Dosimetric evaluation and beam characterization of pair production enhanced radiotherapy (PPER) with the use of organometallics.

The current study evaluates dosimetric and spectral effects when platinum (Pt)-based chemotherapeutics and less toxic tungstophosphoric-acid (TPA) organometallics are present during x-ray radiotherapy. We hypothesize that the use of high energy photon beams (i.e.

Principal component analysis modeling of Head-and-Neck anatomy using daily Cone Beam-CT images.

Purpose: To model Head-and-Neck anatomy from daily Cone Beam-CT (CBCT) images over the course of fractionated radiotherapy using principal component analysis (PCA).

Methods And Materials: Eighteen oropharyngeal Head-and-Neck cancer patients, treated with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), were included in this retrospective study. Normal organs, including the parotid and submandibular glands, mandible, pharyngeal constrictor muscles (PCMs), and spinal cord were contoured using daily CBCT image datasets.

Development, commissioning, and evaluation of a new intensity modulated minibeam proton therapy system.

Purpose: To invent, design, construct, and commission an intensity modulated minibeam proton therapy system (IMMPT) without the need for physical collimation and to compare its resulting conformity to a conventional IMPT system.

Methods: A proton therapy system (Hitachi, Ltd, Hitachi City, Japan; Model: Probeat-V) was specially modified to produce scanned minibeams without collimation. We performed integral depth dose acquisitions and calibrations using a large diameter parallel-plate ionization chamber in a scanning water phantom (PTW, Freiburg, Germany; Models: Bragg Peak ionization chamber, MP3-P).

Validation of GPU-accelerated superposition-convolution dose computations for the Small Animal Radiation Research Platform.

Purpose: The Small Animal Radiation Research Platform (SARRP) has been developed for conformal microirradiation with on-board cone beam CT (CBCT) guidance. The graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated Superposition-Convolution (SC) method for dose computation has been integrated into the treatment planning system (TPS) for SARRP. This paper describes the validation of the SC method for the kilovoltage energy by comparing with EBT2 film measurements and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations.