Verification of gamma knife based fractionated radiosurgery with newly developed head-thorax phantom

ObjectivePurpose of the study is to verify the Gamma Knife Extend™ system (ES) based fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery with newly developed head-thorax phantom.MethodsPhantoms are extensively used to measure radiation dose and verify treatment plan in radiotherapy. A human upper body shaped phantom with thorax was designed to simulate fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery using Extend™ system of Gamma Knife. The central component of the phantom aids in performing radiological precision test, dosimetric evaluation and treatment verification. A hollow right circular cylindrical space of diameter 7.0 cm was created at the centre of this component to place various dosimetric devices using suitable adaptors. The phantom is made of poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA), a transparent thermoplastic material. Two sets of disk assemblies were designed to place dosimetric films in (1) horizontal (xy) and (2) vertical (xz) planes. Specific cylindrical adaptors were designed to place thimble ionization chamber inside phantom for point dose recording along xz axis. EBT3 Gafchromic films were used to analyze and map radiation field. The focal precision test was performed using 4 mm collimator shot in phantom to check radiological accuracy of treatment. The phantom head position within the Extend™ frame was estimated using encoded aperture measurement of repositioning check tool (RCT). For treatment verification, the phantom with inserts for film and ion chamber was scanned in reference treatment position using X-ray computed tomography (CT) machine and acquired stereotactic images were transferred into Leksell Gammaplan (LGP). A patient treatment plan with hypo-fractionated regimen was delivered and identical fractions were compared using EBT3 films and in-house MATLAB codes.ResultsRCT measurement showed an overall positional accuracy of 0.265 mm (range 0.223 mm–0.343 mm). Gamma index analysis across fractions exhibited close agreement between LGP and film measured dose with ≥90% (max 93%) pixel pass rate at 1 mm of spatial and 1% of dosimetric tolerances. The focal precision test showed the variation of 0.465 mm between radiological and planned iso-centre.ConclusionsThe study demonstrated the suitability of newly developed head-thorax phantom for dosimetric verification of fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery using Extend™ system of Gamma Knife.     

A dose comparison of proton radiotherapy and photon radiotherapy for pediatric brain tumor

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of photon radiotherapy and to compare the dose of treatment planning between proton radiotherapy and 3D conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) for pediatric brain tumor patients. This study was conducted in five pediatric brain tumor patients who underwent craniospinal irradiation treatment from October 2013 to April 2014 in the hospital. The study compared organs at risk (OARs) by assessing the dose distribution of normal tissue from the proton plan and 3D-CRT. Furthermore, this study assessed the treatment plans by looking at the homogeneity index (HI) and conformity index (CI). As a result, the study revealed OARs due to the small volume proton radiotherapy dose distribution in the normal tissue. Also, by comparing HI and CI between the 3D-CRT and proton radiotherapy plan, the study found that the dose of proton radiotherapy plan was homogenized. When conducting 3D-CRT and proton radiotherapy in a dose–volume histogram comparison, the dose of distribution turned out to be low. Consequently, proton radiotherapy is used for protecting the normal tissue, and is used in tumor tissue as a homogenized dose for effective treatment.     

紫外分光光度法测定司帕沙星注射液主含量

紫外分光光度法测定乳酸司帕沙星葡萄糖注射液的含量。司帕沙星浓度在2—12μg／mL范围内与吸光度呈良好的线性关系。回收率为99．8％-100．1％，RSD为0．1％。该法简便、快速，重复性好，结果准确可靠。     

Clinical tests of large area thermoluminescent detectors under radiotherapy beams

Two-dimensional (2D) thermoluminescence (TL) dosimetry systems based on LiF:Mg,Cu,P, together with the newly developed, based on CaSO4:Dy, were tested under radiotherapy beams. The detectors were irradiated in a water phantom with 6 MV X-ray beams from linac and read with a dedicated TLD reader. Dose distributions of differently shaped fields and of a full stereotactic plan were measured and compared with planned distributions.Maximum distance-to-agreement (DTA) in the penumbra region was 1 mm for both LiF:Mg,Cu,P and CaSO4:Dy TL sheets, for all the measured fields. Maximum percentage dose difference (DA%) between planned and measured dose value in low dose gradient regions was up to 11% for LiF:Mg,Cu,P TL sheets and 18% for CaSO4:Dy TL sheets. Concerning the full stereotactic plan, the percentage of points with γ-index below 1 is 54.9% for the LiF:Mg,Cu,P-based foil and 96.9% for the CaSO4:Dy TL sheets. Both 2D TL detector types can be considered to be a promising tool for bi-dimensional dose measurements in radiotherapy. Non-homogeneity, presumably due to the TL sheets manufacture, still affects dosimetric distribution and the agreement between planned and measured distributions may depend on the chosen sample.     

