• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.819-825
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the developed air mattress for reducing the deterioration of image quality due to the scattered radiation generated on the computed tomography equipment table. 5 cm and 10 cm thick air mattresses were developed and the image quality was measured by scanning the AAPM phantom according to thickness and thickness. Statistical significance was confirmed by One Way Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) Compared with the AAPM phantom scanned in the standard method, the image with the air mattress did not show any difference, but when the air mattress was not applied, the CT number and uniformity were low and the noise was high, and the spatial resolution Respectively. The developed air mattress has no harmful effect on the diagnostic image, it is very effective in improving the image quality and can increase the CT image quality by simply applying Air Mattress to existing equipment without using the technology applied to the latest and high-cost equipment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.135-141
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• 2010

Purpose : The patients who visited this department for pulmonary disease and need CT scans for Follow-up to observe change of CT value, evaluation of image quality and decrease of radiation dose as change of kVp. Subjects and Methods : Subjects were the patients of 20 persons visited this department for pulmonary disease and Somatom Sensation 16(Semens, Enlarge, Germany) was used. Measurement of CT value as change of kVp was done by setting up ROI diameter of 1cm at the height of thyroid, aortic arch, right pulmonary artery in arterial phase image using 100 kVp, measuring 3 times, and recorded the average. CT value of phantom was measured by scanning phantoms which means contrast media diluted by normal saline by various ratio with tube voltage of 80 kVp, 100 kVp, 120 kVp, 140 kVp and recorded the average of 3 CT values of center of phantom image. In analysing radiation dose, CTDIVOL values of the latest arterial phase image of 120 kVp and as this research set that of 100 kVp were analyzed comparatively. 2 observers graded quality of chest images by 5 degrees (Unacceptable, Suboptimal, Adequate, Good, Excellent). Results : CT value of chest image increased at 100 kVp by 14.06%~27.26% in each ROI than 120 kVp. CT value of phantom increased as tube voltage lowered at various concentration of contrast media. CTDIVOL decreased at 100 kVp(5.00 mGy) by 36% than 120 kVp(7.80 mGy) in radiation dose analysis. here were 0 Unacceptable, 1 Suboptimal, 3 Adequate, 10 Good, 6 Excellent in totally 20 persons. Conclusion : Chest CT scanning with low kilo-voltage for patients who need CT scan repeatedly can bring images valuable for diagnose, and decrease radiation dose against patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2022

This study compared DLP values along with phantom entrance surface doses and the image quality of chest CT scans made using a Care Dose 4D+Care kV System, scans that are made using only the Care Dose 4D function, and scans that are made with changes made by applying 80 kVp, 100 kVp, 120 kVp, and 140 kVp to the Care Dose 4D and tube voltage to search for methods to maintain the highest image quality with minimal patient doses. It was shown that DLP values decreased 6.727% when scans were taken with Chest Care Dose 4D + Care kV semi 100 and 6.481% when scans were taken with Chest Care Dose 4D + Care kV. With Chest Non as a standard, skin surface doses decreased 16.519% when scans were taken with Chest Care Dose 4D + Care kV semi 100 and 15.705% when scans were taken with Chest Care Dose 4D + Care kV. With comparisons of image quality, when comparisons were made with Chest Non, comparisons made of SNR values and CNR values in all scanning conditions including Care Dose 4D + Care kV showed that there were no significant differences at P>0.05. Imaging using Chest Care Dose 4D + Care kV in chest CT showed that exposure doses decreased similarly to result values gained from the best conditions through manual adjustments of kV and mAS, and there were no significant differences in image SNR and CNR. If the Chest Care Dose 4D + Care kV function is used, image quality is maintained and patient exposure to radiation can be reduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.961-968
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of cerebral angiography in each energy level by using dual energy technique in CT. Methods were performed on 15 DE images and SE images of CT angiography. For the analysis of images, mean value, standard deviation, SNR and CNR value were determined by setting ROI on MCA, brain parenchyma tissue, and back ground. As a result of concurrent visual evaluation with Likert 5 point scale, the clearest MCA image was confirmed at DE 40 keV and SE 120 kVp(p>0.05). The SNR value of the SE image was measured to be similar to the 40 keV energy level of the DE image. The low energy level image of 40 keV and 50 keV was measured with a high SNR and the contrast ratio was higher than that of the high energy image.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.75-79
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• 2014

The aim of this retrospective research was to investigate the influence of the patient's arm position on radiation dose and scanning during CT. Chest CT image created image degradation, artifact and overdose to the patient due to the difference of the chest thickness. Therefore, the patient's arm should up position during the CT chest examination. In 2012, 1,642 patients underwent chest CT examination in Seoul K hospital. 118 chest CT examination performed hands down position. The average DLP value of the CT chest arm up examination was 275 $mGy{\cdot}cm$. The average DLP value of the CT chest arm down examination was 312.46 $mGy{\cdot}cm$. In the retrospective study with same patient, The average DLP value of the CT chest examination arm up vigorously was 267.5 $mGy{\cdot}cm$. The average DLP value of the CT chest arm down examination was 307.5 $mGy{\cdot}cm$. Chest CT scan without raising arm created linear artifact due to the lack of X-ray photons which is the thickest part of the human body of shoulder area. In conclusion, arm positioning patients' arms above the shoulders at CT of the chest increases image quality and substantially reduces effective radiation dose.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.63 no.7
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• pp.1001-1007
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• 2014

