• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.901-907
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• 2019

The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of target localizations of Leksell GammaPlan(LGP) in Gamma Knife Subthalamotomy(or Pallidotomy, Thalamotomy) of functional diseases. To evaluate the accuracy of LGP's location settings, the difference Δr of the target coordinates calculated by LGP (or LSP) and author's algorithm was reviewed for 10 patients who underwent Deep Brain Stimulation(DBS) surgery. Δr ranged from 0.0244663 mm to 0.107961 mm. The average of Δr was 0.054398 mm. Transformation matrix between stereotactic space and brain atlas space was calculated using PseudoInverse or Singular Value Decomposition of Mathematica to determine the positional relationship between two coordinate systems. Despite the precise frame positioning, the misalignment of yaw from -3.44739 degree to 1.82243 degree, pitch from -4.57212 degree to 0.692063 degree, and rolls from -6.38239 degree to 7.21426 degree appeared. In conclusion, a simple in-house algorithm was used to test the accuracy for location settings of LGP(or LSP) in Gamma Knife platform and the possibility for Gamma Knife Subthalamotomy. The functional diseases can be treated with Gamma Knife Radiosurgery with safety and efficacy. In the future, the proposed algorithm for target localizations' QA will be a great contributor to movement disorders' treatment of several Gamma Knife Centers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.521-529
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• 2016

Since Gamma Knife(R) radiosurgery(GKRS) is based on a single-fraction high dose treatment strategy, independent verification for the results of Leksell GammaPlan(R) (LGP) is an important procedure in assuring patient safety and minimizing the risk of treatment errors. Several verification methods have been developed and reported previously. Thus these methods were tested statistically and tried on Leksell Gamma Knife(LGK) target treatments through the embodiment of the previously proposed algorithms(PPA). The purpose of this study was to apply and evaluate the accuracy of verification methods for LGK target treatments using PPA. In the study 10 patients with intracranial lesion treated by GKRS were included. We compared the data from PPA and LGP in terms of maximum dose, arbitrary point dose, and treatment time at the isocenter locations. All data were analyzed by Paired t-test, which is statistical method used to compare two different measurement techniques. No statistical significance in maximal dose at 10 cases was observed between PPA and LGP. Differences in average maximal dose ranged from -0.53 Gy to 3.71 Gy. The arbitrary point dose calculated by PPA and LGP was not statistically significant too. But we found out the statistical difference with p=0.021 between TMR and LGP for treatment time at the isocenter locations. PPA can be incorporated as part of a routine quality assurance(QA) procedure to minimize the chance of a wrong overdose. Statistical analyses demonstrated that PPA was in excellent agreement with LGP when considering the maximal dose and the arbitrary point dose for the best plan of GKRS. Due to the easy applicability we hope PPA can be widely used.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2017

A high degree of precision and accuracy in Gamma Knife Radiosurgery(GKRS) is a fundamental requirement for therapeutical success. Elaborate radiation delivery and dose gradients with the steep fall-off of radiation are clinically applied thus necessitating a dedicated Quality Assurance(QA) program in order to guarantee dosimetric and geometric accuracy and reduce all the risk factors that can occur in GKRS. In this study, as a part of QA we verified the accuracy of single-shot dose profiles used in the algorithm of Gamma Knife Perfexion(PFX) treatment planning system employing Variable Ellipsoid Modeling Technique(VEMT). We evaluated the dose distributions of single-shots in a spherical ABC phantom with diameter 160 mm on Gamma Knife PFX. The single-shots were directed to the center of ABC phantom. Collimating configurations of 4, 8, and 16 mm sizes along x, y, and z axes were studied. Gamma Knife PFX treatment planning system being used in GKRS is called Leksell GammaPlan(LGP) ver 10.1.1. From the verification like this, the accuracy of GKRS will be doubled. Then the clinical application must be finally performed based on precision and accuracy of GKRS. Specifically the width at the 50% isodose level, that is, Full-Width-of-Half-Maximum(FWHM) was verified under such conditions that a patient's head is simulated as a sphere with diameter 160mm. All the data about dose profiles along x, y, and z axes predicted through VEMT were excellently consistent with dose profiles from LGP within specifications(${\leq}1mm$ at 50% isodose level) except for a little difference of FWHM and PENUMBRA(isodose level: 20%~80%) along z axis for 4 mm and 8mm collimating configurations. The maximum discrepancy of FWHM was less than 2.3% at all collimating configurations. The maximum discrepancy of PENUMBRA was given for the 8 mm collimator along z axis. The difference of FWHM and PENUMBRA in the dose distributions obtained with VEMT and LGP is too small to give the clinical significance in GKRS. The results of this study are considered as a reference for medical physicists involved in GKRS in the whole world. Therefore we can work to confirm the validity of dose distributions for all collimating configurations determined through the regular preventative maintenance program using the independent verification method VEMT for the results of LGP and clinically assure the perfect treatment for patients of GKRS. Thus the use of VEMT is expected that it will be a part of QA that can verify and operate the system safely.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.47-51
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• 2008

