• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.503-510
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• 2016

Even though children are exposed to the same amount of radiation, their effective dose amount is higher than those of adults. Therefore, it is very important to reduce the amount of unnecessary radiation exposure because children have a higher radiosensitivity and a smaller body size than adults. In this study, the proposal to seek ways to reduce the amount of radiation is drawn by comparing and analyzing CT Dose Index(CTDI) on the pediatric head CT which was performed at the Busan regional hospitals, to the national diagnostic reference levels. For this, the pediatric head CT scan was conducted among the CT equipments that were installed in downtown Busan. From 2,043 children 10 years old or less who were referred to the pediatric head CT scan, targeting the 28 CT equipments in the 24 hospitals that transmit dose reports to PACS, were examined retrospectively. As a result, the average value of CTDIvol, computed tomography dose index (CTDI) of infant brain, across the hospital, was 31.18 mGy, with DLP of $444.73mGy{\cdot}cm$, which exceeded the diagnostic reference level. The lower the age, the more management is needed for radiation. However, the reality is that the CT examinations are being conducted with a dose that exceeds the reference level as the age of the aged is exceeded. For this purpose, the study seeks to determine the degree of doses of doses outside the diagnostic reference level and analyze the cause of the excess dose and devise measures to reduce the dose reduction.

• 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.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2015

Computed tomography(CT) using radiation have potential risks. All medical radiographic examinations should require the justification of medical imaging examinations and optimization of the image quality and radiation exposure. The CT examination was higher radiation dose then general radiography. Especially pediatric CT examinations need to great caution of radiation risk. Because of pediatric patient was more sensitive of radiation exposure. Therefore, physician should consider the knowledge of CT radiation exposure indicator information for reduce a needless radiation exposure. This article was aim to understanding of CT exposure indicator, size-specific dose estimates by American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) report 204, XR 25 and understanding of CT dose reduction technique.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.161-169
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• 2016

In this study, the proposal to seek ways to reduce the amount of radiation is drawn by comparing and analyzing CT Dose Index(CTDI) on the pediatric head CT which was performed at the busan regional hospitals, to the national diagnostic reference levels. As a result, it was appeared to exceed the amount of the dose recommendation in order of hospital, general hospital and senior general hospital in the hospital-specific classification and from 2 to 5 year, from 1 month to 1 year and from 6 to 10 year in the age-specific classification. In addition, the amount of the dose recommendation was exceed in order of helical, axial and volume in the scan-specific classification. As the results of the scan range reset to match the diagnostic reference level, the dose reduction showed 11.68%, 15.79% and 20.66% in senior general hospital, general hospital and hospital respectively. In the results of analysing patient average scan ranges which does not deviate from the guideline of patient dose recommendation, there was age of 1 month to 1 year, 2 to 5 year and 6 to 10 year of $03.2{\pm}11.8mm$, $110.5{\pm}14.5mm$, and $117.8{\pm}17.2mm$ respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.453-458
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• 2017

Computed Tomography (CT) provides information on the Diagnostic Reference Level Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDI) and Dose Length Product (DLP) for accurate diagnosis of patients. However, it does not provide a dose change according to the table height for the diagnostic reference level provided by the CT equipment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the image and dose according to the table height change using phantom (PMMA: Polymethyl Methacrylate) in order to find the optimal image and the minimum dose during computed tomography examination. When examining using a 32 cm PMMA phantom with the same thickness as the abdomen of an adult, there was little change in dose with table height. However, the noise evaluation of the image caused a high fluctuation of noise depending on the table height. and in the case of the 16 cm PMMA phantom, the change of the noise was small, but the dose change was about 30%. In conclusion, the location of the patient and the center of the detector are important during computed tomography (CT) examinations. In addition, table height setting is considered to be important for examinations with optimized image and minimum dose.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.246-252
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• 2010

The purpose of this study provides measurements of radiation dose from MDCT of head, chest, abdomen and pelvic examinations. A series of dose quantities that are measured of patient weight to compare the dose received during MDCT examinations. Data collected included: weight together with CT dose descriptors, volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP). The effective dose was also estimated and served as collective dose estimation data. Data from 1,774 adult patients attending for a CT examination of the head (n=520) or chest (n=531) or abdomen (n=724) was obtained from spiral CT units using a same CT protocol. Mean values of CTDIvol was a range of 48.6 mGy for head and 6.9, 10.5 mGy for chest, abdomen examinations, respectively. And mean values of DLP was range of 1,604 $mGy{\cdot}cm$ for head, 250 $mGy{\cdot}cm$ for chest, 575 $mGy{\cdot}cm$ for abdomen examinations, respectively. Mean effective dose values for head, chest, abdominal CT were 3.6, 4.2, and 8.6 mSv, respectively. The degree of CTDIvol and DLP was a positive correlation with weight. And there was a positive correlation for weight versus CTDIvol ($r^2$=0.62), DLP ($r^2$=0.694) in chest. And head was also positive correlation with weight versus CTDIvol ($r^2$=0.691), DLP ($r^2$=0.741). We conclude that CTDIvol and DLP is an important determinant of weight within the CT examinations. The results for this study suggest that CT protocol should be tailored according to patient weight.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.383-387
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• 2015

