Perturbation of water-equivalent thickness as a surrogate for respiratory motion in proton therapy.

Respiratory motion is traditionally assessed using tumor motion magnitude. In proton therapy, respiratory motion causes density variations along the beam path that result in uncertainties of proton range. This work has investigated the use of water-equivalent thickness (WET) to quantitatively assess the effects of respiratory motion on calculated dose in passively scattered proton therapy (PSPT).

NSCLC tumor shrinkage prediction using quantitative image features.

The objective of this study was to develop a quantitative image feature model to predict non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) volume shrinkage from pre-treatment CT images. 64 stage II-IIIB NSCLC patients with similar treatments were all imaged using the same CT scanner and protocol. For each patient, the planning gross tumor volume (GTV) was deformed onto the week 6 treatment image, and tumor shrinkage was quantified as the deformed GTV volume divided by the planning GTV volume.

Target localization accuracy in a respiratory phantom using BrainLAB ExacTrac and 4DCT imaging.

This study evaluated the accuracy of measuring the motion of an internal target using four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) scanning and the BrainLAB ExacTrac X-ray imaging system. Displacements of a metal coil implanted in a commercial respiratory phantom were measured in each system and compared to the known motion. A commercial respiratory motion phantom containing a metal coil as a surrogate target was used.

Evaluation of a commercial flatbed document scanner and radiographic film scanner for radiochromic EBT film dosimetry.

The purpose of this study was to quantify the performance and assess the utility of two different types of scanners for radiochromic EBT film dosimetry: a commercial flatbed document scanner and a widely used radiographic film scanner. We evaluated the Epson Perfection V700 Photo flatbed scanner and the Vidar VXR Dosimetry Pro Advantage scanner as measurement devices for radiochromic EBT film. Measurements were made of scan orientation effects, response uniformity, and scanner noise.