• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.9
• /
• pp.3417-3422
• /
• 2023

Recently, as the clinically positive biological effects of ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) radiation beams have been revealed, interest in flash radiation therapy has increased. Generally, FLASH preclinical experiments are performed using UHDR electron beams generated by linear accelerators. Real-time monitoring of UHDR beams is required to deliver the correct dose to a sample. However, it is difficult to use typical transmission-type ionization chambers for primary beam monitoring because there is no suitable electrometer capable of reading high pulsed currents, and collection efficiency is drastically reduced in pulsed radiation beams with ultra-high doses. In this study, a monitoring method using bremsstrahlung photons generated by irradiation devices and a water phantom was proposed. Charges collected in an ionization chamber located at the back of a water phantom were analyzed using the bremsstrahlung tail on electron depth dose curves obtained using radiochromic films. The dose conversion factor for converting a monitored charge into a delivered dose was determined analytically for the Advanced Markus® chamber and compared with experimentally determined values. It is anticipated that the method proposed in this study can be useful for monitoring sample doses in UHDR electron beam irradiation.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.89-95
• /
• 1985

An alternative estimator for dose equivalent was derived. The original LET distribution concept was transformed into a charged particle fluence spectrum concept along with the definition of an average quality factor named slowing-down averaged quality factor by adopting the continuous slowing down approximation. With the alternative estimator, the dose equivalent delivered into a receptor located in a given radiation field can be directly and conveniently estimated in a Monte Carlo procedure. The slowing-down averaged quality factors for the energy range below 10 MeV were evaluated and tabulated for the charged particles which may be generated from the interactions of neutron with the nuclei composing soft tissue.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.9-12
• /
• 1985

To determine the radiosensitivity and dose-survival characteristics of jejunal crypt cells, experimental study was done using total 40 mice. Single irradiation of 1,000 rad to 1,600rad was delivered to whole bodies of mice, using a cesium 137 animal irradiator. The number of regenerating crypts per jejunal circumference was counted, by using a jejunal crypt cell assay technique, and dose response curve was measured. The average number of jejunal crypt Per circumference in control group was $140\pm10$. Mean lethal dose$(D_0)$ of moose jejunal crypt cell was 135rad.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.59-64
• /
• 2002

Purpose : In radiotherapy, various materials are used to located in treatment field unintentionally. It increases the dose delivered to the skin by interactions of the X-ray within the materials and occurs unwanted skin reaction.(due to the dose build-up effect) This aim of the this study is to measure the increase in skin dose when 13 materials are located in treatment field. Methods : Photon beam measurements were made using an plane-parallel chamber (Markus, PTW-Freiburg) in a polystyrene phantom. skin dose were measured using various overlaying 13 materials. a fixed geometry of a $10{\times}10cm$ field, a SSD=100cm and photon energy 4MV on Varian CLINAC 600C accelerator were used for all measurements. Results : There is an increase in skin dose for all materials($16.4{\sim}160.1\%$). As a percentage of maximum dose, the lowest skin dose were measured for the underwear with silk($43.2\%$) and the highest were measured for the 100m1 fluid-bag($96.6\%$) Conclusion : There is a significant increase in skin dose with 13 materials in the treatment field. a significant increase in skin dose can occur which could produce unwanted skin reaction. considerations for placement of 13 materials to be outside the treatment field whenever possible should be used to keep skin dose to a minimum level.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.116-121
• /
• 2021

Purpose: To investigate the effects of dose rate on intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) quality assurance (QA). Methods: We performed gamma tests using portal dose image prediction and log files of a multileaf collimator. Thirty treatment plans were randomly selected for the IMRT QA plan, and three verification plans for each treatment plan were generated with different dose rates (200, 400, and 600 monitor units [MU]/min). These verification plans were delivered to an electronic portal imager attached to a Varian medical linear accelerator, which recorded and compared with the planned dose. Root-mean-square (RMS) error values of the log files were also compared. Results: With an increase in dose rate, the 2%/2-mm gamma passing rate decreased from 90.9% to 85.5%, indicating that a higher dose rate was associated with lower radiation delivery accuracy. Accordingly, the average RMS error value increased from 0.0170 to 0.0381 cm as dose rate increased. In contrast, the radiation delivery time reduced from 3.83 to 1.49 minutes as the dose rate increased from 200 to 600 MU/min. Conclusions: Our results indicated that radiation delivery accuracy was lower at higher dose rates; however, the accuracy was still clinically acceptable at dose rates of up to 600 MU/min.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.84-92
• /
• 2020

Patients undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer (HNC) experience significant early and long-term side effects. The likelihood and severity of complications depends on a number of factors, including the total dose of radiation delivered, over what time it was delivered and what parts of the head and neck received radiation. Late side effects include: permanent loss of saliva; osteoradionecrosis; radiation recall myositis, pharyngoesophageal stenosis; dental caries; oral cavity necrosis; fibrosis; impaired wound healing; skin changes and skin cancer; lymphedema; hypothyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, lightheadedness, dizziness and headaches; secondary cancer; and eye, ear, neurological and neck structures damage. Patients who undergo radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma tend to suffer from chronic sinusitis. These side effects present difficult challenges to the patients and their caregivers and require life-long strategies to alleviate their deleterious effect on basic life functions and on the quality of life. This review presents these side effects and their management.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 1985

