Introduction: The quality of CT images used for treatment planning of cancer patients is an important issue in accurate outlining of the tumor volume and organs at risk. Different kernels in CT scanner systems are available for improving the image quality. Applying these kernels  on   CT  images  will  change   the   CT  numbers  and  electron   density   of   tissues, conse...

background: the artificial neural networks (anns) are useful in solving nonlinear processes, without the need for mathematical models of the parameters. since the relationship between the ct numbers and material compositions is not linear, ann can be used for obtaining tissue density and composition. objective: the aim of this study is to utilize ann for determination of the composition and mas...

introduction: in brachytherapy, radioactive sources are placed close to the tumor, therefore, small changes in their positions can cause large changes in the dose distribution. this emphasizes the need for computerized treatment planning. the usual method for treatment planning of cervix brachytherapy uses conventional radiographs in the manchester system. nowadays, because of their advantages ...

Introduction: Polymer gels are modern dosimeters providing three dimensional dose distributions. These dosimeters can be used in brachytherapy in which the tumor dimension is relatively small and the dose gradient is high. In this study, the ability of the MAGICA polymer gel was investigated for assessing the absolute dose values as well as the dose distribution of low dose rate (LDR) Ir-192 wi...

In radiotherapy a common method used to compensate for patient setup error and organ motion is to enlarge the clinical target volume (CTV) by a 'margin' to produce a 'planning target volume' (PTV). Using weighted power loss functions as a measure of performance for a treatment plan, a simple method can be developed to calculate the ideal spatial dose distribution (one that minimizes expected lo...

today, expert systems are widely applied in medicine for prognosis, diagnosis, checkup, and treatment of various kinds of diseases. a comprehensive system for the checkup and treatment of different types of diabetes is still lacking. this paper reports development of such a system, its validation, and its utility in facilitating medical decision-making and supporting self-care.

Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) is a harm reduction strategy enabling opiate consumers to avoid withdrawal symptoms and maintain health and wellbeing. Some research shows that within a disaster context service disruptions and infrastructure damage affect OST services, including problems with accessibility, dosing, and scripts. Currently little is known about planning for OST in the reductio...