• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.51-62
• /
• 2008

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.93-98
• /
• 2021

meta-iodobenzylguanidine is one of the norepinephrine analogs and reuptakes together with norepinephrine with norepinephrine transporter. The radioiodinated ligand, ¹²³I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine, is the most widely used for single photon emission computed tomography imaging to diagnose functional abnormalities and tumors of the sympathetic nervous system. In this study, we performed cellular uptake studies of ¹²³I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine in positive- and negative-norepinephrine transporter cells in vitro to verify the uptake activity for norepinephrine transporter. After ¹²³I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine was injected via a tail vein into normal mice, Single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography images were acquired at 1 h, 4 h, and 24 h post-injection, and quantified the distribution in each organ including the adrenal medulla as a norepinephrine transporter expressing organ. In vitro cell study showed that ¹²³I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine specifically uptaked via norepinephrine transporter, and significant uptake of ¹²³I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine in the adrenal medulla in vivo single photon emission computed tomography images. These results demonstrated that single photon emission computed tomography imaging with ¹²³I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine were able to quantify the biodistribution in vivo in the adrenal medulla in normal mice.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.1982-1990
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study was to verify the possibility of fuel rod pattern analysis in a fresh fuel assembly using the Yonsei single-photon emission computed tomography (YSECT) system. The YSECT system consisted of three main parts: four trapezoidal-shaped bismuth germanate scintillator-based 64-channel detectors, a semiconductor-based multi-channel data acquisition system, and a rotary stage. In order to assess the performance of the prototype YSECT, tomographic images were obtained for three representative fuel rod patterns in the 6 × 6 array using two representative image-reconstruction algorithms. The fuel-rod patterns were then assessed using an in-house fuel rod pattern analysis algorithm. In the experimental results, the single-directional projection images for those three fuel-rod patterns well discriminated each fuel-rod location, showing a Gaussian-peak-shaped projection for a single 10 mm-diameter fuel rod with 12.1 mm full-width at half maximum. Finally, we successfully verified the possibility of the fuel rod pattern analysis for all three patterns of fresh fuel rods with the tomographic images obtained by the rotational YSECT system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.7
• /
• pp.2341-2347
• /
• 2021

Because single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is one of the widely used nuclear medicine imaging systems, it is extremely important to acquire high-quality images for diagnosis. In this study, we designed a super-resolution (SR) technique using dense block-based deep convolutional neural network (CNN) and evaluated the algorithm on real SPECT phantom images. To acquire the phantom images, a real SPECT system using a^99mTc source and two physical phantoms was used. To confirm the image quality, the noise properties and visual quality metric evaluation parameters were calculated. The results demonstrate that our proposed method delivers a more valid SR improvement by using dense block-based deep CNNs as compared to conventional reconstruction techniques. In particular, when the proposed method was used, the quantitative performance was improved from 1.2 to 5.0 times compared to the result of using the conventional iterative reconstruction. Here, we confirmed the effects on the image quality of the resulting SR image, and our proposed technique was shown to be effective for nuclear medicine imaging.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.12
• /
• pp.4591-4596
• /
• 2023

Single-photon emission computed tomography SPECT image reconstruction methods have a significant influence on image quality, with filtered back projection (FBP) and ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) being the most commonly used methods. In this study, we proposed newly-designed adaptive non-blind deconvolution with a structural similarity (SSIM) index that can take advantage of the FBP and OSEM image reconstruction methods. After acquiring brain SPECT images, the proposed image was obtained using an algorithm that applied the SSIM metric, defined by predicting the distribution and amount of blurring. As a result of the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation evaluation (COV), the resulting image of the proposed algorithm showed a similar trend in spatial resolution to that of FBP, while obtaining values similar to those of OSEM. In addition, we confirmed that the CNR and COV values of the proposed algorithm improved by approximately 1.69 and 1.59 times, respectively, compared with those of the algorithm involving an inappropriate deblurring process. To summarize, we proposed a new type of algorithm that combines the advantages of SPECT image reconstruction techniques and is expected to be applicable in various fields.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.534-541
• /
• 1998

