Publications by authors named "James Earley"
Article Synopsis
- Cone beam CT (CBCT) is essential for modern radiotherapy, but it can also result in high radiation doses to a large area of tissue, making dose optimization crucial.
- A UK survey collected dose data from 63 radiotherapy centers, determining the cone beam dose index (CBDI) values for seven treatment sites and establishing national dose reference levels (DRLs) to ensure safety.
- Significant differences were found in imaging systems and protocols, with centers that actively optimized imaging doses achieving better results, particularly in prostate versus gynecological treatments.
Objective: The reconstruction kernel used for a CT scan strongly influences the image quality. This work investigates the changes in Hounsfield units (HUs) which can arise when altering the image reconstruction kernel for planning CT images and the associated changes in dose in the radiotherapy treatment plan if the treatment planning system (TPS) is not re-calibrated.
Methods: Head and neck, prostate and lung CT images from four centres were used.
CT scans are an integral component of modern radiotherapy treatments, enabling the accurate localisation of the treatment target and organs-at-risk, and providing the tissue density information required for the calculation of dose in the treatment planning system. For these reasons, it is important to ensure exposures are optimised to give the required clinical image quality with doses that are as low as reasonably achievable. However, there is little guidance in the literature on dose levels in radiotherapy CT imaging either within the UK or internationally.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne nanometre wide carbon nanoreactors are utilised as the reaction vessel for catalytic chemical reactions on a preparative scale. Sub-nanometre ruthenium catalytic particles which are encapsulated solely within single-walled carbon nanotubes offering a unique reaction environment are shown to be active when embedded in a supercritical CO2 continuous flow reactor. A range of hydrogenation reactions were tested and the catalyst displayed excellent stability over extended reaction times.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Radiation dose to the bulbomembranous urethra has been shown to correlate with urethral stricture formation. This retrospective case-control study was designed to explore the relationship between dose to the apical/peri-apical regions of the urethra and development of brachytherapy (BXT)-related urethral stricture.
Materials And Methods: Cases were patients who developed urethral stricture after treatment with BXT as monotherapy and who had urethral dosimetry post-implant.