Comparison of TSE, TGSE, and CPMG measurement techniques for MR polymer gel dosimetry

A radiation dose distribution that optimally conforms to the target volume is of major interest for stereotactic radiotherapy. For this purpose treatment plans have to be verified experimentally before transferring to the patient. The requirements regarding dose accuracy and spatial resolution can be fulfilled with tissue equivalent polymer gel dosimeters which offer the possibility to visualize 3D dose distributions. Herewith, dosimetry can be performed by the spin-spin relaxation rate R2 which varies with the absorbed dose. In this work, different MR measurement techniques were evaluated: The standard Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) method, a modified Turbo-Spin-Echo (TSE) sequence, and a modified Turbo-Gradient-Spin-Echo (TGSE) sequence. Experiments were performed both with a homogeneous water phantom and an irradiated polymer gel. The results show that TGSE and especially TSE are suited well for MR polymer gel dosimetry: The acquisition time of both techniques can be reduced in comparison to CPMG by a factor of 5. The accuracy of dose determination for doses between 2 Gy and 13 Gy lies between 5.6% and 2.0% (TSE), 9.0% and 3.2% (TGSE), and 7.9% and 2.7% (CPMG). These investigations show that especially TSE can be handled as a substitute or at least an alternative to CPMG for the verification of treatment plans in stereotactic radiotherapy.     

剂量引导精确放射治疗中三维评价算法设计及实现

针对临床剂量学验证中二维评价方法只能反映每张平片上剂量分布情况, 并根据剂量引导精确放疗系统中三维剂量验证需求设计算法实现对三维剂量分布的比较。 根据公式, 在Visual C++控制台下实现剂量偏差、 位置偏差及γ分析三维评价算法。 设计两个计划进行算法验证: 计划1为方野照射等效水, 用于验证算法的正确性; 计划2为适形野照射仿真头模, 用于验证算法的实用性。 结果表明, 计划1中, 对剂量偏差,容许值范围内通过率为100%; 对位置偏差和γ分析, 容许范围内通过率为100%,容许边界值处为100±7.7%。 计划2中, 3种算法通过率分别为88.35%、100%和95.07%。 这说明该算法可用于剂量引导精确放疗系统中实现三维剂量分布的评价。     

Characterization of the gafchromic EBT3 films for dose distribution measurements in stereotactic radiotherapy

Radiochromic film dosimetry is a promising technique, but at this time there are some artefacts, including non-uniformity, energy dependence and scanner artefacts. Accurate dosimetry with radiochromic films requires characterizing the film as well as the scanning and analysis procedures. In this work, the performance of the EBT3 films in combination with the EPSON Dual Lens Perfection V700 scanner for dose distribution measurements in stereotactic radiotherapy has been evaluated. It has been shown that it was necessary to perform 20 blank scans to obtain the stability of the scanner. In order to reduce the uncertainties due to the non-uniformity of the scan field, it was then decided to use the 12 × 12 cm² central part of the scanner bed. Regarding EBT3 films, intra-sheet and inter-sheet uniformity of unexposed EBT3 films in terms of pixel value has been found to be respectively 0.27% (1 SD) and 0.15% (1 SD). No significant energy dependence has been observed above 30 keV and no angular dependence has been found.     

Clinical simulations of prostate radiotherapy using BOMAB-like phantoms: Results for neutrons

