• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2014

The objective of this study is to investigate the difference of ITV lengths and ITVs between 4DCT and Slow-CT images according to respiratory patterns using a respiratory motion phantom. The respiratory periods 1~4 s and target motion 1~3 cm were applied on each respiratory pattern. 4DCT and Slow-CT images were acquired for 3 times. 4DCT and Slow-CT ITVs were measured with contouring the target in the Eclipse RTP system. The measured ITV lenghts and ITVs in 4DCT and Slow-CT images were compared to the known values. For the ITV lengths and ITVs in the 4DCT, the difference of them were reduced as the respiratory period is longer and target motion is shorter. For the Slow-CT, there was same tendency with change in 4DCT ITV lengths and ITVs about target motion. However, the difference of ITV lengths and ITVs for the respiratory periods were the lowest in respiratory period 1 second and different slightly within respiratory period 2-4 seconds. According to the respiratory patterns, pattern A had the highest reproducibility. Pattern B, C and D were showed the difference similar to each other. However, for pattern E, the reproducibility was the lowest compared with other four patterns. The difference of ITV lengths and ITVs between Slow-CT and 4DCT was increased by increasing the respiratory periods and target motion for all respiratory patterns. When the difference of Slow-CT ITV lengths and ITVs were compared with that of 4DCT ITV lengths and ITVs, Slow-CT ITV lengths and ITVs were approximately 22 % smaller than 4DCT, and the representations of target were different in each pattern. In case of pattern A, B and C, length difference was 3 mm at S (superior) and I (inferior) direction, and the length difference of pattern D was 1.45 cm at only "I" direction whereas the length difference of pattern E was 5 mm longer in "S" direction than "I" direction. Therefore, the margin in SI directions should be determined by considering the respiratory patterns when the margin of Slow-CT is compensated for 4DCT ITV lengths. Afterward, we think that the result of this study will be useful to analyze the ITV lengths and ITVs from the CT images on the basis of the patient respiratory signals.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2004

Purpose : To evaluate the reflection of tumor motion according to the planning CT scan time. Material and Methods : A model of N-shape, which moved aiong the longitudinal axis during the ventilation caused by a mechanical ventilator, was produced. The model was scanned by planning CT, while setting the relative CT scan time (T: CT scan time/ventilatory period) to 0.33, 0.50, 0.67, 0.75, 1.00, 1.337, and 1.537. In addition, three patients with non-small cell lung cancer who received stereotactic radiosurgery In the Department of Radiation Oncology, Asan Medical Center from 03/19/2002 to 05/21/2002 were scanned. Slow (10 Premier, Picker, scan time 2.0 seconds per slice) and fast CT scans (Lightspeed, GE Medical Systems, with a scan time of 0.8 second per slice) were peformed for each patient. The magnitude of reflected movement of the N-shaped model was evaluated by measuring the transverse length, which reflected the movement of the declined bar of the model at each slice. For patients' scans, all CT data sets were registered using a stereotactic body frame scale with the gross tumor volumes delineated in one CT image set. The volume and three-dimensional diameter of the gross tumor volume were measured and analyzed between the slow and fast CT scans. Results : The reflection degree of longitudinal movement of the model increased in proportion to the relative CT scan times below 1.00 7, but remained constant above 1.00 T Assuming the mean value of scanned transverse lengths with CT scan time 1.00 T to be $100\%$, CT scans with scan times of 0.33, 0.50, 0.57, and 0.75 T missed the tumor motion by 30, 27, 20, and $7.0\%$ respectively, Slow (scan time 2.0 sec) and Fast (scan time 0.8 sec) CT scans of three patients with longitudinal movement of 3, 5, and 10 mm measured by fluoroscopy revealed the increases in the diameter along the longitudinal axis Increased by 6.3, 17, and $23\%$ in the slow CT scans. Conculsion : As the relative CT scan time increased, the reflection of the respiratory tumor movement on planning CT also Increased, but remained constant with relative CT scan times above 1.00 T When setting the planning CT scan time above one respiration period (>1.00 T), only the set-up margin is needed to delineate the planning target volume. Therefore, therapeutic ratio can be increased by reducing the radiation dose delivered to normal lung tissue.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.102-104
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• 2007

