Biomedical subjects

Bernard Lachance

Publications and source records attributed to Bernard Lachance.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Anatomy-based inverse planning dose optimization in HDR prostate implant: a toxicity study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the acute and late complications in patients who have received HDR implant boost using inverse planning, and to determine dose volume correlations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between September 1999 and October 2002, 44 patients with locally advanced prostate cancer (PSA>/=10 ng/ml, and/or Gleason score>/=7, and/or Stage T2c or higher) were treated with 40-45 Gy external pelvic field followed by 2--3 fraction of inverse-planned HDR implant boost (6--9.5 Gy /fraction). Median follow-up time was 1.7 years with 81.8% of patients who had at least 12 months of follow up (range 8.6--42.5. Acute and late morbidity data were collected and graded according to RTOG criteria. Questionnaires were used to collect prostate related measures of quality of life, and international prostate symptom score (IPSS) before and after treatment. Dose-volume histograms for prostate, urethra, bladder, penis bulb and rectum were analyzed. RESULTS: The median patient age was 64 years. Of these, 32% were in the high risk group, and 61% in the intermediate risk group. 3 patients (7%) had no adverse prognostic factors. A single grade 3 GU acute toxicity was reported but no grade 3--4 acute GI toxicity. No grade 3--4 late GU or GI toxicity was reported. Acute (late) grade 2 urinary and rectal symptoms were reported in 31.8 (11.4%) and 4.6% (4.6%) of patients, respectively. A trend for predicting acute GU toxicity is seen for total HDR dose of more than 18 Gy (OR=3.6, 95%CI=[0.96--13.5], P=0.058). The evolution of toxicity is presented for acute and late GU/GI toxicity. Erectile dysfunction occurs in approximately 27% of patients who were not on hormonal deprivation, but may be taking sildenafil. The IPSS peaked on averaged 6 weeks post-implant and returned to the baseline at a median of 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Inverse-planned HDR brachytherapy is a viable option to deliver higher dose to the prostate as a boost without increasing GU or rectal complication. Further HDR dose escalation to the prostate is feasible.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed2004

Toxicity and bioaccumulation of reduced TNT metabolites in the earthworm Eisenia andrei exposed to amended forest soil.

Soils contaminated with 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and TNT primary reduction products have been found to be toxic to certain soil invertebrates, such as earthworms. The mechanism of toxicity of TNT and of its by-products is still not known. To ascertain if one of the TNT reduction products underlies TNT toxicity, we tested the toxicity and bioaccumulation of TNT reduction products. 2-Amino-4,6-dinitrotoluene (2-ADNT), 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene (4-ADNT), 2,4-diamino-6-nitrotoluene (2,4-DANT) and 2,6-diamino-4-nitrotoluene (2,6-DANT) were tested separately in adult earthworms (Eisenia andrei) following a 14-d exposure to amended sandy loam forest soil. TNT, 4-ADNT, and 2-ADNT were lethal to earthworms (14-d LC(50) were: 580, 531 and 1088 micromol kg(-1), or 132, 105 and 215 mgkg(-1) dry soil, respectively) and gave the following order of toxicity: 4-ADNT>TNT>2-ADNT. Exposure to 2,4-DANT and to 2,6-DANT caused no mortality at 600 micromol kg(-1) or 100 mgkg(-1) dry soil. We found that all four TNT reduction products accumulated in earthworm tissues and 2-ADNT reached the highest levels at 3.0+/-0.3 micromol g(-1) tissue. The 14-d bioaccumulation factors were 5.1, 6.4, 5.1 and 3.2 for 2-ADNT, 4-ADNT, 2,4-DANT and 2,6-DANT, respectively. Results also suggest that some TNT metabolites are at least as toxic as TNT and should be considered when evaluating the overall toxicity of TNT-contaminated soil to earthworms.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2004

Automatic generation of anatomy-based MLC fields in aperture-based IMRT.

