• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.38-42
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• 2019

Purpose Although computed tomography (CT) is used for coronary artery calcification, it is difficult to differentiate between high risk microcalcifications. Studies have shown that $^{18}F$-sodium fluoride ($^{18}F-NaF$) is very useful for the diagnosis of microcalcifications. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of $^{18}F-NaF$ PET imaging in quantitative evaluation of calcification. Materials and Methods A total of 45 patients ($67.1{\pm}6.9years\;old$) were injected with 250 MBq of $^{18}F-NaF$ for 1 hour and images were acquired for 30 minutes. All patients underwent CT angiography (CTAngiography, CTA) before the PET scan. The SUVmax of calcification was measured and the background radioactivity of the left atrium was measured to determine Target to Background (TBR) and quantitatively analyzed. High risk group was classified through ROC curve (Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve). Results There were 226 coronary artery calcifications in the cohort and SUVmax was $1.15{\pm}0.39$. Of the 28 patients (62%), 58 were classified as high risk (TBR > 1.25). The remaining 168 were $TBR{\leq}1.25$. Conclusion $^{18}F-NaF$ PET images were available for quantitative assessment of microcalcifications and could be classified into high-risk groups. The combination of angiographic CT and $^{18}F-NaF$ PET may be a new method for early diagnosis of high-risk microcalcifications.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2021

Purpose There are many cyclotrons compared to the land area of the Republic of Korea. Because GMP certification is required and the nuclear medicine test does not apply for insurance, the number of examinations for nuclear medicine is decreasing. Therefore, there is a high probability of early decommissioning of the cyclotron. However, we do not unusually perform the radioactivation evaluation on concrete that can be classified as radioactive waste during the decommissioning of the cyclotron. In this study, we aim to confirm the radioactivation in the concrete surface using Handheld Radionuclide Identification Devices (RIDs). Materials and Methods Because there is no cyclotron being decommissioning in the Republic of Korea, it was impossible to perform the coring of concrete for radioactivation analysis. In this study, we used the KIRAMS-13 and analyzed the concrete surface in the target direction in the cyclotron room. After setting the target direction as the center, radionuclides were measured for about five months at thirty points with vertical and horizontal intervals of 30 cm. We used the RIIDEye(Detector: NaI(Tl) detector, manufacturer: Thermo) in this study and set the measurement time per point to one day (24 hours). Results Co-60 and Cs-137 were detected in some measurement points, and we confirmed the radioactivity of Co-60 detected at the most points. As a result, we found that the radioactivity of Co-60 was high in the diagonal direction (from the lower-left direction to the upper right direction) based on the center of the target. However, we think it is impossible to apply the corresponding results to all cyclotrons because we performed the study using only one cyclotron. Conclusion In thirty measurement points, we could confirm the radioactive nuclides and the relative radioactivity using the results of portable nuclides analyzer. Therefore, we expect that we can use the portable nuclides analyzer to select the coring position of concrete during the decommissioning of the cyclotron. Also, if we secure the radioactivation data for several years, we expect to make a more accurate estimate of radioactive waste during the preparation period of decommissioning of the cyclotron.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2023

