• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2014

Recently, ultrasound therapy has become a new and effective treatment for many brain diseases. Therefore, skull-mimicking phantoms have been developed to simulate the skull and brain tissue of a human and allow further research into ultrasound therapy. In this study, the suitability of various skull-mimicking materials(HDPE, POM C, Acrylic) for studies of brain-tumor treatments was evaluated using focused ultrasound. The acoustic properties of three synthetic resins were measured. The skull-mimicking materials were then combined with an egg white phantom to observe the differences in the ultrasound beam distortion according to the type of material. High-intensity polyethylene was found to be suitable as a skull-mimicking phantom because it had acoustic properties and a denatured-area shape that was close to those of the skull,. In this study, a skull-mimicking phantom with a multi-layer structure was produced after evaluating several skull-mimicking materials. This made it possible to predict the denaturation in a skull in relation to focused ultrasound. The development of a therapeutic protocol for a range of brain diseases will be useful in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.3117-3122
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• 2011

Skull A-P projections are the bi-product where the ESD (Entrance Surface Dose) for digital radiography is much higher than that conventional screen-film radiography. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reduce radiation doses to patients by using an added filter. This research focuses on the identification of the reduction of exposure to radiation based on the thickness of an added filter when applying the 'Skull A-P Projection' by using the 'Skull Phantom'. Also, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the qualitative decline of images through filtration. The measurement of one's exposed dose to radiation was executed by locating the 'Skull Phantom' on the position of the 'Skull AP,' while changing 16 kinds of added filters from 0.1 mmAl to 0.5 mmCu + 2.0 mmAl in terms of incident and penetrating doses. For the qualitative evaluation of images, a total number of 17 images have been acquired in the 'Skull Phantom' under the same conditions as those for the measurement of one's exposed dose. The acquired images have been evaluated by a radiological specialist. As a result, the images with a diagnostic value have been obtained by using such added filters as the compound filter of 0.2 mmCu +1.0 mmAl. The exposed dose absorbed on the 'Skull Phantom' is about 0.6 mGy. The value is only 12% of 5 mGy, the ESD value acquired on the 'Skull P-A Projection', which is recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). As a result, depending on the parts of inspection, it is possible to reduce the patient's exposed dosage of radiation considerably by using an appropriate added filter.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was performed to suggest reference line-pair values of panoramic images with clinically desirable qualities using an arch-form phantom stand. Materials and Methods: The line-pair test phantom was chosen. A real skull model was selected for setting the arch-form model of the phantom stand. The phantom stand had slits in four regions (incisor, premolar, molar, TMJ). Four raw images of the test phantom in each region and one raw image of the real skull were converted into 50 test phantom images and 50 skull phantom images with various line-pair values. 50 post-processed real skull phantom images were divided into 4 groups and were randomly submitted to 14 evaluators. Image quality was graded on a 4 point scale (1. good, 2. normal, 3. poor but interpretable, and 4. not interpretable). The reference line pair was determined as the first line-pair value scored less than 2 points. Result: The mean scores tended to decrease as the line-pair values increased. The reference line-pair values were 3.19 LP/mm in the incisor, 2.32 LP/mm in the premolar and TMJ, and 1.88 LP/mm in the molar region. Conclusion: Image quality evaluation methods and criteria should be able to assess various regions considering the characteristics of panoramic systems. This study suggested overall and regional reference line-pair values and established a set of standard values for them.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.765-771
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• 2019

Noise in skull X-ray imaging is inevitable, which reduces imaging quality and diagnostic accuracy and increases errors due to the nature of digital imaging devices. Increasing the dose can attenuate noise, but that could lead to big problems with higher exposure dose received by patients. Thus, noise reduction algorithms are actively being studied at low doses to solve dose problems and reduce noise at the same time. Wiener filter and median filter have been widely used, with the disadvantages of poor noise reduction efficiency and loss of much information about imaging boundary. The purpose of this study is to apply total variation (TV) algorithm to skull X-ray imaging that can compensate for the problems of previous noise reduction efficiency to assess quantitatively and compare them. For this study, skull X-ray imaging is obtained using various kVp and mAs using the skull phantom using the X-ray device of Siemens. In addition, contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) are compared and measured when noisy image, median filter, Wiener filter and TV algorithm were applied to each phantom imaging. Experiments showed that when TV algorithms were applied, CNR and COV characteristics were excellent under all conditions. In conclusion, we've been able to see if we can use TV algorithm to improve image quality and CNR could be seen to increase due to the decrease in noise as the amount of increased mAs. On the other hand, COV decreased as the amount of increased mAs, and when kVp increased, noise was reduced and the transmittance was increased, so COV was reduced.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.345-353
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• 2023

Purpose: The objective of this study was to propose a method for developing a clinical phantom to reproduce various diseases that are clinically prevalent in the field of dentistry. This could facilitate diverse clinical research without unnecessarily exposing patients to radiation. Materials and Methods: This study utilized a single dry skull, which was visually and radiographically examined to evaluate its condition. Existing lesions on the dry skull were preserved, and other relevant lesions were artificially created as necessary. These lesions were then documented using intraoral radiography and cone-beam computed tomography. Once all pre-existing and reproduced lesions were confirmed by the consensus of 2 oral and maxillofacial radiologists, the skull was embedded in a soft tissue substitute. To validate the process, cone-beam computed tomography scans and panoramic radiographs were obtained of the fabricated phantom. All acquired images were subsequently evaluated. Results: Most lesions could be identified on panoramic radiographs, although some sialoliths and cracked teeth were confirmed only through cone-beam computed tomographic images. A small gap was observed between the epoxy resin and the bone structures. However, 2 oral and maxillofacial radiologists agreed that this space did not meaningfully impact the interpretation process. Conclusion: The newly developed phantom has potential for use as a standardized phantom within the dental field. It may be utilized for a variety of imaging studies, not only for optimization purposes, but also for addressing other experimental issues related to both 2- and 3-dimensional diagnostic radiography.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.433-439
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• 2013

