Radiation dose enhancement in megavoltage radiation therapy using au, gd, pt, ag, and bi nanoparticles of various concentration level

A digital phantom was created from a CT scan of a patient’s head and employed together with GATE 8.2 Monte Carlo modeling of a linear accelerator of nominal 6 MV energy to simulate an irradiation geometry for a typical tumor volume centrally within the brain region. Although simplistic in arrangement, this setup was considered appropriate to demonstrate the dose enhancements that may be expected for megavoltage external beam radiation therapy for nanoparticles (NP) of different elemental composition and concentration. Ag, Gd, Pt, Au and Bi were modeled in concentrations varying from 15 mg NP / gram tissue to 70 mg NP / gram tissue. The maximum Average Dose Enhancement Factor (ADEF) to the Gross Tumour Volume (GTV) observed was 3 % for 70 mg NP / gram tissue of Bi

Regression Analysis of Rectal Cancer and Possible Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Utilization in Radiotherapy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been widely employed in the medical field in recent years in such areas as image segmentation, medical image registration, and computer-aided detection. This study explores one application of using AI in adaptive radiation therapy treatment planning by predicting the tumor volume reduction rate (TVRR). Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of twenty rectal cancer patients were collected to observe the change in tumor volume over the course of a standard five-week radiotherapy treatment. In addition to treatment volume, patient data including patient age, gender, weight, number of treatment fractions, and dose per fraction were also collected. Application of a stepwise regression model showed that age, dose per fraction and weight were the best predictors for tumor volume reduction rate

Estimation of Dose Enhancement for Inhomogeneous Distribution of Nanoparticles: A Monte Carlo Study

: High atomic number nanoparticles are of increasing interest in radiotherapy due to their significant positive impact on the local dose applied to the treatment site. In this work, three types of metal nanoparticles were utilized to investigate their dose enhancement based on the GATE Monte Carlo simulation tool. Gold, gadolinium, and silver were implanted at three different concentrations to a 1 cm radius sphere to mimic a cancerous tumor inside a 10 × 10 × 30 cm3 water phantom. The innermost layer of the tumor represents a necrotic region, where the metal nanoparticles uptake is assumed to be zero, arising from hypoxic conditions. The nanoparticles were defined using the mixture technique, where nanoparticles are added to the chemical composition of the tumor. A directional 2 × 2 cm2 monoenergetic photon beam was used with several energies ranging from 50 keV to 4000 keV. The dose enhancement factor (DEF) was measured for all three metal nanoparticles under all beam energies. The maximum DEF was ~7 for silver nanoparticles with the 50 keV beam energy at the highest nanoparticle concentration of 30 mg/g of water. Gold followed the same trend as it registered the highest DEF at the 50 keV beam energy with the highest concentration of nanoparticles at 30 mg/g, while gadolinium registered the highest at 100 keV

Improving MVCBCT image quality using a Cu target with flattening filter-free LINAC

Abstract: Megavoltage Cone Beam Computed Tomography MVCBCT is an image guided radiotherapy imaging tool used for everyday patient repositioning. Present work studies the effect on MVCBCT image quality in using a copper target in place of the original target. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations using FLUKA were carried out for the original target with flattened and unflattened 6 MV beams for different target materials and thicknesses, calculating the photon spectra incident on the phantom surface. MC simulations were also performed for the original and copper targets to calculate the local contrast (LC) in a simple phantom. Reduction is observed in the mean energy of the photon spectrum and a large increase is obtained in the low energy photons ratio when the copper and carbon targets are used in place of the original target, leading to an improvement in the quality of MVCBCT images. Further, the LC was improved by 31% when the copper target was used. The reduction in mean energy and the increase in low energy photons ratio for the carbon target was found to be higher than that for the copper target, noting that the copper target is already available in the head of most Varian LINACs for treatments requiring a higher photon energy mode (> 6MV). It can be concluded that with simple modification, using a copper target with an unflattened beam will improve the MVCBCT image quality. [F. A. Abolaban, M. A. Najem, Ahmad Hussain, Majdi Alnowami, David Bradley. Improving MVCBCT image quality using a Cu target with flattening filter-free LINAC, Life Sci

The Spectral Measurement of Scattered Radiation From a Clinical Linear Accelerator Using a CZT Detector

