• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.201-206
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• 2023

In order to improve the spatial resolution of the gamma camera, the size of the hole in the collimator must be reduced, so the sensitivity is reduced. In order to improve the sensitivity, the size of the hole must be increased, and thus the spatial resolution is reduced. In other words, spatial resolution and sensitivity show opposite characteristics. In this study, a gamma camera was designed to improve both spatial resolution and sensitivity. In order to obtain higher sensitivity in gamma cameras with the same spatial resolution, the structure of the scintillator was designed differently from the existing system. A scintillation pixel was used, and a partition wall was placed between the scintillation pixels to prevent incident gamma rays from being transmitted to other scintillation pixels to interact. Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) simulation was performed to evaluate the performance of the designed gamma camera. When the same sensitivity as the block-type scintillator was obtained, the spatial resolution increased by 16.5%, and when the same spatial resolution was obtained, the sensitivity increased by 61.5%. It is considered that the use of the gamma camera designed in this study can improve the sensitivity compared to the existing system while securing excellent spatial resolution.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2935-2940
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• 2023

A polystyrene phantom was developed following the guidance of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) for gamma knife (GK) quality assurance. Its performance was assessed by measuring the absorbed dose rate to water and dose distributions. The phantom was made of polystyrene, which has an electron density (1.0156) similar to that of water. The phantom included one outer phantom and four inner phantoms. Two inner phantoms held PTW T31010 and Exradin A16 ion chambers. One inner phantom held a film in the XY plane of the Leksell coordinate system, and another inner phantom held a film in the YZ or ZX planes. The absorbed dose rate to water and beam profiles of the machine-specific reference (msr) field, namely, the 16 mm collimator field of a GK Perfexion^TM or Icon^TM, were measured at seven GK sites. The measured results were compared to those of an IAEA-recommended solid water (SW) phantom. The radius of the polystyrene phantom was determined to be 7.88 cm by converting the electron density of the plastic, considering a water depth of 8 g/cm². The absorbed dose rates to water measured in both phantoms differed from the treatment planning program by less than 1.1%. Before msr correction, the PTW T31010 dose rates (PTW Freiberg GmbH, New York, NY, USA) in the polystyrene phantom were 0.70 (0.29)% higher on average than those in the SW phantom. The Exradin A16 (Standard Imaging, Middleton, WI, USA) dose rates were 0.76 (0.32)% higher in the polystyrene phantom. After msr correction factors were applied, there were no statistically significant differences in the A16 dose rates measured in the two phantoms; however, the T31010 dose rates were 0.72 (0.29)% higher in the polystyrene phantom. When the full widths at half maximum and penumbras of the msr field were compared, no significant differences between the two phantoms were observed, except for the penumbra in the Y-axis. However, the difference in the penumbra was smaller than variations among different sites. A polystyrene phantom developed for gamma knife dosimetry showed dosimetric performance comparable to that of a commercial SW phantom. In addition to its cost effectiveness, the polystyrene phantom removes air space around the detector. Additional simulations of the msr correction factors of the polystyrene phantom should be performed.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.150-157
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• 2022

Purpose: Elekta synergy^® was commissioned in the Seoul National University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Recently, Chung-Ang University Gwang Myeong Hospital commissioned Elekta Versa HD^TM. The beam characteristics of both machines are similar because of the same Agility^TM MLC Model. We compared measured beam data calculated using the Elekta treatment planning system, Monaco^®, for each institute. Methods: Beam of the commissioning Elekta linear accelerator were measured in two independent institutes. After installing the beam model based on the measured beam data into the Monaco^®, Monte Carlo (MC) simulation data were generated, mimicking the beam data in a virtual water phantom. Measured beam data were compared with the calculated data, and their similarity was quantitatively evaluated by the gamma analysis. Results: We compared the percent depth dose (PDD) and off-axis profiles of 6 MV photon and 6 MeV electron beams with MC calculation. With a 3%/3 mm gamma criterion, the photon PDD and profiles showed 100% gamma passing rates except for one inplane profile at 10 cm depth from VMTH. Gamma analysis of the measured photon beam off-axis profiles between the two institutes showed 100% agreement. The electron beams also indicated 100% agreement in PDD distributions. However, the gamma passing rates of the off-axis profiles were 91%-100% with a 3%/3 mm gamma criterion. Conclusions: The beam and their comparison with MC calculation for each institute showed good performance. Although the measuring tools were orthogonal, no significant difference was found.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.245-247
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• 2022

