• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 1991

Effective dose equivalents resulting from inhalation of indoor radon-222 daughters at 12 residential areas in Korea were assessed by a simple mathematical lung dosimetry model based on the measurements of long-term averaged radon concentrations at 340 dwellings. The long-term averaged indoor radon-222 concentrations and corresponding eqilibrium equivalent radon $concentration(EEC_{Rn})$ measured by passive time-integrating CR-39 radon cups are in the range of $33.82{\sim}61.42Bq/m^3(median\;:\;48.90Bq/m^3)$ and of $13.53{\sim}24.57Bq/m^3(median\;:\;19.55Bq/m^3)$, respectively. The effective dose equvalent conversion factor for the exposure to unit $EEC_{Rn}$ derived in this study was estimated $1.07{\times}10^{-5}mSv/Bq\;h\;m^{-3}$ for a reference adult and agreed well with those recommended by the ICRP and UNSCEAR. The annual average dose equivalent to the lung $(H_{LUNG})$ from inhalation exposure to measured $EEC_{Rn}$ was estimated to be 20.90 mSv and resulting effective dose $equivalent(H_E)$ was to be 1.25 mSv, which is about 50% of the natural radiation exposure of 2.40 mSv/y to the public reported by the UNSCEAR.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.93-98
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study is to see the usefulness of lead apron for critical organs near the breast under examining. For clinical experiment, 30 female volunteers who agreed to their participation in the experiments, were chosen and divided into two groups, 15 in group A and 15 in group B respectively. group A is to see whether each side of breast under mammography affects to other side glandular on the critical organs is same, because it is not allowed to scan the both breast for same person or to scan repeatedly. Group B is to see the effectiveness of lead apron during the mammography of right breast. Glass dosimeters were placed on the thyroid, the contralateral breast, and lower abdomen where near the breast during examining. The average glandular doses on the surface in mammography of the thyroid gland, the contralateral breast, the lower abdomen were 0.0692 mGy, 0.6790 mGy, and 0.0122 mGy, respectively, which was an extremely low level of glandular dose. In group B, as to the thyroid gland, average dose was decreased from 0.0922 mGy to 0.0158 mGy. The average dose of contralateral breast was decreased from 0.8575 mGy to 0.0286 mGy. The average doses of lower abdomen was decrease 0.0150 mGy to 0.0173 mGy. As to the lower abdomen, dose decreased from 0.0150 mGy before the use of an apron down to 0.0173 mGy after the use. As p-value was under 0.05, statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups. Wearing an apron can have the protective effects on the thyroid gland up to 20 times lower than not wearing one. Besides, it is also necessary to protect the other breast during the examination by wearing one.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.273-280
• /
• 2014