We have developed an algorithm to automatically generate anatomy-based MLC fields. For each beam, a first field is adjusted to the projection of the target in a beam's eye view, allowing subsequent fields to be derived from this conformal field by removing the overlapping surface of each organ at risk, respectively. The projections are based on a surface sampling of the anatomical structures. On top of the MLC mechanical constraints, verification constraints are imposed on the MLC segments, in order to get reliable dosimetry using a commercial dose calculation engine. Thus, in each direction, the aperture's cross-section must be greater than a specified threshold, in our case 2 cm. Furthermore, junctions are not tolerated in order to avoid underdosage, for instance from the tongue-and-groove effect. The use of such MLC fields simplifies the verification process. The performance of the algorithm is illustrated for head and neck, thorax and prostate cases. Only a fraction of a second of CPU time is required to perform the segmentation for each beam.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2002

Assessment of cytotoxicity using electric cell-substrate impedance sensing: concentration and time response function approach.

This paper describes a simple and convenient method to measure the concentration and time response function f (C,t) of cells exposed to a toxicant by electric cell-substrate impedance sensing. Attachment and spreading of fibroblastic V79 cells cultured on small gold electrodes precoated with fibronectin were detected as electrical resistance changes. With this method, chemical cytotoxicity was easily screened by observing the response function of attached cells in the presence of inhibitor. The cytotoxicities of three test models, cadmium chloride, sodium arsenate, and benzalkonium chloride, were quantified by measuring the percentage inhibition as a function of the inhibitor concentration. The half-inhibition concentration, the required concentration to achieve 50% inhibition, derived from the response function agreed well with the results obtained using the standard neutral red assay.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Early clinical experience with anatomy-based inverse planning dose optimization for high-dose-rate boost of the prostate.

PURPOSE: To present an exhaustive dosimetric comparison between three geometric optimization methods and our inverse-planning simulated annealing (IPSA) algorithm, with two different prescriptions for high-dose-rate (HDR) boost of the prostate. The objective of this analysis was to quantify the dosimetric advantages of the IPSA algorithm compared with more standard geometric optimizations. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between September 1999 and June 2001, 34 patients were treated to a dose of 40-44 Gy by external pelvic fields, followed by an HDR boost of 18 Gy in 3 fractions. The first 4 patients were treated with HDR using geometric optimization, and anatomy-based inverse-planning dose optimization was used for the remaining 30 patients. We retrospectively used the data from these 30 patients to create HDR dose distributions according to five different dose optimization protocols, including our IPSA algorithm. The various geometric optimization procedures differed in the way the dwell positions were activated and plan normalization was performed. Dose-volume histograms from all these plans were analyzed and multiple implant quality indexes extracted. RESULTS: The IPSA algorithm provided better clinical tumor volume prescription dose coverage than did the geometric optimizations. The average prostate volume receiving 100% of the prescribed dose (V100) was 96.3% and 94.5% for IPSA with two different prescriptions compared with 92.1%, 92.6%, and 88.8% for the three geometric optimization schemes. The average urethra V150 value was 0.0% and 0.7% for IPSA with two different prescriptions, and the three geometric optimization protocols generated average values of 22.9%, 33.9%, and 38.8%. The bladder and rectal dose-volume histograms were similar, although the latest version of the IPSA algorithm slightly decreases the dose to these organs at risk because of organ-specific dose constraints included in the objective function. CONCLUSION: We found that planning an HDR prostate boost could be performed in a fast, secure, and effective manner with the IPSA algorithm. We demonstrated that our inverse-planning algorithm produces superior HDR plans than more conventional geometric optimizations for adenocarcinoma of the prostate. The organs at risk protection included in the objective function is a major feature of the algorithm and should allow us to escalate the HDR dose to the prostate without increasing undesirable side effects.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed2002

An in-depth analysis of electric cell-substrate impedance sensing to study the attachment and spreading of mammalian cells.

The attachment and spreading of fibroblast cells on a gold surface coated with fibronectin or ovalbumin were studied by a modified electric cell-substrate impedance sensor. In this system, cells were cultured in a well, equipped with a detecting gold electrode (surface area of 0.057 mm2) and a gold counter electrode (18 mm2). Based on a comprehensive theoretical framework, the impedance of the electrode-electrolyte interface and a cell layer was precisely obtained for frequencies ranging from 1 to 10 kHz. Surface concentrations of the protein adsorbed on the gold surface were determined by a surface plasmon resonance biosensor. The resistance change of the electrode-electrolyte interface at 4 kHz increased linearly with the number of fibroblast cells attached on the detecting electrode. The slope of the linear relationship appeared to depend on the type of coating protein. As the surface area occupied by the cells was also proportional to the cell number, the resistance change was in turn proportional to the area covered by the cells.

Animals↗