Backscattered x-ray imaging is a technology capable of acquiring an image inside an irradiated object by measuring X-rays scattered from an object. For image acquisition, the system must include an X-ray generator and a detection system for measuring scattered x-rays. The imaging device must acquire a real-time signal at sampling intervals for x-rays generated by passing through a high-speed rotating collimator, and for this purpose, a high-speed signal acquisition device is required. We developed a high-speed multi-channel signal acquisition device for converting and transmitting signals generated by the sensor unit composed of a large-area plastic scintillator and a photomultiplier tube. The developed detector is a system capable of acquiring signals at intervals of at least 15u seconds and converting and transmitting signals of up to 6 channels. And a system includes remote control functions such as high voltage, signal gain, and low level discrimination for individual calibration of each sensor. Currently, we are conducting an application test for image acquisition under various conditions.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.35
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• pp.15-21
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of the anisotropic analytical algorithm (AAA) and portal dose image prediction (PDIP) for patient-specific quality assurance based on electronic portal imaging device, and to evaluate the clinical feasibility of portal dosimetry using AAA. Subjects and methods: We retrospectively selected a total of 32 patients, including 15 lung cancer patients and 17 liver cancer patients. Verification plans were generated using PDIP and AAA. We obtained gamma passing rates by comparing the calculated distribution with the measured distribution and obtained MLC positional difference values. Results: The mean gamma passing rate for lung cancer patients was 99.5% ± 1.1% for 3%/3 mm using PDIP and 90.6% ± 5.8% for 1%/1 mm. Using AAA, the mean gamma passing rate was 98.9% ± 1.7% for 3%/3 mm and 87.8% ± 5.2% for 1%/1 mm. The mean gamma passing rate for liver cancer patients was 99.9% ± 0.3% for 3%/3 mm using PDIP and 96.6% ± 4.6% for 1%/1 mm. Using AAA, the mean gamma passing rate was 99.6% ± 0.5% for 3%/3 mm and 89.5% ± 6.4% for 1%/1 mm. The MLC positional difference was small at 0.013 mm ± 0.002 mm and showed no correlation with the gamma passing rate. Conclusion: The AAA algorithm can be clinically used as a portal dosimetry calculation algorithm for patientspecific quality assurance based on electronic portal imaging device.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.91-104
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• 2000

