• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.25-32
• /
• 2010

Purpose: In radiotherapy that takes into account respiration using a RPM (Real time Position Management, Varian, USA) system, which can treat in consideration of the movement of tumor, infrared reflective markers supplied by manufacturers cannot obtain respiratory signal if the couch rotates at a certain angle or larger. In order to solve this problem, the author developed the 3D infrared reflective marker named 'Kw-marker' that can obtain respiratory signal at any angle, and evaluate its usefulness. Materials and Methods: In order to measure the stability of respiratory signal, we put the infrared reflective marker on the 3D moving phantom that can reproduce respiratory movement and acquired respiratory signal for 3 minutes under each of 3 conditions (A: $couch\;0^{\circ}$, a manufacturer's infrared reflective marker B: $couch\;0^{\circ}$, Kw-marker C: $couch\;90^{\circ}$, Kw-marker). By analyzing the respiratory signal using a breath analysis program (Labview Ver. 7.0), we obtained the peak value, valley value, standard deviation, variation value, and amplitude value. In order to examine the rotation error and moving range of the target, we placed a B.B phantom on the 3D moving phantom, and obtained images at a couch angle of $0^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ using OBI, and then acquired the X, Y and Z values (mm) of the ball bearing at the center of the B.B phantom. Results: According to the results of analyzing the respiratory signal, the standard deviation at the peak value was A: 0.002, B: 0.002 and C: 0.003, and the stability of respiration for amplitude was A: 0.15%, B: 0.14% and C:0.13%, showing that we could get respiratory signal stably by using the Kw-marker. When the couch rotated $couch\;90^{\circ}$, the mean rotation error of the ball bearing, namely, the target was X: -1.25 mm, Y: -0.45 mm and Z: +0.1 mm, which were within 1.3 mm on the average in all directions, and the difference in the moving range of the target was within 0.3 mm. Conclusion: When we obtained respiratory signal using the Kw-marker in non-coplanar treatment where the couch rotated, we could acquire respiratory signal stably and the Kw-marker was effective enough to substitute for the manufacturer's infrared reflective marker. When the rotation error and moving range of the target were measured, there was little difference, indicating that the displacement of the reflector movement in couch rotation is the cause of change in the scale and amplitude of respiratory signal. If the converted value of amplitude height according to couch angle is studied further and applied, it may be possible to perform non-coplanar phase-based gating treatment.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.83-88
• /
• 2009

Purpose: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) using an on board imager (OBI) can check the movement and setup error in patient position and target volume by comparing with the image of computer simulation treatment in real.time during patient treatment. Thus, this study purposed to check the change and movement of patient position and target volume using CBCT in IMRT and calculate difference from the treatment plan, and then to correct the position using an automated match system and to test the accuracy of position correction using an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and examine the usefulness of CBCT in IMRT and the accuracy of the automatic match system. Materials and Methods: The subjects of this study were 3 head and neck patients and 1 pelvis patient sampled from IMRT patients treated in our hospital. In order to investigate the movement of treatment position and resultant displacement of irradiated volume, we took CBCT using OBI mounted on the linear accelerator. Before each IMRT treatment, we took CBCT and checked difference from the treatment plan by coordinate by comparing it with the image of CT simulation. Then, we made correction through the automatic match system of 3D/3D match to match the treatment plan, and verified and evaluated using electronic portal imaging device. Results: When CBCT was compared with the image of CT simulation before treatment, the average difference by coordinate in the head and neck was 0.99 mm vertically, 1.14 mm longitudinally, 4.91 mm laterally, and 1.07o in the rotational direction, showing somewhat insignificant differences by part. In testing after correction, when the image from the electronic portal imaging device was compared with DRR image, it was found that correction had been made accurately with error less than 0.5 mm. Conclusion: By comparing a CBCT image before treatment with a 3D image reconstructed into a volume instead of a 2D image for the patient's setup error and change in the position of the organs and the target, we could measure and correct the change of position and target volume and treat more accurately, and could calculate and compare the errors. The results of this study show that CBCT was useful to deliver accurate treatment according to the treatment plan and to increase the reproducibility of repeated treatment, and satisfactory results were obtained. Accuracy enhanced through CBCT is highly required in IMRT, in which the shape of the target volume is complex and the change of dose distribution is radical. In addition, further research is required on the criteria for match focus by treatment site and treatment purpose.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.49-55
• /
• 2008

