• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.405-411
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• 2018

We will provide basic data on the evaluation of patient dose in terms of DECT quality control by comparing the equipment-provided dose with the measured dose according to the configuration method of the X-ray generator by the manufacturer of the dual-energy CT unit. For computed tomography (CT) equipment, Discovery 750HD, Aquilion ONE GENESIS Edition, and Somatom Definition Flash were used. The $CTDI_{vol}$ value was measured by inserting the Unfors Xi ion chamber into a 32 cm PMMA acryl Phantom. The results of estimated $CTDI_{vol}$ DECT and measured $CTDI_{vol}$ showed that the dose difference between DECT 80 + 140 kVp of G company was at least 0.51% and -1.90% max, and measured $CTDI_{vol}$ was slightly lower (p<0.05). The difference of 80 + 140 kVp of S company was the minimum of 5.84% and the maximum of 7.52% (p<0.05). The measured $CTDI_{vol}$ was less than estimated $CTDI_{vol}$. The C company's 80 + 135 kVp showed a difference of at least 7.58% and a maximum of 13.58% (P<0.05), and all of measured $CTDI_{vol}$ was less. The linearity of exposure dose for all DECT equipment was very linearly reflected with $R^2$ being 0.97 or above, and the measured dose of the ionization chamber was less than the predicted dose of the monitor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.345-351
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• 2020

In this study, a dose assessment was conducted on the exposure dose of thyroid, breast and sexual gland using a personal dosimeter in multiple CT examinations currently being conducted in health examinations. The dose assessment was measured by attaching TLD and EPD to the locations of the thyroid, breast and sexual gland during CT examinations of Brain, Brain + C-S, Brain + Low lung, Brain + L-S among CT items. The generated dose of equipment, CTDI_vol and DLP, was measured. The study found that effective doses were rated 41.7% higher for thyroid TLD in Brain + C-S CT examinations than for the general public, 156% higher for EPD, 10% for breast EPD in Brain + Low Lung CT examinations, 124.4% higher for reproductive TLD and 339.8% higher for Brain + L-S CT examinations. The CTDI_vol and DLP analysis results showed that C-S CTDI_vol values were higher than the diagnostic reference levels at 0.6%, Low Lung CTDI_vol values at 5.7%, DLP values at 11.8% and L-S CTDIvol values at 1.2%. In order to reduce the exposure dose of patients, indiscriminate examination is reduced and dose limit setting is needed in health examination.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.290-296
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to derive the proposals and to suggest the exposure dose reduction scheme on pediatric head CT scan by analyzing and comparing CT dose index (CTDI) and the national diagnostic reference levels. From January 2014 to December, 231 children under 10years who were requested a pediatric head CT scan with head injury were examined. Research methods were to research and analyze the general characteristics kVp, mA test coverage $CTDI_{vol}$ and DLP referring to dose reports and electronic medical record (EMR). As a result, 7.4%(17 patients) of the total subjects in $CTDI_{vol}$ showed a national diagnostic reference levels exceeding. For DLP 41.6%(96 patients) in excess was relatively higher than $CTDI_{vol}$. DLP was exceeded more than about 60% that is higher than the CT dose index presented by Korea Food & Drug Administration. it is cause of high DLP that scan range increased more than about 30% wider than the standard test coverage presented in Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. In conclusion, it is able to significantly lower the dose if it is complied with checking the baseline scan range of pediatric head CT scan and appropriately adjusting the protocol.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1179-1186
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• 2018

