• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.50-64
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• 2024

Background: The reference dose coefficients (DCs) of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) have been widely used to estimate organ doses of individuals for risk assessments. This approach has been well accepted because individual anatomy data are usually unavailable, although dosimetric uncertainty exists due to the anatomical difference between the reference phantoms and the individuals. We attempted to quantify the individual variation of organ doses for photon external exposures by calculating and comparing organ DCs for 30 individuals against the ICRP reference DCs. Materials and Methods: We acquired computed tomography images from 30 patients in which eight organs (brain, breasts, liver, lungs, skeleton, skin, stomach, and urinary bladder) were segmented using the ImageJ software to create voxel phantoms. The phantoms were implemented into the Monte Carlo N-Particle 6 (MCNP6) code and then irradiated by broad parallel photon beams (10 keV to 10 MeV) at four directions (antero-posterior, postero-anterior, left-lateral, right-lateral) to calculate organ DCs. Results and Discussion: There was significant variation in organ doses due to the difference in anatomy among the individuals, especially in the kilovoltage region (e.g., <100 keV). For example, the red bone marrow doses at 0.01 MeV varied from 3 to 7 orders of the magnitude depending on the irradiation geometry. In contrast, in the megavoltage region (1-10 MeV), the individual variation of the organ doses was found to be negligibly small (differences <10%). It was also interesting to observe that the organ doses of the ICRP reference phantoms showed good agreement with the mean values of the organ doses among the patients in many cases. Conclusion: The results of this study would be informative to improve insights in individual-specific dosimetry. It should be extended to further studies in terms of many different aspects (e.g., other particles such as neutrons, other exposures such as internal exposures, and a larger number of individuals/patients) in the future.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.151-159
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• 2021

Background: Computed tomography (CT) is one of the crucial diagnostic tools in modern medicine. However, careful monitoring of radiation dose for CT patients is essential since the procedure involves ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen. Materials and Methods: The most desirable CT dose descriptor for risk analysis is the organ absorbed dose. A variety of CT organ dose calculators currently available were reviewed in this article. Results and Discussion: Key common elements included in CT dose calculators were discussed and compared, such as computational human phantoms, CT scanner models, organ dose database, effective dose calculation methods, tube current modulation modeling, and user interface platforms. Conclusion: It is envisioned that more research needs to be conducted to more accurately map CT coverage on computational human phantoms, to automatically segment organs and tissues for patient-specific dose calculations, and to accurately estimate radiation dose in the cone beam computed tomography process during image-guided radiation therapy.

• 대한방사선방어학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.166-167
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• 2009

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• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2022

Background: The effects of radiation on the health of radiation workers who are constantly susceptible to occupational exposure must be assessed based on an accurate and reliable reconstruction of organ-absorbed doses that can be calculated using personal dosimeter readings measured as H_p(10) and dose conversion coefficients. However, the data used in the dose reconstruction contain significant biases arising from the lack of reality and could result in an inaccurate measure of organ-absorbed doses. Therefore, this study quantified the biases involved in organ dose reconstruction and calculated the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose coefficients for the use in epidemiological studies of Korean radiation workers. Materials and Methods: Two major biases were considered: (a) the bias in H_p(10) arising from the difference between the dosimeter calibration geometry and the actual exposure geometry, and (b) the bias in air kerma-to-H_p(10) conversion coefficients resulting from geometric differences between the human body and slab phantom. The biases were quantified by implementing personal dosimeters on the slab and human phantoms coupled with a Monte Carlo method and considered to calculate the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients. Results and Discussion: The bias in H_p(10) was significant for large incident angles and low energies (e.g., 0.32 for right lateral at 218 keV), whereas the bias in dose coefficients was significant for the posteroanterior (PA) geometry only (e.g., 0.79 at 218 keV). The bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients derived in this study were up to 3.09- fold greater than those from the International Commission on Radiological Protection publications without considering the biases. Conclusion: The obtained results will aid future studies in assessing the health effects of occupational exposure of Korean radiation workers. The bias-corrected dose coefficients of this study can be used to calculate organ doses for Korean radiation workers based on personal dose records.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2021

Background: The use of computed tomography (CT) device has increased in the past few decades in Japan. Dose optimization is strongly required in pediatric CT examinations, since there is concern that an unreasonably excessive medical radiation exposure might increase the risk of brain cancer and leukemia. To accelerate the process of dose optimization, continual assessment of the dose levels in actual hospitals and medical facilities is necessary. This study presents organ dose estimation using pediatric cerebral CT scans in the Kyushu region, Japan in 2012 and the web-based calculator, WAZA-ARI (https://waza-ari.nirs.qst.go.jp). Materials and Methods: We collected actual patient information and CT scan parameters from hospitals and medical facilities with more than 200 beds that perform pediatric CT in the Kyushu region, Japan through a questionnaire survey. To estimate the actual organ dose (brain dose, bone marrow dose, thyroid dose, lens dose), we divided the pediatric population into five age groups (0, 1, 5, 10, 15) based on body size, and inputted CT scan parameters into WAZA-ARI. Results and Discussion: Organ doses for each age group were obtained using WAZA-ARI. The brain dose, thyroid dose, and lens dose were the highest in the Age 0 group among the age groups, and the bone marrow and thyroid doses tended to decrease with increasing age groups. All organ doses showed differences among facilities, and this tendency was remarkable in the young group, especially in the Age 0 group. This study confirmed a difference of more than 10-fold in organ doses depending on the facility and CT scan parameters, even when the same CT device was used in the same age group. Conclusion: This study indicated that organ doses varied widely by age group, and also suggested that CT scan parameters are not optimized for children in some hospitals and medical facilities.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.213-217
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• 2014