This study aims to conduct the comparative analysis of the radiation dose according to before and after the calibration of the ionization chamber used for measuring radiation dose in the MDCT, as well as of $CTDI_w$ according to temperature and pressure correction factors in the CT room. A comparative analysis was conducted based on the measured MDCT (GE light speed plus 4 slice, USA) data using head and body CT dosimetric phantom, and Model 2026C electrometer (RADICAL 2026C, USA) calibrated on March 21, 2007. As a result, the $CTDI_w$ value which reflected calibration factors, as well as correction factors of temperature and pressure, was found to be the range of $0.479{\sim}3.162mGy$ in effective radiation dose than the uncorrected values. Also, under the routine abdomen routine CT image acquisition conditions used in reference hospitals, patient effective dose was measured to indicate the difference of the maximum of 0.7 mSv between before and after the application of such factors. These results imply that the calibration of the ion chamber, and the correction of temperature and pressure of the CT room are crucial in measuring and calculating patient effective dose. Thus, to measure patient radiation dose accurately, the detailed information should be made available regarding not only the temperature and pressure of the CT room, but also the humidity and recombination factor, characteristics of X-ray beam quality, exposure conditions, scan region, and so forth.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.195-203
• /
• 1999

It is difficult to determine dosimetric characteristics for small field photon beams since such small fields do not achieve complete lateral electronic equilibrium and have steep dose gradients. Dosimetric characteristics of small field 4, 6, and 10 MeV photon beams have been measured in water with a diamond detector and compared to measurements using small volume cylindrical and plane parallel ionization chambers. Percent depth dose (PDD) and beam profiles for 6 and 10 MeV photon beams were measured with diamond detector and cylindrical ion chamber for small fields ranging from $1{\times}1\;to\;4{\times}4cm^2$. Total scatter factors($S_{c,p}$) for 4, 6, and 10 MeV photon beams were measured with diamond detector, cylindrical and plane parallel ion chambers for small fields ranging from $1{\times}1\;to\;4{\times}4cm^2$. The $S_{c,p}$ factors obtained with three detectors for 4, 6, and 10 MeV photon beams agreed well ($\pm1.2%$) for field sizes greater than $2{\times}2,\;2.5{\times}2.5,\;and\;3{\times}3\;cm^2$, respectively. For smaller field sizes, the cylindrical and plane parallel ionization chambers measure a smaller $S_{c,p}$ factor, as a result of the steep dose gradients across their sensitive volumes. The PDD values obtained with diamond detector and cylindrical ionization chamber for 6 and 10MeV photon beams agreed well ($\pm1.5%$) for field sizes greater than $4{\times}4\;cm^2$. For smaller field sizes, diamond detector produced a depth-dose curve which had a significantly shallower falloff than that obtained from the measurements of relative depth-dose with a cylindrical ionization chamber. For the measurements of beam profiles, a distortion in terms of broadened penumbra was observed with a cylindrical ionization chamber since diamond detector exhibited higher spatial resolution. The diamond detector with small sensitive volume, near water equivalent, and high spatial resolution is suitable detector compared to ionization chambers for the measurements of small field photon beams.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.236-242
• /
• 2005

