Iranian Journal of Medical Physics
Volume:8 Issue: 31, 2011

Radiation therapy following breast conserving surgery is one of the most common procedures performed in any radiation oncology department. A tangential parallel-opposed pair is almost always the technique of choice for this purpose. This technique is often performed based on 3D treatment planning. The aim of this study was to compare 3D treatment planning for two different energies (Cobalt 60 versus 6 MV photon beams) in tangential irradiation of breast conserving radiotherapy. In this comparison, homogeneity of isodoses within the breast volume and dose received by lungs were considered.

In this study, twenty patients with breast cancer treated with conservative surgery were included. A CT scan was performed on selected patients. Three-dimensional treatment planning with 6 MV photon beams was carried out for patients on the Eclipse 3D treatment planning system (TPS). The volumes receiving lower than 95% (Vol<95) (cold areas) and greater than 105% (Vol>105) (hot areas) of the reference dose, and the volume of lung receiving ≥30Gy (Vol≥30Gy) were derived from dose volume histograms (DVHs). Dose homogeneity index was calculated as: DHI = 100 – (Vol>105 + Vol<95). In the second stage, each patient was replanned with Cobalt 60 and the quantities of interest were obtained from the DVHs.

Comparing 3D treatment planning by 6 MV and Cobalt 60 photons, cold areas were reduced (p<0.001), hot areas were decreased (p<0.7), DHI was improved (P<0.001) and Vol≥30Gy was reduced (P<0.017) with 6 MV photons. Discussion and

Our results indicate that treatment planning with Cobalt 60 causes more cold areas in the treated volume as compared with 6 MV photons. Cold areas within the target volume of the breast result in reduced tumor control probability. The plan can be optimized to limit dose to lung volume by using 6 MV photons. So lung fibrosis is more likely to occur with Cobalt 60. In addition, DHI was improved with 6 MV photon beams. Improvement of dose homogeneity can lead to higher tumor control probability and cosmetic results, and less skin and lung side effects. Hence, 3D treatment planning with 6 MV photon beams is a more suitable option for patients with breast cancer treated with conserving surgery.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a widespread disease that is epidemic in Iran, too. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an attractive modality to treat cancer and hyper proliferative diseases based on the use of a photosensitizer in the presence of oxygen and proper wavelength of light. In consideration of lesion location, lack of systemic involvement and inefficiency of current treatments, nowadays this modality is purposed for treating Leishmaniasis. In this paper, efficacy of PDT using a natural dye (chlorophyll a) on Leishmania major promastigotes is reported. The experiments was done on Leishmania major parasites (MRHO/IR/75/ER) in the presence of Chlorophyll a /Hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin(chl a/CD) complex as a photosensitizer. At first, dye uptake by promastigotes was evaluated via fluorimetric assessments after different incubation periods. Then dye cytotoxicity was evaluated at different concentration after 24 h incubation. Finally PDT experiments were designed with two doses of light and 10 µM of photosensitizer. Considering all possible controls, the percentage of the parasite survival at 24 hours post treatment was assessed by MTS method. All experiments were repeated at least three times. On the basis of the dye uptake data, 24h was considered for incubating of photosensitizer with promastigotes. IC50 of chl a/CD complex was about 42.6 µM. After parasites irradiation by light at 248 j/cm2, more than 50% of cell death was recorded that is significant in comparing with similar groups without dye, without light, and lower dose of light. In these conditions, ED50 of PDT on promastigotes is determined nearly 246 J/cm2.Discussion and Considering low cytotoxicity in darkness and adequate phototoxicity of chl a/CD complex in comparison with other photosensitizers such as AlPhtalocyanine chloride, it can be introduced as a promising candidate for futher use in PDT experiments on amastigotes and Leishmaniasis animal models.

In this paper, by complete definition of human eye containing the various parts and their materials, the difference between this model and a homogeneous water phantom are compared for two ophthalmic plaques using 125I and 103Pd.

The simulation of the two phantoms were performed in the MCNP-4C code and by using the geometry of a three-dimensional eye, different parts of the eye including the lens, cornea, retina, choroid, sclera, anterior chamber, optic nerve and tumor were defined in the eye phantom. Also, for two ophthalmic brachytherapy sources, 20 mm COMS plaques containing 24 125I or 103Pd sources were simulated. The depth dose and doses in different parts of the eye were calculated by using the *F8 tally in the MCNP code.

The results showed that the doses in different parts of the eye in the two phantoms were different and depended on the ophthalmic plaques. The dose increased in the tumor and decreased in some parts of the eye such as the lens.Discussion and

Complete definition of human eye in simulation of ophthalmic brachytherapy leads to better results. As the effects of eye definition are different in the tumor and healthy tissues, the results for the eye phantom provide more accurate information for calculation of treatment time and the type of ophthalmic brachytherapy used.

Raman spectroscopy, that is a spectroscopic technique based on inelastic scattering of monochromatic light, can provide valuable information about molecular vibrations, so using this technique we can study molecular changes in a sample.

In this research, 153 Raman spectra obtained from normal and dried skin samples. Baseline and electrical noise were eliminated in the preprocessing stage with subsequent normalization of Raman spectra. Then, using statistical analysis and Genetic algorithm, optimal features for discrimination between these two classes have been searched. In statistical analysis for choosing optimal features, T test, Bhattacharyya distance and entropy between two classes have been calculated. Seeing that T test can better discriminate these two classes so this method used for selecting the best features. Another time Genetic algorithm used for selecting optimal features, finally using these selected features and classifiers such as LDA, KNN, SVM and neural network, these two classes have been discriminated.

