• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.89-97
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• 2015

Purpose: To evaluate the treatment results in early stage non-small cell lung cancer patients who have undergone fiducial-less CyberKnife radiosurgery (CKRS). Materials and Methods: From June 2011 to November 2013, 58 patients underwent CKRS at Asan Medical Center for stage I lung cancer. After excluding 14 patients, we retrospectively reviewed the records of the remaining 44 patients. All analyses were performed using SPSS ver. 21. Results: The median age at diagnosis was 75 years. Most patients had inoperable primary lung cancer with a poor pulmonary function test with comorbidity or old age. The clinical stage was IA in 30 patients (68.2%), IB in 14 (31.8%). The mean tumor size was 2.6 cm (range, 1.2 to 4.8 cm), and the tumor was smaller than 2 cm in 12 patients (27.3%). The radiation dose given was 48-60 Gy in 3-4 fractions. In a median follow-up of 23.1 months, local recurrence occurred in three patients (2-year local recurrence-free survival rate, 90.4%) and distant metastasis occurred in 13 patients. All patients tolerated the radiosurgery well, only two patients developing grade 3 dyspnea. The most common complications were radiation-induced fibrosis and pneumonitis. Eight patients died due to cancer progression. Conclusion: The results showed that fiducial-less CKRS shows comparable local tumor control and survival rates to those of LINAC-based SABR or CKRS with a fiducial marker. Thus, fiducial-less CKRS using Xsight lung tracking system can be effectively and safely performed for patients with medically inoperable stage I non-small cell lung cancer without any risk of procedure-related complication.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.274-280
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of single-fraction stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for the treatment of 15 cases of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Between 2002 and 2009, of the 25 patients who had SRS for the treatment of cerebral AVM, 15 patients (6 men, 9 women) taken a digital subtraction angiography (DSA) over 12 months after SRS were included. We retrospectively evaluated the size, location, hemorrhage of nidus, angiographic changes on follow-up on the MR angiography and DSA, and clinical complications during follow-up periods. At a median follow-up of 24 months (range 12-89), complete obliteration of nidus was observed in all patients (100%) while residual draining veins was observed in 3 patients (20%). There was no clinical complication during the follow-up period except seizure in 1 patient. The mean nidus volume was 4.7cc (0.5~11.7 cc, SD 3.7 cc). The locations of nidus were in cerebral hemisphere in 11 patients, cerebellum in 2 patients, basal ganglia in 1 patient, and pons in 1 patient respectively. 9 cases were hemorrhagic, and 6 cases were non-hemorrhagic AVMs. The SRS with LINAC is a safe and effective treatment for cerebral AVMs when the follow up period is over 4 years. However, it is recommended to continue to follow up until the draining vein on arterial phase of follow up DSA disappears completely.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 1995

The purpose of this research is to develop stereotactic localization and radiation measurement system for the efficient and precise radiosurgery. The algorithm to obtain a 3-D stereotactic coordinates of the target has been developed using a Fisher CT or angio localization. The procedure of stereotactic localization was programmed with PC computer, and consists of three steps: (1) transferring patient images into PC; (2) marking the position of target and reference points of the localizer from the patient image; (3) computing the stereotactic 3-D coordinates of target associated with position information of localizer. Coordinate transformation was quickly done on a real time base. The difference of coordinates computed from between Angio and CT localization method was within 2 mm, which could be generally accepted for the reliability of the localization system developed. We measured dose distribution in small fields of NEC 6 MVX linear accelerator using various detector; ion chamber, film, diode. Specific quantities measured include output factor, percent depth dose (PDD), tissue maximum ratio (TMR), off-axis ratio (OAR). There was small variation of measured data according to the different kinds of detectors used. The overall trends of measured beam data were similar enough to rely on our measurement. The measurement was performed with the use of hand-made spherical water phantom and film for standard arc set-up. We obtained the dose distribution as we expected. In conclusion, PC-based 3-D stereotactic localization system was developed to determine the stereotactic coordinate of the target. A convenient technique for the small field measurement was demonstrated. Those methods will be much helpful for the stereotactic radiosurgery.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.431-437
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• 1993

