• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.65-71
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• 2014

A Varian Portal Dosimetry system was compared to an isocentrically mounted MapCHECK 2 diode array for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) QA. A Varian TrueBeam STx with an aS-1000 digital imaging panel was used to acquire VMAT QA images for 13 plans using four photon energies (6, 8, 10 and 15 MV). The EPID-based QA images were compared to the Portal Dose Image Prediction calculated in the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS). An isocentrically mounted Sun Nuclear MapCHECK 2 diode array with 5 cm water-equivalent buildup was also used for the VMAT QAs and the measurements were compared to a composite dose plane from the Eclipse TPS. A ${\gamma}$ test was implemented in the Sun Nuclear Patient software with 10% threshold and absolute comparison at 1%/1 mm (dose difference/distance-to-agreement), 2%/2 mm, and 3%/3 mm criteria for both QA methods. The two-tailed paired Student's t-test was employed to analyze the statistical significance at 95% confidence level. The average ${\gamma}$ passing rates were greater than 95% at 3%/3 mm using both methods for all four energies. The differences in the average passing rates between the two methods were within 1.7% and 1.6% of each other when analyzed at 2%/2 mm and 3%/3 mm, respectively. The EPID passing rates were somewhat better than the MapCHECK 2 when analyzed at 1%/1 mm; the difference was lower for 8 MV and 10 MV. However, the differences were not statistically significant for all criteria and energies (p-values >0.05). The EPID-based QA showed large off-axis over-response and dependence of ${\gamma}$ passing rate on energy, while the MapCHECK 2 was susceptible to the MLC tongue-and-groove effect. The two fluence-based QA techniques can be an alternative tool of VMAT QA to each other, if the limitations of each QA method (mechanical sag, detector response, and detector alignment) are carefully considered.

• 대한방사선기술학회지:방사선기술과학
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.39-45
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of a software-based quality assurance system based on Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy treatment plan. Evaluate treatment plan through the D VH analysis, PTV mean dose ($D_{mean}$) and PTV 95% dose($D_{95}$) compare the MFX based on original treatment plan, Average error rate was $0.9{\pm}0.6%$, $1.0{\pm}0.8%$, respectively. Measuring point dose using phantom and ion chamber, the average error rate between the ionization chamber and MFX was $0.9{\pm}0.7%$, $1.1{\pm}0.7%$ (high dose region), $1.1{\pm}0.9%$, $1.2{\pm}0.7%$ (low dose region). The average gamma though of MFX and $Delta^{4PT}$ is $98.7{\pm}1.2%$, $98.4{\pm}.3%$, respectively. Through this study, A software based QA system that simplifies hardware based QA procedures that involve a lot of time and effort. It can be used as a simple and useful tool in clinical practice.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.43-52
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• 2019

Background: The mid-term performance of clinical linear accelerator (LINAC) during volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatment period is not performed in clinical practice and usually replaced with one-time plan quality assurance (QA). In this research we aim to monitor daily reproducibility of VMAT delivery from tracking individual leaf movement error and dosimetric error to evaluate the mid-term quality of the machine used. Materials and Methods: First, multileaf collimator (MLC) information was imported into MATLAB program to determine which of the MLC leaves in the leaf bank had the maximum RMS position error (maxRMS). We estimated where the maximum positional errors (maxPE) of the chosen leaf occur along its path length and tracked its daily variations over the entire treatment period. Secondly, picture information of dosimetric error from portal dosimetry was imported into MATLAB where representative high gamma index region (HGR) was determined as HGR with length of > 1 cm and their centers were daily tracked. Results and Discussion: The maxPEs in the brain and tongue cases were distributed broader than in other cases, but all data were found located within ${\pm}0.5mm$. From first day to last day all of five cases show the similar visual pattern of HGRs and Centers of the longest HGRs remained within ${\pm}1mm$ of that in first day. These findings prove excellent mid-term performance of the LINAC used in VMAT treatments over a full course of treatment. Conclusion: Tracking the daily location changes of leaf movement and dosimetric error can be a good indicator of predicting the daily quality like stability and reproducibility of beam delivering in VMAT treatment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.32-42
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• 2019

