• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2020

Purpose It is intended to figure out the errors derived from changes in depth and volume when measuring the Standard source and ^99mTc-pertechnetate by using a Dose calibrator. Then recommend appropriate measurement depth and volume. Materials and Methods As a Dose calibrator, CRC-15βeta and CRC-15R (Capintec, New Jersey, USA) was used, and the measurement sources were ⁵⁷Co, ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs and ^99mTc-pertechnetate was also adopted due to its high frequency of use. The Standard source was respectively measured the changes according to its depth without changing the volume, in a range of 0 cm to 15 cm from the bottom of the ion chamber. ^99mTc-pertechnetate was measured at each depth by changing the volume with 0.1 mL, 0.3 mL, 0.5 mL, 0.7 mL and 0.9 mL Respectively. And the depth range was from 0 cm to 15 cm at the bottom of the ion chamber. Results In the case of Standard source ⁵⁷Co, ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs and ^99mTc-pertechnetate, there were significant differences according to the measurement depth(p<0.05). ^99mTc-pertechnetate has a negative correlation coefficient according to the depth, and the error of the measured value was negligible at a depth from 0 cm to 7 cm at 0.3 mL and 0.5 mL, and the range of error increased as the volume increased. Conclusion In clinical practice, it is sometimes installed differently than the Standard depth recommended by the equipment company. If it's measured at the recommended depth and volume, it could be thought that unnecessary exposure of the operator and the patient will be reduced, and more accurate radiation exams will be possible in quantitative analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.1760-1765
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• 2009

After administration of a radiopharmaceutical, the patient remains radioactive for hours or even days, representing a source of potential radiation exposure. Thus, including the personnel who are occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation, radiation exposure must be managed for members of the public, in particular for people accompanying patients. In this study we investigated radiation exposure dose management in the nuclear medicine departments at seven general hospitals. Two of them had no radiation safety considerations for patient transporters, sanitation workers and the like. And they all were careless of radioprotection for people accompanying patients. The average dose rate to people accompanying patients from radioactive patients just before a bone scan was 25.60 ${\mu}$Sv h-1. This is higher than 20 ${\mu}$Sv $h^{-1}$which is the annual public dose limit for temporary use. Therefore radiation dose measurement and risk assessment of patient transporters, sanitation workers and the like should be performed. And the nuclear medicine technologist should provide advices on the radiation safety to patient transporters, sanitation workers, people accompanying patients and so on. To ensure the radiation safety for people accompanying patients, it is required to restrict the patient's access to his relatives, friends and other patients or isolate patients.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2008

This study attempted to provide reference materials for improving the behavior level in radiation safety managements by drawing a prediction model that affects the radiation safety management behavior because the radiation safety management of medical Cyclotrons, which can be used to produce radioisotopes, is an important factor that protects radiation caused diseases not only for radiological operators but average users. In addition, this study obtained follows results through the investigation applied from January 2 to January 30, 2008 for the radiation safety managers employed in 24 authorized organizations, which have already installed Cyclotrons, through applying a specific form of questionnaire in which the validity was guaranteed by reference study, site investigation, and focus discussion by related experts. The radiation safety management were configured as seven steps: Step 1 is a production preparation step, Step 2 is an RI production step, Step 3 is a synthesis step, Step 4 is a distribution step, Step 5 is a quality control step, Step 6 is a carriage container packing step, and Step 7 is a transportation step. it was recognized that the distribution step was the most exposed as 15 subjects (62.5%), the items of 'the sanction and permission related works' and 'the guarantee of installation facilities and production equipments' were the most difficult as 9 subjects (37.5%), and In the trouble steps in such exposure, the item of 'the synthesis and distribution' steps were 4 times, respectively (30.8%). In the score of the behavior level in radiation safety managements, the minimum and maximum scores were 2.42 and 4.00, respectively, and the average score was $3.46{\pm}0.47$ out of 4. Prosperity and well-being programs in the behavior and job in radiation safety managements (r=0.529) represented a significant correlation statistically. In the drawing of a prediction model based on the factors that affected the behavior in radiation safety managements, general characteristics, organization characteristics, and selfefficacy didn't show a significant path statistically in which the prosperity and well-being programs in job characteristics affected the behavior in radiation safety managements. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a strategy that improves the level of prosperity and well-being levels in job characteristics in order to increase the behavior in radiation safety managements. Thus, this study provides basic materials for the radiation safety management of Cyclotron through the full-scale investigation that is first applied in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.433-438
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• 2019