To determine the dose·survival and repair characteristics of the jejunal crypt cells, experimental study was carried out using total 70 mice. Single or split irradiations of 1,100 to 2,200 rad were delivered to whole bodies of $C_{57}$ BL mice, using a cesium 137 animal irradiator and those mice were sacrificed after 90 hours. The number of regenerating crypts per jejunal circumference was counted by a jejunal crypt cell assay technique and dose·response curve was measured. The results were as follows : 1. The average number of jejunal crypts per circumference in control group was 140. In a single irradiation group, the number of regenerated jejunal crypts was, 125, 56, 2 in each subgroup of 1,100 rad, 1,400 rad and 1,800 rad respectively. In split irraiation group, it was 105,44,2 in each subgroup of 1,400rad 1,800rad and 2,200rad respectively. 2. Mean lethal dose of mouse jejunal crypt cell was 167 and 169 rad respectively in a single and split irradiation. 3. Repair dose of sublethal damage was 280 rad. 4. Sublethal damage was completely repaired within 4 hours between the split dose of irradiation.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2004

Patient dose verification is one of the most Important responsibilities of the physician in the treatment delivery of radiation therapy. For the task, it is necessary to use an accurate dosimeter that can verify the patient dose profile, and it is also necessary to determine the physical characteristics of beams used in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) The Beam Intensity Scanner (BInS) System is presented for the dosimetric verification of the two dimensional photon beam. The BInS has a scintillator, made of phosphor Terbium-doped Gadolinium Oxysulphide (Gd$_2$O$_2$S:Tb), to produce fluorescence from the irradiation of photon and electron beams. These fluoroscopic signals are collected and digitized by a digital video camera (DVC) and then processed by custom made software to express the relative dose profile in a 3 dimensional (3D) plot. As an application of the BInS, measurements related to IWRT are made and presented in this work. Using a static multileaf collimator (SMLC) technique, the intensity modulated beam (IMB) is delivered via a sequence of static portals made by controlled leaves. Thus, when static subfields are generated by a sequence of abutting portals, the penumbras and scattered photons of the delivered beams overlap in abutting field regions and this results in the creation of “hot spots”. Using the BInS, inter-step “hot spots” inherent in SMLC are measured and an empirical method to remove them is proposed. Another major MLC technique in IMRT, the dynamic multileaf collimator (DMLC) technique, has different characteristics from SMLC due to a different leaf operation mechanism during the irradiation of photon and electron beams. By using the BInS, the actual delivered doses by SMLC and DMLC techniques are measured and compared. Even if the planned dose to a target volume is equal in our experimental setting, the actual delivered dose by DMLC technique is measured to be larger by 14.8% than that by SMLC, and this is due to scattered photons and contaminant electrons at d$_{max}$.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.89-96
• /
• 2005

In this study, we investigated the effect of time gating threshold on the delivered dose at a organ with internal motion by respiration. Generally, the internal organs have minimum motion at exhalation during normal breathing. Therefore to compare the dose distribution time gating threshold, in this paper, was determined as the moving region of target during 1 sec at the initial position of exhalation. The irradiated fields were then delivered under three conditions; 1) non-moving target 2) existence of the moving target in the region of threshold (1sec), 3) existence of the moving target region out of threshold (1.4 sec, 2 sec). And each of conditions was described by the moving phantom system. It was compared with the dose distributions of three conditions using film dosimetry. Although the treatment time increased when the dose distributions was obtained by the internal motion to consider the TGT, it could be obtained more exact dose distribution than in the treatment field that didn't consider the internal motion. And it could be reduced the unnecessary dose at the penumbra region. When we set up 1.4 sec of threshold, to reduce the treatment time, it could not be obtained less effective dose distribution than 1 sec of threshold. Namely, although the treatment time reduce, the much dose was distributed out of the treatment region. Actually when it is treated the moving organ, it would rather measure internal motion and external motion of the moving organ than mathematical method. If it could be analyzed the correlation of the internal and external motion, the treatment scores would be improved.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.15-22
• /
• 2023

This study compared the dose calculated using the electron Monte Carlo (eMC) dose calculation algorithm employing the old version (eMC V13.7) of the Varian Eclipse treatment-planning system (TPS) and its newer version (eMC V16.1). The eMC V16.1 was configured using the same beam data as the eMC V13.7. Beam data measured using the VitalBeam linear accelerator were implemented. A box-shaped water phantom (30×30×30 cm³) was generated in the TPS. Consequently, the TPS with eMC V13.7 and eMC V16.1 calculated the dose to the water phantom delivered by electron beams of various energies with a field size of 10×10 cm². The calculations were repeated while changing the dose-smoothing levels and normalization method. Subsequently, the percentage depth dose and lateral profile of the dose distributions acquired by eMC V13.7 and eMC V16.1 were analyzed. In addition, the dose-volume histogram (DVH) differences between the two versions for the heterogeneous phantom with bone and lung inserted were compared. The doses calculated using eMC V16.1 were similar to those calculated using eMC V13.7 for the homogenous phantoms. However, a DVH difference was observed in the heterogeneous phantom, particularly in the bone material. The dose distribution calculated using eMC V16.1 was comparable to that of eMC V13.7 in the case of homogenous phantoms. The version changes resulted in a different DVH for the heterogeneous phantoms. However, further investigations to assess the DVH differences in patients and experimental validations for eMC V16.1, particularly for heterogeneous geometry, are required.