• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was first to analyze the utilization of dental examination through questionnaire to develop a diagnostic reference level of patient doses for dental radiography in korea. 77 dental institutions were classified into three groups: A group for the dental hospitals of the college of dentistry (11 institutions), B group for dental hospitals (30 institutions) and C group for dental clinics (36 institutions). The results were as follows : The mean numbers of unit chairs and medical staffs were 140.2, 15.3 and 5.8 sets, 112.6, 7.3 and 1.7 dentists, 3.1, 0.5 and no one radiologic technologists, and 19.7, 12.5 and 3.3 dental hygienists in A, B and C groups, respectively. The mean numbers of dental X-ray equipments were 14.64, 3.21 and 2.19 in A, B and C groups, respectively. Intraoral dental X-ray unit was used the most, the following equipments were panoramic, cephalometric, and cone-beam CT units. The most used X-ray imaging system was also digital system (above 50%) in all three groups. Insight dental film (Kodak, USA) having high sensitivity was routinely used for periapical radiography. The automatic processor was not used in many dental institutions, but the film-holding device was used in many dental institutions. The utilization rates of PACS in A, B and C groups were 90.9%, 83.3% and 16.7% respectively, and the PACS software program was used the most PiView STAR (Infinitt, Korea). The annual mean number of radiographic cases in one dental institution in 2008 for A group was 6.8 times and 21.2 times more than those for B and C groups, and periapical and panoramic radiographs were taken mostly. Tube voltage (kVp) and tube current (mA) for periapical radiography were similar in all three groups, but exposure time in C group was 12.0 times and 3.5 times longer than those in B and C groups. The amount of radiation exposure in C group, in which dental hygienists take dental radiographs, was more than those in other groups. The exposure parameters for panoramic radiography were similar in all three groups. In conclusion, the exposure parameters in dental radiography should be determined with reference level, not past experiences. Use of automatic processor and film-holding devices reduces the radiation exposure in film system. The quality assurance of dental equipments are necessary for the reduction of the patient dose and the improvement of X-ray image quality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.607-614
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• 2023

Clear overlapping of the bilateral epicondyle and proper separation of the elbow joint are crucial for obtaining accurate lateral general radiographs of the elbow. However, due to the complex anatomical structure of the elbow, achieving optimal positioning is challenging, leading to the need for repeated x-ray examinations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the angle of the forearm in patients where accurate lateral images of the elbow joint can't be obtained after vertical incidence using a styrofoam device during elbow joint lateral x-ray imaging. Twenty patients were enrolled in our study following the established protocol. First, a vertical x-ray at an angle of 0° between the forearm and the table was taken (control group). Here, if the lateral image of the elbow joint was deemed inadequate, the forearm angle was adjusted using custom-made styrofoam supports with 5° and 10° inclinations (experimental groups). For the evaluation method, two assessors utilized a 5-point Likert scale to assess the images. The reliability of the assessments was analyzed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. As a result, patients with inadequate overlap of the bilateral epicondyle and separation of the elbow joint in the initial examination (control group) were able to obtain the best images when setting a 10° angle between the forearm and the table. The subjective evaluation was 1.6 ± 0.8 points at 0°, 2.7 ± 0.8 points at 5°, and 4.4 ± 1.3 points at 10°, respectively. The reliability analysis for the angles of 0°, 5°, and 10° yielded Cronbach's alpha values of 0.867, 0.697, and 0.922, respectively. In conclusion, when it is not possible to obtain accurate images using the conventional position and X-ray beam direction, it is considered that by initially acquiring images with an angle of 10° between the forearm and the table, and gradually decreasing the angle while obtaining images, it would be possible to achieve the optimal image while reducing the number of repeat examinations.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.154-161
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• 2012

Digital Radiography (DR) has rapidly developed in megavoltage X-ray imaging (MVI). Thus, a very simple and general quality assurance (QA) method is required. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the modulation transfer function (MTF), the noise power spectrum (NPS) and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) for MVI using general QA method and computed radiography (CR) device. We used tungsten edge block with $19{\times}10{\times}1cm^3$ thickness and 6MV energy. For detector, CR-IP (image plate), CR-IP-lead, the CR-IP-back (lanex TM fast back screen), CR-IP-front (lanex TM fast front screen) were used and pre-sampling MTF was calculated. The MTF of CR-IP-front showed the highest value with 1.10 lp/mm although the CR-IP showed the only 0.70 lp/mm. The best NPS was observed in CR-IP front screen. According to the increase in spatial frequency, our results showed that DQE was approximately 1.0 cycles/mm. The present study demonstrates that the QA method with our home-made edge block can be used to evaluate MTF, NPS and DQE for MVI.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.221-225
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• 2017

To evaluate the performance of ultrasound imaging system, we investigated the change of spatial resolution according to changing sonic velocity change parameter provided by ultrasound equipment. Ultrasound phantom images were obtained using a 3.0 ~ 5.0 MHz convex transducer in an ultrasound diagnostic device used at a medical institution located at Iksan. N-365 multi-purpose ultrasound phantom was used to measure longitudinal distance measurement accuracy and longitudinal and transverse resolution. In the same manner, the sonic velocity of the ultrasound equipment was changed from 1580 m/sec to 1400 m/sec in six steps, and the full width at half maximum(FWHM) was measured using the image J program to determine whether the measured values were different. As a result, lateral resolution was measured from 1.91 mm to 5.3 mm according to the speed change, and the smallest FWHM was 1.91 mm at 1420 m/sec. The axial resolution was measured from 1.03 mm to 1.14 mm according to the speed change, and the smallest FWHM was 1.03 mm at 1400 m/sec. The slower the sound velocity of the ultrasound equipment, the shorter the length of longitudinal measurement.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.sup1
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• pp.85-90
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• 2001

Objective : DREZotomy is effective for the treatment of deafferentation pain as a consequence of root avulsion, postparaplegic pain, posttraumatic syrinx, postherpetic neuralgia, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury. We performed microsurgical DREZotomy to the patients with deafferentation pain and relieved pain without any serious complication. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the microsurgical DREZotomy for deafferentation pain. Methods : We evaluated 4 patients with deafferntation pain who were intractable to medical therapy. Two of them were brachial plexus injury with root avulsion owing to trauma, one was axillary metastasis of the squamous cell carcinoma of the left forearm, and the last was anesthesia dolorosa after surgical treatment(MVD and rhizotomy) of trigeminal neuralgia. Preoperative evaluation was based on the neurologic examination, radiologic imaging, and electrophysiological study. In the case of anesthesia dolorosa, we produced two parallel lesions in cephalocaudal direction, 2mm in distance, from the C2 dorsal rootlet to the 5mm superior to the obex including nucleus caudalis, after suboccipital craniectomy and C1-2 laminectomy, with use of microelectrode. In the others, we confirmed lesion site with identification of the nerve root after hemilaminectomy. We performed arachnoid dissection along the posterolateral sulcus and made lesion with microsurgical knife and microelectrocoagulation, 2mm in depth, 2mm in distance, to the direction of 30-45 degrees in the medial portion of the Lissauer's tract and the most dorsal layers of the posterior horn at the one root level above and below the lesion. Results : Compared with preoperative state, microsurgical DREZotomy significantly diminished dosage of the drugs and relieved pain meaningfully. One patient showed tansient ipsilateral ataxia, but recovered soon. There was not any serious complication. Conclusion : It may be concluded that microsurgical DREZotomy is very useful and safe therapeutic modality for deafferentation pain, especially segmentally distributed intermittent or evoke pain. Complete preoperative evaluation and proper selection of the patients and lesion making device are needed to improve the result.