• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2019

CareDose 4D which is the Siemens's Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) can adjust the level of radiation dose distribution which is based on organ characteristic unlike other manufacturer's AEC. Currently, a wide scan range containing different organs is sometimes examined at once (defined as one scan). The purpose of this study was to figure out which organ characteristic option is suitable when one scan method is utilized. Two types of anthropomorphic phantoms were scanned in the same range which were from frontal bone to carina level according to three different organ characteristics such as Thorax, Abdomen, and Neck. All scans and image reconstruction parameters were equally applied and radiation dose were compared. Radiation dose with Thorax organ characteristic was lower than that with Neck. Also, that with Abdomen oran characteristic was lower than Thorax. There were significant differences in radiation dose according to different organ characteristics at the same parameters (P<0.05). Usage of Neck organ characteristic had a result of the highest radiation dose to all phantom. On the other hand, utilization of Abdomen organ characteristic showed the lowest radiation dose. As a result, it is desirable to set appropriate organ characteristic according to examined body part when you checkup patients. Also, when you implement one scan method, selection of Abdomen-based organ characteristic has reduced more radiation dose compared with two different organ characteristic.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.681-688
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• 2022

Dose monitoring in CT patients requires accurate dose estimation but most of the CT dose calculation tools are based on Caucasian computational phantoms. We established a library of organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean adults by using four Korean adult male and two female voxel phantoms combined with Monte Carlo simulation techniques. We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for head, chest, abdomen and pelvis, and chest-abdomen-pelvis scans, and compared the results with the existing data calculated from Caucasian phantoms. We derived representative organ doses for Korean adults using Korean CT dose surveys combined with the dose conversion coefficients. The organ dose conversion coefficients from the Korean adult phantoms were slightly greater than those of the ICRP reference phantoms: up to 13% for the brain doses in head scans and up to 10% for the dose to the small intestine wall in abdominal scans. We derived Korean representative doses to major organs in head, chest, and AP scans using mean CTDI_vol values extracted from the Korean nationwide surveys conducted in 2008 and 2017. The Korean-specific organ dose conversion coefficients should be useful to readily estimate organ absorbed doses for Korean adult male and female patients undergoing CT scans.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.151-159
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• 2021

Background: Computed tomography (CT) is one of the crucial diagnostic tools in modern medicine. However, careful monitoring of radiation dose for CT patients is essential since the procedure involves ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen. Materials and Methods: The most desirable CT dose descriptor for risk analysis is the organ absorbed dose. A variety of CT organ dose calculators currently available were reviewed in this article. Results and Discussion: Key common elements included in CT dose calculators were discussed and compared, such as computational human phantoms, CT scanner models, organ dose database, effective dose calculation methods, tube current modulation modeling, and user interface platforms. Conclusion: It is envisioned that more research needs to be conducted to more accurately map CT coverage on computational human phantoms, to automatically segment organs and tissues for patient-specific dose calculations, and to accurately estimate radiation dose in the cone beam computed tomography process during image-guided radiation therapy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2021

Background: The use of computed tomography (CT) device has increased in the past few decades in Japan. Dose optimization is strongly required in pediatric CT examinations, since there is concern that an unreasonably excessive medical radiation exposure might increase the risk of brain cancer and leukemia. To accelerate the process of dose optimization, continual assessment of the dose levels in actual hospitals and medical facilities is necessary. This study presents organ dose estimation using pediatric cerebral CT scans in the Kyushu region, Japan in 2012 and the web-based calculator, WAZA-ARI (https://waza-ari.nirs.qst.go.jp). Materials and Methods: We collected actual patient information and CT scan parameters from hospitals and medical facilities with more than 200 beds that perform pediatric CT in the Kyushu region, Japan through a questionnaire survey. To estimate the actual organ dose (brain dose, bone marrow dose, thyroid dose, lens dose), we divided the pediatric population into five age groups (0, 1, 5, 10, 15) based on body size, and inputted CT scan parameters into WAZA-ARI. Results and Discussion: Organ doses for each age group were obtained using WAZA-ARI. The brain dose, thyroid dose, and lens dose were the highest in the Age 0 group among the age groups, and the bone marrow and thyroid doses tended to decrease with increasing age groups. All organ doses showed differences among facilities, and this tendency was remarkable in the young group, especially in the Age 0 group. This study confirmed a difference of more than 10-fold in organ doses depending on the facility and CT scan parameters, even when the same CT device was used in the same age group. Conclusion: This study indicated that organ doses varied widely by age group, and also suggested that CT scan parameters are not optimized for children in some hospitals and medical facilities.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.725-733
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• 2023

The Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences has started a radiation epidemiological study, titled "Korean Radiation Worker Study," to evaluate the health effects of occupational exposure to radiation. As a part of this study, we investigated the methodologies and results of reconstructing organ-specific absorbed doses based on personal dose equivalent, H_p(10), reported from 1984 to 2019 for 20,605 Korean radiation workers. For the organ dose reconstruction, representative exposure scenarios (i.e., radiation energy and exposure geometry) were first determined according to occupational groups, and dose coefficients for converting H_p(10) to organ absorbed doses were then appropriately taken based on the exposure scenarios. Individual annual doses and individual cumulative doses were reconstructed for 27 organs, and the highest values were observed in the thyroid doses (on average 0.77 mGy/y and 10.47 mGy, respectively). Mean values of individual cumulative absorbed doses for the red bone marrow, colon, and lungs were 7.83, 8.78, and 8.43 mSv, respectively. Most of the organ doses were maximum for industrial radiographers, followed by nuclear power plant workers, medical workers, and other facility workers. The organ dose database established in this study will be utilized for organ-specific risk estimation in the Korean Radiation Worker Study.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.327-333
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• 2012

Purpose: To analyze the correlation between dose volume histograms(DVH) based on organ outer wall contour and organ wall delineation for bladder and rectum, and to compare the doses to these organs with the absorbed doses at the bladder and rectum. Material and methods: Individual CT based brachytherapy treatment planning was performed in 13 patients with cervical cancer as part of a prospective comparative trial. The external contours and the organ walls were delineated for the bladder and rectum in order to compute the corresponding dose volume histograms. The minimum dose in 0.1 $cm^3$, 1 $cm^3$, 2 $cm^3$, 5 $cm^3$, 10 $cm^3$ volumes receiving the highest dose were compared with the absorbed dose at the rectum and bladder reference point. Results: The bladder and rectal doses derived from organ outer wall contour and computed for volumes of 2 $cm^3$, provided a good estimate for the doses computed for the organ wall contour only. This correspondence was no longer true when large volumes were considered. Conclusion: For clinical applications, when volumes smaller than 5 $cm^2$ are considered, the dose-volume histograms computed from external organ contours for the bladder and rectum can be used instead of dose -volume histograms computed for the organ walls only. External organ contours are indeed easier to obtain. The dose at the ICRU rectum reference point provides a good estimate of the rectal dose computed for volumes smaller than 2 $cm^2$ only for a midline position of the rectum. The ICRU bladder reference point provides a good estimate of the dose computed for the bladder wall only in cases of appropriate balloon position.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.509-517
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• 2023

This study analyzed imaging conditions and exposure index through clinical information collection and dose calculation programs in coronary angiography examinations. Through this, we aim to analyze the effective dose according to examination conditions and provide basic data for dose optimization. In this study, ALARA(As Low As Reasonably Achievable)-F(Fluoroscopy), a program for evaluating the radiation dose of patients and the collected clinical data, was used. First, analysis of imaging conditions and exposure index was performed based on the data of the dose report generated after coronary angiography. Second, after evaluating organ dose according to 9 imaging directions during coronary angiography, with the LAO fixed at 30°, dose evaluation was performed according to tube voltage, tube current, number of frames, focus-skin distance, and field size. Third, the effective dose for each organ was calculated according to the tissue weighting factors presented in ICRP(International Commission on Radiological Protection) recommendations. As a result, the average sum of air kerma during coronary angiography was evaluated as 234.0±112.1 mGy, the dose-area product was 25.9±13.0 Gy·cm², and the total fluoroscopy time was 2.5±2.0 min. Also, the organ dose tended to increase as the tube voltage, milliampere-second, number of frames, and irradiation range increased, whereas the organ dose decreased as the FSD increased. Therefore, medical radiation exposure to patients can be reduced by selecting the optimal tube voltage and field size during coronary angiography, maximizing the focal-skin distance, using the lowest tube current possible, and reducing the number of frames.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.147-151
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• 2016

