• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2003

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of a Linear accelerator based Photon Knife Radiosurgery System developed by the staff of Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center for the treatment of cerebral arterlovenous malformation Material and Methods : Between December 1993 and October 2000, 30 patients with cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) were treated with the Linac based Photon knife Radlosurgery System In the Department of Therapeutlc Radiology at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. The median age was 34, ranging from 7 to 63 years, with a 2 : 1 male to female ratio. The locations of the AVM nidi were the frontal lobe (motor cortex), parletal lobe, and the thalamus, In that order. The diameters of the AVM nidi ranged 1.2 to 5.5 cm with a mean on 2.9 cm, and target volumes of between 0.5 and 20.5 cc, with a mean of 5.8 cc. The majority of patients received radiation doses of between 1,500 and 2,500 cGy, w14h a mean of 2,000 cGy, at 80% the isodose line. Twenty-five patients were treated with one isocenter, 4 with two, and 1 with four. The follow-up radiological evaluations were peformed with cranial computed tomogram (CT) or MRI between 6 month and one year interval, and if the AVM nidus had completely disappeared in the CT or MRI, we confirmed thls was a complete obliteration, with a cerebral or magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA). The median iollow-up period was 39 months with a range of 10 to 103 months. Results : Twenty patients were radloiogicaiiy followed up ior over 20 months, with complete obliteration observed in 14 (70%). According to the maximal diameter, all four of the small AVM (<2 cm) completely obliterated, 8 of the 10 patients with a medium AVW (2~3 cm) showed a complete obliteration, and two showed partial obliteration. Among the patients with a large AVM (>3 cm), only one showed complete obliteration, and S showed partial obliteration, but 3 oT these underwent further radiosurgery 3 years later. One who followed up for 20 months fellowing further radiosurgery eventually showed complete obliteration. Ten patients with seizure symptoms had no recurrent seizure due to radiosurgery and medication. One of the eleven patients who suffered intracranlal bleeding developed further bleeding at 9 and 51 months fellowing the radiosurgery although complete obliteration was eventually observed and the patient was managed in hospital then recovered. No patient suffered severe complications fellowing the radiosurgery. Conclusion : The radiosurgery with Linac-based Photon knife radiosurgery system, developed by the staff at our hospital, is a safe and effective treatment for AVM patients having diameters or volumes of less than 3 cm or 10 cm$^{3}$, respectively, located In Inoperable areas or who refused neurosurgery. We suggest that staged AVM radiosurgery may initially be considered, if the AVM target volume is above 10 cm$^{3}$

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.343-349
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• 2012

Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) is increasing its use recently due to its benefits of minimizing the dose on surrounding normal organs and being able to target a high dose specifically to the tumor. The study aims to measure and evaluate the dose distribution according to its dynamic changes in Mapcheck. In order to verify the dose distribution by EDW angle($10^{\circ}$,$15^{\circ}$,$20^{\circ}$,$25^{\circ}$,$30^{\circ}$,$45^{\circ}$,$60^{\circ}$), field size (asymmetric field) and depth changes (1.5 cm, 5.0 cm) using IMRT in Clinac ix, a solid phantom was placed on the Mapcheck and 100MU was exposed by 6 MV, 10MV X-ray. Using a 6MV, 10MV energy, the percentage depth dose according to a dynamic changes at a maximum dose depth (1.5 cm) and at 5.0 cm depth showed the value difference of maximum 0.6%, less than 1%, which was calculated by a treatment program device considering the maximum dose depth at the center as 100%, the percentage depth dose was in the range between 2.4% and 7.2%. Also, the maximum value difference of a percentage depth dose was 4.1% in Y2-OUT direction, and 1.7% in Y1-IN direction. When treating a patient using a wedge, it is considered that using an enhanced dynamic wedge is effective to reduce the scattered dose which induces unnecessary dose to the surroundings. In particular, when treating a patient at clinic, a treatment must be performed considering that the wedge dose in a toe direction is higher than the dose in a heel direction.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.127-136
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to perform a dosimetric evaluation of amplitude-based respiratory gating for the delivery of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). We selected two types of breathing patterns, subjectively among patients with respiratory-gated treatment log files. For patients that showed consistent breathing patterns (CBP) relative to the 4D CT respiration patterns, the variability of the breath-holding position during treatment was observed within the thresholds. However, patients with inconsistent breathing patterns (IBP) show differences relative to those with CBP. The relative isodose distribution was evaluated using an EBT3 film by comparing gated delivery to static delivery, and an absolute dose measurement was performed with a $0.6cm^3$ Farmer-type ion chamber. The passing rate percentages under the 3%/3 mm gamma analysis for Patients 1, 2 and 3 were respectively 93.18%, 91.16%, and 95.46% for CBP, and 66.77%, 48.79%, and 40.36% for IBP. Under the more stringent criteria of 2%/2 mm, passing rates for Patients 1, 2 and 3 were respectively 73.05%, 67.14%, and 86.85% for CBP, and 46.53%, 32.73%, and 36.51% for IBP. The ion chamber measurements were within 3.5%, on average, of those calculated by the TPS and within 2.0%, on average, when compared to the static-point dose measurements for all cases of CBP. Inconsistent breathing patterns between 4D CT simulation and treatment may cause considerable dosimetric differences. Therefore, patient training is important to maintain consistent breathing amplitude during CT scan acquisition and treatment delivery.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 1998