A post-processing technique for the measurement signal of a solenoid-type sensor is introduced. The solenoid-type sensor nondestructively evaluates an external tendon of prestressed concrete using the total flux leakage (TFL) method. The TFL solenoid sensor consists of primary and secondary coils. AC electricity, with the shape of a sinusoidal function, is input in the primary coil. The signal proportional to the differential of the input is induced in the secondary coil. Because the amplitude of the induced signal is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the tendon, sectional loss of the tendon caused by ruptures or corrosion can be identified by the induced signal. Therefore, it is important to extract amplitude information from the measurement signal of the TFL sensor. Previously, the amplitude was extracted using local maxima, which is the simplest way to obtain amplitude information. However, because the sampling rate is dramatically decreased by amplitude extraction using the local maxima, the previous method places many restrictions on the direction of TFL sensor development, such as applying additional signal processing and/or artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the proposed method uses amplitude demodulation to obtain the signal amplitude from the TFL sensor, and the sampling rate of the amplitude information is same to the raw TFL sensor data. The proposed method using amplitude demodulation provides ample freedom for development by eliminating restrictions on the first coil input frequency of the TFL sensor and the speed of applying the sensor to external tension. It also maintains a high measurement sampling rate, providing advantages for utilizing additional signal processing or artificial intelligence. The proposed method was validated through experiments, and the advantages were verified through comparison with the previous method. For example, in this study the amplitudes extracted by amplitude demodulation provided a sampling rate 100 times greater than those of the previous method. There may be differences depending on the given situation and specific equipment settings; however, in most cases, extracting amplitude information using amplitude demodulation yields more satisfactory results than previous methods.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2024

Along with economic growth and industrial development, there is an increasing demand for various electronic components and device production of semiconductor, SMT component, and electrical battery products. However, these products may contain foreign substances coming from manufacturing process such as iron, aluminum, plastic and so on, which could lead to serious problems or malfunctioning of the product, and fire on the electric vehicle. To solve these problems, it is necessary to determine whether there are foreign materials inside the product, and may tests have been done by means of non-destructive testing methodology such as ultrasound ot X-ray. Nevertheless, there are technical challenges and limitation in acquiring X-ray images and determining the presence of foreign materials. In particular Small-sized or low-density foreign materials may not be visible even when X-ray equipment is used, and noise can also make it difficult to detect foreign objects. Moreover, in order to meet the manufacturing speed requirement, the x-ray acquisition time should be reduced, which can result in the very low signal- to-noise ratio(SNR) lowering the foreign material detection accuracy. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a five-step approach to overcome the limitations of low resolution, which make it challenging to detect foreign substances. Firstly, global contrast of X-ray images are increased through histogram stretching methodology. Second, to strengthen the high frequency signal and local contrast, we applied local contrast enhancement technique. Third, to improve the edge clearness, Unsharp masking is applied to enhance edges, making objects more visible. Forth, the super-resolution method of the Residual Dense Block (RDB) is used for noise reduction and image enhancement. Last, the Yolov5 algorithm is employed to train and detect foreign objects after learning. Using the proposed method in this study, experimental results show an improvement of more than 10% in performance metrics such as precision compared to low-density images.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.94-100
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• 2010

Purpose: We can evaluate function of kidney by Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) test using $^{99m}Tc$-DTPA which is simple. This test is influenced by several parameter such as net syringe count, kidney depth, corrected kidney count, acquisition time and characters of gamma camera. In this study, we evaluated predose count according to matrix size in the GFR test using $^{99m}Tc$-DTPA. Materials and Methods: Gamma camera of Infinia in GE was used, and LEGP collimator, three types of matrix size ($64{\times}64$, $128{\times}128$, $256{\times}256$) and 1.0 of zoom factor were applied. We increased radioactivity concentration from 222 (6), 296 (8), 370 (10), 444 (12) up to 518 MBq (14 mCi) respectively and acquired images according to matrix size at 30 cm distance from detector. Lastly, we evaluated these values and then substituted them for GFR formula. Results: In $64{\times}64$, $128{\times}128$ and $256{\times}256$ of matrix size, counts per second was 26.8, 34.5, 41.5, 49.1 and 55.3 kcps, 25.3, 33.4, 41.0, 48.4 and 54.3 kcps and 25.5, 33.7, 40.8, 48.1 and 54.7 kcps respectively. Total counts for 5 second were 134, 172, 208, 245 and 276 kcounts from $64{\times}64$, 127, 172, 205, 242, 271 kcounts from $128{\times}128$, and 137, 168, 204, 240 and 273 kcounts from $256{\times}256$, and total counts for 60 seconds were 1,503, 1,866, 2,093, 2,280, 2,321 kcounts, 1,511, 1,994, 2,453, 2,890 and 3,244 kcounts, and 1,524, 2,011, 2,439, 2,869 and 3,268 kcounts respectively. It is different from 0 to 30.02 % of percentage difference in $64{\times}64$ of matrix size. But in $128{\times}128$ and $256{\times}256$, it is showed 0.60 and 0.69 % of maximum value each. GFR of percentage difference in $64{\times}64$ represented 6.77% of 222 MBq (6 mCi), 42.89 % of 518 MBq (14 mCi) at 60 seconds respectively. However it is represented 0.60 and 0.63 % each in $128{\times}128$ and $256{\times}256$. Conclusion: There was no big difference in total counts of percentage difference and GFR values acquiring from $128{\times}128$ and $256{\times}256$ of matrix size. But in $64{\times}64$ of matrix size when the total count exceeded 1,500 kcounts, the overflow phenomenon was appeared differently according to predose radioactivity of concentration and acquisition time. Therefore, we must optimize matrix size and net syringe count considering the total count of predose to get accurate GFR results.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.30 no.1_2
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• pp.191-199
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• 2018

