The present invention relates to a composition for removing noise from MRI and a pad using the same, in which the composition includes a compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding.
A common MRI contrast agent is injected into the human body by an invasive procedure to enhance a signal according to the resonance of the nucleus of a hydrogen atom in the body, and thus obtain a clearer image of the core part of the body. However, the injection of a contrast agent by an invasive procedure, for example, intravenous injection, causes mild symptoms that need no special treatment, such as vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, high blood pressure, headache, fever, chills, coughing, nasal congestion, etc., and also serious side effects such as dizziness, low blood pressure, bradycardia, systemic urticaria, angioedema, dyspnea, nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF), etc., and if there is a material affecting a magnetic field, such as a metal implant in the body, there is a limitation in that noise generated in an image is not removed.
In addition, the technique of removing noise due to a metal implant imbedded in the body, which is not able to be solved by a contrast agent, is mainly to estimate and compensate the defective part of the image using a computer algorithm, and this technique has problems of inaccuracy and insufficiently wide reproducible part. To solve the above-described problems, while much research is progressing to solve metal material noise and non-uniform distorted images, which are generated in the process of obtaining human body images, such that normal tissue and diseased tissue are more clearly distinguished using an MRI image (Korean Patent No. 10-1262479), there is less research on image enhancement technology that can improve both the limitation of image enhancement by software and the side effect of a contrast agent which is generated in the body. Particularly, no technology using a non-invasive composition, which is not injected into the body, in order to improve the above-described problems has been reported yet.
The inventors have intensively attempted to remove noise generated in MRI image acquisition by a non-invasive method different from a common contrast agent, thereby confirming that metal noise can be effectively removed by attaching a material including a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding to one region of a human body requiring diagnosis or by a method of covering the region with a pad including the material, and also confirming that the same effect can be obtained when the composition or pad of the present invention is attached to or inserted into an MRI coil.
Thus, the present invention was completed.
Therefore, to solve the above-described problems, the inventors have intensively attempted to remove noise when an MRI image is obtained, and thereby confirmed that noise caused by a metal material can be effectively removed and image quality can be improved by restoring noise in MRI images and phantom images using a material having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding. Thus, the present invention was completed.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to providing a composition for removing noise from an MRI image, which includes a compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding.
The present invention is also directed to providing a pad for removing noise from an MRI image using the composition.
The present invention is also directed to providing a coil for an MRI apparatus into which the composition is injected.
However, technical problems to be solved in the present invention are not limited to the above-described problems, and other problems which are not described herein will be fully understood by those of ordinary skill in the art from the following description.
One aspect of the present invention provides a composition for removing noise from an MRI image, which includes a compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding.
The composition may improve the quality of an MRI image, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In addition, the compound may be one or more selected from the group consisting of water (H2O), amyl alcohol (C5H11OH), butyl alcohol (CH3CH2CH2OH), ethanol (C2H5OH), methyl alcohol (CH3OH), ethylene glycol (OHCH2CH2OH), formaldehyde (HCHO), nitrobenzene (C6H5NO2), propylene glycol (OH(CH2)3OH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), acetic acid (CH3COOH), acetic anhydride (C4H(O3), butanoic acid (C3H7COOH), benzenesulfonic acid (C6H5SO3H), benzoic acid (C6H5COOH), chromic acid (H2CrO4), citric acid (C6H8O7H2O), hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF), fluoroboric acid (HBF4), formic acid (HCOOH), hydrochloric acid (HCl), hydrocyanic acid (HCN), hydrofluoric acid (HF), hypochlorous acid (HClO), lactic acid (CH3CHOHCOOH), maleic acid ((CHOOH)2), nitric acid (HNO3), oleic acid (C18H34O2), phosphoric acid (H3PO4), perchloric acid (HClO4), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), stearic acid (C17H35COOH), tnchloroacetic acid (CCl3COOH), ammonia (NH4OH), sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3), ammonium carbonate ((NH4)2CO3), ammonium chloride ((NH4)2Cl), ammonium nitride (NH4NO3), ammonium persulfate ((NH4)2S2O8), glycerin (C3H8O3), ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) and ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3), but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In addition, the water may be any one selected from the group consisting of light water, heavy water, tritiated water, and distilled water, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In addition, the compound having the hydrogen bond may be contained at 40 wt % or more with respect to the total weight of the composition, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In addition, the composition of the present invention may further include a material that can be used as a contrast agent to enhance an image, and the material that can be used as a contrast agent may be selected from the group consisting of gadoxetic acid disodium, calcium oxide, trometamol, sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, an injection solution, calteridol calcium, gadolinium oxide, calcium, meglumine, EOB DTPA, gadoteridol and a chelating agent, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In addition, the noise may be generated by a metal inserted into the body.
