• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2013

Purpose: Parotid gland can be considered as a risk organ in whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the parotid gland sparing effect of computed tomography (CT)-based WBRT compared to 2-dimensional plan with conventional field margin. Materials and Methods: From January 2008 to April 2011, 53 patients underwent WBRT using CT-based simulation. Bilateral two-field arrangement was used and the prescribed dose was 30 Gy in 10 fractions. We compared the parotid dose between 2 radiotherapy plans using different lower field margins: conventional field to the lower level of the atlas (CF) and modified field fitted to the brain tissue (MF). Results: Averages of mean parotid dose of the 2 protocols with CF and MF were 17.4 Gy and 8.7 Gy, respectively (p < 0.001). Mean parotid dose of both glands ${\geq}20$ Gy were observed in 15 (28.3%) for CF and in 0 (0.0%) for MF. The whole brain percentage volumes receiving >98% of prescribed dose were 99.7% for CF and 99.5% for MF. Conclusion: Compared to WBRT with CF, CT-based lower field margin modification is a simple and effective technique for sparing the parotid gland, while providing similar dose coverage of the whole brain.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.126-129
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• 2004

We compared intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment plans with commercially available multileaf collimators (MLCs) of different leaf width for intracranial lesions. Twelve cases previously treated with micro-MLCs(mMLCs) were replanned using the Varian 120 and 80 MLCs. These collimators have minimum leaf width of 3mm, 5 mm and 10 mm at isocenter, respectively. These three plans were compared with respect to the uniformity and the conformity indices, doses to normal tissue. For the uniformity index of planning target volume (PTV),there was no statistically significant difference between mMLCs with 120 MLCs (p = 0.06). However, there was a little difference between mMLCs with 80 MLCs (p = 0.001). Maximum target dose to the PTV showedno dependency with respect to the leaf width. On the contrary, there were statistically significant differences in the conformity indices between mMLCs and 120 MLCs (p = 0.003) and between mMLCs and 80 MLCs (p = 0.003).The volumetric increments for MLCs with leaf widths of 5 mm and 10 mm were 6.3% and 23.2% for the normal tissue Irradiated to = 50% dose, and 8.7% and 32.7% for the normal tissue Irradiated to = 70% dose, respectively, compared to the volume for MLCs with leaf width of 3 mm. This shows that for the sparing of normal tissue, MLCs with leaf width of 3 mm are more effective, compared to MLCs with leaf widths of 5 mm and 10 mm.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.366-373
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• 2014

Background The advent of skin-sparing mastectomy has allowed for the reconstruction of the breast and nipple with improved cosmesis. However, the nipple-areolar complex (NAC) in Asian patients is more pigmented and scars easily. Therefore, commonly described incisions tend to result in poor aesthetic outcomes in Asian patients with breast cancer. Methods We describe an algorithmic approach to skin-sparing mastectomy incisions in Asian patients on the basis of the location of the biopsy scar and the tumor site and size. Four incision types are described: peri-areolar, a peri-areolar incision with a second distant skin paddle, "racquet handle," and peri-areolar with adjacent skin excision. Results 281 immediate breast reconstructions were performed between May 2001 and February 2012 after skin-sparing mastectomy. The mastectomy incisions used included the peri-areolar design (n=124, 44%), peri-areolar design with a second distant skin paddle (n=39, 14%), "racquet handle" (n=21, 7.5%), and peri-areolar design with adjacent skin excision (n=42, 14%). The traditional elliptical incision and other variants where the NAC outline was not preserved were performed in the remaining 55 patients. The average follow-up was 44.7 months during which there was 1 case of total flap loss and 7 cases of partial flap necrosis; all remaining flaps survived. 24% of the patients (68/281) underwent subsequent nipple reconstruction. Conclusions Our algorithm avoids breast incisions that are randomly placed or excessively long and prevents the unnecessary sacrifice of normal breast skin. This allows skin-sparing mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction to be performed with a consistently achievable aesthetic result in Asian women without neglecting oncological safety.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2015

