• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.115-124
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• 1990

The characteristics of 23 MV photon beam have been presented with respect to clinical parameters of central axis depth dose, tissue-maxi mum ratios, scatter-maximum ratios, surface dose and scatter correction factors. The nominal accelerating potential was found to be $18.5\pm0.5$ MV on the central axis. The half-value layer (HVL) of this photon beam was measured with narrow beam geometry from central axis, and it has been showed the thickness of $24.5\;g/cm^2$. The tissue-maximum ratio values have been determined from measured percentage depth dose data. In our experimental dosimetry, the surface dose of maximum showed only $9.6\%$ of maximum dose at $10\times10\;cm^2$, 100 cm SSD, without blocking tray in. The TMR'S of $0\times0$ field size have been determined to get average $2.3\%$ uncertainties from three different methodis; are zero effective attenuation coefficient, non-ilnear least square fit of TMR's data and effective linear attenuation coefficient from the HVL of 23 MV photon beams of dual energy linear accelerator.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 2004

Purpose : A new fiduciary plate and orientation marker have been devised to assist the quality assurance (QA) procedures for port films in radiation therapy department. The plate is used in conjunction with the film/cassette combination during weekly QA procedures, at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH), in order to verify treatment fields in high radiation therapy. Materials and Methods : A new fiduciary plate was fabricated using an acrylic plate, cerrobend, standard blocking tray and mercury. The acrylic plate had the dimension of $1{\times}25{\times}25$ cm, with two fiduciary markers. The plate was rigidly attached onto the standard blocking tray, thus making it easier to set the fiduciary plate to the center on the radiation field on the linear accelerator. The plate had two 2-mm vertical and horizontal lines, with the minor scales in 2-cm steps. The orientation marker was a small mercury filled disk, which was inserted into the plate. Results : The geometrical structure of the lines in the plate makes it easier to correlate two different images between the simulation and port films. The marker clearly indicated the orientation of the film, for example, the anterior, posterior, left, right and various oblique orientations, without the placement of a conventional orientation marker. Also, the new orientation marker could easily be applied to the simulator by placing the small orientation marker onto the image intensifier or in front of the film/cassette holder. Conclusions : The new fiduciary plate appears to be useful in verifying the treatment fields, and the new orientation marker makes the film orientation simple, which is expected to lower the block fabrication errors.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.293-299
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• 2001

Prupose : LiF TLD has a problem to be used in vivo dosimetry because of the toxic property of LiF. The aim of this study is to develop new dosimeter with LiF TLD to be used in vivo dosimetry. Materials and methods : We designed and manufactured the teflon box(here after TLD holder) to put TLD in. The external size of TLD holder is $4\times4\times1\;mm^3$ To estimate the effect of TLD holder on TLD response for radiation, the linearity of TLD response to nominal dose were measured for TLD in TLD holder. Measurement were peformed in the 10 MV x-ray beam with LiF TLD using a solid water phantom at SSD of 100 cm. Percent Depth Dose (PDD) and Tissue-Maximum Ratio (TMR) with varying phantom thickness on TLD were measured to find the effect of TLD holder on the dose coefficient used for dose calculation in radiation therapy. Results : The linearity of response of TLD in TLD holder to the nominal dose was improved than TLD only used as dosimeter And in various measurement conditions, it makes a marginnal difference between TLD in TLD holder and TLD only in their responses. Conclusion : It was proven that the TLD in TLD holder as a new dosimetry could be used in vivo dosimetry.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2010

Purpose: To compare radiation dose of the brain and lens among various conventional whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) techniques. Materials and Methods: Treatment plans for WBRT were generated with planning computed tomography scans of 11 patients. A traditional plan with an isocenter located at the field center and a parallel anterior margin at the lateral bony canthus was generated (P1). Blocks were automatically generated with a 1 cm margin on the brain (5 mm for the lens). Subsequently, the isocenter was moved to the lateral bony canthus (P2), and the blocks were replaced into the multileaf collimator (MLC) with a 5 mm leaf width in the craniocaudal direction (P3). For each patient plan, 30 Gy was prescribed at the isocenter of P1. Dose volume histogram (DVH) parameters of the brain and lens were compared by way of a paired t-test. Results: Mean values of $D_{max}$ and $V_{105}$ of the brain in P1 were 111.9% and 23.6%, respectively. In P2 and P3, $D_{max}$ and $V_{105}$ of the brain were significantly reduced to 107.2% and 4.5~4.6%, respectively (p<0.001). The mean value of $D_{mean}$ of the lens was 3.1 Gy in P1 and 2.4~2.9 Gy in P2 and P3 (p<0.001). Conclusion: WBRT treatment plans with an isocenter located at the lateral bony canthus have dosimetric advantages for both the brain and lens without any complex method changes.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.37-49
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• 2002

