A Couch Mounted Smartphone-based Motion Monitoring System for Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: Surface-guided radiation-therapy (SGRT) systems are being adopted into clinical practice for patient setup and motion monitoring. However, commercial systems remain cost prohibitive to resource-limited clinics around the world. Our aim is to develop and validate a smartphone-based application using LiDAR cameras (such as on recent Apple iOS devices) for facilitating SGRT in low-resource centers.

Early-stage Breast Cancer: Tailored External Beam Fractionation Approaches for Treatment of the Whole or Partial Breast.

Historically, radiotherapy fractionation for early-stage breast cancer primarily consisted of 1.8-2 Gy per fraction given once daily to a total dose of 45-66 Gy over 5-7 weeks for whole breast treatment. Partial breast treatment employed larger dose per fraction (3.

A pilot, randomized controlled trial of telementorship: A useful tool during social distancing.

Background: During social distancing, resident mentorship may be an unmet need. Telementorship, mentorship through video conferencing software, presents a unique approach to overcome these challenges.

Aims: This study evaluated whether telementorship through video conference increased access to mentorship encounters and decreased perceived barriers to access, factors that determine likelihood to maintain mentor relationships, and quality of mentorship.

Telemedicine in Radiation Oncology: Is It Here to Stay? Impacts on Patient Care and Resident Education.

Purpose: Telemedicine was rapidly and ubiquitously adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are growing discussions as to its role postpandemic.

Methods And Materials: We surveyed patients, radiation oncology (RO) attendings, and RO residents to assess their experience with telemedicine.

Predicting Survival for Patients With Metastatic Disease.

Purpose: This prospective study aimed to determine the accuracy of radiation oncologists in predicting the survival of patients with metastatic disease receiving radiation therapy and to understand factors associated with their accuracy.

Methods And Materials: This single-institution study surveyed 22 attending radiation oncologists to estimate patient survival. Survival predictions were defined as accurate if the observed survival (OS) was within the correct survival prediction category (0-6 months, >6-12 months, >12-24 months, and >24 months).

Increases in Serial Pretreatment F-FDG PET-CT Metrics Predict Survival in Early Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated With Stereotactic Ablative Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: Quantitative changes in positron emission tomography with computed tomography imaging metrics over serial scans may be predictive biomarkers. We evaluated the relationship of pretreatment metabolic tumor growth rate (MTGR) and standardized uptake value velocity (SUVV) with disease recurrence or death in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer treated with stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR).

Methods And Materials: Under institutional review board approval, we retrospectively identified patients who underwent positron emission tomography with computed tomography at diagnosis and staging and simulation for SABR.

F-EF5 PET-based Imageable Hypoxia Predicts Local Recurrence in Tumors Treated With Highly Conformal Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: Tumor hypoxia contributes to radiation resistance. A noninvasive assessment of tumor hypoxia would be valuable for prognostication and possibly selection for hypoxia-targeted therapies. F-pentafluorinated etanidazole (F-EF5) is a nitroimidazole derivative that has demonstrated promise as a positron emission tomography (PET) hypoxia imaging agent in preclinical and clinical studies.

SBRT and HDR brachytherapy produce lower PSA nadirs and different PSA decay patterns than conventionally fractionated IMRT in patients with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer.

Purpose: To compare patterns of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response following stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy, and conventionally fractionated intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer (CaP).

Methods And Materials: Eligible study patients included 439 patients with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer who were treated with radiation therapy (RT) alone between 2003 and 2013, remained free of biochemical recurrence, and had at least 2 PSA values within the first year following RT. Of these, 130 were treated with SBRT, 220 with HDR brachytherapy, and 89 with IMRT.

Differentiation of ductal carcinoma in-situ from benign micro-calcifications by dedicated breast computed tomography.

Purpose: Compare conspicuity of ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS) to benign calcifications on unenhanced (bCT), contrast-enhanced dedicated breast CT (CEbCT) and mammography (DM).

Methods And Materials: The institutional review board approved this HIPAA-compliant study. 42 women with Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System 4 or 5 category micro-calcifications had breast CT before biopsy.

Development of a patient-specific two-compartment anthropomorphic breast phantom.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a technique for the construction of a two-compartment anthropomorphic breast phantom specific to an individual patient's pendant breast anatomy. Three-dimensional breast images were acquired on a prototype dedicated breast computed tomography (bCT) scanner as part of an ongoing IRB-approved clinical trial of bCT. The images from the breast of a patient were segmented into adipose and glandular tissue regions and divided into 1.

Persistent CT nephrograms following cardiac catheterisation and intervention: initial observations.

Objectives: To describe persistent nephrographic patterns detected by unenhanced renal CT at 24 h after cardiac catheterisation and intervention.

Methods: This prospective study was Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant and institutional review board approved. Twenty-nine patients (20 men, nine women; average age 63.

Kilovoltage rotational external beam radiotherapy on a breast computed tomography platform: a feasibility study.

Purpose: To demonstrate the feasibility of a dedicated breast computed tomography (bCT) platform to deliver rotational kilovoltage (kV) external beam radiotherapy (RT) for partial breast irradiation, whole breast irradiation, and dose painting.

Methods And Materials: Rotational kV-external beam RT using the geometry of a prototype bCT platform was evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulator. A point source emitting 178 keV photons (approximating a 320-kVp spectrum with 4-mm copper filtration) was rotated around a 14-cm voxelized polyethylene disk (0.

The characterization of breast anatomical metrics using dedicated breast CT.

Purpose: Accurate anatomical characterization of the breast is useful in breast phantom development and computer modeling of breast imaging technologies. Capitalizing on the three-dimensional capabilities of dedicated breast CT (bCT), a number of parameters which describe breast shape and fibroglandular distribution are defined.

Methods: Among 219 bCT data sets, the effective diameter and length of the pendant breast as well as the breast volume were measured and characterized for each bra cup size.

Experimentally determined spectral optimization for dedicated breast computed tomography.

Purpose: The current study aimed to experimentally identify the optimal technique factors (x-ray tube potential and added filtration material/thickness) to maximize soft-tissue contrast, microcalcification contrast, and iodine contrast enhancement using cadaveric breast specimens imaged with dedicated breast computed tomography (bCT). Secondarily, the study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of phantom materials as tissue surrogates and to characterize the change in accuracy with varying bCT technique factors.

Methods: A cadaveric breast specimen was acquired under appropriate approval and scanned using a prototype bCT scanner.

Longitudinal volume analysis from computed tomography: Reproducibility using adrenal glands as surrogate tumors.

This study aims to determine the precision (reproducibility) of volume assessment in routine clinical computed tomography (CT) using adrenal glands as surrogate tumors. Seven patients at our institution were identified retrospectively as having received numerous abdominal CT scans (average 13.1, range 5 to 20).

Contrast-enhanced dedicated breast CT: initial clinical experience.

Purpose: To quantify contrast material enhancement of breast lesions scanned with dedicated breast computed tomography (CT) and to compare their conspicuity with that at unenhanced breast CT and mammography.

Materials And Methods: Approval of the institutional review board and the Radiation Use Committee and written informed consent were obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study. Between September 2006 and April 2009, 46 women (mean age, 53.

Volume assessment accuracy in computed tomography: a phantom study.

There is a broad push in the cancer imaging community to eventually replace linear tumor measurements with three-dimensional evaluation of tumor volume. To evaluate the potential accuracy of volume measurement in tumors by CT, a gelatin phantom consisting of 55 polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) spheres spanning diameters from 1.6 mm to 25.