• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.146-148
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• 2012

The use of GEANT4 simulation toolkit has increased in the radiation medical field for the design of treatment system and the calibration or validation of treatment plans. Moreover, it is used especially on calculating dose simulation using medical data for radiation therapy. However, using internal visualization tool of GEANT4 detector constructions on expressing dose result has deficiencies because it cannot display isodose line. No one has attempted to use this code to a real patient's data. Therefore, to complement this problem, using the result of gMocren that is a three-dimensional volume-visualizing tool, we tried to display a simulated dose distribution and isodose line on medical image. In addition, we have compared cross-validation on the result of gMocren and GEANT4 simulation with commercial radiation treatment planning system. We have extracted the analyzed data of dose distribution, using real patient's medical image data with a program based on Monte Carlo simulation and visualization tool for radiation isodose mapping.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 1990

The basic strategy of irradiation is to deliver a dose to the cancer that is high enough to make cancer cells incapable of reproduction, while keeping the doses to the various healthy tissues below tolerable levels. In order to improve local control and survival, as a boost therapy after external radiotherapy, high dose rate transcatheteric irradiation using remote control afterloading system(RALSTRON-20B) was used for twelve patients with head and neck cancers. Present results showed complete remission of cancer in 9 out of 12 patients without treatment related complications. Although this procedure is easy to operate, well trained skillful hand is essential for good results. Furthermore our experience suggested that meticulous treatment planning should be developed for better results.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 1997

Image-based three dimensional radiation treatment planning(3D RTP) has a potential of generating superior treatment plans. Advances in computer technology and software developments quickly make 3D RTP a feasible choice for routine clinical use. However, it has become clear that an evaluation of a 3D plan is more difficult than a 2D plan. A number of tools have been developed to facilitate the evaluation of 3D RTP both qualitatively and quantitatively. For example, beam's eye view(BEV) is one of the most powerful and time-saving method as a qualitative tools. Dose-volume histogram(DVH) has been proven to be one of the most valuable methods for a quantitative tools. But it has a limitation to evaluate several different plans for biological effects of the tissue and critical organ. Therefore, there is a strong interest in developing quantitative models which would predict the likely biological response of irradiated organs and tissues, such as tumor control probability(TCP) and normal tissue complication probability(NTCP). DVH and NTCP of hepatoma were evaluated for three dimensional conformal radiotherapy(3D CRT). Also, 3D RTP was analysed as a dose optimization based on beam arrangement and beam modulation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.527-535
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• 2000

For a reliable patient set-up verification, better portal films are needed to track relevant features. Simulator films are compared with portal films as a reference image in radiotherapy planning. This shows some possibilities of the use of image information of simulator images for enhancement and restorations of portal images which are very poor in quality compared with the simulator images. This paper present an approach that combine an associative memory, a kind of artificial neural networks with fuzzy image enhancement technique using genetic algorithm which determines the fuzzy region of membership function by the use of maximum entropy principles. A higher portal image quality than conventional technique is achieved.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.63-70
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• 2020

Stereotactic radiosurgery is one of the most sophisticated forms of modern advanced radiation therapy. Unlike conventional fractionated radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery uses a high dose of radiation with steep gradient precisely delivered to target lesions. Lars Leksell presented the principle of radiosurgery in 1951. Gamma Knife^® (GK) is the first radiosurgery device used in clinics, and the first patient was treated in the winter of 1967. The first GK unit had 179 cobalt 60 sources distributed on a hemispherical surface. A patient could move only in a single direction. Treatment planning was performed manually and took more than a day. The latest model, Gamma Knife^® Icon^TM, shares the same principle but has many new dazzling characteristics. In this article, first, a brief history of radiosurgery was described. Then, the physical properties of modern radiosurgery machines and physicists' endeavors to assure the quality of radiosurgery were described. Intrinsic characteristics of modern radiosurgery devices such as small fields, steep dose distribution producing sharp penumbra, and multi-directionality of the beam were reviewed together with the techniques to assess the accuracy of these devices. The reference conditions and principles of GK dosimetry given in the most recent international standard protocol, International Atomic Energy Agency TRS 483, were shortly reviewed, and several points needing careful revisions were highlighted. Understanding the principles and physics of radiosurgery will be helpful for modern medical physicists.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.9-17
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• 2017

