Reirradiation + hyperthermia for recurrent breast cancer en cuirasse.

Background And Purpose: Patients with irresectable locoregional recurrent breast cancer en cuirasse (BCEC) do not have effective curative treatment options. Hyperthermia, the elevation of tumor temperature to 40-45 °C, is a well-established radio- and chemotherapy sensitizer. A total of 196 patients were treated with reirradiation and hyperthermia (reRT+HT) at two Dutch institutes from 1982-2005.

Reirradiation and hyperthermia for irresectable locoregional recurrent breast cancer in previously irradiated area: Size matters.

Background/purpose: Treatment options for irresectable locoregional recurrent breast cancer in previously irradiated area are limited. Hyperthermia, elevating tumor temperature to 40-45°C, sensitizes radio-and-chemotherapy. Four hundred and fourteen patients treated with reirradiation+hyperthermia (reRT+HT) in the AMC(n=301) and the BVI(n=113), from 1982 to 2005 were retrospectively analyzed for treatment response, locoregional control (LC) and prognostic factors for LC and toxicity.

Review of clinical brachytherapy uncertainties: analysis guidelines of GEC-ESTRO and the AAPM.

Background And Purpose: A substantial reduction of uncertainties in clinical brachytherapy should result in improved outcome in terms of increased local control and reduced side effects. Types of uncertainties have to be identified, grouped, and quantified.

Methods: A detailed literature review was performed to identify uncertainty components and their relative importance to the combined overall uncertainty.

Patient positioning based on a radioactive tracer implanted in patients with localized prostate cancer: a performance and safety evaluation.

Purpose: To evaluate the performance and safety of a radiation therapy positioning system (RealEye) based on tracking a radioactive marker (Tracer) implanted in patients with localized prostate cancer.

Methods And Materials: We performed a single-arm multi-institutional trial in 20 patients. The iridium-192 ((192)Ir)-containing Tracer was implanted in the patient together with 4 standard gold seed fiducials.

A dosimetric uncertainty analysis for photon-emitting brachytherapy sources: report of AAPM Task Group No. 138 and GEC-ESTRO.

This report addresses uncertainties pertaining to brachytherapy single-source dosimetry preceding clinical use. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Technical Note 1297 are taken as reference standards for uncertainty formalism. Uncertainties in using detectors to measure or utilizing Monte Carlo methods to estimate brachytherapy dose distributions are provided with discussion of the components intrinsic to the overall dosimetric assessment.

Patterns of care study for brachytherapy: results of the questionnaire for the years 2002 and 2007 in The Netherlands.

Purpose: The goal of the ESTRO Patterns of Care study for Brachytherapy in Europe (PCBE) 2002 was to develop an aid to analyse brachytherapy practices. A 2 version of the PCB questionnaire was created for 2007. Data over 2007 were collected at the radiotherapy institutions in The Netherlands and compared with those from 2002.

A program for the independent verification of brachytherapy planning system calculations.

Purpose: In this work a spreadsheet based program is presented that to a large extent independently verifies the calculations of individual plans of brachytherapy treatment planning systems for low dose rate, high dose rate and pulsed dose rate techniques.

Material And Methods: The verification program has been developed based on workbooks/spreadsheets. The treatment planning system output text files are automatically loaded into the new program, allowing the use of the source coordinates, the desired calculation point coordinates, and the dwell times of a patient plan.

Study of encapsulated 170Tm sources for their potential use in brachytherapy.

Purpose: High dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is currently performed with 192Ir sources, and 60Co has returned recently into clinical use as a source for this kind of cancer treatment. Both radionuclides have mean photon energies high enough to require specific shielded treatment rooms. In recent years, 169Yb has been explored as an alternative for HDR-brachytherapy implants.

The evolution of brachytherapy treatment planning.

Brachytherapy is a mature treatment modality that has benefited from technological advances. Treatment planning has advanced from simple lookup tables to complex, computer-based dose-calculation algorithms. The current approach is based on the AAPM TG-43 formalism with recent advances in acquiring single-source dose distributions.

Development of a TLD mailed system for remote dosimetry audit for (192)Ir HDR and PDR sources.

Background And Purpose: In the framework of an ESTRO ESQUIRE project, the BRAPHYQS Physics Network and the EQUAL-ESTRO laboratory have developed a procedure for checking the absorbed dose to water in the vicinity of HDR or PDR sources using a mailed TLD system. The methodology and the materials used in the procedure are based on the existing EQUAL-ESTRO external radiotherapy dose checks.

Materials And Methods: A phantom for TLD postal dose assurance service, adapted to accept catheters from different HDR afterloaders, has been developed.

Quality assurance in the EORTC randomized trial 22922/10925 investigating the role of irradiation of the internal mammary and medial supraclavicular lymph node chain works.

Background And Purpose: A quality assurance (QA) program in conjunction with the EORTC trial investigating the role of adjuvant internal mammary and medial supraclavicular irradiation in stage I-III breast cancer is presented. The results of a dummy run procedure and of an individual case review are compared to each other. The effects of recommendations based on QA procedures on the protocol compliance are evaluated.

The EQUAL-ESTRO audit on geometric reconstruction techniques in brachytherapy.

Background And Purpose: A geometric check procedure of the reconstruction techniques used in brachytherapy treatment planning systems was developed by the EQUAL (European Quality Laboratory) Laboratory in the framework of the ESTRO's (European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology) project 'ESQUIRE' (Education Science and QUality assurance In Radiotherapy in Europe [Baumann M, Brada M. Towards equity in turbulent Europe ESTRO, European cooperation and the European Commission. Radiother Oncol 2005;75:251-2.

Quality control of brachytherapy equipment in the Netherlands and Belgium: current practice and minimum requirements.

Background And Purpose: Brachytherapy is applied in 39 radiotherapy institutions in The Netherlands and Belgium. Each institution has its own quality control (QC) programme to ensure safe and accurate dose delivery to the patient. The main goal of this work is to gain insight into the current practice of QC of brachytherapy in The Netherlands and Belgium and to reduce possible variations in test frequencies and tolerances by formulating a set of minimum QC-requirements.