Out-of-field doses from radiotherapy can cause harmful side effects or eventually lead to secondary cancers. Scattered doses outside the applicator field, neutron source strength values, and neutron dose equivalents have not been broadly investigated for high-energy electron beams. To better understand the extent of these exposures, we measured out-of-field dose characteristics of electron appl...

Teflon spaghetti tubing was placed over the metal needles of the dispensing head of the Accu-Drop multidropper, thus preventing the delivery of multiple drops. A metal plate was drilled so that 25 cartridges could be positioned to inoculate simultaneously 25 compartments in a divided petri dish.

In the field of microwave hyperthermia, the use of minimally invasive applicators is recognized as a very promising technique for the treatment of small tumours because a very thin applicator can be easily introduced inside the body and precisely localized using the most advanced 3D imaging techniques and surgical robots. Minimally invasive hyperthermic applicators (MIHA) have been successfully...

PURPOSE To assess the feasibility of applying trans-applicator intracavitary ultrasonography to image-guided brachytherapy for cervical cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS For this experiment, a phantom was created and included a polyethylene tube, intended to simulate a tandem applicator, which was inserted into chicken meat and embedded in agar, along with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatib...

PURPOSE Noninvasive image-guided breast brachytherapy delivers conformal HDR (192)Ir brachytherapy treatments with the breast compressed, and treated in the cranial-caudal and medial-lateral directions. This technique subjects breast tissue to extreme deformations not observed for other disease sites. Given that, commercially-available software for deformable image registration cannot accuratel...

Percentage depth doses (PDDs) and transverse dose profiles (TDPs) were calculated by a Monte Carlo simulation of electron beams of different energies (3, 5, 7 and 9 MeV) produced by a NOVAC7® accelerator. The NOVAC7® is a linear accelerator designed for Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT). The PDDs and TDPs were also experimentally determined. Both calculations and measurements were done on...

PURPOSE In this study, we present the clinical implementation of a novel transoral balloon centering esophageal applicator (BCEA) and the initial clinical experience in high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment of esophageal cancer, using this applicator. MATERIAL AND METHODS Acceptance testing and commissioning of the BCEA were performed prior to clinical use. Full performance testing was...

Endobronchial brachytherapy (EBB) is an effective treatment for endobronchial tumors. However, bronchial toxicity caused by over-irradiation remains problematic. To decrease bronchial toxicity, we developed a source-centralizing applicator for EBB. The purpose of the present study was to assess the efficacy and safety of EBB with varying reference dose points according to the bronchial diameter...