• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2004

Purpose : To evaluate the reflection of tumor motion according to the planning CT scan time. Material and Methods : A model of N-shape, which moved aiong the longitudinal axis during the ventilation caused by a mechanical ventilator, was produced. The model was scanned by planning CT, while setting the relative CT scan time (T: CT scan time/ventilatory period) to 0.33, 0.50, 0.67, 0.75, 1.00, 1.337, and 1.537. In addition, three patients with non-small cell lung cancer who received stereotactic radiosurgery In the Department of Radiation Oncology, Asan Medical Center from 03/19/2002 to 05/21/2002 were scanned. Slow (10 Premier, Picker, scan time 2.0 seconds per slice) and fast CT scans (Lightspeed, GE Medical Systems, with a scan time of 0.8 second per slice) were peformed for each patient. The magnitude of reflected movement of the N-shaped model was evaluated by measuring the transverse length, which reflected the movement of the declined bar of the model at each slice. For patients' scans, all CT data sets were registered using a stereotactic body frame scale with the gross tumor volumes delineated in one CT image set. The volume and three-dimensional diameter of the gross tumor volume were measured and analyzed between the slow and fast CT scans. Results : The reflection degree of longitudinal movement of the model increased in proportion to the relative CT scan times below 1.00 7, but remained constant above 1.00 T Assuming the mean value of scanned transverse lengths with CT scan time 1.00 T to be $100\%$, CT scans with scan times of 0.33, 0.50, 0.57, and 0.75 T missed the tumor motion by 30, 27, 20, and $7.0\%$ respectively, Slow (scan time 2.0 sec) and Fast (scan time 0.8 sec) CT scans of three patients with longitudinal movement of 3, 5, and 10 mm measured by fluoroscopy revealed the increases in the diameter along the longitudinal axis Increased by 6.3, 17, and $23\%$ in the slow CT scans. Conculsion : As the relative CT scan time increased, the reflection of the respiratory tumor movement on planning CT also Increased, but remained constant with relative CT scan times above 1.00 T When setting the planning CT scan time above one respiration period (>1.00 T), only the set-up margin is needed to delineate the planning target volume. Therefore, therapeutic ratio can be increased by reducing the radiation dose delivered to normal lung tissue.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.393-399
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• 1994

Spinal cord compression, an oncologic emergency, is a rare complication of hematologic malignancy Our experience was obtained with a series 32 Patients following retrospective analysis for assessing the role of radiation therapy and identifying the prognostic factors affecting on treatment outcome. Diagnosis was usually made by means of radiologic study such as myelography or computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neurologic examination. Five cases were diagnosed by subjective symptom only with high index of suspicion. In 31 cases, the treatment consisted in radiation therapy alone and the remained one patient had laminectomy before radiation therapy because of diagnostic doubts. Total treatment doses ranged from 800 cGy to 4000 cGy with median of 2000 cGy. Initially large fraction size more than 250 cGy were used in 13 patients with rapidly progressed neurologic deficit. The clinical parameters considered in evaluating the response to treatment were backache, motor-sensory performance and sphincter function. Half of all patients showed good response. Partial response and no response were noted in $37.5\%$ and $12.5\%$, respectively. Our results showed higher response rate than those of other solid tumor series. The degree of neurologic deficit at that time of diagnosis was the most important predictor of treatment outcome. The elapsed time from development of symptoms to start of treatment was significantly affected on the outcome. But histology of primary tumor total dose and use of initial large fraction size were not significantly affect on the outcome. These results confirmed the value of early diagnosis and treatment especially in radiosensitive hematologic malignancy.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.205-210
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• 2010

