| 1. |
- Capala, J, et al.
(författare)
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Boron neutron capture therapy for glioblastoma multiforme : Clinical studies in Sweden
- 2003
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Ingår i: Journal of Neuro-Oncology. - 1573-7373. ; 62:1, s. 135-144
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) facility has been constructed at Studsvik, Sweden. It includes two filter/moderator configurations. One of the resulting neutron beams has been optimized for clinical irradiations with a filter/moderator system that allows easy variation of the neutron spectrum from the thermal to the epithermal energy range. The other beam has been designed to produce a large uniform field of thermal neutrons for radio-biological research. Scientific operations of the Studsvik BNCT project are overseen by the Scientific Advisory Board comprised of representatives of major universities in Sweden. Furthermore, special task groups for clinical and preclinical studies have been formed to facilitate collaboration with academia. The clinical Phase II trials for glioblastoma are sponsored by the Swedish National Neuro-Oncology Group and, presently, involve a protocol for BNCT treatment of glioblastoma patients who have not received any therapy other than surgery. In this protocol, p-boronophenylalanine (BPA), administered as a 6-h intravenous infusion, is used as the boron delivery agent. As of January 2002, 17 patients were treated. The 6-h infusion of 900 mg BPA/kg body weight was shown to be safe and resulted in the average blood-boron concentration of 24 μg/g (range: 15-32 μg/g) at the time of irradiation (approximately 2-3 h post-infusion). Peak and average weighted radiation doses to the brain were in the ranges of 8.0-15.5 Gy(W) and 3.3-6.1 Gy(W), respectively. So far, no severe BNCT-related acute toxicities have been observed. Due to the short follow-up time, it is too early to evaluate the efficacy of these studies.
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| 4. |
- Johnsson, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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On beam quality and stopping power ratios for high-energy x-rays
- 2000
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Ingår i: Physics in Medicine and Biology. - : IOP Publishing. - 1361-6560 .- 0031-9155. ; 45:10, s. 2733-2745
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this work is to quantitatively compare two commonly used beam quality indices, IPR(20/10) and %dd(10)x, with respect to their ability to predict stopping power ratios (water to air), s(w,air), for high-energy x-rays. In particular, effects due to a varied amount of filtration of the photon beam will be studied. A new method for characterizing beam quality is also presented, where the information we strive to obtain is the moments of the spectral distribution. We will show how the moments enter into a general description of the transmission curve and that it is possible to correlate the moments to s(w,air) with a unique and simple relationship. Comparisons with TPR(20/10) and %dd(10), show that the moments are well suited for beam quality specification in terms of choosing the correct s(w,air).
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| 5. |
- Knöös, Tommy, et al.
(författare)
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Independent checking of the delivered dose for high-energy X-rays using a hand-held PC
- 2001
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Ingår i: Radiotherapy and Oncology. - 1879-0887. ; 58:2, s. 201-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and purpose: The requirements on the delivered dose in radical radiation therapy are extremely high. The dose should be within a few percent and also delivered with high accuracy in space. Vendors and users have successfully managed to implement radiation therapy systems, which are able to achieve these demands with high accuracy and reproducibility. These systems include computerized tomography scanners, treatment planning systems, simulators, treatment machines, and record and verify systems. More and more common are also computer networks to assure data integrity when transferring information between the systems. Even if these systems are commissioned and kept under quality assurance programs to maintain their accuracy, errors may be introduced. Especially, the human factor is an uncontrolled parameter that may introduce errors. Thus, unintentional changes or incorrect handling of data may occur during clinical use of the equipment. Having an independent dose calculation system implemented in the daily quality assurance process may assure a high quality of treatments and avoidance of severe errors.Materials and methods: To accomplish this, a system of equations for calculating the absorbed dose to the prescription point from the set-up information, has been compiled into a dose-calculation engine. The model is based on data completely independent of the treatment planning system (TPS). The fundamental parameter in the dose engine is the linear attenuation coefficient for the primary photons. This parameter can readily be determined experimentally. The dose calculation engine has been programmed into a hand-held PC allowing direct calculation of the dose to the prescription point when the first treatment is delivered to the patient.Results and conclusion: The model is validated with measurements and is shown to be within +/-1.0% (1 SD). Comparison against a state-of-the-art TPS shows an average difference of 0.3% with a standard deviation of +/-2.1%. An action level covering 95% of the cases has been chosen, i.e. +/-4.0%. Deviations larger than this are with a high probability due to erroneous handling of the patient set-up data. This system has been implemented into the daily clinical quality control program.
