BACKGROUND Patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing primary angioplasty are at high risk for contrast-medium-induced nephropathy because of hemodynamic instability, the need for a high volume of contrast medium, and the lack of effective prophylaxis. We investigated the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine for the prevention of contrast-medium-induced nephropathy in patients undergoing prim...

La Jolla, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Stanford, Calif. Background: The authors investigated thermal injury depth, inflammation, and scarring in human abdominal skin by comparing the histology of incisions made with a standard “cold” scalpel blade, conventional electrosurgery, and the PEAK PlasmaBlade, a novel, low-thermal-injury electrosurgical instrument. Methods: Approximately 6 and 3 weeks...

introduction magnetic fields are capable of altering the trajectory of electron beams andcan be used in radiation therapy.theaim of this study was to produce regions with dose enhancement and reduction in the medium. materials and methods the ndfeb permanent magnets were arranged on the electron applicator in several configurations. then, after the passage of the electron beams (9 and 15 mev va...

PURPOSE To establish a film dosimetric method for high-resolution measurement in the dose build-up region. METHODS Percent depth dose (PDD) curves were measured in water for TomoTherapy using Gafchromic EBT2 films. Depth dose measurements were also performed using Standard Imaging A1SL and PTW PinPoint ionization chambers, as well as a PTW DiodeE detector. The film and detector measurements w...

PURPOSE Megavoltage photon beams are typically used for therapy because of their skin-sparing effect. However, a focused low-energy x-ray beam would also be skin sparing, and would have a higher dose concentration at the focal spot. Such a beam can be produced with polycapillary optics. MCNP5 was used to model dose profiles for a scanned focused beam, using measured beam parameters. The potenti...

AbstractIntroduction Silicone gel breast implants are used for breast reconstruction post mastectomy. In the event of cancer recurrence, the radiation oncologists are forced to irradiate through the prosthesis device. Due to prosthesis higher atomic number dose perturbations occur during treatment. This study determined the influence of silicone gel thickness on the photon beam distribution. Ma...

BACKGROUND The authors investigated thermal injury depth, inflammation, and scarring in human abdominal skin by comparing the histology of incisions made with a standard "cold" scalpel blade, conventional electrosurgery, and the PEAK PlasmaBlade, a novel, low-thermal-injury electrosurgical instrument. METHODS Approximately 6 and 3 weeks before abdominoplasty, full-thickness incisions were cre...

PURPOSE Megavoltage photon beams are typically used for therapy because of their skin sparing effect. However, a focused low-energy x-ray beam would also be skin sparing, and would have a higher dose concentration at the focal spot. Such a beam can be produced with polycapillary optics. MCNP5 was used to model dose profiles for a scanned focused beam, using measured beam parameters. The potenti...

BACKGROUND Inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of etanercept, a TNF antagonist, for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. METHODS In this 24-week, double-blind study, 672 patients underwent randomization and 652 either received placebo or received etanercept subcutaneously at a low ...