Development of an application to visualise the spread of scattered radiation in radiography using augmented reality

Abstract

As radiation is widely used in medical institutions, the lack of radiation protection education for health workers increases the risk of radiation exposure. The purpose of this study is to develop an application for radiation medical personnel that visualises the distribution of scattered radiation by using augmented reality (AR). The irradiation conditions for mobile chest and pelvic radiography were simulated using Monte Carlo simulations (Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System). Monte Carlo results were verified using physical measurements. The behaviour of scattered radiation was displayed three-dimensionally in virtual reality using ParaView. Subsequently, an application to visualise scattered rays was developed in Unity for tablet devices. An application with a sense of reality was developed by visualising the scattered radiation distribution of a mobile imaging in a real space in AR in a three-dimensional size, which is close to the actual size. The radiation dose could be estimated at any position and the behaviour of scattered radiation became easier to understand.

Keywords: AR; Monte Carlo simulation; Unity; mobile imaging; radiation protection education.