Automatic exposure control (AEC) is frequently used in many hospitals for Standing Whole Spine examination which is able to control radiation dose with respect to the body type such as body mass index (BMI) and we can measure dose area product (DAP) based on respective patient information. However, few studies have been conducted organ absorbed dose evaluation based on location of patient organ. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between BMI and organ absorbed dose along with location of patient organ. For that purpose, we calculated absorbed dose with selected 5 patient organ (thyroid, breast, heart, kidney, and pancreas) using a PCXMC simulation tool with measured DAP. According to the results, measured DAP increases with BMI and organ absorbed dose decreases with BMI in anterior organs such as thyroid, breast, and heart. On the other hand, there is no correlation between organ absorbed dose and BMI in posterior organs such as kidney and pancreas. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the radiation effects are different with respect to BMI and location of patient organ in Standing Whole Spine examination.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2022

Background: The effects of radiation on the health of radiation workers who are constantly susceptible to occupational exposure must be assessed based on an accurate and reliable reconstruction of organ-absorbed doses that can be calculated using personal dosimeter readings measured as H_p(10) and dose conversion coefficients. However, the data used in the dose reconstruction contain significant biases arising from the lack of reality and could result in an inaccurate measure of organ-absorbed doses. Therefore, this study quantified the biases involved in organ dose reconstruction and calculated the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose coefficients for the use in epidemiological studies of Korean radiation workers. Materials and Methods: Two major biases were considered: (a) the bias in H_p(10) arising from the difference between the dosimeter calibration geometry and the actual exposure geometry, and (b) the bias in air kerma-to-H_p(10) conversion coefficients resulting from geometric differences between the human body and slab phantom. The biases were quantified by implementing personal dosimeters on the slab and human phantoms coupled with a Monte Carlo method and considered to calculate the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients. Results and Discussion: The bias in H_p(10) was significant for large incident angles and low energies (e.g., 0.32 for right lateral at 218 keV), whereas the bias in dose coefficients was significant for the posteroanterior (PA) geometry only (e.g., 0.79 at 218 keV). The bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients derived in this study were up to 3.09- fold greater than those from the International Commission on Radiological Protection publications without considering the biases. Conclusion: The obtained results will aid future studies in assessing the health effects of occupational exposure of Korean radiation workers. The bias-corrected dose coefficients of this study can be used to calculate organ doses for Korean radiation workers based on personal dose records.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.98-105
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• 2021

Background: In recent events of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, computed tomography (CT) scans are being globally used as a complement to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. It will be important to be aware of major organ dose levels, which are more relevant quantity to derive potential long-term adverse effect, for Korean pediatric and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean pediatric and adult CT patients directly from Korean pediatric and adult computational phantoms combined with Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques. We then estimated major organ doses delivered to the Korean child and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19 combining the dose conversion coefficients and the international survey data. We also compared our Korean dose conversion coefficients with those from Caucasian reference pediatric and adult phantoms. Results and Discussion: Based on the dose conversion coefficients we established in this study and the international survey data of COVID-19-related CT scans, we found that Korean 7-year-old child and adult males may receive about 4-32 mGy and 3-21 mGy of lung dose, respectively. We learned that the lung dose conversion coefficient for the Korean child phantom was up to 1.5-fold greater than that for the Korean adult phantom. We also found no substantial difference in dose conversion coefficients between Korean and Caucasian phantoms. Conclusion: We estimated radiation dose delivered to the Korean child and adult phantoms undergoing COVID-19-related CT examinations. The dose conversion coefficients derived for different CT scan types can be also used universally for other dosimetry studies concerning Korean CT scans. We also confirmed that the Caucasian-based CT organ dose calculation tools may be used for the Korean population with reasonable accuracy.