This paper proposes a method to reduce operation time using discrete cosine transform and to improve image quality by the DC gain correction. Conventional filtered back projection (FBP) filtering in the frequency domain using Fourier transform, but the filtering process uses complex number operations. To simplify the filtering process, we propose a filtering process using discrete cosine transform. In addition, the image quality of reconstructed images are improved by correcting DC gain of sinograms. To correct the DC gain, we propose to find an optimum DC weight is defined as the ratio of sinogram DC and optimum DC. Experimental results show that the proposed method gets better performance than the conventional method for phantom and clinical CT images.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 2015

The purpose is reducing radiation dose while maintaining of image quality in liver dynamic CT(LDCT) scan, by protocols generally used and the tube voltage set at a low level protocol compared to the radiation dose and image quality. The target is body mass index, 18.5~24 patients out of 40 patients who underwent the ACT(abdominal CT). Group A(tube voltage : 120kVp, SAFIRE strength 1) of 20 people among 40 people, to apply the general abdominal CT scan protocol, group B(tube voltage : 100kVp, apply SAFIRE strength 0~5) was 20 people, set a lower tube voltage. Image quality evaluation was setting a region of interest(ROI) in the liver parenchyma, aorta, superior mesenteric artery (SMA), celiac trunk, visceral fat of arterial phase. In the ROI were compared by measuring the noise, signal to noise ratio(SNR), contrast to noise ratio(CNR), CT number. In addition, qualitative assessments to evaluate two people in the rich professional experience in Radiology by 0-3 points. We compared the total radiation dose, dose length product(DLP) and effective dose, volume computed tomography dose index(CTDIvol). The higher SAFIRE in the tube voltage 100 kVp, noise is reduced, CT number was increased. Thus, SNR and CNR was increased higher the SAFIRE step. Compared with the tube voltage 120kVp, noise, SNR, CNR was most similar in SAFIRE strength 2 and 3. Qualitative assessment SAFIRE strength 2 is the most common SAFIRE strength 2 the most common qualitative assessment, if the tube voltage of 100kVp when the quality of the images better evaluated was SAFIRE strength 1. Dose was reduced from 21.69%, in 100kVp than 120kVp. In the case of a relatively high BMI is not LDCT scan, When it is shipped from the factory tube voltage is set higher, unnecessary radiation exposure when considering the reality that is concerned, when according to the results of this study, set a lower tube voltage and adjust the SAFIRE strength to 1 or 2, the radiation without compromising image quality amount also is thought to be able to be reduced.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.84-89
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to compare radiation dose and image quality between low-dose (LDP) and standard-dose protocol (SDP). LDP (120 kVp, 30 mAs, 2-mm thickness) and SDP (120 kVp, 180 mAs, 1.2-mm thickness) images obtained from 61 subjects were retrospectively evaluated at level of carina bifurcation, using multi-detector CT (Brilliance 16, Philips Medical Systems). Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated at ascending aorta and infraspinatus muscle, from CT number and back-ground noise. Radiation dose from two protocols measured at 5-point using acrylic-phantom, and CT number and noise measured at 4-point using water-phantom. All statistical analysis were performed using SPSS 19.0 program. LDP images showed significantly more noise and a significantly lower SNR and CNR than did SDP images at ascending aorta and infraspinatus muscle. Noise, SNR and CNR were significantly correlated with body mass index (p<0.001). Radiation dose, SNR and CNR from phantom were significant differences between two protocols. LDP showed a significant reduction of radiation dose with a significant change in SNR and CNR compared with SDP. Therefore, exposure dose on LDP in clinical applications needs resetting highly more considering image quality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.437-444
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• 2021

To evaluate the usefulness of Volume Axial Mode by comparing analyzing the exposure dose of the patients and the quality of each images from CT images obtained from high pitch mode using the local phantom or volume axial mode to determine the usefulness of he volume axial mode in diagnosing the head and cervical disease in adults. High Pitch Mode, Helical Mode, and Volume axial Mode as adult phantom were tested according to 70 kVp, 80 kVp, and 100 kVp tube voltages during an adult frontal CT scans. The equipment used was GE's Revolution (GE Healthcare, Wisconsin USA) model and iMED X-ray Phantom. The exposure dose of phantom was compared using the images obtained from each protocol, and the image quality was compared by calculating SNR and CNR by setting ROI on each image. When examined using Volume Axial Mode, the exposure dose of phantom was measured 17.12% lower than Helical Mode, 5.35% lower than High Pitch Mode, and both SNR and CNR were improved. Volume Axial Mode is a useful test that reduces investigation time without table movement using high speed rotary scanner, and in which exposure dose is reduced and image quality is improved by acquiring images in a short time of 0.28 seconds of phantom than using High Pitch Mode and Helical Mode. In addition, the fast testing time of Volume Axial Mode can be seen as the biggest advantage CT scans of emergency patients or patients with physical discomfort.

• 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.