• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4652-4659
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• 2022

Among the detector materials available at room temperature, thallium bromide (TlBr), which has a relatively high atomic number and density, is widely used for gamma camera imaging. This study aimed to verify the usefulness of TlBr through quantitative evaluation by modeling detectors of various compound types using Monte Carlo simulations. The Geant4 application for tomographic emission was used for simulation, and detectors based on cadmium zinc telluride and cadmium telluride materials were selected as a comparison group. A pixel-matched parallel-hole collimator with proven excellent performance was modeled, and phantoms used for quality control in nuclear medicine were used. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast to noise ratio (CNR), sensitivity, and full width at half maximum (FWHM) were used for quantitative analysis to evaluate the image quality. The SNR, CNR, sensitivity, and FWHM for the TlBr detector material were approximately 1.05, 1.04, 1.41, and 1.02 times, respectively, higher than those of the other detector materials. The SNR, CNR and sensitivity increased with increasing detector thickness, but the spatial resolution in terms of FWHM decreased. Thus, we demonstrated the feasibility and possibility of using the TlBr detector material in comparison with commercial detector materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.773-778
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• 2019

Images using X-rays are essential to diagnosis, but noise is inevitable in the image. To compensate for this, a total variation (TV) algorithm was presented to reduce the patient's exposure dose while increasing the quality of the images. The purpose of this study is to verify the effect on the image quality in radiographic imaging according to the thickness of the additional filtration plate through simulation, and to evaluate the usefulness of the TV algorithm. By using the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emissions (GATE) simulation image, the actual size, shape and material of the Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) phantom were identical, the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were compared. The results showed that the CNR value was the highest and the COV the lowest when applying the TV algorithm. In addition, we can acquire superior CNR and COV results with 0 mm Al in all algorithm cases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.511-515
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• 2020

In this study, we evaluated image quality for new Gadolinium Aluminum Gallium Garnet (GAGG) scintillation material based on the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) simulation tool. The gamma camera detectors with GAGG and NaI scintillation were designed. In particular, we modeled modified body phantom by National Electrical Manufacturers Association International Electrotechnical Commission to evaluate the simulated images. To analysis the image performance, the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were used by drawn the region of interests, respectively. Based on the CNR and COV results, the CNR value for GAGG material is higher approximately 17 % than NaI material. In addition, the COV value for GAGG material is lower approximately 17 % than NaI material. In conclusion, we confirmed the performnace of GAGG based gamma camera is useful to improve the image quality for the nuclear medicine instrumentation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.453-458
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• 2019

In this study we analyzed the tendency of the image characteristic by changing filtering factor for the proposed fast non local means (FNLM) noise reduction algorithm with designed Male Adult mesh (MASH) phantom through Geant4 application for tomographic emission (GATE) simulation program. To accomplish this purpose, MASH phantom for human copy was designed through the GATE simulation program. In addition, we acquired degraded image by adding Gaussian noise with a value of 0.005 using the MATALB program in MASH phantom. Moreover, in degraded image, the FNLM noise reduction algorithm was applied by changing the filtering factors, which set to 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 value, respectively. To quantitatively evaluate, the coefficient of variation (COV), signal to noise ratio (SNR), and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) were calculated in reconstructed images. Results of the COV, SNR and CNR were most improved in image with a filtering factor of 0.05 value. Especially, the COV was decreased with increasing filtering factor, and showed nearly constant values after 0.05 value of the filtering factor. In addition, SNR and CNR were showed that improvement with increasing filtering factor, and deterioration after 0.05 value of the filtering factor. In conclusion, we demonstrated the significance of setting the filtering factor when applying the FNLM noise reduction algorithm in degraded image.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate CTDI (computed tomography dose index at center) for various phantom shapes, sizes, and compositions by using GATE (geant4 application for tomographic emission) simulations. GATE simulations were performed for various phantom shapes (cylinder, elliptical, and hexagonal prism PMMA phantoms) and phantom compositions (water, PMMA, polyethylene, polyoxymethylene) with various diameters (1-50 cm) at various kVp and mAs levels. The $CTDI_{100center}$ values of cylinder, elliptical, and hexagonal prism phantom at 120 kVp, 200 mAs resulted in 11.1, 13.4, and 12.2 mGy, respectively. The volume is the same, but $CTDI_{100center}$ values are different depending on the type of phantom. The water, PMMA, and polyoxymethylene phantom $CTDI_{100center}$ values were relatively low as the material density increased. However, in the case of Polyethylene, the $CTDI_{100center}$ value was higher than that of PMMA at diameters exceeding 15 cm ($CTDI_{100center}$ : 35.0 mGy). And a diameter greater than 30 cm ($CTDI_{100center}$ : 17.7 mGy) showed more $CTDI_{100center}$ than Water. We have used limited phantoms to evaluate CT doses. In this study, $CTDI_{100center}$ values were estimated and simulated by GATE simulation according to the material and shape of the phantom. CT dosimetry can be estimated more accurately by using various materials and phantom shapes close to human body.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.129-132
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• 2023