Purpose: To compare volumetric modulated arc therapy of RapidArc with robotic stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of CyberKnife in the planning and delivery of SBRT for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment by analyzing dosimetric parameters. Materials and Methods: Two radiation treatment plans were generated for 29 HCC patients, one using Eclipse for the RapidArc plan and the other using Multiplan for the CyberKnife plan. The prescription dose was 60 Gy in 3 fractions. The dosimetric parameters of planning target volume (PTV) coverage and normal tissue sparing in the RapidArc and the CyberKnife plans were analyzed. Results: The conformity index was $1.05{\pm}0.02$ for the CyberKnife plan, and $1.13{\pm}0.10$ for the RapidArc plan. The homogeneity index was $1.23{\pm}0.01$ for the CyberKnife plan, and $1.10{\pm}0.03$ for the RapidArc plan. For the normal liver, there were significant differences between the two plans in the low-dose regions of $V_1$ and $V_3$. The normalized volumes of $V_{60}$ for the normal liver in the RapidArc plan were drastically increased when the mean dose of the PTVs in RapidArc plan is equivalent to the mean dose of the PTVs in the CyberKnife plan. Conclusion: CyberKnife plans show greater dose conformity, especially in small-sized tumors, while RapidArc plans show good dosimetric distribution of low dose sparing in the normal liver and body.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6549-6556
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• 2013

Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) play important roles in leukemia initiation, progression and relapse, and thus represent a critical target for therapeutic intervention. Hence, it is extremely urgent to explore new therapeutic strategies directly targeting LSCs for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) therapy. We show here that Angelica sinensis polysaccharide (ASP), a major active component in Dong quai (Chinese Angelica sinensis), effectively inhibited human AML $CD34^+CD38^-$ cell proliferation in vitro culture in a dose-dependent manner while sparing normal hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells at physiologically achievable concentrations. Furthermore, ASP exerted cytotoxic effects on AML K562 cells, especially LSC-enriched $CD34^+CD38^-$ cells. Colony formation assays further showed that ASP significantly suppressed the formation of colonies derived from AML $CD34^+CD38^-$ cells but not those from normal $CD34^+CD38^-$ cells. Examination of the underlying mechanisms revealed that ASP induced $CD34^+CD38^-$ cell senescence, which was strongly associated with a series of characteristic events, including up-regulation of p53, p16, p21, and Rb genes and changes of related cell cycle regulation proteins P16, P21, cyclin E and CDK4, telomere end attrition as well as repression of telomerase activity. On the basis of these findings, we propose that ASP represents a potentially important agent for leukemia stem cell-targeted therapy.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.173-178
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• 2004

Purpose: To compare desimetrically intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatment plans with commercially available multileaf collimators (MLCs) of different leaf width for intracranial lesions. Materials and Methods: Twelve patients with intracranial lesions were treated with BrainLAB's micro-MLCs (mMLCs) and performed with the BrainSCAN ver. 5.2 planning software. They were replanned using the Varian 120 and 80 MLCs. These collimators have minimum leaf width of 3 mm, 5 mm and 10 mm at isocenter, respectively. PTV was $3.3~339.2\textrm{cm}^3$ and the number of beams was 3~7. These three plans were compared with respect to the uniformity and the conformity indices, doses to critical organ and normal tissue. Results: For the uniformity index of the planning target volume (PTV), there were no statistically significant differences between mMLCs and 120 MLCs (p=0.057) and between 120 MLCs and 80 MLCs (p=0.388). However, there was a difference between mMLCs and 80 MLCs (p<0.001). Maximum target dose to the PTV showed no dependency with respect to the leaf width. On the contrary, there were statistically significant differences in the conformity indices between mMLCs and 120 MLCs (p=0.003), between mMLCs and 80 MLCs (p=0.003) and between 120 MLCs and 80 MLCs (p=0.003). The volume of brainstem irradiated to $\geq$70% dose and to $\geq$50% dose was increased as the leaf width of MLCs increased. In particular, the volume of normal tissue irradiated is obviously changed for different leaf width. Volumetric increments for MLCs with leaf widths of 5 mm and 10 mm were 6.3% and 23.2% to the normal tissue irradiated to $\geq$50% dose, and 8.7% and 32.7% to the normal tissue irradiated to $\geq$70% dose, respectively, compared to the volume for MLCs with leaf width of 3 mm. Conclusions: The uniformity index and maximum target dose to the PTV showed no dependency with respect to leaf width of MLCs. However, the conformity index was improved as the leaf width decreased. For the sparing of normal brain tissue, treatment plans with MLCs of 3 mm leaf width is more effective, compared to ones with MLCs of 5 mm and 10 mm leaf widths.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2012