Purpose: To evaluate the predictive factors for treatment response and prognostic factors affecting survival outcomes after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods: Medical records of forty two patients with histologically confirmed analsquamous cell carcinoma, who had complete CCRT between 1993 and 2008, were reviewed retrospectively. Median age was 61.5 years (39~89 years), and median radiotherapy (RT) dose was 50.4 Gy (30.0~64.0 Gy). A total of 36 patients had equal to or less than T2 stage (85.7%). Fourteen patients (33.3%) showed regional nodal metastasis, 36 patients (85.7%) were treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) plus mitomycin, and the remaining patients were treated by 5-FU plus cisplatinum. Results: The median follow-up time was 62 months (2~202 months). The 5-year overall survival, loco regional relapse-free survival, disease-free survival, and colostomy-free survival rates were 86.0%, 71.7%, 71.7%, 78.2%, respectively. Regarding overall survival, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status and complete response were found to be significant prognostic factors on univariate analysis. For multivariate analysis, only the ECOG performance status was significant. No significant factor was found for locoregional relapse-free survival or disease-free survival and similarly for treatment response, no significant factor was determined on logistic regression analysis. There were 7 patients who had local or regional recurrences and one patient with distant metastasis. The only evaluable toxicity in all patients was radiation dermatitis of perianal skin (grade 3), which developed in 4 patients (9.5%) and grade 2 in 22 patients (52.4%). Conclusion: This study revealed that patients with a performance score of ECOG 0-1 survived significantly longer than those with a poorer score. Finally, there was no significant predicting factors tested for treatment response.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1223-1235
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• 1998

Background and Objective : Although prone positioning has been reported to improve gas exchange, prone positioning alone does not seem to be sufficient to increase systemic oxygen transport in an acute lung injury. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the combined therapy of low dose nitric oxide (NO) inhalation and prone positioning has an additive effect on the oxygenation and hemodynamics in patients with severe ARDS. Patients and Methods : Twelve patients with ARDS were included. Prone positioning alone, later combined with nitric oxide inhalation (5~10 ppm) from the supine position (baseline) were performed with serial measurement of gas exchange, respiratory mechanics and hemodynamic at sequential time points. The patient was regarded as a responder to prone positioning if an increase in $PaO_2/FiO_2$ of more than 20 mm Hg at 30 min or 120 min intervals after prone positioning was observed compared to that of the baseline. The same criterion was applied during nitric oxide inhalation. Results : Eight patients (66.5%) responded to prone positioning and ten patients (83.3%) including the eight just mentioned responded to the addition of NO inhalation. The $AaDO_2$ level also decreased promptly with the combination of prone positioning and NO inhalation compared to that of prone positioning alone ($191{\pm}109$ mm Hg vs. $256{\pm}137$ mm Hg, P<0.05). Hemodynamic parameters and lung compliance did not change significantly during prone positioning only. Following the addition of NO inhalation to prone positioning, the mean pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary artery occlusion pressure decreased and cardiac output, stroke volume and oxygen delivery increased (P < 0.05) compared to those of prone 120 min. Conclusion : These findings indicate that NO inhalation would provide additional improvement in oxygenation and oxygen transport to mechanically ventilated patients with ARDS who are in a prone position.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.154-164
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• 2007

Background: Irinotecan hydrochloride, a topoisomerase I inhibitor, is effective against small-cell lung cancer. Irinotecan also can act as a potential radiation sensitizer along with cisplatin. To evaluate efficacy and toxicity of irinotecan plus cisplatin (IP) with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy, we conducted a phase II study of IP followed by concurrent IP plus hyperfractionated thoracic radiotherapy in patients with previously untreated limited-stage small-cell lung cancer. Methods: Twenty-four patients with previously untreated small-cell lung cancer were enrolled onto the study since November 2004. Irinotecan $60mg/m^2$ was administered intravenously on days 1 and 8 in combination with cisplatin $60mg/m^2$ on day1 every 21 days. From the first day of third cycle, twice-daily thoracic irradiation (total 45 Gy) was given. Prophylactic cranial irradiation was given to the patients who showed complete remission after concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Restaging was done after second and sixth cycle with chest CT and/or bronchosocpy. Results: Up to November 2004, 19 patients were assessable. The median follow-up time was 12.5 months. A total of 99 cycles (median 5.2 cycles per patient) were administered. The actual dose intensity values were cisplatin $19.6mg/m^2$/week and irinotecan $38.2mg/m^2$/week. Among the 19 patients, the objective response rate was 95% (19 patients), with 9 patients (47%) having a complete response (CR). The major grade 3/4 hematological toxicities were neutropenia (35% of cycles), anemia (7% of cycles), thrombocytopenia (7% of cycles). Febrile neutropenia was 4% of cycles. The predominant grade 3/4 non-hematological toxicities was diarrhea (5% of cycles). Toxicities was not significantly different with concurrent administration of irinotecan and cisplatin with radiotherapy, except grade 3/4 radiation esophagitis (10% of patients). No treatment-related deaths were observed. The 1-year and 2-year survival rate of eligible patients was 89% (16/18) and 47% (9/18), respectively. Conclusion: Three-week schedule of irinotecan plus cisplatin followed by concurrent IP plus hyperfractionated thoracic radiotherapy is an effective treatment for limited disease small-cell lung cancer, with acceptable toxicity.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2006