Purpose: To evaluate the role of surgical clips and scars in determining electron boost field for early stage breast cancer undergoing conserving surgery and postoperative radiotherapy and to provide an optimal method in drawing the boost field. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients who had $4{\sim}7$ surgical clips in the excision cavity were selected for this study. The depth informations were obtained to determine electron energy by measuring the distance from the skin to chest wall (SCD) and to the clip implanted in the most posterior area of tumor bed. Three different electron fields were outlined on a simulation film. The radiological tumor bed was determined by connecting all the clips implanted during surgery Clinical field (CF) was drawn by adding 3 cm margin around surgical scar. Surgical field (SF) was drawn by adding 2 cm margin around surgical clips and an Ideal field (IF) was outlined by adding 2 cm margin around both scar and clips. These fields were digitized into our planning system to measure the area of each separate field. The areas of the three different electron boost fields were compared. Finally, surgical clips were contoured on axial CT images and dose volume histogram was plotted to investigate 3-dimensional coverage of the clips. Results : The average depth difference between SCD and the maximal clip location was $0.7{\pm}0.55cm$. Greater difference of 5 mm or more was seen in 12 patients. The average shift between the borders of scar and clips were 1.7 1.2, 1.2, and 0.9 cm in superior, inferior, medial, and lateral directions, respectively. The area of the CF was larger than SF and IF in 6y20 patients. In 15/20 patients, the area difference between SF and if was less than 5%. One to three clips were seen outside the CF in 15/20 patients. In addition, dosimetrically inadequate coverage of clips (less than 80% of prescribed dose) were observed in 17/20 patients when CF was used as the boost field. Conclusion: The electron field determined from clinical scar underestimates the tumor bed in superior-inferior direction significantly and thereby underdosing the tissue at risk. The electron field obtained from surgical clips alone dose not cover the entire scar properly As a consequence, our technique, which combines the surgical clips and clinical scars in determining electron boost field, was proved to be effective in minimizing the geographical miss as well as normal tissue complications.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.269-278
• /
• 2012

Aquaplast Thermoplastic (AT) is a tissue-equivalent oral compensator that has been developed to improve dose uniformity at the common boundary and around the treated area during radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer. In order to assess the usefulness of AT, the degree of improvement in dose distribution and physical properties were compared to those of oral compensators made using paraffin, alginate, and putty, which are materials conventionally used in dental imprinting. To assess the physical properties, strength evaluations (compression and drop evaluations) and natural deformation evaluations (volume change over time) were performed; a Gafchromic EBT2 film and a glass dosimeter inserted into a developed phantom for dose verification were used to measure the common boundary dose and the beam profile to assess the dose delivery. When the natural deformation of the oral compensators was assessed over a two-month period, alginate exhibited a maximum of 80% change in volume from moisture evaporation, while the remaining tissue-equivalent properties, including those of AT, showed a change in volume that was less than 3%. In a free-fall test at a height of 1.5 m (repeated 5 times as a strength evaluation), paraffin was easily damaged by the impact, but AT exhibited no damage from the fall. In compressive strength testing, AT was not destroyed even at 8 times the force needed for paraffin. In dose verification using a glass dosimeter, the results showed that in a single test, the tissue-equivalent (about 80 Hounsfield Units [HU]) AT delivered about 4.9% lower surface dose in terms of delivery of an output coefficient (monitor unit), which was 4% lower than putty and exhibited a value of about 1,000 HU or higher during a dose delivery of the same formulation. In addition, when the incident direction of the beam was used as a reference, the uniformity of the dose, as assessed from the beam profile at the boundary after passing through the oral compensators, was 11.41, 3.98, and 4.30 for air, AT, and putty, respectively. The AT oral compensator had a higher strength and lower probability of material transformation than the oral compensators conventionally used as a tissue-equivalent material, and a uniform dose distribution was successfully formed at the boundary and surrounding area including the mouth. It was also possible to deliver a uniformly formulated dose and reduce the skin dose delivery.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.96-108
• /
• 1985

A study for the assessment of natural environmental radiation exposure at a flat and open field of about $10,000m^2$ in area in CNU Daeduk campus has been carried out by means of gamma-ray scintillation spectrometry and thermoluminescence dosimetry for one year period of time from October 1984. The detectors used were 3'${\phi}{\times}$3' NaI(T1) and two different types of LiF TLD, namely, chip sealed in plastic sheet which tightly pressed on two open holes of a metal plate and Teflon disk. Three 24-hour cycles of in-situ spectrometry, and two 3-month and one 1-month cycles of field TL dosimetry were performed. All the spectra measured were converted into exposure rate by means of G(E) opertaion, and therefrom exposure rate due to terrestrial component of environmental radiation was figured out. Exposure rate determined by the spectrometry was, on average, $(10.54{\pm}2.96){\mu}R/hr$, and the rates of $(12.0{\pm}3.4){\mu}R/hr$ and $(11.0{\pm}3.6){\mu}R/hr$ were obtained from chip and disk TLD, respectively. Fluctuations in diurnal variation of the exposure rate measured by the spectrometry were noticeable sometime even in a single cycle of 24 hours. It is concluded that appropriately combined use of TLD with iu-sitn gamma-ray spectrometry system can give more accurate and precise measure of environmental radiation exposure, and further study for more adequate and sensitive TLD for environmental dosimetry, including improvement and elevation of accuracy in data assessment through inter-laboratory or international intercomparison is necessary.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.30 no.1_2
• /
• pp.169-176
• /
• 2018

