• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.499-504
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• 2022

Positron emission tomography (PET) uses a very small scintillator to achieve exellent spatial resolution. Therefore, in this study, a PET system using a scintillator to 0.8 mm size was designed and the performance was evaluated. Anihilation radiation was generated from the center of the field of view (FOV) to the outskirts at intervals of 10 mm, and counted simultaneously. The image was reconstructed using the coincidence data, and the spatial resolution was calculated by acquiring the full width at half maximum through the profile. The spatial resolution at the center of the FOV was 1.02 mm, showing a very good result, and the spatial resolution decreased as it was located at the outer edge. To evaluate the phantom image, the Derenzo phantom was constructed to acquire the image, and the degree of classification between radiation sources was evaluated through profile analysis. The result showed that the distance between the radiation sources was larger than the spatial resolution of the radiation sources at each location, and it was confirmed that the radiation sources were distinguished through this. When the PET system designed in this study is applied to PET for small animals, it is considered that excellent performance can be secured through the characteristic of very good spatial resolution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2023

Among imaging and treatment devices for small animals, positron emission tomography(PET) causes a change in spatial resolution within a field of view. This is a phenomenon caused by using a small gantry and a thin and long scintillation pixel, and detectors that measure the interaction depth are being developed and researched to solve this problem. In this study, a detector that measures the interaction depth was designed using several scintillator blocks and light guides with different reflector patterns. The scintillator block composed of 4 × 4 arrays of 3 mm × 3 mm × 5 mm scintillation pixels formed four layers, and a light guide was inserted in each layer to configure the entire detector. In order to check whether the interaction depth was measured, a gamma ray interaction was generated at the center of all scintillation pixels to acquire data and then reconstructed into a flood image. The reflector patterns of the light guides inserted between the layers were all different, so the positions of the scintillation pixels for each layer were formed in different locations. It is considered that even spatial resolution can be achieved over all regions of the field of view if all positions of the scintillation pixels thus formed are separated and used for image reconstruction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2023

In preclinical positron emisson tomography(PET), spatial resolution degradation occurs outside the field of view(FOV). To solve this problem, a depth of interaction(DOI) detector was developed that measures the position where gamma rays and the scintillator interact. There are a method in which a scintillation pixel array is composed of multiple layers, a method in which photosensors are arranged at both ends of a single layer, a method in which a scintillation pixel array is constituted in several layers and a photosensor is arranged in each layer. In this study, a new type of DOI detector was designed by analyzing the characteristics of the previously developed detectors. In the two-layer detector, different sizes of scintillation pixels were used for each layer, and the array size was configured differently. When configured in this form, the positions of the scintillation pixels for each layer are arranged to be shifted from each other, so that they are imaged at different positions in a flood image. DETECT2000 simulation was performed to confirm the possibility of measuring the depth of interaction of the designed detector. A flood image was reconstructed from a light signal acquired by a gamma-ray event generated at the center of each scintillation pixel. As a result, it was confirmed that all scintillation pixels for each layer were separated from the reconstructed flood image and imaged to measure the interaction depth. When this detector is applied to preclinical PET, it is considered that excellent images can be obtained by improving spatial resolution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.719-725
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• 2022

This study aimed to measure, quantitatively evaluate, and set the criteria for the minimum lead(Pb) shield thickness per level of clinically applied electron beam energy. The lead shield thickness per electron beam energy was measured using the primary field 95% reduction based on the open field at the depth of maximum dose (d_max) and depth from the surface as the reference depth of tissue dose(10 mm). The measured values were 1.906 mmPb and 1.992 mmPb at the d_max and 10 mm, respectively, regarding the lead shield thickness for 6 MeV electron beam; 2.746 mmPb and 3.743 mmPb for 9 MeV electron beam, 3.718 mmPb and 6.093 mmPb for 12 MeV electron beam, 7.300 mmPb and 15.270 mmPb for 16 MeV electron beam, and 16.825 mmPb and 25.090 mmPb for 20 MeV electron beam. Consequently, a thicker lead shield was required if the measurement was at 10 mm. The required lead shield thickness was also higher than that of the theoretical formula for electron beams of ≥ 16 MeV.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.703-708
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• 2022

A detector module measuring the depth of interaction(DOI) was designed to improve the spatial resolution of positron emission tomography(PET). The scintillation pixel array consists of two layers, and a light guide is inserted between the layers to make the light generated through the gamma-ray event different for each layer. There are four light guides, and one light guide is designed to be coupled to a 2 × 2 array of scintillation pixels. The light generated from the top layer is moved to the photosensor with a wider distribution through the light guide, and the light generated from the bottom layer is incident on the photosensor with a narrower distribution than the top layer. When a flood image is reconstructed based on the signals obtained from the photosensor by different distributions, scintillation pixels are imaged at different positions for each layer. To verify this, a DETECT2000 simulation tool that simulates the behavior of light in a scintillator was used. By designing a scintillation pixel array, a detector consisting of a light guide and a photosensor, a gamma ray event was generated in all scintillation pixels to obtain a flood imgae. As a result, it was confirmed that the top and bottom layers were imaged at different positions and completely separated. When this detector is applied to PET, it is considered that image quality can be improved through imporved spatial resolution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.935-942
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• 2022

