• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.279-285
• /
• 2014

This study is to have dose reduction and minimization of excessive use of contrast medium in the pediatric cardiac computed tomography and to suggest the optimization plan to acquire the enhancement image of the 4 chambers at the same time by formulating scan delay time in empirical method with considering variables such as contrast medium injection velocity and cardiac approaching time. Quantitative, qualitative and dose assessment were carried out for 30 pediatric patients who had taken the cardiac examination. In conclusion, image enhancement in 4 chambers of the cardiac shows over 300 HU which is proper to pediatric cardiac reading by applying the empirical method with calculating scan delay time according to weight and contrast medium volume and injection velocity. Qualitative image assessments in confidence sharpness and noise have excellence qualitatively. Exposure dose to pediatrics also decreases precisely. Therefore this study is judged to take a important role of making optimization images with advantages of dose reduction and less side effects caused by it's excessive use in clinic.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.575-584
• /
• 2021

The aim of this study was to achieve optimal portal phase while reducing contrast medium by applying weight-based dose protocol compared to standard fixed dose protocol to performing of pediatric abdominal CT examination. Discovery 750HD (General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, USA) was used, and a total of 167 children consisting of 85 men and 82 women under the age of 18 were studied. The group in which the 300 mgI/ml(Xenetix, Guerbet, France) contrast medium was fixedly injected at twice body weight and the group injected with physiological saline while gradually decreasing the injection amount by 10% while applying the weight-based protocol were distinguished. Also, the CT number and SNR of abdominal organs were compared and evaluated while changing the scan delay time. Subjective image quality of enhancement and beam-hardening artifacts of around the heart was assessed with five-point criterion. The group adapted weight-based protocol with 20% reduction in contrast medium was most similar in contrast enhancement in the group with fixed injection at twice body weight. Furthermore, the group with a delay time of 20% had the highest contrast enhancement effect, and the difference in CT attenuation coefficient from the group scanned immediately after injection of the contrast media. Therefore, the appropriate delay time after injection of the contrast agent increased the contrast enhancement of the parenchymal organ. In addition, the weight-based injection protocol with normal saline reduced artifacts around the heart, and the effect of contrast enhancement could be maintained. In conclusion, it is possible to reduce dosage of contrast media through the application of weight-based injection protocols and appropriate latency, and to characterize optimal portal phase imaging on pediatric abdominal CT.

• 한국방재학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2008.02a
• /
• pp.41-44
• /
• 2008

The purposes of this study are to estimate thestrength of concrete and quantify the deterioration of concrete by a unique X-ray technique with a contrast medium. In order to estimate the strength of concrete, specimens with different water-cement ratios were fabricated using non-air-entrained concrete, air-entrained concrete and mortar to determine the relationship between their compressive strength and the transit dose obtained by the X-ray technique. Also, an experiment to quantify deterioration was carried out on specimens that were subjected to freezing and thawing action to different levels of dynamic elastic modulus. As a result of this experiment, estimation of the strength and relative dynamic elastic modulus of deteriorated mortar, concrete and air-entrained concrete was found feasible by measuring the transit dose by the X-ray technique.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.495-502
• /
• 2019

A typical cerebrovascular disease among cerebrovascular diseases is vascular diseases such as cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral aneurysm, cerebrovascular stenosis. If the disease occurs and causes cerebral damage, it may be difficult to recover completely. So that, Must continue to perform health care through examination early. In particular, Because most cerebrovascular disease examining use radiation equipment and Thus this study was to find out how to select about the optimal examining method and X-ray dose decrease method among different examining method though comparison and analysis for the entrance surface dose (ESD) on cerebrovascular examining with Trance Femoral Cerebral angiography (TFCA) and Cerebral Computed Tomographic Angiography (CCTA). Also, want to find out how to select about the optimal examining method for worried patient that contrast medium side effect though measuring and evaluating for contrast usage. Data were collected from 70 patients (43 males and 27 females) who underwent CCTA at Yeosoo region hospital from June 2018 to December 2018 and 61 patients (34 males and 27 females) who underwent TFCA at Pyeongtaek region hospital from June 2018 to November 2018. ESD analysis method collected retrospective data though M-view and PACS PLUS program, Used contrast usage measuring method did reality measuring method. In the analysis using SPSS, the ESD of TFCA was $245.74{\pm}71.91$, which was $32.05{\pm}7.74$ lower than the dose of $277.79{\pm}79.65$ of CCTA ESD, and statistically significant at t = 3.249, p = 0.017 (p<0.05). As a result of the comparison of the total amount of contrast agent, the mean contrast agent used in TFCA was $55.05{\pm}17.68ml$, which was about 14.95 smaller than the amount of contrast agent used in CCTA, and statistically significant t = -4.548, p<0.001. In conclusion, the ESD of TFCA was statistically significantly lower than that of CCTA, and also the used contrast usage was significantly tiny than that of CCTA. Therefore, Select the method to increase the utilization of TFCA for cerebral disease examining, we can consider X-ray dose decrease method at the same time as to decrease side effect of contrast medium.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.231-236
• /
• 2012

