• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2015

In case of a CT examinations, there is a difference in the distribution of radiation dose from that of general X-ray equipments, and it has been known to cause a great radiation exposure during the examinations. However, owing to its high reliability on the accuracy of a examinations result, its use has increased continuously. In consideration of such a circumstance, the CT equipment, radiation dose during CT examinations, diagnostic reference level, and solutions to reduce radiation dose were mentioned on the basis of previously reported data.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.345-351
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• 2020

In this study, a dose assessment was conducted on the exposure dose of thyroid, breast and sexual gland using a personal dosimeter in multiple CT examinations currently being conducted in health examinations. The dose assessment was measured by attaching TLD and EPD to the locations of the thyroid, breast and sexual gland during CT examinations of Brain, Brain + C-S, Brain + Low lung, Brain + L-S among CT items. The generated dose of equipment, CTDI_vol and DLP, was measured. The study found that effective doses were rated 41.7% higher for thyroid TLD in Brain + C-S CT examinations than for the general public, 156% higher for EPD, 10% for breast EPD in Brain + Low Lung CT examinations, 124.4% higher for reproductive TLD and 339.8% higher for Brain + L-S CT examinations. The CTDI_vol and DLP analysis results showed that C-S CTDI_vol values were higher than the diagnostic reference levels at 0.6%, Low Lung CTDI_vol values at 5.7%, DLP values at 11.8% and L-S CTDIvol values at 1.2%. In order to reduce the exposure dose of patients, indiscriminate examination is reduced and dose limit setting is needed in health examination.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.1172-1184
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• 2021

Objective: The purposes of this study were to analyze the radiation doses for pediatric abdominopelvic and chest CT examinations from university hospitals in Korea and to establish the local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) based on the body weight and size. Materials and Methods: At seven university hospitals in Korea, 2494 CT examinations of patients aged 15 years or younger (1625 abdominopelvic and 869 chest CT examinations) between January and December 2017 were analyzed in this study. CT scans were transferred to commercial automated dose management software for the analysis after being de-identified. DRLs were calculated after grouping the patients according to the body weight and effective diameter. DRLs were set at the 75th percentile of the distribution of each institution's typical values. Results: For body weights of 5, 15, 30, 50, and 80 kg, DRLs (volume CT dose index [CTDI_vol]) were 1.4, 2.2, 2.7, 4.0, and 4.7 mGy, respectively, for abdominopelvic CT and 1.2, 1.5, 2.3, 3.7, and 5.8 mGy, respectively, for chest CT. For effective diameters of < 13 cm, 14-16 cm, 17-20 cm, 21-24 cm, and > 24 cm, DRLs (size-specific dose estimates [SSDE]) were 4.1, 5.0, 5.7, 7.1, and 7.2 mGy, respectively, for abdominopelvic CT and 2.8, 4.6, 4.3, 5.3, and 7.5 mGy, respectively, for chest CT. SSDE was greater than CTDI_vol in all age groups. Overall, the local DRL was lower than DRLs in previously conducted dose surveys and other countries. Conclusion: Our study set local DRLs in pediatric abdominopelvic and chest CT examinations for the body weight and size. Further research involving more facilities and CT examinations is required to develop national DRLs and update the current DRLs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.653-662
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• 2023

Purpose This study aimed to determine the incremental value of using a structured report (SR) for US examinations of the pediatric appendix. Materials and Methods Between January 2009 and June 2016, 1150 pediatric patients with suspected appendicitis who underwent US examinations of the appendix were included retrospectively. In November 2012, we developed a five-point scale SR for appendix US examinations. The patients were divided into two groups according to the form of the US report: free-text or SR. The primary clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups, including the rate of CT imaging following US examinations, the negative appendectomy rate (NAR), and the appendiceal perforation rate (PR). Results In total, 550 patients were included in the free-text group and 600 patients in the SR group. The rate of additional CT examinations decreased by 5.3% in the SR group (8.2%, p = 0.003), and the NAR decreased by 8.4% in the SR group (7.8%, p = 0.028). There was no statistical difference in the appendiceal PR (37.6% vs. 48.0%, p = 0.078). Conclusion The use of an SR to evaluate US examinations for suspected pediatric appendicitis results in lower CT use and fewer negative appendectomies without an increase in appendiceal PR.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.9-13
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• 2016

Purpose PET-CT examinations using $^{18}F-FDG$ to treat urinary system cancer are limited in terms of anatomical structure and excretion route of $^{18}F-FDG$. But one of the ongoing examinations utilizing $^{11}C-Acetate$ can compensate for such defects. We would like to introduce a clinical application of $^{11}C-Acetate$ PET-CT in urinary cancer patients. Materials and Methods We conducted a clinical survey of 22 patients diagnosed with urinary cancer at our hospital, 10 prostate cancer patients, 10 renal cell carcinoma patients, and 2 bladder cancer patients. All patients were performed $^{18}F-FDG$ PET-CT examinations, $^{11}C-Acetate$ examinations were performed after two weeks on average. The equipment used to D-710 PET-CT in GE Company and we performed PET-CT procedures 15 minutes after injecting $^{11}C-Acetate$, and a medical doctor from the department of nuclear medicine appraised and compared images between $^{18}F-FDG$ and $^{11}C-Acetate$. Results According to our survey, prostate cancer patients generally had lower uptake of $^{18}F-FDG$ than other cancer patients did. In 2 out of 10 prostate cancer patients, metastasized cancer showed greater uptake in $^{11}C-Acetate$ than $^{18}F-FDG$. In renal cell carcinoma cases, 8 out of 10 patients displayed evidently greater uptake in $^{11}C-Acetate$ than $^{18}F-FDG$. We excluded bladder cancer cases in this study because uptake of $^{18}F-FDG$ in the bladder was too hot, the number of patients was insufficient, and the cases did not meet criteria such as the use of diuretics. Conclusion It is too premature to draw solid conclusions from the survey, since it involved only a small number of participants. However, there are a number of studies conducted abroad that prove the effectiveness of the $^{11}C-Acetate$ PET-CT examinations in treating urinary system cancer, and this study is still ongoing at our hospital. If the tests were to be conducted on a larger number of participants, this study could lead to numerous other potential research topics, such as the correlation between Prostatic specific antigen (PSA) values and $^{11}C-Acetate$ PET-CT, Gleason sum values from biopsy before surgery, Specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) between $^{18}F-FDG$ PET-CT examinations and $^{11}C-Acetate$ PET-CT examinations in other urinary system cancers.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.365-372
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• 2018

