• 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.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.193-200
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• 2015

The aim of this study is to present commissioning results of the ViewRay system. We verified safety functions of the ViewRay system. For imaging system, we acquired signal to noise ratio (SNR) and image uniformity. In addition, we checked spatial integrity of the image. Couch movement accuracy and coincidence of isocenters (radiation therapy system, imaging system and virtual isocneter) was verified. Accuracy of MLC positioing was checked. We performed reference dosimetry according to American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 51 (TG-51) in water phantom for head 1 and 3. The deviations between measurements and calculation of percent depth dose (PDD) and output factor were evaluated. Finally, we performed gamma evaluations with a total of 8 IMRT plans as an end-to-end (E2E) test of the system. Every safety system of ViewRay operated properly. The values of SNR and Uniformity met the tolerance level. Every point within 10 cm and 17.5 cm radii about the isocenter showed deviations less than 1 mm and 2 mm, respectively. The average couch movement errors in transverse (x), longitudinal (y) and vertical (z) directions were 0.2 mm, 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm, respectively. The deviations between radiation isocenter and virtual isocenter in x, y and z directions were 0 mm, 0 mm and 0.3 mm, respectively. Those between virtual isocenter and imaging isocenter were 0.6 mm, 0.5 mm and 0.2 mm, respectively. The average MLC positioning errors were less than 0.6 mm. The deviations of output, PDDs between mesured vs. BJR supplement 25, PDDs between measured and calculated and output factors of each head were less than 0.5%, 1%, 1% and 2%, respectively. For E2E test, average gamma passing rate with 3%/3 mm criterion was $99.9%{\pm}0.1%$.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.381-386
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to improve diagnostic efficiency of clinical study by setting up guidelines for more precise examination with a comparative analysis of signal intensity and image distortion depending on the location of X axial of object when performing magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging (MR DWI) examination. We arranged the self-produced phantom with a 45 mm of interval from the core of 44 regent bottles that have a 16 mm of external diameter and 55 mm of height, and were placed in 4 rows and 11 columns in an acrylic box. We also filled up water and margarine to portrait the fat. We used 3T Skyra and 18 Channel Body array coil. We also obtained the coronal image with the direction of RL (right to left) by using scan slice thinkness 3 mm, slice gap: 0mm, field of view (FOV): $450{\times}450mm^2$, repetition time (TR): 5000 ms, echo time (TE): 73/118 ms, Matrix: $126{\times}126$, slice number: 15, scan time: 9 min 45sec, number of excitations (NEX): 3, phase encoding as a diffusion-weighted imaging parameter. In order to scan, we set b-value to $0s/mm^2$, $400s/mm^2$, and $1,400s/mm^2$, and obtained T2 fat saturation image. Then we did a comparative analysis on the differences between image distortion and signal intensity depending on the location of X axial based on iso-center of patient's table. We used "Image J" as a comparative analysis programme, and used SPSS v18.0 as a statistic programme. There was not much difference between image distortion and signal intensity on fat and water from T2 fat saturation image. But, the average value depends on the location of X axial was statistically significant (p < 0.05). From DWI image, when b-value was 0 and 400, there was no significant difference up to $2^{nd}$ columns right to left from the core of patient's table, however, there was a decline in signal intensity and image distortion from the $3^{rd}$ columns and they started to decrease rapidly at the $4^{th}$ columns. When b-value was 1,400, there was not much difference between the $1^{st}$ row right to left from the core of patient's table, however, image distortion started to appear from the $2^{nd}$ columns with no change in signal intensity, the signal was getting decreased from the $3^{rd}$ columns, and both signal intensity and image distortion started to get decreased rapidly. At this moment, the reagent bottles from outside out of 11 reagent bottles were not verified from the image, and only 9 reagent bottles were verified. However, it was not possible to verify anything from the $5^{th}$ columns. But, the average value depends on the location of X axial was statistically significant. On T2 FS image, there was a significant decline in image distortion and signal intensity over 180mm from the core of patient's table. On diffusion-weighted image, there was a significant decline in image distortion and signal intensity over 90 mm, and they became unverifiable over 180 mm. Therefore, we should make an image that has a diagnostic value from examinations that are hard to locate patient's position.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2010