In doing interventional treatment under the guidance of ultrasonography, the medical team detects the legion site with ultrasonic equipment at first, and insert angio needle. In this situation, if the position of legion and the depth of inserted needle on the ultrasonographic screen are different from real position and depth, the needle is likely to damage a major blood vessel or tissue. Accordingly, we had wondered how much such differences between screen image and reality, and so decided to examine them. Using five ultrasonographic equipments manufactured from different companies in different years, this study tried to compare the lengths of the needle on the screen images and real lengths of it, and find out the factors affecting skewness of them. This study used hog meat chunk to mimic human flesh, and sausages as the target of needle. It compared penetrating depths of the needle as the images on the five equipments using single sample t test in the SPSS 22 statistical program. It was found that all the errors were statistically significant(<.05). So, this study decided that it was wrong to evaluate performances of the equipments by the makers and ages of them. It is necessary to do periodic quality controls of equipments and improve the skillfulness of sonographers to reduce error rates between real treatment areas and the images of them.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.953-960
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• 2022

The measurement of branching ratio of ¹⁶⁷Yb radioactive isotopes from gamma-ray spectrum of ¹⁶⁹Tm(p,3n)¹⁶⁷Yb reaction were performed by using a 100-MeV proton linear accelerator of the Korea Multi-purpose Accelerator Complex (KOMAC). The ¹⁶⁷Yb isotope has a half-life of 17.5 minutes and decays to ¹⁶⁹Tm. The gamma rays generated from the ¹⁶⁷Yb isotope were measured using an HPGe detector gamma ray spectroscopy system. The energy calibration of the detector and the efficiency measurement of the detector were determined using a standard source. The gamma rays of known main energy (62.9, 106.2, 113.3, 143.5 and 176.3 keV) were measured. On the other hand, information about the intensity of the generated gamma rays is very inaccurate. Therefore, in this study, the decay strength of the main gamma rays was accurately measured. Overall, it was different from the previously known results, and in particular, it was found that the intensity of the main decay gamma ray, such as the 113.3 and 106.2 keV gamma ray, was overestimated, and it was found that the gamma ray, such as 62.9, 116.7 and 143.5 keV was underestimated. The present results are considered to be important information in the fields of nuclear fusion, astrophysics and nuclear physics in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.761-769
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• 2022

Pads with high dielectric materials have been used in a variety of applications to locally improve the field sensitivity and homogeneity of RF pulses in clinical MRI studies. In this study, we aimed to improve such pads in consideration of the practical problems associated with the application of actual clinical images. A high permittivity pad to increase the attenuated B1 field strength was fabricated and tested in 7T MRI. Sim4Life simulation and experimental results show stronger and relatively uniform B1 near field. In order to improve the image quality in the whole cerebellum, known as a region with low sensitivity, a guide was made to reduce the mechanical change of the pad. In order to improve the wearing comfort, the pad was designed by dividing it into upper and lower parts. The facial pad showed an overall signal increase effect in areas such as the turbinate in the nasal cavity. Signal increase was expected in areas such as the frontal lobe and eyes, but the effect was either insignificant or it was difficult to see the effect in the imaging protocol. In conclusion, this paper showed a cerebellar-optimized pad with an improved nasal signal while maintaining its effectiveness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.799-805
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• 2022

Radiation therapy of human tissues, including bone tissue, is accompanied by side effects on normal tissues. It has a more lethal effect on stem cells, which play an essential role in tissue regeneration, including the basal cells constituting the tissue. In this study, the mouse parietal model, which implemented an artificial osteoradionecrosis model on the parietal region of the mouse, was artificially defected and then the bone regeneration was tested. In order to overcome the implemented osteoradionecrosis, a fibrin scaffold, widely used as a biomaterial, and stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), which is used as a long-term treatment for damaged, were mixed to verify the osteoradionecrosis regeneration effect on the parietal of mouse. In order to expect a synergistic effect in the fibrin scaffolds, a fibrin scaffolds was prepared after maintaining the concentration of SDF-1 (1 ㎍/ml) in the fibrinogen solution. In this study, after artificially creating a osteoradionecrosis model in the parietal region of mouse, fibrin scaffolds were incorporated to analyze the effect of bone regeneration within 4 weeks, the initial stage of bone regeneration. In conclusion, the combined use of these two substances did not show a dramatic regenerative effect in inducing the regeneration of osteoradionecrosis in the parietal region of mouse. However, positive results were obtained that can be maintain the bone regeneration effect environment at the initial stage. Therefore, the combined use of the fibrin scaffold and SDF-1 is considered to be a suitable candidate for the effect of overcoming osteoradionecrosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.365-371
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• 2022

In order to obtain excellent spatial resolution in the PET detector, when the detector module is designed using very small scintillation pixels, overlap occurs at the edges and corners of the scintillation pixel array in the flood image. By using a light guide, the occurrence of overlap can be reduced. In this study, after using a scintillator of 0.8 mm × 0.8 mm × 20 mm to form a 14 × 14 array, 3 mm × 3 mm SiPM pixels are combined with 4 × 4 photosensor to reduce the occurrence of overlap. The optimal thickness of the light guide used for this purpose was derived. Quantitative evaluation was performed based on scintillation pixel images of edges and corners where overlap occurs mainly in the acquired flood image. Quantitative evaluation was calculated through the interval and full width at half maximum between scintillation pixel images, and when a light guide with a thickness of 2 mm was used, the best image was obtained with a k value of 2.60. In addition, as a result of measuring the energy resolution through the energy spectrum, the light guide with a thickness of 2 mm showed the best result at 28.5%. If a 2 mm light guide is used, it is considered that the best flood image and energy resolution with minimal overlap can be obtained.