Objective To verify the wedge angle of virtual wedge and the relation between wedge factor and beam energy, field size, wedge angle and to study the difference in percent depth dose (PDD) of virtual wedge field, hard wedge field and open field.Methods Using wedge angle and wedge factor of 15?,30?,45?and 60? virtual wedge of Siemens Mevatron 6?MV and Primus 8?MV, 18?MV X rays were measured by RFA-plus 3D water phantom and RK finger chamber the PDD of the virtual wedge field, hard wedge field and open field were measured by Kodak XV-2 verifying film and FDM-300 film dosimeter. These PDDs were normalized to Dmax then compared. Results There was good conformation between virtual wedge measured by four point method and set value. The virtual wedge was almost equal to 1,with a maximal variation of 0.031 no matter what the value of beam energy, field size or wedge angle was. Generally, for certain energy and field size, the wedge factor of larger wedge angle was slightly larger than smaller wedge angle. For certain energy and wedge angle, the wedge factor of larger field was also a little larger than smaller field. The PDD of virtual wedge field was similar to that of open field. Conclusions The four point method measurement for virtual wedge angle is good for daily QA. Radiotherapy of virtual wedge field is not only simpler than hard wedge field,but also spares the beam output. The PDD comfarmation between virtual field and open field simplifies radiation treatment planning and increases the accuracy of wedge field therapy.

Objective To investigate the potential heart sparing effects of tangential volumetric modulated arc therapy (T-VMAT) by comparing its dosimetric properties with conventional wedged tangential fields (W-TF) technique and 6-field intensity-modulated radiotherapy (6F-IMRT) in the locoregional radiotherapy of left breast cancer after conserving surgery,including internal mammary nodal irradiation.Methods Fifteen patients with left breast cancer were enrolled in this study.Three plans were generated for each patient:W-TF,6F-IMRT and T-VMAT with two arc segments of 50°.The prescription dose to planning tumor volume (PTV) was 50 Gy in 25 fractions.Dose-volume parameters and indices of conformity were calculated and compared for the PTV and organs at risk (OAR).Results Compared with W-TF,T-VMAT not only significantly decreased D D and the high dose areas (above 10 Gy) of the heart and left anterior descending branch (LAD) (P ＜ 0.05),but also had the trend of sparing the V5Gy although there was statistically significant difference (P ＞ 0.05).T-VMAT also significantly decreased Dmean V5Gy,V10Gy and V20Gy of the heart,as well as the D V5Gy and V10 Gy of LAD (P ＜ 0.05),compared to 6F-IMRT.Furthermore,T-VMAT did not result in higher V20Gy of ipsilateral lung and higher V5Gy of contralateral breast compared with W-TF (P ＞ 0.05).T-VMAT achieved distinctly better target coverage and conformity,meanwhile obviously lowered hot volume of V110 compared to W-TF (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions T-VMAT not only significantly decreased the high dose areas,but also had the trend of sparing the low dose area for the heat and LAD.Moreover,there was no significant difference for V20Gy of ipsilateral lung and V5Gy of contralateral breast between T-VMAT and W-TF.

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect of shenqi fanghou recipe (SFR) in preventing and treating radiation injury in patients with head and neck tumor.

METHODSOne hundred and forty patients with head and neck tumor, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma, carcinoma of tonsil or tongue, were randomly divided into 2 groups, 70 patients in the observed group were given modified SFR as adjuvant to radiotherapy, while 70 patients in the control group were treated with radiotherapy alone. The radiation reactions during radiotherapy and the condition of late stage radiation injury radiotherapy in patients in the 2 groups were observed.

RESULTSThe degree of oropharyngeal mucosa reaction, dryness in mouth and radiation dermatitis in cervical region in the observed group was milder than those in the control group, and the radiation injury induced late stage sequelae, such as the degree of mouth-opening was better and the cervical muscular sclerosis was better in the observed group than in the control group, showing significant difference (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSFR has definite effect in preventing and treating radiation reaction and late stage radiation injury in patients with head and neck tumor.