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is characterized by progressive cerebellar ataxia and slow saccades. A 40-year-old woman presented with progressive gait disturbance and ataxia over 15 years. Neurologic examination revealed scanning speech, ataxia, and hyporeflexia. Brain CT showed diffuse atrophy of the cerebellum. Electronystagmography demonstrated slowed saccades with normal accuracy and delayed latency. The diagnosis of SCA2 was confirmed by the genetic test. Documentation of slow saccades may help differentiation among SCA subgroups.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.650-655
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• 2016

This study investigated the effects of artificial supercooling followed by still air freezing (SSF) on the qualities of pork loin. The qualities of pork frozen by SSF were compared with the fresh control (CT, stored at 4℃ for 24 h), slow freezing (SAF, still air freezing) and rapid freezing (EIF, ethanol immersion freezing) treatments. Compared with no supercooling phenomena of SAF and EIF, the extent of supercooling obtained by SSF treatment was 1.4℃. Despite that SSF was conducted with the same method with SAF, application of artificial supercooling accelerated the phase transition (traverse from -0.6℃ to -5℃) from 3.07 h (SAF) to 2.23 h (SSF). The observation of a microstructure indicated that the SSF prevented tissue damage caused by ice crystallization and maintained the structural integrity. The estimated quality parameters reflected that SSF exhibited superior meat quality compared with slow freezing (SAF). SSF showed better water-holding capacity (lower thawing loss, cooking loss and expressible moisture) and tenderness than SAF, and these quality parameters of SSF were not significantly different with ultra-fast freezing treatment (EIF). Consequently, the results demonstrated that the generation of supercooling followed by conventional freezing potentially had the advantage of minimizing the quality deterioration caused by the slow freezing of meat.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.181-188
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• 2005

Methods used to study carbon sequestration by soil aggregates have often excluded the concentric spatial variability and other dynamic processes that contribute to resource accessibility and solute transport within aggregates. We investigated the spatial gradients of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) from the exterior to interior layers within macroaggregates, $6.3\sim9.5$ mm, sampled from conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) sites of a Hoytville silt clay loam. Spatial gradients in C accumulation within macroaggregates were related to the differences in C dynamics by determining the sizes and the turnover rates of fast C and slow C pools in the concentric layers of aggregates. Aggregate exteriors contained more labile C and were characterized by greater C mineralization rates than their interiors in both management systems. In contrast, C in the interior layers of aggregates was more resistant in both systems. These results indicated the spatial differentiation of C dynamics within macroaggregates, i.e., exterior layers as a reactive site and interior layers as a protective site. Greater total C distribution in the exterior layers of NT aggregates indicated more influx of C from the macropores in interaggregate space than C. mineralization (net gain of C), whereas lower C distribution within the exterior layers of CT aggregates indicated net loss of C by greater C mineralization than C influx. We found total C increased approximately 1.6-fold by the conversion of CT soils to NT management systems for a period of 36 years. Differences in total accumulation and the spatial distribution of C within aggregates affected by management were attributed to the differences in aggregate stability and pore networks controlling the spatial heterogeneities of resource availability and microbial activity within aggregates.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.sup1
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• pp.116-120
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• 2008

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death of men in western countries and the death related to this disease in Korea is also getting increased. Although anatomic imaging tools such as transrectal US or MRI have been playing a great role in detection of primary prostate lesion, the evaluation of regional lymph node or distant organ metastasis using these modalities is not successful. $^{18}F-FDG-PET$ scan is emerging diagnostic tool for various malignancies. Considering the usual characteristics of prostate cancer such as slow growing and osteoblastic metastasis, the application of FDG PET scan to this disease might be limited. However, in advanced prostate cancer refractory to chemotherapy, FDG PET scan show strong FDG uptake and SUV changes in serial PET scan can be a good indicator of treatment response. Although FDG PET can be useful only in limited cases of prostate cancer, its indication can be widened in future owing to rapid technical improvement and accumulated experiences in this field.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.55-57
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• 2017

