• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.165-171
• /
• 2002

Purpose : In order to perform craniospinal irradiation (CSI) in the supine position on patients who are unable to lie in the prone position, a new simulation technique using a CT simulator was developed and its availability was evaluated. Materials and Method : A CT simulator and a 3-D conformal treatment planning system were used to develop CSI in the supine position. The head and neck were immobilized with a thermoplastic mask in the supine position and the entire body was immobilized with a Vac-Loc. A volumetrie image was then obtained using the CT simulator. In order to improve the reproducibility of the patients' setup, datum lines and points were marked on the head and the body. Virtual fluoroscopy was peformed with the removal of visual obstacles such as the treatment table or the immobilization devices. After the virtual simulation, the treatment isocenters of each field were marked on the body and the immobilization devices at the conventional simulation room. Each treatment field was confirmed by comparing the fluoroscopy images with the digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR)/digitally composite radiography (DCR) images from the virtual simulation. The port verification films from the first treatment were also compared with the DRR/DCR images for a geometrical verification. Results : CSI in the supine position was successfully peformed in 9 patients. It required less than 20 minutes to construct the immobilization device and to obtain the whole body volumetric images. This made it possible to not only reduce the patients' inconvenience, but also to eliminate the position change variables during the long conventional simulation process. In addition, by obtaining the CT volumetric image, critical organs, such as the eyeballs and spinal cord, were better defined, and the accuracy of the port designs and shielding was improved. The differences between the DRRs and the portal films were less than 3 mm in the vertebral contour. Conclusion : CSI in the supine position is feasible in patients who cannot lie on prone position, such as pediatric patienta under the age of 4 years, patients with a poor general condition, or patients with a tracheostomy.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.123-130
• /
• 1991

A docking intraoperative electron beam applicator system, which is easily docking in the collimator for a linear accelerator after setting a sterilized transparent cone on the tumor bearing area in the operation room, has been designed to optimize dose distribution and to improve the efficiency of radiation treatment method with linear accelerator. This applicator system consisted of collimator holder with shielded metals and docking cone with transparent acrylic cylinder, A number of technical innovations have been used in the design of this system, this dooking cone gives a improving latral dose coverage at therapeutic volume. The position of $90\%$ isodose curve under suface of 8 cm diameter cone was extended $4\sim7$ mm at 12 MeV electron and the isodose measurements beneath the cone wall showed hot spots as great as $106\%$ for acrylic cone. The leakage radiation dose to tissues outside the cone wall was reduced as $3\sim5\%$ of output dose. A comprehensive set of dosimetric characteristics of the intraoperative radiation therapy applicator system is presented.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.150-156
• /
• 2000

Purpose : Stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) can deliver highly focused radiation to a small and spherical target lesion with very high degree of mechanical accuracy. For non-spherical and large lesions, however, inclusion of the neighboring normal structures within the high dose radiation volume is inevitable in SRT This is to report the beam shaping using the partial closure of the independent jaw in SRT and the verification of dose calculation and the dose display using a home-made soft ware. Materials and Methods : Authors adopted the idea to partially close one or more independent collimator jaw(5) in addition to the circular collimator cones to shield the neighboring normal structures while keeping the target lesion within the radiation beam field at all angles along the arc trajectory. The output factors (OF's) and the tissue-maximum ratios (TMR's) were measured using the micro ion chamber in the water phantom dosimetry system, and were compared with the theoretical calculations. A film dosimetry procedure was peformed to obtain the depth dose profiles at 5 cm, and they were also compared with the theoretical calculations, where the radiation dose would depend on the actual area of irradiation. Authors incorporated this algorithm into the home-made SRT software for the isodose calculation and display, and was tried on an example case with single brain metastasis. The dose-volume histograms (DVH's) of the planning target volume (PTV) and the normal brain derived by the control plan were reciprocally compared with those derived by the plan using the same arc arrangement plus the independent collimator jaw closure. Results : When using 5.0 cm diameter collimator, the measurements of the OF's and the TMR's with one independent jaw set at 30 mm (unblocked), 15.5 mm, 8.6 mm, and 0 mm from th central beam axis showed good correlation to the theoretical calculation within 0.5% and 0.3% error range. The dose profiles at 5 cm depth obtained by the film dosimetry also showed very good correlation to the theoretical calculations. The isodose profiles obtained on the home-made software demonstrated a slightly more conformal dose distribution around the target lesion by using the independent jaw closure, where the DVH's of the PTV were almost equivalent on the two plans, while the DVH's for the normal brain showed that less volume of the normal brain receiving high radiation dose by using this modification than the control plan employing the circular collimator cone only. Conclusions : With the beam shaping modification using the independent jaw closure, authors have realized wider clinical application of SRT with more conformal dose planning. Authors believe that SRT, with beam shaping ideas and efforts, should no longer be limited to the small spherical lesions, but be more widely applied to rather irregularly shaped tumors in the intracranial and the head and neck regions.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.90-98
• /
• 2003

