BACKGROUND: The authors have developed a Digital image chart(DIC) and digital Radiotherapy Record System (DRRS). We have evaluated the DIC and DRRS for reliability, usefulness, ease of use, and efficiency. METHOD AND MATERIALS: The basic design o f the DIC and DRRS was to build an digital image database of radiation therapy patient records for a more efficient and timely flow of critical image in formation throughout the department. This system is a subunit of comprehensive radiation oncology managemert system (C-ROMS) and composed of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), radiotherapy information database, and a radiotherapy imaging database. The DIC and DRRS were programmed using Delphi under a Windows 95 environment and is capable of displaying the digital images of patients identification photos, simulation films, radiotherapy setup, diagnostic radiology image... Gross lesion photos, and radiotherapy planning isodose charts with beam arrangements. Twenty-three clients in the department are connected by Ethernet (10 Mbps) to the central image server (Sun Ultra-sparc 1 workstation). RESULTS: From the introduction of this system in February 1998 through December 1999, we have accumulated a total of 15,732 individual images for 2,556 patients. We can organize radiation therapy in; paperless environment in 120 patients with breast cancer. Using this system, we have succeeded in the prompt, accurate, and simultaneous access to patient care information from multiple locations throughout the department. This coordination has resulted in improved operational efficiency within the department. CONCLUSION: The authors believe that the DIC and DRRS has contributed to the improvement of radiation oncology department efficacy as well as to time and resource savings by providing necessary visual information throughout the department conveniently and simultaneously. As a result, we can also achieve the paperless and filmless practice of radiation oncology with this system.
Breast Neoplasms ; Dacarbazine ; Hospital Information Systems ; Humans ; Income ; Patient Care ; Radiation Oncology* ; Radiotherapy*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical results of Acutrak screw fixation for ulnar olecranon fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed 15 cases of ulnar olecranon fractures which were treated with Acutrak screws from February 2003 to September 2007. Follow-up period is from 12 months to 42 months. We used Mayo classification. Radiologic results were analyzed according to step-off, gap, reduction loss, and functional results were analyzed according to pain and ROM. We analyzed union time, operation time, incision size and complications. RESULTS: In functional results, there were 3 good cases out of 3 Mayo type IA, 8 good cases and 2 fair cases out of 10 type IIA, 1 fair case and 1 poor case out of 2 type IIB. In radiologic results, there was 1 case of reduction loss. Average union time was 9.4 weeks, average operation time was 24 minutes and average incision size was 1.8 cm. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Acutrak screw fixation can be a treatment option for olecranon fracture of Mayo type IA and IIA.
Follow-Up Studies ; Olecranon Process ; Ulna

PURPOSE: To evaluate the contralateral breast dose using a virtual wedge compared with that using a physical wedge and an open beam in a Siemens linear accelerator. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The contralateral breast dose was measured using diodes placed on a humanoid phantom. Diodes were placed at 5.5 cm (position 1), 9.5 cm (position 2), and 14 cm (position 3) along the medial-lateral line from the medial edge of the treatment field. A 6-MV photon beam was used with tangential irradiation technique at 50 and 230 degrees of gantry angle. Asymmetrically collimated 17 x 10 cm field was used. For the first set of experiment, four treatment set-ups were used, which were an open medial beam with a 30-degree wedged lateral beam (physical and virtual wedges, respectively) and a 15-degree wedged medial beam with a 15-degree wedged lateral beam (physical and virtual wedges, respectively). The second set of experiment consists of setting with medial beam without wedge, a 15-degree wedge, and a 60-degree wedge (physical and virtual wedges, respectively). Identical monitor units were delivered. Each set of experiment was repeated for three times. RESULTS: In the first set of experiment, the contralateral breast dose was the highest at the position 1 and decreased in order of the position 2 and 3. The contralateral breast dose was reduced with open beam on the medial side (2.70+/-1.46%) compared to medial beam with a wedge (both physical and virtual) (3.25+/-1.59%). The differences were larger with a physical wedge (0.99+/-0.18%) than a virtual wedge (0.10+/-0.01%) at all positions. The use of a virtual wedge reduced the contralateral breast dose by 0.12% to 1.20% of the prescribed dose compared to a physical wedge with same technique. In the second experiment, the contralateral breast dose decreased in order of the open beam, the virtual wedge, and the physical wedge at the position 1, and it decreased in order of a physical wedge, an open beam, and a virtual wedge at the position 2 and 3. CONCLUSION: The virtual wedge equipped in a Siemens linear accelerator was found to be useful in reducing dose to the contralateral breast. Our additional finding was that the surface dose distribution from the Siemens accelerator was different from a Varian accelerator.
Breast* ; Particle Accelerators