This paper presents in-phantom photoneutron equivalent doses induced by external radiotherapy, these are necessary to assess organ-averaged equivalent doses to derive the risk of secondary cancer development, associated with non-target organ exposures. The measurements were performed by Working Group 9 “Radiation Protection Dosimetry in Medicine” of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) for simulations of clinical radiotherapy treatments of prostate cancer. The photoneutron dose measurements were carried out in a BOMAB-like water-filled phantom, by means of superheated emulsions (superheated drop detectors SDD and bubble damage BTI^® detectors) and Poly-Allyl-Diglicol-Carbonate (PADC) solid state nuclear track detectors. Dose data were acquired in a three-dimensional matrix of reproducible measurement points, which are spaced according to detectors size. Four clinical protocols for the treatment of the prostate tumor were considered and compared, by measuring the doses delivered to the planning target volume (PTV) and to peripheral radiosensitive regions (i.e. colon-rectum and bladder). The clinical irradiations were performed in two clinical radiotherapy facilities based on Varian Clinac 2300 CD accelerator: Santa Chiara University Hospital (Pisa, Italy) and Centre of Oncology M. Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Institute (Krakow, Poland). An additional tomotherapy prostate cancer treatment was also simulated in Campo di Marte Hospital (Lucca, Italy). Radiation qualities of 6, 12, 15, 18 and 20 MV were used; all of these are capable of producing photoneutrons. Data from this work span most of the X-ray beam energies and prostate treatment modalities used in the current clinical practice. These data permit the assessment of doses absorbed by a radiotherapy patient either at the treatment volume or at out-of-field organs. Comparison of different dosimeters, under the same irradiation conditions, showed that dosimeters generally agreed within their 20% 1 SD uncertainty. Comparison of different treatment modalities in the two contributing clinical centers (Pisa and Krakow) were also possible, as well as a comparison of dose profiles resulting from the different treatment techniques, delivered at the same primary photon energy. It was in particular found that photon acceleration energies as low as 6 MV are able to produce a non-negligible photoneutron component, which causes an undue dose to the patient of the order of tens microsievert per unit photon dose delivered at the target volume.     

Tsallis entropy approach to radiotherapy treatments

The biological effect of one single radiation dose on a living tissue has been described by several radiobiological models. However, the fractionated radiotherapy requires to account for a new magnitude: time. In this paper we explore the biological consequences posed by the mathematical prolongation of a previous model to fractionated treatment. Nonextensive composition rules are introduced to obtain the survival fraction and equivalent physical dose in terms of a time dependent factor describing the tissue trend towards recovering its radioresistance (a kind of repair coefficient). Interesting (known and new) behaviors are described regarding the effectiveness of the treatment which is shown to be fundamentally bound to this factor. The continuous limit, applicable to brachytherapy, is also analyzed in the framework of nonextensive calculus. Here a coefficient that rules the time behavior also arises. All the results are discussed in terms of the clinical evidence and their major implications are highlighted.     

Comparison of phantom materials for use in quality assurance of microbeam radiation therapy

Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) is a promising radiotherapy modality that uses arrays of spatially fractionated micrometre‐sized beams of synchrotron radiation to irradiate tumours. Routine dosimetry quality assurance (QA) prior to treatment is necessary to identify any changes in beam condition from the treatment plan, and is undertaken using solid homogeneous phantoms. Solid phantoms are designed for, and routinely used in, megavoltage X‐ray beam radiation therapy. These solid phantoms are not necessarily designed to be water‐equivalent at low X‐ray energies, and therefore may not be suitable for MRT QA. This work quantitatively determines the most appropriate solid phantom to use in dosimetric MRT QA. Simulated dose profiles of various phantom materials were compared with those calculated in water under the same conditions. The phantoms under consideration were RMI457 Solid Water (Gammex‐RMI, Middleton, WI, USA), Plastic Water (CIRS, Norfolk, VA, USA), Plastic Water DT (CIRS, Norfolk, VA, USA), PAGAT (CIRS, Norfolk, VA, USA), RW3 Solid Phantom (PTW Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany), PMMA, Virtual Water (Med‐Cal, Verona, WI, USA) and Perspex. RMI457 Solid Water and Virtual Water were found to be the best approximations for water in MRT dosimetry (within ±3% deviation in peak and 6% in valley). RW3 and Plastic Water DT approximate the relative dose distribution in water (within ±3% deviation in the peak and 5% in the valley). PAGAT, PMMA, Perspex and Plastic Water are not recommended to be used as phantoms for MRT QA, due to dosimetric discrepancies greater than 5%.     

