• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.65-77
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• 1995

A new gamma camera using a-Si : H photodetectors has been designed for the imaging of heart and other small organs. In this new design the photomultiplier tubes and the position sensing circuitry are replaced by 2-D array of a-Si : H p-i-n pixel photode tectors and readout circuitry which are built on a substrate. Without the photomultiplier tubes this camera is light weight, hence can be made portable. To predict the characteristics and the performance of this new gamma camera we did Monte Carlo simulations. In the simulations 128${\times}$128 imaging array of various pixel sixes were used. $\^$99m/Tc(140keV)and $\^$201/Tl(70keV) were used as radiation sources. From the simulations we could obtain the resolution of the camera and ther overall system, and the blurring effects due to scattering in the phantom. Using the Wiener filter for image processing, restoration of the blurred image could be achieved. Simulation results of a-Si : H based gamma camera were compared with those of a conwentional gamma camera.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.283-288
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• 2013

This paper describes development of a high speed Doppler OFDI system for non-invasive vascular imaging. Doppler OFDI (optical frequency domain imaging) is one of the phase-resolved second generation OCT (optical coherence tomography) techniques for high resolution imaging of moving elements in biological tissues. To achieve a phase-resolved imaging, two temporally separated measurements are required. In a conventional Doppler OCT, a pair of massively oversampled successive A-lines is used to minimize de-correlation noise at the expense of significant imaging speed reduction. To minimize a de-correlation noise between targeted two measurements without suffering from significant imaging speed reduction, several methods have been developed such as an optimized scanning pattern and polarization multiplexed dual beam scanning. This research represent novel imaging technique using frequency multiplexed dual beam illumination to measure exactly same position with aimed time interval. Developed system has been verified using a tissue phantom and mouse vessel imaging.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2010

High contrast and high resolution are the most important factors for examining mammography images. Despite of the inconveniences of screen-film, most clinics still prefer them to computed radiography(CR) and direct radiography(DR). The reading of screen-film mammography images is influenced by the brightness from the X-ray illuminator, the exam room and incoming light from outside sources. Therefore, a comparative analysis on the results of mammo phantom images would be variated by the changes in the reading environment. There was no influence on reading results from the examiners close distance eyesight(p > 0.05); however, reading of micro lesions improved with greater darkness in the X-ray film reading room and the brightness of the X-ray illuminator(p < 0.05). Also, observation of fiber and mass images were maximized at a distance of 50 cm from the reader. Now, it is possible to observe these small classification groups using a magnifying glass without being physically close to the image. For the image of mammography, obtaining high quality images is important but in order to get an accurate clinical lesions of the reading also needs to be considered the optimal environmental factors.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1989 no.05
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• pp.35-37
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• 1989

A new MR angiography technique using a composite sequence for the suppression of static sample signals is proposed and verified with experiments. When the composite [$90^{\circ}-{\tau}-180^{\circ}-2{\tau}-180^{\circ}-{\tau}$] sequence is applied, the large signal from the static sample is sufficiently suppressed but the signal from fresh inflow sample of which amplitude. is observed without suppression. These properties are appropriate for angiographic applications. In this paper, a modified line scan method (Block line scan angiography) incorporated with the composite [$90^{\circ}-{\tau}-180^{\circ}-2{\tau}-180^{\circ}-{\tau}$] sequence is used to obtain flow-only images, i.e., angiograms. The block line scan method improves the resolution in the flow-direction at the expense of imaging time. With the composite sequence, there is no need for subtraction procedure as in the most conventional angiographic methods. Experimental results for a phantom and a normal volunteer with KAIS 2.0 Tesla MRI system are shown.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.118-124
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• 1995

단일광자방출전산화 단층촬영술을 이용한 영상정보를 효과적으로 얻기 위하여 고려되어야 할 사항으로는 1) 조준기(collimator)의 선택, 2) 기질(matrix)의 크기, 3) 회전각의 수 (number of angles), 4) 360도 또는 180도 획득(acquisition), 5) continuous 또는 step& shoot, 6) 원형 또는 비원형회전 등이 있다. 저자들은 비원형회전으로 검체와 검출기 사이의 거리를 단축시킴으로써 직선성, 균일성, 대조도, 해상력에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위하여 원형회전 방법과 비교하여 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. (1) 비원형회전을 하여도 균일성(uniformity)과 직선성(linearlity)을 유지한다. (2) 균일성, 대조도(contrast), 해상력(resolution)들이 비원형 회전을 한 경우에 보다 더 개선되었다. (3) 영상 획득시간은 비원형회전인 경우에 더 소요되었다. (매스캔 당 10분) 따라서 검사자는 영상 화질의 개선효과와 상반되는 보정(calibration)과 설치(set-up)에 소요되는 시간(매스캔당 10분이상)을 비교하여 자료획득(data acquisition) 회전방법을 선택하여야한다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4652-4659
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• 2022

Among the detector materials available at room temperature, thallium bromide (TlBr), which has a relatively high atomic number and density, is widely used for gamma camera imaging. This study aimed to verify the usefulness of TlBr through quantitative evaluation by modeling detectors of various compound types using Monte Carlo simulations. The Geant4 application for tomographic emission was used for simulation, and detectors based on cadmium zinc telluride and cadmium telluride materials were selected as a comparison group. A pixel-matched parallel-hole collimator with proven excellent performance was modeled, and phantoms used for quality control in nuclear medicine were used. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast to noise ratio (CNR), sensitivity, and full width at half maximum (FWHM) were used for quantitative analysis to evaluate the image quality. The SNR, CNR, sensitivity, and FWHM for the TlBr detector material were approximately 1.05, 1.04, 1.41, and 1.02 times, respectively, higher than those of the other detector materials. The SNR, CNR and sensitivity increased with increasing detector thickness, but the spatial resolution in terms of FWHM decreased. Thus, we demonstrated the feasibility and possibility of using the TlBr detector material in comparison with commercial detector materials.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3844-3853
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• 2023