The use of CT examinations is increasing rapidly and radiation dose from CT examinations is much higher than other diagnostic radiography examinations including general radiography and mammography. DRLs used to optimize the radiation dose of patients by diagnostic radiology in each country. The objective of this study was to investigate and to analyze the status of DRLs from CT examinations in domestic and other countries. In other countries, DRLs were set for each age group and each examination considering the medical situation of each country. In Korea, DRLs were set for adults and children in 2017. For adults, DRLs were set for 13 examinations. Reported DLP values were 1119, 297, $472mGy{\cdot}cm$ for head, chest and abdomen pelvis examination, respectively. For children, DRLs were set for head examinations. Reported DLP values were 298 (0~1 years), 404 (2~5 years), 494 (6~10 years), 1,088 (11~15 years) $mGy{\cdot}cm$. DRLs of Korea were similar to other countries for head examinations. For chest examinations and abdomen pelvis examinations were relatively lower than other countries. As a major reason for relatively low radiation dose, it is considered to contribute the activity and management of medical radiation safety at national level.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2015

Computed tomography(CT) using radiation have potential risks. All medical radiographic examinations should require the justification of medical imaging examinations and optimization of the image quality and radiation exposure. The CT examination was higher radiation dose then general radiography. Especially pediatric CT examinations need to great caution of radiation risk. Because of pediatric patient was more sensitive of radiation exposure. Therefore, physician should consider the knowledge of CT radiation exposure indicator information for reduce a needless radiation exposure. This article was aim to understanding of CT exposure indicator, size-specific dose estimates by American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) report 204, XR 25 and understanding of CT dose reduction technique.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2010

Computed tomography (CT) has been established as an important diagnostic tool in clinical medicine and has become a major source of medical exposure. A nationwide survey regarding CT examinations was carried out in 2007. Thanks to the appeasement policy regulating the import of CT scanners, there are 1,825 CT scanners across the country as of the end of March 2010, which means that we have 36.8 CT scanners per one million people. The annual number of examinations was 3.29 million, the number of examinations per 1000 population was 68. The most part of examinations was abdomen and pelvis. and the collective effective dose was in these parts. The effective dose per one population was evaluated as 0.952 mSv.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.246-252
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• 2010

The purpose of this study provides measurements of radiation dose from MDCT of head, chest, abdomen and pelvic examinations. A series of dose quantities that are measured of patient weight to compare the dose received during MDCT examinations. Data collected included: weight together with CT dose descriptors, volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP). The effective dose was also estimated and served as collective dose estimation data. Data from 1,774 adult patients attending for a CT examination of the head (n=520) or chest (n=531) or abdomen (n=724) was obtained from spiral CT units using a same CT protocol. Mean values of CTDIvol was a range of 48.6 mGy for head and 6.9, 10.5 mGy for chest, abdomen examinations, respectively. And mean values of DLP was range of 1,604 $mGy{\cdot}cm$ for head, 250 $mGy{\cdot}cm$ for chest, 575 $mGy{\cdot}cm$ for abdomen examinations, respectively. Mean effective dose values for head, chest, abdominal CT were 3.6, 4.2, and 8.6 mSv, respectively. The degree of CTDIvol and DLP was a positive correlation with weight. And there was a positive correlation for weight versus CTDIvol ($r^2$=0.62), DLP ($r^2$=0.694) in chest. And head was also positive correlation with weight versus CTDIvol ($r^2$=0.691), DLP ($r^2$=0.741). We conclude that CTDIvol and DLP is an important determinant of weight within the CT examinations. The results for this study suggest that CT protocol should be tailored according to patient weight.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1871-1876
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• 2013

In this study, we developed and characterized the shielding properties of dose reduction fiber (DRF, Buffalo Co.) sheet during brain and chest CT examinations. The DRF sheet was composed of $1{\sim}500{\mu}m$ oxide Bismuth ($Bi_2O_3$) and 5 ~ 50 nm nano-barium sulfate ($BaSO_4$). Phantom and clinical studies were performed for characterization of the DRF shielding properties. In clinical study, we measured doses of eye, chest, abdomen and reproductive system of 60 patients in 3 hospitals during brain and chest CT examinations. We could determined the shielding effect of the DRF by comparing the doses when we used the DRF sheet or not. When we used the sheet during CT examination, the scattered dose were reduced about 20~50%. So, we suggest that the fiber should be used in radiological examinations for reducing patients doses.