• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.125-130
• /
• 2021

In the AAPM CT performance phantom, there is little data on the CT number of the effective atomic number and physical density corresponding to each peg and water of the CT number calibration insert. Therefore, the necessity of documentation was raised.The purpose of this study is to calculate the effective atomic number for each peg and water of the CT number calibration insert in the AAPM CT performance phantom, and to measure the CT number for the calculated effective atomic number and physical density for comparative analysis.In order to obtain CT number data on the effective atomic number and physical density of each peg and water from the CT number calibration insert of the AAPM CT performance phantom, the effective atomic number for each peg and water was first calculated. Then, CT slices were obtained by scanning the CT number calibration with a CT scanner. CT numbers were measured for each peg and water in the central CT slice. As a result, the CT numbers for the effective atomic number showed a nonlinear pattern of repeating the increase and decrease as the effective atomic number increased. In addition, the CT numbers for physical density showed a nonlinear pattern of repeating the increase and decrease as the physical density increased.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.75-80
• /
• 2006

Purpose: In radiation therapy, precise calculation of dose toward malignant tumors or normal tissue would be a critical factor in determining whether the treatment would be successful. The Radiation Treatment Planning (RTP) system is one of most effective methods to make it effective to the correction of dose due to CT number through converting linear attenuation coefficient to density of the inhomogeneous tissue by means of CT based reconstruction. Materials and Methods: In this study, we carried out the measurement of CT number and calculation of mass density by using RTP system and the homemade inhomogeneous tissue Phantom and the values were obtained with reference to water. Moreover, we intended to investigate the effectiveness and accuracy for the correction of inhomogeneous tissue by the CT number through comparing the measured dose (nC) and calculated dose (Percentage Depth Dose, PDD) used CT image during radiation exposure with RTP. Results: The difference in mass density between the calculated tissue equivalent material and the true value was ranged from $0.005g/cm^3\;to\;0.069g/cm^3$. A relative error between PDD of RTP and calculated dose obtained by radiation therapy of machine ranged from -2.8 to +1.06%(effective range within 3%). Conclusion: In conclusion, we confirmed the effectiveness of correction for the inhomogeneous tissues through CT images. These results would be one of good information on the basic outline of Quality Assurance (QA) in RTP system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.537-543
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this simulation study was to evaluate the possibility of pancreas detection through effective atomic number information using dual-energy computed tomography(CT). The effective atomic number of 10 tissue-equivalent materials were estimated through stoichiometric calibration. For stoichiometric calibration, HU values at low-energy (80 kV) and high-energy (140 kV) for 10 tissue-equivalent materials were used. Based on this method, the effective atomic number image of the tissue-equivalent material was extracted through an iterative algorithm. According to the results, the attenuation ratio in accordance with the effective atomic number was estimated to have an R² value of 0.9999, and the effective atomic number of Pancreas, Water, Liver, Blood, Spongiosa, and Cortical bone was overall within 1% accuracy compared to the theoretical value. Conventional pancreatic cancer examination uses a contrast medium, so there is a possibility of potential side effects of the contrast medium. In order to solve this problem, it is thought that it will be possible to contribute to an accurate and safe examination by extracting the effective atomic number using dual-energy CT without contrast enhancement. Based on this study, future research will be conducted on the detection of pancreatic cancer using the HU value of pancreatic cancer based on clinical images.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.105-113
• /
• 2006

This study peformed to confirm the corrected dose In different electron density materials using the superposition/FFT convolution method in radiotherapy Planning system. The experiments of the $K_2HPO_4$ diluted solution for bone substitute, Cork for lung and n-Glucose for soft tissue are very close to effective atomic number of tissue materials. The image data acquisited from the 110 KVp and 130 KVp CT scanner (Siemes, Singo emotions). The electron density was derived from the CT number (H) and adapted to planning system (Xio, CMS) for heterogeneity correction. The heterogeneity tissue phantom used for measurement dose comparison to that of delivered computer planning system. In the results, this investigations showed the CT number is highly affected in photoelectric effect in high Z materials. The electron density in a given energy spectrum showed the relation of first order as a function of H in soft tissue and bone materials, respectively. In our experiments, the ratio of electron density as a function of H was obtained the 0.001026H+1.00 in soft tissue and 0.000304H+1.07 for bone at 130 KVp spectrum and showed 0.000274H+1.10 for bone tissue in low 110 KVp. This experiments of electron density calibrations from CT number used to decide depth and length of photon transportation. The Computed superposition and FFT convolution dose showed very close to measurements within 1.0% discrepancy in homogeneous phantom for 6 and 15 MV X rays, but it showed -5.0% large discrepancy in FFT convolution for bone tissue correction of 6 MV X rays. In this experiments, the evaluated doses showed acceptable discrepancy within -1.2% of average for lung and -2.9% for bone equivalent materials with superposition method in 6 MV X rays. However the FFT convolution method showed more a large discrepancy than superposition in the low electron density medium in 6 and 15 MV X rays. As the CT number depends on energy spectrum of X rays, it should be confirm gradient of function of CT number-electron density regularly.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.12 no.10
• /
• pp.4418-4424
• /
• 2011

