• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.293-299
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• 2000

Purpose :We conducted a prospective non-randomized clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and toxic of the preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced unresectable rectal cancer. Materials and Methods: Between January 1995 and June 1998, 37 conecutive patients with locally unresectable advanced rectal cancer were entered into the study. With 3- or 4- fields technique, a total of 45 Gy radiation was delivered on whole pelvis, followed by 5.4 Gy boost to the primary tumor in some cases. Chemotherapy was done at the first and fifth week of radiation with bolus i.v. 5-Fluorouracil (FU) 370$\~$450 mg/m$^{2}$, days 1$\~$5, plus Leucovorin 20 mg/m$^{2}$, days 1$\~$5. OF 37 patients, 6 patients did not receive all planned treatment course (refusal in 4, disease progression in 1, metastasis to lung in 1). Surgical resection was undergone 4$\~$6 weeks after preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Results :Complete resection rate with negative margins was 94$\%$ (29/31). Complete response was seen in 7 patients (23$\%$) clinically and 2 patients (6$\%$) pathologically. Down staging of tumor occured in 21 patients (68$\%$). Treatment related toxicity was minimal except grade III & IV leukopenia in 2 patients, respectively. Conclusion : Preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer was effective in inducing down staging and complete resection rate. Treatment related toxicity was minimal. Further follow up is on-going to determine long term survival following this treatment.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 2014

Purpose : The purpose of this study is evaluation for the applicability of O-MAR(Metal artifact Reduction for Orthopedic Implants)(ver. 3.6.0, Philips, Netherlands) in head & neck radiation treatment planning CT with metal artifact created by dental implant. Materials and Methods : All of the in this study's CT images were scanned by Brilliance Big Bore CT(Philips, Netherlands) at 120kVp, 2mm sliced and Metal artifact reduced by O-MAR. To compare the original and reconstructed CT images worked on RTPS(Eclipse ver 10.0.42, Varian, USA). In order to test the basic performance of the O-MAR, The phantom was made to create metal artifact by dental implant and other phantoms used for without artifact images. To measure a difference of HU in with artifact images and without artifact images, homogeneous phantom and inhomogeneous phantoms were used with cerrobend rods. Each of images were compared a difference of HU in ROIs. And also, 1 case of patient's original CT image applied O-MAR and density corrected CT were evaluated for dose distributions with SNC Patient(Sun Nuclear Co., USA). Results : In cases of head&neck phantom, the difference of dose distibution is appeared 99.8% gamma passing rate(criteria 2 mm / 2%) between original and CT images applied O-MAR. And 98.5% appeared in patient case, among original CT, O-MAR and density corrected CT. The difference of total dose distribution is less than 2% that appeared both phantom and patient case study. Though the dose deviations are little, there are still matters to discuss that the dose deviations are concentrated so locally. In this study, The quality of all images applied O-MAR was improved. Unexpectedly, Increase of max. HU was founded in air cavity of the O-MAR images compare to cavity of the original images and wrong corrections were appeared, too. Conclusion : The result of study assuming restrained case of O-MAR adapted to near skin and low density area, it appeared image distortion and artifact correction simultaneously. In O-MAR CT, air cavity area even turned tissue HU by wrong correction was founded, too. Consequentially, It seems O-MAR algorithm is not perfect to distinguish air cavity and photon starvation artifact. Nevertheless, the differences of HU and dose distribution are not a huge that is not suitable for clinical use. And there are more advantages in clinic for improved quality of CT images and DRRs, precision of contouring OARs or tumors and correcting artifact area. So original and O-MAR CT must be used together in clinic for more accurate treatment plan.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.271-278
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• 2012

Purpose: Recently implant surgical guides were used for accurate and atraumatic operation. In this study, the accuracy of two different types of surgical guides, positioning device fabricated and stereolithography fabricated surgical guides, were evaluated in four different types of tooth loss models. Materials and methods: Surgical guides were fabricated with stereolithography and positioning device respectively. Implants were placed on 40 models using the two different types of surgical guides. The fitness of the surgical guides was evaluated by measuring the gap between the surgical guide and the model. The accuracy of surgical guide was evaluated on a pre- and post-surgical CT image fusion. Results: The gap between the surgical guide and the model was $1.4{\pm}0.3mm$ and $0.4{\pm}0.3mm$ for the stereolithography and positioning device surgical guide, respectively. The stereolithography showed mesiodistal angular deviation of $3.9{\pm}1.6^{\circ}$, buccolingual angular deviation of $2.7{\pm}1.5^{\circ}$ and vertical deviation of $1.9{\pm}0.9mm$, whereas the positioning device showed mesiodistal angular deviation of $0.7{\pm}0.3^{\circ}$, buccolingual angular deviation of $0.3{\pm}0.2^{\circ}$ and vertical deviation of $0.4{\pm}0.2mm$. The differences were statistically significant between the two groups (P<.05). Conclusion: The laboratory fabricated surgical guides using a positioning device allow implant placement more accurately than the stereolithography surgical guides in dental clinic.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.172-180
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• 2007

