• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.187-194
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• 2002

In this work we investigated through Monte Carlo calculations the physical characteristics of the absorbed dose from the Ir-192 source used in brachytherapy The Monte Carlo calculations were performed using the code EGS4, which was extensively modified in order to handle cylindrical sources, phantoms, and energy distributions to suit out own purpose. From the results of the calculations for the $\beta$ -rays, it was found that they contribute on the average 0.02% to The total absorbed dose in the distance range of 0.5-5.0 cm from the source. This is due to the face that, although most of the primary $\beta$ -rays are absorbed in the source and encapsulation material, the resulting low energy braking radiation from them contribute to such a distance. The absorbed dose in the encapsulation material varied on the average from 2.8% for platinum down to 1.1% for iron. The radial dose functions obtained by our Monte Carlo calculations were consistent within $\pm$3% with those of the TG-43 report for the radial distance interval 0.5-10.0 cm from the source. The user code we wrote in this work can be used for other sources of different sizes and so it can be very useful in designing and producing the sources for brachytherapy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.155-164
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• 2002

Methodology to evaluate the effective doses to adults undergoing various diagnostic x-ray examinations were established by Monte Carlo simulation of the x-ray examinations. Anthropomorphic mathematical phantoms, the MIRD5 male phantom and the ORNL female phantom, were used as the target body and x-ray spectra were produced by the x-ray spectrum generation code SPEC78. The computational procedure was validated by comparing the resulting doses to the results of NRPB studies for the same diagnostic procedures. The effective doses as well as the organ doses due to chest, abdomen, head and spine examinations were calculated for x-rays incident from AP, PA, LLAT and RLAT directions. For instance, the effective doses from the most common procedures, chest PA and abdomen AP, were 0.029 mSv and 0.44 mSv, respectively. The fact that the effective dose from PA chest x-ray is far lower than the traditional value of 0.3 mSv(or 30 mrem), which results partly from the advances of technology in diagnostic radiology and partly from the differences in the dose concept employed, emphasizes necessities of intensive assessment of the patient doses in wide ranges of medical exposures. The methodology and tools established in this study can easily be applied to dose assessments for other radiology procedures; dose from CT examinations, dose to the fetus due to examinations of pregnant women, dose from pediatric radiology.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.211-215
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• 2015

In case of radiation emergencies, radioactive materials released into environments can cause internal exposure of members of the public. Even though whole body counters are widely used for direct measurement of internally deposited radionuclides, those are not likely to be used at the field to rapidly screen internal exposure. In this study, we estimated the counting efficiencies of portable NaI detector for different size BOMAB phantoms using Monte Carlo transport code to apply handheld gamma spectrometers for rapid screening of internal exposure following radiological accidents. As a result of comparison for two counting geometries, counting efficiencies for sitting model were about 1.1 times higher than those for standing model. We found, however, that differences of counting efficiencies according to different size are higher than those according to counting geometry. Therefore, we concluded that when we assess internal exposure of small size people compared to the reference male, the body size should be considered to estimate more accurate radioactivity in the human body because counting efficiencies of 4-year old BOMAB phantom were about 2.4~3.1 times higher than those of reference male BOMAB phantom.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.389-394
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• 2016

Background: Tetrahedral-mesh geometries can be used in the MCNP code, but the MCNP code accepts only the geometry in the Abaqus input file format; hence, the existing tetrahedral-mesh models first need to be converted to the Abacus input file format to be used in the MCNP code. In the present study, we developed a simple but useful computer program, TET2MCNP, for converting TetGen-generated tetrahedral-mesh models to the Abacus input file format. Materials and Methods: TET2MCNP is written in C++ and contains two components: one for converting a TetGen output file to the Abacus input file and the other for the reverse conversion process. The TET2MCP program also produces an MCNP input file. Further, the program provides some MCNP-specific functions: the maximum number of elements (i.e., tetrahedrons) per part can be limited, and the material density of each element can be transferred to the MCNP input file. Results and Discussion: To test the developed program, two tetrahedral-mesh models were generated using TetGen and converted to the Abaqus input file format using TET2MCNP. Subsequently, the converted files were used in the MCNP code to calculate the object- and organ-averaged absorbed dose in the sphere and phantom, respectively. The results show that the converted models provide, within statistical uncertainties, identical dose values to those obtained using the PHITS code, which uses the original tetrahedral-mesh models produced by the TetGen program. The results show that the developed program can successfully convert TetGen tetrahedral-mesh models to Abacus input files. Conclusion: In the present study, we have developed a computer program, TET2MCNP, which can be used to convert TetGen-generated tetrahedral-mesh models to the Abaqus input file format for use in the MCNP code. We believe this program will be used by many MCNP users for implementing complex tetrahedral-mesh models, including computational human phantoms, in the MCNP code.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.239-246
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• 2021

