Biomedical subjects

C Ceberg

Publications and source records attributed to C Ceberg.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1997

Dosimetric comparison of treatment planning systems in irradiation of breast with tangential fields.

PURPOSE: The objectives of this study are: (1) to investigate the dosimetric differences of the different treatment planning systems (TPS) in breast irradiation with tangential fields, and (2) to study the effect of beam characteristics on dose distributions in tangential breast irradiation with 6 MV linear accelerators from different manufacturers. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Nine commercial and two university-based TPS are evaluated in this study. The computed tomographic scan of three representative patients, labeled as "small", "medium" and "large" based on their respective chest wall separations in the central axis plane (CAX) were used. For each patient, the tangential fields were set up in each TPS. The CAX distribution was optimized separately with lung correction, for each TPS based on the same set of optimization conditions. The isodose distributions in two other off-axis planes, one 6 cm cephalic and the other 6 cm caudal to the CAX plane were also computed. To investigate the effect of beam characteristics on dose distributions, a three-dimensional TPS was used to calculate the isodose distributions for three different linear accelerators, the Varian Clinac 6/100, the Siemens MD2 and the Philips SL/7 for the three patients. In addition, dose distributions obtained with 6 MV X-rays from two different accelerators, the Varian Clinac 6/100 and the Varian 2100C, were compared. RESULTS: For all TPS, the dose distributions in all three planes agreed qualitatively to within +/- 5% for the "small" and the "medium" patients. For the "large" patient, all TPS agreed to within +/- 4% on the CAX plane. The isodose distributions in the caudal plane differed by +/- 5% among all TPS. In the cephalic plane in which the patient separation is much larger than that in the CAX plane, six TPS correctly calculated the dose distribution showing a cold spot in the center of the breast contour. The other five TPS showed that the center of the breast received adequate dose. Isodose distributions for 6 MV X-rays from three different accelerators differed by about +/- 3% for the "small" patient and more than +/- 5% for the "large" patient. For two different 6 MV machines of the same manufacturer, the isodose distribution agreed to within +/- 2% for all three planes for the "large" patient. CONCLUSION: The differences observed among the various TPS in this study were within +/- 5% for both the "small" and the "medium" patients while doses at the hot spot exhibit a larger variation. The large discrepancy observed in the off-axis plane for the "large" patient is largely due to the inability of most TPS to incorporate the collimator angles in the dose calculation. Only six systems involved agreed to within +/- 5% for all three patients in all calculation planes. The difference in dose distributions obtained with three accelerators from different manufacturers is probably due to the difference in beam profiles. On the other hand, the 6 MV X-rays from two different models of linear accelerators from the same manufacturer have similar beam characteristics and the dose distributions are within +/- 2% of each other throughout the breast volume. In general, multi-institutional breast treatment data can be compared within a +/- 5% accuracy.

Body Constitution↗

PubMed1997

Pharmacokinetics of Na2B12H11SH (BSH) in patients with malignant brain tumours as prerequisite for a phase I clinical trial of boron neutron capture.

The disposition of Na2B12H11SH (BSH) in patients with malignant glioma has been investigated, in preparation for a Phase I clinical trial of boron neutron capture therapy. BSH was found to possess a linear disposition over the dosage interval investigated (up to 75 mg/kg). A bi-phasic blood pharmacokinetics was observed. Tumour-to-blood ratios showed variations between patients between 0.08 and 5.1. The data allow the definition of amount of BSH and timing of infusion for a Phase I clinical trial protocol.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Tissue-phantom ratios from percentage depth doses.

When converting fractional (percentage) depth doses to tissue-phantom ratios, one must use a factor that accounts for the different source-to-point distances. Two minor correction factors are also involved. One is the ratio of total to primary dose at the two different distances from the source, for the same depth and field size. This factor is usually ignored. It was determined experimentally that this can introduce up to 1.5% error at 6 MV. The second correction factor reflects differences related to scattered photons and electrons at the depth of normalization in the two geometries. This correction is accounted for in published conversion procedures. It was found to be less than 1% provided the normalization depth is sufficient for electron equilibrium, which occurs first well beyond the depth of maximum dose. One may avoid electron-equilibrium problems by using an interim normalization depth that provides electron equilibrium with some margin, renormalizing to a shallower depth if desired. With this precaution, the accuracy when measured fractional depth doses were converted to tissue-phantom ratios was comparable to that of directly measured tissue-phantom ratios even when the correction factors were ignored.