Among the nuclear medicine imaging methods available today, $H_2^{15}O-PET$ is most widely used by cognitive neuroscientists to examine regional brain function via the measurement of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). The short half-life of the radioactively labeled probe, $^{15}O$, often allows repeated measures from the same subjects in many different task conditions. $H_2^{15}O-$ PET, however, has technical limitations relative to other methods of functional neuroimaging, e.g., fMRI, including relatively poor time and spatial resolutions, and, frequently, insufficient statistical power for analysis of individual subjects. However, recent technical developments, such as the 3-D acquisition method provide relatively good image quality with a smaller radioactive dosage, which in turn results in more PET scans from each individual, thus providing sufficient statistical power for the analysis of individual subject's data. Furthermore, the noise free scanner environment $H_2^{15}O$ PET, along with discrete acquisition of data for each task condition, are important advantages of PET over other functional imaging methods regarding studying state-dependent changes in brain activity. This review presents both the limitations and advantages of $^{15}O-PET$, and outlines the design of efficient PET protocols, using examples of recent PET studies both in the normal healthy population, and in the clinical population.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2014

Purpose : If electron, chosen for superficial oncotherapy, was applied with bolus, it could work as an important factor to a therapy result by showing a drastic change in surface dose. Hence the calculation value and the actual measurement value of surface dose of Treatment Planning System (TPS) according to four variables influencing surface dose when using bolus on an electron therapy were compared and analyzed in this paper. Materials and Methods : Four variables which frequently occur during the actual therapies (A: bolus thickness - 3, 5, 10 mm, B: field size - $6{\time}6$, $10{\time}10$, $15{\time}15cm2$, C: energy - 6, 9, 12 MeV, D: gantry angle - $0^{\circ}$, $15^{\circ}$) were set to compare the actual measurement value with TPS(Pinnacle 9.2, philips, USA). A computed tomography (lightspeed ultra 16, General Electric, USA) was performed using 16 cm-thick solid water phantom without bolus and total 54 beams where A, B, C, and D were combined after creating 3, 5 and 10 mm bolus on TPS were planned for a therapy. At this moment SSD 100 cm, 300 MU was investigated and measured twice repeatedly by placing it on iso-center by using EBT3 film(International Specialty Products, NJ, USA) to compare and analyze the actual measurement value and TPS. Measured film was analyzed with each average value and standard deviation value using digital flat bed scanner (Expression 10000XL, EPSON, USA) and dose density analyzing system (Complete Version 6.1, RIT, USA). Results : For the values according to the thickness of bolus, the actual measured values for 3, 5 and 10 mm were 101.41%, 99.58% and 101.28% higher respectively than the calculation values of TPS and the standard deviations were 0.0219, 0.0115 and 0.0190 respectively. The actual values according to the field size were $6{\time}6$, $10{\time}10$ and $15{\time}15cm2$ which were 99.63%, 101.40% and 101.24% higher respectively than the calculation values and the standard deviations were 0.0138, 0.0176 and 0.0220. The values according to energy were 6, 9, and 12 MeV which were 99.72%, 100.60% and 101.96% higher respectively and the standard deviations were 0.0200, 0.0160 and 0.0164. The actual measurement value according to beam angle were measured 100.45% and 101.07% higher at $0^{\circ}$ and $15^{\circ}$ respectively and standard deviations were 0.0199 and 0.0190 so they were measured 0.62% higher at $15^{\circ}$ than $0^{\circ}$. Conclusion : As a result of analyzing the calculation value of TPS and measurement value according to the used variables in this paper, the values calculated with TPS on 5 mm bolus, $6{\time}6cm2$ field size and low-energy electron at $0^{\circ}$ gantry angle were closer to the measured values, however, it showed a modest difference within the error bound of maximum 2%. If it was beyond the bounds of variables selected in this paper using electron and bolus simultaneously, the actual measurement value could differ from TPS according to each variable, therefore QA for the accurate surface dose would have to be performed.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 2007