Objective: The purposes of this study were to evaluate size-specific dose estimate (SSDE) of low-dose CT (LDCT) in the Korean Lung Cancer Screening (K-LUCAS) project and to determine whether CT protocols from Western countries are appropriate for lung cancer screening in Korea. Materials and Methods: For participants (n = 256, four institutions) of K-LUCAS pilot study, volume CT dose index ($CTDI_{vol}$) using a 32-cm diameter reference phantom was compared with SSDE, which was recalculated from $CTDI_{vol}$ using size-dependent conversion factor (f-size) based on the body size, as described in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Report 204. This comparison was subsequently assessed by body mass index (BMI) levels (underweight/normal vs. overweight/obese), and automatic exposure control (AEC) adaptation (yes/no). Results: Size-specific dose estimate was higher than $CTDI_{vol}$ ($2.22{\pm}0.75mGy$ vs. $1.67{\pm}0.60mGy$, p < 0.001), since the f-size was larger than 1.0 for all participants. The ratio of SSDE to $CTDI_{vol}$ was higher in lower BMI groups; 1.26, 1.37, 1.43, and 1.53 in the obese (n = 103), overweight (n = 70), normal (n = 75), and underweight (n = 4), respectively. The ratio of SSDE to $CTDI_{vol}$ was greater in standard-sized participants than in large-sized participants independent of AEC adaptation; with AEC, SSDE/$CTDI_{vol}$ in large- vs. standard-sized participants: $1.30{\pm}0.08$ vs. $1.44{\pm}0.08$ (p < 0.001) and without AEC, $1.32{\pm}0.08$ vs. $1.42{\pm}0.06$ (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Volume CT dose index based on a reference phantom underestimates radiation exposure of LDCT in standard-sized Korean participants. The optimal radiation dose limit needs to be verified for standard-sized Korean participants.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.139-143
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to measure and evaluate radiation dose for MDCT parameters. Patient dose for various combination of MDCT parameters were experimentally measured, using MDCT (GE light speed plus 4 slice, USA), model 2026C electrometer (RADICAL 2026C, USA), standard Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) head and body CT dosimetry phantoms. In clinical situations, for a typical abdominal scan performed with MDCT at 120 kVp, 180 mAs, 20 mm collimation, and a pitch of 0.75 $CTDI_w,\;CTDI_{vol}$ were measured as 20.2 mGy, 26.9 mGy, respectively. When scan length is assumed as 271.3 mm, DLP and measured effective dose of the abdominal would be calculated as $729.1\;mGy{\cdot}cm$, 10.9 mSv, respectively.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.385-392
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the image quality and exposure dose according to kVp and mAs in CT and to confirm improvement in image quality according to None IR and IR(Iterative Reconstruction) levels. Measurement results of image quality using Image J, HU(Hounsfield units) and BN(Background Noise) are decreased, while SNR(Signal to Noise Ratio) and $CTDI_{vol}$(CT dose index volume) are increased as the kVp increases and there was no change of BHU(Background Hounsfield units). BN was reduced due to increased kVp, while SNR and $CTDI_{vol}$ were increased. Also, the higher IR stage, the lower BN, SI(Signal Intensity) and HU while SNR was improved by about 10~60%. Based on this, when applying IR for clinical applications, it is necessary to finely adjust kVp and mA with a phased approach.

• The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2018

The main issue of CT is radiation dose reduction to patient. The purpose of this study was to estimate the image quality and dose by iterative reconstruction (IR) for adults and pediatrics. Adult and pediatric images of phantom were obtained with 120 and 140 kV, respectively, in accordance with radiation dose in terms of volume CT dose index ($CTDI_{vol}$): 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 mGy. Then, the adult and the pediatric images are reconstructed by filtered-backprojection (FBP) and iterative reconstruction (IR). The images were analyzed by signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). SNR is improved when IR and 140 kV are applied to acquire adult and pediatric images. In the adult abdomen, according to diagnostic reference level, the SNR values of bone were increased about 27.84 % and 27.77 % at 120 kV and 140 kV, and the tissue's SNR values of the IR were increased about 29.84 % and 33.46 % 120 and 140 kV, respectively. Dose is reduced to 40% in adults abdomen images when using IR reconstruction. In pediatric images, the bone's SNR were also increased about 17.70% and 18.17 % at 120 kV and 140 kV. The tissue's SNR were increased about 26.73 % and 26.15 % at 120 kV and 140 kV. Radiation dose is reduced from 30% to 50% for bone and tissue images. In the case of examinations for adult and pediatric CT, IR technique reduces radiation dose to patient, and it could be applied to adult and pediatric imaging.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.1025-1031
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• 2023