Background: There have been much efforts to develop the proper and realistic machine Quality Assurance (QA) reflecting on real Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) plan. In this work we propose and test a special VMAT plan of plan-class specific (pcsr) QA, as a machine QA so that it might be a good solution to supplement weak point of present machine QA to make it more realistic for VMAT treatment. Materials and Methods: We divided human body into 5 treatment sites: brain, head and neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. One plan for each treatment site was selected from real VMAT cases and contours were mapped into the computational human phantom where the same plan as real VMAT plan was created and called plan-class specific reference (pcsr) QA plan. We delivered this pcsr QA plan on a daily basis over the full research period and tracked how much MLC movement and dosimetric error occurred in regular delivery. Several real patients under treatments were also tracked to test the usefulness of pcsr QA through comparisons between them. We used dynalog file viewer (DFV) and Dynalog file to analyze position and speed of individual MLC leaf. The gamma pass rate from portal dosimetry for different gamma criteria was analyzed to evaluate analyze dosimetric accuracy. Results and Discussion: The maxRMS of MLC position error for all plans were all within the tolerance limit of < 0.35 cm and the positional variation of maxPEs for both pcsr and real plans were observed very stable over the research session. Daily variations of maxRMS of MLC speed error and gamma pass rate for real VMAT plans were observed very comparable to those in their pcsr plans in good acceptable fluctuation. Conclusion: We believe that the newly proposed pcsr QA would be useful and helpful to predict the mid-term quality of real VMAT treatment delivery.

• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.121-128
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• 2022

Purpose: This study evaluated the quality of plans based on magnetic resonance-guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) tri-Co-60, linac, and conventional linac-based volumetric modulated arc therapy (linac-VMAT) for prostate cancer. Methods: Twenty patients suffering from prostate cancer with intermediate risk who were treated by MAT were selected. Additional treatment plans (primary and boost plans) were generated based on MRgRT-tri-Co-60 and MRgRT-linac. The planning target volume (PTV) of MRgRT-based plans was created by adding a 3 mm margin from the clinical target volume (CTV) due to high soft-tissue contrast and real-time motion imaging. On the other hand, the PTV of conventional linac was generated based on a 1 cm margin from CTV. The targets of primary and boost plans were prostate plus seminal vesicle and prostate only, respectively. All plans were normalized to cover 95% of the target volume by 100% of the prescribed dose. Dosimetric characteristics were evaluated for each of the primary, boost, and sum plans. Results: For target coverage and conformity, the three plans showed similar results. In the sum plans, the average value of V_65Gy of the rectum of MRgRT-linac (2.62%±2.21%) was smaller than those of MRgRT tri-Co-60 (9.04%±3.01%) and linac-VMAT (9.73%±7.14%) (P<0.001). In the case of bladder, the average value of V_65Gy of MRgRT-linac was also smaller. Conclusions: In terms of organs at risk sparing, MRgRT-linac shows the best value while maintaining comparable target coverage among the three plans.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권12호
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• pp.5019-5024
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• 2015

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the dosimetric and clinical feasibility of volumetric modulated arc based hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (RapidArc) treatment for large acoustic schwannoma (AS >10cc). Materials and Methods: Ten AS patients were immobilized using BrainLab mask. They were subject to multimodality imaging (magnetic resonance and computed tomography) to contour target and organs at risk (brainstem and cochlea). Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) based stereotactic plans were optimized in Eclipse (V11) treatment planning system (TPS) using progressive resolution optimizer-III and final dose calculations were performed using analytical anisotropic algorithm with 1.5 mm grid resolution. All AS presented in this study were treated with VMAT based HSRT to a total dose of 25Gy in 5 fractions (5fractions/week). VMAT plan contains 2-4 non-coplanar arcs. Treatment planning was performed to achieve at least 99% of PTV volume (D99) receives 100% of prescription dose (25Gy), while dose to OAR's were kept below the tolerance limits. Dose-volume histograms (DVH) were analyzed to assess plan quality. Treatments were delivered using upgraded 6 MV un-flattened photon beam (FFF) from Clinac-iX machine. Extensive pretreatment quality assurance measurements were carried out to report on quality of delivery. Point dosimetry was performed using three different detectors, which includes CC13 ion-chamber, Exradin A14 ion-chamber and Exradin W1 plastic scintillator detector (PSD) which have measuring volume of $0.13cm^3$, $0.009cm^3$ and $0.002cm^3$ respectively. Results: Average PTV volume of AS was 11.3cc (${\pm}4.8$), and located in eloquent areas. VMAT plans provided complete PTV coverage with average conformity index of 1.06 (${\pm}0.05$). OAR's dose were kept below tolerance limit recommend by American Association of Physicist in Medicine task group-101(brainstem $V_{0.5cc}$ < 23Gy, cochlea maximum < 25Gy and Optic pathway <25Gy). PSD resulted in superior dosimetric accuracy compared with other two detectors (p=0.021 for PSD.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권10호
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• pp.3816-3823
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• 2022