Purpose : A new virtual simulation technique for craniospinal irradiation (CSI) that uses a CT-simulator was developed to improve the accuracy of field and shielding placement as well as patient positioning. Materials and Methods : A CT simulator (CT-SIM) and a 3-D conformal radiation treatment planning system (3D-CRT) were used to develop CSI. The head and neck were immobilized with a thermoplastic mask while the rest of the body was immobilized with a Vac-Loc. A volumetric image was then obtained with the CT simulator. In order to improve the reproducibility of the setup, datum lines and points were marked on the head and body. Virtual fluoroscopy was performed with the removal of visual obstacles, such as the treatment table or immobilization devices. After virtual simulation, the treatment isocenters of each field were marked on the body and on the immobilization devices at the conventional simulation room. Each treatment fields was confirmed by comparing the fluoroscopy images with the digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR) and digitally composited radiography (DCR) images from virtual simulation. Port verification films from the first treatment were also compared with the DRR/DCR images for geometric verification. Results : We successfully performed virtual simulations on 11 CSI patients by CT-SIM. It took less than 20 minutes to affix the immobilization devices and to obtain the volumetric images of the entire body. In the absence of the patient, virtual simulation of all fields took 20 min. The DRRs were in agreement with simulation films to within 5 mm. This not only reducee inconveniences to the patients, but also eliminated position-shift variables attendant during the long conventional simulation process. In addition, by obtaining CT volumetric image, critical organs, such as the eyes and the spinal cord, were better defined, and the accuracy of the port designs and shielding was improved. Differences between the DRRs and the portal films were less than 3 m in the vertebral contour. Conclusion : Our analysis showed that CT simulation of craniospinal fields was accurate. In addition, CT simulation reduced the duration of the patient's immobility. During the planning process. This technique can improve accuracy in field placement and shielding by using three-dimensional CT-aided localization of critical and target structures. Overall, it has improved staff efficiency and resource utilization by standard protocol for craniospinal irradiation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.477-490
• /
• 2022

Serious Accident Punishment Act(SAPA) went into effect as of Jan. 27, 2022. The subject of study was the worker of the nuclear medicine department and the investigation was aimed at identifying the present situation of their understanding on the issue in the here and now, which can be utilized as basic research for further study. The survey was conducted on 51 people of the worker in the nuclear medicine department. The general factors were classified by their gender, the scale of the hospitals, the period of career, and the detailed occupational categories. The conclusion was drawn, including 1 missing data in gender and 2 in the type of occupation. The targeted hospitals were tertiary hospital, university hospital, and general hospital which have nuclear medicine department in. The period of subjects' career was categorized by less than 3 years, 3 to 5 years, 5 to 10 years, and more than 10 years. The specific occupation was classified by in-vivo radiological technologist, radiation safety manager and others. The amount of pressure that the job entails was highest in the category of general hospital, the period of 3 to 5 years of job experience, and radiation safety manager each. The system of the code was well constructed in the category of general hospital, the period of less than 3-year career, and radiation safety manager, as they responded. The blood transmissible disease had the largest number of outbreak of accidents related to the serious industrial accident. In addition, the radiopharmaceutical dosing error had the highest number of outbreak of accidents related to the serious civil accident. Therefore, we need to improve SAPA, facility inspection, security of budget, security of professional manpower. It will help the stable use of radiation and ensure patient safety.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.173-182
• /
• 2003