This study investigated the size specific dose estimates of difference localizer on pediatric CT image. Seventy one cases of pediatric abdomen-pelvic CT (M:F=36:35) were included in this study. Anterior-posterior and lateral diameters were measured in axial CT images. Conversion factors from American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) report 204 were obtained for effective diameter to determine size specific dose estimate (SSDE) from the CT dose index volume (CTDIvol) recorded from the dose reports. For the localizer of mid-slice SSDE was 107.63% higher than CTDIvol and that of xiphoid-process slices SSDE was higher than 92.91%. The maximum error of iliac crest slices, xiphoid process slices and femur head slices between mid-slices were 7.48%, 17.81% and 14.04%. In conclusion, despite the SSDE of difference localizer has large number of errors, SSDE should be regarded as the primary evaluation tool of the patient radiation in pediatric CT for evaluation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.81-85
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usability of applied Low dose Computed Tomography(LDCT) protocol in examining urinary calculus using computed tomography. The subjects of this study were urological patients who visited a medical institution located in Busan from June to December 2016 and the protocol used in this study was Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction: low-dose CT with 50% Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction (ASIR). As results of quantitative analysis, the mean pixel value and standard deviation within kidney region of image(ROI)of the axial image were $26.21{\pm}7.08$ in abdomen CT pre scan and $20.03{\pm}8.16$ in low-dose CT. Also the mean pixel value and standard deviation within kidney ROI of the coronal image were $22.07{\pm}7.35$ in abdomen CT pre scan and $21.67{\pm}6.11$ in low dose CT. The results of qualitative analysis showed that four raters' mean values of observed kidney artifacts were $19.14{\pm}0.36$ when using abdomen CT protocol and $19.17{\pm}0.43$ in low-dose CT, and the mean value of resolution and contrast was $19.35{\pm}0.70$ when using abdomen CT protocol and $19.29{\pm}0.58$ in low-dose CT. Also the results of a exposure dose analysis showed that the mean values of CTDIvol and DLP in abdomen CT pre scan were 18.02 mGy and $887.51mGy{\cdot}cm$ respectively and the mean values of CTDIvol and DLP when using low-dose CT protocol were 7.412 mGy and $361.22mGy{\cdot}cm$ respectively. The resulting dose reduction rate was 58.82% and 59.29%, respectively.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2014

The accuracy and uniformity of CT numbers are the main causes of radiation dose calculation error. Especially, for the dose calculation based on kV-Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) image, the scatter affecting the CT number is known to be quite different by the object sizes, densities, exposure conditions, and so on. In this study, the scatter impact on the CBCT based dose calculation was evaluated to provide the optimal condition minimizing the error. The CBCT images was acquired under three scatter conditions ("Under-scatter", "Over-scatter", and "Full-scatter") by adjusting amount of scatter materials around a electron density phantom (CIRS062, Tissue Simulation Technology, Norfolk, VA, USA). The CT number uniformities of CBCT images for water-equivalent materials of the phantom were assessed, and the location dependency, either "inner" or "outer" parts of the phantom, was also evaluated. The electron density correction curves were derived from CBCT images of the electron density phantom in each scatter condition. The electron density correction curves were applied to calculate the CBCT based doses, which were compared with the dose based on Fan Beam Computed Tomography (FBCT). Also, 5 prostate IMRT cases were enrolled to assess the accuracy of dose based on CBCT images using gamma index analysis and relative dose differences. As the CT number histogram of phantom CBCT images for water equivalent materials was fitted with a gaussian function, the FHWM (146 HU) for "Full-scatter" condition was the smallest among the FHWM for the three conditions (685 HU for "under scatter" and 264 HU for "over scatter"). Also, the variance of CT numbers was the smallest for the same ingredients located in the center and periphery of the phantom in the "Full-scatter" condition. The dose distributions calculated with FBCT and CBCT images compared in a gamma index evaluation of 1%/3 mm criteria and in the dose difference. With the electron density correction acquired in the same scatter condition, the CBCT based dose calculations tended to be the most accurate. In 5 prostate cases in which the mean equivalent diameter was 27.2 cm, the averaged gamma pass rate was 98% and the dose difference confirmed to be less than 2% (average 0.2%, ranged from -1.3% to 1.6%) with the electron density correction of the "Full-scatter" condition. The accuracy of CBCT based dose calculation could be confirmed that closely related to the CT number uniformity and to the similarity of the scatter conditions for the electron density correction curve and CBCT image. In pelvic cases, the most accurate dose calculation was achievable in the application of the electron density curves of the "Full-scatter" condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.411-417
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• 2022

This study aimed to learn and evaluate the effectiveness of VGGNet in the detection of pulmonary emphysema using low-dose chest computed tomography images. In total, 8000 images with normal findings and 3189 images showing pulmonary emphysema were used. Furthermore, 60%, 24%, and 16% of the normal and emphysema data were randomly assigned to training, validation, and test datasets, respectively, in model learning. VGG16 and VGG19 were used for learning, and the accuracy, loss, confusion matrix, precision, recall, specificity, and F1-score were evaluated. The accuracy and loss for pulmonary emphysema detection of the low-dose chest CT test dataset were 92.35% and 0.21% for VGG16 and 95.88% and 0.09% for VGG19, respectively. The precision, recall, and specificity were 91.60%, 98.36%, and 77.08% for VGG16 and 96.55%, 97.39%, and 92.72% for VGG19, respectively. The F1-scores were 94.86% and 96.97% for VGG16 and VGG19, respectively. Through the above evaluation index, VGG19 is judged to be more useful in detecting pulmonary emphysema. The findings of this study would be useful as basic data for the research on pulmonary emphysema detection models using VGGNet and artificial neural networks.