• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.29-34
• /
• 2012

Purpose : Presently, hardwares and softwares for reducing radiation exposure are continually developed for PET/CT examination. Purpose of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of reducing radiation exposure dose of CT and SUV changes of PET when applied each kernel to ACCT (Attenuation Correction Computed Tomography) according to adopted IRIS (Iterative Reconstruction in Image Space) software. Materials and Methods : Biograph mCT (Siemens, Germany) was used as a PET/CT scanner. Using AAPM CT performance phantom, from standard (120 kVp, 100 mAs), 7 scans were conducted by reducing 15 mAs each. After image reconstruction by FBP (Filtered Back Projection) and IRIS, noise and spatial resolution were evaluated. The same method was applied to anthropomorphic chest phantom and acquired images were compared. NEMA IEC body phantom was used for SUV evaluation. Injected dose rate for hot sphere (hot) and background cylinder (BKG) were 1:8. CT dose condition (120 kVp, 50 mAs) was the same for each scan and PET scan durations were 1, 2, 3 and 4min. After scanning, each kernel of IRIS was applied to ACCT. And PET images were reconstructed by ACCT adopted IRIS for comparing SUV changes. Results : AAPM phantom test for noise evaluation, SD for FBP 100 mAs, IRIS 55 mAs were 8.8 and 8.9. FBP 85 mAs, IRIS 40 mAs were 9.5 and 9.7. FBP 70 mAs, IRIS 25 mAs were 11.9 and 11.1. Above mAs condition for FBP and IRIS, SD showed similar values. And for spatial resolution test, there was no significant difference. For chest phantom test, when applied the same mAs and kernel to both of FBP and IRIS, every applied kernels showed reduced noise. Lower mAs and higher kernel value showed higher noise reduction. There was no considerable difference only except for I70 very sharp kernel for SUV comparison using NEMA IEC body phantom. Conclusion : In this study, low mAs (55 mAs) applied IRIS and standard mAs (100 mAs) applied FBP showed similar noise. And only except for I70 kernel, there was no significant SUV changes. It is possible to reduce needless radiation exposure and acquire better image quality than FBP's through applying appropriate kernel of IRIS to PET/CT.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2015

Compton cameras overcome several limitations of conventional mechanical collimation based gamma imaging devices, such as pin-hole imaging devices, due to its electronic collimation based on coincidence logic. Especially large-scale Compton camera has wide field of view and high imaging sensitivity. Those merits suggest that a large-scale Compton camera might be applicable to monitoring nuclear materials in large facilities without necessity of portability. To that end, our research group have made an effort to design a large-scale Compton camera for safeguard application. Energy resolution or position resolution of large-area detectors vary with configuration style of the detectors. Those performances directly affect the image quality of the large-scale Compton camera. In the present study, a series of Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations were performed in order to examine the effect of those detector parameters. Performance of the designed large-scale Compton camera was also estimated for various monitoring condition with realistic modeling. The conclusion of the present study indicates that the energy resolution of the component detector is the limiting factor of imaging resolution rather than the position resolution. Also, the designed large-scale Compton camera provides the 16.3 cm image resolution in full width at half maximum (angular resolution: $9.26^{\circ}$) for the depleted uranium source considered in this study located at the 1 m from the system when the component detectors have 10% energy resolution and 7 mm position resolution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.67-75
• /
• 2022