An important problem in radiosurgery is the utilization of the proper beam parameters, to which dose shape is sensitive. Streotactic radiosurgery techniques for a linear accelerator typically, use circular radiation fields with multiple arcs to produce an spherical radiation distribution. Target volumes are irregular in shape for a certain case, and spherical distributions can irradiate normal tissues to high dose as well as the target region. The current improvement to dose distribution utilizes treating multiple isocenters or weighting various arcs to change treatment volume shape. in this paper another promising study relies upon dynamically shaping the treatment beam to fit the beam's eye view of the target. This conformal irradiation technique was evaluated by means of visual three dimensional dose distribution, dose volume histograms to the target volume and surrounding normal brain. It is shown that using even less arcs than multiple isocenter irradiation technique, the conformal therapy yields comparable dose gradients and superior homogeneity of dose within the target volume.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.241-247
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• 1993

Between July 1988 and December 1992, we treated 45 patients who had deep seated inoperable or residual and/or recurrent intracranial tumors using LINAC based stereotactic radiosurgery at the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic University Medical College. Treated intracranial tumors included pituitary tumors (n=15), acoustic neurinomas (n=8), meningiomas (n=7), gliomas (n=6), craniopharyngiomas (n=4), pinealomas (n=3), hemangioblastomas (n=2), and solitary metastatic tumor from lung cancer (n=1). The dimension of treatment field varied from 0.23 to 42.88 $cm^3\;(mean;\;7.26\;cm^3)$. The maximum tumor doses ranging from 5 to 35.5 Gy (mean; 29.9 Gy) were given, and depended on patients' age, target volume, location of lesion and previous history of irradiation. There were 22 male and 23 female patients. The age was varied from 5 to 74 years of age (a median age; 43 years). The mean duration of follow-up was 35 months (2~55 months). To date, 18 $(39.1\%)$ of 46 intracranial tumors treated with SRS showed absent or decrease of the tumor by serial follow-up CT and/or MRI and 16 $(34.8\%)$ were stationary, e.g. growth arrest. From the view point of the clinical aspects, 34 $(73.9\%)$ of 46 tumors were considered improved status, that is, alive with no evidence of active tumor and 8 $(17.4\%)$ of them were stable, alive with disease but no deterioration as compared with before SRS. Although there showed slight increase of the tumor in size according to follow-up imagings of 4 cases (pituitary tumor 1, acoustic neurinomas 2, pinealoma 1), they still represented clinically stable status. Clinically, two $(4.4\%)$ Patients who were anaplastic astrocytoma (n=1) and metastatic brain tumor (n=1) were worsened following SRS treatment. So far, no serious complications were found after treatment. The minor degree headache which could be relieved by steroid or analgesics and transient focal hair loss were observed in a few cases. There should be meticulous long term follow-up inall cases.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.517-529
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• 1998

Purpose : Although many studies have investigated the dosimetric aspects of stereotactic radiosurgery in terms of target volume, the absorbed doses at extracranial sites: especially the lens or thyroid - which are sensitive to radiation for deterministic or stochastic effect -have infrequently been reported. The aim of this study is to evaluate what effects the parameters of radiosurgery have on the absorbed doses of the lens and thyroid in patients treated by stereotactic radiosurgery, using a systematic plan in a humanoid phantom. Materials and Methods : Six isocenters were selected and radiosurgery was planned using the stereotactic radiosurgery system which the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Seoul National University College of Medicine developed. The experimental radiosurgery plan consisted of 6 arc planes per one isocenter, 100 degrees for each arc range and an accessory collimator diameter size of 2 cm. After 250 cGy of irradiation from each arc, the doses absorbed at the lens and thyroid were measured by thermoluminescence dosimetry. Results : The lens dose was 0.23$\pm$0.08$\%$ of the maximum dose for each isocenter when the exit beam did not pass through the lens and was 0.76$\pm$0.12$\%$ of the maximum dose for each isocenter when the exit beam passed through the lens. The thyroid dose was 0.18$\pm$0.05$\%$ of the maximum dose for each isocenter when the exit beam did not pass through the thyroid and was 0.41$\pm$0.04$\%$ of the maximum dose for each isocenter when the exit beam Passed through the thyroid. The passing of the exit beam is the most significant factor of organ dose and the absorbed dose by an arc crossing organ decides 80$\%$ of the total dose. The absorbed doses of the lens and thyroid were larger as the isocenter sites and arc planes were closer to each organ. There were no differences in the doses at the surface and 5 mm depth from the surface in the eyelid and thyroid areas. Conclusion : As the isocenter and arc plane were placed closer to the lens and thyroid, the doses increased. Whether the exit beams passed through the lens or thyroid greatly influenced the lens and thyroid dose. The surface dose of the lens and thyroid consistently represent the tissue dose. Even when the exit beam passes through the lens and thyroid, the doses are less than 1$\%$ of the maximum dose and therefore, are too low to evoke late complications, but nevertheless, we should try to minimize the thyroid dose in children, whenever possible.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.135-138
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• 2002