Objective: This study analyzed errors due to rotation or tilt of the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging indicator during image acquisition for a stereotactic radiosurgery. The error correction procedure of a commercially available stereotactic neurosurgery treatment planning program has been verified. Materials and Methods: Software virtual phantoms were built with stereotactic images generated by a commercial programming language, Interactive Data Language (version 5.5). The thickness of an image slice was 0.5 mm, pixel size was $0.5{\times}0.5mm$, field of view was 256 mm, and image resolution was $512{\times}512$. The images were generated under the DICOM 3.0 standard in order to be used with Leksell GammaPlan$^{(R)}$. For the verification of the rotation error correction function of Leksell GammaPlan$^{(R)}$, 45 measurement points were arranged in five axial planes. On each axial plane, there were nine measurement points along a square of length 100 mm. The center of the square was located on the z-axis and a measurement point was on the z-axis, too. Five axial planes were placed at z=-50.0, -30.0, 0.0, 30.0, 50.0 mm, respectively. The virtual phantom was rotated by $3^{\circ}$ around one of x, y, and z-axis. It was also rotated by $3^{\circ}$ around two axes of x, y, and z-axis, and rotated by $3^{\circ}$ along all three axes. The errors in the position of rotated measurement points were measured with Leksell GammaPlan$^{(R)}$ and the correction function was verified. Results: The image registration errors of the virtual phantom images was $0.1{\pm}0.1mm$ and it was within the requirement of stereotactic images. The maximum theoretical errors in position of measurement points were 2.6 mm for a rotation around one axis, 3.7 mm for a rotation around two axes, and 4.5 mm for a rotation around three axes. The measured errors in position was $0.1{\pm}0.1mm$ for a rotation around single axis, $0.2{\pm}0.2mm$ for double and triple axes. These small errors verified that the rotation error correction function of Leksell GammaPlan$^{(R)}$ is working fine. Conclusion: A virtual phantom was built to verify software functions of stereotactic neurosurgery treatment planning program. The error correction function of a commercial treatment planning program worked within nominal error range. The virtual phantom of this study can be applied in many other fields to verify various functions of treatment planning programs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.303-312
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• 2017

The central goal of Gamma Knife radiosurgery(GKRS) is to maximize the conformity of the prescription isodose surface, and to minimize the radiation effect of the normal tissue surrounding the target volume. There are the various kinds of indices related with the quality of treatment plans such as conformity index, coverage, selectivity, beam-on time, gradient index(GI), and conformity/gradient index(CGI). As the best treatment plan evaluation tool, we must check by all means conformity index, GI, and CGI among them. Specially, GI and CGI related with complication of healthy normal tissue is more indispensible than conformity index. Then author calculated and statistically analysed CGI, the newly defined conformity/gradient index as well as GI being applied widely using the treatment planning system Leksell GammaPlan(LGP) and the verification method Variable Ellipsoid Modeling Technique(VEMT). In the study 10 patients with intracranial lesion treated by GKRS were included. Author computed the indices from LGP and VEMT requiring only four parameters: the prescribed isodose volume, the volume with dose > 30%, the target volume, and the volume of half the prescription isodose. All data were analyzed by paired t-test, which is statistical method used to compare two different measurement techniques. No statistical significance in GI at 10 cases was observed between LGP and VEMT. Differences in GI ranged from -0.14 to 0.01. The newly defined gradient index calculated by two methods LGP and VEMT was not statistically significant either. Author did not find out the statistical difference for the prescribed isodose volume between LGP and VEMT. CGI as the evaluation index for determining the best treatment plan is not significant statistically also. Differences in CGI ranged from -4 to 3. Similarly newly defined Conformity/Gradient index for GKRS was also estimated as the metric for the evaluation of the treatment plans through statistical analysis. Statistical analyses demonstrated that VEMT was in excellent agreement with LGP when considering GI, new gradient index, CGI, and new CGI for evaluating the best plans of GKRS. Due to the application of the fast and easy evaluation tool through LGP and VEMT author hopes CGI and newly defined CGI as well as gradient indices will be widely used.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.801-809
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• 2019

Existing Gamma Knife Radiosurgery(GKRS) for large lesions is often conducted in stages with volume or dose partitions. Often in case of volume division the target used to be divided into sub-volumes which are irradiated under the determined prescription dose in multi-sessions separated by a day or two, 3~6 months. For the entire course of treatment, treatment informations of the previous stages needs to be reflected to subsequent sessions on the newly mounted stereotactic frame through coordinate transformation between sessions. However, it is practically difficult to implement the previous dose distributions with existing Gamma Knife system except in the same stereotactic space. The treatment area is expanding because it is possible to perform the multistage treatment using the latest Gamma Knife Platform(GKP). The purpose of this study is to introduce the image-coregistration based on the stereotactic spaces and the strategy of multistage GKRS such as the determination of prescription dose at each stage using new GKP. Usually in image-coregistration either surgically-embedded fiducials or internal anatomical landmarks are used to determine the transformation relationship. Author compared the accuracy of coordinate transformation between multi-sessions using four or six anatomical landmarks as an example using internal anatomical landmarks. Transformation matrix between two stereotactic spaces was determined using PseudoInverse or Singular Value Decomposition to minimize the discrepancy between measured and calculated coordinates. To evaluate the transformation accuracy, the difference between measured and transformed coordinates, i.e., ${\Delta}r$, was calculated using 10 landmarks. Four or six points among 10 landmarks were used to determine the coordinate transformation, and the rest were used to evaluate the approaching method. Each of the values of ${\Delta}r$ in two approaching methods ranged from 0.6 mm to 2.4 mm, from 0.17 mm to 0.57 mm. In addition, a method of determining the prescription dose to give the same effect as the treatment of the total lesion once in case of lesion splitting was suggested. The strategy of multistage treatment in the same stereotactic space is to design the treatment for the whole lesion first, and the whole treatment design shots are divided into shots of each stage treatment to construct shots of each stage and determine the appropriate prescription dose at each stage. In conclusion, author confirmed the accuracy of prescribing dose determination as a multistage treatment strategy and found that using as many internal landmarks as possible than using small landmarks to determine coordinate transformation between multi-sessions yielded better results. In the future, the proposed multistage treatment strategy will be a great contributor to the frameless fractionated treatment of several Gamma Knife Centers.