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: The purpose of this study is to develop a practical method for determining accurate marker positions for prostate cancer radiotherapy using CT images and kV x-ray images obtained from the use of the on- board imager (OBI). $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: Three gold seed markers were implanted into the reference position inside a prostate gland by a urologist. Multiple digital image processing techniques were used to determine seed marker position and the center-of-mass (COM) technique was employed to determine a representative reference seed marker position. A setup discrepancy can be estimated by comparing a computed $COM_{OBI}$ with the reference $COM_{CT}$. A proposed algorithm was applied to a seed phantom and to four prostate cancer patients with seed implants treated in our clinic. $\underline{Results}$: In the phantom study, the calculated $COM_{CT}$ and $COM_{OBI}$ agreed with $COM_{actual}$ within a millimeter. The algorithm also could localize each seed marker correctly and calculated $COM_{CT}$ and $COM_{OBI}$ for all CT and kV x-ray image sets, respectively. Discrepancies of setup errors between 2D-2D matching results using the OBI application and results using the proposed algorithm were less than one millimeter for each axis. The setup error of each patient was in the range of $0.1{\pm}2.7{\sim}1.8{\pm}6.6\;mm$ in the AP direction, $0.8{\pm}1.6{\sim}2.0{\pm}2.7\;mm$ in the SI direction and $-0.9{\pm}1.5{\sim}2.8{\pm}3.0\;mm$ in the lateral direction, even though the setup error was quite patient dependent. $\underline{Conclusion}$: As it took less than 10 seconds to evaluate a setup discrepancy, it can be helpful to reduce the setup correction time while minimizing subjective factors that may be user dependent. However, the on-line correction process should be integrated into the treatment machine control system for a more reliable procedure.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2013

Purpose: Replacing the film which used to be used for checking the set-up of the patient and dosimetry during radiation therapy, more and more EPID equipped devices are in use at present. Accordingly, this article tried to evaluated the accuracy of the position check-up and the usefulness of dosimetry during the use of an electronic portal imaging device. Materials and Methods: On 50 materials acquired with the search of Korea Society Radiotherapeutic Technology, The Korean Society for Radiation Oncology, and Pubmed using "EPID", "Portal dosimetry", "Portal image", "Dose verification", "Quality control", "Cine mode", "Quality - assurance", and "In vivo dosimetry" as indexes, the usefulness of EPID was analyzed by classifying them as history of EPID and dosimetry, set-up verification and characteristics of EPID. Results: EPID is developed from the first generation of Liquid-filled ionization chamber, through the second generation of Camera-based fluoroscopy, and to the third generation of Amorphous-silicon EPID imaging modes can be divided into EPID mode, Cine mode and Integrated mode. When evaluating absolute dose accuracy of films and EPID, it was found that EPID showed within 1% and EDR2 film showed within 3% errors. It was confirmed that EPID is better in error measurement accuracy than film. When gamma analyzing the dose distribution of the base exposure plane which was calculated from therapy planning system, and planes calculated by EDR2 film and EPID, both film and EPID showed less than 2% of pixels which exceeded 1 at gamma values (r%>1) with in the thresholds such as 3%/3 mm and 2%/2 mm respectively. For the time needed for full course QA in IMRT to compare loads, EDR2 film recorded approximately 110 minutes, and EPID recorded approximately 55 minutes. Conclusion: EPID could easily replace conventional complicated and troublesome film and ionization chamber which used to be used for dosimetry and set-up verification, and it was proved to be very efficient and accurate dosimetry device in quality assurance of IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy). As cine mode imaging using EPID allows locating tumors in real-time without additional dose in lung and liver which are mobile according to movements of diaphragm and in rectal cancer patients who have unstable position, it may help to implement the most optimal radiotherapy for patients.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.35 no.6 s.113
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• pp.409-419
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• 2005

Studies for diagnostic analysis using three-dimensional (3D) CT images are recently in progress and needs for 3D craniofacial analysis are increasing in the fields of orthodontics. It is especially essential to analyze the facial soft tissue after orthodontic treatment and orthognathic surgery. In this study 3D CT images of adults with normal occlusion were taken to analyze the facial soft tissue. Norms were obtained from CT images of adults with normal occlusion (12 males, 11 females) using a computer program named V works 4.0 program. 3D coordinate planes were established using soft tissue Nasion as the reference point and a total of 20 reproducible landmarks of facial soft tissue were obtained using the multiple reconstructive sectional images (axial, sagittal and coronal images) of the V works 4.0 program: soft tissue Nasion, Pronasale, Subnasale, Upper lip center, Lower lip center, soft tissue B, soft tissue Pogonion, soft tissue Menton, Endocanthion (Rt/Lt), Alare lateralis (Rt/Lt), Cheilion (Rt/Lt), soft tissue Gonion (Rt/Lt), Tragus (Rt/Lt), and Zygomatic point (Rt/Lt). According to the established landmarks and measuring method, the 3D CT images of adults with normal occlusion were measured and the normal positional measurements and their Net (${\delta}=\sqrt{{X^2}+{Y^2}+{Z^2}}$) values were obtained using V surgery program, In the linear measurement between landmarks, there was a significant difference between males and females except Na' -Sn and En(Rt)-En(Lt). The normal ranges of Na'-Zy, Na'-Ch and Na'-Go' (facial depth) were obtained, which was difficult to measure by two-dimensional (2D) cephalometric analysis and facial photographs. These data may be used as references for 3D diagnosis and treatment planning for patients with malocclusion and dentofacial deformity.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2014

