• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.172-178
• /
• 2020

Purpose: Radiation oncology information systems (ROIS) have evolved toward connecting and integrating information between radiation treatment procedures. ROIS can play an important role in utilizing modern radiotherapy techniques that have high complexity and require a large amount of information. Methods: Using Access^TM software, we have developed a relational database that is highly optimized for a radiotherapeutic workflow. Results: The prescription table was chosen as the core table to which the other tables were connected, and three types of forms-charts, worklists, and calendars- were suggested. A fast and reliable channel for delivering orders and remarks according to changes in the situation was also designed. Conclusions: We expect our ROIS design to inspire those who need to develop and manage an individual ROIS suitable for their radiation oncology departments at a low cost.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.81-87
• /
• 2016

Hypofractionated whole breast irradiation (HF-WBI) has been proved effective and safe and even better for late or acute radiation toxicity for early breast cancer. Moreover, it improves patient convenience, quality of life and is expected to be advantageous in the medical care system by reducing overall cost. In this review, we examined key randomized trials of HF-WBI, focusing on adequate patient selection as suggested by the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) guideline and the radiobiologic aspects of HF-WBI in relation to its adoption into clinical settings. Further investigation to identify the current practice pattern or cost effectiveness is warranted under the national health insurance service system in Korea.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
• /
• 2002.09a
• /
• pp.65-67
• /
• 2002

A PC based software, the RTP Research Tool Box (RTB), was developed for IMRT optimization research. The software was consisted of an image module, a beam registration module, a dose calculation module, a dose optimization module and a dose display module. The modules and the Graphical User Interface (GUI) were designed to easily amendable by negotiating the speed of performing tasks. Each module can be easily replaced to new functions for research purpose. IDL 5.5 (RSI, USA) language was used for this software. Five major modules enable one to perform the research on the dose calculation, on the dose optimization and on the objective function. The comparison of three cost functions, such as the uncomplicated tumor control probability (UTCP), the physical objective function and the pseudo-biological objective function, which was designed in this study, were performed with the RTB. The optimizations were compared to the simulated annealing and the gradient search optimization technique for all of the optimization objective functions. No significant differences were found among the objective functions with the dose gradient search technique. But the DVH analysis showed that the pseudo-biological objective function is superior to the physical objective function when with the simulated annealing for the optimization.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.258-266
• /
• 2016

We have treated various disease sites using wobbling and scanning proton therapy techniques since December 2015 at the Samsung Medical Center. In this study, we analyze the treatment time for each disease site in 65 wobbling and 50 scanning patient treatments. Treatment times are longest for liver and lung patients using the respiratory gating technique in the wobbling treatment and for cranio-spinal irradiation in pediatric patients with anesthesia in the scanning treatment. Moreover, we analyze the number of incidents causing treatment delays and the corresponding treatment delay time. The X-ray panel was the main reason for delays in the wobbling treatment; this decreased continually from January to June 2016, related closely to the proficiency of the human operators involved. The main reason for delays in the scanning treatment was interlocks during scanning pattern delivery; this was resolved by proton machine engineers. Through this work, we hope to provide other institutes with useful insight for initial operation of their proton therapy machines.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.67-72
• /
• 2019

Concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) has played the most important and central role in the definitive therapy for the patients with locoregionally advanced stage nasopharynx cancer. The addition of induction chemotherapy (IC) or adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) to CCRT have been widely accepted with the rationale of improving distant control in the clinical practices. This review article investigated the role of IC and AC based on 11 recent meta-analysis publications, and found that the clinical benefits obtained by the additional IC or AC to CCRT, at the cost of the increased risks of more frequent and more severe side effects, seemed not big enough. More intervention is not always better, however, less seems frequently good enough. The author would speculate that 'less is more' and would advocate CCRT alone as the current standard.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.33
• /
• pp.15-24
• /
• 2021

This study is about the introduction and usefulness evaluation of the manufacturing method of the bolus-helmet. Helmet-production for the treatment of scalp tumor patients has been tried and will continue in many creative and various ways. However, Most of the research data did not significantly reduce the psychological burden and physical and physical discomfort that the patient had to bear due to the time and economic cost required for the production of the helmet, the convenience of production, and the complexity of the process. In addition, recently, studies using more advanced technologies and equipment such as 3D-printer technology, which are being studied as a way to increase the treatment effect, are being introduced, but the time, economic cost, and psychological and physical burden are still the sole responsibility of the patient. Isn't it getting worse? The reality is that the thoughts of concern cannot be erased. Therefore, by maintaining the physical properties of the bolus and manufacturing a helmet without incurring additional costs, the physical and physical discomfort aggravated to the patient was reduced and the procedure and time for helmet manufacturing were minimized. In this way, it was possible to reduce the time, economic cost, and physical discomfort required for the production of the helmet, and it was also possible to minimize the psychological burden of the patient, although it is invisible. Additionally, in evaluating the usefulness of helmets, we are able to continuously seek and develop ways to reduce the air-gap interval, and as a result, we will be able to introduce a method to keep it within 2.0mm along with the manufacturing method through this study. I feel very welcome. Finally, I hope that anyone working in the Department of Radiation Oncology will be able to easily manufacture the helmet required for radiation therapy using a bolus through the guide-line on helmet manufacturing provided by this institute. I hope and hope that if you have any questions or inquiries that arise during the production process, please feel free to contact us through the researcher's e-mail or mobile phone at any time.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.1743-1745
• /
• 2015

