• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.119-124
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• 2019

Radiation therapy using flattening filter free beam can prevent beam attenuation caused by flattening filter and can improve treatment efficiency. However, accurate dose control is not established for nonuniform iso dose distributions. In this study, curved dosimeter based on photoconductive material $HgI_2$ was fabricated and its reproducibility and linearity were evaluated at 6 MV photon energy to verify its performance. In order to show the usefulness of the curved measurement, the signals measured on the flat substrate and the curved substrate were compared in the flattening filter free beam using the acrylic filter. As a result, the reproducibility of the unit cell dosimeter was evaluated as SE 0.613%, and the linearity was evaluated as R-sq 0.9999. The usability evaluation of the array curve dosimeter demonstrated its usefulness by indicating a curvature error rate of 11.073%p and a reduced error rate.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.765-771
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• 2019

Noise in skull X-ray imaging is inevitable, which reduces imaging quality and diagnostic accuracy and increases errors due to the nature of digital imaging devices. Increasing the dose can attenuate noise, but that could lead to big problems with higher exposure dose received by patients. Thus, noise reduction algorithms are actively being studied at low doses to solve dose problems and reduce noise at the same time. Wiener filter and median filter have been widely used, with the disadvantages of poor noise reduction efficiency and loss of much information about imaging boundary. The purpose of this study is to apply total variation (TV) algorithm to skull X-ray imaging that can compensate for the problems of previous noise reduction efficiency to assess quantitatively and compare them. For this study, skull X-ray imaging is obtained using various kVp and mAs using the skull phantom using the X-ray device of Siemens. In addition, contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) are compared and measured when noisy image, median filter, Wiener filter and TV algorithm were applied to each phantom imaging. Experiments showed that when TV algorithms were applied, CNR and COV characteristics were excellent under all conditions. In conclusion, we've been able to see if we can use TV algorithm to improve image quality and CNR could be seen to increase due to the decrease in noise as the amount of increased mAs. On the other hand, COV decreased as the amount of increased mAs, and when kVp increased, noise was reduced and the transmittance was increased, so COV was reduced.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.255-261
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• 2014

The generation amount of radioactive waste has been rapidly increased by increase of the usage of radioisotope source in medical field. Especially, the use of the radioactive source of I-131 with short half-life of 8.02 days used in treatment of thyroid has been increased, and all of the wastes concerned have been disposed by means of the self-disposal method. IAEA proposed criteria for clearance level of waste which depends on the individual (10 ${\mu}Sv/y$) and collective dose (1 man-Sv/y), and concentration of each nuclide (IAEA Safety Series No 111-P-1.1, 1992 and IAEA RS-G-1.7, 2004). In this study, various radioactive wastes in medical fields are collected and measured for establishing the disposal methods and procedures of radioactive wastes. In addition, comparison evaluation of decay storage period between the half-life which was calculated by attenuation curve based on real measurement and analytical half-life is considered. With comparing the theoretical half-life and the effective half life(7.72 days) which was based on the decay equation of measured data, it is resulted in the theoretical half-life is longer than effective half-life. The storage period of radioactive waste for self-disposal may be curtailed. The result of this study will be proposed as ISO standard.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.473-479
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• 2019

