Commissioning of a novel gantry-less proton therapy system.

Purpose: The focus of this article is to describe the configuration, testing, and commissioning of a novel gantry-less synchrotron-based proton therapy (PT) facility.

Materials And Methods: The described PT system delivers protons with a water equivalent range between 4 and 38 cm in 1800 energy layers. The fixed beam delivery permits a maximum field size of 28 × 30 cm.

Measurement of breast skin viscoelasticity and a pilot study on the potential radioprotective effect of a zinc-based cream.

Radiation-induced late skin effects were studied in patients with breast cancer in relation to different protocols of fractionated radiotherapy in three different medical centres, in Israel, the UK and the USA. The mechanical properties of skin were evaluated in breasts of healthy volunteers, and non-irradiated and irradiated breasts of patients, using a newly developed viscoelasticity skin analyser (VESA). The increase of the dose of radiation per fraction was found to have more impact on the development of radiation-induced late skin effects than the elevation of the total dose given.

Evaluation of skin viscoelasticity and anisotropy by measurement of speed of shear wave propagation with viscoelasticity skin analyzer.

Skin viscoelasticity was evaluated by a fast, noninvasive assay based on the measurement of the speed of elastic shear wave propagation in the skin by a new portable and user-friendly viscoelasticity skin analyzer. The range of speed of elastic shear wave propagation measured by viscoelasticity skin analyzer allows the evaluation of the stiffness of a wide spectrum of artificial materials as well as the viscoelasticity of skin of laboratory animals and human subjects. The directional nature of the measurement enables to monitor the anisotropy of the materials tested.

Late effects of dose fractionation on the mechanical properties of breast skin following post-lumpectomy radiotherapy.

Purpose: Late radiation-induced skin effects were studied in a multicenter project using our new sensitive noninvasive viscoelasticity skin analyzer (VESA).

Methods And Materials: Skin viscoelasticity and anisotropy were examined quantitatively in symmetric areas of both breasts in healthy women and in 110 breast cancer patients who underwent lumpectomy and radiotherapy. These parameters were evaluated by the VESA measurement of the speed of elastic wave propagation in the skin; higher VESA readings correspond to higher skin stiffness.