Integrating cine EPID, dynamic delivery, and the off-axis Winston-Lutz test to enhance quality control in multiple brain metastasis stereotactic radiotherapy.

Purpose: Stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) has transformed cancer treatment, especially for brain metastases. Ensuring accurate SRT delivery is crucial, with the Winston-Lutz test being an important quality control tool. Off-axis Winston-Lutz (OAWL) tests are designed for accuracy assessment, but most are limited to fixed angles and hampered by local-field shifts caused by suboptimal Multi-Leaf Collimator (MLC) positioning.

Personalization of Tc-sestamibi activity in SPECT/CT myocardial perfusion imaging with the cardiofocal SmartZoom® collimator.

Background: Patient radioprotection in myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI)-SPECT is important but difficult to optimize. The aim of this study was to adjust injected activity according to patient size-weight or BMI-by using a cardiofocal collimator camera.

Methods: The correlation equation between size and observed counts in image was determined in patients who underwent stress Tc-99m-sestamibi MPI-SPECT/CT with a cardiofocal collimator-equipped conventional Anger SPECT/CT system.

Evaluation of the ability of the Brainlab Elements Cranial Distortion Correction algorithm to correct clinically relevant MRI distortions for cranial SRT.

Purpose: Cranial stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) requires highly accurate lesion delineation. However, MRI can have significant inherent geometric distortions. We investigated how well the Elements Cranial Distortion Correction algorithm of Brainlab (Munich, Germany) corrects the distortions in MR image-sets of a phantom and patients.

Technical Note: A 3D-printed phantom for radiochromic film evaluation of moving lung tumor SBRT without dose convolution.

Purpose: A common dosimetric quality assurance (QA) method in stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of lung tumors is to use lung phantoms with radiochromic film. However, in most phantoms, the film moves with the tumor, leading to the blurring effect. This technical note presents the QA performance of a novel phantom in which the film is fixed; this phantom can be used for both patient-specific QA and end-to-end testing.

Molecular epidemiology of peste des petits ruminants in Niger: An update.

Like many West African countries, outbreaks of peste des petits ruminants (PPR), an economically important disease of goats and sheep, are regularly reported in Niger. The causative virus, peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), can be differentiated into four genetically distinct lineages. A publication in 2018 identified three PPRV lineages circulating in the country in 2001 (lineages I and II) and 2013 (lineage IV), respectively.