• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 1999.06a
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• pp.1059-1062
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• 1999

Recently, X-ray chest radiograph is showing a tendency to take an image of digital radiograph so as to diagnose the pathological pattern of chest in a usual. When the radiologist observes the chest image derived from digital radiograph system on the monitor. he feels difficult to find out because of the sensitivity of chest radiograph. It takes amount of time to adjust the proper image for diagnosis. Therefore, we provided the result and the method of the optimal image equalization for image enhancement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.442-445
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• 2002

We present an algorithm for automatic anatomically adaptive image enhancement of digital chest radiographs. Chest images were exposed using digital radiography system with a 0.143 mm pixel pitch, l4-bit gray levels, and 3121 ${\times}$ 3121 matrix size. A chest radiograph was automatically divided into two classes (lung field and mediastinum) by using a maximum likelihood method. Each pixel in an image was processed using fuzzy domain transformation and enhancement of both the dynamic range and local gray level variations. The lung fields were enhanced appropriately to visualize effectively vascular tissue, the bronchus, and lung tissue, etc as well as pneumothorax and other lung diseases at the same time with the desired mediastinum enhancement. A prototype implementation of the algorithm is undergoing trials in the clinical routine of radiology department of major Korean hospital.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics B
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• v.31B no.8
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• pp.160-171
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• 1994

The wide dynamic range and severely attenuated contrast in mediastinal area appearing in typical chest radiographs have often caused difficulties in effective visualization and diagnosis of lung diseases. This paper proposes a new adaptive image enhancement technique which potentially solves this problem and there by improves observer performance through image processing. In the proposed method image processing is applied to the chest radiograph with different processing parameters for the lung field and mediastinum adaptively since there are much differences in anatomical and imaging properties between these two regions. To achieve this the chest radiograph is divided into the lung and mediastinum by gray level thresholding using the cumulative histogram and the dynamic range compression and local contrast enhancement are carried out selectively in the mediastinal region. Thereafter a gray scale transformation is performed considering the JND(just noticeable difference) characteristic for effective image displa. The processed images showed apparenty improved contrast in mediastinum and maintained moderate brightness in the lung field. No artifact could be observed. In the visibility evaluation experiment with 5 radiologists the processed images with better visibility was observed for the 5 important anatomical structures in the thorax.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.143-149
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• 2008

The aim of this study is to suggest the method for image enhancement of digital chest radiograph and evaluate clinically the quality of the resultant image. A nonlinear iterative filter was developed in order to reduce quantum noise preserving edge. Dynamic range was adjusted and adaptive image enhancement was performed based on the property of anatomic region and the degree of compatibility with neighboring pixels. The lung fields were enhanced appropriately to visualize effectively vascular tissue, bronchus and lung tissue with the desired mediastinum enhancement. Clinic evaluation was performed by three radiologists with at least 8 years experience. The anatomic regions of 11 in PA and 9 in Lateral were observed carefully in each 100 radiographs according to ITU (International Telecommunication Union) recommendation 500 protocol. The result showed the mean 3.4 between good and adequate. This means that the clinical utility of the image quality is enough. In this study, image enhancement was carried out considering image display device and human perceptual system to prevent the loss of useful anatomic information. In order to increase the diagnostic accuracy in digital radiograph, the continuous study on image enhancement is needed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.340-348
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• 2012

To evaluate the usefulness of tomosynthesis in the chest area, simple radiograph, low-dose CT, and tomosynthesis examinations were performed, and their absorbed doses were compared, and finally the images were evaluated. The absorbed dose recorded with the simple Radiograph examination was $0.33{\pm}0.27$ mGy, that of low-dose CT $1.26{\pm}0.56$ mGy, and that of tomosynthesis $0.55{\pm}0.02$ mGy, which indicate significance differences in absorbed doses among the examinations(p<0.001). Based on the evaluations of the images, The simple radiograph scores were $1.66{\pm}0.72$, $1.61{\pm}0.63$, and $1.57{\pm}0.73$, respectively; low-dose CT scores were $2.92{\pm}0.26$, $2.91{\pm}0.29$, and $2.88{\pm}0.32$, respectively; and tomosynthesis scores were $2.69{\pm}0.51$, $2.76{\pm}0.43$, and $2.66{\pm}0.61$, respectively. That is, there were statistically significant differences among the examinations(p<0.001), although there was no significant difference between low-dose CT and tomosynthesis examinations. Therefore, tomosynthesis is judged to be a useful examination that can minimize radiation doses to patients during chest examinations and enhance diagnostic efficacy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2017

