Accounting for brachytherapy applicator attenuation is part of the recommendations from the recent report of AAPM Task Group 186. To do so, model based dose calculation algorithms require accurate modelling of the applicator geometry. This can be non-trivial in the case of irregularly shaped applicators such as the Fletcher Williamson gynaecological applicator or balloon applicators with possib...

abstractbackground: polymer gels are an emerging new class of dosimeters which are being applied to the challenges of modern radiotherapy modalities. research on gel dosimetry involves several scientific domains, one of which is the imaging techniques with which dose data is extracted from the dosimeters. in the current work, we present our preliminary results of investigating capability of x-r...

conclusions according to the results, the old dosimetry formalisms, overestimate the dose especially towards the applicator’s tip. while the tg-43u1 based software perform the calculations more accurately. results for a typical arrangement of 10 active pellets in the applicator, the percentage difference between doses obtained by the new algorithm at 1cm distance from the tip of the applicator ...

Brachytherapy (derived from the Greek term brachios, meaning short) is defined as the treatment of tumors through the placement of radioactive sources into or close to the malignant lesion. The main advantage of brachytherapy is based on the inverse squared law inherent to radioactive sources, which allows the delivery of a very high dose of radiation to the tumor with a substantial sparing of ...

We consider the inverse planning problem in brachytherapy, i.e. the problem to determine an optimal number of catheters, number of sources for low-dose rate brachytherapy (LDR) and the optimal dwell times for high-dose rate brachytherapy (HDR) necessary to obtain an optimal as possible dose distribution. Starting from the 1930s, inverse planning for LDR brachytherapy used geometrically derived ...

PURPOSE In an effort to shed light on the continuing debate over the best treatment options for patients with localized prostate cancer, we present a retrospective review of patients from a single group community urology practice. METHODS AND MATERIALS Data from 1707 patients were reviewed. These patients, with T1 or T2 adenocarcinoma of the prostate, were treated from 1992 to 2004 with eithe...

BACKGROUND Population-based patterns of care studies are important for monitoring cancer care but conducting them is expensive and resource-intensive. Linkage of routinely collected administrative health data may provide an efficient alternative. Our aim was to determine the accuracy of linked routinely collected administrative data for monitoring prostate cancer care in New South Wales (NSW), ...