Purpose : In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of colloid gel(slime) as a compensator for irregular patient surfaces in radiation therapy. Materials and Methods : For this study, colloid gel suitable for treatment was made and four experiments were conducted to evaluate the applicability of radiation therapy. Trilogy(Varian) and CT(SOMATOM, Siemens) were used as treatment equipment and CT equipment. First, the homogeneity according to the composition of colloid gel was measured using EBT3 Film(RIT). Second, the Hounsfield Unit(HU) value of colloid gel was measured and confirmed by CRIS phantom, Eclipse RTP(Eclipse 13.1, Varian) and CT. Third, to measure the deformation and degeneration of colloid gel during the treatment period, it was measured 3 times daily for 2 weeks using an ion chamber(PTW-30013, PTW). The fourth experiment was compared the treatment plan and measured dose distributions using bolus, rice, colloid gel and additional, dose profiles in an environment similar to actual treatment using our own acrylic phantom. Result : First experiment, density of the colloid gel cases 1, 2 and 3 was $1.02g/cm^3$, $0.99g/cm^3$ and $0.96g/cm^3$. When the homogeneity was measured at 6 MV and 9 MeV, case 1 was more homogeneous than the other cases, as 1.55 and 1.98. In the second experiment, the HU values of case 1, 2, 3 were 15 and when the treatment plan was compared with the measured doses, the difference was within 1 % at all 9, 12 MeV and a difference of -1.53 % and -1.56 % within the whole 2 % at 6 MV. In the third experiment, the dose change of colloid gel was measured to be about 1 % for 2 weeks. In the fourth experiment, the dose difference between the treatment plan and EBT3 film was similar for both colloid gel and bolus, rice at 6 MV. But colloid gel showed less dose difference than bolus and rice at 9 MeV. Also, dose profile of colloid gel showed a more uniform dose distribution than the bolus and rice. Conclusion : In this study, the density of colloid gel prepared for radiation therapy was $1.02g/cm^3$ similar to the density of water, and alteration or deformation was not observed during the radiotherapy process. Although we pay attention to the density when manufacturing colloid gel, it is sufficient in that it can deliver the dose uniformly through the compensation of the patient's body surface more than the bolus and rice, and can be manufactured at low cost. Further studies and studies for clinical applications are expected to be applicable to radiation therapy.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.41-46
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• 2011