In this study, human head-mimicking phantom was developed for brain disease treatment study using focused ultrasound. Acoustic parameters of skin, skull and brain were investigated through literature investigation and adequate substitutes according to each tissue were suggested. In the case of skin phantom, construction ratio of glycerol-based TMM phantom was controlled to mimic real skin. The suitability of skull substitutes was evaluated through measurement of acoustic parameters. In the case of brain phantom, transparent egg white phantom was used to observe thermal properties of focused ultrasound. Combined human-head-mimicking phantom using each substitutes was fabricated for development of brain disease treatment protocol. Denaturation of brain phantom according to ultrasonic condition was observed for validation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.506-508
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• 2002

As an advancement of medical imaging modalities and analyzing software with multi-function, active researches to acquire high contrast and high resolution image being done. In recently, development of medical imaging modalities like as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is aiming to display anatomical structure more accuracy and faster. Thus, one of the important areas in CT today is the use of CT scanner for the quantitative evaluation of 3-D reconstruction images from 2-D tomographic images. In CT system, the effective slice thickness and the quality of 3-D reconstructed image will be influenced by imaging acquisition parameters (e.g. pitch and scan mode). In diagnosis and surgical planning, the accurate distance measurements of 3-D anatomical structures play an important role and the accuracy of distance measurements will depend on the acquisition parameters such as slice thickness, pitch, and scan mode. The skull phantom was scanned with SDCT for various acquisition parameters and acquisition slice thicknesses were 3 and 5 mm, and reconstruction intervals were 1, 2, and 3 mm to each pitch. 3-D visualizations and distance measurements were performed with PC based 3-D rendering and analyzing software. Results showed that the image quality and the measurement accuracy of 3-D SDCT images are independent to the reconstruction intervals and pitches.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was performed to investigate the effect of exposure parameters on image quality obtained using a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scanner and the relationship between physical factors and clinical image quality depending on the diagnostic task. Materials and Methods: CBCT images of a SedentexCT IQ phantom and a real skull phantom were obtained under different combinations of tube voltage and tube current (Alphard 3030 CBCT scanner, 78-90 kVp and 2-8 mA). The images obtained using a SedentexCT IQ phantom were analyzed technically, and the physical factors of image noise, contrast resolution, spatial resolution, and metal artifacts were measured. The images obtained using a real skull phantom were evaluated for each diagnostic task by 6 oral and maxillofacial radiologists, and each setting was classified as acceptable or unacceptable based on those evaluations. A statistical analysis of the relationships of exposure parameters and physical factors with observer scores was conducted. Results: For periapical diagnosis and implant planning, the tube current of the acceptable images was significantly higher than that of the unacceptable images. Image noise, the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), the line pair chart on the Z axis, and modulation transfer function (MTF) values showed statistically significant differences between the acceptable and unacceptable image groups. The cut-off values obtained using receiver operating characteristic curves for CNR and MTF 10 were useful for determining acceptability. Conclusion: Tube current had a major influence on clinical image quality. CNR and MTF 10 were useful physical factors that showed significantly associations with clinical image quality.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2002

We have earlier developed a 40-channel SQUID system. An important figure of merit of a MEG system is the localization error, within which the underlying current source can be localized. With this system, we investigated the localization error in terms of the standard deviation of the coordinates of the ECDs and the systematic error due to inadequate modeling. To do this, we made localization of single current dipoles from tangential components of auditory evoked fields. Equivalent current dipoles (ECD) at N1m peak were estimated based on a locally fitted spherical conductor model. In addition, we made skull phantom and simulation measurements to investigate the contribution of various errors to the localization error. It was found that the background noise was the main source of the errors that could explain the observed standard deviation. Further, the amount of systematic error, when modeling the head with a spherical conductor, was much less than the standard deviation due to the background noise. We also demonstrated the performance of the system by measuring the evoked fields to grammatical violation in sentence comprehension.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.339-346
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the image quality, diagnostic efficacy, and radiation dose associated with the use of a cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector, compared to charge-coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS) detectors. Materials and Methods: Lateral cephalographs of a phantom (type 1) composed of synthetic polymer filled with water and another phantom (type 2) composed of human skull macerated with polymer coating were obtained with CdTe, CCD, and CMOS detectors. Dosimeters placed on the type 2 phantom were used to measure radiation. Noise levels from each image were also measured. McNamara cephalometric analysis was conducted, the dentoskeletal configurations were assessed, and a subjective evaluation of image quality was conducted. Parametric data were compared via 1-way analysis of variance with the Tukey post-hoc test, with a significance level of 5%. Subjective image quality and dentoskeletal configuration were described qualitatively. Results: A statistically significant difference was found among the images obtained with the 3 detectors(P<0.05), with the lowest noise level observed among the images obtained with the CdTe detector and a higher subjective preference demonstrated for those images. For the cephalometric analyses, no significant difference (P>0.05) was observed, and perfect agreement was seen with regard to the classifications obtained from the images acquired using the 3 detectors. The radiation dose associated with the CMOS detector was higher than the doses associated with the CCD (P<0.05) and CdTe detectors(P<0.05). Conclusion: Considering the evaluated parameters, the CdTe detector is recommended for use in clinical practice.