Purpose: The tissue description and electron density indicated by the Computed Tomography(CT) number (also known as Hounsfield Unit) in radiotherapy are important in ensuring the accuracy of CT-based computerized radiotherapy planning. The internal metal implants, however, not only reduce the accuracy of CT number but also introduce uncertainty into tissue description, leading to development of many clinical algorithms for reducing metal artifacts. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate the accuracy and the clinical applicability by analyzing date from SMART MAR (GE) used in our institution. Methode: and material: For assessment of images, the original images were obtained after forming ROIs with identical volumes by using CIRS ED phantom and inserting rods of six tissues and then non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images were obtained and compared in terms of CT number and SD value. For determination of the difference in dose by the changes in CT number due to metal artifacts, the original images were obtained by forming PTV at two sites of CIRS ED phantom CT images with Computerized Treatment Planning (CTP system), the identical treatment plans were established for non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images by obtaining unilateral and bilateral titanium insertion images, and mean doses, Homogeneity Index(HI), and Conformity Index(CI) for both PTVs were compared. The absorbed doses at both sites were measured by calculating the dose conversion constant (cCy/nC) from ylinder acrylic phantom, 0.125cc ionchamber, and electrometer and obtaining non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images from images resulting from insertions of unilateral and bilateral titanium rods, and compared with point doses from CTP. Result: The results of image assessment showed that the CT number of SMART MAR images compared to those of non-SMART MAR images were more close to those of original images, and the SD decreased more in SMART compared to non-SMART ones. The results of dose determinations showed that the mean doses, HI and CI of non-SMART MAR images compared to those of SMART MAR images were more close to those of original images, however the differences did not reach statistical significance. The results of absorbed dose measurement showed that the difference between actual absorbed dose and point dose on CTP in absorbed dose were 2.69 and 3.63 % in non-SMRT MAR images, however decreased to 0.56 and 0.68 %, respectively in SMART MAR images. Conclusion: The application of SMART MAR in CT images from patients with metal implants improved quality of images, being demonstrated by improvement in accuracy of CT number and decrease in SD, therefore it is considered that this method is useful in dose calculation and forming contour between tumor and normal tissues.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.234-240
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to analyze dosimetric parameters of patient with large and pendulous breast receiving breast radiotherapy in the prone versus supine position. The patient underwent computed tomography simulation in both prone and supine position. The homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI), coverage index (CVI) to the left breast as planning target volume (PTV) and the doses to the lung, heart, and right breast as organ at risk (OAR) were compared by using dose-volume histogram. The lifetime attributable risk (LAR) according to the prone and supine position was measured for the lung and right breast. The HI, CI of the PTV decreased 21.7%, 6.49%, respectively and the CVI increased 10.8% with the prone position. The mean and maximum dose to the left lung decreased 91.6%, 87.0%, respectively and the volume parameters also decreased over 99% with the prone position. The parameters to the right lung were same regardless of the position. The mean and maximum dose to the heart decreased 51.6%, 14.2% with the prone position. But the mean and maximum dose to the right breast increased unlike the other OARs. The LARs to the lung decreased 80.3% (left), 24.2% (right) but the LAR to the right breast doubled with the prone position. The prone position is a favorable alternative for irradiation of breast in patients with large and pendulous breasts.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2013

The position of the internal organs can change continually and periodically inside the body due to the respiration. To reduce the respiration induced uncertainty of dose localization, one can use a respiratory gated radiotherapy where a radiation beam is exposed during the specific time of period. The main disadvantage of this method is that it usually requests a long treatment time, the massive effort during the treatment and the limitation of the patient selection. In this sense, the combination of the real-time position management (RPM) system and the volumetric intensity modulated radiotherapy (RapidArc) is promising since it provides a short treatment time compared with the conventional respiratory gated treatments. In this study, we evaluated the accuracy of the respiratory gated RapidArc treatment. Total sic patient cases were used for this study and each case was planned by RapidArc technique using varian ECLIPSE v8.6 planning machine. For the Quality Assurance (QA), a MatriXX detector and I'mRT software were used. The results show that more than 97% of area gives the gamma value less than one with 3% dose and 3 mm distance to agreement condition, which indicates the measured dose is well matched with the treatment plan's dose distribution for the gated RapidArc treatment cases.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.223-229
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• 2006

$\underline{Purpose}$: Combined modality therapy including chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy is considered the standard of care for the treatment of stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of paclitaxel and cisplatin with induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy for stage IIIB NSCLC. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: Between July 2000 and October 2005, thirty-nine patients with stage IIIB NSCLC were treated with two cycles of induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The induction chemotherapy included the administration of paclitaxel ($175\;mg/m^2$) by intravenous infusion on day 1 and treatment with cisplatin ($75\;mg/m^2$) by intravenous infusion on day 1 every 3 weeks. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy included the use of paclitaxel ($60\;mg/m^2$) plus cisplatin ($25\;mg/m^2$) given intravenously for 6 weeks on day 43, 50, 57, 71, 78 and 85. Thoracic radiotherapy was delivered with 1.8 Gy daily fractions to a total dose of $54{\sim}59.4\;Gy$ in $6{\sim}7$ weeks (median: 59.4 Gy). $\underline{Results}$: The follow up period was $6{\sim}63$ months (median: 21 months). After the induction of chemotherapy, 41.0% (16 patients) showed a partial response and 59.0% (23 patients) had stable disease. After concurrent chemoradiotherapy, 10.3% (4 patients) had a complete response, 41.0% (16 patients) had a partial response, and the overall response rate was 51.3% (20 patients). The 1-, 2-, 3-year overall survival rates were 66.7%, 40.6%, and 27.4% respectively, with a median survival time of 20 months. The 1-, 2-, 3-year progression free survival rates were 43.6%, 24.6%, and 24.6%, respectively, with median progression free survival time of 10.7 months. Induction chemotherapy was well tolerated. Among 39 patients who completed the entire treatment including chemoradiotherapy, 46.3% (18 patients) had esophagitis greater than grade 3 and 28.2% (11 patients) had radiation pneumonitis greater than grade 3. $\underline{Conclusion}$: Paclitaxel and cisplatin with induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy for stage IIIB NSCLC seems to be an effective treatment. Occurrence of esophagitis and pneumonitis represents a significant morbidity and suggests a modification of the treatment regimen, either with the chemotherapy schedule or with radiotherapy treatment planning.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2008

Accounting for tumor motion in treatment planning and delivery is one of the most recent and significant challenges facing radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation and clarified the relationship between the motion of an external marker using the Real-Time Position Management (RPM) System and an internal organ motion signal obtained fluoroscope. We enrolled 10 patients with locally advanced lung cancer and liver cancer, retrospectively. The external marker was a plastic box, which is part of the RPM used to track the patient's respiration. We investigated the quantitatively correlation between the motions of an external marker with RPM and internal motion with fluoroscope. The internal fiducial motion is predominant in the caraniocaudal direction, with a range of $1.3{\sim}3.5cm$ with fluoroscopic unit. The external fiducial motion is predominant in the caraniocaudal direction, with a range of $0.43{\sim}2.19cm$ with RPM gating. The two measurements ratio is from 1.31 to 5.56. When the regularization guided standard deviation is from 0.08 to 0.87, mean 0.204 cm, except only for patients #3 separated by a mean 0.13 cm, maximum of 0.23 cm. This result is a good correlation between internal tumor motion imaged by fluoroscopic unit and external marker motion with RPM during expiration within 0.23 cm. We have demonstrated that gating may be best performed but special attention should be paid to gating for patients whose fiducials do not move in synchrony, because targeting on the correct phase difference alone would not guarantee that the entire tumor volume is within the treatment field.