low-angle shot [SR-TurboFLASH], SR true fast imaging with steady precession [SR-TrueFISP], and SR-prepared segmented echo-planar-imaging [SR-segEPI]) for semiquantitative first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging. Materials and Methods In blood- and tissue-equivalent phantoms the relationship between signal intensity (SI) and contrast-medium concentration was evaluated for the three pulse sequences. In volunteers, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and normalized upslopes (N…
Muscle kinematics during isometric contraction: Development of phase contrast and spin tag techniques to study healthy and atrophied muscles
2004
Purpose To develop and compare phase-contrast (PC) and spin-tag (ST) MR imaging techniques for accurate quantification of velocity and displacement distribution in the muscle tendon complex of the lower leg during isometric contractions under in vivo conditions, in healthy subjects and subjects with atrophy. Materials and Methods Techniques were developed to acquire PC and ST dynamic images, gated to the force exerted by a subject during isometric contraction. Algorithms were optimized for correction of phase shading errors. Flow velocity quantification was validated in phantoms and ex vivo rabbit muscles. Trajectories of pixels calculated from PC images were compared with those in ST image…
Quantification of Regional Intrapulmonary Oxygen Partial Pressure Evolution during Apnea by 3He MRI
1999
We present a new method to determine in vivo the temporal evolution of intrapulmonary oxygen concentrations by functional lung imaging with hyperpolarized (3)Helium ((3)He-->). Single-breath, single-bolus visualization of (3)He--> administered to the airspaces is used to analyze nuclear spin relaxation caused by the local oxygen partial pressure p(O(2))(t). We model the dynamics of hyperpolarization in the lung by rate equations. Based hereupon, a double acquisition technique is presented to separate depolarization by RF pulses and oxygen induced relaxation. It permits the determination of p(O(2)) with a high accuracy of up to 3% with simultaneous flip angle calibration using no additional …