A review of uncertainties in radiotherapy dose reconstruction and their impacts on dose-response relationships.

Proper understanding of the risk of radiation-induced late effects for patients receiving external photon beam radiotherapy requires the determination of reliable dose-response relationships. Although significant efforts have been devoted to improving dose estimates for the study of late effects, the most often questioned explanatory variable is still the dose. In this work, based on a literature review, we provide an in-depth description of the radiotherapy dose reconstruction process for the study of late effects.

Evaluation of MVCT imaging dose levels during helical IGRT: comparison between ion chamber, TLD, and EBT3 films.

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the dose on megavoltage CT (MVCT) images required for tomotherapy. As imaging possibilities are often used before each treatment and usually used several times before the session, we tried to evaluate the dose delivered during the procedure. For each scanning mode (fine, normal, and coarse), we first established the relative variation of these doses according to different technical parameters (explored length, patient setup).

Experimental assessment of out-of-field dose components in high energy electron beams used in external beam radiotherapy.

The purpose of this work was to experimentally investigate the out-of-field dose in a water phantom, with several high energy electron beams used in external beam radiotherapy (RT). The study was carried out for 6, 9, 12, and 18 MeV electron beams, on three different linear accelerators, each equipped with a specific applicator. Measurements were performed in a water phantom, at different depths, for different applicator sizes, and off-axis distances up to 70 cm from beam central axis (CAX).

Retrospective reconstructions of active bone marrow dose-volume histograms.

Purpose: To present a method for calculating dose-volume histograms (DVH's) to the active bone marrow (ABM) of patients who had undergone radiation therapy (RT) and subsequently developed leukemia.

Methods And Materials: The study focuses on 15 patients treated between 1961 and 1996. Whole-body RT planning computed tomographic (CT) data were not available.

In vivo activation of transferred regulatory T cells specific for third-party exogenous antigen controls GVH disease in mice.

Treg cells hold enormous promise for therapeutic application in GVH disease, a lethal complication of allogeneic HSC transplantation. Mouse studies showed that donor-derived recipient-specific Treg (rsTreg) cells are far more efficient than polyclonal Treg cells in suppressing GVH disease. However, clinical grade preparations of rsTreg cells carries the risk of containing significant numbers of highly pathogenic recipient-specific effector T cells.

SHARE: a French multicenter phase III trial comparing accelerated partial irradiation versus standard or hypofractionated whole breast irradiation in breast cancer patients at low risk of local recurrence.

The standard treatment for breast cancer patients at low risk of recurrence is based on conservative surgery followed by radiation therapy delivered to the whole breast. The accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) concept, developed more than 15 years ago, could be an option in selected patients. However, the ideal patient profile for APBI is still not clearly identified.