Purpose : To verify the skin dose in Tomotherapy-based radiation treatment according to the change in tumor locations, skin dose was measured by using Gafchromic EBT3 film and compared with the planned doses to find out the gap between them. Materials and Methods : In this study, to measure the skin dose, I'm RT Phantom(IBA Dosimetry, Germany) was utilized. After obtaining the 2.5mm CT images, tumor locations and skin dose measuring points were set by using Pinnacle(ver 9.2, Philips Medical System, USA). The tumor location was decided to be 5mm and 10mm away from surface of the phantom and center. Considering the attenuation of a Tomo-couch, we ensured a symmetric placement between the ceiling and floor directions of the phantom. The measuring point of skin doses was set to have 3mm and 5mm thickness from the surface. Measurement was done 3 times. By employing TomoHD(TomoHD treatment system, Tomotherapy Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA), we devised Tomotherapy plans, measured 3 times by inserting Gafchromic EBT3 film into the phantom and compared the measurement with the skin dose treatment plans. Results : The skin doses in the upper part of the phantom, when the tumor was located in the center, were found to be 7.53 cGy and 7.25 cGy in 5mm and 3mm respectively. If placed 5mm away from the skin in the ceiling direction, doses were 18.06 cGy and 16.89 cGy; if 10mm away, 20.37 cGy and 18.27 cGy, respectively. The skin doses in the lower part of the phantom, when the tumor was located in the center, recorded 8.82 cGy and 8.29 cGy in 5mm and 3mm, each; if located 5mm away from the lower part skin, 21.69 cGy and 19.78 cGy were respectively recorded; and if 10mm away, 20.48 cGy and 19.57 cGy were recorded. If the tumor was placed in the center, skin doses were found to increase by 3.2~17.1% whereas if the tumor is 5mm away from the ceiling part, the figure decreased to 2.8~9.0%. To the Tomo-couch direction, skin doses showed an average increase of 11% or over, compared to the planned treatment. Conclusion : This study found gaps between planned skin doses and actual doses in the Tomotherapy treatment planning. Especially to the Tomo-cocuh direction, skin doses were found to be larger than the planned doses. Thus, during the treatment of tumors near the Tomo-couch, doses will need to be more accurately calculated and more efforts to verify skin doses will be required as well.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to verify dosimetric results and reproducibility of position during craniospinal irradiation (CSI) using tomotherapy (Accuray Incorporated, USA). Also, by comparing with conventional CSI Technique, we confirmed the efficiency of using a Tomotherapy. Materials and Methods: 10 CSI patients who get tomotherapy participate. Patient-specific quality assurances (QA) for each patient are conducted before treatment. When treating, we took Megavoltage Computed Tomography (MVCT) that range of head and neck before treatment, L spine area after treatment. Also we conducted in-vivo dosimetry to check a scalp dose. Finally, we made a 3D conventional radiation therapy(3D-CRT) of those patients to compare dosimetric differences with tomotherapy treatment planning. Results: V107, V95 of brain is 0 %, 97.2 % in tomotherapy, and 0.3 %, 95.1 % in 3D-CRT. In spine, value of V107, V95 is 0.2 %, 18.6 % in tomotherapy and 89.6 %, 69.9 % in 3D-CRT. Except kidney and lung, tomotherapy reduced normal organ doses than 3D-CRT. The maximum positioning error value of X, Y, Z was 10.2 mm, -8.9 mm, -11.9 mm. Through in-vivo dosimetry, the average of scalp dose was 67.8 % of prescription dose. All patient-specific QA were passed by tolerance value. Conclusion: CSI using tomotherapy had a risk of parallel organ such as lung and kidney because of integral dose in low dose area. However, it demonstrated dosimetric superiority at a target and saved normal organ to reduce high dose. Also results of reproducibility were not exceeded margins that estimated treatment planning and invivo dosimetry showed to reduce scalp dose. Therefore, CSI using tomotherapy is considered to efficient method to make up for 3D-CRT.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.8
• /
• pp.3030-3038
• /
• 2023

Nowadays, mobile robots have been used to search for uncontrolled radioactive source in indoor environments to avoid radiation exposure for technicians. However, in the indoor environments, especially in the presence of obstacles, how to make the robots with limited sensing capabilities automatically search for the radioactive source remains a major challenge. Also, the source search efficiency of robots needs to be further improved to meet practical scenarios such as limited exploration time. This paper proposes an automatic source search strategy, abbreviated as ACA: the location of source is estimated by a convolutional neural network (CNN), and the path is planned by the A-star algorithm. First, the search area is represented as an occupancy grid map. Then, the radiation dose distribution of the radioactive source in the occupancy grid map is obtained by Monte Carlo (MC) method simulation, and multiple sets of radiation data are collected through the eight neighborhood self-avoiding random walk (ENSAW) algorithm as the radiation data set. Further, the radiation data set is fed into the designed CNN architecture to train the network model in advance. When the searcher enters the search area where the radioactive source exists, the location of source is estimated by the network model and the search path is planned by the A-star algorithm, and this process is iterated continuously until the searcher reaches the location of radioactive source. The experimental results show that the average number of radiometric measurements and the average number of moving steps of the ACA algorithm are only 2.1% and 33.2% of those of the gradient search (GS) algorithm in the indoor environment without obstacles. In the indoor environment shielded by concrete walls, the GS algorithm fails to search for the source, while the ACA algorithm successfully searches for the source with fewer moving steps and sparse radiometric data.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.121-128
• /
• 2022