In addition, the composition of the present invention may be charged in a pad, and not only may the composition of the present invention be used as a pad for covering the body, but it may also be attached/detached to a main body coil, a shim coil, an RF coil, an array coil, a surface coil, a spine coil, a head coil, an extremity coil or a torso coil for an MRI apparatus.
In addition, the composition of the present invention may be used in the manner of being injected into a main body coil, a shim coil, an RF coil, an array coil, a surface coil, a spine coil, a head coil, an extremity coil or a torso coil for an MRI apparatus.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a pad for removing noise from an MRI image, which includes the composition for removing noise from an MRI image.
The pad may improve the quality of MRI images, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
The pad of the present invention may further include a cover accommodating the composition. The cover may be a vinyl cover, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In addition, the pad of the present invention may be a pad that can be transformed into a shape of the human body, for example, the head, limbs, spine or abdomen.
In addition, the pad of the present invention may be a pad capable of being attached/detached to a main body coil, a shim coil, an RF coil, an array coil, a surface coil, a spine coil, a head coil, an extremity coil or a torso coil for an MRI apparatus, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In addition, the pad may further include a filler, which may be a liquid gel form or a solid form. When the filler is a solid form, it may be a low-fluidic bead or powder type, or a combination of beads and a gel.
Still another aspect of the present invention provides a coil for an MRI apparatus into which the composition for removing noise from an MRI image is injected.
The coil for an MRI apparatus may be one or more types of coils selected from the group consisting of a main body coil, a shim coil, an RF coil, an array coil, a surface coil, a spine coil, a head coil, an extremity coil, and a torso coil, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a method of removing noise from an MRI image using the composition including the compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding.
Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a method of obtaining an MRI image reduced in noise, which includes: manufacturing a pad including a compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding; attaching the pad to a desired region of a subject; and obtaining an MRI image in the desired region using an MRI apparatus.
Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a use of the compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding for removing noise from an MRI image.
A compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding of the present invention has advantages of naturally generating a high signal through indirect energy exchange according to the magnetization of a hydrogen bond, and activating an image of tissue which is not properly embodied due to noise generated by a metal. A damaged tissue image due to a metallic material is theoretically impossible to reproduce and recover, but a pad according to the present invention makes capturing the defected image possible and thus the image defect problem can be fundamentally solved. According to imaging technology, an image that is theoretically difficult to recover can be reproduced realistically. Also, the present invention is completed based on fundamental and concrete scientific knowledge, for example, a basic theory of MRI for obtaining a basic image, in which an organ of the human body is visualized according to the magnetic susceptibility of hydrogen, demonstrating an effect of removing noise caused by a metallic material and the improvement in image quality based on this theory.
In addition, since the composition according to the present invention can be applied by a non-invasive method, unlike an MRI contrast agent, it has no problem causing a side effect in the human body, no toxicity and this is safe. Moreover, the composition of the present invention is used in the manner of covering a region in need of diagnosis or being attached to an MRI apparatus, such that there are advantages of improving a relatively wide range of images, and obtaining more accurate image data than that obtained when distorted images are restored by software using an algorithm. At the same time, the composition of the present invention has a low price, such that it can be used as an effective and economical auxiliary means for improving an MRI image.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following examples or the accompanying drawings. However, the examples or the description of the drawings merely explain exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited or narrowly interpreted by the description of the present invention.
1-1. Manufacture of the Acetic Acid Pad
Since acetic acid is easy to purchase and harmless to the human body and to investigate whether the removal of noise from an MRI image and an image quality-improving effect can be obtained using the acetic acid, a pad was manufactured using a naturally obtained concentration of acetic acid prepared from fruit juice.