The accuracy of radiation dose delivery to target volume is one of the most important factors for good local control and less treatment complication. In vivo dosimetry is an essential QA procedure to confirm the radiation dose delivered to the patients. Transmission dose measurement is a useful method of in vivo dosimetry and it's advantages are non-invasiveness, simplicity and no additional efforts needed for dosimetry. In our department, in vivo dosimetry system using measurement of transmission dose was manufactured and algorithms for estimation of transmission dose were developed and tested with phantom in various conditions successfully. This system was applied in clinic to test stability, reproducibility and applicability to daily treatment and the accuracy of the algorithm. Transmission dose measurement was performed over three weeks. To test the reproducibility of this system, X-tay output was measured before daily treatment and then every hour during treatment time in reference condition(field size; $10 cm{\times} 10 cm$, 100 MU). Data of 11 patients whose pelvis were treated more than three times were analyzed. The reproducibility of the dosimetry system was acceptable with variations of measurement during each day and over 3 week period within ${\pm}2.0%$. On anterior- posterior and posterior fields, mean errors were between -5.20% and +2.20% without bone correction and between -0.62% and +3.32% with bone correction. On right and left lateral fields, mean errors were between -10.80% and +3.46% without bone correction and between -0.55% and +3.50% with bone correction. As the results, we could confirm the reproducibility and stability of our dosimetry system and its applicability in daily radiation treatment. We could also find that inhomogeneity correction for bone is essential and the estimated transmission doses are relatively accurate.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2014

The IMRT is proper implement to get high dose deliver to tumor as its shape and selective approach in radiation therapy. Since the IMRT is performed as modulated the radiation fluence by the MLC created the open shapes and its irradiation time, the dose of segment of radiation field effects on the cumulated portal dose. The accurate output factor of small and step shape of segment is important to improve the determination of deliver tumor dose as it is directly proportional to dose. This experiment performed with the 6 MV photon beam of Clinac Ex(Varian) from $3{\times}3cm^2$ to $0.5{\times}0.5cm^2$ small field size for collimator jaw in MLC free and/or for MLC open field in fixed collimator jaw $10{\times}10cm^2$ using the CC01 ion chamber, SFD diode, diamond detector and X-Omat film dosimetry. As results of normalized to the reference field of $10{\times}10cm^2$ of MLC, the output factor of $3{\times}3cm^2$ showed $0.899{\pm}0.0106$, $0.855{\pm}0.0106$ for $2{\times}2cm^2$, $0.764{\pm}0.0082$ for $1{\times}1cm^2$ and $0.602{\pm}0.0399$ for $0.5{\times}0.5cm^2$. The output factor of MLC open field has shown a maximum 3.8% higher than that of the collimator jaw open field.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2004

Purpose : To confirm the reproducibility of in vivo transmission dosimetry system and the accuracy of the a1gorithms for the estimation of transmission dose in head and neck radiation therapy patients. Materials and Methods : From September 5 to 18, 2001, transmission dose measurements were peformed when radiotherapy was given to brain or head and neck cancer patients. The data of 35 patients who were treated more than three times and whose central axis of the beam was not blocked were analyzed in this study. To confirm the reproducibility of this system, transmission dose was measured before dally treatment and then repetitively every hour during the treatment time, with a field size of 10$\times$10 cm$^{2}$ and a delivery of 100 MU. The accuracy of the transmission dose calculation algorithms was confirmed by comparing estimated dose with measured dose. To accurately estimate transmission dose, tissue inhomogeneity correction was done. Results : The measurement variations during a day were within $\pm$0.5$\%$ and the dally variations in the checked period were within $\pm$ 1.0$\%$, which were acceptable for system reproducibility. The mean errors between estimated and measured doses were within $\pm$5.0$\%$ in Patients treated to the brain, $\pm$2.5$\%$ in head, and $\pm$ 5.0%$\%$in neck. Conclusion : The results of this study confirmed the reproducibility of our system and its usefulness and accuracy for dally treatment. We also found that tissue inhomogeneity correction was necessary for the accurate estimation of transmission dose in patients treated to the head and neck.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.337-345
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• 1998