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| 6. |
- Munck af Rosenschöld, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Current status of dosimetry at the boron neutron capture therapy facility at Studsvik, Sweden
- 2002
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Ingår i: Research and Development in Neutron Capture Therapy. - 9788832329094 ; , s. 437-441
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The beam was successfully characterized in air and in phantom using various radiation dosimeter:,. The determination of the thermal neutron and photon components of the mixed beam in phantom can be determined with acceptable uncertainties, while the uncertainty of the high-energy neutron component is considerable but of limited clinical significance. The beam intensity is sufficiently high for reasonably short treatment times. A novel approach to in-vivo dosimetry and quality assurance of treatment time in terms of monitor units was introduced in order to comply with national regulations regarding radiation therapy.
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| 7. |
- Munck af Rosenschöld, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Quality assurance of patient dosimetry in boron neutron capture therapy
- 2004
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Ingår i: Acta Oncologica. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1651-226X .- 0284-186X. ; 43:4, s. 404-411
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The verification of the correctness of planned and executed treatments is imperative for safety in radiotherapy. The purpose of the present work is to describe and evaluate the quality assurance (QA) procedures for patient dosimetry implemented at the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) facility at Studsvik, Sweden. The dosimetric complexity of the mixed neutron-photon field during BNCT suggests a careful verification of routine procedures, specifically the treatment planning calculations. In the present study, two methods for QA of patient dosimetry are presented. The first is executed prior to radiotherapy and involves an independent check of the planned absorbed dose to be delivered to a point in the patient for each treatment field. The second QA procedure involves in vivo dosimetry measurements using posttreatment activation analysis. Absorbed dose conversion factors taking the difference in material composition and geometry of the patient and the PMMA phantom used for reference dosimetry were determined using the Monte Carlo method. The agreement of the QA procedure prior to radiotherapy reveals an acceptably small deviation for 60 treatment fields of ±4.2% (1 SD), while the in vivo dosimetry method presented may benefit from improvements, as the deviations observed were quite substantial (±12%, 1 SD), and were unlikely to be due to actual errors in the clinical dosimetry.
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| 8. |
- Wegdén, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Nuclear microprobe analysis of the selective boron uptake obtained with BPA in brain tumour tissue
- 2004
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research. Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-583X. ; 219-20, s. 67-71
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The tumour selective ability of the boron compound boronophenylalanine (BPA), today used in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy in Sweden, has been investigated with the Lund Nuclear Microprobe. The tumour to tissue ratio of the boron concentration, as well as the location of boron within the cells, is critical for the efficiency of the therapy. It is desirable that the boron is accumulated as close as possible to the cell nucleus, since the alpha particles produced in the B-10(n,alpha)Li-7 reaction only have a range of about 10 microns, i.e. a cell diameter. The nuclear reaction B-11(p,alpha)2alpha, which has an especially high cross-section (300 mb) for 660 keV protons, has been used to analyse brain tissue from BPA-injected rats. Previous studies on other boron compounds have shown significant background problems when the alpha particles are detected in the backward direction. By a specially designed set-up, alpha particles in the forward and backward direction are detected simultaneously, and only the coincidences between the two directions are considered to be true boron events. In this way we could achieve excellent background suppression. The analysis shows that BPA indeed is tumour selective. Quantifications show a boron abundance of 150 +/- 20 ng/cm(2) in normal tissue and 567 70 ng/cm(2) in tumour tissue. If the rat is fed with L-dopa before the injection of BPA the uptake increases 3-4 times. The boron is homogeneously distributed in the cellular structure and no specific intracellular accumulation has been shown. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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