The objective of this study is to investigate the difference of ITV lengths and ITVs between 4DCT and Slow-CT images according to respiratory patterns using a respiratory motion phantom. The respiratory periods 1~4 s and target motion 1~3 cm were applied on each respiratory pattern. 4DCT and Slow-CT images were acquired for 3 times. 4DCT and Slow-CT ITVs were measured with contouring the target in the Eclipse RTP system. The measured ITV lenghts and ITVs in 4DCT and Slow-CT images were compared to the known values. For the ITV lengths and ITVs in the 4DCT, the difference of them were reduced as the respiratory period is longer and target motion is shorter. For the Slow-CT, there was same tendency with change in 4DCT ITV lengths and ITVs about target motion. However, the difference of ITV lengths and ITVs for the respiratory periods were the lowest in respiratory period 1 second and different slightly within respiratory period 2-4 seconds. According to the respiratory patterns, pattern A had the highest reproducibility. Pattern B, C and D were showed the difference similar to each other. However, for pattern E, the reproducibility was the lowest compared with other four patterns. The difference of ITV lengths and ITVs between Slow-CT and 4DCT was increased by increasing the respiratory periods and target motion for all respiratory patterns. When the difference of Slow-CT ITV lengths and ITVs were compared with that of 4DCT ITV lengths and ITVs, Slow-CT ITV lengths and ITVs were approximately 22 % smaller than 4DCT, and the representations of target were different in each pattern. In case of pattern A, B and C, length difference was 3 mm at S (superior) and I (inferior) direction, and the length difference of pattern D was 1.45 cm at only "I" direction whereas the length difference of pattern E was 5 mm longer in "S" direction than "I" direction. Therefore, the margin in SI directions should be determined by considering the respiratory patterns when the margin of Slow-CT is compensated for 4DCT ITV lengths. Afterward, we think that the result of this study will be useful to analyze the ITV lengths and ITVs from the CT images on the basis of the patient respiratory signals.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2014

The accuracy and uniformity of CT numbers are the main causes of radiation dose calculation error. Especially, for the dose calculation based on kV-Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) image, the scatter affecting the CT number is known to be quite different by the object sizes, densities, exposure conditions, and so on. In this study, the scatter impact on the CBCT based dose calculation was evaluated to provide the optimal condition minimizing the error. The CBCT images was acquired under three scatter conditions ("Under-scatter", "Over-scatter", and "Full-scatter") by adjusting amount of scatter materials around a electron density phantom (CIRS062, Tissue Simulation Technology, Norfolk, VA, USA). The CT number uniformities of CBCT images for water-equivalent materials of the phantom were assessed, and the location dependency, either "inner" or "outer" parts of the phantom, was also evaluated. The electron density correction curves were derived from CBCT images of the electron density phantom in each scatter condition. The electron density correction curves were applied to calculate the CBCT based doses, which were compared with the dose based on Fan Beam Computed Tomography (FBCT). Also, 5 prostate IMRT cases were enrolled to assess the accuracy of dose based on CBCT images using gamma index analysis and relative dose differences. As the CT number histogram of phantom CBCT images for water equivalent materials was fitted with a gaussian function, the FHWM (146 HU) for "Full-scatter" condition was the smallest among the FHWM for the three conditions (685 HU for "under scatter" and 264 HU for "over scatter"). Also, the variance of CT numbers was the smallest for the same ingredients located in the center and periphery of the phantom in the "Full-scatter" condition. The dose distributions calculated with FBCT and CBCT images compared in a gamma index evaluation of 1%/3 mm criteria and in the dose difference. With the electron density correction acquired in the same scatter condition, the CBCT based dose calculations tended to be the most accurate. In 5 prostate cases in which the mean equivalent diameter was 27.2 cm, the averaged gamma pass rate was 98% and the dose difference confirmed to be less than 2% (average 0.2%, ranged from -1.3% to 1.6%) with the electron density correction of the "Full-scatter" condition. The accuracy of CBCT based dose calculation could be confirmed that closely related to the CT number uniformity and to the similarity of the scatter conditions for the electron density correction curve and CBCT image. In pelvic cases, the most accurate dose calculation was achievable in the application of the electron density curves of the "Full-scatter" condition.