Purpose : To obtain the uniform dose at limited depth to entire surface of the body, the dose characteristics of degraded electron beam of the large target-skin distance and the dose distribution of the six-dual electron fields were investigated Materials and Method : The experimental dose distributions included the depth dose curve, spatial dose and attenuated electron beam were determined with 300 cm of target-skin distance (TSD) and full collimator size (35*35 $cm^2$ on TSD 100 cm) in 4 MeV electron beam energy. Actual collimated field size of 105 cm * 105 cm at the distance of 300 cm could include entire hemibody. A patient was standing on step board with hands up and holding the pole to stabilize his/her positions for the six-dual fields technique. As a scatter-degrader, 0.5 cm of acrylic plate was inserted at 20 cm from the body surface on the electron beam path to induce ray scattering and to increase the skin dose. Results : The full width at half maximum(FWHM) of dose profile was 130 cm in large field of 105*105 $cm^2$ The width of $100\pm10\%$ of the resultant dose from two adjacent fields which were separated at 25 cm from field edge for obtaining the dose unifomity was extended to 186 cm. The depth of maximum dose lies at 5 mm and the 80$\%$ depth dose lies between 7 and 8 mm for the degraded electron beam by using the 0.5 cm thickness of acrylic absorber. Total skin electron beam irradiation (TSEBI) was carried out using the six dual fields has been developed at Stanford University. The dose distribution in TSEBI showed relatively uniform around the flat region of skin except the protruding and deeply curvatured portion of the body, which showed excess of dose at the former and less dose at the latter. Conclusion : The percent depth dose, profile curves and superimposed dose distribution were investigated using the degraded electron beam through the beam absorber. The dose distribution obtained by experiments of TSEBI showed within$\pm10\%$ difference except the protruding area of skin which needs a shield and deeply curvatured region of skin which needs boosting dose.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.261-267
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• 2007

Background: The causes of the pleural effusion are remained unclear in a the substantial number of patients with exudative effusions determined by an examination of the fluid obtained via thoracentesis. Among the various tools for diagnosing exudative pleural effusions, thoracoscopy has a high diagnostic yield for cancer and tuberculosis. Medical thoracoscopy can also be carried out under local anesthesia with mild sedation. The aim of this study was to determine diagnostic accuracy and safety of medical thoracoscopy. Methods: Twenty-five patients with exudative pleural effusions of an unknown cause underwent medical thoracoscopy between October 2005 and September 2006 in Konyang University Hospital. The clinical data such as age, gender, preoperative pulmonary function, amounts of pleural effusion on lateral decubitus radiography were collected. The vital signs were recorded, and arterial blood gas analyses were performed five times during medical thoracoscopy in order to evaluate the cardiopulmonary status and acid-base changes. Results: The mean age of the patients was 56.8 years (range 22-79). The mean depth of the effusion on lateral decubitus radiography (LDR) was 27.49 mm. The medical thoracoscopic pleural biopsy was diagnostic in 24 patients (96.0%), with a diagnosis of tuberculosis pleurisy in 9 patients (36%), malignant effusions in 8 patients (32%), and parapneumonic effusions in 7 patients (28%). Medical thoracoscopy failed to confirm the cause of the pleural effusion in one patient, who was diagnosed with tuberculosis by a pericardial biopsy. There were no significant changes in blood pressure, heart rate, acid-base and no major complications in all cases during medical thoracoscopy (p>0.05). Conclusions: Medical thoracoscopy is a safe method for patients with unknown pleural effusions with a relatively high diagnostic accuracy.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.30 no.2 s.79
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• pp.197-204
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• 2000

[$K^+$]-selective ion channels were studied in excised inside-out membrane patches from human osteoblast-like cells (G292). Three classes of $K^+$channels were present and could be distinguished on the basis of conductance. Conductances were $270\pm27\;pS,\;113\pm12\;pS,\;48\pm8\;pS$ according to their approximate conductances in symmetrical 140 mM KCl saline at holding potential of -80 mV It was found that the small conductance (48 pS) $K^+$channel activation was dependent on membrane voltage. In current-voltage relationship, small conductance $K^+$channel showed outward rectification, and it was activated by the positive potential inside the membrane. In recordings, single channel currents were activayed by a negative pressure outside the membrane. The membrane pressure increased $P_{open}$ of the $K^+$ channel in a pressure-dependent manner. In the excised-patch clamp recordings, G292 osteoblast-like cells have been shown to contain three types of $K^+$ channels. Only the small conductance (48 pS) $K^+$channel is sensitive to the membrane stretch. These findings suggest that a hyperpolarizing current, mediated in part by this channel, may be associated with early events during the mechanical loading of the osteoblast. In G292 osteoblast-like cells, $K^+$channel is sensitive to membrane tension, and may represent a unique adaptation of the bone cell membrane to mechanical stress.