Although radiation and chemotherapy methods for cancer therapy have advanced significantly, surgical resection is still recommended for most cancers. Therefore, intraoperative imaging studies have emerged as a surgical tool for identifying tumor margins. Intraoperative imaging has been examined using conventional imaging devices, such as optical near-infrared probes, gamma probes, and ultrasound devices. However, each modality has its limitations, such as depth penetration and spatial resolution. To overcome these limitations, hybrid imaging modalities and tracer studies are being developed. In a previous study, a multi-modal laparoscope with silicon photo-multiplier (SiPM)-based gamma detection acquired a 1 s interval gamma image. However, improvements in the near-infrared fluorophore (NIRF) signal intensity and gamma image central defects are needed to further evaluate the usefulness of multi-modal systems. In this study, an attempt was made to change the NIRF image acquisition method and the SiPM-based gamma detector to improve the source detection ability and reduce the image acquisition time. The performance of the multi-modal system using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor and modified SiPM gamma detector was evaluated in a phantom test. In future studies, a multi-modal system will be further optimized for pilot preclinical studies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3700-3708
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• 2023

The stochastic origin ensembles method with resolution recovery (SOE-RR) has been proposed to reconstruct proton-induced prompt gammas (PGs), and the reconstructed PG image was used for range verification. However, due to low detection efficiency, the number of valid events is low. Such a low-count condition can degrade the accuracy of the SOE-RR method for proton range verification. In this study, we proposed two strategies to improve the reconstruction of the SOE-RR algorithm for low-count PG imaging. We also studied the number of iterations and repetitions required to achieve reliable range verification. We simulated a proton beam (10⁸ protons) irradiated on a water phantom and used a two-layer Compton camera to detect 4.44-MeV PGs. Our simulated results show that combining the SOE-RR algorithm with restricted volume (SOE-RR-RV) can reduce the error of the estimation of the Bragg peak position from 5.0 mm to 2.5 mm. We also found that the SOE-RR-RV algorithm initialized using a back-projection image could improve the convergence rate while maintaining accurate range verification. Finally, we observed that the improved SOE-RR algorithm set for 60,000 iterations and 25 repetitions could provide reliable PG images. Based on the proposed reconstruction strategies, the SOE-RR algorithm has the potential to achieve a positioning error of 2.5 mm for low-count PG imaging.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2008

Purpose: Micro-pinhole SPECT system with conventional multiple-head gamma cameras has the advantage of high magnification factor for imaging of rodents. However, several geometric factors should be calibrated to obtain the SPECT image with good image quality. We developed a simplified geometric calibration method for rotating triple-head pinhole SPECT system and assessed the effects of the calibration using several phantom and rodent imaging studies. Materials and Methods: Trionix Triad XLT9 triple-head SPECT scanner with 1.0 mm pinhole apertures were used for the experiments. Approximately centered point source was scanned to track the angle-dependent positioning errors. The centroid of point source was determined by the center of mass calculation. Axially departed two point sources were scanned to calibrate radius of rotation from pinhole to center of rotation. To verify the improvements by the geometric calibration, we compared the spatial resolution of the reconstructed image of Tc-99m point source with and without the calibration. SPECT image of micro performance phantom with hot rod inserts was acquired and several animal imaging studies were performed. Results: Exact sphere shape of the point source was obtained by applying the calibration and axial resolution was improved. Lesion detectibility and image quality was also much improved by the calibration in the phantom and animal studies. Conclusion: Serious degradation of micro-pinhole SPECT images due to the geometric errors could be corrected using a simplified calibration method using only one or two point sources.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.12-16
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• 2012

Purpose : In conventional PET image reconstruction, iterative reconstruction methods such as OSEM (Ordered Subsets Expectation Maximization) have now generally replaced traditional analytic methods such as filtered back-projection. This includes improvements in components of the system model geometry, fully 3D scatter and low noise randoms estimates. SharpIR algorithm is to improve PET image contrast to noise by incorporating information about the PET detector response into the 3D iterative reconstruction algorithm. The aim of this study is evaluation of SharpIR reconstruction method in PET/CT. Materials and Methods: For the measurement of detector response for the spatial resolution, a capillary tube was filled with FDG and scanned at varying distances from the iso-center (5, 10, 15, 20 cm). To measure image quality for contrast recovery, the NEMA IEC body phantom (Data Spectrum Corporation, Hillsborough, NC) with diameters of 1, 13, 17 and 22 for simulating hot and 28 and 37 mm for simulating cold lesions. A solution of 5.4 kBq/mL of $^{18}F$-FDG in water was used as a radioactive background obtaining a lesion of background ratio of 4.0. Images were reconstructed with VUE point HD and VUE point HD using SharpIR reconstruction algorithm. For the clinical evaluation, a whole body FDG scan acquired and to demonstrate contrast recovery, ROIs were drawn on a metabolic hot spot and also on a uniform region of the liver. Images were reconstructed with function of varying iteration number (1~10). Results: The result of increases axial distance from iso-center, full width at half maximum (FWHM) is also increasing in VUE point HD reconstruction image. Even showed an increasing distances constant FWHM. VUE point HD with SharpIR than VUE point HD showed improves contrast recovery in phantom and clinical study. Conclusion: By incorporating more information about the detector system response, the SharpIR algorithm improves the accuracy of underlying model used in VUE point HD. SharpIR algorithm improve spatial resolution for a line source in air, and improves contrast recovery at equivalent noise levels in phantoms and clinical studies. Therefore, SharpIR algorithm can be applied as through a longitudinal study will be useful in clinical.