氢化物发生-双道原子荧光光谱法同时测定中药中不同形态的砷和锑

建立了一种氢化物发生-双道原子荧光光谱法同时测定中药中As(Ⅲ),As(Ⅴ),Sb(Ⅲ)和Sb(Ⅴ)的方法。对实验条件进行了优化,在最佳工作条件下,砷和锑的检出限分别为0.090 3和0.057 8 μg·L-1,RSD分别为2.01%和1.39%。将本法成功应用于中药样品的形态分析,As(Ⅲ)和As(Ⅴ)的回收率分别为90.8%～98.2%和89.2%～102.0%,Sb(Ⅲ)和Sb(Ⅴ)的回收率分别为89.7%～102.0% 和90.3%～110.0%。     

Experimental investigation of pre-irradiation effect on radiation sensitivity of temperature sensing fiber Bragg gratings

The effect of pre-irradiation on radiation sensitivity of fiber Bragg gratings(FBGs) is verified experimentally.FBGs are fabricated in photosensitive optical fibers and single mode fibers with Ge-concentration in a range from 3 mol% to 23.37 mol% in the core.In experiments,the FBGs are subjected to twice γ-radiation exposures to a Co60 source at a dose-rate of 0.1 Gy/s up to a total dose of 50 kGy.Pre-irradiation treatment can reduce the temperature sensitivity variation of FBGs by 18.12%-35.91%,as well as Bragg wavelength shift(BWS) by 8%-27.08 %.Our research demonstrates that pre-irradiation treatment is a feasible method to improve the radiation tolerance of FBGs.     

In-phantom dose verification of prostate IMRT and VMAT deliveries using plastic scintillation detectors

The goal of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of using a plastic scintillation detector (PSD) incorporated into a prostate immobilization device to verify doses in vivo delivered during intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated-arc therapy (VMAT) for prostate cancer. The treatment plans for both modalities had been developed for a patient undergoing prostate radiation therapy. First, a study was performed to test the dependence, if any, of PSD accuracy on the number and type of calibration conditions. This study included PSD measurements of each treatment plan being delivered under quality assurance (QA) conditions using a rigid QA phantom. PSD results obtained under these conditions were compared to ionization chamber measurements. After an optimal set of calibration factors had been found, the PSD was combined with a commercial endorectal balloon used for rectal distension and prostate immobilization during external beam radiotherapy. This PSD-enhanced endorectal balloon was placed inside of a deformable anthropomorphic phantom designed to simulate male pelvic anatomy. PSD results obtained under these so-called “simulated treatment conditions” were compared to doses calculated by the treatment planning system (TPS). With the PSD still inserted in the pelvic phantom, each plan was delivered once again after applying a shift of 1 cm anterior to the original isocenter to simulate a treatment setup error.The mean total accumulated dose measured using the PSD differed the TPS-calculated doses by less than 1% for both treatment modalities simulated treatment conditions using the pelvic phantom. When the isocenter was shifted, the PSD results differed from the TPS calculations of mean dose by 1.2% (for IMRT) and 10.1% (for VMAT); in both cases, the doses were within the dose range calculated over the detector volume for these regions of steep dose gradient. Our results suggest that the system could benefit prostate cancer patient treatment by providing accurate in vivo dose reports during treatment and verify in real-time whether treatments are being delivered according to the prescribed plan.     

超薄Fe(4(A))膜磁特性极化中子反射研究

利用分子束外延薄膜生长技术,制备了200 (A)V/4 (A) Fe/900 V/MgO(100)薄膜样品,通过X射线反射和极化中子反射两种测量手段获得了薄膜的表面、界面及各层膜厚的相关结构信息.中子反射结果表明,Fe原子磁矩在室温下约为1.0±0.1μB,随着温度的降低,Fe原子磁矩增加,在10 K时达到1.5±0.1μB.利用指数定律拟合磁矩随温度的变化情况,外推得出4(A)铁薄膜样品的居里温度约为310±30 K.

Abstract：

Uhrathin Fe film 200 (A)V/4 (A)Fe/900 (A)V/MgO(100) has been prepared by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The structure parameters, such as the surface and interface roughness and the thickness of each layer, were obtained by X-ray and neutron reflectivity measurement. The magnetic properties of the thin Fe layer were investigated by polarized neutron reflectometry at different temperature. The result shows that the magnetic moment of an Fe atom is about 1.0 ± 0.1 μB at room temperature and increases to 1.5 ±0.1 μBat 10 K. The Curie temperature of the thin Fe film is estimated to be 310 ± 30 K.     