Automated analysis software was developed to measure the magnitude of the intrafractional and interfractional errors during breast radiation treatments. Error analysis results are important for determining suitable planning target volumes (PTV) prior to Implementing breast-conserving 3-D conformal radiation treatment (CRT). The electrical portal imaging device (EPID) used for this study was a Portal Vision LC250 liquid-filled ionization detector (fast frame-averaging mode, 1.4 frames per second, 256X256 pixels). Twelve patients were imaged for a minimum of 7 treatment days. During each treatment day, an average of 8 to 9 images per field were acquired (dose rate of 400 MU/minute). We developed automated image analysis software to quantitatively analyze 2,931 images (encompassing 720 measurements). Standard deviations ($\sigma$) of intrafractional (breathing motion) and intefractional (setup uncertainty) errors were calculated. The PTV margin to include the clinical target volume (CTV) with 95% confidence level was calculated as $2\;(1.96\;{\sigma})$. To compensate for intra-fractional error (mainly due to breathing motion) the required PTV margin ranged from 2 mm to 4 mm. However, PTV margins compensating for intefractional error ranged from 7 mm to 31 mm. The total average error observed for 12 patients was 17 mm. The intefractional setup error ranged from 2 to 15 times larger than intrafractional errors associated with breathing motion. Prior to 3-D conformal radiation treatment or IMRT breast treatment, the magnitude of setup errors must be measured and properly incorporated into the PTV. To reduce large PTVs for breast IMRT or 3-D CRT, an image-guided system would be extremely valuable, if not required. EPID systems should incorporate automated analysis software as described in this report to process and take advantage of the large numbers of EPID images available for error analysis which will help Individual clinics arrive at an appropriate PTV for their practice. Such systems can also provide valuable patient monitoring information with minimal effort.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2012

The X ray has been widely used in both diagnosis and treatment. Recently, a miniature X ray tube has been developed for radiotherapy. The miniature X ray tube is directly inserted into the body irradiated, so that X rays can be guided to a target at various incident angles according to collimator geometry and, thus, minimize patient dose. If such features of the miniature X ray tube can be applied to development of X ray imaging as well as radiation treatment, it is expected to open a new chapter in the field of diagnostic X ray. However, the miniature X ray tube requires an added filter and a collimator for diagnostic purpose because it was designed for radiotherapy. Therefore, a collimator and an added filter were manufactured for the miniature X ray tube, and mounted on. In this study, we evaluated beam characteristics of the miniature X ray tube for diagnostic X ray system and accuracy of measuring the HVL. We used the Si PIN Photodiode type Piranha detector (Piranha, RTI, Sweden) and estimated the HVL of the miniature X ray tube with added filter and without added filter. Through an another measurement using Al filter, we evaluated the accuracy of the HVL obtained from a direct measurement using the automatic HVL calculation function provided by the Piranha detector. As a result, the HVL of the miniature X ray tube was increased around 1.9 times with the added filter mounted on. So we demonstrated that the HVL was suitable for diagnostic X ray system. In the case that the added filter was not mounted on, the HVL obtained from use of the automatic HVL calculation function provided by Piranha detector was 50% higher than the HVL estimated using Al filter. Therefore, the HVL automatic measurement from the Piranha detector cannot be used for the HVL calculation. However, when the added filter was mounted on, the HVL automatic measurement value using the Piranha detector was approximately 15% lower than the estimated value using Al filter. It implies that the HVL automatic measurement can be used to estimate the HVL of the miniature X ray tube with the added filter mounted on without a more complicated measurement method using Al filter. It is expected that the automatic HVL measurement provided by the Piranha detector enables to make kV-X ray characterization easier.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.271-280
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• 2014