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of three dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) with tamoxifen in treating patients with postoperative malignant glioma. Patients and Methods: 60 patients of postoperative malignant glioma were randomly assigned into two groups, 30 patients were treated with 3D-CRT plus tamoxifen (treatment group), and the other 30 patients with 3D-CRT plus temozolomide (control group). All patients were radiated by 6MV X-ray, 2.0Gy per fraction, once daily, with a total dose (DT) of 56~60Gy. Tamoxifen was delivered at $60mg/m^2/d$, temozolomide was given at $75mg/m^2/d$. All patients were treated with concurrent radiotherapy. Results: One, 2, 3 year survival rates of treatment and control group were 63.3%, 30.0%, 23.0% and 70.0%, 33.3%, 26.7%, respectively (${\chi}^2=0.01$, 0.23, 0.09, P>0.05). The rate of thromboembolism in treatment group was 6.7%. Conclusion: Therapeutic efficacy of two groups was similar, but it was more cost-effective in treatment group, and toxicity did not increase.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.199-205
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The present study compared the difference between intraoperative transrectal ultrasound (iTRUS)-based prostate volume and preplan computed tomography (CT), preplan magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based prostate volume to estimate the number of seeds needed for appropriate dose coverage in permanent brachytherapy for prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Between March 2007 and March 2011, among 112 patients who underwent permanent brachytherapy with $^{125}I$, 60 image scans of 56 patients who underwent preplan CT (pCT) or preplan MRI (pMRI) within 2 months before brachytherapy were retrospectively reviewed. Twenty-four cases among 30 cases with pCT and 26 cases among 30 cases with pMRI received neoadjuvant hormone therapy (NHT). In 34 cases, NHT started after acquisition of preplan image. The median duration of NHT after preplan image acquisition was 17 and 21 days for cases with pCT and pMRI, respectively. The prostate volume calculated by different modalities was compared. And retrospective planning with iTRUS image was performed to estimate the number of $^{125}I$ seed required to obtain recommended dose distribution according to prostate volume. Results: The mean difference in prostate volume was 9.05 mL between the pCT and iTRUS and 6.84 mL between the pMRI and iTRUS. The prostate volume was roughly overestimated by 1.36 times with pCT and by 1.33 times with pMRI. For 34 cases which received NHT after image acquisition, the prostate volume was roughly overestimated by 1.45 times with pCT and by 1.37 times with pMRI. A statistically significant difference was found between preplan image-based volume and iTRUS-based volume (p<0.001). The median number of wasted seeds is approximately 13, when the pCT or pMRI volume was accepted without modification to assess the required number of seeds for brachytherapy. Conclusion: pCT-based volume and pMRI-based volume tended to overestimate prostate volume in comparison to iTRUS-based volume. To reduce wasted seeds and cost of the brachytherapy, we should take the volume discrepancy into account when we estimate the number of $^{125}I$ seeds for permanent brachytherapy.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.97-101
• /
• 1998

In recent days, although many kinds of beam modifiers are developing and using for clinical purposes in accordance with progressing medical engineering, physical wedges are preferred to use as a beam modifier by a lot of institutions until now because of cost, complexities of dosimetry and mechanical uncertainties. According to progressing technology, available field size of wedge is more enlarger than that of old model LINAC. Because field size dependence of wedged fields increases in new model LINAC, we was trying to know that how much different PSFs are in enlarged wedged fields compared with open fields. In small or middle size of fields($4{\times}4{\sim}15{\times}15cm$), there are only a few percents of PSF variation between open and wedged fields. But there are $2{\sim}8\%\;variations\;in\;relatively\;large\;fields(20{\times}20{\sim}30{\times}40cm)$.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.99-110
• /
• 2020

With hope and concern, the first Korean proton therapy facility was introduced to the National Cancer Center (NCC) in 2007. It added a new chapter to the history of Korean radiation therapy. There have been challenging clinical trials using proton beam therapy, which has seen many impressive results in cancer treatment. Compared to the rapidly increasing number of proton therapy facilities in the world, only one more proton therapy center has been added since 2007 in Korea. The Samsung Medical Center installed a proton therapy facility in 2015. Most radiation oncology practitioners would agree that the physical properties of the proton beam provide a clear advantage in radiation treatment. But the expensive cost of proton therapy facilities is still one of the main reasons that hospitals are reluctant to introduce them in Korea. I herein introduce the history of proton therapy and the cutting edge technology used in proton therapy. In addition, I will cover the role of a medical physicist in proton therapy and the future prospects of proton therapy, based on personal experience in participating in proton therapy programs from the beginning at the NCC.