Moo-Seong Cho

Dose assessment according to changes in algorithm in cardiac CT

The principal objective of this study was to determine the effects of the application of the adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) technique in combination with another two factors (body mass index (BMI) and tube potential) on radiation dose in cardiac computed tomography (CT). For quantitative analysis, regions of interest were positioned on the central region of the great coronary artery, the right coronary artery, and the left anterior descending artery, after which the means and standard deviations of measured CT numbers were obtained. For qualitative analysis, images taken from the major coronary arteries (right coronary, left anterior descending, and left circumflex) were graded on a scale of 1–5, with 5 indicating the best image quality. Effective dose, which was calculated by multiplying the value of the dose length product by a standard conversion factor of 0.017 for the chest, was employed as a measure of radiation exposure dose. In cardiac CT in patients with BMI of less than 25 kg/m2, the use of 40% ASIR in combination with a low tube potential of 100 kVp resulted in a significant reduction in the radiation dose without compromising diagnostic quality. Additionally, the combination of the 120 kVp protocol and the application of 40% ASIR application for patients with BMI higher than 25 kg/m2 yielded similar results.

Reduction in radiation dose with reconstruction technique in the brain perfusion CT

The principal objective of this study was to verify the utility of the reconstruction imaging technique in the brain perfusion computed tomography (PCT) scan by assessing reductions in the radiation dose and analyzing the generated images. The setting used for image acquisition had a detector coverage of 40 mm, a helical thickness of 0.625 mm, a helical shuttle mode scan type and a rotation time of 0.5 s as the image parameters used for the brain PCT scan. Additionally, a phantom experiment and an animal experiment were carried out. In the phantom and animal experiments, noise was measured in the scanning with the tube voltage fixed at 80 kVp (kilovolt peak) and the level of the adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) was changed from 0% to 100% at 10% intervals. The standard deviation of the CT coefficient was measured three times to calculate the mean value. In the phantom and animal experiments, the absorbed dose was measured 10 times under the same conditions as the ones for noise measurement before the mean value was calculated. In the animal experiment, pencil-type and CT-dedicated ionization chambers were inserted into the central portion of pig heads for measurement. In the phantom study, as the level of the ASIR changed from 0% to 100% under identical scanning conditions, the noise value and dose were proportionally reduced. In our animal experiment, the noise value was lowest when the ASIR level was 50%, unlike in the phantom study. The dose was reduced as in the phantom study.

Risk Factors for Musculoskeletal Symptoms Among Korean Radiation Workers

The first aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. The second aim was to study the association between musculoskeletal symptoms and factors in radiation workers from the active lists of clinics and hospitals and then to provide basic data for a systematic and effective resource management of radiation workers’ musculoskeletal problems in the future. A questionnaire survey was conducted on radiation workers in clinics, general hospitals, and Dong-A university hospitals around the Korean city Buscan from July 10 to 31, 2011. The results showed that the rate of musculoskeletal symptoms was higher in the shoulder, waist, neck, leg/foot, hand/wrist/finger than arm/elbow. The probability of neck pain was 2 times higher in patients with a disease.

Development of MRI Scanning Technique that is Comfortable for Patients with Anxiety Disorder

The principal objective of this study was to develop a scanning technique that helps patients reduce their anxiety and relax their physical tension in the MRI system. The study targeted 10 healthy persons with no medical history of anxiety disorder in the past and with no current clinically diagnosed anxiety disorder, as well as 10 patients who were currently experiencing an anxiety disorder during the MRI scanning. The focusing board assembly was self-manufactured to conduct a clinical experiment via MRI scans. As a method to confirm the efficacy of the experiment, the bio meter was used to measure brainwaves from the study targets that were divided into the normal person group (A), who felt no anxiety in the MRI system and the experimental group, (B) who did experience anxiety in the MRI system. The two groups were compared between the cases in which the focusing board assembly was used and not used after measurements were conducted using the model MRI system and the bio meter. According to the comparison and analysis results, low measurements of the α wave indicate highly effective relaxation of tension. In the normal person group, the α wave measurement showed almost no difference between cases in which the focusing board assembly was used and cases in which it was not used. In the experimental group, the a wave measurements were lower in cases in which the focusing board assembly was used than in cases in which the focusing board assembly was not used; this was indicative of a profound relaxation effect.