Ionizing radiation is most widely used for X-Ray examination among all artificial radiation exposure, it takes up the largest proportion. Even in Korea, the medical exposure by diagnostic X-Ray examination takes up 17.4% of all radiation exposure. It takes up 92% even in artificial radiation exposure. There were 111,567 cases X-Ray radiography for skull diagnosis in 2007, which is 3% annual increase since 2004. Thus, It is need to establish the diagnostic reference level and the medical facilities as a diagnostic reference level to optimize radiation protection of the patients and to reduce the doses of X-ray. In this paper, we survey patient dose on skull radiography - collected from 114 medical facilities nationwide by using human phantom and glass dosimeter. When the patient dose for the skull radiography was measured and evaluated to establish the diagnostic reference level, 2.23 mGy was established for posterior-anterior imaging and 1.87 mGy for lateral imaging was established. The posterior-anterior skull radiography entrance surface dose of 2.23 is less than the guidance level of 5 mGy from the global organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and 1.87 mGy for the lateral skull imaging is less than the guidance level of 3 mGy, which is guided by the global organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.619-627
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of CT contrast agent and MRI contrast agent on the area dose in the body when using automatic exposure control system in general radiography. After making rectangular holes in the center of the abdominal thickness paraffin phantom, CT contrast agent and MRI contrast agent were respectively diluted with physiological saline solution for contrast medium dilution ratio of 10:0, 9:1, 8:2, 7:3, 6:4, 5:5, 4:6, 3:7, 2:8, 1:9, 0:10%. Each experiment was set to 78 kVp, 320 mA, which is the proper condition for KUB photography, and thereafter a total of 30 inspections were made for each dilution ratio using an automatic exposure control device, and the area dose corresponding to the dilution ratio of each contrast agent, Average comparison and correlation analysis were performed on the exposure index. As a result, the CT contrast agent and the MRI contrast agent appeared different in area dose according to the dilution ratio(p<0.05), and as the dilution ratio increased, the area dose increased for CT contrast agent and MRI contrast agent(P<0.05). In each test, the exposure index showed the manufacturer's recommendation of 200-800 EI value, and the exposure index and area dose increased as the area dose increased(p<0.05). In conclusion, CT contrast agent and MRI contrast agent confirmed to increase the area dose by general imaging test using all automatic exposure control device. Therefore, it is considered that it is necessary to perform it after the contrast medium has been excreted sufficiently when using usual imaging test after using the contrast agent in CT and MRI examination.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.107-116
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• 2011

Respiratory gated radiation therapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy require identical tumor motions during each treatment with the motion detected in treatment planning CT. Therefore, this study developed a tumor motion monitoring and analysis system during the treatments employing RPM data, gated setup OBI images and a data analysis software. A respiratory training and guiding program which improves the regularity of breathing was used to patients. The breathing signal was obtained by RPM and the recorded data in the 4D console was read after treatment. The setup OBI images obtained gated at 0% and 50% of breathing phases were used to detect the tumor motion range in crenio-caudal direction. By matching the RPM data recorded at the OBI imaging time, a factor which converts the RPM motion to the tumor motion was computed. RPM data was entered to the institute developed data analysis software and the maximum, minimum, average of the breathing motion as well as the standard deviation of motion amplitude and period was computed. The computed result is exported in an excel file. The conversion factor was applied to the analyzed data to estimate the tumor motion. The accuracy of the developed method was tested by using a moving phantom, and the efficacy was evaluated for 10 stereotactic body radiation therapy patients. For the sine wave motion of the phantom with 4 sec of period and 2 cm of peak-to-peak amplitude, the measurement was slightly larger (4.052 sec) and the amplitude was smaller (1.952 cm). For patient treatment, one patient was evaluated not to qualified to SBRT due to the usability of the breathing, and in one patient case, the treatment was changed to respiratory gated treatment due the larger motion range of the tumor than treatment planed motion. The developed method and data analysis program was useful to estimate the tumor motion during treatment.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2013

At present, megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) is the only method used to correct the position of tomotherapy patients. MVCT produces extra radiation, in addition to the radiation used for treatment, and repositioning also takes up much of the total treatment time. To address these issues, we suggest the use of a video image-guided setup (VIGS) system for correcting the position of tomotherapy patients. We developed an in-house program to correct the exact position of patients using two orthogonal images obtained from two video cameras installed at $90^{\circ}$ and fastened inside the tomotherapy gantry. The system is programmed to make automatic registration possible with the use of edge detection of the user-defined region of interest (ROI). A head-and-neck patient is then simulated using a humanoid phantom. After taking the computed tomography (CT) image, tomotherapy planning is performed. To mimic a clinical treatment course, we used an immobilization device to position the phantom on the tomotherapy couch and, using MVCT, corrected its position to match the one captured when the treatment was planned. Video images of the corrected position were used as reference images for the VIGS system. First, the position was repeatedly corrected 10 times using MVCT, and based on the saved reference video image, the patient position was then corrected 10 times using the VIGS method. Thereafter, the results of the two correction methods were compared. The results demonstrated that patient positioning using a video-imaging method ($41.7{\pm}11.2$ seconds) significantly reduces the overall time of the MVCT method ($420{\pm}6$ seconds) (p<0.05). However, there was no meaningful difference in accuracy between the two methods (x=0.11 mm, y=0.27 mm, z=0.58 mm, p>0.05). Because VIGS provides a more accurate result and reduces the required time, compared with the MVCT method, it is expected to manage the overall tomotherapy treatment process more efficiently.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.100-106
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to confirm the exactitude of in vitro nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(NMRS) and to complement the defect of in vivo NMRS. It has been difficult to understand the metabolism of a cerebellum using in vivo NMRS owing to the generated inhomogeneity of magnetic fields (B0 and B1 field) by the complexity of the cerebellum structure. Thus, this study tried to more exactly analyze the metabolism of a canine cerebellum using the cell extraction and high resolution NMRS. In order to conduct the absolute metabolic quantification in a canine cerebellum, the spectrum of our phantom included in various brain metabolites (i.e., NAA, Cr, Cho, Ins, Lac, GABA, Glu, Gln, Tau and Ala) was obtained. The canine cerebellum tissue was extracted using the methanol-chloroform water extraction (M/C extraction) and one group was filtered and the other group was not under extract processing. Finally, NMRS of a phantom solution and two extract solution (90% D2O) was progressed using a 500MHz (11.4 T) NMR machine. Filtering a solution of the tissue extract increased the signal to noise ratio (SNR). The metabolic concentrations of a canine cerebellum were more close to rat’s metabolic concentration than human’s metabolic concentration. The present study demonstrates the absolute quantification technique in vitro high resolution NMRS with tissue extraction as the method to accurately measure metabolite concentration.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2009

