• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.965-973
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• 2021

Since radiation therapy is irradiated with high-energy X-rays in a variety of at least 20 Gy to 80 Gy, a high dose is administered to the local area where the tumor is located, and various side effects of some normal tissues are expected. Currently, in clinical practice, lead, a representative material, is used as an effort to shield normal tissues, but lead is classified as a heavy metal harmful to the human body, and a large amount of skin contact can cause poisoning. Therefore, this study intends to manufacture a measurement sheet that can compensate for the limitations of lead using the materials Tungsten, Brass, and Copper of the 3D printer of the FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) method and to investigate the penetration performance. Tungsten mixed filament transmission measurement sheet size was 70 × 70 mm and thickness 1, 2, 4 mm using a 3D printer, and a linear accelerator (TrueBeam STx, S/N: 1187) was measured by irradiating 100 MU at SSD 100 cm and 5 cm in water using a water phantom, an ion chamber (FC-65G), and an elcetrometer (PTW UNIDOSE), and the permeability was evaluated. As a result of increasing the measurement sheet of each material by 1 mm, in the case of Tungsten sheet at 3.8 to 3.9 cm in 6 MV, the thickness of the lead shielding body was thinner than 6.5 cm, and in case of Tungsten sheet at 4.5 to 4.6 cm in 15 MV. The sheet was thinner than the existing lead shielding body thickness of 7 cm, and equivalent performance was confirmed. Through this study, the transmittance measurement sheet produced using Tungsten alloy filaments confirmed the possibility of transmission shielding in the high energy region. It has been confirmed that the usability as a substitute is also excellent. It is thought that it can be provided as basic data for the production of shielding agents with 3D printing technology in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.669-679
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• 2022

Purpose To evaluate the feasibility of pediatric low-dose facial CT reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP) using adequate kernels. Materials and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and imaging data of children aged < 10 years who underwent facial CT at our emergency department. The patients were divided into two groups: low-dose CT (LDCT; Group A, n = 73) with a fixed 80-kVp tube potential and automatic tube current modulation (ATCM) and standard-dose CT (SDCT; Group B, n = 40) with a fixed 120-kVp tube potential and ATCM. All images were reconstructed with FBP using bone and soft tissue kernels in Group A and only bone kernel in Group B. The groups were compared in terms of image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Two radiologists subjectively scored the overall image quality of bony and soft tissue structures. The CT dose index volume and dose-length product were recorded. Results Image noise was higher in Group A than in Group B in bone kernel images (p < 0.001). Group A using a soft tissue kernel showed the highest SNR and CNR for all soft tissue structures (all p < 0.001). In the qualitative analysis of bony structures, Group A scores were found to be similar to or higher than Group B scores on comparing bone kernel images. In the qualitative analysis of soft tissue structures, there was no significant difference between Group A using a soft tissue kernel and Group B using a bone kernel with a soft tissue window setting (p > 0.05). Group A showed a 76.9% reduction in radiation dose compared to Group B (3.2 ± 0.2 mGy vs. 13.9 ± 1.5 mGy; p < 0.001). Conclusion The addition of a soft tissue kernel image to conventional CT reconstructed with FBP enables the use of pediatric low-dose facial CT protocol while maintaining image quality.