Recently, digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has been investigated to overcome the limitation of conventional mammography for overlapping anatomical structures and high patient dose with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). However incomplete sampling due to limited angle leads to interference on the neighboring slices. Many studies have investigated to reduce artifacts such as interference. Moreover, appropriate filters for tomosynthesis have been researched to solve artifacts resulted from incomplete sampling. The primary purpose of this study is finding appropriate filter scheme with FBP reconstruction for DBT system to reduce artifacts. In this study, we investigated characteristics of various filter schemes with simulation and prototype digital breast tomosynthesis under same acquisition parameters and conditions. We evaluated artifacts and noise with profiles and COV (coefficinet of variation) to study characteristic of filter. As a result, the noise with parameter 0.25 of Spectral filter reduced by 10% in comparison to that with only Ramp-lak filter. Because unbalance of information reduced with decreasing B of Slice thickness filter, artifacts caused by incomplete sampling reduced. In conclusion, we confirmed basic characteristics of filter operations and improvement of image quality by appropriate filter scheme. The results of this study can be utilized as base in research and development of DBT system by providing information that is about noise and artifacts depend on various filter schemes.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2013

IEC publications have applied in many countries all over the world such as Europe or Japan and these also have been published as in dustrial standards (KS) and notifications of Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) in Korea. As the general standard of IEC 60601 series for medical electric (ME) equipment was revised as $3^{rd}$ edition in 2005, additional and particular standards have been revised or established newly. Under these circumstances, it is importance for manufacturing and assembling companies or authorized testing companies to understand the trend for revisions of IEC publications. Therefore in this study, the latest version of 3 IEC standards related to medical X-ray equipment : IEC 60601-2-44 for X-ray equipment for computed tomography (CT), IEC 60601-2-45 for mammographic X-ray equipment and IEC 60601-2-54 for X-ray equipment for radiography or radioscopy were covered and analyzed for trends and features accompanied by revision based on IEC 60601-1 $3^{rd}$ Ed. As KFDA notifications in force have referred to the particular standards based on 2nd edition of IEC 60601-1, those revised version of 3 particular standards were compared to KFDA notifications in force. The features of the latest standards applying IEC 60601-1 $3^{rd}$ Ed were shown as following: 1) Requirements for mechanical hazards, especially (motorized) moving parts were emphasized. 2) Indication and recording of patient dose were required. 3) Risk management process was introduced and enabled to monitor potential risks systematically. 4) DR system (digital radiography system) as well as analogue system (film-screen system) was included in the scope. Presently, KFDA will revise the notifications applying the particular standards based on IEC 60601-1 $3^{rd}$ Ed in a few years. Therefore the features of particular standards applying IEC 60601-1 $3^{rd}$ Ed was expected to help manufacturers, assemblers or testing companies of medical electric equipment understand IEC publications or KFDA notifications slated to be published.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.211-215
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• 2001

Purpose : This study was done to evaluate the efficacy of low-dose radiation in reduction of thoracic vertebral metastases in patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods : 109 patients who were treated for bone metastasis from breast cancer from June, 1988 to June, 1998 in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Seoul National University were included. Of the 109 patients, 40 patients had been previously treated by postoperative radiotherapy and 69 had not. Postoperative radiotherapy had been given using Co-60 teletherapy device in 30 patients or 6 MV linear accelerator in 10. Thoracic spines from 1 to 10 were usually irradiated except in 1 patient and cervical vertebrae 6 and/or 7 were partially included in ,: patients. A total of 50.4 Gy was given with 1.8 Gy fraction. Metastatic bone diseases were scored in 11 regions, i. e., skull, conical spine, thoracic spine from 1 to 4, from 5 to 8, 9 and 10, 11 and 12, lumbar spine, pelvis, femur, ribs and others. Results : In no postoperative parasternal irradiation group, lumbar vertebrae were the most common metastatic sites $(55.1\%)$ followed by pelvis $(44.9\%)$, ribs $(40.6\%)$, thoracic vertebrae 11 and 12 $(37.7\%)$, thoracic vertebrae between 5 and 8 $(36.2\%)$, thoracic vertebrae 9 and 10 $(34.8\%)$, and thoracic vertebrae between 1 and 4 $(26.1\%)$. In postoperative parasternal irradiation group, lumbar vertebrae and pelvis were also the most common sites of metastases ($55.0\%$, respectively) followed by ribs $(37.5\%)$, and thoracic vertebrae 11 and 12 $(32.5\%)$. But significant less metastases were seen at thoracic vertebrae from 1 to 10. Conclusion : We can find that the were significantly less bony metastases at thoracic vertebrae which had been previously irradiated postoperatively.