We aimed to evaluate the radiation dose and image quality by changing the Scout view voltage in low-dose chest CT (LDCT) and applying scan parameters such as AEC (auto exposure control) and ASIR (adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction) to find the optimal protocol. Scout view voltage was varied at 80, 100, 120, 140 kV and after measuring the dose 5 times using the existing low-dose chest CT protocol, the appropriate kV was selected for the study using the Dose report provided by the equipment. After taking a basic LDCT shot at 120 kV, 30 mAs, ASIR 50% was applied to this condition. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were assessed by measuring Background noise (B/N). For dose comparison, CTDI_vol and DLP provided by the equipment were compared and analyzed using the formulas. The results indicated that the protocol of scout 140 + LDCT + ASIR 50 + AEC reduced radiation exposure and improved image quality compared to traditional LDCT, providing an optimal protocol. As demonstrated in the experiment, LDCT screenings for asymptomatic normal individuals are crucial, as they involve concerns over excessive radiation exposure per examination. Therefore, applying appropriate parameters is important, and it is expected to contribute positively to the public health in future LDCT based health screenings.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2011

Purpose: To evaluate the dosimetry and image of very low does CT attenuation correction for phantom using pediatric PET/CT. Materials and methods: three PET / CT scanners (Discovery STe, BiographTruepoint 40, Discovery 600) as a child-size acrylic phantom and ion chamber dosimeter (Unfous Xi CT, Sweden) using a CT image acquisition parameters (10, 20, 40, 80, 100, 160 mA; 80, 100, 120, 140 kVp) by varying the depth dose and evaluate $CTDI_{vol}$ value. And each attenuation corrected PET/CT images used NEMA PET Phantom$^{TM}$ (NU2-1994) was evaluated by SUV. Results: Abdominal diagnosis CT dose in general pediatric (about 10 ages) parameter (100 kVp, 100 mA) than very low dose CT parameter (80 kVp, 10 mA) at the depth dose was reduced approximately 92%, $CTDI_{vol}$ was reduced to about 88%. Each CT attenuation corrected parameters PET images showed no change in the value of SUV. Conclusion: for pediatric patients, PET/CT scan can be obtained with very low dose attenuation correction CT (80 kVp, 10 mA), and such attenuation correction CT dose was reduced 100 fold than diagnosis CT dose. PET / CT scan used very low dose CT attenuation correction in pediatric patients can be helpful in reducing radiation dose.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.245-251
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• 2017

This study measured the exposure dose during abdominal-pelvic CT exam which occupies 70% of CT exam and tried to propose a protocol for optimized exposure dose in abdomen and pelvis without affecting the imagery interpretation. The study scanned abdomen-pelvis using the current clinical scan method, the 120 kVp, auto exposure control(AEC), as 1 phase. As for the newly proposed 2 phase scan method, the study divided into 1 phase abdomen exam and 2 phase pelvis exam and each conducted tube voltage 120 kVp, AEC for abdomen exam, and fixed tube current method in 120 kVp, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 mA for pelvis exam. The exposure dose value was compared using $CTDI_{VOL}$, DLP value measured during scan, and average value of CT attenuation coefficient, noise, SNR from each scan image were obtained to evaluate the image. As for the result, scanning of 2 phase showed significant difference compared to 1 phase. In $CTDI_{VOL}$ value, the 2 phase showed 26% decrease in abdomen, 1.8~59.5% decrease in pelvis for 100~250 mA, 12.7%~30% increase in pelvis for 300~400 mA. Also, DLP value showed 53% decrease in abdomen and 41~81% decrease in pelvis when scanned by 2 phase compared to 1 phase, but it was not statistically significant. As for the SNR, when scanning 2 phase close to heart, scanning 1 phase close to pelvis, scanning and scanning 1 phase at upper and lower abdomen, it was higher when scanning 2 phase for 200~250 mA. Also, the CT number and noise was overall similar, but the noise was high close to pelvis. However, when scanning 2 phase for 250 mA close to pelvis, the noise value came out similar to 1 phase, and did not show statistically significant difference. It seems when separating pelvis to scan in 250 mA rather than 400 mA in 1 phase as before, it is expected to have reduced effect of exposure dose without difference in the quality of image. Thus, for patients who often get abdominal-pelvic CT exam, fertile women or children, this study proposes 2 phase exam for smaller exposure dose with same image quality.