The medical institutions use radiation generating devices and radioactive isotopes to diagnose and treat patients. The patient transporter performs work in an environment that is more likely to be exposed to radiation when compared with the general public, such as inevitably entering the radiation management area for patient transfer, or transferring the isotope-administered patient at a short distance. For this reason, we conducted a study to determine the degree of exposure of the patient transporter. The 12 patient transporters working at Incheon A General Hospital are eligible. From April 1, 2019 to April 30, 2019, the dosimeter was used in the chest for one month and the accumulated dose was measured. The dosimeter used was a Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dosimetry (OSLD) and the dose reading was OSLD Microstar Reading System. As a result of cumulative dose measurement for one month, the average of the deep dose was 0.13 mSv and the surface dose was 0.13 mSv, and the cumulative dose for one month was multiplied by 12 to estimate the cumulative dose expectation As a result, the average of the deep dose and the surface dose were 1.52 mSv and 1.51 mSv, respectively. It is necessary to classify the patient transporter as a frequent visitor in order to measure and manage the exposure dose, increase the knowledge of protection against radiation through education and training, and prevent radiation trouble through medical examination.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.633-638
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• 2017

The amount of radioactive waste has been rapidly increased with development of radiation treatment in medical field. Recently, it has been a common practice to use I-131 for thyroid cancer, F-18 for PET/CT and Tc-99m for diagnosis of nuclear medicine. All the wastes concerned have been disposed of by means of the self-disposal method, for example incineration, after storage enough to decay less than clearance level. IAEA proposed criteria for clearance level of waste which depends on the individual ($10{\mu}Sv/y$) and collective dose (1 man-Sv/y), and concentration of each nuclide (IAEA Safety Series No 111-P-1.1, 1992 and IAEA RS-G-1.7, 2004). In this study, specific radioactivity of radioactive waste contaminated with Re-186 was measured to confirm whether it meets the clearance level. Re-186 has long half life of 3.8 days relatively and emits beta and gamma radiation, therefore it can be applied in treatment and imaging purposes. The specific radioactivity of contaminated gloves weared by radiation workers was measured by MCA(Multi-channel Analyzer) which was calibrated by reference materials in accordance with the measuring procedure. As a result, comparison evaluation of decay storage period between the half-life which was calculated by attenuation curve based on real measurement and physical half-life was considered, and it is showed that the physical half-life is longer than induced half-life. Therefore, the storage period of radioactive waste for self-disposal may be curtailed in case of application of induced half-life. The result of this study will be proposed as ISO standard.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2024

Gallium-68-prostate-specific membrane antigen-11 (⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11) is a positron emission tomography radiopharmaceutical that labels a Glu-urea-Lys-based ligand with ⁶⁸Ga, binding specifically to the PSMA. It is used widely for imaging recurrent prostate cancer and metastases. On the other hand, the preparation and quality control testing of ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11 in medical institutions takes over 60 minutes, limiting the daily capacity of ⁶⁸Ge/⁶⁸Ga generators. While the generator provides 1,110 MBq (30 mCi) nominally, its activity decreases over time, and the labeling yield declines irregularly. Consequently, additional preparations are needed, increasing radiation exposure for medical technicians, prolonging patient wait times, and necessitating production schedule adjustments. This study aimed to reduce the ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11 preparation time and optimize the automated synthesis system. By shortening the reaction time between ⁶⁸Ga and the PSMA-11 precursor and adjusting the number of purification steps, a faster and more cost-effective method was tested while maintaining quality. The final synthesis time was reduced from 30 to 20 minutes, meeting the standards for the HEPES content, residual solvent EtOH content, and radiochemical purity. This optimized procedure minimizes radiation exposure for medical technicians, reduces patient wait times, and maintains consistent production schedules, making it suitable for clinical application.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.255-261
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• 2016

