• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2017

Compared to other occupations, there is a greater risk of exposure to radiation due to the use of radioisotopes in nuclear medicine for diagnostic evaluations and therapy. To consider ways to reduce exposure dose for those in nuclear medicine involved in injection work and elution work among radiation workers as well as for sanitation workers and trainees among frequent workers an investigation into exposure dose and situational analysis from changes in yearly exposure dose evaluations, changes in work environment and changes in forms of inspection were conducted. Exposure dose measurements were taken by using EPD MK2 worn during working hours for one injection worker, one elution worker, two sanitation workers, and one trainee at a general hospital in the Seoul area for three days from July 18th to 20th 2016. Radiation from radioisotopes which are a part of nuclear medicine can significantly affect not only radiation workers who deal with radioisotopes directly but also frequency works as well. According to this study the annual dose limit for elution workers and injection workers were considered safe as the amount of exposure was not large enough to have a significant effect. The limits of this study consist in the duration of this study and the quantity of participants. Also there was a limitation of the measurement device involving accumulated exposure, where the EPD MK2 cannot check the changes in exposure according to a particular activity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.357-363
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• 2022

This study aims to improve the safety inspection awareness of occupational exposure and help radiation safety management by analyzing radiation exposure doses by occupational type of radiation related-workers and radiation workers. Radiation-related workers and radiation workers were classified into three occupations (radiological technologist, doctors, and nurses). A nominal risk coefficient based on ICRP 103 was used to calculate the probability of causing side effects of the lungs due to exposure doses. As a result of analyzing the exposure dose of all workers for one year, the exposure dose of radiological technologist among radiation-related workers was 1.63 ± 2.84 mSv, doctors 0.12 ± 0.22 mSv, and nurses 0.59 ± 1.08 mSv. The one-year deep dose for radiation workers was 2.44 ± 3.30 mSv for radiological technologists, 0.19 ± 0.26 mSv for doctors, and 0.12 ± 0.00 mSv for nurses. Due to this dose, the probability of causing side effects in the lungs was 1.2 per 100,000 radiological technologist, 0.096 doctors, and 0.06 nurses. In this study, it is believed that the probability of side effects on lungs by occupation of radiation exposure dose will be studied and used as useful data for radiation safety management in relation to probabilistic effects in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.170-179
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the occupational radiation exposures of emergency medical technicians(EMTs) in emergency medical centers in Korea. The results will provide a basis for developing prevention programs to minimize adverse health effects relating to radiation exposure among emergency medical technicians working in this area. Methods: Radiation exposure doses were measured for twenty-two EMTs working in six emergency medical centers. Thermo Luminescent Dosimeters(TLD) were placed on three representative body parts, including chest, neck, and a finger. Measurements were conducted over the entire working hours of the participants for foor weeks. Dosimeters were analyzed according to a standard method by a KFDA-designated lab. Detection rate, annual radiation exposure dose, and relative levels to dose limit were derived based on the measured doses from the dosimeters. SPSS/Win 18.0 software(IBM, US) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Detection rates were 45.5%, 36.4%, and 45.5% for the dosimeters sampled from chest, neck, and a finger, respectively. The average annual doses were $2.39{\pm}3.44mSv/year$(range 0.38-10.0 mSv/year) for the chest, $2.72{\pm}3.05mSv/year$(2.00-11.34) for the neck, and $20.98{\pm}17.57mSv/year$(1.25-53.50) for the hand dose. The average annual eye dose was estimated to $3.61{\pm}2.37mSv/year$(1.50-8.34). The exposure dose levels of EMTs were comparable to those of radiologists, who showed relatively higher radiation dose among health care workers, as reported in another study. Conclusions: EMTs working in emergency medical centers are considered to be at risk of radiation exposure. Although the radiation exposure dose of EMTs does not exceed the dose limit, it is not negligible comparing to other professionals in health care sectors.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2015

Research and investigation is required for the exposure dose of radiation workers to work in the dental hospital as increasing interest in exposure dose of the dental hospital recently accordingly, study aim to minimize radiation exposure by making a follow-up study of individual exposure doses of radiation workers, analyzing the status on individual radiation exposure management, prediction the radiation disability risk levels by radiation, and alerting the workers to the danger of radiation exposure. Especially given the changes in the dental hospital radiation safety awareness conducted the study in order to minimize radiation exposure. This study performed analyses by a comparison between general and dental hospital, comparing each occupation, with the 116,220 exposure dose data by quarter and year of 5,811 subjects at general and dental hospital across South Korea from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2012. The following are the results obtained by analyzing average values year and quarter. In term of hospital, average doses were significantly higer in general hospitals than detal ones. In terms of job, average doses were higher in radiological technologists the other workes. Especially, they showed statistically significant differences between radiological technologists than dentists. The above-mentioned results indicate that radiation workers were exposed to radiation for the past 5 years to the extent not exceeding the dose limit (maximum $50mSv\;y^{-1}$). The limitation of this study is that radiation workers before 2008 were excluded from the study. Objective evaluation standards did not apply to the work circumstance or condition of each hospital. Therefore, it is deemed necessary to work out analysis criteria that will be used as objective evaluation standard. It will be necessary to study radiation exposure in more precise ways on the basis of objective analysis standard in the furture. Should try to minimize the radiation individual dose of radiation workers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.169-172
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• 2018

