Monte Carlo simulations of new 2D ripple filters for particle therapy facilities.

Unlabelled: At particle therapy facilities with pencil beam scanning, the implementation of a ripple filter (RiFi) broadens the Bragg peak (BP), which leads to fewer energy steps from the accelerator required to obtain an homogeneous dose coverage of the planned target volume (PTV). At the Universitätsklinikum Gießen und Marburg, Germany, a new second generation RiFi has been developed with two-dimensional groove structures. In this work we evaluate this new RiFi design.

Cancer preceding Wegener's granulomatosis: a case-control study.

Objective: To investigate whether patients with WG have an increased risk of malignancies prior to and/or around the time of the vasculitis diagnosis, as suggested by previous studies.

Methods: A total of 293 WG patients were included in the study. Ten gender- and age-matched controls were selected randomly for each patient from the Danish Central Population Register.

Malignancies in Wegener's granulomatosis: incidence and relation to cyclophosphamide therapy in a cohort of 293 patients.

Objective: To describe the incidence of malignancies in a cohort of Danish patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and to investigate the cancer risk associated with cyclophosphamide (CYC) -therapy in WG.

Methods: In total, 293 patients diagnosed with WG between 1973 and 1999 were studied. Cancer incidence in the cohort was assessed through 2003 by linkage to the Danish Cancer Registry and compared to that of the general population by calculation of standardized incidence ratios (SIR).

[Cranial diabetes insipidus in Wegener's granulomatosis].

We describe three cases of cranial diabetes insipidus (CDI) caused by Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). Panhypopituitarism was the presenting symptom in one patient. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed enlargement of the pituitary gland with an intrasellar mass lesion and absence of posterior pituitary lobe hyperintensity.