The aim of this study is to establish a new QC method that can simultaneously evaluate the resolution of the x/y plane and the z-axis by producing a phantom that can reflect exposure and reconstruction parameter of MDCT system. It was used with Aquilion ONE(Cannon Medical System, Otawara, Japan), and the examination was scanned using of 120 kV, 260 mA, and the D-FOV of 300 mm². It produced new SSP phantom modules in which two aluminum plates inclined at 45° to a vertical axis and a transverse axis to evaluate high contrast resolution of x/y plane and z axis. And it changed factors such as the algorithm, distance from gantry iso-center. All images were reconstructed in five steps from 0.6 mm to 10.0 mm slice thickness to measure resolution of x/y plane and z-axis. The image data measured FWHM and FWTM using Profile tool of Aquarius iNtusion Edition ver. 4.4.13 P6 software(Terarecon, California, USA), and analysed SPQI and signal intensity by ImageJ program(v1.53n, National Institutes of Health, USA). It decreased by 4.09~11.99%, 4.12~35.52%, and 4.70~37.64% in slice thickness of 2.5 mm, 5.0 mm, and 10.0 mm for evaluating the high contrast resolution of x/y plane according to distance from gantry iso-center. Therefore, the high contrast resolution of the x/y plane decreased when the distance from the iso-center increased or the slice thickness increased. Additionally, the slice thicknesses of 2.5 mm, 5.0 mm, and 10.0 mm with a high algorithm increased 74.83, 15.18 and 81.25%. The FWHM was almost constant on the measured SSP graph for evaluating the accuracy of slice thickness which represents the resolution of x/y plane and z-axis, but it was measured to be higher than the nominal slice thickness set by user. The FWHM and FWTM of z-axis with axial scan mode tended to increase significantly as the distance increased from gantry iso-center than the helical mode. Particularly, the thinner slice thickness that increased error range compare with the nominal slice thickness. The SPQI increased with thick slice thickness, and that was closer to 90% in the helical scan than the axial scan. In conclusion, by producing a phantom suitable for MDCT detectors and capable of quantitative resolution evaluation, it can be used as a specific method in the management of research quality and management of outdated equipment. Thus, it is expected to contribute greatly to the discrimination of lesions in the field of CT imaging.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.181-190
• /
• 1998

A computerized tomography system was developed using the X-ray source that has diameter of 5 micrometer. The system is used for the nondestructive testing of specimens with diameter below 20 mm. The convolution back projection algorithm was adopted for the reconstruction of cross sectional image, and the shape of the X-ray beam was let parallel beam or fan beam to compare each resultant image. Our CT system was constructed to operate based on the personal computer. The sectional images of the fabricated specimens were reconstructed and analyzed. The reconstructed images well coincided with real images taken with optical microscope and gave us enough reports on the defects in the ceramic specimen. The resolution of the system regarded as about $20{\sim}30$ micrometers.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.257-263
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the dimensional accuracy of digital dental models constructed from cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) scans of polyvinyl siloxane (PVS) impressions and cast scan models. Materials and Methods: A pair of PVS impressions was obtained from 20 subjects and scanned using CBCT (resolution, 0.1 mm). A cast scan model was constructed by scanning the gypsum model using a model scanner. After reconstruction of the digital models, the mesio-distal width of each tooth, inter-canine width, and inter-molar width were measured, and the Bolton ratios were calculated and compared. The 2 models were superimposed and the difference between the models was measured using 3-dimensional analysis. Results: The range of mean error between the cast scan model and the CBCT scan model was -0.15 mm to 0.13 mm in the mesio-distal width of the teeth and 0.03 mm to 0.42 mm in the width analysis. The differences in the Bolton ratios between the cast scan models and CBCT scan models were 0.87 (anterior ratio) and 0.72 (overall ratio), with no significant difference (P>0.05). The mean maxillary and mandibular difference when the cast scan model and the CBCT scan model were superimposed was 53 ㎛. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference in most of the measurements. The maximum tooth size difference was 0.15mm, and the average difference in model overlap was 53 ㎛. Digital models produced by scanning impressions at a high resolution using CBCT can be used in clinical practice.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.94-101
• /
• 2016

Satellite data for remote sensing technology has limitations, especially with visible range sensor, cloud and/or other environmental factors cause missing data. In this study, using land surface temperature data from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer(MODIS), we developed retrieving methods for satellite missing data and developed three methods; mean bias, regression analysis and local variation method. These methods used the previous day data as reference data. In order to validate these methods, we selected a specific measurement ratio using artificial missing data from 2014 to 2015. The local variation method showed low accuracy with root mean square error(RMSE) more than 2 K in some cases, and the regression analysis method showed reliable results in most cases with small RMSE values, 1.13 K, approximately. RMSE with the mean bias method was similar to RMSE with the regression analysis method, 1.32 K, approximately.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.98-111
• /
• 2008