Purpose: The result of exam using an imaging device is very closely related with the image quality. Moreover, this image quality can be changed according to the condition of image acquisition and evaluation method. In this study, we evaluated the image quality according to the difference of pre-set method in PET/CT image. Materials & Methods: PET/CT Discovery STe16 (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, USA), Chest PET phantom (Experiment 1) and 94 NEMA phantom (Experiment 2) were used. Phantom were filled with $^{18}F$-FDG maintaining hot sphere and background ratio to 4:1. In the case of experiment 1, we set the radio activity concentration on 3.5, 6.0, 8.6 kBq/mL. In the case of experiment 2, we set the radio activity concentration on 3.3, 5.5, 7.7, 9.9, 12.1, 16.5 kBq/mL. All experiments were performed with the time-set method for 2 minutes 30 seconds per frame and the count-set method with one hundred million counts in 3D mode after CT transmission scan. For the evaluation of the image quality, we compared each results by using the NECR and SNR. Results: In the experiment 1, both the NECR and SNR were increased as radioactivity concentration getting increased. The NECR was shown as 53.7, 66.9, 91.4. and SNR was shown as 7.9, 10.0, 11.7. Both the NECR and SNR were increased in time-set method. But the count-set method's pattern was not similar with the time-set method. The NECR was shown as 53.8, 69.1, 97.8, and SNR was shown as 14.1, 14.7 14.4. The SNR was not increased in count-set method. In experiment 2, results of both the NECR and SNR were shown as 45.1, 70.6, 95.3, 115.6, 134.6, 162.2 and 7.1, 8.8, 10.6, 11.5, 12.7, 14.0. These results were shown similar patten with the experiment 1. Moreover, when the count-set method was applied, the NECR was shown as 42.1, 67.3, 92.1, 112.2, 130.7, 158.7, and SNR was shown as 15.2, 15.9, 15.6, 15.4, 15.5, 14.9. The NECR was increased but SNR was not shown same pattern. Conclusion: Increment of administered radioactivity improves the quality of image unconcerned with the pre-set method. However, NECR was not influenced by increment of total acquisition counts through simple increasing scan duration without increment of administered activity. In case of count-set method, the SNR was shown similar value despite of increment of radioactivity. So, the administered activity is more important than the scan duration. And we have to consider that evaluation of image quality using only SNR may not be appropriate.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.90-97
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• 2018

Purpose The lung segment ratio which is obtained through quantitative analyses of lung perfusion scan images is calculated to evaluate the lung function pre and post surgery. In this Study, the planar image production methods by using Q-Metrix (GE Healthcare, USA) program capable of not only quantitative analysis but also computation of the segment ratio after having performed SPECT/CT are comparatively evaluated. Materials and Methods Lung perfusion scan and SPECT/CT were performed on 50 lung cancer patients prior to surgery who visited our hospital from May 1, 2015 to September 13, 2016 by using Discovery 670(GE Healthcare, USA) equipment. AP(Anterior Posterior)method that uses planar image divided the frontal and rear images into three rectangular portions by means of ROI tool while PO(Posterior Oblique)method computed the segment ratio by dividing the right lobe into three parts and the left lobe into two parts on the oblique image. Segment ratio was computed by setting the ROI and VOI in the CT image by using Q-Metrix program and statistically analysis was performed with SPSS Ver. 23. Results Regarding the correlation concordance rate of Q-Metrix and AP methods, RUL(Right upper lobe), RML(Right middle lobe) and RLL(Right lower lobe) were 0.224, 0.035 and 0.447. LUL(Left upper lobe) and LLL(Left lower lobe) were found to be 0.643 and 0.456, respectively. In the PO method, the right lobe were 0.663, 0.623 and 0.702, respectively, while the left lobe were 0.754 and 0.823. When comparison was made by using the Paired sample T-test, Right lobe were $11.6{\pm}4.5$, $26.9{\pm}6.2$ and $17.8{\pm}4.2$, respectively in the AP method. Left lobe were $28.4{\pm}4.8$ and $15.4{\pm}5.6$. The right lobe of PO had values of $17.4{\pm}5.0$, $10.5{\pm}3.6$ and $27.3{\pm}6.0$, while the left lobe had values of $21.6{\pm}4.8$ and $23.1{\pm}6.6$, thereby having statistically significant difference in comparison to the Q-Metrix method for each of the lobes (P<0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference in Right middle lobe (P>0.05). Conclusion The AP method showed low concordance rate in correlation with the Q-Metrix method. However, PO method displayed high concordance rate overall. although AP method had significant differences in all lobes, there was no significant difference in Right middle lobe of PO method. Therefore, at the time of production of lung perfusion scan results, utilization of Q-Metrix method of SPECT/CT would be useful in computation of accurate resultant values. Moreover, it is deemed possible to expect obtain more practical sectional computation result values by using PO method at the time of planar image acquisition.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 2014

