The Usefulness of Adaptative Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer: How, When, and Who?

The aim of this study was to develop a deformable image registration (DIR)-based offline ART protocol capable of identifying significant dosimetric changes in the first treatment fractions to determine when adaptive replanning is needed. A total of 240 images (24 planning CT (pCT) and 216 kilovoltage cone-beam CT (CBCT)) were prospectively acquired from 24 patients with prostate adenocarcinoma during the first three weeks of their treatment (76 Gy in 38 fractions). This set of images was used to plan a hypofractionated virtual treatment (57.

Patterns of practice for adaptive and real-time radiation therapy (POP-ART RT) part II: Offline and online plan adaption for interfractional changes.

Purpose: The POP-ART RT study aims to determine to what extent and how intrafractional real-time respiratory motion management (RRMM), and plan adaptation for interfractional anatomical changes (ART) are used in clinical practice and to understand barriers to implementation. Here we report on part II: ART using more than one plan per target per treatment course.

Materials And Methods: A questionnaire on the current practice of ART, wishes for expansion or implementation, and barriers to implementation was distributed worldwide.

Statistical process control for electron beam monitoring.

Purpose: To assess the electron beam monitoring statistical process control (SPC) in linear accelerator (linac) daily quality control. We present a long-term record of our measurements and evaluate which SPC-led conditions are feasible for maintaining control.

Methods: We retrieved our linac beam calibration, symmetry, and flatness daily records for all electron beam energies from January 2008 to December 2013, and retrospectively studied how SPC could have been applied and which of its features could be used in the future.

Validation of a deformable image registration produced by a commercial treatment planning system in head and neck.

In recent years one of the areas of interest in radiotherapy has been adaptive radiation therapy (ART), with the most efficient way of performing ART being the use of deformable image registration (DIR). In this paper we use the distances between points of interest (POIs) in the computed tomography (CT) and the cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) acquisition images and the inverse consistence (IC) property to validate the RayStation treatment planning system (TPS) DIR algorithm. This study was divided into two parts: Firstly the distance-accuracy of the TPS DIR algorithm was ascertained by placing POIs on anatomical features in the CT and CBCT images from five head and neck cancer patients.

Study of DQE dependence with beam quality on GE essential mammography flat panel.

This paper deals with the analysis of the behavior of objective image quality parameters for the new GE Senographe Essential FFDM system, in particular its dependence with beam quality. The detector consists of an indirect conversion a-Si flat panel coupled to a CsI:Tl scintillator. The system under study has gone through a series of relevant modifications in flat panel with respect to the previous model (GE Senographe DS 2000).