PURPOSE The purpose of the study was to evaluate the patient set-up error of different anatomical sites, to estimate the effect of different frequencies of online verifications on the patient set-up accuracy, and to calculate margins to accommodate for the patient set-up error (ICRU set-up margin, SM). METHODS AND MATERIALS Alignment data of 148 patients treated with inversed planned intensit...

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) software is an increasingly popular tool for English second language learners. However, research on the accuracy of such has been both scarce and largely limited in its scope. As such, this article broadens field AWE by using a mixed design to holistically evaluate corrective feedback leading program Grammarly. 1136 Grammarly-identified errors related style, l...

A model has been developed to describe the sampling process that occurs when intensity modulated radiotherapy treatments (delivered with a multileaf collimator) are imaged with an electronic portal imaging device that acquires a set of frames with a finite dead-time between them. The effects of the imaging duty cycle and frame rate on the accuracy of dosimetric verification have been studied. A...

BACKGROUND Fiducial markers and daily electronic portal imaging (EPI) can reduce the risk of geographic miss in prostate cancer radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to estimate CTV to PTV margin requirements, without and with the use of this image guidance strategy. METHODS 46 patients underwent placement of 3 radio-opaque fiducial markers prior to prostate RT. Daily pre-treatment EPIs...

During routine investigations, we are surprised to find that therapy for bone metastases is sometimes delayed for a considerable period of time. To determine the extent of this delay and its causes, we reviewed the medical records of symptomatic patients seen at our hospital who had been recently diagnosed as having bone metastases for the last four years. The treatment delay was defined as the...

Inverse optimization of robotic stereotactic lung radiotherapy is typically performed using relatively simple dose calculation algorithm on a single instance of breathing geometry. Variations of patient geometry and tissue density during respiration could reduce the dose accuracy of these 3D optimized plans. To quantify the potential benefits of direct four-dimensional (4D) optimization in robo...

BACKGROUND We aimed to evaluate early clinical and pathological results for treating locally advanced rectal cancer with bevacizumab and neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy using the technique of prone-position volumetric modulated arc therapy and to compare the toxicity of volumetric modulated arc therapy with that of supine-position four-field box radiotherapy. METHODS Twelve patients ...

In developed countries, more than half of all cancer patients receive radiotherapy at some stage in the management of their disease. However, a radiation-induced secondary malignancy can be the price of success if the primary cancer is cured or at least controlled. Therefore, there is increasing concern regarding radiation-related second cancer risks in long-term radiotherapy survivors and a co...

background: identify the optimal technique of radiotherapy for patients with high grade glioma. our initial year of experience with rapidarc radiation therapy. materials and methods: planning ct scans of 50 patients with grade iv glioma were reviewed and three plan sets by 3d conformal radiotherapy (3dcrt), intensity modulated radiotherapy (imrt) and rapid arc (ra) were generated and the plans ...

PURPOSE Head and neck radiotherapy planning with positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) requires the images to be reliably registered with treatment planning CT. Acquiring PET/CT in treatment position is problematic, and in practice for some patients it may be beneficial to use diagnostic PET/CT for radiotherapy planning. Therefore, the aim of this study was first to quantify...