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of common three photon energies (6-MV, 10-MV, and 15-MV) on intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans to treat prostate cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with prostate cancer treated locally to 81.0 Gy were retrospectively studied. 6-MV, 10-MV, and 15-MV IMRT plans for each patient were generated using suitable planning objectives, dose constraints, and 8-field setting. The plans were analyzed in terms of dose-volume histogram for the target coverage, dose conformity, organs at risk (OAR) sparing, and normal tissue integral dose. Results: Regardless of the energies chosen at the plans, the target coverage, conformity, and homogeneity of the plans were similar. However, there was a significant dose increase in rectal wall and femoral heads for 6-MV compared to those for 10-MV and 15-MV. The $V_{20Gy}$ of rectal wall with 6-MV, 10-MV, and 15-MV were 95.6%, 88.4%, and 89.4% while the mean dose to femoral heads were 31.7, 25.9, and 26.3 Gy, respectively. Integral doses to the normal tissues in higher energy (10-MV and 15-MV) plans were reduced by about 7%. Overall, integral doses in mid and low dose regions in 6-MV plans were increased by up to 13%. Conclusion: In this study, 10-MV prostate IMRT plans showed better OAR sparing and less integral doses than the 6-MV. The biological and clinical significance of this finding remains to be determined afterward, considering neutron dose contribution.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.3-9
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• 1991

Brachytherapy is a method of radiotherapy in advantage to achieve better local control with minimum radiation toxicity in comparison with external irradiation because radiation dose is distributed according to the inverse square low of gamma-ray emitted from the implanted sources. The main characteristics of brachytherapy are delivering of higher dose to target volume shortening of total treatment period and sparing of normal tissue. Recent development of iridium ribbons for low dose rate implant provides improvement of technology of brachytherapy in terms of safety and efficiency. High dose rate method. on the other hand, is effective to avoid unnecessary expoure of medical personnel.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3365-3370
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• 2015

Radiotherapy has an important role in the treatment of prostate cancer. Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT), intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) techniques are all applied for this purpose. However, the risk of secondary radiation-induced bladder cancer is significantly elevated in irradiated patients compared surgery-only or watchful waiting groups. There are also reports of risk of secondary cancer with low doses to normal tissues. This study was designed to compare received volumes of low doses among 3D-CRT, IMRT and VMAT techniques for prostate patients. Ten prostate cancer patients were selected retrospectively for this planning study. Treatment plans were generated using 3D-CRT, IMRT and VMAT techniques. Conformity index (CI), homogenity index (HI), receiving 5 Gy of the volume (V5%), receiving 2 Gy of the volume (V2%), receiving 1 Gy of the volume (V1%) and monitor units (MUs) were compared. This study confirms that VMAT has slightly better CI while thev olume of low doses was higher. VMAT had lower MUs than IMRT. 3D-CRT had the lowest MU, CI and HI. If target coverage and normal tissue sparing are comparable between different treatment techniques, the risk of second malignancy should be a important factor in the selection of treatment.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 1987

The ultimate goal of radiotherapy is to result in complete local control of tumor while sparing the surrounding normal tissues as much as possible. Since the development of CT in 1970s, patient's anatomical normal tissues and the site and extent of infiltration of tumor were identified almost accurately. In addition, the isodose distribution of delivered radiation to target tumor was shown in each cross-section. In the treatment planning of head and neck cancers, CT-reconstruction provided almost 3-dimensinonal inter-relationship between tumor and normal tissues. The utilization of imaging system of the CT scanner made it possible to illustrate in superposition the patient structure image, the radiation beams, and the isodose distributions. Thus it was possible to deliver radiation enough to control the local disease, and to avoid unnecessary administration of radiation to normal tissue such as spinal cord. CT-reconstructed image in axial, sagittal, and coronal planes suggested 3-dimensional radiotherapy treatment planning be possible and practical instead of conventional 2-dimensional planning at coronal plane.