Fractionated stereotactic radiosurguy (FSRS) requires precise and reproducible patient set up. For these reasons non-invasive mask fixation methods have been used in Linac based FSRS. In this study, we measured and assessed the isocenter reproducibility using a commercial head mask fixation system based on thermoplastic materials. For the verification and the measurement of isocenter deviation a special acrylic brain phantom was designed. The designed phantom has 22 vertical rods and each rod has different lengths. At the end of the 8 rods, the monochromic film is attached and irradiated due to planned target position. Deviations of isocenter were measured separately for each direction. The mean deviation showed 0.4 mm in longitudinal direction, 0.1 mm in the lateral direction, 0.1 mm in the anterior-posterior direction of the treatment couch. The data demonstrates the high accuracy and reproducibility. This study reinforces previous literature published.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2005

The stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) describes a method of delivering a high dose of radiation to a small tar-get volume in the brain, generally in a single fraction, while the dose delivered to the surrounding normal tissue should be minimized. To perform automatic plan of the SRS, a new method of multi-isocenter/shot linear accelerator (linac) and gamma knife (GK) radiosurgery treatment plan was developed, based on a physical lattice structure in target. The optimal radiosurgical plan had been constructed by many beam parameters in a linear accelerator or gamma knife-based radiation therapy. In this work, an isocenter/shot was modeled as a sphere, which is equal to the circular collimator/helmet hole size because the dimension of the 50% isodose level in the dose profile is similar to its size. In a computer-aided system, it accomplished first an automatic arrangement of multi-isocenter/shot considering two parameters such as positions and collimator/helmet sizes for each isocenter/shot. Simultaneously, an irregularly shaped target was approximated by cubic structures through computation of voxel units. The treatment planning method by the technique was evaluated as a dose distribution by dose volume histograms, dose conformity, and dose homogeneity to targets. For irregularly shaped targets, the new method performed optimal multi-isocenter packing, and it only took a few seconds in a computer-aided system. The targets were included in a more than 50% isodose curve. The dose conformity was ordinarily acceptable levels and the dose homogeneity was always less than 2.0, satisfying for various targets referred to Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) SRS criteria. In conclusion, this approach by physical lattice structure could be a useful radiosurgical plan without restrictions in the various tumor shapes and the different modality techniques such as linac and GK for SRS.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2009

The 4 bank mico-MLC (mMLC; Acculeaf, Direx, Isral) has been commissioned for clinical use of linac based stereotactic radiosurgery. The geometrical parameters to control the leaves were determined and comparisons between measured and calculated by the calculation model were performed in terms of absolute dose (cGy/100 MU). As a result of evaluating calculated dose for various field sizes and depths of 5 and 10 cm in water in the geometric condition of fixed SSD (source to surface distance) and fixed SCD (source to chamber distance), most of differences were within 1% for 6 MV and 15 MV x-rays. The penumbral widths at the isocenter were approximately evaluated to 0.29~0.43 cm depending on the field size for 6 MV and 0.36~0.51 cm for 15 MV x-rays. The average transmission and leakage for 6 MV and 15 MV x-rays were 6.6% and 7.4% respectively in single level of leaves fully closed. In case of dual level of leaves fully closed the measured transmission is approximately 0.5% for both 6 MV and 15 MV x-rays. Through the commissiong procedure we could verify the dose characteristics of mMLC and approximately evaluate the error ranges for treatment planning system.

• 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.