There are no recommended test conditions for digital photography in Chest PA examinations. However, each company recommends shooting examinations of the high voltage applied to the previous analog examination. The condition that satisfies the value of 200 ~ 800 which is the recommended Exposure Index value recommended by Philips was selected, and the dose was evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation, and the SNR and CNR were compared. As a result, it was possible to reduce the effective dose up to 77% by controlling the tube voltage, tube current, and additional filter, not the conventional high voltage imaging method. Although there were some differences according to the test conditions, the image evaluation results were similar to the images. We will compare the exposure dose according to changes in tube voltage, tube current, and additional filter at the digital chest radiograph and evaluate the image quality of the image to propose optimal conditions.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2017

Purpose of this study is present the normal range of cardiac size and cardiothoracic ratio according to patient position(chest PA and AP) and age of Korean adult male on digital chest X - ray, And to propose a mutually compatible conversion rate. 1,024 males were eligible for this study, among 1,300 normal chest patients who underwent chest PA and low-dose CT examinations on the same day at the 'S' Hospital Health Examination Center in Seoul From January to December 2014. CS and CTR were measured by Danzer (1919). The mean difference between CS and CTR was statistically significant (p<0.01) in Chest PA (CS 135.48 mm, CTR 43.99%) and Chest AP image (CS 155.96 mm, CTR 51.75%). There was no statistically significant difference between left and right heart in chest PA and AP images (p>0.05). CS showed statistically significant difference between Chest PA (p>0. 05) and Chest AP (p<0.05). The thorax size and CTR were statistically significant (p<0.01) in both age and chest PA and AP. Result of this study, On Chest AP image CS was magnified 15%, CTR was magnified 17% compare with Chest PA image. CS and CTR were about 10% difference by changing posture at all ages.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.298-304
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• 2008

Current digital radiographic systems are rapidly growing in clinical applications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of computed radiography (CR) and digital radiography (DR) at different tube voltages in the detection of simulated chest lesions. Patterns of simulated interstitial lung disease, incipient infiltration, and nodules were superimposed over an anthropomorphic chest phantom. A simulated chest phantom radiograph was obtained with CR and DR at different tube voltages (70 kV, 90 kV, and 120 kV). A total of 18,000 observations were analyzed using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The detection of all lesions showed higher $A_z$ values at 70 kV than 120 kV with CR. For the DR, mean $A_z$ values at 70 kV were higher than other tube voltages not all lesions but for micro-nodule interstitial lung disease, linear interstitial lung disease, and incipient infiltration. Based on these results, a clinical study should be performed to judge the use of suitable tube voltage according to the type of detector system and lesions.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2017

Visual evaluation of chest radiograph images is the most practical and effective method. This study compared the Body Mass Index, waist circumference, and mAs with chest radiographs of 351 women. The Bureau of Radiological Health method was used to evaluate the image quality of chest X-ray images by anatomical and physical methods. The average age of the subjects was $30.17{\pm}4.73$ and the average waist circumference was $66.91{\pm}4.67cm$. The mean Body Mass Index value was $20.21{\pm}2.23$, the mean value of mAs was $3.04{\pm}0.78$, and the mean value of Bureau of Radiological Health was $79.83{\pm}8.45$. When the Body Mass Index value increased, waist circumference and mAs mean value increased. The mean value of Body Mass Index was statistically significant(p<0.05) in Group 4 compared to Groups 1 and 2, with increasing Body Mass Index. Exposure control of the automatic exposure control system is considered to be well performed according to body thickness or Body Mass Index at the time of chest radiography. As the Body Mass Index increases, the thickness of the body increases and the breast thickness of the woman also increases. Therefore, it is considered that the exposure amount is changed by the automatic exposure control device to affect the image quality.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.201-208
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• 2008

Physical evaluations provide the basis for an objective and quantitative analysis of the image quality. Nonetheless, there are limitations in using physical evaluations to judge the utility of the image quality if the observer's subjectivity plays a key role despite its imprecise and variable nature. This study proposes a new method for objective and quantitative evaluation of image quality to compensate for the demerits of both physical and subjective image quality and combine the merits of them. The images of chest phantom were acquired from four digital radiography systems on clinic sites. The physical image quality was derived from an image analysis algorithm in terms of the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the low-contrast objects in three regions (lung, heart, and diaphragm) of a digital chest phantom radiograph. For image analysis, various image processing techniques were used such as segmentation, and registration, etc. The subjective image quality was assessed by the ability of the human observer to detect low-contrast objects. Fuzzy integral was used to integrate them. The findings of this study showed that the physical evaluation did not agree with the subjective evaluation. The system with the better performance in physical measurement showed the worse result in subjective evaluation compared to the other system. The proposed protocol is an integral evaluation method of image quality, which includes the properties of both physical and subjective measurement. It may be used as a useful tool in image evaluation of various modalities.