Quality indicators for hyperthermia treatment: Italian survey analysis.

Aim: Nowadays, no Quality Indicators (QI) have been proposed for Hyperthermia treatments. Starting from radiotherapy experience, the aim of this work is to adapt radiotherapy indicators to Hyperthermia and to propose a new specific set of QI in Hyperthermia field.

Material And Methods: At first, radiotherapy quality indicators published in literature have been adapted to hyperthermia setting.

Evaluation of wound healing potential of pomegranate () whole fruit extract on skin burn wound in rats ().

Objective: This research was conducted to study the wound healing process of whole fruit pomegranate extract () standardized with 40% ellagic acid ointment for deep second-degree burn wound of skin in the rat ().

Materials And Methods: Powder of standardized pomegranate extract (SPE) with 40% ellagic acid was processed to become ointments. Twenty-five male rats, weighed 150-180 gm at 3 months of age, were randomly divided into five groups.

Comparison of two different EPID-based solutions performing pretreatment quality assurance: 2D portal dosimetry versus 3D forward projection method.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to characterize two different EPID-based solutions for pre-treatment VMAT quality assurance, the 2D portal dosimetry and the 3D projection technique. Their ability to catch the main critical delivery errors was studied.

Methods: Measurements were performed with a linac accelerator equipped with EPID aSi1000, Portal Dose Image Prediction (PDIP), and PerFRACTION softwares.

Impact of a rectal and bladder preparation protocol on prostate cancer outcome in patients treated with external beam radiotherapy.

Purpose And Objective: To test the hypothesis that a rectal and bladder preparation protocol is associated with an increase in prostate cancer specific survival (PCSS), clinical disease free survival (CDFS) and biochemical disease free survival (BDFS).

Patients And Methods: From 1999 to 2012, 1080 prostate cancer (PCa) patients were treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). Of these patients, 761 were treated with an empty rectum and comfortably full bladder (RBP) preparation protocol, while for 319 patients no rectal/bladder preparation (NRBP) protocol was adopted.

NOD-SCID mice irradiation with medical accelerators: Dosimetric and radiobiological results.

Purpose: Preclinical studies normally requires dedicated instruments due to the small anatomical scales involved, but the possibility of using clinical devices for this purpose may be of economical, scientific and translational interest. In the present work the accurate description of treatment planning, dosimetric results, radiotoxicity and tumor response of the irradiation of NOD-SCID mice were presented. Two medical linear accelerators, TrueBeam STx and Tomotherapy Hi-ART, were compared.

Red marrow and blood dosimetry in (131)I treatment of metastatic thyroid carcinoma: pre-treatment versus in-therapy results.

Treatment with radioiodine is a standard procedure for patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer, but the main approach to the therapy is still empiric, consisting of the administration of fixed activities. A predictive individualized dosimetric study may represent an important tool for physicians to determine the best activity to prescribe. The aim of this work is to compare red marrow and blood absorbed dose values obtained in the pre-treatment (PT) dosimetry phase with those obtained in the in-treatment (IT) dosimetry phase in order to estimate the predictive power of PT trial doses and to determine if they can be used as a decision-making tool to safely administer higher (131)I activity to potentially increase the efficacy of treatment.

A pre-treatment quality assurance survey on 384 patients treated with helical intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

The gamma index pass rate (%GP) of 384 helical Tomotherapy pre-patient quality assurance, acquired with ArcCHECK, is presented, analyzed, and correlated to plan characteristics. Average %GP was higher than 90% and correlated strongly with gamma method, irradiated length, pitch, maximum dose to diodes, and dose per fraction.

Erratum to: Tomotherapy PET-guided dose escalation--A dosimetric feasibility study for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Unfortunately, erroneous author affiliations were published in the article "Tomotherapy PET-guided dose escalation – A dosimetric feasibility study for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma". The correct list of author affiliations reads as follows: Angelo Maggio 1, Claudia Cutaia 1, Amalia Di Dia 1, Sara Bresciani 1, Anna Miranti 1, Matteo Poli 1, Elena Delmastro 2, Elisabetta Garibaldi 2, Pietro Gabriele 2 and Michele Stasi 1. 1: Medical Physics Department, Candiolo Cancer Institute – FPO, IRCCS, Turin, Italy.

Tomotherapy PET-guided dose escalation: A dosimetric feasibility study for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether a safe escalation of the dose to the pleural cavity and PET/CT-positive areas in patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is possible using helical tomotherapy (HT).

Material And Methods: We selected 12 patients with MPM. Three planning strategies were investigated.

Comparison of mathematical models for red marrow and blood absorbed dose estimation in the radioiodine treatment of advanced differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Metastatic and recurrent differentiated thyroid carcinoma is preferably treated with (131)I, whose administered activity is limited by red marrow (RM) toxicity, originally correlated by Benua to a blood absorbed dose higher than 2 Gy. Afterward a variety of dosimetric approaches has been proposed. The aim of this work is to compare the results of the Benua formula with the ones of other three blood and RM absorbed dose formulae.

Tomotherapy treatment plan quality assurance: the impact of applied criteria on passing rate in gamma index method.

Purpose: Pretreatment patient plan verification with gamma index (GI) metric analysis is standard procedure for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the variability of the local and global gamma index obtained during standard pretreatment quality assurance (QA) measurements for plans performed with Tomotherapy unit. The QA measurements were performed with a 3D diode array, using variable passing criteria: 3%∕3 mm, 2%∕2 mm, 1%∕1 mm, each with both local and global normalization.

Pretreatment patient-specific IMRT quality assurance: a correlation study between gamma index and patient clinical dose volume histogram.

Purpose: The aim of this work is to investigate the predictive power of a common conventional intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) quality assurance (QA) performance metric, the gamma passing rate (%GP), through the analysis of the sensitivity and of the correlation between %GP and different dose discrepancies between planned dose-volume histogram (DVH) and perturbed DVH. The perturbed DVH is calculated by using a dedicated software, 3DVH (Sun Nuclear Corporation, Melbourne, FL), which is able to modify the dose distribution calculated by the treatment planning system (TPS) according to the dose discrepancies detected with planar measurements in order to predict the delivered 3D dose distribution in the patient.

Methods: Twenty-seven high-risk prostate cancer (PP) patients and 15 head and neck (HN) cancer patients, treated with IMRT technique, were analyzed.