In recent years, a number of studies have been reported on the various types of cancer arising from epigenetic alterations, including reports that these epigenetic alterations occur as a result of radiation exposure or infection. Thyroid cancer and breast cancer, in particular, have high cancer burden, and it has been confirmed that radiation exposure or onco-viral infection are linked to increased risk of development of these two types of cancer, respectively. Thus, the environment-epigenetic alteration-cancer occurrence (EEC) hypothesis has been suggested. This paper reviews the trends in research supporting this hypothesis for radiation exposure and onco-viral infection. If more evidences accumulate for the EEC hypothesis from future research, those findings may greatly aid in the prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of the thyroid cancer and breast cancer.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.335-339
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• 2024

Employees of nuclear medicine facilities performing medical procedures with the use of open radioactive sources require continuous detailed control of exposure to ionizing radiation. Thermoluminescent (TL) detectors placed in dosimeters: for the whole body, for lenses, ring and wrist dosimeters were used to assess exposure. The highest whole-body exposure of (1.70 ± 1.09) µSv/GBq was recorded in nurses administering radiopharmaceutical to patients. The highest exposure to lenses and fingers was recorded for employees of the quality control zone and it was (8.08 ± 2.84) µSv/GBq and a maximum of (1261.46 ± 338.93) µSv/GBq, respectively. Workers in the production zone received the highest doses on their hands, i.e. (175.67 ± 13.25) µSv/GBq. The measurements performed showed that the analyzed workers may be classified as exposure category A. Wrist dosimeters are not recommended for use in isotope laboratories due to underestimation of ionizing radiation doses. Appropriately selected shields, which significantly reduce the dose received by employees, must be used in isotope laboratories. Periodic measurements confirmed that the appropriate optimization of exposure reduces the radiation doses received by employees.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.83-97
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• 2021

Background: The lifetime risk of lung cancer incidence due to radiation for nonsmokers is overestimated because of the use of the average cancer baseline risk among a mixed population, including smokers. In recent years, the generalized multiplicative (GM)-excess relative risk (ERR) model has been developed in the life span study of atomic bomb survivors to consider the joint effect of radiation and smoking. Based on this background, this paper discusses the issues of radiation risk assessment considering smoking in two parts. Materials and Methods: In Part 1, we proposed a simple method of estimating the baseline risk for nonsmokers using current smoking data. We performed sensitivity analysis on baseline risk estimation to discuss the birth cohort effects. In Part 2, we applied the GM-ERR model for Japanese smokers to calculate lifetime attributable risk (LAR). We also performed a sensitivity analysis using other ERR models (e.g., simple additive (SA)-ERR model). Results and Discussion: In Part 1, the lifetime baseline risk from mixed population including smokers to nonsmokers decreased by 54% (44%-60%) for males and 24% (18%-29%) for females. In Part 2, comparison of LAR between SA- and GM-ERR models showed that if the radiation dose was ≤200 mGy or less, the difference between these ERR models was within the standard deviation of LAR due to the uncertainty of smoking information. Conclusion: The use of mixed population for baseline risk assessment overestimates the risk for lung cancer due to low-dose radiation exposure in Japanese males.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.255-260
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• 2018

Most patients and parents and guardians display frequent anxiety due to radiation exposure during outpatient, ward, and pediatric general radiographic examinations. This is a behavior that perceives only the harmfulness of radiation. For the recognition of medical radiation, we conduct surveys on outpatients, inpatients, and pediatric parents and guardians to identify their awareness, and then use the radiation dose promotional materials After providing accurate information on the use of radiation, the outpatient, inpatient, and pediatric parents and guardians were asked to explain the change in awareness. The questionnaire items were classified into five categories: repetitive radiation awareness for diagnosis, awareness of exposure dose, availability of exposure information, awareness of radiation risk, and awareness of health problems caused by radiation. There was a statistically significant difference in the items of recognition result of medical radiation, although there was a slight difference in the individual items in the pre and post-recognition results of providing information about the radiologists of the protector and the outpatient(p<0.05). Therefore, through the installation of these promotional materials, we will improve our awareness of medical radiation safety during general radiography surveillance in the Department of Radiology to provide better quality medical information and medical services, thereby contributing to strengthening the competitiveness of the hospital.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.351-356
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cancer incidence rate and provide basic data by measuring the photoneutron dose generated during intensity-modulated radiation therapy and volumetric modulated arc therapy used in radiation therapy for prostate cancer. The optically stimulated luminescence albedo neutron dosimeter for neutron measurement was placed on the Rando phantom in the abdomen and thyroid and photoneutron dose generated was measured. As a result of the study, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (7 portal) was measured to be higher than volumetric rotational radiation therapy in both abdominal and thyroid locations. When the cancer incidence rate was evaluated using the nominal risk coefficient of ICRP 103, the cancer incidence rate due to exposure to the colon and thyroid during intensity-modulated radiation therapy was 9.9 per 1,000 people, and volumetric rotational radiation therapy for 1,000 people. It was 3.5 per person. Based on the principle of ALARA (As low as reasonably archievable), it is considered to be a guideline for minimizing the exposure dose to normal organs in the establishment of a radiation treatment plan.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 2001

This study presents the quantitative exposure assessment of indoor radon released from groundwater. Most of the Indoor radon comes directly from soil beneath the basement or foundation. Recently, radon in groundwater releases to indoor air whenever the water is used and contributes to the total inhalation risk from indoor air. This study first develops a mathematical model to describe the transfer and distribution of radon released from groundwater in a house. Then, daily human exposures through inhalation or such radon are estimated with the model for an male adult based on two sets of exposure scenarios. The results obtained from the study would help increase the understanding of risk assessment issues associated with the indoor radon released from groundwater.