PET-CT improves performance and reduces the time by combining PET and CT of spatial resolution, and uses CT scan for attenuation correction. This study analyzed PET image evaluation. The condition of the tube voltage and current of CT will be changed using. Uniformity phantom and resolution phantom were injected with 37 MBq $^{18}F$ (fluorine ; 511 keV, half life - 109.7 min), respectively. PET-CT (Biograph, siemens, US) was used to perform emission scan (30 min) and penetration scan. And then the collected image data were reconstructed in OSEM-3D. The same ROI was set on the image data with a analyzer (Vinci 2.54, Germany) and profile was used to analyze and compare spatial resolution and image quality through FWHM and SI. Analyzing profile with pre-defined ROI in each phantom, PET image was not influenced by the change of tube voltage or exposure dose. However, CT image was influenced by tube voltage, but not by exposure dose. When tube voltage was fixed and exposure dose changed, exposure dose changed too, increasing dose value. When exposure dose was fixed at 150 mA and tube voltage was varied, the result was 10.56, 24.6 and 35.61 mGy in each variables (in resolution phantom). In this study, attenuation image showed no significant difference when exposure dose was changed. However, when exposure dose increased, the amount of dose that patient absorbed increased too, which indicates that CT exposure dose should be decreased to minimum to lower the exposure dose that patient absorbs. Therefore future study needs to discuss the conditions that could minimize exposure dose that gets absorbed by patient during PET-CT scan.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to measure curvature contour skin dose using radiochromic film and TLD for a conventional open field. We also attempted to quantify the degradation of skin sparing associated with use of immobilization devices for high energy photon beams and to calculate the skin dose with a help of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. To simulate head-and-neck and shoulder treatment, a cylindrical solid water phantom 11 cm in diameter was irradiated with 6 MV x-rays using $40{\times}40\;cm^2$ field at 100 cm source axis distance (SAD) to the center of the phantom. Aquaplastic mesh mask was placed on the surface of the cylindrical phantom that mimicked relevant clinical situations. The skin dose profile was obtained by taking measurements from $0^{\circ}$ to $360^{\circ}$ around the circumference of the cylindrical phantom. The skin doses obtained from radiochromic film were found to be 47% of the maximum dose of $D_{max}$ at the $0^{\circ}$ beam entry position and 61% at the $90^{\circ}$ oblique beam position without the mask. Using the mask (1.5 mm), the skin dose received was 59% at $0^{\circ}$ incidence and 78% at $80^{\circ}$ incidence. Skin dose results were also gathered using thin thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD). With the mask, the skin dose was 66% at $0^{\circ}$ incidence and 80% at $80^{\circ}$ incidence. This method with the mask revealed the similar pattern as film measurement. For the treatments of the head-and-neck and shoulder regions in which immobilization mask was used, skin doses at around tangential angle were nearly the same as the prescription dose. When a sloping skin contour is encountered, skin doses may be abated using thinner and more perforated immoblization devices which should still maintain immoblization.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.164-173
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• 2004

To delineate geothermal water movement at the Pohang geothermal development site, Self-Potential (SP) survey and monitoring were carried out during pumping tests. Before drilling, background SP data have been gathered to figure out overall potential distribution of the site. The pumping test was performed in two separate periods: 24 hours in December 2003 and 72 hours in March 2004. SP monitoring started several days before the pumping tests with a 128-channel automatic recording system. The background SP survey showed a clear positive anomaly at the northern part of the boreholes, which may be interpreted as an up-flow Bone of the deep geothermal water due to electrokinetic potential generated by hydrothermal circulation. The first and second SP monitoring during the pumping tests performed to figure out the fluid flow in the geothermal reservoir but it was not easy to see clear variations of SP due to pumping and pumping stop. Since the area is covered by some 360 m-thick tertiary sediments with very low electrical resistivity (less than 10 ohm-m), the electrokinetic potential due to deep groundwater flow resulted in being seriously attenuated on the surface. However, when we compared the variation of SP with that of groundwater level and temperature of pumping water, we could identify some areas responsible to the pumping. Dominant SP changes are observed in the south-west part of the boreholes during both the preliminary and long-term pumping periods, where 3-D magnetotelluric survey showed low-resistivity anomaly at the depth of $600m\~1,000m$. Overall analysis suggests that there exist hydraulic connection through the southwestern part to the pumping well.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.422-429
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• 1999