Purpose : With the development of stereotactic immobilization systems capable of reliable serial repositioning, fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy (FSRT) offers the Potential for an improved treatment outcome by excellent dose delivery, and dose distribution characteristics with the favorable radiobiological properties of fractionated irradiation. We describe our initial experience using FSRT for the treatment of intracranial benign tumor. Materials and Methods : Between August 1995 and December 1996. 15 patients(7 males and 8 females aged 6-70 years) were treated with FSRT. The patients had the following diagnosis pituitary adenoma(10) including one patient who previously had received radiotherapy, craniopharyngioma (2), acoustic neurinoma (1), meningioma (2). Using the Gill-Thomas-Cosman relocatable head frame and multiple non-coplanar therapy, the daily dose of 2Gy was irradiated at 90% to 100% isodose surface of the isocenter The collimator sizes ranged from 26mm to 70mm. Results : In all patients except one follow-up lost, disease was well-controlled. Acute complication was negligible and no patient experienced cranial nerve neuropathies and radiation necrosis. In overall patient setup with scalp measurements, reproducibility was found to have mean of $1.1{\pm}0.6mm$ from the baseline reading. Conclusion : Relocatable stereotactic system for FSRT is highly reproducible and comfortable. Although the follow-up period was relatively short. FSRT is considered to be a safe and effective radiation technique as the treatment of intracranial tumor. But the fractionation schedule(fraction size, overall treatment time and total dose) still remains to be solved by further clinical trials.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2008

Purpose: To evaluate the long term results(local control, survival, failure, and complications) after radiation therapy for skin cancer in elderly patients. Material and Methods: The study spanned from January 1990 to October 2002. Fifteen elderly patients with skin cancer were treated by radiotherapy at the Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. The age distribution of the patients surveyed was 72 to 95 years, with a median age of 78.8 years. The pathologic classification of the 15 patients included squamous cell carcinoma(10 patients), basal cell carcinoma(3 patients), verrucous carcinoma(1 patient) and skin adnexal origin carcinoma(1 patient). The most common tumor location was the head(13 patients). The mean tumor diameter was 4.9 cm(range 2 to 9 cm). The radiation dose was delivered via an electron beam of 6 to 15 MeV. The dose range was adjusted to the tumor diameter and depth of tumor invasion. The total radiation dose ranged from $50{\sim}80$ Gy(mean: 66 Gy) with a 2 Gy fractional dose prescribed to the 80% isodose line once a day and 5 times a week. One patient with lymph node metastasis was treated with six MV photon beams boosted with electron beams. The length of the follow-up periods ranged from 10 to 120 months with a median follow-up period of 48 months. Results: The local control rates were 100%(15/15). In addition, the five year disease free survival rate(5YDFS) was 80% and twelve patients(80%) had no recurrence and skin cancer recurrence occurred in 3 patients(20%). Three patients have lived an average of 90 months($68{\sim}120$ months) without recurrence or metastasis. A total of 9 patients who died as a result of other causes had a mean survival time of 55.8 months after radiation therapy. No severe acute or chronic complications were observed after radiation therapy. Only minor complications including radiation dermatitis was treated with supportive care. Conclusion: The results suggest that radiation therapy is an effective and safe treatment method for the treatment of skin cancer in elderly patients who achieved a good survival rate and few minor complications.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.237-242
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• 2013