This study derived measures to reduce exposure doses by identifying factors which affect the external radiation dose rate of patients treated with radiopharmaceuticals for PET-CT tests. The external radiation dose rates were measured on three parts of head, thorax and abdomen at a distance of 50cm from the surface of 60 PET-CT patients. It showed there are changes in factors affecting the external radiation dose rate over time after the administration of F-18 FDG. The external radiation dose rate was lower in the patients with more water intake than those with less water intake before the injection of radiopharmaceuticals at all three points: right after the injection of radiopharmaceuticals (average 4.17 mins), after the pre-PEET-CT urination step (average 77.47 mins), and right after the PET-CT test (average 114.15 mins). The study also found there is a need to increase the amount of water intake before the injection of radiopharmaceuticals in order to maintain a low external radiation dose rate in patients. This strategy is only possible under the assumption that the quality of the video has not changed after conducting this study on the relations between the image and quality. This study also found a need to use radiopharmaceuticals with the minimum amount needed for each patient because F-FDG doses affects the external radiation dose rate at the point right after the injection of radiopharmaceuticals. Urination frequency was the most significant factor to affect the external radiation dose rates at the point right after the PET-CT test and the point after the pre-PET-CT urination step. There is a need to realize the strategy to increase the urination frequency of patients to maintain the external radiation dose rate low (average 77.47 mins) before and after the injection of radiopharmaceuticals. In addition, at this point, there is a need to take advantage of personal strategies because the external radiation dose rate is lower if the fasting time is shorter, the contrast medium is used, and the amount of water intake is increased after the administration of radiopharmaceuticals. Finally this study found the need to be able to generalize these findings through an in-depth research on the factors affecting the external radiation dose rate, which includes radiopharmaceutical dose, urination frequency, the amount of water intake, fasting time and the use of contrast medium.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.402-412
• /
• 2022

Objective: To evaluate the image quality and lesion detectability of lower-dose CT (LDCT) of the abdomen and pelvis obtained using a deep learning image reconstruction (DLIR) algorithm compared with those of standard-dose CT (SDCT) images. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 123 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 63 ± 11 years; male:female, 70:53) who underwent contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic LDCT between May and August 2020 and had prior SDCT obtained using the same CT scanner within a year. LDCT images were reconstructed with hybrid iterative reconstruction (h-IR) and DLIR at medium and high strengths (DLIR-M and DLIR-H), while SDCT images were reconstructed with h-IR. For quantitative image quality analysis, image noise, signal-to-noise ratio, and contrast-to-noise ratio were measured in the liver, muscle, and aorta. Among the three different LDCT reconstruction algorithms, the one showing the smallest difference in quantitative parameters from those of SDCT images was selected for qualitative image quality analysis and lesion detectability evaluation. For qualitative analysis, overall image quality, image noise, image sharpness, image texture, and lesion conspicuity were graded using a 5-point scale by two radiologists. Observer performance in focal liver lesion detection was evaluated by comparing the jackknife free-response receiver operating characteristic figures-of-merit (FOM). Results: LDCT (35.1% dose reduction compared with SDCT) images obtained using DLIR-M showed similar quantitative measures to those of SDCT with h-IR images. All qualitative parameters of LDCT with DLIR-M images but image texture were similar to or significantly better than those of SDCT with h-IR images. The lesion detectability on LDCT with DLIR-M images was not significantly different from that of SDCT with h-IR images (reader-averaged FOM, 0.887 vs. 0.874, respectively; p = 0.581). Conclusion: Overall image quality and detectability of focal liver lesions is preserved in contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic LDCT obtained with DLIR-M relative to those in SDCT with h-IR.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 2015