Multi-objective optimization of inverse planning for accurate radiotherapy

The multi-objective optimization of inverse planning based on the Pareto solution set, according to the multi-objective character of inverse planning in accurate radiotherapy, was studied in this paper. Firstly,the clinical requirements of a treatment plan were transformed into a multi-objective optimization problem with multiple constraints. Then, the fast and elitist multi-objective Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-Ⅱ)was introduced to optimize the problem. A clinical example was tested using this method. The results show that an obtained set of non-dominated solutions were uniformly distributed and the corresponding dose distribution of each solution not only approached the expected dose distribution, but also met the dosevolume constraints. It was indicated that the clinical requirements were better satisfied using the method and the planner could select the optimal treatment plan from the non-dominated solution set.     

ICP-AES测定高砷铁矿中砷和钒

建立了用硝酸-氢氟酸-高氯酸消解,ICP-AES测定铁矿中砷和钒的方法.该方法检出限砷为50mg/kg,钒为8mg/kg;相对标准偏差(RSD)砷为4.92%以下,钒为4.37%以下;加标回收率砷在95.3%-105.0%之间,钒在96.5%-102.1%之间.本法可以对铁矿中的砷和钒进行较为理想测定.     

等离子体发射光谱测定燃油中钠、钒和铝的研究

利用等离子体发射光谱,通过试验优化,确定了影响钠、钒和铝元素的背景等效浓度各因素的最佳工作参数：入射功率、载气流量和辅助气流量,其中钠的入射功率(P)950 W、载气流量(N)0.6 L·min-1、辅助气流量(A)1.0 L·min-1;钒的入射功率1 150 W、载气流量0.5 L·min-1、辅助气流量1.1 L·min-1;铝的入射功率1 150 W、载气流量0.6 L·min-1、辅助气流量1.0 L·min-1。结果表明,该方法具有重现性好、灵敏度高、线性范围宽和精密度高等优点。本方法的精密度在1.7％～2.2％之间,线性范围0～100 mg·L-1,加标回收试验的回收率在96％～105％之间。     

X射线荧光光谱法同时测定渣油中的硫、钒和镍

以有机渣油标样作校准曲线,采用X射线荧光光谱法同时测定渣油中硫、钒和镍。样品免于预处理、用量少且无破坏。方法快速准确,硫回收率为92.5%—106.5%、钒回收率为88.3%—110.4%、镍回收率为93.0%—107.2%。     

流动注射氢化物发生-原子荧光光谱法测定土壤中有效态As(Ⅲ)和As(Ⅴ)

提出了一种流动注射氢化物发生 原子荧光光谱法测定土壤中有效态As(Ⅲ )和As(Ⅴ )的方法。在0 1mol·L-1柠檬酸介质 (pH =3 1)中选择性测定As(Ⅲ ) ,然后用L 半胱氨酸流动注射在线还原As(Ⅴ )后测定总砷 ,由二者之差求得As(Ⅴ )。设计了在线还原及氢化物发生流路和操作程序 ,选择了各项化学条件和流路参数。As(Ⅲ )和As(Ⅴ )的检出限 (3σ)分别为 0 11和 0 0 7ng·mL-1。对于 10ng·mL-1As(Ⅲ )溶液 ,连续7次测定得精密度 (RSD)为 1 43% ,应用于实际土壤样品的测定 ,加标回收率在 82 %～ 10 4%之间     

Characterization and optimization of EBT2 radiochromic films dosimetry system for precise measurements of output factors in small fields used in radiotherapy

The accurate determination of absorbed dose in small photon beams, especially for stereotactic radiation therapy, is a difficult task with commercially available detectors. As these small fields are characterized by high dose gradients, a lack of lateral particle equilibrium and a variation of energy spectra with beam sizes, a dosimeter with high resolution, tissue-equivalence and high precision is required. The new radiochromic film EBT2, which meets these criteria, was fully characterized in Institut de Radioprotection et Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) for this application. This type of film was tested with the reading system EPSON Dual Lens Perfection V700 flatbed scanner in transmission mode. Warm-up effects of the scanner were studied as well as the influence of the scanner light. Uniformity of unirradiated and irradiated EBT2 films in terms of pixel value was found to be respectively 0.3% (1 SD) and 0.5% (1 SD). An original, accurate and efficient radiochromic film dosimetry protocol was established. The overall uncertainty for dose measurement with EBT2 films using this protocol was estimated at less than 2% (1 SD). Encouraging measurements of output factors were performed on a Novalis system.