Purpose: A whole body scan using a radioactive iodine (I-131) for the patients with differentiated thyroid cancer is generally an useful method to detect the remnant thyroid tissue, recurred lesion or metastasis lesion after a surgery. The high dose treatment using the radioactive iodine recently tends to increase, and a hospitalization wait for the treatment has been delayed for several months. In this hospital, the treatable patients per week were increased in number through expanding a water-purifier tank and the examination time also increased as the I-131 whole body scan patients increased. Improvement for this problem, this research reduce the existing examination time and classifying the lesion's exact position intended to by fabricating and utilizing the transmission scan tool and an excellent resolution for whole body imaging. Materials and Methods: After conducting the whole body scan for patients who visited the department from February to July 2008 and received the I-131 whole body scan using the ORBITER Gamma Camera. A rail was installed in the examination table for the transmission scan for show a contour of surface area and then the transmission image was obtained and fused to the whole body scan through fabricating the tool to put a flood phantom of diluted 2 mCi $^{99m}Tc$-pertechnetate. Results: Fused image of I-131 whole body scan and the transmission scan had the excellent resolution to discriminate an oral cavity or salivary gland region, neck region's lesion, and metastasis region's position through a simple marking, and could reduce the examination time of 8~28 minutes because without the additional local image. Conclusions: In I-131 whole body scan, the transmission scan can accurately show a contour of surface area through the attenuation of radioactivity, and is useful to indicate the remnant thyroid tissue or metastasis lesion's position by improving the resolution through the fusion image with alreadyexecuted I-131 whole body scan. Also, because the additional local image is not necessary, it can reduce the time required for the examination. It will extensively apply to other clinical examinations to be helpful for identifying an anatomical position because it shows the contour of surface area.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2010

Purpose: The static image of nuclear medicine study should be acquired without a motion, however, it is difficult to acquire static image without movement for the serious patients, advanced aged patients. These movements cause decreases in reliability for quantitative and qualitative analysis, therefore re-examination was inevitable in the some cases. Consequently, in order to improve the problem of motion artifacts, the authors substituted the dynamic acquisition technique for the static acquisition, using motion correction. Materials and Methods: A capillary tube and IEC body phantom were used. First, the static image was acquired for 60 seconds while the dynamic images were acquired with a protocol, 2 sec/frame${\times}$30 frames, under the same parameter and the frames were summed up into one image afterwards. Also, minimal motion and excessive motion were applied during the another dynamic acquisition and the coordinate correction was applied towards X and Y axis on the frames where the motion artifact occurred. But the severe blurred images were deleted. Finally, the resolution and counts were compared between the static image and the summed dynamic images which before and after applying motion correction, and the signal of frequency was analysed after frequency spatial domain was transformed into 2D FFT. Supplementary examination, the blind test was performed by the nuclear medicine department staff. Results: First, the resolution in the static image and summed dynamic image without motion were 8.32 mm, 8.37 mm on X-axis and 8.30 mm, 8.42 mm on Y-axis, respectively. The counts were 484 kcounts, 485 kcounts each, so there was nearly no difference. Secondly, the resolution in the image with minimal motion applying motion correction was 8.66 mm on X-axis, 8.85 mm on Y-axis and had 469 kcounts while the image without motion correction was 21.81 mm, 24.02 mm and 469 kcounts in order. So, this shows the image with minimal motion applying motion correction has similar resolution with the static image. Lastly, the resolution in the images with excessive motion applying motion correction were 9.09 mm on X-axis, 8.83 mm on Y-axis and had 469 kcounts while the image without motion correction was 47.35 mm, 40.46 mm and 255 kcounts in order. Although there was difference in counts because of deletion of blurred frames, we could get similar resolution. And when the image was transformed into frequency, the high frequency was decreased by the movement. However, the frequency was improved again after motion correction. In the blind test, there was no difference between the image applying motion correction and the static image without motion. Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the static image and the summed dynamic image. This technique can be applied to patients who may have difficulty remaining still during the imaging process, so that the quality of image can be improved as well as the reliance for analysis of quantity. Moreover, the re-examination rate will be considerably decreased. However, there is a limit of motion correction, more time will be required to successfully image the patients applying motion correction. Also, the decrease of total counts due to deletion of the severe blurred images should be calculated and the proper number of frames should be acquired.