Online Adaptive MRI-Guided Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Pancreatic and Other Intra-Abdominal Cancers.

A 1.5T MRI combined with a linear accelerator (Unity, Elekta; Stockholm, Sweden) is a device that shows promise in MRI-guided stereotactic body radiation treatment (SBRT). Previous studies utilized the manufacturer's pre-set MRI sequences (i.

An introduction to key performance indicators for medical physicists.

Qualified medical physicists (QMPs) are in a unique position to influence the creation and application of key performance indicators (KPIs) across diverse practices in health care. Developing KPIs requires the involvement of stakeholders in the area of interest. Fundamentally, KPIs should provide actionable information for the stakeholders using or viewing them.

Dosimetric benefits of dynamic conformal arc therapy-combined with active breath-hold in lung stereotactic body radiotherapy.

To test the hypothesis that dynamic conformal arc therapy (DCAT) in Monaco, compared with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), maintains plan quality with higher delivery efficiency for lung stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and to investigate dosimetric benefits of DCAT with active breath-hold (DCAT+ABH), compared with free-breathing (DCAT+FB) for varying tumor sizes and motions. Fifty DCAT plans were used for lung SBRT. Randomly selected 17 DCAT plans were evaluated with respect to the retrospectively generated volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans.

Report of Task Group 201 of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine: Quality management of external beam therapy data transfer.

With the advancement of data-intensive technologies, such as image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), the amount and complexity of data to be transferred between clinical subsystems have increased beyond the reach of manual checking. As a result, unintended treatment deviations (e.g.

AAPM medical physics practice guideline 10.a.: Scope of practice for clinical medical physics.

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is a nonprofit professional society whose primary purposes are to advance the science, education, and professional practice of medical physics. The AAPM has more than 8000 members and is the principal organization of medical physicists in the United States. The AAPM will periodically define new practice guidelines for medical physics practice to help advance the science of medical physics and to improve the quality of service to patients throughout the United States.

Redefining and reinvigorating the role of physics in clinical medicine: A Report from the AAPM Medical Physics 3.0 Ad Hoc Committee.

Derived from 2 yr of deliberations and community engagement, Medical Physics 3.0 (MP3.0) is an effort commissioned by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) to devise a framework of strategies by which medical physicists can maintain and improve their integral roles in, and contributions to, health care and its innovation under conditions of rapid change and uncertainty.

Clinical implementation and evaluation of the Acuros dose calculation algorithm.

Purpose: The main aim of this study is to validate the Acuros XB dose calculation algorithm for a Varian Clinac iX linac in our clinics, and subsequently compare it with the wildely used AAA algorithm.

Methods And Materials: The source models for both Acuros XB and AAA were configured by importing the same measured beam data into Eclipse treatment planning system. Both algorithms were validated by comparing calculated dose with measured dose on a homogeneous water phantom for field sizes ranging from 6 cm × 6 cm to 40 cm × 40 cm.

A report from the AAPM Subcommittee on Guidelines for Competency Evaluation for Clinical Medical Physicists in Radiation Oncology.

The goal of this report is to provide a framework from which an institution can develop a competency and credentialing program. It is not intended to be adopted as written, but rather as a list of suggestions from which the institution develops their program. A clear distinction should be made between the initial evaluation of the competency of new staff (credentialing) and the ongoing verification of the competency of existing staff.

SU-E-T-187: Clinical Use of the Software for the Automation of Treatment Field Parameters Verification Prior to Radiation Delivery.

Purpose: Verification of treatment field parameters by therapists take place prior to every or first fraction. Such verification or field timeout should be completely independent from record-and-verify system. It is performed manually via reading treatment parameters from linac screen and comparing them to treatment plan.

A rapid communication from the AAPM Task Group 201: recommendations for the QA of external beam radiotherapy data transfer. AAPM TG 201: quality assurance of external beam radiotherapy data transfer.

The transfer of radiation therapy data among the various subsystems required for external beam treatments is subject to error. Hence, the establishment and management of a data transfer quality assurance program is strongly recommended. It should cover the QA of data transfers of patient specific treatments, imaging data, manually handled data and historical treatment records.

Clinical cough IV:what is the minimal important difference for the Leicester Cough Questionnaire?

Background: The Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) is a valid, reproducible, responsive self-reported cough-specific health status measure. It has been used to assess overall efficacy of treatments for cough, but its threshold for clinical significance, or patient importance, is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the minimal important difference (MID) of the LCQ for patients with chronic cough; this is the smallest change in quality-of-life score considered to be clinically meaningful.

Induced sputum and other outcome measures in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: safety and repeatability.

The forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) is the most established outcome measure in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, changes in FEV1 in response to treatment are small in relation to the repeatability of the measurement and there is increasing interest in other measures including markers of lower airway inflammation in induced sputum, assessment of symptoms and health status using visual analogue scores, and questionnaires. Little is known about the repeatability of these measures or the safety of sputum induction in COPD.

Initial clinical experience with the Peacock intensity modulation of a 3-D conformal radiation therapy system.

Peacock is a 3-D conformal treatment planning and delivery system for conformal radiation therapy which delivers intensity-modulated fields. A group of 13 patients were treated between March and February, 1995. Patient age ranged from 10 to 74.