Electrons↗

PubMed1995

Necrosis of malignant gliomas after intratumoral injection of 201Tl in vivo in the rat.

Fourteen adult Fischer 344 rats were inoculated in vivo unilaterally in the caudate nucleus in the brain with malignant RG 2 glioma cells. By 3 weeks a tumor with a diameter of 3-6 mm normally develops. Ten animals which survived the repeated periods of anesthesia and thallium (Tl) injections (intratumorally three times of 201Tl, 15-23 days after inoculation) showed a prolonged retention of radioactivity at the site of injection with no uptake in other organs except for the kidneys. Singular circumscribed necroses were found post-mortem at the site of injection, comprising malignant glioma tumor tissue, which in six animals was absent, in three animals was markedly reduced in size compared with controls and in one animal had the expected size. In four animals metastases were found in distant locations in the brain; in three of these cases there was a retention of radioactivity in the tumor. The selective necrotizing effect on the tumor cells is interpreted as mainly due to emission of Auger electrons from intracellularly accumulated 201Tl, giving rise to very high energy deposition in the vicinity of the cell nucleus. The results should also have implications for the treatment of human malignant gliomas.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

The dosimetric verification of a pencil beam based treatment planning system.

A new three-dimensional treatment planning system (TPS) based on convolution/superposition algorithms (TMS-Radix from HELAX AB, Uppsala, Sweden) was recently installed at the University Hospital in Lund. The purpose of the present study was to design a quality assurance and acceptance testing programme to meet the specific characteristics of this convolution model. The model is based on parametrization of a non-measurable quantity-the polyenergetic pencil beam. However, the verification of the treatment planning model is still dependent on numerous comparisons of measured depth-doses and dose profiles. The test programme was divided in two basic parts: (i) model implementation and beam data consistency and (ii) model performance and limitations in special situations. The first part was scheduled for all photon beam qualities available before they could be used for clinical treatment planning. The second part was performed for selected energies only. The results indicate clearly that the model is well suited for clinical three-dimensional dose planning and that the TPS handles data as expected. For example, calculated depth-doses for open and wedge beams at depths larger than the depth of dose maximum and profiles for open beams shows a very good agreement with measurements. However, depth-dose deviations at shallow depths, especially for high energies, were found. Monitor units calculated by the system were accurate for most fields except for very large fields, where deviations of several per cent were found.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1991

A new method for quantification of image distortion due to pile-up in scintillation cameras.

Characterization of the count-rate performance of scintillation cameras should include not only the specification of count losses. At high count rates, there is also an image distortion due to the mispositioning of pile-up events. In this paper a simple and clinically relevant procedure to quantify this distortion is presented. The images of a square uniform technetium-99m phantom at high and low count rates are used. The fraction of the total counts being correctly positioned is determined as the peripheral count density divided by the total average count density. This ratio, corrected for the camera non-uniformity at low count rates, is called the 'positioning ability'. According to the National Electrical Manufacturers' Association (NEMA), the 'system count rate performance with scatter' should be reported as the measured count rate giving 20% count losses. In this paper it is suggested that this measure be complemented by a measure of the fraction correct positioned events at this count rate. This fraction, the 'high count rate positioning ability', can be easily and accurately measured using our method. The method has been tested on two different scintillation cameras. For one of them the high count rate positioning ability was determined as 91% at a measured count rate of 30,000 s-1 with 20% count losses. For the other camera, the corresponding figures were 88% at 59,000 s-1 and close to 100% at 38,000 s-1, before and after the installation of a new pile-up rejection circuit, respectively.

Gamma Cameras↗

PubMed1991

Radio-iodinated and internally labelled (35S) IgM monoclonal antibodies in a syngenic rat model.

To simulate the human situation concerning human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), we have introduced a new syngenic rat model with an implanted rat colon carcinoma. Rat IgM MAbs (10B12), labelled by the chloramine-T method with 125I or internally with 35S, were injected intravenously into the rats and the biodistribution was studied for 8 days. The radioactivity uptake in the tumours of the 35S label was higher than that of the 125I label and the retention of 35S in the tumours gave tumour/blood ratios 8 times higher than those of 125I at 48 and 96 h after injection. In this model we have shown that dehalogenation of iodinated IgM MAbs is a serious problem. We therefore suggest that internally labelled MAbs should be used and that further investigations should be carried out in a syngenic rat model, since this probably reflects the clinical situation better than the nude mouse model.

Animals↗