• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2004

Purpose: To develop a whole body frame for the purpose of reducing patient motion and minimizing setup error for extra-cranial stereotactic radiotherapy, and to evaluate the repositioning setup error of a patient in the frame. Materials and Methods: The developed whole body frame is composed of a base plate, immobilizer, vacuum cushion, ruler and belts. The dimension of the base plate is 130 cm in length, 50 cm in width and 1 cm in thickness. The material used in the base plate of the frame was bakelite and the immobilizer was made of acetal. In addition, Radiopaque angio-catheter wires were engraved on the base plate for a coordinate system to determine the target localization. The measurement for radiation transmission and target localization is peformed in order to test the utilization of the frame. Also, a Matlab program analyzed the patients setup error by using the patient's setup images obtained from a CCTV camera and digital record recorder (DVR). Results: A frame that is useful for CT simulation and radiation treatment was fabricated. The frame structure was designed to minimize collisions from the changes in the rotation angle of the gantry and to maximize the transmission rate of the Incident radiation at the lateral or posterior oblique direction. The lightening belts may be used for the further reduction of the patient motion, and the belts can be adjusted so that they are not in the way of beam direction. The radiation transmission rates of this frame were measured as 95% and 96% at 10 and 21 MV, respectively. The position of a test target on the skin of a volunteer is accurately determined by CT simulation using the coordinate system in the frame. The estimated setup errors by Matlab program are shown 3.69$\pm$1.60, 2.14$\pm$0.78 mm at the lateral and central chest, and 7.11 $\pm$2.10, 6.54$\pm$2.22 mm at lateral and central abdomen, respectively. The setup error due to the lateral motion of breast is shown as 6.33$\pm$ 1.55 mm. Conclusion: The development and test of a whole body frame has proven very useful and practical in the radiosurgery for extra-cranial cancers. It may be used in determining target localization, and it can be used as a patient immobilization tool. More experimental data should be obtained in order to improve and confirm the results of the patient setup error.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2017

Recently, flexible cages have been introduced in an attempt to absorb and reduce the abnormal load transfer along the anterior parts of the spine. They are designed to be used with the pedicle screw systems to allow some mobility at the index level while containing ROM at the adjacent level. In this study, a finite element (FE) study was performed to assess biomechanical efficacies of the flexible cage when combined with pedicle screws with flexible rods. The post-operated models were constructed by modifying the L4-5 of a previously-validated 3-D FE model of the intact lumbar spine (L2-S1): (1) Type 1, flexible cage only; (2) Type 2, pedicle screws with flexible rods; (3) Type 3, interbody fusion cage plus pedicle screws with rigid rods; (4) Type 4, interbody fusion cage plus Type 2; (5) Type 5, Type 1 plus Type 2. Flexion/extension of 10 Nm with a compressive follower load of 400N was applied. As compared to the Type 3 (62~65%) and Type 4 (59~62%), Type 5 (53~55%) was able to limit the motion at the operated level effectively, despite moderate reduction at the adjacent level. It was also able to shift the load back to the anterior portions of the spine thus relieving excessively high posterior load transfer and to reduce stress on the endplate by absorbing the load with its flexible shape design features. The likelihood of component failure of flexble cage remained less than 30% regardless of loading conditions when combined with pedicle screws with flexible rods. Our study demonstrated that flexible cages when combined with posterior dynamic system may help reduce subsidence of cage and degeneration process at the adjacent levels while effectively providing stability at the operated level.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2015

Purpose : Skip the repetitive HRCT axial scan in order to reduce the exposure of patients during chest HRCT scan, Helical Scan Data into a reconstructed image, and exposure of the patient change and visually evaluate the usefulness of the HRCT images. Materials and method : Patients were enrolled in the survey are 50 people who underwent chest CT scans of patients who presented to the hospital from January 2015 to March 2015. 50 people surveyed 22 people men and 28 people women people showed an average distribution of 30 to 80 years age was 48 years. 50 patients to Somatom Sensation 64 ch (Siemens) model with 120 kVp tube voltage to a reference mAs tube current to mAs (Care dose, Siemens) as a whole, including the lungs and the chest CT scan was performed. Scan upon each patient CARE dose 4D (Automatic exposure control, Siemens Medical Solution Erlangen, Germany) was to maintain the proper radiation dose scan every cross-section through a device that automatically adjusts the tube current of. CT scan is the rotation time of the Tube slice collimation, slice width 0.6 mm, pitch factor was made under the terms of 1.4. CT scan obtained after the raw data (raw data) to the upper surface of the axial images and coronal images for each slice thickness 1 mm, 5 mm intervals in the high spatial frequency calculation method (hight spatial resolution algorithm, B60 sharp) was the use of the lung window center -500 HU, windows were reconstructed into images in the interval -1000 HU to see. Result : 1. Measure the total value of DLP 50 patients who proceed to chest CT group A (Helical Scan after scan performed with HRCT) and group B (Helical Scan after the HR image reconstruction to the original data) compared with the group divided, analysis As a result of the age, but show little difference for each age group it had a decreased average dose of about 9%. 2. A Radiation read the results of the two Radiologist and a doctor upper lobe and middle lobe of the lung takes effect the visual evaluation is not a big difference between the two images both, depending on the age of the patient, especially if the blood vessels of the lower lobe (A: 3.4, B: 4.6) and bronchi(A: 3.8, B4.7) image shake caused by breathing in anxiety (blurring lead) to the original data (raw data) showed that the reconstructed image is been more useful in diagnostic terms. Conclusion : Scan was confirmed a continuous, rapid motion video to get Helical scan is much lower lobe lung reduction in visual blurring, Helical scan data to not repeat the examination by obtaining HRCT images reorganization reduced the exposure of the patient.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.238-248
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• 2010

Purpose: To compare the dose distributions between three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) radiation treatment plans calculated by Ray-tracing or the Monte Carlo algorithm, and to highlight the difference of dose calculation between two algorithms for lung heterogeneity correction in lung cancers. Materials and Methods: Prospectively gated 4D CTs in seven patients were obtained with a Brilliance CT64-Channel scanner along with a respiratory bellows gating device. After 4D treatment planning with the Ray Tracing algorithm in Multiplan 3.5.1, a CyberKnife stereotactic radiotherapy planning system, 3D Ray Tracing, 3D and 4D Monte Carlo dose calculations were performed under the same beam conditions (same number, directions, monitor units of beams). The 3D plan was performed in a primary CT image setting corresponding to middle phase expiration (50%). Relative dose coverage, D95 of gross tumor volume and planning target volume, maximum doses of tumor, and the spinal cord were compared for each plan, taking into consideration the tumor location. Results: According to the Monte Carlo calculations, mean tumor volume coverage of the 4D plans was 4.4% higher than the 3D plans when tumors were located in the lower lobes of the lung, but were 4.6% lower when tumors were located in the upper lobes of the lung. Similarly, the D95 of 4D plans was 4.8% higher than 3D plans when tumors were located in the lower lobes of lung, but was 1.7% lower when tumors were located in the upper lobes of lung. This tendency was also observed at the maximum dose of the spinal cord. Lastly, a 30% reduction in the PTV volume coverage was observed for the Monte Carlo calculation compared with the Ray-tracing calculation. Conclusion: 3D and 4D robotic radiotherapy treatment plans for lung cancers were compared according to a dosimetric viewpoint for a tumor and the spinal cord. The difference of tumor dose distributions between 3D and 4D treatment plans was only significant when large tumor movement and deformation was suspected. Therefore, 4D treatment planning is only necessary for large tumor motion and deformation. However, a Monte Carlo calculation is always necessary, independent of tumor motion in the lung.