Purpose: Positron emisson tomography (PET) is a crucial medical imaging scanner for the detection of cancer lesions. In order to maintain the improved image quality, it is crucial to apply detectors of superior performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare PET image quality using Monte Carlo simulation based on the detector materials of BGO, LSO, and LuAP. Materials and Methods: The Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) was used to design the PET detector. Scintillations with BGO, LSO and LuAP were modelled, with a size of 3.95 × 5.3 mm2 (width × height) and 25.0 mm (thickness). The PET detector consisted of 34 blocks per ring and a total of 4 rings. A line source of 1 MBq was modelled and acquired with a radius of 1 mm and length of 20 mm for 20 seconds. The acquired image was reconstructed maximum likelihood expectation maximization with 2 iteration and 10 subsets. The count comparison was carried out. Results and Discussion: The highest true, random, and scatter counts were obtained from the BGO scintillation detector compared to LSO and LuAP. Conclusion: The BGO scintillation detector material indicated excellent performance in terms of detection of gamma rays from emitted PET phantom.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.571-575
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• 2016

Monte Carlo simulations are widely used as the most accurate technique for dose calculation in radiation therapy. In this paper, the GATE6(Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission ver.6) code was employed to calculate the dosimetric performance of the photon beams from a linear accelerator(LINAC). The treatment head of a Varian 21EX Clinac was modeled including the major geometric structures within the beam path such as a target, a primary collimator, a flattening filter, a ion chamber, and jaws. The 6 MV photon spectra were characterized in a standard $10{\times}10cm^2$ field at 100 cm source-to-surface distance(SSD) and subsequent dose estimations were made in a water phantom. The measurements of percentage depth dose and dose profiles were performed with 3D water phantom and the simulated data was compared to measured reference data. The simulated results agreed very well with the measured data. It has been found that the GATE6 code is an effective tool for dose optimization in radiotherapy applications.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.71-78
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• 2021

When continuous X-ray are used when acquiring and X-ray image, even the same material may not be accurately represented in the image according to the thickness due to various X-ray energies. To solve this problem, the X-ray energy spectrum was changed to improve the image quality. Using SPEKTR v3.0, an X-ray energy spectrum with an additional filter added and a general X-ray energy spectrum using only a unique filter were obtained. Simulation was performed using the obtained X-ray energy spectrum as a radiation source for Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE). Using GATE data, an X-ray image with an additional filter and an image reconstructed from and X-ray image without an additional filter were compared and analyzed through a mono energy image of 74 keV. In the case of using the X-ray energy spectrum without using an additional filter, the amount of X-rays transmitted according to the thickness of the same material is different from the amount that decreases according to the thickness of the material. Similar results were obtained as the amount decreased with the material thickness. In other words, a similar result was obtained when the reduced dose was used with a mono energy. When an X-ray image is obtained by changing an X-ray energy spectrum using an additional filter, a more accurate result of transmission of X-rays may be obtained. In radiological examination, it was confirmed that the appropriate use of the additional filter has a great effect on improving the image quality.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.133-137
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to validate for GATE (Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission) simulation by comparing the results of GATE simulation and experiment in real SPECT system. Futhermore, we want to prove that it is possible that the quantitative research of gamma camera/SPECT imaging for therapeutic radio isotope by using GATE simulation. In this study, the SPECT system on simulation referred to the parameters of Stream-R Forte version 1.2 (Philips Medical System, Best and Heerlen, Netherlands). To understand the I-131 image of gamma camera/SPECT system, we acquired the energy spectrum and measured the full width at half maximum (FWHM) which comes from line spread function (LSF) with and without scatter material in real SPECT system. And to compare with experiment, we also measured the FWHM and acquired the energy spectrum without scatter material in GATE simulation. As a result, without scatter material, the energy peak was almost same location, which are located nearby 364 keV, and other spectrum factors are same tendency in both cases. The FWHM was increased by increasing the distance of source to detector, and the error rate was approximately 3.8%. When we used the line source with scatter material, energy spectrum also indicated similar tendency in both cases. As you confirmed earlier, GATE simulation included real instrument and radioisotope characters for therapeutic radioisotope. Therefore this result that it was possible that various quantitative study for therapeutic radioisotope imaging in gamma camera/SPECT using GATE simulation.