The study of the induced radioactivity following radiotherapy with high energy X-rays from medical linear accelerator. Patient equivalent phantom made of Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) of 30x30x27 cm size irradiated with 15 MV X-rays from Versa HD medical linear accelerator form Elekta. Induced radioactive and ambient dose rates were measured at 0.25, 0.5 and 1 m from beam center using GR1® spectrometry with Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors having energy resolution less than 2%. Spectrum analysis was performed using MultiSpect software. The measured spectrum showed 511 keV annihilation photons possibly as a result of positron emitter of which most likely candidates are 62Cu(T1/2: 9.7 min), 64Cu (T1/2: 12.7 h )  and 57Ni  (T1/2:  35.6 h) and a  peak at ≈ 1780 keV that could be attributed 28Al and 214Bi radioisotope. Ambient photon dose rates post radiotherapy treatment ranged 660 µGyh-1at o.5 m to 41 µGyh-1at 1 m. These values agree well with the results presented in the literature. Keywords: Radiotherapy; Activation Products; Gamma spectrometry; Occupational exposure; Medical Linear Accelerator. DOI: 10.7176/ALST/83-05 Publication date: November 30th 2020

Comparison of Ge-doped TL optical fibres and glass beads with ion chamber and Gafchromic film for small field photon dosimetry

Small field (≤ 4 × 4 cm) photon radiotherapy treatments include intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). These require small, high spatial resolution dosimeters of adequate dynamic range. In this study, field sizes of 1 cm × 1 cm, 2 cm × 2 cm, 3 cm × 3 cm, 4 cm × 4 cm, and 10 cm × 10 cm have been investigated using commercially available silica-based fibres and glass beads (GB) as TL dosimeters and a Varian linear accelerator operating at 6, 10 and 15 MV. Ge-doped SiO2 fibres have previously been shown by this group to offer a viable system for use as dosimeters. The fibres and GB, offer good spatial resolution (∼120 μm and 2 mm respectively), large dynamic dose range (with linearity from tens of mGy up to well in excess of many tens of Gy), a non-hygroscopic nature and low cost. The main aim of this present work is to investigate the use of Ge-doped optical fibres and GBs as thermoluminescence dosimeters in small photon fields for different photon beam energies, comparing the measurements against Gafchromic films, hospital commissioning data obtained from small ionisation chambers and photon diodes and Monte Carlo simulations with FLUKA and BEAMnrc

Preliminary investigations of two types of silica-based dosimeter for small-field radiotherapy

Two thermoluminescent dosimeters (SiO-GeO doped fibres and glass beads (GB)) were used to measure small photon field doses and compared against GAFCHROMIC film, a small ionisation chamber (RK-018) and a p-type silicon diode (SCANDITRONIX, F1356), as well as Monte Carlo simulations with FLUKA and BEAMnrc/DOSXYZnrc. Ge-doped SiO fibres have been shown by this group to offer a viable system for use as dosimeters. The fibres and GB offer good spatial resolution (~120μm and 2mm respectively), large dynamic dose range (with linearity from tens of mGy up to well in excess of many tens of Gy), are non-hygroscopic and are of low cost. Measurements of beam profiles for field sizes of 10mm×10mm, 20mm×20mm, 30mm×30mm, 40mm×40mm, and 100mm×100mm were carried out. Through the use of a customised solid water phantom, doped optical fibres and GBs were placed at defined positions along the x-and y-axes to allow accurate beam profile measurement. The maximum difference between FWHM measurements was 1.8mm. For penumbra measurements (measured between 80% and 20% isodoses), the maximum difference was<1mm. These measurements indicate good agreement, within measurement uncertainty, with Gafchromic film, data obtained from the use of two commonly used detectors and FLUKA and BEAMnrc/ DOSXYZnrc simulations. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

Improving the polyethylene oxide/carboxymethyl cellulose blend's optical and electrical/dielectric performance by incorporating gold quantum dots and copper nanoparticles: nanocomposites for energy storage applications

Herein, nanocomposite polymer electrolyte films were prepared from the blend of two polymers, polyethylene oxide (PEO) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), stuffed with various contents of gold quantum dots (AuQDs) and copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) as hybrid nanofiller via the solution casting method. AuQDs were prepared using laser ablation in liquid (LAL). TEM images showed that the average size of AuQDs is nearly 6.21 nm with a spherical shape. The effects of AuQDs and the hybrid nano-filler (AuQDs and CuNPs) on the PEO/CMC blend structural, optical, and electrical/dielectric characteristics have been investigated and discussed. XRD results revealed that the crystallinity degree of the nanocomposite samples decreased with increasing AuQDs/CuNPs content. Also, UV–Vis spectroscopy analysis uncovered that the optical energy gap reduced as the hybrid nanofillers' content increased. At room temperature, the electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements showed that the hybrid nanofiller loading increases the electrolyte films’ electrical conductivity. In the dielectric properties, space charges polarization revealed higher values, where the dielectric constant (ε′) increased at lower frequency regions. The Nyquist diagram showed a semicircular shape at the lower frequencies part with a linear shape at the higher frequencies part with decreasing radius; two equivalent circuit models could be the best fit. These results suggest that these nanocomposite electrolyte films could be candidates for capacitors and flexible energy storage devices