In the intracranial regions, an accurate delineation of the target volume has been difficult with only the CT data due to poor soft tissue contrast of CT images. Therefore, the magnetic resonance images (MRI) for the delineation of the target volumes were widely used. To calculate dose distributions with MRI-based RTP, the electron density (ED) mapping concept from the diagnostic CT images and the pseudo CT concept from the MRI were introduced. In this study, the look up table (LUT) from the fifteen patients' diagnostic brain MRI images was created to verify the feasibility of MRI-based RTP. The dose distributions from the MRI-based calculations were compared to the original CT-based calculation. One MRI set has ED information from LUT (lMRI). Another set was generated with voxel values assigned with a homogeneous density of water (wMRI). A simple plan with a single anterior 6MV one portal was applied to the CT, lMRI, and wMRI. Depending on the patient's target geometry for the 3D conformal plan, 6MV photon beams and from two to five gantry portals were used. The differences of the dose distribution and DVH between the lMRI based and CT-based plan were smaller than the wMRI-based plan. The dose difference of wMRI vs. lMRI was measured as 91 cGy vs. 57 cGy at maximum dose, 74 cGt vs. 42 cGy at mean dose, and 94 cGy vs. 53 at minimum dose. The differences of maximum dose, minimum dose, and mean dose of the wMRI-based plan were lower than the lMRI-based plan, because the air cavity was not calculated in the wMRI-based plan. These results prove the feasibility of the lMRI-based planning for brain tumor radiation therapy.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.83-92
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• 2006

Based on the data of cervical cancer patients who were treated by the radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy at the radiation oncology department of National Cancer Center from January 2002 to February 2003, we have studied the method recommended by ICRU 38 to maximize the prescription dose to the planing target volume (PTV) with minimizing the dose to surrounding normal organs. Clinical stage of the patients are 1 patient for stage IB, 3 patients for IIA, 19 patients for IIB, 3 patients for IIIA, 3 patients for IIIB and 1 patient for IV. All patients took the MRI before treatment and the maximum size of the gross tumor volume were under 4cm for 17 patients and from 4 cm to 6 cm for 12 patients and above 6 cm for 1 patient. The results show that while the irradiated volume can be reduced with optimized dose distribution using PTV treatment planning (p<0.0001) when the remained tumor size is small, the surrounding normal organs will receive unnecessarily large dose when the irradiated tumor volume is relatively large. This is because there is some limitation in controling the intensity of radiation in Fletcher Williamson Applicator. To overcome the limit of applicator and to achieve the optimal dose distribution, we have virtually applied 4 needles with Fletcher Williamson Applicator for 10 patients who have relatively large tumor and studied the change in dose distribution before and after application. The results show that this new virtual treatment plan reduces the volume covered by 100 % isodose (p=0.0608, p=0.0607) and reduces the dose of normal organs (p=0.0162, p=0.008). This evidence suggest that this method is superior than the currently used method such as PTV treatment and ICRU treatment.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2001

Purpose : To evaluate the role of LINAC-based stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the management of meningiomas, we reviewed clinical response, image response, neurological deficits for patients treated at our institution. Methods and materials : Between February 1995 and December 1999, twenty-six patients were treated with SRS. Seven patients had undergone prior resection. Nineteen patients received SRS as the initial treatment. There were 7 male and 19 female patients. The median age was 51 years (range, $14\~67\;years$). At least one clinical symptom presented at the time of SRS in 17 patients and cranial neuropathy was seen in 7 patients. The median tumor volume was $4.7\;cm^3\;(range,\;0.7\~16.5\;m^3)$. The mean marginal dose was 15 Gy (range, $10\~20\;Gy$), delivered to the $80\%$ isodose surface (range, $46\~90\%$). The median clinical and imaging follow-up periods were 27 months (range, 1-71 months) and 25 months (range, $1\~52\;months$), respectively. Results : Of 14 patients who had clinical follow-up of one year or longer, thirteen patients $(93\%)$ were improved clinically at follow-up examination. Clinical symptom worsened in one patient at 4 months after SRS as a result of intratumoral edema, who underwent surgical resection at 7 months. OF 14 patients who had radiologic follow-up of one year or longer, tumor volume decreased in 7 patients $(50\%)$ at a median of 11 months (range, $6\~25\;months$), remained stable in 6 patients $(43\%)$, and increased in one patient $(7\%)$, who underwent surgical resection at 44 months. New radiation-induced neurological deficits developed in six patients $(23\%)$. Five patients $(19\%)$ had transient neurological deficits, completely resolved by conservative treatment including steroid therapy. Radiation-induced brain necrosis developed in one patient $(3.8\%)$ at 9 months after SRS who followed by surgical resection of tumor and necrotic tissue. Conclusions : LINAC-based SRS proves to be an effective and safe management strategy for small to moderate sized meningiomas, inoperable, residual, and recurrent, but long-term follow-up will be necessary to fully evaluate its efficacy. To reduce the radiation-induced neurological deficit for large size meningioma and/or in the proximity of critical and neural structure, more delicate treatment planning and optimal decision of radiation dose will be necessary.