In comparison of classifiers results, under various strategies for selecting features and classifier, the best results obtained in combination of genetic algorithm in feature selection and SVM in classification. Finally using combination of genetic algorithm and SVM, we could discriminate normal and dried skin samples with accuracy of 90%, sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 91%.Discussion and

According to obtained results, we can conclude that genetic algorithm demonstrates better performance than statistical analysis in selection of discriminating features of Raman spectra. In addition, results of this research illustrate the potential of Raman spectroscopy in study of different material effects on skin and skin diseases related to skin dehydration.

Among different kinds of oral cavity cancers, the frequency of tongue cancer occurrence is more significant. Brachytherapy is the most common method to cure tongue cancers. Long sources are used in different techniques of tongue brachytherapy. The objective of this study is to asses the dose distribution around long sources, comparing different radioisotopes as brachytherapy sources, measuring the homogeneity of delivered dose to treatment volume and also comparing mandible dose and dose of tongue in the regions near the mandible with and without using shield. The Monte Carlo code MCNP4C was used for simulation. The accuracy of simulation was verified by comparing the results with experimental data. The sources like Ir-192, Cs-137, Ra-226, Au-198, In-111 and Ba-131 were simulated and the position of sources was determined by Paris system. The percentage of mandible dose reduction with use of 2 mm Pb shield for the sources mentioned above were: 35.4%, 20.1%, 86.6%, 32.24%, 75.6%, and 36.8%. The tongue dose near the mandible with use of shied did not change significantly. The dose homogeneity from the most to least was obtained from these sources: Cs-137, Au-198, Ir-192, Ba-131, In-111 and Ra-226.Discussion and Ir-192 and Cs-137 were the best sources for tongue brachytherapy treatment but In-111 and Ra-226 were not suitable choices for tongue brachytherapy. The sources like Au-198 and Ba-131 had rather the same performance as Ir-192

Brachytherapy is a type of radiotherapy in which radioactive sources are used in proximity of tumors normally for treatment of malignancies in the head, prostate and cervix.

The Cs-137 Selectron source is a low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy source used in a remote afterloading system for treatment of different cancers. This system uses active and inactive spherical sources of 2.5 mm diameter, which can be used in different configurations inside the applicator to obtain different dose distributions. In this study, first the dose distribution at different distances from the source was obtained around a single pellet inside the applicator in a water phantom using the MCNP4C Monte Carlo code. The simulations were then repeated for six active pellets in the applicator and for six point sources.

The anisotropy of dose distribution due to the presence of the applicator was obtained by division of dose at each distance and angle to the dose at the same distance and angle of 90 degrees. According to the results, the doses decreased towards the applicator tips. For example, for points at the distances of 5 and 7 cm from the source and angle of 165 degrees, such discrepancies reached 5.8% and 5.1%, respectively. By increasing the number of pellets to six, these values reached 30% for the angle of 5 degrees.Discussion and

The results indicate that the presence of the applicator causes a significant dose decrease at the tip of the applicator compared with the dose in the transverse plane. However, the treatment planning systems consider an isotropic dose distribution around the source and this causes significant errors in treatment planning, which are not negligible, especially for a large number of sources inside the applicator.

Radiation imaging is one of the applicable methods in diagnostic medicine and nondestructive testing for industrial applications. In nondestructive 3D imaging, in addition to the radiation source, there is a requirement for a suitable detection system, data acquisition system, mechanical sections for moving objects, reconstruction algorithm and finally a computer for processing and control.Method and Materials: One of the most important components of a digital radiation imaging system is its detector. Light photodiode is a new light sensor which is used in digital imaging systems because of its high efficiency. In the present research, a photodiode grid has been implemented to design and make a detection system. The photodiode grid has an array of 10×10 photodiodes in a 50×50 mm2 area. Beside the photodiode grid, a control board has been designed. Furthermore, a mechanical system has been designed to move the objects in the horizontal and vertical directions, and also rotate it around its own axis. The maximum displacement in the horizontal and vertical directions is 60 cm with step accuracy of about 0.015 mm. Step accuracy of the rotational movement is about 0.9 degrees. After the imaging system was constructed, background and uniformity of the system were tested. All the photodiodes in the imaging system showed good uniformity. The image data was transferred to a computer and processed using a MATLAB program to display the images on a monitor. As the physical resolution of the system is about the pixel size (5 mm), only the overall images of the object's dimensions were expected to be produced. Discussion and The fidelity of the detection system has been successfully tested using a visible light source and several test samples. The presented system is able to reconstruct 3D images and obtain cross-sectional images of the objects, by using the image processing algorithm specifically designed for it.

Due to limitations of current treatments for degenerative disc disease, arthroplastic methods to repair the diseased disc have been proposed. The artificial disc is a mobile implant for degenerative disc replacement that attempts to lessen the degeneration of the adjacent elements following interbody fusion procedures. Because the success of artificial disc replacement depends on maintenance or restoration of the mechanical function of the intervertebral disc, it is useful to study the initial mechanical performance of the disc after implantation in the spine. A three-dimensional finite element model of the L3–L4 disc was analyzed. The model took into account the material nonlinearities and it imposed different loading conditions. In this study, we validated the model by comparison of its predictions with several sets of experimental data; we determined the optimal Young’s modulus as well as the Poissan ratios for the artificial disc under different loading conditions. The artificial disc was subjected to three loading conditions: 1) compression, 2) bending and 3) torsion. In each case, optimum elastic parameters were determined. Then, by using the root mean square method, optimum parameters for all loading conditions (and therefore minimum error) were calculated.Discussion and The results of this study suggest that a well-designed elastic arthroplastic disc preferably has Young’s modulus values of 18.63 MPa and 1.19 MPa for the annulus and nucleus sections, respectively. Elastic artificial disc with such properties can then achieve the goal of restoring the disc height and mechanical function of a normal disc under different loading conditions.