This study is aimed to assess the effect of the gamma ray of 511keV energy which is emitted from phantom where the positron emission radionuclide was injected on X-ray CT image. As a scanning method, the CT number and pixel value of the reference image where water was injected(0 mCi), and those acquired by changing the capacity of 18F(Fluorine), positron emission radionuclide, into 1 mCi, 2 mCi, 5 mCi, and 10 mCi were measured. As a result of measuring the CT number(HU) of the phantom image where the positron emission radionuclide($^{18}F$) was injected, there were reference water ($-7.58{\pm}0.66$ HU), 1 mCi($-9.85{\pm}0.50$ HU), 2 mCi($-10.27{\pm}0.21$ HU), 5 mCi($-11.31{\pm}0.66$ HU), and 10 mCi($-13.47{\pm}0.38$ HU). Compared with the image where it was filled with water, there was a reduction of 5.89 Hu in 10 mCi, 3.73 in 5 mCi, 2.69 HU in 2 mCi, and 2 HU in 1 mCi. As for the pixel value of the phantom image, there were reference water ($-2.70{\pm}0.75$), 1 mCi($-4.72{\pm}0.58$), 2 mCi($-6.01{\pm}0.78$), 5 mCi($-6.10{\pm}0.84$), and 10 mCi($-8.20{\pm}0.60$). Compared with the reference image, there was a reduction of 5.50 in 10 mCi, 3.40 in 5 mCi, 3.10 in 2 mCi, and 2.02 in 1 mCi. Through this experiment, it was indicated that, with the increase in the dose of the positron emission radionuclide($^{18}F$), the CT number and the pixel value of the image reduced proportionally, and the width of reduction showed a similar value, too. Accordingly, according to the degree of change in X-ray CT image due to the positron emission radionuclide in the quality control item of PET/CT, the proper standard should be established and it should be periodically managed.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 2001

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of the slice thickness and the size of region of interest (ROI) on CT number using quantitative CT phantom Materials and Methods: The phantom containing 150 mg/cc, 75 mg/cc and 0 mg/cc calcium hydroxyapatite was scanned with 1, 3, 5 and 10 mm slice thicknesses by single energy quantitative computed tomography (QCT). CT numbers were measured on center position of the phantom. Shape of ROI was circular and sizes were 1, 3, 5, 11, 16, 21, 26 and 33 mm². ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparison method were performed for statistical comparison of CT numbers according to different slice thicknesses. Coefficient of variation of CT number measured in each size of ROI was evaluated in same slice thickness. Results : CT numbers had statistically significant difference according to slice thicknesses (p<0.05). As the slice thickness increased, CT number also increased. As the density of phantom became lower and the size of ROI became smaller, the coefficient of variation of CT number increased. When the size of ROI was more than 11 mm² in 1 mm slice thickness, 5 mm² in 3 mm slice thickness and 3 mm² in 5 mm slice thickness, the coefficient of variation became consistent. In 10 mm slice thickness, the size of ROI had little effect on the coefficient of variation. Conclusion: CT number had variation according to the slice thickness and the size of ROI although the object was homogeneous. The slice thickness and the size of ROI are critical factors in precision of the CT number measurements.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.97-102
• /
• 2004

We developed an x-ray cone-beam micro computed tomography (micro-CT) system for small-animal imaging. The micro-CT system consists of a 2-D flat-panel x-ray detector with a field-of-view (FOV) of 120${\times}$120 mm2, a micro-focus x-ray source, a scan controller and a parallel image reconstruction system. Imaging performances of the micro-CT system have been evaluated in terms of contrast and spatial resolution. The minimum resolvable contrast has been found to be less than 36 CT numbers at the dose of 95 mGy and the spatial resolution about 14 lp/mm. As small animal imaging results, we present high resolution 3-D images of rat organs including a femur, a heart and vessels. We expected that the developed micro-CT system can be greatly used in biomedical studies using small animals.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.182-190
• /
• 2005

