PURPOSE To evaluate whether Co-60 is equivalent to Ir-192 for HDR cervical brachytherapy, through 3D-DVH dose comparisons in standard and optimised plans. Previous studies have only considered 2D dosimetry, point dose comparisons or identical loading. Typical treatment times and economics are considered. MATERIAL AND METHODS Plans were produced for eight cervix patients using Co-60 and Ir-192...

This study was designed to determine whether volumetric imaging could identify consistent alternative prescription methods to Manchester/point A when prescribing radiation dose in the treatment of cervical cancer using HDR intracavitary brachy-therapy (ICBT). One hundred and twenty-five treatment plans of 25 patients treated for carcinoma of the cervix were reviewed retrospectively. Each patien...

background: neutron contamination in our environment can cause harmful biological effects on human body. therefore, many efforts have been made to construct a neutron dosimeter to estimate the received dose. objective: to design a simple neutron dosimeter. methods: the primary dosimeter had 3he as a spherical thermal neutron detector encircled by paraffin 10 cm in radius. then, the paraffin sph...

In assessing whether a dosemeter is adequate for its intended use it is important to have reliable proficiency test data on the instrument. Each dosemeter should be calibrated before its first use, and then should be recalibrated periodically. The recommendation of the use of the ICRU operational quantities for area and personal monitoring, e.g. in the International Basic Safety Standards for P...

introduction: during radiotherapy, high accuracy in the dose delivery is required because there is a strong  relationship between the absorbed dose, local tumor control and particularly the normal tissue damage. in  many institutions, in vivo dosimetry using diodes is performed to check the actual dose delivered. in general,  the uncertainty in the dose delivered should fall within  ± 5% of the...

background: the advantages of proton beam in radiation therapy- like small lateral scattering as well as absence of exit dose tail in the organs which are after the tumor- make it capable of delivering more treatment doses to the target and much lesser to the critical tissues near it. materials and methods: in this study, the monte carlo mcnpx code has been used to simulate a slab head phantom ...

Background: Application of the image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) system for gastric cancer involving daily verification of patient positioning on the treatment machine allows minimisation of geometrical errors as a consequence of intra- and inter-fraction motion. The purpose of this study was to define the intrafraction motion in gastric cancer patients during a treatment session based on the IG...

PURPOSE To identify organs at risk (OAR) and analyze the dose volume histograms (DVHs) for intracavitary brachytherapy in cancer of the cervix. Late toxicities are our concern in treatment of cancer cervix especially as it is presenting in younger age population. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients with cancer of the cervix were treated using CT and MRI compatible, high dose rate, (HDR) applicators...

PURPOSE The AccuBoost brachytherapy system applies HDR 192Ir beams peripherally to the breast using collimating applicators. The purpose of this study was to benchmark Monte Carlo simulations of the HDR 192Ir source, to dosimetrically characterize the round applicators using established Monte Carlo simulation and radiation measurement techniques and to gather data for clinical use. METHODS Do...

BACKGROUND Effective dose represents the potential risk to a population of stochastic effects of ionizing radiation (mainly lethal cancer). In recent years, there have been a number of revisions and updates influencing the way to estimate the effective dose. The aim of this work was to recalculate the effective dose values for the 338 different radiopharmaceuticals previously published by the I...