Purpose: The measurement of radiation absorbed dose is useful to predict the response after I-131 labeled metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) therapy and determine therapy dose in patients with unresectable or malignant pheochromocytoma. We estimated the absorbed dose in tumor tissue after high dose I-131 MIBG in a patient with pheochromocytoma using a gamma camera and Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) formula. Materials and Methods: A 64-year old female patient with pheochromocytoma who had multiple metastases of mediastinum, right kidney and periaortic lymph nodes, received 74 GBq (200 mCi) of I-131 MIBG. We obtained anterior and posterior images at 0.5, 16, 24, 64 and 145 hours after treatment. Two standard sources of 37 and 74 MBq of I-131 were imaged simultaneously. Cummulated I-131 MIBG uptake in tumor tissue was calculated after the correction of background activity, attenuation, system sensitivity and count loss at a high count rate. Results: The calculated absorbed radiation dose was 32-63 Gy/ 74 GBq, which was lower than the known dose for tumor remission (150-200 Gy). follow-up studies at 1 month showed minimally reduced tumor size on computed tomography, and mildly reduced I-131 MIBG uptake. Conclusion: We estimated radiation absorbed dose after therapeutic I-131 MIBG using a gamma camera and MIRD formula, which can be peformed in a clinical nuclear medicine laboratory. Our results suggest that the measurement of radiation absorbed dose in I-131 MIBG therapy is feasible as a routine clinical practice that can guide further treatment plan. The accuracy of dose measurement and correlation with clinical outcome should be evaluated further.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2015

The monitor chamber is a real time dosimetry device for the measurement and the control of radiation beam intensity of the linac system. The monitor chamber prototype was developed for monitoring and controlling radiation beam from the linac based radiation generator. The thin flexible printed circuit boards were used for electrodes of the two independent plane-parallel ionization chambers to minimize the attenuation of radiation beam. The dosimetric characteristics, saturation and linearity of the measured charge, were experimentally evaluated with the Co-60 gamma rays. The performance of the developed monitor chamber prototype was in an acceptable range and this study shows the possibility of the further development of the chamber with additional functions.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.269-276
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• 2010

This study attempts to propose ways to optimize and improve the period of hospitalization for the radioiodine treatment by calculating the dose rate of patients treated with high-dose radioiodine by distance and time slot. As a result, 24 hours after the patient was treated with 100 mCi high-dose iodine, the dose rate was attenuated to $1,035{\mu}Sv/hr$ at the navel, to $109{\mu}Sv/hr$ at 50 cm, and to $33{\mu}Sv/hr$ at 100 cm. 24 hours after the patient was treated with 150 mCi high-dose iodine, the dose rate was attenuated to $637{\mu}Sv/hr$ at the navel, to $100{\mu}Sv/hr$ at 50 cm, and to $40{\mu}Sv/hr$ at 100 cm. 24 hours after the patient was treated with 180 mCi high-dose iodine, the dose rate was attenuated to $1,251{\mu}Sv/hr$ at the navel, $140{\mu}Sv/hr$ at 50 cm, and to $56{\mu}Sv/hr$ at 100 cm. In light of the current criterion for discharge recommended by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission being $70.4{\mu}Sv/hr$, the present study indicates earlier discharge is feasible by applying a new scheme. This suggests that the proposed scheme in this study will help to solve the problem of shortage of treatment beds with the increasing trend of patients with thyroid cancer taken into consideration.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2014

This study was designated to investigate the bremsstrahlung and radiation dose by beta rays. Radiation attenuation from I-131 treatment ward was analyzed using radio protective apron. Shielding materials which is included lead or water were simulated in Monte Carlo Simulation then the spectrum on interaction was analyzed. The shielding materials were categorized according to the thickness. 0.25mm and 0.5mm thick lead and 0.1mm and 0.2mm thick water shielding materials were configured in Monte Carlo Simulation for this study. Only lead shielding method and water plus lead shielding method were carried. As a results, when 0.5mm thick lead shielding method was performed, the radiation dose was similar to the results with water plus lead shielding method. In case of using 0.25mm thick lead shielding, the shielding effect was somewhat less. However, that shielding method cause dose reduction of about 60% compare with non-shielding material.