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of visualizing soft tissue lesions and vascular structures using contrast-enhanced cone-beam computed tomography (CE-CBCT) after the intravenous administration of a contrast medium in an animal model. Materials and Methods: CBCT was performed on six rabbits after a contrast medium was administered using an injection dose of 2 mL/kg body weight and an injection rate of 1 mL/s via the ear vein or femoral vein under general anesthesia. Artificial soft tissue lesions were created through the transplantation of autologous fatty tissue into the salivary gland. Volume rendering reconstruction, maximum intensity projection, and multiplanar reconstruction images were reconstructed and evaluated in order to visualize soft tissue contrast and vascular structures. Results: The contrast enhancement of soft tissue was possible using all contrast medium injection parameters. An adequate contrast medium injection parameter for facilitating effective CE-CBCT was a 5-mL injection before exposure combined with a continuous 5-mL injection during scanning. Artificial soft tissue lesions were successfully created in the animals. The CE-CBCT images demonstrated adequate opacification of the soft tissues and vascular structures. Conclusion: Despite limited soft tissue resolution, the opacification of vascular structures was observed and artificial soft tissue lesions were visualized with sufficient contrast to the surrounding structures. The vascular structures and soft tissue lesions appeared well delineated in the CE-CBCT images, which was probably due to the superior spatial resolution of CE-CBCT compared to other techniques, such as multislice computed tomography.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.71-79
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is computed tomography contrast agent at low concentrations and low tube voltage technique to evaluate the usefulness on the phantom image. By varying the degree of mixture by the contrast medium concentration it was inserted in phantom. It was taken by changing the tube voltage and tube current step by step, and to evaluate the dose and the CT value obtained from the phantom image. As a result, low-contrast, low tube voltage(300 mgI/ml, 100 kV) was reduced by an average 21%(CTDIvol; computed tomography dose indexvol) more standard condition(350 mgI/ml, 120 kV). SNR was increased at all depths of the phantom, respectively 1:10 and 1:20(by diluting a contrast agent and normal saline) 12.2(26%) 6.2(17%). CNR was increased at all depths of the phantom, respectively 1:10 and 1:20(by diluting a contrast agent and normal saline) 11.5(32%), 6.3(26%). Research work on the CT scan is necessary in a variety of studies on the low contrast concentration and low tube voltage techniques for dose reduction and reducing of side effects the contrast agent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.693-698
• /
• 2018

Currently, shields for shielding medical radiation during medical examinations in the medical environment are lead robe and lead glass. Lead, the main component of this shielding, has limitations in lead poisoning and light weight, and high price. Iodine, which is used as contrast medium instead of lead shield, is expected to be effective as a shield because it has radiation absorbing properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of shielding by using acrylic plate filled with CT contrast agent for clinical use instead of conventional lead glass. As a result, it was found that the acrylic plate filled with the CT contrast agent showed a shielding effect of 7 times or more when the scattering ray dose was not shielded. Therefore, CT contrast agent composed of iodine is expected to be used as a shield instead of conventional lead glass.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.85-95
• /
• 2018

The term Butterfly tea refers to decoction of Mariposa christia vespertilionis leaves which is widely consumed by cancer patients throughout Malaysia and has gained a huge popularity among Malaysians, not only cancer patients but also researchers to discover the real potential of this plant. Herein, the study is aimed at evaluating the possible toxicity in 28-day subacute oral toxicity of ethanolic extract M. christia vespertilionis in male Sprague Dawley rats. The 28-day subacute toxicity study was conducted to detect the no-observed adverse effect level (NOAEL). In this study, a total of 30 rats were divided into the control, 5% DMSO (vehicle), low dose (75 mg/kg), medium dose (125 mg/kg) and high dose (250 mg/kg) groups. The extract was administered daily from day 1 until day 28. At the end of the study, the animals were humanely sacrificed and assessed for the effect extract of Mariposa christia vespertilionis leaves on body weight and relative organ weights and haematological, biochemical and histopathological parameters. The haematological and serum biochemical parameters for the assessment of kidney and liver injuries were carried out. Results of haematological and serum biochemistry results showed no changes in the control and treated groups. In the histopathology, evaluation of kidney tissues in all treated groups showed no significant (p > 0.05) lesions. In contrast to kidney, liver tissues showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in lesions observed in low dose (430 mg), medium dose (700 mg) and high dose (1480 mg) groups with very mild, mild and mild to moderate lesion of hepatic necrosis, in the respective groups, and very mild hepatic degeneration and hepatitis were scored in all three groups.