Recently linear accelerator in radiation therapy in asymmetric field has been easily used since the improvement and capability of asymmetrical field adjustment attached to the machine. It has been thought there have been some significant errors in dose calculation when asymmetrical radiation fields have been utilized in practice of radiation treatments if the fundamental data for dose calculation have been measured in symmetrical standard fields. This study investigated how much the measured data of dose distributions and their isodose curves are different between in asymmetrical and symmetrical standard fields, and how much there difference affect the error in dose calculation in conventional method measured in symmetrical standard field. The distributions of radiation dose were measured by photon diode detector in the water phantom (RFA-300P, Scanditronix, Sweden) as tissue equivalent material on utilization of 6 MV linear accelerator with source surface distance (SSD) 1000 mm. The photon diode detector has the velocity of 1 mm per second from water surface to 250 mm depth in the field size of $40mm{\times}40mm\;to\;250mm{\times}250mm\;symmetric\;field\;and\;40mm{\times}20mm\;to\;250mm{\times}125mm$ asymmetrical fields. The measurements of percent depth dose (PDD) and subsequent plotting of their isodose curves were performed from water surface to 250mm dmm from Y-center axis in $100mm{\times}50mm$ field in order to absence the variability of depth dose according to increasing field sizes and their affects to plotted isodose curves. The difference of PDD between symmetric and asymmetric field was maximum $4.1\%\;decrease\;in\;40mm{\times}20mm\;field,\;maximum\;6.6\%\;decrease\;in\;100mm{\times}50mm\;and\;maximum\;10.2\%\;decrease\;200mm{\times}100mm$, the larger decrease difference of PDD as the greater field size and as greater the depth, The difference of PDD between asymmetrical field and equivalent square field showed maximum $2.4\%\;decrease\;in\;60mm{\times}30mm\;field,\;maximum\;4.8\%\;decrease\;in\;150mm{\times}75mm\;and\;maximum\;6.1\%\;decrease\;in\;250mm{\times}125mm$, and the larger decreased differenced PDD as the greater field size and as greater the depth, these differences of PDD were out of $5\%$ of dose calculation as defined by international Commission on radiation unit and Measurements(ICRU). In the dose distribution of asymmetrical field (half beam) the plotted isodose curves were observed to have deviations by decreased PDD as greater as the blocking of the beam moved closer to the central axis, and as the asymmetrical field increased by moving the block 10 mm keeping away from the central axis, the PDD increased and plotted isodose curves were gradually more flattened, due to reduced amount of the primary beam and the fraction of low energy soft radiations by passing thougepth in asymmetrical field by moving independent jaw each 10 h beam flattening filter. As asymmetrical radiation field as half beam radiation technique is used, the radiation dosimetry calculated in utilizing the fundamental data which measured in standard symmetrical field should be converted on bases of nearly measured data in asymmetrical field, measured beam data flies of various asymmetrical field in various energy and be necessary in each institution.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.239-245
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• 2014

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to verify the accuracy of dose delivery according to the pitch and roll rotational setup error with 6D robotic couch in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) for pelvic region in patients. Materials and Methods : Trilogy(Varian, USA) and 6D robotic couch(ProturaTM 1.4, CIVCO, USA) were used to measure and analyze the rotational setup error of 14 patients (157 setup cases) for pelvic region. The total 157 Images(CBCT 78, Radiography 79) were used to calculate the mean value and the incidence of pitch and roll rotational setup error with Microsoft Office Excel 2007. The measured data (3 mm, 3%) at the reference angle ($0^{\circ}$) without couch rotation of pitch and roll direction was compared to the others at different pitch and roll angles ($1^{\circ}$, $1.5^{\circ}$, $2^{\circ}$, $2.5^{\circ}$) to verify the accuracy of dose delivery by using 2D array ionization chamber (I'mRT Matrixx, IBA Dosimetry, Germany) and MultiCube Phantom(IBA Dosimetry, Germany). Result from the data, gamma index was evaluated. Results : The mean values of pitch and roll rotational setup error were $0.9^{\circ}{\pm}0.7$, $0.5^{\circ}{\pm}0.6$. The maximum values of them were $2.8^{\circ}$, $2.0^{\circ}$. All of the minimum values were zero. The mean values of gamma pass rate at four different pitch angles ($1^{\circ}$, $1.5^{\circ}$, $2^{\circ}$, $2.5^{\circ}$) were 97.75%, 96.65%, 94.38% and 90.91%. The mean values of gamma pass rate at four different roll angles ($1^{\circ}$, $1.5^{\circ}$, $2^{\circ}$, $2.5^{\circ}$) were 93.68%, 93.05%, 87.77% and 84.96%. when the same angles ($1^{\circ}$, $1.5^{\circ}$, $2^{\circ}$) of pitch and roll were applied simultaneously, The mean values of each angle were 94.90%, 92.37% and 87.88%, respectively. Conclusion : As a result of this study, it was able to recognize that the accuracy of dose delivered is lowered gradually as pitch and roll increases. In order to increase the accuracy of delivered dose, therefore, it is recommended to perform IGRT or correct patient's position in the pitch and roll direction, to improve the quality of treatment.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to describe the proton therapy system at Samsung Medical Center (SMC-PTS) including the proton beam generator, irradiation system, patient positioning system, patient position verification system, respiratory gating system, and operating and safety control system, and review the current status of the SMC-PTS. Materials and Methods: The SMC-PTS has a cyclotron (230 MeV) and two treatment rooms: one treatment room is equipped with a multi-purpose nozzle and the other treatment room is equipped with a dedicated pencil beam scanning nozzle. The proton beam generator including the cyclotron and the energy selection system can lower the energy of protons down to 70 MeV from the maximum 230 MeV. Results: The multi-purpose nozzle can deliver both wobbling proton beam and active scanning proton beam, and a multi-leaf collimator has been installed in the downstream of the nozzle. The dedicated scanning nozzle can deliver active scanning proton beam with a helium gas filled pipe minimizing unnecessary interactions with the air in the beam path. The equipment was provided by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., RayStation from RaySearch Laboratories AB is the selected treatment planning system, and data management will be handled by the MOSAIQ system from Elekta AB. Conclusion: The SMC-PTS located in Seoul, Korea, is scheduled to begin treating cancer patients in 2015.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.464-472
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• 2005