We describe a 27-year-old man who developed gait disturbance and dysarthria 2 years after the onset of cardinal symptoms of Behcet's disease. Positron emission tomography with $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose revealed severe hypometabolisrn in the cerebellum, in accordance with cerebellar symptoms and signs of the patient. However, single-photon emission tomography with $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO and $^{99m}Tc$-ECD did not disclose significant perfusion abnormalities in the brain. Routine brain magnetic resonance imaging did not show signal abnormalities. The findings of imaging studies compared with neurological manifestations of the patient are discussed.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.43-48
• /
• 1991

As the computerized methods and equipments In nuclear medicine imaging increases, quantitative information is needed on the single photon emission computed tomographic Images as well as on the conventional nuclear medicine images. In this paper, the authors investigated the effect of several clinician - friendly reconstrution filters on the resultant transverse slices of backprojected Profiles of radioisotope distribution from the Quantitative point of view, and reduced the filter parameters such as cutoff frequency and order of filter which are neces mary to minimize the quantification error using computer-generated phantoms.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.29-39
• /
• 2024

Background: The gamma emission tomography (GET) device has been reported a reliable technique to inspect partial defects within spent nuclear fuel (SNF) of pin-by-pin level. However, the existing GET devices have low accuracy owing to the high attenuation and scatter probability for SNF inspection condition. The purpose of this study is to design and optimize a Yonsei single-photon emission computed tomography version 2 (YSECT.v.2) for fast inspection of SNF in water storage by acquisition of high-quality tomographic images. Materials and Methods: Using Geant4 (Geant4 Collaboration) and DETECT-2000 (Glenn F. Knoll et al.) Monte Carlo simulation, the geometrical structure of the proposed device was determined and its performance was evaluated for the ¹³⁷Cs source in water. In a Geant4-based assessment, proposed device was compared with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-authenticated device for the quality of tomographic images obtained for 12 fuel sources in a 14 × 14 Westinghouse-type fuel assembly. Results and Discussion: According to the results, the length, slit width, and septal width of the collimator were determined to be 65, 2.1, and 1.5 mm, respectively, and the material and length of the trapezoidal-shaped scintillator were determined to be gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet and 45 mm, respectively. Based on the results of performance comparison between the YSECT.v.2 and IAEA's device, the proposed device showed 200 times higher performance in gamma-detection sensitivity and similar source discrimination probability. Conclusion: In this study, we optimally designed the GET device for improving the SNF inspection accuracy and evaluated its performance. Our results show that the YSECT.v.2 device could be employed for SNF inspection.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.776-780
• /
• 2017

To avoid imaging artifacts and interpretation mistakes, an improvement of the uniformity in gamma camera systems is a very important point. We can expect excellent uniformity using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) photon counting detector (PCD) because of the direct conversion of the gamma rays energy into electrons. In addition, the uniformity performance such as integral uniformity (IU), differential uniformity (DU), scatter fraction (SF), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) varies according to the energy window setting. In this study, we compared a PCD and conventional scintillation detector with respect to the energy windows (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) using a $^{99m}Tc$ gamma source with a Geant4 Application for Tomography Emission simulation tool. The gamma camera systems used in this work are a CZT PCD and NaI(Tl) conventional scintillation detector with a 1-mm thickness. According to the results, although the IU and DU results were improved with the energy window, the SF and CNR results deteriorated with the energy window. In particular, the uniformity for the PCD was higher than that of the conventional scintillation detector in all cases. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the uniformity of the CZT PCD was higher than that of the conventional scintillation detector.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.159-168
• /
• 2000

In the 1980s, techniques to image the human subjects in a three-dimensional direction were developed. Two major techniques are SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) which allow the detector to detect a single photon or annihilation photons emitted from the subjects injected with radiopharmaceuticals. Since the latter two techniques can measure the density of receptors, enzymes and transporters in living human, it may be very important project to develop selective methods of labeling with radionuclides and to develop new radiopharmaceuticals. There has been a considerable interest in developing new compounds which specifically bind to dopamine and serotonin receptor and transporters, and it will be thus very useful to label those compounds with radionuclides in order to gain a better understanding in biochemical and pharmacological interactions in living human. This review mentions the characteristics of radioligands for the imaging of dopamine and serotonin receptors and transporters. Although significant progress has been achieved in the development of new PET and SPECT ligands for in vivo imaging of those receptors and transporters, there are continuous needs of new diagnostic radioligands.