This work analyzed the dosimetric difference between the intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), partial/single/double-arc volumetric modulated arc therapy (PA/SA/DA-VMAT) techniques in treatment planning for treating more than one target of lung cancer at different isocenters. IMRT and VMAT plans at different isocenters were created systematically using a Harold heterogeneous lung phantom. The conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), gradient index (GI), dose-volume histogram and mean and maximum dose of the PTV were calculated and analyzed. Furthermore, the dose-volume histogram and mean and maximum doses of the OARs such as right lung, contralateral lung and non GTV were determined from the plans. The IMRT plans showed the superior target dose coverage, higher mean and maximum values than other VMAT techniques. PA-VMAT technique shows more lung sparing and DA-VMAT increases the V_5/10/20 values of contralateral lung than other VMAT and IMRT techniques. The IMRT technique achieves highly conformal dose distribution to the target than other VMAT techniques. Comparing to the IMRT plans, the higher V_5/10/20 and mean lung dose were observed in the contralateral lung in the DA-VMAT.

• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.295-302
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• 2013

간암 환자에 대한 세기조절방사선치료(IMRT, intensity modulated radiotherapy) 및 세기조절회전방사선치료(VMAT, volumetric arc therapy)와 나선식토모치료(TOMO, Helical Tomotherapy)에서 2차 암의 원인이 될 수 있는 산란 및 누출선량률을 평가하였다. 5명의 간암 환자에 대해 IMRT와 VMAT, TOMO 치료계획을 실시하여 등중심(iso-center)으로부터 20, 40, 60, 80 cm 위치에서 유리선량계(RPLGD, radiophotoluminescence glass dosimeter)를 이용하여 선량을 측정하였다. 계획표적체적(Planning Target Volume, PTV)에 조사된 단위 선량(Gy)당 측정된 산란 및 누출선량은 IMRT의 경우, 최소 0.01에서 최대 3.13 Gy로 측정 되었고 VMAT에 대해서는 최소 0.03에서 최대 2.35 Gy까지, TOMO에 대해서는 최소 0.04에서 최대 1.30 Gy 까지 측정 되었다. 각 치료법에 대한 평균장기등가선량은 세기조절방사선치료에 대해 세기조절회전방사선 치료와 나선식단층토모치료가 각각 갑상선에서 75%와 51%, 대장에서 75%와 41%, 직장에서 72%와 48%, 전립선에서 76%와 50%로 나왔다. 본 측정을 통하여 산란 및 누출선량은 치료 중심으로부터의 거리에 따라 감소함을 보았으며 TOMO 치료의 경우, 환자치료를 위해 사용하는 모니터단위(MU, monitor unit)가 타 치료법에 비해 상대적으로 큼에도 불구하고 산란 및 누출선량은 크지 않는 것으로 평가되었다.

• 대한방사선치료학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.31-43
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• 2015

목 적 : 정위적체부방사선치료(Stereotatic body radiation therapy, SBRT)는 원발성 종양과 전이성 종양의 치료법으로 이용되어진다. SBRT는 높은 선량을 전달하기 때문에 MU(Monitor unit)의 증가로 치료시간이 길어지고 치료계획용적(Planning Target Volume, PTV) 주변의 정상장기를 효과적으로 보호할 수 있는 치료계획이 필요하다. 특히 다중표적의 경우 SBRT를 여러 번에 나누어 치료해야하거나 선량 겹침으로 인한 고 선량 영역(Hot spot)이 생길수도 있다. 본 연구는 다중표적 간암에서 TrueBeam STx(Varian, USA)의 무편평화여과기선질(Flattening filter free, FFF) beam을 이용한 용적변조회전치료(Volumetric modulated arc therapy, VMAT)의 유용성을 평가하고자 한다. 대상 및 방법 : 다중표적 간암의 SBRT를 시행하는 5명의 환자를 대상으로 TrueBeam STx의 10MV FFF beam을 이용한 VMAT과 15MV 편평화여과기선질(Flattening filter, FF) beam을 이용한 입체조형치료(conformal radiotherapy, CRT)계획을 세웠다. 두 치료계획을 비교하기 위하여 선량용적히스토그램(Dose Volume Histogram, DVH)을 이용하여 치료계획용적(Planning Target Volume, PTV), 간, 십이지장, 장, 식도, 척수에 들어가는 선량을 평가하고 전체 MU 값을 비교하였다. 또한 두 치료계획의 치료시간을 비교하기 위하여 Beam on time을 평가하였다. 결 과 : PTV에 대한 처방선량지수(Conformity Index, CI), 선량균질지수(Homogeneity index, HI), 처방선량포함지수(Paddick's Conformity Index, PCI)의 평균값은 VMAT에서 각각 $1.006{\pm}0.028$, $1.098{\pm}0.016$, $1.132{\pm}0.084$, CRT에서 $1.381{\pm}0.419$ $1.136{\pm}0.042$, $1.534{\pm}0.465$로 평가되었다. 정상장기에 대한 선량은 CRT에서 VMAT 보다 약 1.8배 높은 선량으로 평가되었다. 전체 MU값은 VMAT에서 약 1.3배 높게 평가되었고 VMAT과 CRT 두 치료계획의 평균 Beam on time은 각각 6.8분, 21.3분으로 평가되었다. 결 론 : 다중표적 간암의 정위적체부방사선치료에서 FFF Beam을 이용한 VMAT을 적용하면 선량 겹침 없이 다중표적을 한 번에 치료할 수 있으며 PTV의 선량포함을 만족하면서 주위의 정상장기를 더 효과적으로 보호할 수 있는 치료계획이 가능하다. 또한 FFF Beam의 높은 선량률(Dose rate)을 이용하여 치료시간을 단축시켜 치료 중 발생할 수 있는 오차를 감소시킬 수 있다.