A prototype liquid scillatillator system for measurement of multiple beta-labeled mixtures was developed and its characteristic was investigated. The signal processing system consists of two photomultiplier tubes and the coincident count circuit. The characteristic of the system was analyzed using 4 beta-labeled samples $(^3H,\;^{14}C,\;^{36}Cl\;and\;^{90}Sr)$. Beta spectra from the samples were obtained without radiation shielding, and the detection limits for each nuclides were estimated based on the spectra. The estimated detection limits were compared to the legal regulation values. It is found that the liquid radioactive nuclides are detectable well below the legal regulation values.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.158-167
• /
• 2007

It is required that the neutron dosimetry be present to monitor the reactor vessel throughout its plant life. The Ex-vessel Neutron Dosimetry Systems which consist of sensor sets, radiometric monitors, gradient chains, and support hardware have been installed for 3-Loop plants after a complete withdrawal of all six in-vessel surveillance capsules. The systems have been installed in the reactor cavity annulus in order to characterize the neutron energy spectrum over the beltline region of the reactor vessel. The installed dosimetry were withdrawn and evaluated after a irradiation during one cycle and then compared to the cycle specific neutron transport calculations. The reaction rates from the measurement and calculation were compared and the results show good agreements each other.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.343-350
• /
• 1991

The quasi-conformation therapy was performed to get a homogeneous dose distributions for irregeular shaped tumor lesion by using the arc moving beam and beam modifying filter which was made by cerrobend alloy($\rho$=9.4 g/cc) metal. In our dose calcuation programme, it was fundmentally based on Clarkson's method to calcuate the irregular multi-step block field in rotation therapy. In this study, the expected relative depth doses under multipartial attenuator agree well with measured data at same plane. The results of comparison the dose computation with that of TLD measurement are very closed within ${\pm}5\%$ uncertainties in the irradiation to phantom with quasi-comformation method. And it has shown that irregular typed multi-step filter can be applied to quasi-conformation therapy in high energy radiation plannings.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.582-596
• /
• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to explore the ways to improve the security of temporary shelters in case of nuclear power plant accidents. Method: In this study, we mainly rely on the case studies on previous nuclear power plant accidents-Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three Mile Island (TMI) cases. Result: The current radiation emergency response plans for nuclear power plant accidents center around the evacuation procedure. As a result, the concept of "shelter in place" has been understood as a means of assisting resident evacuation. However, based on the case studies, we find that encouraging shelter in place, rather than simply emphasizing evacuation, would help minimize unnecessary casualties, especially in case of the accidents rated greater than or equal to INES 5. To facilitate better shelter in place, we recommend utilize apartments as temporary shelters and suggest some possible improvements to ensure those apartments could be equipped with technologies for high radiation protection. Conclusion: To ensure better shelter in place, we recommend using apartments as temporary shelters, and we seek to supplement the function of apartments by using shielding, positive pressure, and sealing technologies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.6 no.6
• /
• pp.441-445
• /
• 2012

X-ray Chest P-A is very important and basic diagnosis examination for pregnant women. For a pregnancy period pregnant women should be treated very carefully not to be exposed to any radiation which might cause harmful damage to women and babies as well. Lead apron is one of the effective methods to protect pregnant women from the X-ray radiation. However, it is difficult to obtain the accurate position of pregnant women during X-ray Chest P-A since conventional lead apron method forces pregnant women to hold the apron by themselves only to make pregnant women very uncomfortable and hard to maintain accurate position during radiation. As a consequence, it is common to get low quality images of X-ray Chest P-A due to the overlap of apex of lung and scapular. In order to fix this problem, we made new design lead apron that allowed pregnant women to be more comfortable to maintain accurate position during X-ray Chest P-A position. Finally, with this new design lead apron, it was possible to get the best optimized images of X-ray Chest P-A of pregnant women by minimizing overlapping apex of lung and scapular.