Publications by authors named "Jared G Steel"
Article Synopsis
- Radiotherapy processes are prone to errors involving staff and equipment, but Cone-beam CT (CBCT) allows for final checks and corrections before treatment.
- Statistical Process Control (SPC) techniques, commonly used in various industries, were applied to CBCT results in a study of Head and Neck patient treatments over 12 years, demonstrating sensitivity to changes.
- The study found a reduction in random patient setup errors, but systematic errors remained stable, while an increase in errors correlated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and challenges in using SPC for retrospective data analysis were discussed.
The relative electron density (RED) parameter is ubiquitous throughout radiotherapy for clinical dosimetry and treatment planning purposes as it provides a more accurate description of the relevant radiological properties over mass density alone. RED is in practice determined indirectly from calibrated CT Hounsfield Units (HU). While CT images provide useful 3D information, the spectral differences between CT and clinical LINAC beams may impact the validity of the CT-ED calibration, especially in the context of novel tissue-mimicking materials where deviations from biologically typical atomic number to atomic weight ratios 〈Z/A〉 occur and/or high-Z materials are present.
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