A 64-year-old man was admitted due to jaundice for 2 weeks. Radiologic findings revealed biliary stricture at the hepatic hilum with intrahepatic duct dilation suggesting Bismuth type IV Klatskin tumor. Jaundice improved spontaneously several days after hospitalization. Surgical treatment was considered but he only wanted to observe without specific treatment. Ten months later, he was re-admitted due to the recurrence of jaundice. Computed tomography (CT) showed no significant difference compared to previous results. Serum cancer antigen 19-9 and Immunoglobulin G4 were normal. Endoscopic forcep biopsy during endoscopic retrograde cholagiopancreatography (ERCP) revealed chronic inflammation. After steroid use under possible diagnosis of IgG4 related cholangiopathy, biliary stricture improved slightly. Four years later, he was hospitalized with the occurrence of acute cholangitis. Endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage was performed following endobiliary forcep biopsy. Pathology revealed well-differentiated adenocarcinoma at this time. Combined chemotherapy based on gemcitabine and cisplatin was performed. Six months later, CT revealed partial response.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.597-602
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• 2016

In image guided surgery, a patient registration process is a critical process for the successful operation, which is required to use pre-operative images such as CT and MRI during operation. Though several patient registration methods have been studied, we concentrate on one method that utilizes 3D surface measurement data in this paper. First, a hand-held 3D surface measurement device measures the surface of the patient, and secondly this data is matched with CT or MRI data using optimization algorithms. However, generally used ICP algorithm is very slow without a proper initial location and also suffers from local minimum problem. Usually, this problem is solved by manually providing the proper initial location before performing ICP. But, it has a disadvantage that an experience user has to perform the method and also takes a long time. In this paper, we propose a method that can accurately find the proper initial location automatically. The proposed method finds the proper initial location for ICP by converting 3D data to 2D curvature images and performing image matching. Curvature features are robust to the rotation, translation, and even some deformation. Also, the proposed method is faster than traditional methods because it performs 2D image matching instead of 3D point cloud matching.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.141-148
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• 2023

The algebraic reconstruction technique is one of the reconstruction methods in CT and shows good image quality against noise-dominant conditions. The number of iteration is one of the key factors determining the execution time for the algebraic reconstruction technique. However, there are some rules for determining the number of iterations that result in more than a few hundred iterations. Thus, the rules are difficult to apply in practice. In this study, we proposed a method to determine the number of iterations for practical applications. The reconstructed image quality shows slow convergence as the number of iterations increases. Image quality 𝜖 < 0.001 was used to determine the optimal number of iteration. The Shepp-Logan head phantom was used to obtain noise-free projection and projections with noise for 360, 720, and 1440 views were obtained using Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation that has the same geometry dimension as a clinic CT system. Images reconstructed by around 10 iterations within the stop condition showed good quality. The method for determining the iteration number is an efficient way of replacing the best image-quality-based method, which brings over a few hundred iterations.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.67-72
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• 2015

Background: A schwannoma is a benign, slow-growing peripheral nerve sheath tumor that originates from Schwann cells. Orbital schwannomas are rare, accounting for only 1% of all orbital neoplasms. In this study, we retrospectively review orbital schwannomas and characterize clinical, radiologic, and histologic features of this rare entity. Methods: A retrospective review was performed to identify patients with histologically confirmed orbital schwannoma, among a list of 437 patients who had visited our hospital with soft tissue masses within the orbit as the primary presentation between 2010 and 2014. Patient charts and medical records were reviewed for demographic information, relevant medical and family history, physical examination findings relating to ocular and extraocular sensorimotor function, operative details, postoperative complications, pathologic report, and recurrence. Results: Five patients (5/437, 1.1%) were identified as having histologically confirmed orbital schwannoma and underwent complete excision. Both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were not consistent in predicting histologic diagnosis. There were no complications, and none of the patients experienced significant scar formation. In two cases, patients exhibited a mild postoperative numbness of the forehead, but the patients demonstrated full recovery of sensation within 3 months after the operation. None of the five patients have experienced recurrence. Conclusion: Orbital schwannomas are relatively rare tumors. Preoperative diagnosis is difficult because of its variable presentation and location. Appropriate early assessment of orbital tumors by CT or MRI and prompt management is warranted to prevent the development of severe complications. Therefore, orbital schwannomas should be considered in the differential diagnosis of slow-growing orbital masses.