• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1259-1265
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• 2021

In the present study, a large-area hybrid gamma imaging system was designed by adopting coded aperture imaging on the basis of a large-area Compton camera to achieve high imaging performance throughout a broad energy range (100-2000 keV). The system consisting of a tungsten coded aperture mask and monolithic NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors was designed through a series of Geant4 Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations, in consideration of both imaging sensitivity and imaging resolution. Then, the performance of the system was predicted by Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations for point sources under various conditions. Our simulation results show that the system provides very high imaging sensitivity (i.e., low values for minimum detectable activity, MDA), thus allowing for imaging of low-activity sources at distances impossible with coded aperture imaging or Compton imaging alone. In addition, the imaging resolution of the system was found to be high (i.e., around 6°) over the broad energy range of 59.5-1330 keV.

• 대한핵의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.45-53
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• 2002

Positron Emission Tomography(PET) was introduced as a research tool in the 1970s and it took about 20 years before PET became an useful clinical imaging modality. In the USA, insurance coverage for PET procedures in the 1990s was the turning point, I believe, for this progress. Initially PET was used in neurology but recently more than 80% of PET procedures are in oncological applications. I firmly believe, in the 21st century, one can not manage cancer patients properly without PET and PET is very important medical imaging modality in basic and clinical sciences. PET is grouped into 2 categories : conventional(c) and gamma camera $based_{(CB)}$ PET. $_{CB}PET$ is more readily available utilizing dual-head gamma cameras and commercially available FDG to many medical centers at low cost to patients. In fact there are more $_{CB}PET$ in operation than cPET in the USA. $_{CB}PET$ is inferior to cPET in its performance but clinical studies in oncology is feasible without expensive infrastructures such as staffing, rooms and equipments. At Ajou university Hospital, CBPET was installed in late 1997 for the first time in Korea as well as in Asia and the system has been used successfully and effectively in oncological applications. Ours was the fourth PET operation in Korea and I believe this may have been instrumental for other institutions got interested in clinical PET. The fellowing is a brief description of our clinical experience of FDG CBPET in oncology.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1997 no.11
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• pp.365-368
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• 1997

We are developing a small gamma camera or imaging malignant breast tumors. The small scintillation camera system consists of NaI(Tl) crystal ($60\;{\times}\;60\;{\times}\;6\;mm^3$) coupled to position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT), nuclear instrument module (NIM), analog to digital converter (ADC), and personal computer. High quality flood source image and hole mask image were obtained using the gamma camera developed in this study. Breast phantom containing $2{\sim}7\;mm$ diameter spheres was successfully imaged with parallel hole collimator. The obtained image displayed accurate activity distribution over the imaging field of view. Linearity and uniformity correction algorithms are being developed. It is believed that the developed small gamma camera could be useful or detection of malignant breast cancer.

• 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.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2001

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of performing nuclear medicine quality control in korea and to test selected protocols of quality control of nuclear medicine counting system and gamma camera. Materials and Methods: Fifty three hospitals were included to investigate the current status of nuclear medicine quality control in korea. The precision of dose calibrator and thyroid uptake system was measured with Tc-99m 35.52 MBq for 2 minuets and Tc-99m 5.14 MBq for 10 sec every one minute, respectively. The sensitivity of CeraSPECT$^{TM}$ with low energy high resolution parallel hole collimator was measured using two cylindrical phantoms with 15 cm in diameter and 12 cm and 30 cm in heights containing Tc-99m. The correction factor for sensitivity of CeraSPECT$^{TM}$ was calculated using phantom data. The system planar sensitivity, uniformity, count rate and spatial resolution were measured for Varicam gamma camera with low energy high resolution parallel hole collimator using 140 keV centered 20% energy window, 256$\times$256 or 512$\times$512 matrix sizes. Results: The quality control of dose calibrator and well counter were showed poor performance status. On the other hand, The quality control of gamma camera and other systems were showed relatively good performance status. The results of precision of dose calibrator and thyroid uptake system was $\pm$1.4%(<$\pm$5%) and chi^2=29.7(>16.92), respectively. It showed that the sensitivity of CeraSPECT$^{TM}$ was higher in center slices compared with the edge slices. After correction of nonuniform sensitivities for patient data, it showed better results compare with prior to correction. System planar sensitivity of Varicam gamma camera was 4.39 CPM/MBq. The observed count rate at 20% loss was 102,407 counts/sec (head 1), 113,427 counts/sec (head 2), when input count rate was 81,926 counts/sec (head 1), 90,741 counts/sec (head 2). The spatial resolution without scatter medium were 8.16 mm of FWHM and 14.85 mm of FWTM. The spatial resolution with scatter medium were 8.87 mm of FWHM and 18.87 mm of FWTM. Conclusion: It is necessary to understand the importance of quality control and to perform quality control of nuclear medicine devices.vices.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.199-207
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• 2021