This review introduces advances in clinical and pre-clinical single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) providing noninvasive functional images of biological processes. Development of new collimation techniques such as multi-pinhole and slit-slat collimators permits the improvement of system spatial resolution and sensitivity of SPECT. Application specific SPECT systems using smaller and compact solid-state detector have been customized for myocardial perfusion imaging with higher performance. Combined SPECT/CT providing improved diagnostic and functional capabilities has been introduced. Advances in PET and CT instrumentation have been incorporated in the PET/CT design that provide the metabolic information from PET superimposed on the anatomic information from CT. Improvements in the sensitivity of PET have achieved by the fully 3D acquisition with no septa and the extension of axial field-of-view. With the development of faster scintillation crystals and electronics, time-of-flight (TOF) PET is now commercially available allowing the increase in the signal-to-noise ratio by incorporation of TOF information into the PET reconstruction process. Hybrid PET/SPECT/CT systems has become commercially available for molecular imaging in small animal models. The pre-clinical systems have improved spatial resolution using depth-of-interaction measurement and new collimators. The recent works on solid state detector and dual modality nuclear medicine instrumentations incorporating MRI and optical imagers will also be discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2011.08a
• /
• pp.53-53
• /
• 2011

This paper describes results for surface and bulk characterization of the most promising thin film solar cell material for high performance devices, (Ag,Cu) (In,Ga) Se2 (ACIGS). This material in particular exhibits a range of exotic behaviors. The surface and general materials science of the material also has direct implications for the operation of solar cells based upon it. Some of the techniques and results described will include scanning probe (AFM, STM, KPFM) measurements of epitaxial films of different surface orientations, photoelectron spectroscopy and inverse photoemission, Auger electron spectroscopy, and more. Bulk measurements are included as support for the surface measurements such as cathodoluminescence imaging around grain boundaries and showing surface recombination effects, and transmission electron microscopy to verify the surface growth behaviors to be equilibrium rather than kinetic phenomena. The results show that the polar close packed surface of CIGS is the lowest energy surface by far. This surface is expected to be reconstructed to eliminate the surface charge. However, the AgInSe2 compound has yielded excellent atomic-resolution images of the surface with no evidence of surface reconstruction. Similar imaging of CuInSe2 has proven more difficult and no atomic resolution images have been obtained, although current imaging tunneling spectroscopy images show electronic structure variations on the atomic scale. A discussion of the reasons why this may be the case is given. The surface composition and grain boundary compositions match the bulk chemistry exactly in as-grow films. However, the deposition of the heterojunction forming the device alters this chemistry, leading to a strongly n-type surface. This also directly explains unpinning of the Fermi level and the operation of the resulting devices when heterojunctions are formed with the CIGS. These results are linked to device performance through simulation of the characteristic operating behaviors of the cells using models developed in my laboratory.

• Applied Microscopy
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.363-374
• /
• 2008

In this paper we have examined the usefulness of IWFR (the iterative wave-function reconstruction) analysis for through-focal series of high-resolution images for a relative thick crystal. In the work we employed JEOL ARM 1300S, and observed the high-resolution images for a Si crystal at the two orientations of [01-1] and [11-2] having 30 nm and 35 nm thickness respectively. As a result of applying IWFR method on the images we found out that even for a thick crystal by the method we can retrieve the exit-surface wave function. However because of the strong dynamical scattering effect, the image pattern of the function reflects only qualitatively the atomic column structure of the crystal examined. Nevertheless it is no doubt that the pattern would give important clue for the crystal structure.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.35-40
• /
• 2001

Performance of SPECT imaging systems which use a rotating gamma camera, are affected by characteristics of the detector-collimator assembly, the data acquisition method, and the filter used in imaging reconstruction. The purpose of this study Is to examine image qualifies of SPECT with different types of low energy collimators. The SPECT imaging system in this study is a digital gamma camera system GCA-901A(Toshiba) and a data processing unit Scintipac-700(Shimadzu). The four types of collimators compared are UHR(ultra high resolution), LEHR(low energy high resolution), LEGP(low energy general purpose), and I-123 PAR(Parallel), with 0.27, 0.66, 1.00, and 2.06 relative sensitivity, respectively. In this case of the same collimators, the spatial resolutions measured in the slice plane showed a slight difference in the FWHM values(mean values of UHR, LEHR, LEGP, and I-123 PAR were 11.3 mm, 13.6 mm, 15.8 mm, and 20.4 mm, respectively) between the center and the circumference of the field of view, in the radial direction, but a large difference in the tangential direction, with lower FWHM values(values of UHR, LEHR, LEGP, and I-123 PAR were 8.4 mm, 8.7 mm, 9.3 mm, and 10.8 mm at 12 cm from the center, respectively). In comparison of SPECT images with the four types of collimators, except for the I-123 PAR collimator, image qualities of UHR, LEHR, and LEGP collimators showed only a slight difference. From the point of for, it is expected that the LEGP collimator would be suitable for SPECT imaging with $^{99m}Tc$.