Purpose: There are differences between Standard Uptake Value (SUV) of CT attenuation corrected PET and that of $^{137}Cs$. Since various causes lead to difference of SUV, it is important to know what is the cause of these difference. Since only the X-ray CT and $^{137}Cs$ transmission data are used for the attenuation correction, in Philips GEMINI PET/CT scanner, proper transformation of these data into usable attenuation coefficients for 511 keV photon has to be ascertained. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy in the CT measurement and compare the CT and $^{137}Cs$-based attenuation correction in this scanner. Methods: For all the experiments, CT was set to 40 keV (120 kVp) and 50 mAs. To evaluate the accuracy of the CT measurement, CT performance phantom was scanned and Hounsfield units (HU) for those regions were compared to the true values. For the comparison of CT and $^{137}Cs$-based attenuation corrections, transmission scans of the elliptical lung-spine-body phantom and electron density CT phantom composed of various components, such as water, bone, brain and adipose, were performed using CT and $^{137}Cs$. Transformed attenuation coefficients from these data were compared to each other and true 511 keV attenuation coefficient acquired using $^{68}Ge$ and ECAT EXACT 47 scanner. In addition, CT and $^{137}Cs$-derived attenuation coefficients and SUV values for $^{18}F$-FDG measured from the regions with normal and pathological uptake in patients' data were also compared. Results: HU of all the regions in CT performance phantom measured using GEMINI PET/CT were equivalent to the known true values. CT based attenuation coefficients were lower than those of $^{68}Ge$ about 10% in bony region of NEMA ECT phantom. Attenuation coefficients derived from $^{137}Cs$ data was slightly higher than those from CT data also in the images of electron density CT phantom and patients' body with electron density. However, the SUV values in attenuation corrected images using $^{137}Cs$ were lower than images corrected using CT. Percent difference between SUV values was about 15%. Conclusion: Although the HU measured using this scanner was accurate, accuracy in the conversion from CT data into the 511 keV attenuation coefficients was limited in the bony region. Discrepancy in the transformed attenuation coefficients and SUV values between CT and $^{137}Cs$-based data shown in this study suggests that further optimization of various parameters in data acquisition and processing would be necessary for this scanner.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
• /
• 2003.09a
• /
• pp.77-77
• /
• 2003

CT와 MRI의 단면 영상을 대상으로 영상분할 (Image segmentation)과 Image registration방법을 이용하여 인체 모델을 개발 하고자 한다. 우선 인체의 Head와 Neck부분의 CT와 MR 영상을 얻어 뼈, 근육, 인대, 그리고 그 밖의 장기의 해부학적 영상 특징을 분석하였다. 인체의 Head와 Neck 부분에 대한 CT와 MR 영상에 대해 각 부위별로 ROI(region-of-interrest)를 설정하였고, 각 volxel 마다 3차원 좌표를 계산할 수 있는 소프트웨어를 개발하였다. 특히 각 해부학적 영상에서 부위별로 CT 번호를 분석하고, pulse sequence에 따른 MRI 영상의 부위별 특정을 분석하였다. 이 분석한 자료를 바탕으로 영상 분할을 하였다. 영상 분할전에 각종 잡음(noise) 제거 및 영상 분할을 효과적으로 처리하기 위해 기본적인 영상처리 (filtering)를 구현하였고, 대조도(contrast) 및 밝기(brightness)를 조절할 수 있게 프로그램을 구현하였다. 영상 분할 방법 중 선(line) 및 에지(edge) 의 검출 방법, 문턱치화(threshold) 방법, 영역확대(region growing) 방법으로 영상 분할을 해봄으로써 우리의 인체 모델링 개발에 가장 적합한 영상 분할 알고리듬 방법을 찾도록 시도하였다. 결과적으로 말하면, 한가지 방법의 알고리듬을 쓰는 것보다는 인체의 부위에 따라 두 가지 이상의 알고리듬 방법을 쓰는 것이 원하고자 하는 부위를 영상 분할하는데 더 효과적이다는 것을 알게 되었다. 우리의 연구 과제에서는 영역확대(region growing) 방법과 문턱치화 방법, 모드법(피크니스, 밸리)의 알고리듬을 이용하여 영상 분할을 한 결과 우리가 얻고자 하는 인체 부위별 중 근육과 뼈를 구별하는데는 별 무리가 없었으나, 인대 및 기타 장기를 구별하는데는 어려움을 겪게 되었다. 이후에 좀더 알고리듬을 연구하여 이번 연구에서 구별하기 어려운 장기 부분도 구별 할 수 있도록 노력하겠다.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.8-13
• /
• 2016

Dual energy cone-beam CT can distinguish two materials with different atomic compositions. The principle of dual energy cone-beam CT based on modulation layer is that higher energy spectrum can be acquired at blocked x-ray window. To evaluate the possibility of modulation layer based dual energy cone-beam CT, we analyzed x-ray spectrum for various thicknesses of modulation layers by Monte Carlo simulation. To compare with the results of simulation, the experiment was performed on prototype cone-beam CT for 50~100 kVp with CdTe XR-100T detector. As the result of comparing, the mean energy of energy spectrum for 80 kVp are well matched with that of simulation. The mean energy of energy spectrum for 80 and 120 kVp were increased as 1.67 and 1.52 times by 2.0 mm modulation layer, respectively. We realized that the virtual dual energy x-ray source can be generated by modulation layer.