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical applicability of Co-60 ViewRay treatment plan to increase the skin dose in case of high skin dose is required such as Malignant Fungating Wound By measuring the presence / absence of Bolus application and skin dose by the treatment device and comparing it Materials and Methods : Nine inner measuring points of 2.5 cm lattice arrangement and all 13 measuring points including upper and lower left and right measuring points touching the chest and skin were marked. After CT was taken, each treatment plan was formulated through Eclipse and ViewRay-TPS, and a Fixed beam-IMRT treatment plan was formulated so that the left chest V2Gy=95 % is delivered. Before measurement QED detector was calibrated and the QED detector was positioned at the 13 measurement points displayed on Phantom and surface dose of each treatment planner was measured using 5 mm Bolus application using True-beam and View-ray before and after, measure three times and compare each before applying 5 mm Bolus. Results : The surface dose of the Co-60 ViewRay and the linear accelerator appeared at $76.8%{\pm}5.2%$ vs. $67.3{\pm}%7.5%$ and the surface dose after application of 5 mm Bolus was $87.6%{\pm}8.9%$ vs. $80.3%{\pm}10.2%$ It was measured at 10.2 % (p<0.001). Conclusion : As a result of the surface dose measurement of each treatment instrument, Co-60 ViewRay confirmed that the surface dose reached 95.6 % of 6 MV Linac with conventional 5 mm bolus, despite not using Bolus (p<0.001). Also, by utilizing magnetic resonance images for each treatment, it is possible to observe the change in the treatment site without the problem of exposure, it is easy to formulate an adaptive treatment plan and it is easy to secure the skin dose, so the size In the case of Malignant Fungating Wound patients who need fast skin changes and need high skin doses, Co-60 ViewRay is considered to be more useful than linear accelerators.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.297-304
• /
• 1995

To evaluate the feasibility of irradiation as a control measure for metagonimiasis, the metacercariae of Metagonimus yokogcwni were irradiated with gamma ray, either after isolation from the sweetfish (Plecoglossus cltivelis) or in situ of the fish, and their survival and development in rats were observed at 7 days post-infection. The radiation dose varied from 5 to 100 Gy for the metacercaria-irradiation group and from 5 to 500 Gy for fish-irradiation group. The results showed that the worm recovery rate from the irradiation groups decreased as the radiation dose was increased. Higher doses of radiation were required for the fish-irradiation group to obtain the same results as the metacercaria-irradiation group. The LD50 of the metacercaria-irradiation group was 4.5 Gy, whereas that of the fish-irradiation group 6.2 Gy A few number of worms which survived until 7 days in rats were severely retarded especially in the growth of their reproductive organs, j.e., complete or partial failure in the development of testes and formation of uterine eggs . The present study revealed that irradiation of sweetfish by 200 Gy is effective to control infectivity as well as development of M. vokogawai metacercariae in rats.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.491-503
• /
• 2014

In this paper, a $TM_{31}$ higher order mode half circular-ring microstrip antenna with monopole-like radiation characteristic for on-body communication is proposed. By using shorting vias, $TM_{31}$ resonance mode was excited, while achieving compact low-profile antenna with monopole-like radiation characteristics. To overcome the narrow bandwidth of a patch antenna, a C-shape half ring patch with shorting vias having $TM_{31}$ mode is closely located around a half circular patch. For size reduction, half mode is adopted. The proposed antenna has the overall dimensions of $0.25{\lambda}_0{\times}0.46{\lambda}_0{\times}0.025{\lambda}_0$ at the industrial, scientific, and medical(ISM) 2.45 GHz band(2.4~2.485 GHz) and the 10-dB return loss is 4.24 % ranging from 2.38 to 2.49 GHz. To verify body effect, two-thirds muscle equivalent semi solid phantom was fabricated and used to measure the antenna performance. A communication link is analysed to investigate the effect of human-body movements and antenna locations.