This paper deals with accurate image reconstruction of gamma camera using a coded-aperture mask based on pixel-type CsI(Tl) scintillator coupled with silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) array. Coded-aperture imaging (CAI) system typically has a smaller effective viewing angle than Compton camera. Thus, if the position of the gamma source to be searched is out of the fully-coded field-of-view (FCFOV) region of the CAI system, artifacts can be generated when the image is reconstructed by using the conventional cross-correlation (CC) method. In this work, we propose an effective method for more accurate reconstruction in CAI considering the source distribution of partially-coded field-of-view (PCFOV) in the reconstruction in attempt to overcome this drawback. We employed an iterative algorithm based on compressed-sensing (CS) and compared the reconstruction quality with that of the CC algorithm. Both algorithms were implemented and performed a systematic Monte Carlo simulation to demonstrate the possiblilty of the proposed method. The reconstructed image qualities were quantitatively evaluated in sense of the root mean square error (RMSE) and the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). Our simulation results indicate that the proposed method provides more accurate location information of the simulated gamma source than the CC-based method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1947-1954
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• 2021

In the nuclear medicine imaging, quality control (QC) process using quadrant bar phantom is fundamental aspect of evaluating the spatial resolution. In addition, QC process of gamma camera is performed by daily or weekly. Recently, Monte Carlo simulation using the Geant4 application for tomographic emission (GATE) is widely applied in the pre-clinical nuclear medicine field for modeling gamma cameras with pixelated cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor detector. In this study, we modeled a pixelated CdTe semiconductor detector and quadrant bar phantom (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm bar thicknesses) using the GATE tool. Similarity analysis based on correlation coefficients and peak signal-to-noise ratios was performed to compare image qualities for various source to collimator distances (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 cm) and collimator lengths (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 cm). To this end, we selected reference images based on collimator length and source to collimator distance settings. The results demonstrate that as the collimator length increases and the source to collimator distance decreases, the similarity to reference images improves. Therefore, our simulation results represent valuable information for the modeling of CdTe-based semiconductor gamma imaging systems and QC phantoms in the field of nuclear medicine.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.63.1-63.1
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• 2010

CQUEAN (Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse) is a newly developed camera system by CEOU optimized at 0.8 - $1.1{\mu}m$ wavelength region. From Aug. 10 to Aug. 17, 2010, the camera was installed at 2.1m Otto Struve telescope at McDonald Observatory, USA, and engineering test observation was performed. We obtained the data for the characteristics of camera and scientific purpose using 7 filters (g, r, i, z, Is, Iz, Y). For the purpose of discovery of z - 5~6 quasar, we specially used new filters (Is,Iz). During the test observation, we obtained the data of Gamma-Ray Burst, high redshift quasars, high redshift quasar candidates and other calibration data. We present general characteristics of the reduced data taken with CQUEAN and show the performance of the camera.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2016.10a
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• pp.942-943
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• 2016

Stereo gamma ray detection system generates a two-dimensional image of the gamma ray by using the position values and the gamma ray signal. And the device will overlap with the visible light image shows the actual distribution of the gamma-ray space. The gamma ray detection device is a stereo configuration to a motion controller for controlling the signal measurement unit and the position detection portion for detecting the detection portion and the gamma-ray signal comprising a gamma-ray detection sensor. In this paper, we developed a system operation management algorithm for each module individually configured efficiently. We confirmed the imaged and distribution information output for the gamma rays from gamma-ray irradiation test site by using these results.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.365-373
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• 1998

Purpose: The conventional gamma camera is not ideal for scintimammography because of its large detector size (${\sim}500mm$ in width) causing high cost and low image quality. We are developing a small gamma camera dedicated for breast imaging. Materials and Methods: The small gamma camera system consists of a NaI (T1) crystal ($60 mm{\times}60 mm{\times}6 mm$) coupled with a Hamamatsu R3941 Position Sensitive Photomultiplier Tube (PSPMT), a resister chain circuit, preamplifiers, nuclear instrument modules, an analog to digital converter and a personal computer for control and display. The PSPMT was read out using a standard resistive charge division 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 ana digitized via triggering signal and used to localize the position of an event by applying the Anger logic. Results: The intrinsic sensitivity of the system was approximately 8,000 counts/sec/${\mu}Ci$. High quality flood and hole mask images were obtained. Breast phantom containing $2{\sim}7 mm$ 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 have succesfully developed a small gamma camera using NaI(T1)-PSPMT and nuclear Instrument modules. The small gamma camera developed in this study might improve the diagnostic accuracy of scintimammography by optimally imaging the breast.