Purpose: SPECT using a fan-beam collimator improves spatial resolution and sensitivity. For the reconstruction from fan-beam projections, it is necessary to implement direct fan-beam reconstruction methods without transforming the data into the parallel geometry. In this study, various fan-beam reconstruction algorithms were implemented and their performances were compared. Materials and Methods: The projector for fan-beam SPECT was implemented using a ray-tracing method. The direct reconstruction algorithms implemented for fan-beam projection data were FBP (filtered backprojection), EM (expectation maximization), OS-EM (ordered subsets EM) and MAP-EM OSL (maximum a posteriori EM using the one-step late method) with membrane and thin-plate models as priors. For comparison, the fan-beam protection data were also rebinned into the parallel data using various interpolation methods, such as the nearest neighbor, bilinear and bicubic interpolations, and reconstructed using the conventional EM algorithm for parallel data. Noiseless and noisy projection data from the digital Hoffman brain and Shepp/Logan phantoms were reconstructed using the above algorithms. The reconstructed images were compared in terms of a percent error metric. Results: for the fan-beam data with Poisson noise, the MAP-EM OSL algorithm with the thin-plate prior showed the best result in both percent error and stability. Bilinear interpolation was the most effective method for rebinning from the fan-beam to parallel geometry when the accuracy and computation load were considered. Direct fan-beam EM reconstructions were more accurate than the standard EM reconstructions obtained from rebinned parallel data. Conclusion: Direct fan-beam reconstruction algorithms were implemented, which provided significantly improved reconstructions.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.82-93
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• 2000

Purpose: We characterized the signals obtained from the components of a small gamma camera using Nal(Tl)-position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT) and optimized the parameters employed in the modules of the system. Materials and Methods: The small gamma camera system consists of a Nal(Tl) crystal ($60{\times}60{\times}6mm^3$) coupled with a Hamamatsu R3941 PSPMT, a resister chain circuit, preamplifiers, nuclear instrument modules (NIMs), an analog to digital converter and a personal computer for control and display. The PSPMT was read out using a resistive charge division circuit which multiplexes the 34 cross wire anode channels into 4 signals (X+, X-, Y+, Y -). Those signals were individually amplified by four preamplifiers and then, shaped and amplified by amplifiers. The signals were discriminated and digitized via triggering signal and used to localize the position of an event by applying the Anger logic. The gamma camera control and image display was performed by a program implemented using a graphic software. Results: The characteristics of signal and the parameters employed in each module of the system were presented. The intrinsic sensitivity of the system was approximately $8{\times}10^3$ counts/sec/${\mu}Ci$. The intrinsic energy resolution of the system was 18% FWHM at 140 keV. The spatial resolution obtained using a line-slit mask and $^{99m}Tc$ point source were, respectively, 2.2 and 2.3 mm FWHM in X and Y directions. Breast phantom containing $2{\sim}7mm$ diameter spheres was successfully imaged with a parallel hole collimator. The image displayed accurate size and activity distribution over the imaging field of view Conclusion: We proposed a simple method for development of a small gamma camera and presented the characteristics of the signals from the system and the optimized parameters used in the modules of the small gamma camera.