Purpose: The present study was aimed to investigate the correlation between higher-order aberration and myopic degree by the analysis of fluctuation of high-order aberration according to the change of myopic degree in certain ranges of myopia and astigmatism. Methods: The high-order aberration in a total of 992 eyes was analyzed by using a LADARWave device employing Hartmann-Shack system, and the relation between high-order aberration and myopia by the change of myopic degree through manifest refraction test. Results: In all subjects, spherical aberration and total coma aberration were significantly increased by the increase of myopic degree, however, trefoil aberration and astigmatic aberration and tetrafoil aberration were decreased. With the group of lower myopic degree, the change of coma aberration was greater by myopic degree and its change was significantly different. The change of spherical aberration by myopic degree was greatly large in the a group of -3.00 D or more and the group of -6.00 D or more where as its change was not large in the group of lower than -3.00 D. The significant decrease of coma aberration was observed only in the group of astigmatic degree of -1.00 D or less when analyzing the correlation between the higher-order aberrations and myopia in the certain groups of astigmatic degree. In the case of spherical aberration, the significant change was shown in all astigmatic groups, however, its increase was larger with the increase of myopic degree in lower degree of astigmatism. The consistent relationship in variations of horizontal and vertical coma aberration in certain myopic and astigmatic groups was neither established nor statistically significant. Conclusions: It is concluded that the correlation between the higher-order aberration and low-order aberration obtained from the results of the present study can help the understanding related to vision quality and the improvement of vision quality.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.161-170
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• 2009

Purpose : A parallel imaging method provides us to improve temporal resolution to obtain three-dimensional (3D) MR images. The objective of this study was to optimize three 3D MRI techniques by adjusting 2D SESNE factors of the parallel imaging method in phantom and human brain. Materials and Methods : With a 3 Tesla MRI system and an 8-channel phase-array sensitivity-encoding (SENSE) coil, three 3D MRI techniques of 3D T1-weighted imaging (3D T1WI), 3D T2-weighted imaging (3D T2WI) and 3D fluid attenuated inversion recovery (3D FLAIR) imaging were optimized with adjusting SESNE factors in a water phantom and three human brains. The 2D SENSE factor was applied on the phase-encoding and the slice-encoding directions. Signal-to-noise ratio(SNR), percent signal reduction rate(%R), and contrast-to-noise ratio(CNR) were calculated by using signal intensities obtained in specific regions-of-interest (ROI). Results : In the phantom study, SENSE factor = 3 was provided in 0.2% reduction of signals against without using SENSE with imaging within 5 minutes for 3D T1WI. SENSE factor = 2 was provided in 0.98% signal reduction against without using SENSE with imaging within 5 minutes for 3D T2WI. SENSE factor = 4 was provided in 0.2% signal reduction against without using SENSE with imaging around 6 minutes for 3D FLAIR. In the human brain study, SNR and CNR were higher with SENSE factors = 3 than 4 for all three imaging techniques. Conclusion : This study was performed to optimize 2D SENSE factors in the three 3D MRI techniques that can be scanned in clinical time limitations with minimizing SNR reductions. Without compromising SNR and CNR, the optimum 2D SENSE factors were 3 and 4, yielding the scan time of about 5 to 6 minutes. Further studies are necessary to optimize 3D MRI techniques in other areas in human body.