• 대한방사선치료학회지
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.33-41
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• 2019

목 적: 식도암 방사선치료 시 세기조절방사선치료(Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, IMRT) 및 용적세기조절회전치료(Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy, VMAT)에서 Jaw-Tracking 기법 유 무에 따라 저선량 영역에 대한 주변 정상장기의 용적선량을 분석하여 그 유용성을 평가하고자 한다. 대상 및 방법: 본 원에서 사용하고 있는 선형가속기 VitalBeamTM(Varian Medical System, U.S.A)으로 식도암 방사선치료를 받은 27명을 대상으로 하였으며, 치료계획은 Eclipse(Ver. 13.6 Varian, U.S.A)를 이용하여 Jaw-Tracking(JT)을 사용한 치료계획과 Non Jaw-Tracking(NJT) 치료계획을 수립하였으며, 치료계획용적(Planning Target Volume, PTV)에 빗장위림프절(Supraclavicular Lymph Nodes, SCL)이 포함되어 있는 T자형 PTV를 가진 환자를 대상으로 하였다. 조사범위에 대한 영향을 확인하기 위해 복강(Celiac) 포함 여부로 비교군을 나누었다. 수립된 치료계획의 비교를 위해 손상위험장기는 양측 폐, 심장, 척수를 비교하였으며 Conformity Index(CI), Homogeneity Index(HI)를 비교하였다. 임상적용 검증을 위해 전자포탈영상장치(Electronic Portal Imaging Device, EPID)를 이용하여 Portal Dosimetry를 실시하였고, 선량 영역의 임계치(Threshold)를 10 %, 5 %, 0 %로 매개변수로 설정하여 감마분석을 실시하였다. 결 과: 모든 치료계획은 3 mm / 3 %, 감마통과율 95 % 기준에 대해 Threshold 10 %의 경우 95 % 이상으로 JT, NJT 모두 통과하였으며, IMRT는 Threshold가 5 %, 0 %로 줄어들수록 JT보다 NJT의 값이 1 % 이상 줄어 들었다. IMRT에서 양측 폐의 $V_5$와 $V_{10}$은 JT에서 Celiac을 포함하지 않을 때 최대 14.7 %, 평균 8.5 %, 5.3 % 만큼 감소했고, $D_{mean}$은 $72.3{\pm}51cGy$ 감소하였으며, Celiac을 포함할 때 JT에서 선량감소가 증가하였다. 심장의 $D_{mean}$은 $68.9{\pm}38.5cGy$, 척수의 $D_{max}$는 $39.7{\pm]30.1cGy$만큼 감소하였다. VMAT은 JT기법 사용 시 폐에서 $V_5$ 평균 2.5 % 감소하였고, 심장 및 척수에서 소량 감소하였으며, Celiac 포함 시 JT의 선량감소가 증가하였다. 결 론: 식도암 치료계획에서 IMRT가 JT 사용 시 양측 폐의 $V_5$, $V_{10}$에서 유의미한 감소가 나타났고, 저 선량영역에서 조사범위가 클수록 선량감소가 크게 나타났다. 따라서 식도암 방사선치료에는 IMRT가 VMAT보다 JT 적용 시 더 효과적이며, 저 선량영역에서의 MLC 누설 및 투과선량으로부터 정상장기를 보호할 수 있다.