Adult ; Aged ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Radiation Injuries ; drug therapy ; prevention & control

Objective:To establish a novel clinical application process of the optical surface monitoring system (OSMS) in the cranial frameless stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT), and to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of the OSMS in the intra-fraction motion monitoring of both cranial phantoms and cranial SRT patients fixed using the Q-Fix encompass immobilization system.Methods:The deviations of OSMS in the real-time motion monitoring were assessed by determining the deviations between the displacement of the cranial SRS phantoms detected by the OSMS and the predefined displacement of the Varian Edge six degrees of freedom (6DoF) couch. The ability of the OSMS to conduct real-time monitoring of the head movement was also analyzed when one camera was blocked by the rotary gantry of the accelerator and when the couch was at non-zero angles. Moreover, ten patients who received 50 fractions of cranial frameless SRT were enrolled in this study. All the patients were fixed using the Q-Fix Encompass system, and their intra-fraction motion was monitored using the OSMS. The intra-fraction errors of OSMS real-time monitoring throughout the treatment were obtained from the OSMS logs. The patients received cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) after the beam delivery, and the six-dimensional errors were obtained as intra-fraction motion errors of the CBCT.Results:For the cranial phantoms, there was a close correlation between the OSMS monitoring deviations and the predefined displacement in six dimensions. The OSMS-detected 3D vector deviations in the translational and rotational directions were (0.28±0.10) mm and (0.15±0.09)°, respectively when the angel both the gantry and couch was 0° and were (0.35±0.13) mm and(0.17±0.09)°, respectively, when one camera was blocked. The OSMS monitoring deviations with the couch at a non-zero degree were greater than those at zero degree. The maximum deviations occurred when the couch was at 270° and were (0.69±0.19) mm and (0.32±0.12)°, respectively, in the translational and rotational directions. For the cranial SRT patients fixed using the Q-Fix Encompass system, the OSMS and CBCT showed comparable intra-fractional motion deviations, which were (0.40±0.26) and (0.29±0.10) mm, respectively in the translational direction and were (0.33±0.20)°and (0.26±0.08)° in the rotational direction.Conclusions:The OSMS is an effective tool for optically guided radiotherapy, which allows for intra-fraction real-time motion monitoring with sub-millimeter accuracy. Therefore, to ensure the accurate preformation of cranial SRS/SRT, it is necessary to conduct the intra-fractional position monitoring using OSMS.

Objective:To compare the dosimetric differences between volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) on planning target volume (PTV) and organ-at-risk (OAR) for breast cancer after modified radical mastectomy, aiming to provide evidence-based reference for clinical practice.Methods:According to strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, literature search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, FMRS, CNKI, Wanfang Data and VIP full text databases from the inception of databases up to March 2020. The controlled clinical trials of dosimetric comparison between VMAT and IMRT for breast cancer following modified radical mastectomy were selected. The meta-analysis was performed using Stata14 software.Results:The meta-analysis included 281 patients from 13 observational studies. Compared with IMRT, VMAT significantly increased the PTV dose coverage D 95%( P<0.001) and significantly improved the PTV homogeneity index (HI, P<0.001) and conformity index (CI, P=0.004). Compared with IMRT, VMAT more effectively decreased the ipsilateral lung V 20Gy (WMD=1.332, P=0.027) and contralateral lung V 10Gy ( P=0.003). There were no significant differences in theD mean, V 5Gy, V 10Gy and V 30Gy of the ipsilateral lung, D mean and V 5Gy of the contralateral lung, D mean, V 10Gy and V 30Gy of the heart between VMAT and IMRT (all P>0.05). Compared with VMAT, IMRT reduced the cardiac V 5Gy ( P=0.001). However, sensitivity analysis of included literature on cardiac V 5Gy showed that the P value was reversed, indicating that the stability of the results was poor. VMAT significantly shortened the delivery time ( P<0.001) and the number of monitor units ( P<0.001) compared to IMRT. Conclusion:Compared with IMRT, VMAT can achieves superior target dose coverage, HI and CI, better protection for the ipsilateral and contralateral lung, fewer monitor units and shorter delivery time.

