• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.271-280
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• 2014

Recently, digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has been investigated to overcome the limitation of conventional mammography for overlapping anatomical structures and high patient dose with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). However incomplete sampling due to limited angle leads to interference on the neighboring slices. Many studies have investigated to reduce artifacts such as interference. Moreover, appropriate filters for tomosynthesis have been researched to solve artifacts resulted from incomplete sampling. The primary purpose of this study is finding appropriate filter scheme with FBP reconstruction for DBT system to reduce artifacts. In this study, we investigated characteristics of various filter schemes with simulation and prototype digital breast tomosynthesis under same acquisition parameters and conditions. We evaluated artifacts and noise with profiles and COV (coefficinet of variation) to study characteristic of filter. As a result, the noise with parameter 0.25 of Spectral filter reduced by 10% in comparison to that with only Ramp-lak filter. Because unbalance of information reduced with decreasing B of Slice thickness filter, artifacts caused by incomplete sampling reduced. In conclusion, we confirmed basic characteristics of filter operations and improvement of image quality by appropriate filter scheme. The results of this study can be utilized as base in research and development of DBT system by providing information that is about noise and artifacts depend on various filter schemes.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.143-147
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• 2016

Recently, digital tomosynthesis system (DTS) has been developed to reduce overlap using conventional X-ray and to overcome high patient dose problem using computed tomography (CT). The purpose of this study was to develop image reconstruction algorithm and to evaluate image characteristics and dose with chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) system. Image reconstruction was used for filtered back-projection (FBP) methods and system geometry was constructed ${\pm}10^{\circ}$, ${\pm}15^{\circ}$, ${\pm}20^{\circ}$, and ${\pm}30^{\circ}$ angular range for acquiring phantom images. Image characteristics carried out root mean square error (RMSE) and signal difference-to-noise ratio (SDNR), and dose is evaluated effective dose with ${\pm}20^{\circ}$ angular range. According to the results, the phantom image with slice thickness filter has superb RMSE and SDNR, and effective dose was 0.166 mSv. In conclusion, we demonstrated usefulness of developed CDT image reconstruction algorithm and we constructed CDT basic output data with measuring effective dose.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.814-821
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to evaluate of resolution parameter and reconstitution filter in the 256 multi detector computed tomography(MDCT) by using the head phantom. We used 256 MDCT, and head phantom of philips system. We evaluated to image quality by using Extended Brilliance Workspace. The protocol were axial scan method with 120 kVp, 0.5 sec of rotation time, 5 mm of slice thickness and increment, 250 mm of field of view(FOV), $512{\times}512$ of matrix size, 1.0 of pitch, $128{\times}0.625$ mm of collimations. The resolution parameter was applied for 'Standard', 'High' and 'Ultrahigh'. The reconstitution filters were changed to seven type of 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'UA', 'UB', 'UC'. The assesment factors of image quality were the uniformity, the noise, the linearity and 50% and 10% of the modulation transfer function(MTF). Finally The good image quality in 'High' resolution parameter showed at the uniformity, the linearity and 50% and 10% of MTF. The 'UA', 'UB' reconstitution filter showed at the good image quality of the uniformity and the noise and 'C' reconstitution filter showed at the same result of the linearity and 50% and 10% of MTF.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.501-508
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• 2017

The dependence of CT scanning parameters on the CT number to physical density conversion from the CT image of CT and CBCT electron density phantom acquired by the CT scanner using in radiotherapy were analyzed by experiment. The CT numbers were independent of the tube current product exposure time, slice thickness, filter of image reconstruction, field of view and volume of phantom. But the CT numbers were dependent on the tube voltage and cross section of phantom. As a result, for physical density range above 0, the maximum CT number difference observed at the tube voltage between 90 and 120 kVp was 27%, and the maximum CT number difference observed between CT body and head electron density phantom was 15%.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.165-171
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of collimator width on effective atomic number (EAN), relative electron density (RED), and stopping power ratio (SPR) measured by dual-layer dual-energy computed tomography (DL-DECT). Methods: CIRS electron density calibration phantoms with two different arrangements of material plugs were scanned by DL-DECT with two different collimator widths. The first phantom included two dense bone plugs, while the second excluded dense bone plugs. The collimator widths selected were 64 mm×0.625 mm for wider collimators and 16 mm×0.625 mm for narrow collimators. The scanning parameters were 120 kVp, 0.33 second gantry rotation, 3 mm slice thickness, B reconstruction filter, and spectral level 4. An image analysis portal system provided by a computed tomography (CT) manufacturer was used to derive the EAN and RED of the phantoms from the combination of low energy and high energy CT images. The EAN and RED were compared between the images scanned using the two different collimation widths. Results: The CT images with the wider collimation width generated more severe artifacts, particularly with high-density material (i.e., dense bone). RED and EAN for tissues (excluding lung and bones) with the wider collimation width showed significant relative differences compared to the theoretical value (4.5% for RED and 20.6% for EAN), while those with the narrow collimation width were closer to the theoretical value of each material (2.2% for EAN and 2.3% for RED). Scanning with narrow collimation width increased the accuracy of SPR estimation even with high-density bone plugs in the phantom. Conclusions: The effect of CT collimation width on EAN, RED, and SPR measured by DL-DECT was evaluated. In order to improve the accuracy of the measured EAN, RED, and SPR by DL-DECT, CT scanning should be performed using narrow collimation widths.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2023

