Lead or cerrobend blocking strips are used to shape electron treatment fields when an appropriate custom insert is not available. For the Varian 2100C accelerator, the structural supports of the electron applicators impede the free placement of these field-shaping strips on the open custom insert frame while placement at the top of the applicator is unimpeded. We have investigated the dosimetri...

Grid radiation therapy with megavoltage x-ray beam has been proven to be an effective technique for management of large, bulky malignant tumors. The clinical advantage of GRID therapy, combined with conventional radiation therapy, has been demonstrated using a prototype GRID block [Mohiuddin, Curtis, Grizos, and Komarnicky, Cancer 66, 114-118 (1990)]. Recently, a new GRID block design with impr...

Introduction: The head scatter factor (Sc) is important to measurements radiation beam and beam modeling of treatment planning systems used for advanced radiation therapy techniques. This study aimed to investigate the design of a mini-phantom to measurement variations in collimator Sc in the presence of shielding blocks for shaping the beam using different field sizes. <str...

Recently the compensator has been shown to be an in expensive and reliable dose delivery device for photon beam intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The goal of IMRT compensator design is to produce an optimized primary fluence profile at the patient's surface obtained from the optimization procedure. In this paper some of the problems associated with IMRT compensator design, specifica...

Background: Total body irradiation (TBI) is a technique that is commonly used as a part of the patient conditioning regimen before the bone marrow transplant (BMT). The purpose of this study is to introduce and implement a reasonable TBI technique on the human-like phantom in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran. Methods: The present experimental study was conducted from October 2016 to November 2...

This study assessed the potential of using megavoltage CT (MVCT) images taken with high density skin collimation in place for electron beam treatment planning. MVCT images were taken using the TomoTherapy Hi-Art system (TomoTherapy Inc., Madison, WI), and the CT numbers were converted to density by calibrating the Hi-Art system using an electron density phantom. Doses were computed using MVCT i...

PURPOSE In a health care environment strongly concerned with cost containment, cost-benefit studies of new technology must include analyses of loco-regional tumor control, morbidity, impact on quality of life, and financial considerations. METHODS AND MATERIALS This nonrandomized study analyzes 124 patients treated with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D CRT) and 153 with stand...

The efficacy of HSV-1 thymidine kinase (TK) and Escherichia coil cytosine deaminase (CD) suicide gene therapies as cancer treatments are currently being examined in humans. We demonstrated previously that compared to single suicide gene therapy, greater levels of targeted cytotoxicity and radiosensitization can be achieved in vitro by genetically modifying tumor cells to express CD and HSV-1 TK...