Objective:To study the impact of the Varian real-time position management (RPM) respiratory gating system on radiotherapy planning dosimetry.Methods:The radiotherapy plans of 40 cases with thoracic or abdominal tumors were retrospectively selected in this study. The motion phantom for quality control was adopted to generate respiratory gating signals, and the 30%-60% stable phase at the end of expiratory was selected as the respiratory gating window. The dose verification for the abovementioned radiotherapy plans was performed using the Portal Dosimetry (PD) system under RPM respiratory gating mode with the Edge accelerator. Afterwards, dose analysis was performed with different γ passing rate criteria and the distribution characteristics of γ values were analyzed. Finally, the verification results between the non-gating mode and the gating mode were compared.Results:Under the respiratory gating mode, the passing rates of all intensity-modulated radiation therapy/volumetric-modulated arc therapy (IMRT/VMAT) plans with or without flattening filters were over 95.5% by γ criteria of (3%, 3 mm) or (3%, 2 mm) and were over 90% by stricter γ criteria of (2%, 2 mm). All plans met the clinical requirements recommended by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). The passing rates of dose verification under non-gating mode were slightly better than those under respiratory gating mode, and the differences between the two modes were statistically significant (3%/3 mm, Z =-1.45; 3%/2 mm, Z =-2.86; 2%/2 mm, Z =-3.70; 1%/1 mm, Z =-4.52; P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the minimum and maximum values of γ and the share of γ > 1.5 of plan verification result under the two modes. However, the average value and standard deviation of the γ were generally smaller under the non-gating mode. Conclusions:The impact of the introduction of RPM respiratory gating technology on dose is clinically acceptable, and the execution of these plans in this gating mode is safe and reliable.

Objective To establish a novel clinical application process of the optical surface monitoring system(OSMS)guided volumetric modulated arc therapy(VMAT)for total body irradiation(TBI),and to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of OSMS in inter-fractional auxiliary positioning before radiotherapy and real-time monitoring of intra-fractional motion during radiotherapy.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 15 leukemia patients who underwent OSMS-guided VMAT-TBI before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.CT simulation positioning was performed,and the whole-body image data which were collected in head-first supine position(HFS)and feet-first supine position(FFS)were transmitted to the treatment planning system for image registration,multicenter VMAT planning and dose verification.The prescription dose was 800 cGy in 4 fractions twice daily.OSMS was used to assist positioning before delivery,and CBCT was used for position verification.During treatment,OSMS was used for monitoring.The intra-fractional error monitored by OSMS in real time was obtained by analyzing the offline log files.Results The mean dose and coverage of the target area in HFS plan were(905.4±19.0)cGy and 93.0%±2.8%.The mean doses to lung and kidney were(603.7±55.7)cGy and(600.4±49.6)cGy,respectively,and the maximum dose to the lens was(393.9±58.9)cGy.The mean dose and coverage of the target area in FFS plan were(888.5±58.9)cGy and 94.0%±3.2%;and the maximum dose at the junction was(1148.9±72.9)cGy.Fractional treatment delivery time was(75.1±15.1)min.OSMS-assisted positioning was carried out before delivery,and the total deviations of CBCT three-dimensional vector in translational and rotation directions were(2.71±1.96)mm and 0.91°±0.90°,respectively.The three-dimensional vector deviation of the intra-fractional motion amplitude in translational direction monitored by OSMS during the treatment was(1.95±1.88)mm,of which the deviation within 1 mm accounted for 57.5%,79.7%and 62.1%in longitudinal,lateral and vertical directions,respectively.The three-dimensional vector deviation in rotation direction was 0.76°±0.72°,of which the deviation within 1°accounted for 93.1%,85.7%and 94.3%in rotation,pitch and roll directions,respectively.Conclusion VMAT simplifies TBI process,while improving target coverage and organs-at-risk sparing.The use of OSMS can reduce positioning errors,especially rotation errors.In order to ensure the accurate implementation of TBI and the safety of patients,it is necessary to use OSMS for auxiliary positioning and intra-fractional position monitoring.