Portal Dosimetry was verified using EPID to secure the clinical application and reliability of the existing research dose evaluation. The dose distribution of Geant4 was compared with the measured value by 360° rotational irradiation with a 2.5 cm cone for stereotactic brain surgery. To confirm the dose distribution of patients with brain metastasis, the dose distribution investigated by inserting a Gafchromic EBT film into the parietal phantom and the dose distribution obtained from the parietal phantom using VMAT are compared and applied to actual patients. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the accuracy of the beam center and the center of the couch coincide accurately with an error within 1mm as a result of QA through a pin ball. In addition, it was confirmed that the EBT3 film has excellent linearity in the range of 0 to 10 Gy according to various dose irradiation. In the same setting as the two cervical phantoms, we confirm that the implementation and simulation results calculations of dose calculations based on Geant4 using photon beams match the experimental data within the treatment planning volume (PTV). Therefore, volume modulated arc treatment (VMAT) 360° rotational irradiation was performed, and the result of iso-dose distribution analysis by rotational irradiation confirmed that it is appropriate to include a virtual tumor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.879-886
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• 2018

A 3-dimensional (D) printer is a device capable of outputting a three-dimensional solid object based on data modeled in a computer. These features are utilized in the bone model X - ray phantom production etc using CT data by fusing with the radiation science field. A bone model phantom was made using data obtained by CT scan of an existing Pelvis phantom, using PLA, Wood, XT-CF20, Glow fill, Steel filaments which are materials of Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printer.Measure Hounsfield Unit (HU) with images obtained by CT scan of the existing Pelvis phantom and five material phantoms made with 3D printer under the same conditions,SI and SNR were measured using a diagnostic X-ray generator, and each phantom was compared and analyzed.As a result, the X - ray phantom in the X - ray examination condition of the limb was found to be most suitable for the glow fill filament.The characteristics of the filament can be known to the base of this research and the practicality of X - ray phantom fabrication was confirmed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.793-799
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• 2018

As interest in artificial intelligence has increased, artificial intelligence has been actively studied in the medical field. In Korea, artificial intelligence has been applied to medical imaging devices such as X-ray imaging, Computer Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging and artificial intelligence capable of acquiring radiation images of patients without radiologists in the future Medical devices are expected to be invented. This study was an initial study on the automation of patient positioning in X - ray imaging. We used x-ray equipment and human phantoms to evaluate the positioning. The program used Visual Studio 2010 MFC and the image was in the size $1450{\times}1814$. The pixel values were converted to contrasts with values of 0 to 255 that can be visually recognized and output to the monitor. We developed a procedure algorithm program that predicts the angle of the output image through three pixel coordinate values and induces the patient to perform correct positioning according to the voice guidance according to the angle. In the next study, we will study the artificial intelligence to grasp the structure itself and calculate the angle, rather than conveying the reference of coordinates to artificial intelligence. In the future, it is expected that it will be helpful in the study of artificial intelligence from shooting to positioning through the automation of positioning.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.675-681
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of increasing the amount of 3D volume imaging on the hand, knee, and foot human phantom in CT, After analyzing the data, three - dimensional volumetric images were implemented using MMWP program to evaluate reproducibility. First, the data amount of three human phantoms according to each increment was analyzed. Secondly, the reproducibility evaluation and the measured length were compared. As a result of analyzing the amount of image data for each phantom according to the increment, it was confirmed that the amount of data is reduced to about 1/10 when the increment is set to 1.0 mm as compared with the case where the increment is set to 0.1 mm. In the evaluation of the feasibility, gap was generated from 0.7mm for hand phantom, 0.6mm for knee phantom and foot phantom, and it was confirmed that even when the actual phantom and actual length were compared, the length was much different and the implementation was lowered. As the increment is closer to 1.0mm, the number of images is small and the 3D implementation time is small. Therefore, it is best to determine the increase before the gap of the image is generated and to apply the Increment for preoperative diagnosis. We hope that this study will be an indicator of the accurate increment setting when implementing 3D image through VRT Rendering after CT scan.

• 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.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.99-106
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• 2021

Purpose: In this study, we aimed to manufacture a patient-specific gel phantom combining three-dimensional (3D) printing and polymer gel and evaluate the radiation dose and dose profile using gel dosimetry. Methods: The patient-specific head phantom was manufactured based on the patient's computed tomography (CT) scan data to create an anatomically replicated phantom; this was then produced using a ColorJet 3D printer. A 3D polymer gel dosimeter called RTgel-100 is contained inside the 3D printing head phantom, and irradiation was performed using a 6 MV LINAC (Varian Clinac) X-ray beam, a linear accelerator for treatment. The irradiated phantom was scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (Siemens) with a magnetic field of 3 Tesla (3T) of the Korea Institute of Nuclear Medicine, and then compared the irradiated head phantom with the dose calculated by the patient's treatment planning system (TPS). Results: The comparison between the Hounsfield unit (HU) values of the CT image of the patient and those of the phantom revealed that they were almost similar. The electron density value of the patient's bone and brain was 996±167 HU and 58±15 HU, respectively, and that of the head phantom bone and brain material was 986±25 HU and 45±17 HU, respectively. The comparison of the data of TPS and 3D gel revealed that the difference in gamma index was 2%/2 mm and the passing rate was within 95%. Conclusions: 3D printing allows us to manufacture variable density phantoms for patient-specific dosimetric quality assurance (DQA), develop a customized body phantom of the patient in the future, and perform a patient-specific dosimetry with film, ion chamber, gel, and so on.