• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2015

The purpose of the Monte Carlo simulation study was to provide the optimized nozzle design to satisfy the beam conditions for biomedical researches in the Korean heavy-ion accelerator, RAON. The nozzle design was required to produce $C^{12}$ beam satisfying the three conditions; the maximum field size, the dose uniformity and the beam contamination. We employed the GEANT4 toolkit in Monte Carlo simulation to optimize the nozzle design. The beams for biomedical researches were required that the maximum field size should be more than $15{\times}15cm^2$, the dose uniformity was to be less than 3% and the level of beam contamination due to the scattered radiation from collimation systems was less than 5% of total dose. For the field size, we optimized the tilting angle of the circularly rotating beam controlled by a pair of dipole magnets at the most upstream of the user beam line unit and the thickness of the scatter plate located downstream of the dipole magnets. The values of beam scanning angle and the thickness of the scatter plate could be successfully optimized to be $0.5^{\circ}$ and 0.05 cm via this Monte Carlo simulation analysis. For the dose uniformity and the beam contamination, we introduced the new beam configuration technique by the combination of scanning and static beams. With the combination of a central static beam and a circularly rotating beam with the tilting angle of $0.5^{\circ}$ to beam axis, the dose uniformity could be established to be 1.1% in $15{\times}15cm^2$ sized maximum field. For the beam contamination, it was determined by the ratio of the absorbed doses delivered by $C^{12}$ ion and other particles. The level of the beam contamination could be achieved to be less than 2.5% of total dose in the region from 5 cm to 17 cm water equivalent depth in the combined beam configuration. Based on the results, we could establish the optimized nozzle design satisfying the beam conditions which were required for biomedical researches.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.226-231
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• 2017

The aim is to investigate the spectra responsibilities of QD (Quantum Dot) for the innovation of new dosimetry application for therapeutic Megavoltage X-ray range. The unique electrical and optical properties of QD are expected to make it a good sensing material for dosimeter. This study shows the spectra responsibility of toluene based ZnCd QD and PPO (2.5-diphenyloxazol) mixed liquid scintillator. The QDs of 4 sizes corresponding to an emission wavelength (ZnCdSe/ZnS:$440{\pm}5nm$, ZnCdSeS:470, 500, $570{\pm}5nm$) were utilized. A liquid scintillator for control sample was made of toluene, PPO. The Composition of QD loaded scintillators are about 99 wt% Toluene as solvent, 1 wt% of PPO as primary scintillator and 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 wt% of QDs as solute. For the spectra responsibility of QD scintillation, they were irradiated for 30 second with 6 MV beam from a LINAC ($Infinity^{TM}$, Elekta). With the guidance of 1.0 mm core diameter optical fiber, scintillation spectrums were measured by a compact CCD spectrometer which could measure 200~1,000 nm wavelength range (CCS200, Thorlabs). We measured the spectra responsibilities of QD loaded organic liquid scintillators in two scintillation mechanisms. First was the direct transfer and second was using wave shifter. The emission peaks from the direct transfer were measured to be much smaller luminescent intensity than based on the wavelength shift from the PPO to QDs. The emission peak was shifted from PPO emission wavelength 380 nm to each emission wavelength of loaded QD. In both mechanisms, 500 nm QD loaded samples were observed to radiate in the highest luminescence intensity. We observed the spectra responsibility of QD doped toluene based liquid scintillator in order to innovate QD dosimetry applicator. The liquid scintillator loading 0.2 wt% of 500 nm emission wavelength QD has most superior responsibility at 6 MV photon beam. In this study we observed the spectra responsibilities for therapeutic X-ray range. It would be the first step of innovating new radiation dosimetric methods for radiation treatment.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.280-284
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• 2006