No abstract available.
Cerebral Infarction ; Endocarditis* ; Hypereosinophilic Syndrome ; Infarction*

PURPOSE: To establish the role of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for the treatment of patients with angiographically occult vascular malformation (AOVM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven patients (12 lesions) with AOVM were treated with linear accelerator-based SRS between February 1995 and December 1999. A magnetic resonance imaging of each patients showed well-circumscribed vascular lesion with reticulated core of heterogeneous signal intensity and peripheral rim of low signal intensity. SRS were performed with the median peripheral dose of 16 Gy (range 13~25). A single isocenter was used with median collimator size of 14 mm (range 8~20) diameter. RESULTS: With a median follow-up period of 42 months (range 12~56), rebleeding occurred in 3 AOVMs at 5, 6 and 12 months after SRS but no further bleeding did. Two patients experienced radiation-induced necrosis associated with permanent neurologic deficit and one patient showed transient edema of increased T2 signal intensity. CONCLUSION: SRS may be effective for the prevention of rebleeding in AOVM located in surgically inaccessible region of the brain. Careful consideration should be needed in the decision of case selection and dose prescription because the incidence of radiation-induced complications is too high to be accepted.
Brain ; Edema ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Necrosis ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Prescriptions ; Radiosurgery* ; Vascular Malformations*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of LINAC-based stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the management of meningiomas, we reviewed clinical response, image response, neurological deficits for patients treated at our institution. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between February 1995 and December 1999, twenty-six patients were treated with SRS. Seven patients had undergone prior resection. Nineteen patients received SRS as the initial treatment. There were 7 male and 19 female patients. The median age was 51 years (range, 14~67 years). At least one clinical symptom presented at the time of SRS in 17 patients and cranial neuropathy was seen in 7 patients. The median tumor volume was 4.7 cm3 (range, 0.7~16.5 cm3). The mean marginal dose was 15 Gy (range, 10~20 Gy), delivered to the 80% isodose surface (range, 46~90%). The median clinical and imaging follow-up periods were 27 months (range, 1-71 months) and 25 months (range, 1~52 months), respectively. RESULTS: Of 14 patients who had clinical follow-up of one year or longer, thirteen patients (93%) were improved clinically at follow-up examination. Clinical symptom worsened in one patient at 4 months after SRS as a result of intratumoral edema, who underwent surgical resection at 7 months. Of 14 patients who had radiologic follow-up of one year or longer, tumor volume decreased in 7 patients (50%) at a median of 11 months (range, 6~25 months), remained stable in 6 patients (43%), and increased in one patient (7%), who underwent surgical resection at 44 months. New radiation-induced neurological deficits developed in six patients (23%). Five patients (19%) had transient neurological deficits, completely resolved by conservative treatment including steroid therapy. Radiation-induced brain necrosis developed in one patient (3.8%) at 9 months after SRS who followed by surgical resection of tumor and necrotic tissue. CONCLUSIONS: LINAC-based SRS proves to be an effective and safe management strategy for small to moderate sized meningiomas, inoperable, residual, and recurrent, but long-term follow-up will be necessary to fully evaluate its efficacy. To reduce the radiation-induced neurological deficit for large size meningioma and/or in the proximity of critical and neural structure, more delicate treatment planning and optimal decision of radiation dose will be necessary.
Brain ; Cranial Nerve Diseases ; Edema ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Meningioma* ; Necrosis ; Particle Accelerators ; Radiosurgery* ; Tumor Burden