Purpose: This study evaluated the quality of plans based on magnetic resonance-guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) tri-Co-60, linac, and conventional linac-based volumetric modulated arc therapy (linac-VMAT) for prostate cancer. Methods: Twenty patients suffering from prostate cancer with intermediate risk who were treated by MAT were selected. Additional treatment plans (primary and boost plans) were generated based on MRgRT-tri-Co-60 and MRgRT-linac. The planning target volume (PTV) of MRgRT-based plans was created by adding a 3 mm margin from the clinical target volume (CTV) due to high soft-tissue contrast and real-time motion imaging. On the other hand, the PTV of conventional linac was generated based on a 1 cm margin from CTV. The targets of primary and boost plans were prostate plus seminal vesicle and prostate only, respectively. All plans were normalized to cover 95% of the target volume by 100% of the prescribed dose. Dosimetric characteristics were evaluated for each of the primary, boost, and sum plans. Results: For target coverage and conformity, the three plans showed similar results. In the sum plans, the average value of V_65Gy of the rectum of MRgRT-linac (2.62%±2.21%) was smaller than those of MRgRT tri-Co-60 (9.04%±3.01%) and linac-VMAT (9.73%±7.14%) (P<0.001). In the case of bladder, the average value of V_65Gy of MRgRT-linac was also smaller. Conclusions: In terms of organs at risk sparing, MRgRT-linac shows the best value while maintaining comparable target coverage among the three plans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.79-99
• /
• 2015

Participants of this study were students of radiology who were attending colleges or universities located in Daegu and Gyeongbuk. This researcher conducted a questionnaire survey of those students from Feb. 3rd to 21st, 2014. The findings of the study can be summarized as follows. 1. Concerning the knowledge of radiation exposure management, the respondents' scores were highest in two items, or 'Materials based on lead or concrete may shield X-rays' and 'The sexual gland is very sensitive to radiation' and lowest in the item which says' 'Occupational radiation exposure dose should not exceed 20mSv a year in average on a 5-year period basis'. 2. The participants' scores for the attitudes of radiation exposure management were higher in two items, or 'Health examination should be made regularly in relation to radiation exposure' and 'Those who work within the area of irradiation should wear protective clothes' and lowest in the item which says 'Radiation exposure dose should be regularly measured for the calibration of the radiation system'. 3. For the behaviors of radiation exposure management, the surveyed students showed highest scores in two items, or 'When irradiating the patient, the radiator should be behind the protective barrier(plate)' and 'It is needed to receive the education of radiation exposure management regularly' While, their score for a behavior described in the item saying 'Before using the radiation system, it is needed to check whether the machine works normally.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.75-82
• /
• 2012

Swine wastewater was treated using a unique sequence of ion exchange membrane bed system (IEBR). Organic matter and nutrient in swine wastewater was pre-treated by electron beam irradiation. The optimal dose for solubilization of organic matter in swine wastewater ranged from 20 kGy to 75 kGy. The carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids were investigated as the solubilized organic fraction of swine wastewater and proteins and lipids mainly contained of the solubilized organic matter. The solubilization of organic matter in swine wastewater was affected by the combination effect of temperature and a dose. The average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency under room temperature conditions was 67.1%, while that under psychrophilic conditions was 54.6%. For removal of ammonia, the removal efficiency decreased from 63.6% at $23^{\circ}C$ to 33.5% $16.8^{\circ}C$. On the other hand, the removal of phosphorus was not a function of temperature. Struvite was one of main mechanisms in anaerobic condition.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.23-30
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the developed dose verification program for in vivo dosimetry based on transit dose in radiotherapy. Five intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans of lung cancer patients were used in the irradiation of a homogeneous solid water phantom and anthropomorphic phantom. Transit dose distribution was measured using electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and used for the calculation of in vivo dose in patient. The average passing rate compared with treatment planning system based on a gamma index with a 3% dose and a 3 mm distance-to-dose agreement tolerance limit was 95% for the in vivo dose with the homogeneous phantom, but was reduced to 81.8% for the in vivo dose with the anthropomorphic phantom. This feasibility study suggested that transit dose-based in vivo dosimetry can provide information about the actual dose delivery to patients in the treatment room.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.85-90
• /
• 2018

Fundamental data on the safety status is necessary to develop and operate the additional policies related to the radiation safety, however, few studies have been conducted to investigate the status quantitatively. In this study, out of the areas related to radiation safety, the status of the radiation worker, ambient radiation and the environmental radiation were examined in the quantitative aspect using diverse statistical methods. In the results of that, following information were obtained. First, out of the radiation workers engaged in 9 businesses as of end of 2014, the business having highest exposure dose is NDT showing significantly high than other businesses. Second, the average difference of the exposure doses in radiation workers in 9 businesses in 2014 compared to that in 2010 was not statistically significant at significance level of 5% (p=0.221). Third, the average of the environmental radiation in Gyeonggi-do was high than the Jeollabuk-do. The results of this study are anticipated to assist to utilize the basic data for the workers on radiational works, daily living radiation, and the safety control related to the environmental radiation, and to establish the policy of radiation protection in the future.