Medical operations and diagnosis using interventional radiology techniques have been increased. The management and monitoring of occupational radiation exposure to the staff of interventional radiology become important, specially because they stand in close proximity to the patient. The operational radiation protection quantity, Hp(10) which can be obtained from personal dosimeter do not always represent the effective dose to the staff. So, in this study, to estimate the critical organ doses to the staff of interventional radiology, Monte Carlo calculations with mathematical human phantom and dose measurements with personal dosimeters were carried out for the major interventional radiology procedures using C-arm. Results showed that the values of Hp(10) measured by personal dosimeters were higher than critical organ doses which were calculated. And the calculated dose to thyroids was much higher than those of other critical organ doses. For the proper radiation protection of the medical staff of interventional radiology, additional radiation protection for thyroids as well as for whole body shielding like wearing a lead apron should be considered.

• 대한방사선방어학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.120-121
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• 2009

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.169-176
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• 2020

Interventional radiology is performed under real-time fluoroscopy, and patients are exposed to a wide range of exposures for a long period of time depending on the examination and procedure. However, studies on radiation protection for patients during an intervention are insufficient. This study aims to evaluate the doses exposed during the intervention and the applicability of 3D printing materials. The organ dose for each intervention site was evaluated using a monte carlo simulatio. Also, the dose reduction effect of the critical organs was calculated when using a shielding device using 3D printing materials. As a result, the organ dose distribution for each intervention site showed a lower dose distribution for organs located far from the x-ray tube. It was analyzed that the influence of scattered rays was higher in the superficial organs of the back of the human body where x-rays were incident. The dose reduction effect on the critical organ using the 3D printing shield showed the highest testis among the gonads, and in the case of other organs, the dose reduction effect gradually decreased in the order of the eye, thyroid, breast, and ovary. Accordingly, it is judged that the 3D printed shield will be sufficiently usable as a shielding device for the radiation protection of critical organs.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.197-208
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• 2005

Although little information is available on the underlying mechanisms, various genetic factors have been associated with tissue-specific responses to radiation. In the present study, we explored the possibility whether organ specific gene expression is associated with radiosensitivity using samples from brain, lung and spleen. We examined intrinsic expression pattern of 23 genes in the organs by semi-quantitative RT-PCR method using both male and female C57BL/6 mice. Expression of p53 and p21, well known factors for governing sensitivity to radiation or chemotherapeutic agents, was not different among the organ types. Both higher expression of sialyltransferase, delta7-sterol reductase, leptin receptor splice variant form 12.1, and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) and lower expression of alphaB crystalline were specific for spleen tissue. Expression level of glutathione peroxidase and APO-1 cell surface antigen gene in lung tissue was high, while that of Na, K-ATPase alpha-subunit, Cu/ZnSOD, and cyclin G was low. Brain, radioresistant organ, showed higher expressions of Na, K-ATPase-subunit, cyclin G, and nucleolar protein hNop56 and lower expression of delta7-sterol reductase. The result revealed a potential correlation between gene expression patterns and organ sensitivity, and Identified genes which might be responsible for organ sensitivity.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.98-105
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• 2021

Background: In recent events of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, computed tomography (CT) scans are being globally used as a complement to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. It will be important to be aware of major organ dose levels, which are more relevant quantity to derive potential long-term adverse effect, for Korean pediatric and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean pediatric and adult CT patients directly from Korean pediatric and adult computational phantoms combined with Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques. We then estimated major organ doses delivered to the Korean child and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19 combining the dose conversion coefficients and the international survey data. We also compared our Korean dose conversion coefficients with those from Caucasian reference pediatric and adult phantoms. Results and Discussion: Based on the dose conversion coefficients we established in this study and the international survey data of COVID-19-related CT scans, we found that Korean 7-year-old child and adult males may receive about 4-32 mGy and 3-21 mGy of lung dose, respectively. We learned that the lung dose conversion coefficient for the Korean child phantom was up to 1.5-fold greater than that for the Korean adult phantom. We also found no substantial difference in dose conversion coefficients between Korean and Caucasian phantoms. Conclusion: We estimated radiation dose delivered to the Korean child and adult phantoms undergoing COVID-19-related CT examinations. The dose conversion coefficients derived for different CT scan types can be also used universally for other dosimetry studies concerning Korean CT scans. We also confirmed that the Caucasian-based CT organ dose calculation tools may be used for the Korean population with reasonable accuracy.