A small amount of glycerin was mixed with fruit juice acetic acid, and a thickening agent was used to easily attach the mixture to a patient's implant site. Here, the used thickening agent refers to a mixture of glycerin (ultrasound gel component) and a common thickening component, and the thickening agent can be replaced with an ultrasound gel.
As shown in
Afterward, as shown in
1-2. Comparison Experiment Before/after Use of Acetic Acid Pad
To overcome the limits of a human body experiment, as shown in
More specifically, using specified protocol T1 Fat Saturation (Fov 240×207, TR 750 ms, TE 12 ms, Thickness 4 mm, Gap 1.5 mm), an international standard phantom was used as a target, and observation was performed before and after the use of a fruit juice acetic acid component pad. After the test, images of the region of interest (ROI) sites were obtained using MacroView (INFINITT) and a workstation ROI (contrast HU-value; M-view v 5.4.10.61).
After the phantom experiment, a patient observation test was performed before and after the use of the acetic acid pad, and thus images were obtained.
For international standard quality control (QC), that is, checking of the improvement of apparatus quality, an experiment was performed using the international standard QC phantom according to the method described in Example 1-2, and then a common phantom image, and the ROI mean values of a water pad and an acetic acid pad were compared. As a result, as shown in
In addition, as shown in
To compare the images with noise caused by a metallic material before and after the use of an acetic acid pad, patients were observed according to the method described in Example 1-2. Here, to compare the objective measurement data on the effect of using an acetic acid pad, the ROI mean value of the minimum and maximum standard deviations in an image quality contrast was compared.
As a result, as shown in
Moreover,
As shown in Example 3, human images were obtained before and after the use of a pad consisting of acetic acid as a component, and to confirm the MRI image noise-removing effect of each pad filled with citric acid, sodium hydrogen carbonate, ethanol or glycerin, which has a high hydrogen content, for example, acetic acid, a region of interest (ROI) mean value in the image was measured using the phantom manufactured herein.
An acetic acid, citric acid, sodium hydrogen carbonate, ethanol or glycerin concentration of 0% represents water (H2O2), and an MRI image was obtained by targeting a component containing hydrogen, as a criterion for image acquisition, the natural state, water (H2O), has been standardized according to MRI periodic inspection and international standard inspection.
4-1. Confirmation of Removal of Noise from MRI Image Using Water (H2O) and Acetic Acid
According to the method described in Example 1-1, a pad was manufactured by filling a pad with acetic acid (CH3COOH), and an MRI image was measured.
As a result, as shown in
4-2. Confirmation of Removal of Noise from MRI Image Using Citric Acid
In addition, according to the method described in Example 1-1, a pad was manufactured by filling a pad with citric acid (C6H8O7H2O), and an MRI image was measured.
As a result, as shown in
4-3. Confirmation of Removal of Noise from MRI Image Using Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate
According to the method described in Example 1-1, a pad was manufactured by filling a pad with sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3), and an MRI image was measured.
As a result, as shown in
4-4. Confirmation of Removal of Noise from MRI Image Using Ethanol
According to the method described in Example 1-1, a pad was manufactured by filling a pad with ethanol (C2H5OH), and an MRI image was measured.
As a result, as shown in
4-5. Confirmation of Removal of Noise from MRI Image Using Glycerin
According to the method described in Example 1-1, a pad was manufactured by filling a pad with glycerin (C3H8O3), and an MRI image was measured.
As a result, as shown in
It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the above description of the present invention is exemplary, and the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein can be easily modified into other specific forms without departing from the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the exemplary embodiments described above should be interpreted as illustrative and not limited in any aspect.
The present invention relates to a composition for removing MRI noise using a compound having a functional group capable of hydrogen bonding and a pad using the same, and the composition or pad according to the present invention reduces noise caused by a metal implant in the acquisition of MRI images, has an excellent image enhancement effect, is cheap and economical, has no toxicity in a human body and thus is safe. For this reason, the composition can be used as a component of an image diagnostic device in the field of medical devices, and is expected to be effectively used to acquire noise-removed MRI images in the field of diagnostic radiology.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2017-0030077 | Mar 2017 | KR | national |
10-2017-0060364 | May 2017 | KR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/KR2018/002757 | 3/8/2018 | WO | 00 |