PURPOSE: To improve the management of a medical linear accelerator, the records of operational failures of a Varian CL2100C over a ten year period were retrospectively analyzed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The failures were classified according to the involved functional subunits, with each class rated into one of three levels depending on the operational conditions. The relationships between the failure rate and working ratio and between the failure rate and outside temperature were investigated. In addition, the average life time of the main part and the operating efficiency over the last 4 years were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the recorded failures (total 587 failures), the most frequent failure was observed in the parts related with the collimation system, including the monitor chamber, which accounted for 20% of all failures. With regard to the operational conditions, 2nd level of failures, which temporally interrupted treatments, were the most frequent. Third level of failures, which interrupted treatment for more than several hours, were mostly caused by the accelerating subunit. The number of failures was increased with number of treatments and operating time. The average life-times of the Klystron and Thyratron became shorter as the working ratio increased, and were 42 and 83% of the expected values, respectively. The operating efficiency was maintained at 95% or higher, but this value slightly decreased. There was no significant correlation between the number of failures and the outside temperature. CONCLUSION: The maintenance of detailed equipment problems and failures records over a long period of time can provide good knowledge of equipment function as well as the capability of predicting future failure. More rigorous equipment maintenance is required for old medical linear accelerators for the advanced avoidance of serious failure and to improve the quality of patient treatment.
Humans ; Particle Accelerators* ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To improve the management of a medical linear accelerator, the records of operational failures of a Varian CL2100C over a ten year period were retrospectively analyzed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The failures were classified according to the involved functional subunits, with each class rated into one of three levels depending on the operational conditions. The relationships between the failure rate and working ratio and between the failure rate and outside temperature were investigated. In addition, the average life time of the main part and the operating efficiency over the last 4 years were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the recorded failures (total 587 failures), the most frequent failure was observed in the parts related with the collimation system, including the monitor chamber, which accounted for 20% of all failures. With regard to the operational conditions, 2nd level of failures, which temporally interrupted treatments, were the most frequent. Third level of failures, which interrupted treatment for more than several hours, were mostly caused by the accelerating subunit. The number of failures was increased with number of treatments and operating time. The average life-times of the Klystron and Thyratron became shorter as the working ratio increased, and were 42 and 83% of the expected values, respectively. The operating efficiency was maintained at 95% or higher, but this value slightly decreased. There was no significant correlation between the number of failures and the outside temperature. CONCLUSION: The maintenance of detailed equipment problems and failures records over a long period of time can provide good knowledge of equipment function as well as the capability of predicting future failure. More rigorous equipment maintenance is required for old medical linear accelerators for the advanced avoidance of serious failure and to improve the quality of patient treatment.
Humans ; Particle Accelerators* ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To assess the radiologic response and cranial nerve morbidity in intracranial schwannoma patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six patients with intracranial schwannoma were treated with linear accelerator- based SRS or FSRT between February 1995 and October 1999. The origin of schwannoma was acoustic nerve in twenty-one patients, facial nerve in two, trigeminal nerve in two, and glossopharyngeal nerve in one. SRS were performed with the median peripheral dose of 14 Gy (range 12-16), and FSRT were done with the median peripheral dose of 25 2 Gy (range 50-60). RESULTS: With a median follow-up period of 33 months (range 12-67), the local control rate was 100%. Tumorregression was noted in eleven patients, and tumor stabilization was found in the remaining fifteen. Useful hearing preservation was achieved in two of three patients. Facial nerve neuropathy was shown in two patients and one patients developed trigeminal nerve neuropathy. CONCLUSION: Stereotactic radiotherapy including SRS and FSRT provided excellent local control in intracranial schwannoma. It shows the possibility of a high rate of hearing preservation and an acceptable neurotoxicity, although the number of patients are small and follow-up is relatively short.
Cochlear Nerve ; Cranial Nerves ; Facial Nerve ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glossopharyngeal Nerve ; Hearing ; Humans ; Neurilemmoma* ; Radiosurgery* ; Radiotherapy* ; Trigeminal Nerve

Objective: To investigate the pattern of accuracy change in artificial intelligence-assisted landmark identification (LI) using a convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm in serial lateral cephalograms (Lat-cephs) of Class III (C-III) patients who underwent twojaw orthognathic surgery. Methods: A total of 3,188 Lat-cephs of C-III patients were allocated into the training and validation sets (3,004 Lat-cephs of 751 patients) and test set (184 Lat-cephs of 46 patients; subdivided into the genioplasty and non-genioplasty groups, n = 23 per group) for LI. Each C-III patient in the test set had four Lat-cephs: initial (T0), pre-surgery (T1, presence of orthodontic brackets [OBs]), post-surgery (T2, presence of OBs and surgical plates and screws [S-PS]), and debonding (T3, presence of S-PS and fixed retainers [FR]). After mean errors of 20 landmarks between human gold standard and the CNN model were calculated, statistical analysis was performed. Results: The total mean error was 1.17 mm without significant difference among the four timepoints (T0, 1.20 mm; T1, 1.14 mm; T2, 1.18 mm; T3, 1.15 mm). In comparison of two time-points ([T0, T1] vs. [T2, T3]), ANS, A point, and B point showed an increase in error (p < 0.01, 0.05, 0.01, respectively), while Mx6D and Md6D showeda decrease in error (all p < 0.01). No difference in errors existed at B point, Pogonion, Menton, Md1C, and Md1R between the genioplasty and non-genioplasty groups. Conclusions The CNN model can be used for LI in serial Lat-cephs despite the presence of OB, S-PS, FR, genioplasty, and bone remodeling.