In this study, among various factors having influence on SUV, we intended to compare and analyze the change of SUV using CT(4 type) and MRI(3 type) contrast agents which are commercialized now. We used Discovery 690 PET/CT(GE) and NEMA NU2 - 1994 PET phantom as experimental equipment. We have conducted a study as follows; first, we filled distilled water to phantom about two-thirds and injected radioisotope(18F-FDG 37 MBq), contrast agent. Second, we mixed CT contrast agent with distilled water and MRI contrast agent with that water separately. And then, we stirred the fluid and filled distilled water fully not to make air bubble. In emission scan, we had 15minutes scanning time after 40 minutes mixing contrast agent with distilled water. In transmission scan, we used CT scanning and its measurement conditions were tube voltage 120 kVp, tube current 40 mA, rotation time 0.5 sec, slice thickness 3.27 mm, DFOV 30 cm. Analyzing results, we set up some ROIs in 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th slice and measured SUVmean, SUVmax. Consequently, all images mixed 3 types of MRI contrast agent with distilled water have high SUVmean as compared with pure FDG image but there was no statistical significance. In SUVmax, they have high score and there was statistical significance. And other 4 images mixed 4 types of CT contrast agent with distilled water have significance in both SUVmean and SUVmax. Attenuation correction in PET/CT has been executed through various methods to make high quality image. But we figured out that using CT and MRI contrast agents before PET/CT scanning could make distortion of image and decrease diagnostic value. In that reason, we have to sort out the priority of examination in hospital not to disturb other examination's results. Through this process, we will be able to give superior medical service to our customers.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2018

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the external dose rates of $^{18}F-FDG$ Whole Body PET/CT patients by distance, and to identify the main factors that contribute to the reduction of radiation dose by checking the cumulative doses of nuclear medicine technologist(NMT). Materials and Methods After completion of the $^{18}F-FDG$ Whole Body PET/CT scan($75.4{\pm}3.3min$), the external dose rates of 106 patients were measured at a distance of 0, 10, 30, 50, and 100 cm from the chest. Gender, age, BMI(Body Mass Index), fasting time, diabetes mellitus, radiopharmaceutical injection information, creatine value were collected to analyze individual factors that could affect external dose rates from a patient's perspective. From the perspective of NMT, personal pocket dosimeters were worn on the chest to record accumulated dose of NMT who performed the injection task($T_1$, $T_2$ and $T_3$) and scan task($T_4$, $T_5$ and $T_6$). In addition, patient contact time with NMT was measured and analyzed. Results External dose rates from the patient for each distance were calculated as $246.9{\pm}37.6$, $129.9{\pm}16.7$, $61.2{\pm}9.1$, $34.4{\pm}5.9$, and $13.1{\pm}2.4{\mu}Sv/hr$ respectively. On the patient's aspect, there was a significant difference in the proximity of gender, BMI, Injection dose and creatine value, but the difference decreased as the distance increased. In case of dialysis patient, external dose rates for each distance were exceptionally higher than other patients. On the NMT aspect, the doses received from patients were 0.70, 1.09, $0.55{\mu}Sv/person$ for performing the injection task($T_1$, $T_2$, and $T_3$), and were 1.25, 0.82, $1.23{\mu}Sv/person$ for performing the scan task($T_4$, $T_5$, $T_6$). Conclusion we found that maintaining proper distance with patient and reducing contact time with patient had a significant effect on accumulated doses. Considering those points, efforts such as sufficient water intake and encourage of urination, maintaining the proper distance between the NMT and the patient(at least 100 cm), and reducing the contact time should be done for reducing dose rates not only patient but also NMT.