$\underline{Purpose}$: To evaluate biological characteristics of neutron beam generated by MC50 cyclotron located in the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences (KIRAMS). $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: The neutron beams generated with 15 mm Beryllium target hit by 35 MeV proton beam was used and dosimetry data was measured before in-vitro study. We irradiated 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Gy of neutron beam to EMT-6 cell line and surviving fraction (SF) was measured. The SF curve was also examined at the same dose when applying lead shielding to avoid gamma ray component. In the X-ray experiment, SF curve was obtained after irradiation of 0, 2, 5, 10, and 15 Gy. $\underline{Results}$: The neutron beams have 84% of neutron and 16% of gamma component at the depth of 2 cm with the field size of $26{\times}26\;cm^2$, beam current $20\;{\mu}A$, and dose rate of 9.25 cGy/min. The SF curve from X-ray, when fitted to linear-quadratic (LQ) model, had 0.611 as ${\alpha}/{\beta}$ ratio (${\alpha}=0.0204,\;{\beta}=0.0334,\;R^2=0.999$, respectively). The SF curve from neutron beam had shoulders at low dose area and fitted well to LQ model with the value of $R^2$ exceeding 0.99 in all experiments. The mean value of alpha and beta were -0.315 (range, $-0.254{\sim}-0.360$) and 0.247 ($0.220{\sim}0.262$), respectively. The addition of lead shielding resulted in no straightening of SF curve and shoulders in low dose area still existed. The RBE of neutron beam was in range of $2.07{\sim}2.19$ with SF=0.1 and $2.21{\sim}2.35$ with SF=0.01, respectively. $\underline{Conclusion}$: The neutron beam from MC50 cyclotron has significant amount of gamma component and this may have contributed to form the shoulder of survival curve. The RBE of neutron beam generated by MC50 was about 2.2.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.80
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• pp.516-525
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• 2022

This study is to assess the clinical use of commercial PerFRACTION^TM for patient-specific quality assurance of volumetric-modulated arc therapy. Forty-six pretreatment verification plans for patients treated using a TrueBeam STx linear accelerator for lesions in various treatment sites such as brain, head and neck (H&N), prostate, and lung were included in this study. All pretreatment verification plans were generated using the Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS). Dose distributions obtained from electronic portal imaging device (EPID), ArcCHECK^TM, and two-dimensional (2D)/three-dimensional (3D) PerFRACTION^TM were then compared with the dose distribution calculated from the Eclipse TPS. In addition, the correlation between the plan complexity (the modulation complexity score and the leaf travel modulation complexity score) and the gamma passing rates (GPRs) of each quality assurance (QA) system was evaluated by calculating Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (r_s) with the corresponding p-values. The gamma passing rates of 46 patients analyzed with the 2D/3D PerFRACTION^TM using the 2%/2 mm and 3%/3 mm criteria showed almost similar trends to those analyzed with the Portal dose imaging prediction (PDIP) and ArcCHECK^TM except for those analyzed with ArcCHECK^TM using the 2%/2 mm criterion. Most of weak or moderate correlations between GPRs and plan complexity were observed for all QA systems. The trend of mean rs between GPRs using PDIP and 2D/3D PerFRACTION^TM for both criteria and plan complexity indices as in the GPRs analysis was significantly similar for brain, prostate, and lung cases with lower complexity compared to H&N case. Furthermore, the trend of mean rs for 2D/3D PerFRACTION^TM for H&N case with high complexity was similar to that of ArcCHECK^TM and slightly lower correlation was observed than that of PDIP. This work showed that the performance of 2D/3D PerFRACTION^TM for pretreatment patient-specific QA was almost comparable to that of PDIP, although there was small difference from ArcCHECK^TM for some cases. Thus, we found that the PerFRACTION^TM is a suitable QA system for pretreatment patient-specific QA in a variety of treatment sites.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.265-272
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the treatment outcomes of adjuvant radiotherapy using vaginal brachytherapy (VB) with a lower dose per fraction and/or external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) following surgery for patients with stage I endometrial carcinoma. Materials and Methods: The subjects were 43 patients with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I endometrial cancer who underwent adjuvant radiotherapy following surgery between March 2000 and April 2014. Of these, 25 received postoperative VB alone, while 18 received postoperative EBRT to the whole pelvis; 3 of these were treated with EBRT plus VB. The median EBRT dose was 50.0 Gy (45.0-50.4 Gy) and the VB dose was 24 Gy in 6 fractions. Tumor dose was prescribed at a depth of 5 mm from the cylinder surface and delivered twice per week. Results: The median follow-up period for all patients was 57 months (range, 9 to 188 months). Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) for all patients were 92.5% and 95.3%, respectively. Adjuvant radiotherapy was performed according to risk factors and stage IB, grade 3 and lymphovascular invasion were observed more frequently in the EBRT group. Five-year DFS for EBRT and VB alone were 88.1% and 96.0%, respectively (p = 0.42), and 5-year OS for EBRT and VB alone were 94.4% and 96%, respectively (p = 0.38). There was no locoregional recurrence in any patient. Two patients who received EBRT and 1 patient who received VB alone developed distant metastatic disease. Two patients who received EBRT had severe complications, one each of grade 3 gastrointestinal complication and pelvic bone insufficiency fracture. Conclusion: Adjuvant radiotherapy achieved high DFS and OS with acceptable toxicity in stage I endometrial cancer. VB (with a lower dose per fraction) may be a viable option for selected patients with early-stage endometrial cancer following surgery.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2935-2940
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• 2023