Purpose PET-CT imaging require an appropriate quality assurance system to achieve high efficiency and reliability. Quality control is essential for improving the quality of care and patient safety. Currently, there are performance evaluation methods of UN2-1994 and UN2-2001 proposed by NEMA and IEC for PET-CT image evaluation. In this study, we compare phantom images with the same experiments before and after PET-CT 3D normalization and well counter correction and evaluate the usefulness of quality control. Materials and methods Discovery 690 (General Electric Healthcare, USA) PET-CT equiptment was used to perform 3D normalization and well counter correction as recommended by GE Healthcare. Based on the recovery coefficients for the six spheres of the NEMA IEC Body Phantom recommended by the EARL. 20kBq/㎖ of ¹⁸F was injected into the sphere of the phantom and 2kBq/㎖ of ¹⁸F was injected into the body of phantom. PET-CT scan was performed with a radioacitivity ratio of 10:1. Images were reconstructed by appliying TOF+PSF+TOF, OSEM+PSF, OSEM and Gaussian filter 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6,5 mm with matrix size 128×128, slice thickness 3.75 mm, iteration 2, subset 16 conditions. The PET image was attenuation corrected using the CT images and analyzed using software program AW 4.7 (General Electric Healthcare, USA). The ROI was set to fit 6 spheres in the CT image, RC (Recovery Coefficient) was measured after fusion of PET and CT. Statistical analysis was performed wilcoxon signed rank test using R. Results Overall, after the quality control items were performed, the recovery coefficient of the phantom image increased and measured. Recovery coefficient according to the image reconstruction increased in the order TOF+PSF, TOF, OSEM+PSF, before and after quality control, RCmax increased by OSEM 0.13, OSEM+PSF 0.16, TOF 0.16, TOF+PSF 0.15 and RCmean increased by OSEM 0.09, OSEM+PSF 0.09, TOF 0.106, TOF+PSF 0.10. Both groups showed a statistically significant difference in Wilcoxon signed rank test results (P value<0.001). Conclusion PET-CT system require quality assurance to achieve high efficiency and reliability. Standardized intervals and procedures should be followed for quality control. We hope that this study will be a good opportunity to think about the importance of quality control in PET-CT

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.337-343
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• 2014

Purpose : The aim of this study is to evaluate unwanted scattered dose to ovary by scattering and leakage generated from treatment fields of Tomotherapy for childbearing woman with breast cancer. Materials and Methods : The radiation treatments plans for left breast cancer were established using Tomotherapy planning system (Tomotherapy, Inc, USA). They were generated by using helical and direct Tomotherapy methods for comparison. The CT images for the planning were scanned with 2.5 mm slice thickness using anthropomorphic phantom (Alderson-Rando phantom, The Phantom Laboratory, USA). The measurement points for the ovary dose were determined at the points laterally 30 cm apart from mid-point of treatment field of the pelvis. The measurements were repeated five times and averaged using glass dosimeters (1.5 mm diameter and 12 mm of length) equipped with low-energy correction filter. The measures dose values were also converted to Organ Equivalent Dose (OED) by the linear exponential dose-response model. Results : Scattered doses of ovary which were measured based on two methods of Tomo helical and Tomo direct showed average of $64.94{\pm}0.84mGy$ and $37.64{\pm}1.20mGy$ in left ovary part and average of $64.38{\pm}1.85mGy$ and $32.96{\pm}1.11mGy$ in right ovary part. This showed when executing Tomotherapy, measured scattered dose of Tomo Helical method which has relatively greater monitor units (MUs) and longer irradiation time are approximately 1.8 times higher than Tomo direct method. Conclusion : Scattered dose of left and right ovary of childbearing women is lower than ICRP recommended does which is not seriously worried level against the infertility and secondary cancer occurrence. However, as breast cancer occurrence ages become younger in the future and radiation therapy using high-precision image guidance equipment like Tomotherapy is developed, clinical follow-up studies about the ovary dose of childbearing women patients would be more required.