Abstract: Modern PET/CT clinics consist of a scanner room housing PET/CT unit and a control area, two or more waiting rooms where patients rest prior to scanning, and a hot lab where doses are prepared. The 511 keV photons from the PET positron emitting isotopes are the source term for the waiting rooms and the hot lab, while both the 511 keV photons and the polyenergtic spectrum of x-rays from the CT unit must be considered in the scanning roomThis study is intended to estimate dose distribution resulting from using a FDG procedure (555 MBq). The dose distribution is evaluated in injection room, waiting room, and scanning room using two methods. The first method is the analytical method whids is based on AAPM report № 108, while in the second method the dose distribution was simulated using the Monte Carlo code EGSXYZnrc .In the Monte Carlo method some parameters such as the optimal number of histories and the cut off energy of the electron are found to have a significant effect on the results. These parameters are tested and those values with less statistical error are adapted for the calculations.A good agreement between the two methods has been achieved. The dose distribution in the uptake room , waitting room and the scanning room appears to be below the annually dose limit and does not exceed 1% at the adjacent areas.
مريومة البهلول القرقني (2009)

BACKGROUND: Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) is a marker of atherosclerosis and a predictor of subsequent vascular disease. To date, there has been little research into the automatic detection and quantification of AAC. METHODS: In this study, lateral dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans are used to detect AAC; this is possible because of the anatomical position of the abdominal aorta anterior to the lumbar spine. The deformable shape modelling techniques active shape (ASM) and active appearance (AAM) models are used to model the calcified aorta and four vertebrae of the lumbar spine L1-L4. RESULTS: ASM and AAM were trained and tested on 14 DXA images. The shape of both calcified aorta and four lumbar vertebrae were extracted automatically from the DXA scans using combined shape and appearance models. CONCLUSION: ASM and AAM were implemented successfully. The calcified aorta obtained from the DXA scans was segmented using this modelling technique. The next step is to develop a new automated method to quantify the calcification within the aorta. arabic 13 English 89
Karima Elmasri(6-2015)

Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is an established modality for the assessment of bone mineral density. DXA has also been used for the detection of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) using lateral images taken for vertebral fracture assessment (VFA). In this phantom study, the capability of VFA for the detection of AAC was investigated. A Perspex phantom of variable width in the range 15-30 cm was used to simulate abdominal soft tissue. Aluminium strips of thickness 0.05-2.0 mm were sandwiched between two halves of the phantom to mimic aortic calcification. VFA images of the phantom were acquired in single-energy mode and analysed by placing regions of interest over the aluminium strip and an adjacent area of Perspex. For each phantom width, the minimum detectable aluminium thickness was assessed visually and related to contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Linearity of pixel value with aluminium thickness was tested by linear regression and correlation. Repeatability was measured with five repeated scans for selected phantom configurations. The minimum thickness of aluminium that could be visualised increased with phantom width and varied from 0.05 mm at 15 cm Perspex to 0.5 mm at 30 cm Perspex; the CNR threshold was about 0.03. At all phantom widths, the variation of pixel value with aluminium thickness was strongly linear (r²>0.98, p
Karima Elmasri, William David Evans, Yulia Hicks(6-2017)