A polystyrene phantom was developed following the guidance of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) for gamma knife (GK) quality assurance. Its performance was assessed by measuring the absorbed dose rate to water and dose distributions. The phantom was made of polystyrene, which has an electron density (1.0156) similar to that of water. The phantom included one outer phantom and four inner phantoms. Two inner phantoms held PTW T31010 and Exradin A16 ion chambers. One inner phantom held a film in the XY plane of the Leksell coordinate system, and another inner phantom held a film in the YZ or ZX planes. The absorbed dose rate to water and beam profiles of the machine-specific reference (msr) field, namely, the 16 mm collimator field of a GK Perfexion^TM or Icon^TM, were measured at seven GK sites. The measured results were compared to those of an IAEA-recommended solid water (SW) phantom. The radius of the polystyrene phantom was determined to be 7.88 cm by converting the electron density of the plastic, considering a water depth of 8 g/cm². The absorbed dose rates to water measured in both phantoms differed from the treatment planning program by less than 1.1%. Before msr correction, the PTW T31010 dose rates (PTW Freiberg GmbH, New York, NY, USA) in the polystyrene phantom were 0.70 (0.29)% higher on average than those in the SW phantom. The Exradin A16 (Standard Imaging, Middleton, WI, USA) dose rates were 0.76 (0.32)% higher in the polystyrene phantom. After msr correction factors were applied, there were no statistically significant differences in the A16 dose rates measured in the two phantoms; however, the T31010 dose rates were 0.72 (0.29)% higher in the polystyrene phantom. When the full widths at half maximum and penumbras of the msr field were compared, no significant differences between the two phantoms were observed, except for the penumbra in the Y-axis. However, the difference in the penumbra was smaller than variations among different sites. A polystyrene phantom developed for gamma knife dosimetry showed dosimetric performance comparable to that of a commercial SW phantom. In addition to its cost effectiveness, the polystyrene phantom removes air space around the detector. Additional simulations of the msr correction factors of the polystyrene phantom should be performed.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.381-390
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• 2002

Purpose : To develop a dose calibration program for the IAEA TRS-277 and AAPM TG-21, based on the air kerma calibration factor (or the cavity-gas calibration factor), as well as for the IAEA TRS-398 and the AAPM TG-51, based on the absorbed dose to water calibration factor, so as to avoid the unwanted error associated with these calculation procedures. Materials and Methods : Currently, the most widely used dosimetry Protocols of high energy photon beams are the air kerma calibration factor based on the IAEA TRS-277 and the AAPM TG-21. However, this has somewhat complex formalism and limitations for the improvement of the accuracy due to uncertainties of the physical quantities. Recently, the IAEA and the AAPM published the absorbed dose to water calibration factor based, on the IAEA TRS-398 and the AAPM TG-51. The formalism and physical parameters were strictly applied to these four dose calibration programs. The tables and graphs of physical data and the information for ion chambers were numericalized for their incorporation into a database. These programs were developed user to be friendly, with the Visual $C^{++}$ language for their ease of use in a Windows environment according to the recommendation of each protocols. Results : The dose calibration programs for the high energy photon beams, developed for the four protocols, allow the input of informations about a dosimetry system, the characteristics of the beam quality, the measurement conditions and dosimetry results, to enable the minimization of any inter-user variations and errors, during the calculation procedure. Also, it was possible to compare the absorbed dose to water data of the four different protocols at a single reference points. Conclusion : Since this program expressed information in numerical and data-based forms for the physical parameter tables, graphs and of the ion chambers, the error associated with the procedures and different user could be solved. It was possible to analyze and compare the major difference for each dosimetry protocol, since the program was designed to be user friendly and to accurately calculate the correction factors and absorbed dose. It is expected that accurate dose calculations in high energy photon beams can be made by the users for selecting and performing the appropriate dosimetry protocol.